Skylight Scintillate

@Props Valroa "Hey, I can't fly either," Scootaloo admitted. "Huh, now that you mention it, I don't think I have seen any crystal pegasi in the Crystal Empire. And I haven't heard of other crystal nations either. That is strange..." Rainbow Dash pondered. "So, Rainbow Dash, you're available to go skydiving with us tomorrow, right?" Scootaloo asked Rainbow Dash. "Yup! I should be available right after I finish the weather duty! Anyways, I gotta go now!" Rainbow Dash replied before taking off. The rest of the group stayed around to watch the sunset over the lake and listen to the gentle sound of waves crashing. "Meet us at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow at sunrise for some skydiving?" Apple Bloom asked Lazulia. "Uuh, what do you mean other crystal nations?" Skylight asked.

@Props Valroa Harmony had gotten ready for the day a little while before Harmonious showed up. "Well then, I don't think we should keep him waiting. Let's go," Harmony replied. Once the group arrived at where Emperor Bigpip was, Harmony would bow before taking a seat. "Thanks, sir, it was a pleasant trip, though quite different from what we have in Equestria," Harmony replied.

@Props Valroa "Wait, you've never heard of the Wonderbolts!? They're only the coolest, most awesome elite flyers in all of Equestria! When the citizens of Equestria call for help, we answer! And we perform for crowds of hundreds!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flying stunts over the lake. "Uuuhh, she's not from here," Scootaloo explained. The rest of the CMCs nodded. "Yeah, and she's missing her cutie mark too, so we're trying to help her find it," Sandbar, who was suntanning, turned to look at this commotion, and Skylight paused drinking her juice.

@Props Valroa "Ooh, these gardens are nice," Harmony would say to herself quietly as she made her way through them. Just before she entered her room, she suddenly realized she had a question. "I assume that you will come to wake us up tomorrow morning? If so, when should we expect so?" she asked Harmonious. After that, she made her way to her room, she would dry herself off and unpack before calling it a night.

@Props Valroa Harmony didn't find anything else to add. She glanced at the castle, and noted its designs. It seemed quite old, but the vegetation seemed pretty nice. She also noted how it was surrounded by a moat, yet in the middle of several residential blocks. Harmony noticed the clouds moving in and quickly scampered into the castle behind Harmonious with her luggage in tow.

Watching Nightmare Moon banish just about everyone to the moon feels like:

@Props Valroa "I see," Sweetie Belle replied as she crossed out some entries on the list. "Well then, we'll switch some activities so you avoid large crowds." Sandbar would notice Lazulia looking at the juice and offers her some. "I mean, it is a really nice lake," Skylight replied, which everypony else agreed with. For several minutes, they just say their in silence, watching the lake and the forest around it while sipping their juice. That was when a rainbow-maned pegasus mare abruptly landed next to Scootaloo. "Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo exclaimed, hugging Rainbow Dash's leg. "Hey squirt!" Rainbow Dash replied brohoofing everypony. "What's up?" "We're helping somepony new find her cutie mark!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Cool!" Rainbow Dash replied. She turned to Lazulia. "Hey there, I'm Rainbow Dash! Equestria's fastest Wonderbolt!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Harmony didn't really have anything to add, so she just glanced around as she followed Harmonious silently. However, she did use this as a chance to glance around at the architecture and think about how it compared to Canterlot or the other capital cities she has been to.

@Props Valroa "Alright then, let's head straight for the castle then," Harmony replied, following Harmonious closely. She didn't really have much else to say, so she would glance around to admire the sights of the city, and she would think about it compared to Ealuit or the cities in Equestria. However, she was quite interested in learning more about this region.

@Props Valroa When the train arrived at the station, Harmony followed the Harmonious off the train and into the complex network of tunnels. It was crowded, so Harmony struggled a bit in keeping up with Harmonious. However, she could still notice the artwork on the walls in her peripheral vision. She thought it was nice how the ponies here put effort into making the tunnels in their train stations pleasant. “Ok I’ll keep that in mind. I’m ok with meeting him tomorrow morning and finding a place to stay if that works better for him,” Harmony replied.

@Props Valroa "Hmm, yeah small towns are nice too. You get to know everypony quite well. It sounds like you don't like large crowds or interacting with a lot of ponies?" Sweetie Belle pulled out the big scroll of potential cutie mark ideas again to cross out some entries. "Yeah, swimming is cool, dude. And you get to do so many things on the water, like surfing and scuba diving. The water, it surrounds you, and you can feel it on you as you move," Sandbar described as he casually swam back and forth in front of Lazulia. After teaching Lazulia swimming for a bit, everypony decided that they were quite tired and that they should take a break. They climbed onto the shore, rested on the sand, and drank some juice Sandbar offered. "Phew, all this canoeing and swimming is exhausting!"Scootaloo remakred. "Sandbar, are you always here?" Apple Bloom asked. "Yeah dude, the beach, the water, teh waves, are just so me. Surfing these waves or scuba diving in this lake makes me feel so alive, you know," Sandbar replied, lying in the sand, enjoying the sun and sipping his juice. "What about you, Lazulia? What do you think of this lake?"

"Oh, we're almost here," Harmony noted. She got up and began gathering her luggage from the overhead compartments and setting them next to her, preparing to get off the train. "Huh, I haven't heard of that perspective before," Harmony replied, slowly letting that information sink in. After a bit, she spoke up again. "Though I see why the Crystal Empire is the way it is now. It seems like Equestria and the Crystal Empire have quite a lot to discuss. I'm sure Princess Twilight Sparkle is willing to talk to you, but that would be for another diplomatic mission."

"Oh, so Sombra is from the other royal house that you mentioned? What caused his rise to power? In what way was the Crystal Empire highly respected? Were they particularly powerful in terms of their military diplomacy or economy? What caused this change that resulted in the Crystal Empire catering to Equestrians? And where is Laziomare, Franzington, and Carisle and what are they like?" Harmony asked. "Oh, so this is from the previous generations of bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Well the current element bearers are Princess Twilight Sparkle as the element of magic, Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash as the element of loyalty, Fluttershy as the element of kindness, Rarity as the element of generosity, Pinkie Pie as the element of laughter, and Applejack as the element of honesty," Harmony explained. She would describe some of the things that the current element bearers did to other ponies that best represented their elements.

@Props Valroa "Well you're learning about Equestria right now!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "It's a place where all ponies can live together in harmony, no matter who they are or what abilities they have! There are so many different cities in Equestria, and they each have something that makes that place unique. Like, Canterlot is our capital, and it's so fancy. That's why my sister Rarity is obcessed with it all the time. And then we have..." "I don't think it's sad. I think that the water is very mysterious with how dark blue it is..." Apple Bloom responded leaning over the side of the canoe to stare into the lake. "Well I don't think it's that mysterious once you dive under the surface. It's actually quite cool," Sandbar responded. "I know, right? It's so refreshing. Nothing's quite like taking a dip in the lake to get that energy flowing. Now that you know how to swim, you are able to do activities on the water more safely," Sandbar replied, glancing at the CMCs and causing them to blush. "Yeah we should have asked if you knew how to swim before taking you on the canoe," Sweetie Belle confessed. "We forgot." "What do you think about learning how to swim? You seem to quite like it. Can you describe why?" Skylight asked, treading water in her scuba diving suit next to Sandbar.

@Props Valroa "Well that makes sense. I also think the elements are quite favorable. I think that they have quite positively impacted Equestria in pretty significant ways. Like Princess Twilight has substantially increased our diplomacy with other regions, and we try to understand and help these regions as much as we can. I'd like to think that as a diplomat for Equestria, I am pretty good at living up to the elements of harmony and what they represent," Harmony explained, gesturing around. Harmony waved to her, not really sure what else to say. However, she noted that it seemed that this region also seemed quite culturally diverse, with several different species seen on the train.

"Oh, I see," Harmony replied. While she did hear about the heart from others, she didn't really consider it this way. It was interesting to hear different perspectives and try to create a more complete picture with it. "Huh, I suppose my question is, what made the government decide to name some of their departments after the Elements of Harmony? Do they view the elements quite favorably? And which department is named with which element?" Harmony asked.

@Props Valroa "I mean, like, what if your cutie mark is something that can only be done in hot weather, like making and selling ice cream, or surfing, or something?" Apple Bloom asked. "Well, I suppose that's why we're trying things like these now." "Wait, you guys took her on a canoe, but she can't swim? That's a safety problem!" Sandbar exclaimed, glancing at the CMCs in shock. "Well, I guess that's why we're all wearing life jackets?" Scootaloo laughed nervously. "Hey, I understand why you wouldn't know how to swim, but if you want to do activities on the water, it's important to at least know the basics. Come on, let's get back to shore, and I can teach you," Sandbar offered. He would start swimming towards the shore and gesture the CMCs to follow. Once on the shore, the CMCs would give Lazulia a swimsuit, and everypony would take turns showing and explaining simple swimming techniques to Lazulia just off the beach where the water was shallow.

"Huh, what do you mean by at the cost of time and nutrition?" Harmony asked. "Is it very expensive to do so?" Harmony gasped when Carnelian suddenly flashed before her eyes. She would glance at Carnelian up and down, not really believing what she was seeing. However, she would hesitantly reach out her hoof to feel Carnelian's, and it confirmed what she was seeing. "Oh wow, that's pretty neat. So you all have an emotional connection to the Crystal Heart?" Harmony asked. "Ministry of Kindness? Huh, how does that work? In Equestria, we have an Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, who spreads kindness throughout the region and demonstrates how showing a little kindness to others can go a long way. Is that similar to what this region has?" Harmony noted.

@Props Valroa "Huh, well that's interesting. I heard the region of southern Equestria called Somnambula also has a tradition of sarcophagus burial. There is a modified, more modern version of what Somnambula does that is popular with some groups of ponies. Either that or ponies opt to be buried individually. I heard that those who prefer the sarcophagus method put their organs in jars next to their sarcophagus, but organ harvesting for use on living ponies is quite rare. Instead, there's a lot of research going into using magic and magical medicine to improve the health and wellness of ponies. Currently, major research institutions are looking into ponies' average health spans significantly. Everypony jokes that it's because Princess Twilight doesn't plan on saying goodbye to her friends at all... " Harmony laughed nervously. "Well thats... huh, I didn't know that. So what does it mean to be made of crystal?" Harmony asked.

@Props Valroa "And not be able to try any summer activities? That sounds awful!" Apple Bloom replied. "Hey what if you never discovered your cutie mark because it's something that could only be done in the summer?" Apple Bloom asked. "Yeah, this is nice," Scootaloo remarked. "Hey, it's what we do," Apple Bloom replied. "Wait, has anypony seen Skylight? She's not in the canoe with us," Sweetie Belle noted. "Yeah, where is she?" the other two crusaders echoed. "Right over here!" The crusaders glanced over the side of the canoe to see. Skylight's head sticking out of the water next to the canoe. Right next to her was Sandbar, also sticking his head out of the water. Both ponies had donned scuba diving suits and were treading water next to the canoe. "I ran into my friend Sandbar on the beach over there, and we decided to do some scuba diving. We saw you all drifting out here in the canoe, so we decided to swim up and say hi. I hope we aren't interrupting anything," Skylight remarked. "Dude, you guys should join us! The water's like, so refreshing right now," Sandbar exclaimed. "Well, we have our scuba diving suits on the shore, but do we have one that fits Lazulia?" Apple Bloom pondered.

@Props Valroa Harmony glanced out the window, trying to get a good look at the entrance building with the grand statue. "Oh wow, that building looks pretty impressive, especially with that statue on top," Harmony replied. "So who is buried at the grand tomb? Is it most ponies, or is it like only important ponies or a specific categorization of ponies?" Harmony asked. "Yes, I do believe that it is important to go straight there," Harmony remarked. However, she did note how dirty the floor was getting with Carnelian's remarks about the trains in Equestria.

Harmony's ears flopped when she heard this. In Equestria, while necromancy wasn't outright forbidden, it was both legally and morally very complicated, filled with exceptions and counter-exceptions. Harmony tried to understand the politics of the local region, but given how unfamiliar she was with this, it took quite a while to digest. Plus, she felt like she wasn't exactly in the best position to offer her opinion on this, especially with an influential figure from a region who is claiming to to be in conflict with Equestria sitting across from her. Harmony had no idea what to make of this. She had a feeling that the other Royal House that Carnelian was referring to was Sombra, but other than that, she didn't know any of this history about the Crystal Empire.

Harmony glanced at Carnelian skeptically. "Umm, ok then, I suppose you just had bad luck with the trains you got on then," Harmony replied. She got the slightest impression that Carnelian didn't like her, but she hadn't interacted with her enough to be sure. Harmony glanced at this older pony with a skeleton bird on his head. "Oh, erm, I'm a diplomat from Equestria, ruled by Princess Twilight Sparkle. What about you?" Harmony glanced up and down at this unicorn. She wasn't sure what to make of everything on him, especially the skeleton bird on this stallion's head.