Val looked at the bound unicorns, pegasi and alicorn, all six of them looking at the lightsmiths with varying degree of apprehension and awe while Val herself also glanced around the room. At the right of the throne, Ruby Scroll was sitting on her desk recording this event and transcribing what was said using her magitech terminal, which was essentially a magic computer. At each pillar a Royal Guard in front of it, all of them being crystal ponies since the duty to safeguard the palace was still with the veterans while the recruits patrolled the city, some of these new guards being present as the ones that were restraining the prisoners, who were stripped of their winter gear and weapons. Not far from these guards to the left was Ambly standing with the discipline expect of an officer.

“You six are accused of invading our border with the explicit intent of usurping the throne of the Crystal Empire before handing the said throne to the pink alicorn who is accused of attacking one of the citizens of the Empire. What's your excuse?” asked Val as she looked at the Equestrians.

“I was just trying to save that poor mare from parasites like you!” shouted Cadence and the guards had to restrain themselves to not show their displeasure.

“And why would her or another citizens need ‘saving’ in the first place?” asked Val not showing any reaction to Cadence's statement, she knew that Chrysalis’ mission during the Royal Wedding Incident colored most of Equestria's view of the changelings, but honestly Val didn't care for their opinion so long they left the changelings in general alone, however, interactions with Equestria were a certainty and she just hoped to have enough time to make preparations, but as they used to say on Earth “no plan survives contact with the enemy”.

“Obliviously you are in league with Chrysalis and is somehow brainwashing all these poor ponies,” said Cadence as she glared at Val while struggling against the ropes restraining her.

An awkward silence followed and was only broken by Ambly trying and failing to not to laugh before saying, “You *laugh* you think aunty Chrysalis *laugh* is controlling the *laugh* the crystal ponies, it shows how much you know.” *laugh*

*sigh* “Ambly, concentrate,” said Val and it took a while for the Ambly to recover her composure, then Val asked, “Ambly, silence her.”

Ambly just shrugged as a muzzle materialized over Cadence's muzzle to stop her from ranting and she was glad that the guards and Shining Armor at least had the common sense to only speak when they were spoken to, she supposed that their training had something to do with that and just ranting angrily wouldn't have helped anyway.

“Who's the victim?” asked Val and Ambly’s face changed to a neutral expression as she projected a hologram of the changeling that Cadence attacked.

“His name is Nico Gryl, he is a dancer and musician from Star Haven. He was born from Iso’s hive, the mare that hothead here was trying to ‘save’ is his wife, Copper Flower, and they were in Sapphire City on vacations with their two children. Currently, he is in the hospital with many broken bones, his chitin is also broken and internal bleeding. Thankfully, his condition is stable and his life is no longer in danger,” reported Ambly and while Cadence started to show signs of guilt she shook her head before returning to just glaring at Ambly, Shining Armor, on the other hand, kept a neutral expression as he heard the report while the other six tried to do the same they showed signs of being conflicted.

“And the family of the victim?” asked Val.

“In the hospital with the victim,” said Ambly and Val nodded before gesturing for Ambly that it was enough, for now. Then she looked directly at Shining Armor and said, “That's more than enough for me to convict the little princess here for ‘aggravated assault’ at best and 'attempt of murder’ at worse, either case would result in around a year in the dungeon plus an amercement. And before you complain these are laws set before Sombra's rule, that damn umbrum didn't even bother to change or even follow these laws,” explained Val even if it devolved into a small rant at the end.

“That would be enough for a war to happen since any other nation could interpret this as you taking a Dignitary/Emissary as a hostage,” argued Shining Armor.

“I doubt Celestia or Luna would go to war without first trying to negotiate with us first, however, I could execute her on the ground of her 'plotting to usurp the throne’ and ‘inciting rebellion’, which could simply be considered terrorism,” said Val before leaning forward and look directly at the Equestria’s Captain of the Royal Guard before asking, “So, tell me, Prince Consort Shining Armor, should I uphold the laws of this nation and have her executed or just imprison her and wait for the Royal Sisters to came and negotiate her release?”

“She is the rightful heir to the throne,” argued Shining Armor since Val seemed to be following all the laws of the Crystal Empire he was betting on these same laws to win and if Val chose to not follow them she would expose herself a hypocrite, which wouldn't be good for her image.

“And how can you prove that? Just because Celestia said so isn't enough proof that she is from the rightful bloodline,” said Val and that caused Shining Armor to sweat since he didn't have any proof of Cadence's claim to the throne. However, he was filled with relief when he heard what Val said next, “But that problem can easily be solved, Hedy.”

The butterfly-like changeling at Val’s right responded by walking down the steps before standing in front of Cadence and pointing her spear at the pink alicorn. Said alicorn struggled when she saw the blade pointing at her but the energy ropes held her in place, as did the other prisoners who also assumed the worst, so she just closed her eyes and expected the worse but she only heard a somewhat musical voice speak, “Scan subject.”

Cadence opened her eyes and saw two wide beams of light, one was moving up and down her form slowly while the other was moving from one side to the other, said beams were coming from the tip of the changeling’s spear. After a tense silence, the beams disappeared and the changeling backed away until she was near the steps of the dais before pointing the spear at the ground between the prisoners and herself while saying, “Initiate genealogical test, subjects: Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Queen Amore; establish a familial connection.”

From the tip of the spear two images were projected, the first was the image of a snowflake inside a frame of three pieces that were similar to a horseshoe while the second was a heart made of crystal above to stylized pieces that were parallel with the straight part of the heart, immediately Shining and Cadence recognized the second image, after all, it was Cadence's Cutie Mark. The image of the first Mark moved a bit to the side as Cadence's Mark dissolved into two other Marks that neither of them recognized, then it dawned on them that these two Mark’s were from her parents and to an orphan like Cadence to see a real link with her biological parents was almost heartbreaking. However, Shining Armor also noticed a counter that went from zero to one beside the new pair of Marks, just as suddenly the Mark in the middle vanished before the Mark on the edge dissolved into other Marks and the counter changed to two, they were tracing Cadence's lineage. That thought filled Shining Armor with dread, not because there was a possibility of his statement be proven wrong but because Val accepted that possibility too easily as if even if he was right, to begin with, it wouldn't matter either way.

The Equestrians watched with anticipation as the counter went up, a great number of generations was expected since the Crystal Empire was gone for thousands of years, then two unknown Cutie Marks appeared and two line from the pair connecting to Amore’s Mark and Cadence's ancestor’s Mark. From there the image just zoomed out to show a long line of Marks from one of Amore's parents to Cadence and after seeing that Val said, “Oh, I'm impressed, she is Amore’s first cousin fiftieth something once removed.”

That caused Shining to sigh in relief and Cadence to sent Val a smug look as if to say “I win”, however, those notions were crushed when Val said, “That still doesn't prove that she is the rightful heir, only that she is distantly related to the last true ruler of the Crystal Empire and that the lineage of Amore's sister, who lived in Equestria at the time, survived.”

“That's proof that she is eligible for the throne without a closer relative to inherit it,” said Shining Armor trying to understand what was going one and his mind reached the only logical conclusion it could with the information he had before saying, “There is a closer relative amongst the population of the Crystal Empire.”

Val just offered a confident smile neither confirming nor denying Shining Armor's statement and instead just said, “In which case, we are back at square one. Removed her muzzle.”

“Even you admitted there was a rightful heir to the throne and yet you title yourself Emperor, which is strange considering your gender and willingness to uphold the law, yet it's you who sits on the throne,” said Cadence in an effort to fish for some information and to point out Val's hypocrisy.

“I don't remember ever declaring myself the Emperor of the Crystal Empire, that title was given to me by the people. If anything, I'm more of regent that took up the throne to clean Sombra’s mess while the intended ruler is recovering from her time in Sombra's… care, a mess that Celestia and Luna are partially responsible in the first place. Also, changelings don't bother with gender-specific titles because of our… flexible nature,” said Val as she looked at Cadence.

“How dare you accuse my aunties like that?! When they hear of what happened here they will do everything they can to liberate the crystal pony of your control, you love sucking parasite!” shouted Cadence and the guard behind her tightened the alicorn's ropes while Hedy and Lyca pointed their spears at the pink pony while building up energy.

“You will show respect for Lady Valthane, Equestrian,” said the guards restraining Cadence and she was about to say something despite Shining Armor shaking his head and silently begging her not to, however, whatever she was about to say was silenced by Amby rematerializing a muzzle on Cadence.

“I was hoping that you would show at least some regret, so much for the peace and tolerance you Equestrians love to preach about. *sigh* As of now you, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, is sentenced to the dungeon until the rulers of your country negotiate for your release or you serve your sentence, which is one year in the dungeon. Guard take her away,” announced Val and the guard dragged the struggling alicorn out of the throne room despite the vocal protests of the other prisoners and it reached the point where Ambly had to muzzled them as well. With order reestablished Val looked at the other prisoners and said, “Release Shining Armor, Ambly.”

“Please, Your Majesty, I ask for mercy. My wife recently had a bad experience with changelings and I'm sure she didn't mean what she said,” begged Shining Armor.

“I have already shown mercy, considering everything, not only I gave her the lightest possible sentence but also the opportunity to negotiate her release, now the rest is up to Celestia and Luna,” said Val and Shining Armor gritted his teeth before lowering his head in defeat, he was in a foreign country where his and his wife's position meant nothing, he also took note of the familiarity in Val’s voice when she mentioned the Royal Sisters by name, all he could do was return to Equestria and inform Princess Celestia after serving whatever sentence Val had in store for him and his men. The unicorn came out of his introspection when Val asked, “Where are their gear?”

“It's here, Your Majesty,” said another guard as he pushed a table with wheels that had the Equestrians winter gear and weapons and Val had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at how predictable it was, simple swords and shields, granted there was some enchantments on them but still, the fact that they haven't try to improve the designs by incorporating their advancements on both magic and technology or a combination of both was just sad, they even lacked a standard long range weapon.

“Released them,” ordered Val and the guards did as ordered and Ambly released the muzzles, then Val said as the prisoners looked confused, “Aside from being present at the site of the commotion and carrying weapons without authorization you did nothing wrong while preparing to defend yourselves, plus I didn't close the Crystal Empire’s border, so by all intents and purposes you didn't commit any crime because I'm taking into consideration your profession as part of Equestria’s military. You are free to go, I will be expecting Celestia and/or Luna in at least three days from now. Also, congratulations on being a father, Captain Armor, Chrysalis sent her regards, bye bye.”

Val waved her right hand after she finished speaking, the prisoners reluctantly got up and put on their gear while they were hearing Val’s sentence, however, once she finished a portal opened beneath the hooves of each of them and they fell before the portal closed, plus the expression of deer caught in the highlights on Shining Armor's face before he fell was just priceless. On a side note, Val was unsure if she should use that particular expression since she didn't know if the deer would feel offended or not, something to consider in the future.

“Are you that it was a good idea, Grandmaster?” asked Hedy from the base of the dais.

“Only time will tell,” said Val as she leaned back on the throne, it would take at least a day for them to get back to Equestria and at least another for Celestia and Luna to make their preparation to leave, which was yet another reason for them to arrive here at the time mentioned if they didn't decide to just teleport, however, considering the distance they wouldn't be able to bring anyone else. Three days was more than enough for Amore to retake her duties but that unfortunately would cut her vacations, Val just sighed before getting up and headed to her room.

Border of the Crystal Empire, South of Sapphire City and North of the Northern Wastes

A group of portals opened just above the snowbank that was used by the Equestrians to overlook Sapphire city when they arrived earlier this morning and now the seven ponies found themselves rolling down said snowbank before being buried by the snow that was dislodged by their fall. They managed to dig themselves out of the snow pile and were faced with the perpetual storm that existed between beyond the Northern Wastes and used to reach the Crystal Mountains at the north of the Crystal Empire.

“We better pick up the pace if we want to catch the last train heading south today,” said Shining Armor, which earned a groan from the other stallions but they all nodded anyway before pulling up their hoods and masks.

“Sir, about what was said in the end are you-” started one of the unicorns but Shining Armor motioned for him to stop.

“Just drop it, questioning it now wouldn't make a difference and I need time to think,” said Shining Armor and the stallion nodded before placing a hand on his captain's shoulder. A moment later they started yet another arduous journey through the blizzard and all Shining Armor could think about was, “Cadence is not gonna be happy when she finds out.” and “I'm a father.” as he marched forward.

The Hub

The beach and the city itself were bathed by the orange light of the late afternoon sun as Amore and Iso waited for Val, they came as soon as Iso was informed through the Hive Mind that Val was returning and she was also informed that the alicorn that was currently in the dungeon back at the palace was Amore's distant relative. Amore herself felt conflicted at the last bit of information, she placed a lot of importance on family but her cousin was so distant from her —both in familial relation as well as time— that they were essentially strangers and blood wasn't all when it came to family. Amore's thoughts were interrupted by the activation of the Gate, the space beneath the arc shimmering until the image of the Diamond City’s plaza and the Crystal Palace became visible, walking through the Gate was Val and she was back into her casual clothes.

Amore just hugged her mate when she approached, for now, the unicorn felt her worries melt away as she felt Val’s arm hold here and all she did was look into Val's silver eyes while asking, “Is it true?”

“Yes,” answered Val just before sighing, she knew Amore just wanted confirmation of what happened and Iso informed Val of what Amore knew.

“Do you think Tia and Lulu would start a war over this?” asked Amore.

“No, but regardless of that it won't take long for the other nations to notice the Crystal Empire and when news get out we cannot be presented as a weak country that would gladly accept aid from the first country that offers it, in this case, Equestria,” said Val as she accompanied both of her mates back to Iso’s place. Seeing the somber look on Amore's face Val added, “Don't worry about it, for now, we can still enjoy the beautiful beaches and we can visit the sea ponies tonight.”

The three got dressed in more formal clothing when they arrived at Iso’s place before going out and head for the port, which was very similar to the train station. Amore just looked at the few sea ponies that lived on the surface and near the water with childish awe, at first they looked just like land ponies —as all pony tribes are collectively known to the sea ponies— but with scales instead of fur and fins or tentacles instead of manes in some cases, however, she was astonished by the sheer variety. That feeling only increased when they arrived at the port/station where plenty of sea ponies worked, they bought their tickets and boarded a special train that would go underwater and toward the part of the city that was submerged beneath the waves, which could be considered a city on its own.

Through the window they saw the coral reef and all the marine life that lived in it, the underwater train was significantly slower than its surface counterpart since it was more like a submarine on rails but that was fine since it allowed the tourists the time to appreciate the marine life, despite the fact it was getting darker. At the center of the lake was complex structures that took the form of either giant bubbles or domes made of unknown material, inside these structures were colorful buildings illuminated by artificial light, an underwater city.

Soon they arrived at another station not too far the barrier keeping the water out, the station was colorful just like the rest of the city and upon closer inspection, the surface of the building actually looked similar to coral. Amore's looked around with awe, it was so different from both the crystal structures she knew her whole life and the organic looking aesthetics of the changelings, and the sea ponies made it like a totally different world. Now the soon to be queen could see far more sea ponies and she noticed some defining features, regardless of scales, tentacles and fins, they all had the basic shape of a pony, even if some of them had a single fishtail for they bottom half in some cases and seemed to use float like object that floated above the ground, but all of them seemed to have the features of a single creature of the sea as their main theme.

“The variety of sea ponies is just astonishing,” commented Amore and Val nodded as the crystal pony hugged her mate’s right arm.

“They are not that different from land ponies once you get to know them,” commented Iso as she hugged Val's left arm.

“Really?” asked Amore as the trio walked toward the city.

“Yeah, for example, the ones born with two legs are called Undines and the ones born with a single tail instead of legs are called Merponies, the former gains the ability to fuse their legs into a tail to swim fast later in life while the latter gains the ability to split their legs,” explained Iso as she discreetly gestured for examples in the crowd, which included children in a nearby playground.

“Kinda like Equestrians and crystal ponies,” interjected Val giving an example that Amore would be more familiar with.

“Oh,” said Amore in response as they walked through the colorful city illuminated by artificial light, the underwater city getting darker sooner since it quite a way down.

“These two groups can be divided into few groups, like the hippocampi who are similar to the earth ponies but their connection is to the sea and they can not only read its currents but also cultivate algae and help the growth of coral, the ceffylau who are similar to the pegasi and they are not only the fastest in the water but they can even the ability to fly, and lastly, the kelpies are capable of channeling mana like unicorns,” explained Iso and Amore just nodded at the explanation. Then Iso added, “There are other tribes but these are the main ones, additionally sea ponies have a physical and magical affinity with a particular species that live in the water.”

“Oh, that's why they look so different,” commented Amore and Iso nodded, then Amore looked around the city appreciating the architecture and seeing the crystal pony observing their surroundings

“Did you know I helped plan and build this city centuries ago?” added Iso seeing Amore's expression.

“Really?” asked Amore and Val just smiled at their interaction.

“Yep, it was soon after I became a queen and established a new city port here that would eventually become The Hub. My hive created an outpost beneath the lake and when we explored the tunnels we emerged in the Celestial Sea, there we came in contact with a community of sea ponies that were being attacked. Me and the changelings accompanying me defended them and drove back their attackers before offering them a place to stay. This place started as a refugee camp but they quickly built houses with the coral and started to farm algae, some of my children moved to this underwater community and when magic and technology became advanced enough we built the barrier around the underwater districts.”

“However, even if the barriers did allow other land dwellers to visit the place they have to be periodically turned off, so only those that can breath underwater can live here,” added Val and Iso nodded.

“Oh, I was hoping I could buy a house here,” said Amore with disappointment in her tone evident.

“But you can, besides there are spells and implants that allow you to breathe underwater,” said Iso and that left Amore with a thoughtful look.

“We arrived,” said Val as they stopped in front of a large building with a sign written in a strange language that Amore didn't recognize, but she did recognize the image of a plate with a fork and knife beside it, a restaurant. They entered the building and were greeted by a male sea pony, more specifically a male merpony ceffyl, he was quite small being around 2ft tall but his tail was like a beautiful fan of blue hues, he was wearing a suit over his torso and around his waist was one of those float like devices that allowed to greet the newcomers at eye level, he actually reminded the trio of a betta and Amore had to resist the urge to hug this cute little thing.

“Greetings, Your Majesties, it’s a great honor that you choose our humble establishment,” said the receptionist as he bowed before asking, “How may be of service?”

“Um, a table for three, please,” said Iso and the receptionist nodded before his small horn started to glow, then the same glow appeared and a clipboard and a pen float to him where he wrote something before placing them back on the counter.

“This way, please,” said the receptionist as he floated toward a free table for the trio. Once the trio was settled he said, “A waiter will come shortly.”

“He’s cute,” said Amore as the chibi merpony floated away.

“Yeah, the smaller ones usually are,” commented Iso and before long an undine hippocampus, also wearing a suit, by the androgynous figure it would be difficult to tell the gender but the nameplate was color-coded, so they could tell that the sea pony was female. She was taller than average but she had unnaturally long arms that reached past her knees that were not only long and sinuous but also seemed to lack elbows, all six of them came from her shoulders and ended in normal hands, it was clear by the pinkish sink that she had the aspect of an octopus.

The trio just ordered their food and just enjoyed their night.

Canterlot Castle, next morning

Shining Armor walked through the hallways of Canterlot Castle as he made his way toward the throne room, he was tired and sore from having to walk through a blizzard twice, plus their impromptu journey back wasn't exactly comfortable. However, he had a duty to uphold and he needed to report this to Princess Celestia as soon as possible.

“Captain Armor?” asked a voice he recognized, which caused him to return from his introspection and see the speaker, Princess Luna.

“Your Highness,” said Shining Armor as he knelt down.

“What are you doing here? And where is Cadence?” asked Luna in a worried tone.

“Unexpected events forced me to come back and I need to report what happened to both you and Princess Celestia,” said Shining Armor and Luna knew it was serious so she motioned for him to follow as she opened the door to the throne room, where the Diarch of the Sun was talking to his sister.

“…I'm certain you will pass,” said Celestia and whatever Twilight was about to say was interrupted as both mares looked at the door.

“Shining?” asked Twilight and she was about to hug him when she noticed the serious expression on his face.

“Captain Armor, I was under the impression that you and Princess Cadence where at the Crystal Empire keeping Sombra at bay, what happened?” asked Celestia as her nephew-in-law knelt down.

“Well…” started Shining Armor and he reported everything that happened since his departure two days ago, even if Celestia probably already received the report about the situation in the Northern Outpost he reiterated those events before leading to their arrival at Sapphire City. The three mares present showed shock and horror when they heard that changelings managed to infiltrate into the Crystal Empire, at first they assumed that Chrysalis would be working with Sombra but after hearing that the crystal ponies were safe and happy they just thought that it was just a facade to help the changelings feed better.

Twilight just nodded in silent agreement when she heard Candace “saving” an innocent mare from a changeling while the Royal Sisters just looked at each other with uncertainty, but their expressions changed when they heard of their captured and Cadence's sentence.

“We have to save Cadence!” shouted Twilight and she was about to go out and meet with her friends when Celestia motioned for her to stop.

“We are currently dealing with an unknown and we don't even know if these changelings are commanded by Chrysalis despite one of them having a familial relationship with her,” said Luna as with a thoughtful expression.

“Indeed,” said Celestia before she noticed something about Shining's report and asked, “What was the name of these ‘Emperor’?”

“She had two names, the first was Valthane,” said Shining Armor and that caused the princesses to stiffen, albeit for different reasons, but they quickly dismissed that as a coincidence, however, that changed when he said, “And the other was Volthoom.”

The eyes of the princesses widen in surprise as they froze, that reaction confused the unicorns and Twilight asked nervously, “Princess?”

Never in their lives, they have ever seen the look of dread like the that was present on Princess Celestia.

Crystal Palace, the afternoon of the next day

Cadence laid on her bed inside the cell she was imprisoned, an inhibitor ring on her horn and the cell itself had a spell work that also suppressed her pegasus and earth pony magic. She just looked at the ceiling unsure of what do and feeling conflicted about how she felt about the changelings in the Crystal Empire. She was starting to wonder if she let her experience with Chrysalis affect her more than it should.

“Well well well, what we have here?” asked a voice Cadence knew all too well and brought unpleasant memories with it. She sat up on the mattress and looked at the hallway, standing on the other side of the bars was the changeling she was just thinking about, Queen Chrysalis. Seeing that Cadence was paying attention Chrysalis commented, “I never thought we see each other again like this.”

“Why are you here? Came to gloat?” asked Cadence in a condescending tone.

“No, at least, not like the mask that I used when faking that attack in your wedding,” said Chrysalis.

“What do you mean 'faking’?” asked Cadence as she glared at the Royal Changeling.

Author's Notes:

The underwater city itself would be similar to Ryugu Kingdom from One Piece while the outside would look similar to this:

Most of the see ponies biology is based on the fishfolk and the merfolk from One Piece.

Undines - comes from the Latin for wave and it's actually a broad category for water elementals in general.

Merponies - just the pony version of the merfolk.

Hippocampi (singular: hippocampus) - from Greek Mythology, they are the underwater horses that pull Poseidon's chariot.

Kelpies (singular: kelpie) - from the shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools in Scottish Mythology, they often take the form of either a beautiful woman or a horse.

Ceffylau (singular: ceffyl) - from Welsh Mythology, it comes from Ceffyl Dŵr and it literally translates to "water horse", they are the Welsh counterpart of the kelpies but with the additional power to fly.