The Crystal Empire: Dealing with Emptiness

Brave Storm had been laying at the feet of Princess Flurry Heart and the other crystalized ponies for the past couple of days. She had felt compelled to remain, to mourn. The umbrum had been successfully chased away and the Crystal Empire was safe. Her crystals had receded from her chest entirely, relocating to her head. They were surprisingly light and her thick neck did more than enough to support their weight. 

But she didn’t feel good about herself. She felt empty. Not that there was anything beyond the obvious wrong. There were ponies beyond her reach. And they stayed with their princess for now. But Brave Storm didn’t move on to the next adventure. It’s not that she wanted to stay here, it’s that she didn’t feel the drive to leave. She didn’t care.

“Brave Storm.” Hevel’s voice was just as recognizable to Brave Storm as her brother’s or close friends by this point. “The knights returned from the North. They found Yakyakistan.”

“That’s good to hear.” Brave Storm was genuinely happy the yaks have survived this long in the face of Wild Magic. She wasn’t surprised, but she was happy to be right. But it wasn’t something you’d think from her tone.

“I want to see Yakyakistan,” Hevel said after a moment. His voice picked up a small cadence, something like excitement. Brave Storm felt a smile in her heart. It didn’t reach her face.

“It should be safe for you to explore by yourself.” Brave Storm pressed for him to do what he wanted.

“Can you come with me?” Hevel asked. He hadn’t gotten any closer to her this whole time, but Brave Storm could feel him staring.

“Go on without me,” she declined. She heard Hevel tap a hoof against the crystal floor a couple of times before hearing the steady rhythm of his hooffalls approaching her. He stopped, a little too close to her for comfort, but Brave Storm had gotten used to this from the odd unicorn by now.

“Happy to see you walking without a limp.”

Hevel’s head lowered to the ground, staring intensely at something between his hooves. “You don’t sound happy.”

“I’m sorry?” Brave Storm knew Hevel was inclined to verbalize whatever observation came his way with no concept of a filter. But this one hit different. He was silent for several moments as he looked between the crystalized ponies and the crystal princess. Brave Storm watched as his eyes flicked around. He was thinking, putting pieces together. She didn’t know how she knew, she just felt it. Like how she just knew how Star Atlas felt sometimes. Maybe somehow the both of them coming from the Mirror Tree had given them some distant sibling-like connection with each other. Or maybe it was just that Hevel had grown to feel like a younger sibling to her regardless of their technical relationship.

“Laying here isn’t going to bring them back to normal, you know?” he finally said. Brave Storm looked at her hooves. She knew, but it hurt to hear she couldn’t do anything. She nodded.

“Can I tell you something?” she asked Hevel. As expected, he nodded. “I felt really compelled to keep going places until I came here. I thought I wanted to keep going on adventures and keep seeing everything, but now I don’t want to. I don’t care. I just want to sit here because I don’t know what else to do.”

Hevel nodded thoughtfully. There was something in his eyes. He had advice to give and somehow this surprised Brave Storm. 

“Perhaps it has something to do with… with-” Hevel frowned. “-With, uh…. You know?”

Hevel made a gesture that made absolutely no sense to Brave Storm. She couldn’t help but give him a look and shake her head. Hevel looked frustrated like he knew exactly what he wanted to say, but he kept losing the words when it came time to speak it.

“Hey, it’s okay. Thanks anyways, Hevel.” Brave Storm moved herself off the ground and took one last look at the princess. “Let’s go to Yakyakistan.”