The wind howled through the courtyard in front of the Royal Canterlot Gardens. The sky was sunny, but a cloud hung over this square, turning it drab and dreary. Aside from a few leaves skittering over the cobblestones, there was only stillness. The rest of the city hustled and bustled with multitudes of ponies going about their days, and the faint sounds of a celebration could be heard off in the distance, but in this courtyard nopony spoke.
Shining Armor sat in front of the statue of Princess Cadance, staring up at his wife, and then slowly lowered his head.
"Cadance…" he said softly, "Cadance, I'm so sorry about this. I'm going to miss you, and I wish you could be here with me today. I know everypony else does, too.
"But… what you did was awful. No matter what the excuse, what the provocation, you have to be punished. It hurts that you'll be gone, but if justice is going to be done, this is the way it has to be. The actions of ponies have consequences, even if that pony is a Princess. And even if that Princess is you.
"I know it might seem like it will be forever, but we'll be together again soon. I'm going to miss you for every second that we're apart, and you'll be the only pony I think of all that time. And hopefully, when we see each other again, you'll be able to understand why things had to be this way."
Pushing himself to his hooves, he turned to head into the garden. "Goodbye, Cadance," he said softly.
"But it's not faaaaair!" whined Cadance behind him, prancing up and down in front of the statue of Princess Twilight that flanked the other side of the entrance to the Royal Gardens. "I already missed their wedding, now I have to miss the reception too?!"
Shining Armor let out a sigh, turning back to trot over and stand by her. "Yes, you do. That's what a restraining order means. And even if Twilight and Chrysalis didn't have one on you, you have one on them too, remember?"
"But… but…"
"You need time to calm down, Cadance, and time to come to terms with the two of them being together. And after what you did… well, they need time to forgive you and recover from what you tried to do to them."
"I know… but…" Cadance looked over at him, her lower lip quivering. "Can't we forget about that? Just put it all on hold, just for today? I should have been there for Twilight's wedding!"
"Cadance…" Shining Armor let out another sigh and shook his head. "You could have been at her wedding the first time. You had the opportunity; she invited both of us. And you chose to do… what, instead?"
Cadance mumbled and kicked at a cobblestone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that."
Cadance let out a groan, but said, "I prepared myself for a war on Chrysalis."
"Which isn't a problem. In fact, had I not already known about them, I would have done the same. I'm talking about what happened after that, when you found out that Chrysalis really did love Twilight. What did you do when you knew it was true love, Cadance?"
"I... unilaterally decided that she didn't deserve Twilight."
"And then?"
"And then I spent months giving Chrysalis purposefully wrong advice for the explicit reason of destroying any hope of love between the two of them."
"And then?"
Cadance winced. "Then I… kind of attacked them, destroyed a restaurant, almost tried to kill Chrysalis, and tried to make Twilight love a pony that I had decided she should love rather than letting her choose for herself."
"Do you really think you deserve to go to their wedding and reception after all of that?"
Cadance hung her head. "No," she mumbled.
Shining Armor leaned against her, putting one foreleg around her and nuzzling up to her. "So you do understand then," he said gently. "After everything that's happened, it's better for all of you to stay apart, until the wounds can heal. They need to see that you truly can accept their love… and Twilight will, trust me. She's very forgiving."
"I know," said Cadance with a nod.
"And you need to see that they truly are in love," continued Shining Armor. "As amazed as I am by the whole thing… they are. They actually are. Even more frightening, I think they're good for each other. Twilight can learn a lot about being a leader from her—the parts that aren't as nice, that is. As for Chrysalis… well, the more she learns about friendship the better. Even a little bit would be a huge improvement."
"They are kind of cute together…" said Cadance hesitantly, then blushed when Shining Armor gave her a small smirk. "Well, they are! A-and you're right about them being good for each other. If anypony can keep Chrysalis under control, apparently Twilight is the one."
"And Chrysalis…?"
"And Chrysalis… might be able to help prepare Twilight for some of the more ruthless parts of being a Princess," admitted Cadance grudgingly.
"Like, say, trying to attack your sister-in-law's wedding and ruin her marriage?" Shining Armor asked with a raised eyebrow, and Cadance frowned at him.
"You know, as a Princess, I can issue my own restraining orders," she said frostily, lips pursed and eyes narrowed, "and I can apply them to things besides ponies. For instance, beds, and the activities that take place in them."
"Okay, I'm sorry," said Shining Armor nervously, holding up a hoof in a gesture of truce. "I don't mean to keep bringing that up. I won't do it again."
He gave her a look, seeing as how even as she nodded, her head was drooped and her shoulders slack.
"It's okay," he said softly, squeezing her again. "Everyone knows you didn't really mean what happened. They'll forgive you. And I'll always love you, no matter what."
"I know," she said quietly, hugging him back.
"And how is our other project going?" Shining Armor asked, taking a step back.
"It's… going," responded Cadance, making a face, then groaned when Shining Armor frowned at her. "I'm taking it seriously, I promise! It's just… letting a bunch of changelings into the Crystal Empire? That's like letting foxes into a hen house!"
"They're coming to help, Cadance! At least, they'd better be. But we need them. You know what a pain it's been trying to drag the Empire into the modern age. And not only do the changelings give us the bodies we need to do the work, thanks to Queen Chrysalis and the hivemind they actually have experience with how things have changed over the past thousand years. It might not make up for what happened at our wedding, but I'm happy with a bit of forced labor for the Empire as payback for that."
"It's a fitting punishment, I'll agree with that," admitted Cadance grudgingly. Shining Armor cleared his throat meaningfully, and she winced. "I'm working on my end too, but it's hard! I mean, finding a way to store love? I'm not a miracle worker!"
"I know, I know," Shining Armor replied soothingly. "And we're not asking for miracles. Or at least not quick ones. But collecting and storing all the excess love the Empire and Equestria produce is going to be the key to living in peace with the changelings. It's too diffuse for them to feed off of properly, and there's a limit to how much they can all feed on individual ponies."
He looked at her firmly. "And finding a way to solve that problem is part of your punishment too, Cadance. After everything you did to destroy love for a changeling—"
"I know, I know, now I need to find a way to get love for all of them." Cadance shivered. "I remember what the Princesses said at the trial. I've never actually heard Auntie Celestia use the Royal Canterlot Voice, but I think I would have preferred it to how she sounded."
"Yeah, well, if you'd been at some of the Royal Guard reviews I have… you wouldn't be saying that. I couldn't hear for a week."
Cadance giggled at him, and Shining Armor smiled back. Then his expression sobered.
"Well, I'm glad everything seems to be going well on that end, but I need to head off to the reception now," he said gently. "I'm sure they'll be wondering where I am. Are you going to be okay by yourself for a few hours?"
"I'll be fine," said Cadance, shuffling her hooves nervously. "Will you tell them… I'm sorry? Please, ask them to forgive me."
"I will," promised Shining Armor.
"And… can you give Twilight and Chrysalis this?"
Cadance reached back, pulling a small, gaily wrapped box out from under her wing. Shining Armor took it, eyeing it warily, and pushed the lid back to look inside. There was a long moment of silence.
"Oh, Cadance…" breathed Shining Armor finally.
Inside the box, nestled in its soft silk lining, was a pair of earrings. One was shaped like a six-pointed starburst, carved out of a deep green emerald. The other, in brilliant amethyst, was a pair of hole-riddled insect wings. Both were placed in settings of the purest gold.
"T-they're enchanted with the same spell I used when I was trying to—when I was talking with Chrysalis," explained Cadance meekly. "They can't share the hivemind, but this way they can at least talk to each other whenever they're apart—"
She stopped with a gasp as Shining Armor pulled her into a fierce hug.
"It's an absolutely perfect gift, Cadance," he said, pulling back to smile warmly as he gazed into her eyes. "They're going to love it, I promise. Trust the Princess of Love to come up with something as fitting as this, huh?"
Cadance blushed. "I really am sorry about everything I did. And I thought that since I tried to break them apart, maybe I could do something that would help bring them together…"
"It's a wonderful thought. I'll be sure to pass it on." He gave her one last squeeze, then turned to head into the gardens. "Okay, I'm going now. I'll see you again in a few hours. Try to find something fun to do, maybe see a play or go to a concert. Just… try to take your mind off everything for a while, okay?"
"Okay, Shining Armor, I will."
She watched him go as he walked into the gardens, until he disappeared around a hedge trimmed into the shape of Celestia and Luna's cutie marks. Hesitantly, she took a few steps forward, but then the warning tingle of the restraining order spell crawled up and down her neck, and she backed away with a small whine.
She stood gazing at the gardens for a moment longer, then turned away, head down, and began to trudge back to her hotel room.
There was no way to deny it: she had messed up. Bad. It was even worse than when Aunt Luna had turned into Nightmare Moon. At least Luna had had the excuse that she actually wasn't being given the respect she deserved, even if her reaction had been a bit out of line. But Cadance… she had acted out of spite, and jealousy, and pride. There was no excuse for that.
And look where it had gotten her. She had nearly destroyed true love—an action anathema to her very soul—because she had been so caught up in her own prejudices and preconceptions that she'd been blinded to its existence. She had hurt the sister-in-law and friend she loved so dearly, and even now she still wondered if Twilight would ever want anything to do with her again. And she'd done it all because she thought she knew the one true answer: that the only pony who Twilight deserved was Celestia. And why had she thought that? Because she was the Princess of Love, and therefore anything she thought about love had to be true.
She let out a snort as she trotted drearily through the streets of Canterlot. That had turned out well, hadn't it? Not only had she nearly destroyed Twilight's love, but everything she had put Twilight through may have even hurt her relationship with Celestia. No doubt Twilight would be looking at her mentor through different eyes now that Cadance had nearly forced her to fall in love with Celestia. And to top it all off, Celestia was still alone.
Her head slowly came up. Yes… Celestia was still alone, wasn't she? She might still have a bit of a crush on Twilight, but that would no doubt be fading soon now that Twilight was married. Celestia was nothing if not practical, and she would do everything she could to not let her feelings get in the way of her friendship with Twilight. So… she would need somepony new to love now.
Cadance began to trot faster. The immortality issue was something she'd have to consider, but when all was said and done, it wasn't a deal breaker, just something that would be nice to have. More important was the pony themselves. They had to be kind, respectful of Celestia's elevated stature while not being intimidated by it, able to deal with the heightened public attention they would receive… she didn't have to worry about whether or not they would be attracted to Celestia—what pony wouldn't be?—but getting Celestia to fall in love with them, on the other hoof…
Well, I am the Princess of Love, aren't I? Cadance thought cheerfully, nearly prancing now. And if there's one thing I can do, it's make two ponies fall in love…
Head held high, mind considering and rejecting various suitors for her aunt, Cadance continued down the street towards her hotel room. She had plans to make.