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💭★.. "But, dad...! Why won’t you understand?" 💔⊱✧ -Story:As Flurry stood outside her sister’s room, she heard her sweet mother’s voice, singing the old lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. It had been a week since they had returned to the Empire, and Flurry couldn’t stop thinking about her small talk with Caspian. She had trouble sleeping at night and attending her royal duties during the day. It bothered her so much that she felt she had to confront her parents about it. She waited for her mother to finish laying her sister to sleep and grew more and more nervous. What would her mother say? Was it true about the party meant for her and Caspian?“Flurry, darling, what are you doing out here?”Flurry snapped back to reality and turned to look at her mother. Her mother just stared at her with a grin and a confused look.“Um, ah, Mother, I just... I was just waiting for you. I have to talk to you about s-something.” Flurry stumbled over her words, growing more nervous as her mother’s face shifted into a concerned expression.“Flurry, dear, is everything alright?”“Well, I... Caspian and I talked to each other during the party, and he told me something that you would know about.”Cadence looked surprised... and... scared?“Flurry, dear, there is something you need to know, and you have to understand that you have to accept it the way things are going to be.”Flurry’s heart started to pound so fast in her chest that she could hear it in her ears.“What do you mean?!”Cadence sighed, and for the first time in her life, Flurry saw sadness in her mother’s eyes.“Flurry, as you may know, every kingdom has their traditions, and for the Crystal Empire, we have our own. Some change over time, but some stay the same for years. One of them is marriage, and our tradition says that if a male is the firstborn, he may choose a mare from the Crystal Empire or from another kingdom. But if a mare is the firstborn, she...”Cadence stopped in her tracks and looked like she didn’t want to continue her own sentence, hoping Flurry would understand.“What... what happens?!” Flurry was starting to get frustrated and scared, and her question came out as a yell.“What is going on? Flurry, sweetheart, lower your voice, your sister is sleeping.”Both Cadence and Flurry turned to face Shining Armor as he asked, but quickly Cadence turned to face the floor.“Is there something wrong?” Shining Armor asked again, with concern in his voice as he turned to his wife and daughter.“Father, do you know about the party too?”Shining Armor also looked surprised at the question.“Flurry, we didn’t want you to find out about it so soon. We were going to talk to you about it next week.”“Find out what? What is going on next week?!”“Flurry, keep your voice down. Next week, we have a dinner with the Duke of Canterlot, his wife, and his son. Flurry, the Duke’s son, Caspian, proposed to unite the two kingdoms in a traditional way.”Shining Armor paused to take a breath and continued before Flurry could say anything.“Flurry, Caspian has asked for your hoof in marriage, and when he asked for our blessings, your mother and I agreed to his proposal.”“What? And you didn’t ask what I thought about it?!”“Flurry, understand that our traditions have to continue, and you, as a princess, have to follow them. You have to sacrifice yourself for this. You’ll understand—”“No, I will never understand why! Why do I have to marry someone I hate? You and Mom didn’t follow this path; you two chose each other for love. Mother, you are the Empress of Love, you can sense and understand that I don’t feel anything for him—”“It doesn’t matter what you feel for Caspian. You have no choice in this, Flurry!”“Why can’t I have one?!” Flurry shot magic through her horn and flapped her wings in anger, as did her father in a threatening way.“Because you don’t, and you never will have a say in this or in anything else!”Flurry stopped and just stared at her father in disbelief and betrayal. Her father, the one who always scared away any colt who would talk to her, had gone mad. She felt a lump in her throat and a sudden urge to cry, but only the tears came flooding through. Flurry took slow steps back, turned her back to her parents, and ran. She heard her name being called, but she could only hear a muffled sound. The clopping of her hooves echoed through the empty halls of the castle. She entered her room and slammed the door shut, her breath sharp and fast. As she stood there, she started to sob. She wanted to leave—she didn’t know where, but she wanted to leave now. Looking out the window, she grabbed her blue cloak, and just like that, she let herself fall before extending her wings and flying into the sky.As the distance between her and the castle grew, tears streamed down her face, and her sobs grew louder.~