"I'm sorry, Shiney," Twilight said. She was genuinely contrite, if still a bit miffed. "But you really did make me angry."

"I never would have guessed," Shining Armor said from where he was sitting. He had an icepack to his head and a disgruntled look on his face.

Twilight sighed and cast her eyes heavenwards. "Can you blame me? I brought Nyx here in the hopes of... of smoothing things over between us all. I was hoping for a happy reunion and a little reconciliation, and what do I get? Armed guards pouncing on us!"

" I had to do it," Shining Armor said tersely, "Whether I wanted to or not."

"I doubt she was going to overthrow your kingdom, Shiney," Twilight snarked.

"He's right, Twilight," Cadence said over her cup of tea. "It wasn't for your or Nyx's benefit. It was for the benefit of whoever was watching or keeping track. Like I said before, we have a lot of-- well I won't call them enemies; let's just say political pests. He had to put on a show of 'properly handling the dangerous criminal' so they would have a harder time of using the news of your arrival to their advantage."

The royal quarters were surprisingly cozy. They were fairly spacious, yes, and elegantly appointed, but they weren't much larger than the rooms one would find in a typical middle to upper class house in Ponyville or Canterlot. A drawing room, a study, bedrooms, bathrooms, even a small kitchen and a private laundry; one could be forgiven for thinking one was in a slightly posh apartment flat back in Canterlot rather than the royal quarters of a palace.

Once they had arrived, Cadence had called for tea, so they could all sit down, soothe their frazzled nerves, and try to make peace.

They were all sitting together in the drawing room of the royal couple's private chambers. Cadence, Twilight and Nyx were seated on cushions around a tea table, with a full high tea set out for Twilight and Cadence. Shining Armor was taking his tea over in a large overstuffed chair by the fireplace, where he was nursing the bump on his head and, it has to be said, sulking a bit. All the adults had been a bit snappish at first, but hot tea and biscuits had worked their magic and some sincere, if brief and somewhat noncommittal apologies had finally crossed the room.

Cadence regarded the source of contention. The filly was sitting very still and quiet and, if Cadence was any judge, very wary, as if she expected the slightest hoof out of place to bring all sorts of trouble down-- like any other foal who had gotten into a lot of trouble in the recent past. Considering the circumstances she was probably right, the Princess of love realized with a bit of sympathy. Her husband and her sister in law had apologized, but the tension in the air was palpable.  It was hard to believe this was the very alicorn who had conquered Equestria. No, heck with that, it was darn near impossible.

The second thing she noticed was an absence of a cup and saucer. "Didn't the maid set you a cup, dear?" she asked. Nyx shook her head no. "No ma'am," she said softly in her glass armonica voice.

Cadence found a cup and saucer on the tea cart and set them out for her. She poured her a half-cup of tea, put a biscotti next to the cup on the saucer, and placed them in front of the filly. "Thank you," Nyx said. With great focus and care Nyx levitated the cup to her mouth, took a careful sip, and set it down. She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, took a bite of her biscotti, and repeated.

"Well, I can't fault her manners at tea," Cadence muttered to Twilight, amused.

"Afraid I can't claim credit for that," Twilight confessed. "Rarity is the one who has been giving her lessons."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. High tea, and all sorts of other lessons in high society etiquette," Twilight said. She rolled her eyes. "Of course it's counterbalanced by Rainbow Dash giving her belching lessons." Cadence laughed at that. "Between her and Applejack trying to teach her rodeo, she's getting an interesting upbringing."

Nyx was doing her very best to be very quiet and very, very still and not bother anyone. But there was no suppressing her natural inquisitiveness. Ever since they'd arrived in the Capital she'd had questions tickling at the back of her mind that just wouldn't stop. She cleared her throat. "Um," Princess Cadence or Auntie Cadence? Which should she go with? "Um, Auntie Cadence? Why isn't everything in here sparkly like everywhere else?"  Frankly it was the first thing the filly had noticed. It had been quite a relief to be able to take off her sunglasses without her eyes starting to hurt.

Cadence smiled self-consciously. "Shiney and I convinced the interior decorators to use Canterlot furniture and fixtures," she said. "We were getting a little homesick."

"Besides which, pretty as it is, all that crystal gleam everywhere gets a little bothersome after a while," Shining Armor said ruefully.

Nyx nodded, rubbing her head with a hoof. "How do you keep it from giving you a headache?" She asked meekly.

At Cadence's puzzled look, Twilight explained. "Nyx's eyes are kind of sensitive," she explained. "We found out that Nyx's eyes are more like a nocturnal animal. She can see incredibly well in the dark, but it makes them very sensitive to bright light."

Cadence leaned in to look at Nyx's eyes. "Ah, I can see," she said. "She even has tapeta lucida."

At Nyx's puzzled look, Twilight clarified. "Eyeshine. You know how Opal's eyes reflect light?" Nyx nodded. "It's because she has a shiny surface at the back of her eyes, like you do."

Despite himself Shining Armor was intrigued. "Must make it easy to read in bed at night," he grunted. Or sneak around in the dark when noone's awake, he couldn't help thinking. He repressed a shiver at the thought; alone in the dark, nothing but those two gleaming eyes peering at you... "Anyway, the reason Cadence and I don't get headaches is because of the crystal lens implants," he said.

"The what?" Twilight said.

"Lens implants. In our eyes," Cadence said. She leaned in, pointing at her eye with a hooftip. "See?" Twilight looked; indeed, Cadence's pupil had that "crystally" reflective look that she'd noted in the native ponies.

"You mean they took a scalpel, cut into your eye, and stuck a piece of glass inside?" Twilight exclaimed. "Cadence, Shiny, just--- ewww!" Twilight shuddered in revulsion.

"They used magic," Cadence chuckled. "We didn't feel a thing. The crystal ponies are born with these little crystal lenses naturally."

"Really?" Nyx said, suddenly interested. "Do their coats sparkle like that when they're born, too? Or is it because of the Crystal Heart magic? And why...." she remembered herself. "I'm sorry," she said, abashed, falling silent as suddenly as she'd spoken.

Cadence blinked. The filly seemed worse than shy; almost wary, in fact. "That's all right, dear," Cadence said. "And yes, actually. Crystal ponies are 'born sparkly,' as you put it. The crystal heart just makes it brighter." She paused. "And what else were you about to ask?" She asked patiently.

Nyx bit her lip. "And why does it make our coats all sparkly? We're not crystal ponies."

Cadence was surprised. "That's a rather good question," she said. "I think... well, I think it's because the Crystal Heart is powered by love and happiness. And those things bring out the sparkle in anyone, whether or not they're a Crystal Pony."

"I kind of like that," Twilight said with a smile.

"So that's why Crystal Ponies go all shiney when they're happy,whether the Crystal Heart is there or not, right?" Nyx said, "And why they go all dark and un-sparkly when they're sad or scared." Nyx beamed at being clever enough to figure this out. "Miss Fluttershy would say that was a pretective adaption..."

"Protective adaptation," Twilight corrected automatically.

"Uh huh, that," Nyx said. "'Cause you wouldn't want to be all sparkly and shiny if you were being chased by a monster or something. At least I know I wouldn't," Nyx amended.

Hunh. I never thought of that, Shining Armor thought to himself. The little ex-Nightmare was certainly clever enough.

"But, um, Auntie Cadence?" Nyx asked. Oh, I saw what you did there, Shining armor thought. "Why

does the Crystal Heart change ponies' manes? We came in through the barrier and it made Mommy's hair

all done up and pretty, like." she pantomimed doing her mane up on her head. "And there were ribbons

in her tail and stuff and..."

Cadence threw her head back and laughed. "That's the fault of one of the rulers before King Sombra.

Queen Fabulosity wasn't the best ruler ever, but she was certainly fashionable. She dedicated the first

five years of her rule to casting a Stylish Coiffure spell on the Crystal Heart and copying all her

favorite hairstyles into it."

"What'd she do her second five years?" Nyx asked.

"Tried to keep from being lynched by all the hairdressers she put out of business the first five

years," Shining Armor said drolly.

Cadence snerked. "Her husband was furious," she added. "She'd wasted a fortune and tampered with the

Heart. He actually had the nobles unite and depose her, transferring the crown to him. The fighting and

feuding between the two of them-- there was almost a civil war..."

Shining armor suddenly flushed and got up from his seat. "If you need me I'll be in my study," he said

brusquely, leaving the room. There was the sound of a door closing quite firmly elsewhere in the suite.

"Oh dear," Cadence said. She set her teacup down and looked away.

"What, what just happened?" Twilight asked, setting her own cup down.

"It's nothing-- " Cadence said. Twilight reached across the tea table and put a hoof to her old

babysitter's lips.

"Don't say it's nothing," Twilight said. "It's me, remember? You don't tell me I'm just gonna research

you to death till I find out."

Cadence smiled, but she sighed worriedly all the same. "It's just that... oh where do I begin? It's a

couple of things, really. Shining is still kind of smarting over what happened with..." she glanced

over at Nyx.

"Oh..." was all Twilight said.

"He was magically brainwashed by the cult, turned against us all. It was bad enough after Chrysalis.

You remember how long it took to forgive himself after being controlled by that-- that bug."

Cadence grimaced. "But then not a year later and he's brainwashed again... by Nightmare Moon..."

"That wasn't Nyx," Twilight protested. "It was Spell Nexus. He was the one who was spreading Nightmare

Moon's 'blessing' to everyone." Twilight shuddered. "He even used it on me. Nyx was the one who had to

undo the curse on everyone, including Nexus himself."

Cadence shook her head. "That isn't how Shiney sees it," she said. "And even so, it was Nightmare

Moon-- Nyx--- who got past all his guards and his defenses and his tactics like they weren't even

there. He was humiliated by that. And the fact that we were on opposite sides of the rebellion... that

he was made to fight against me... he's never quite forgiven himself for that."

"I'm sorry," Nyx said, stricken. Her eyes were filled with guilt. "I'm so sorry."

Cadence looked at her and for a moment the memory of that pain-- being an outlaw, on the run, afraid,

at war with her own husband-- pricked her heart. "Nyx, I'm afraid that sometimes 'I'm sorry' doesn't

fix what's broken," she said, a tad sharper than she intended. She regretted it an instant later when

she saw the look on Nyx's face, but she held her tongue. Whatever else, it was a lesson that Nyx

needed to learn.

"There's more to it than that," Twilight said.

Cadence nodded. "But it is all tied together, in a way," she said. "You know that the Crystal Empire is

different from Canterlot. As you probably guessed from my little story about Queen Fabulosity, the

Empire only has one ruler. Even if they have a husband or wife, they are the only one who wears the

crown."

"Both may reign, but only one may rule," Twilight recited. "I read it in 'The Canterlot Guide to the

Crystal Empire.'"

"Exactly," Cadence said. "And as I am the Crystal Princess, Shining Armor doesn't really have any

authority. And factions in the Court have basically... well they've used their authority to demand he

step down as the Commander of the military and Captain of the Guard and find a replacement."

Twilight gasped in shock. "But Shining lives for that! He dedicated his life to being in the Guard!"

"I know. But Crystal Empire tradition and law demands otherwise. I got around it by issuing a royal

decree, but the courtiers switched tactics. They dug up the Changeling invasion and the Nightmare Moon

rebellion, and have been waving them as proof that Shining Armor is unfit for duty." Cadence kept her

composure, but she wouldn't look Twilight in the eye and she had to set her teacup down because it was

so unsteady. "He's been spending the past week reviewing candidates for his own replacement. "

"Oh no," Twilight said.

Cadence managed a smile. "So you can imagine," she said. "This nonsense has been keeping his wounds

fresh. It's making it a little hard for him to forgive and forget."

"And then we show up," Twilight groaned. "Worst. Timing. Ever."

"It was hardly your choice when you would be asked to come reorganize the Library," Cadence said.

"Though it might have been better if Nyx had stayed home this time."

Twilight shrugged. "Applejack and her family had to travel to Manehattan," she said. "Rarity too; she

had a fashion show. Fluttershy was dealing with an outbreak of flu in her animal friends, Rainbow Dash

was going to Wonderbolts Flight Camp, And Pinkie Pie, well," she winced,  "the Cake twins are still

scared of Nyx."

"Excuse me, please," Nyx said suddenly. She pushed her cold tea and unfinished biscuit away and got to

her feet.

"What is it, Nyx?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'm just gonna go lie down for awhile."

Twilight was hardly fooled, but she let it slide. "Try not to wake up Spike," she said. Nyx nodded

obediently and left.

Her aunt and mother kept on talking after she left. The suite she and Twilight and Spike were staying in was connected by a short hallway. She went in and closed the door behind her, shutting off the sound of voices.

Spike was already there. He'd taken one look at the (by his standards) luxurious bed they'd put out for him and, after assuring Twilight didn't need anything, had conked out on it on the spot. He was there right now, sprawled out on the feather mattress, snoring like a drowning warthog. Nyx snerked in spite of her mood and carefully made her way across the bedroom to her own bed. She tossed herself into it and pulled the downy blankets up over her head, hiding herself from the world.

This was not turning out to be a fun trip.

Although Luna had managed to revert Nyx to her foalhood innocence, even before becoming Nightmare Moon Nyx had been far from stupid. Several months as a full-grown alicorn, and her own past as Luna's alter ego, had left her as far more than precocious. Unlike most fillies her age she actually had a fair to middling grasp of what was going on when everypony started talking politics. What she'd heard, she was fairly capable of filling in the blanks and reaching the obvious conclusion: She'd cost Shining Armor his job.

Nyx's stupid, stupid, stupid actions as Nightmare Moon had cost her new uncle Shining Armor his job. No wonder he hated her. No wonder he and Aunt Cadence were so tense.

Nyx had to fix this. Aunt Cadence was right; no matter how sorry she was, 'sorry' wouldn't fix anything.

But what do you do when you don't have anything else to fix things with?