Chapter Four – Heart
Twilight tried to wait patiently in her seat after Luna had left the room. She honestly did. But after what felt like hours (though it was more likely only a few minutes), she stood up. Normally she was fine with waiting. Then again, she normally had a library full of books at her disposal to help her. She took to pacing the room and trying to measure it using her stride.
Seven, eight, nine. She had already determined it was fourteen paces wide. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. She wondered what the alicorns could be talking doing behind the door. No, she really didn’t. She knew they were discussing her. Not that knowing helped at all. Twenty two, twenty three, twenty four. The room was fourteen paces wide and twenty four paces long. It struck her that there was really no point in measuring a room that she was unlikely to return to.
She returned to her seat and sat down. Her mind wandered and she lost track of time. The door eventually creaked open. Her eyes shot up to see who it was. Cadence stepped out of the blackness behind the door. It was as if someone had set up a black curtain not far behind the princess solely to limit Twilight’s view.
Cadence gave her a warm smile as she walked over. The pink alicorn sat in front of Twilight in the same place Luna had occupied earlier. She glanced over at the large chair that Celestia had sat upon, “I’ve always wanted to sit in that chair.”
“Then why don’t you?” asked Twilight. She didn’t see any harm in it.
The princess shook her head slowly. “I can’t. Luna told us that you know of our little game. Only the winner can sit on it. That’s just the way it is.” She looked back at Twilight. “Not that it really matters. We’re here to discuss the spell, not Celestia’s chair. You read how the spell is cast?”
“Twice. The unicorn first casts a soul detection spell to visualize their soul. Next she draws upon the power of an artifact to enhance the power of the spell. Lastly she speaks the name of the spell aloud. All of this is done within a casting circle of enchanted emerald dust. Runes formed of crushed ruby ring the circle. Its design can be found in the book.” Twilight had clearly rehearsed the spell in her mind.
“You mentioned an artifact and the name of the spell. Do you know either of those yet?” Twilight shook her head in response to Cadence’s question. Her questions suggested that both used to be in the book. “Must have changed it at some point…” she muttered.
“Is there a problem, Cadence?”
“No, no. It just means I have more to teach you before we can continue. All previous casters have been bearers of the Element of Magic. I’m sure you can guess what the artifact is?”
A light appeared in Twilight’s eyes as she realized it. “They used the Element of Magic?”
Cadence bowed her head in the affirmative. “Even Celestia bore it briefly before Changing. It then went to Luna for a few years before her time came. It has passed from unicorn to alicorn and back hundreds of times over the millennia. About half of them have been given the opportunity before you today. Less attempted the spell.” A pained expression passed over her face, “Not all of them succeeded.”
Twilight hesitated before answering. Her stammered response: “The book mentioned nasty effects resulting from trying to cast the spell on other ponies. Is that what you mean?”
“Yes, and no. That accounts for some of the failures, but other unicorns were simply too weak to cast the spell properly. Their bodies twisted and deformed while their souls were simultaneously destroyed. I only saw it happen once. His screams still haunt my dreams.” Her voice had steadily fallen until it was barely audible at the end, as if speaking only to herself.
“Surely the Princess wouldn’t let me cast the spell if I weren’t capable.” Twilight didn’t dare make it a question.
Cadence brightened suddenly. “Of course not. There are ways to artificially augment magical capabilities. As long as you haven’t cheated to obtain your power, you should be safe.” She paused before adding, “Now would be the time to confess to using magical enhancing drugs, Twilight.”
“Um. No. What kind of pony could even think about putting that stuff in their bodies?”
“I agree, but not everypony does. Can you think of no one that would try to artificially increase their powers?”
Twilight remembered her duel with Trixie and the amulet that she had used to boost her magic. “I can think of somepony who might. It’s a real shame; she had a lot of potential.”
A tense moment passed. Neither of them wanted to be the first to speak. Eventually the moment stretched from tense to awkward and they both tried to rectify the problem.
“Why did you–”
“Did you bring–”
They both cut off to allow the other to finish. After a second or two, Cadence went ahead, “Did you bring the element with you? I’m not sure if Celestia would have told you to bring it or not.”
“No, I didn’t. Celestia keeps it stored here in the castle. It’s probably safer here. We tend to come here whenever Equestria needs saving so it’s fairly convenient.”
“We’ll have to ask her for it. Later, though.” Cadence tapped a hoof on her chair. “You were about to ask something?”
Twilight fidgeted uncomfortably. “Oh. Never mind that. It was nothing.”
Cadence wasn’t willing to let her off that easily. “No, Twilight, tell me. ‘Why did I’ what?”
Twilight did not answer at first. When she did, the words came slowly, as if being carefully filtered before passing from her lips. “Why did you marry my brother? I know it seems out of place, but I just realized that you, an immortal creature, married a mortal being. You will live on yet he will die in time. It doesn’t make sense.”
A smirk graced the princess’ lips. “We all have needs, Twilight. Although you won’t admit it, your brother, my husband, is one sexy hunk of stallion. As for why I married him instead of having my way and leaving him in an alley somewhere, keep in mind that I am royalty. It doesn’t do to have a princess casually fooling around with the guards. There’s far less political backlash this way.”
Twilight sputtered for a minute, trying to figure out whether or not to be mad that her brother was being used. Eventually she sorted out her mind enough to continue the conversation. “Does he know? That you’re using him, I mean. Not the politics of the situation.”
Cadence feigned being offended, “Why Twilight, it’s not as though he does not get perks of his own. Keep in mind I have a cutie mark in making love.”
Twilight’s jaw fell to the floor, and then burst through and kept falling. Cadence’s bluntness of the situation shocked Twilight. She took another minute to regroup her thoughts. Most prevalent was “She’s using him”, although not in so polite words. She realized something after replaying the princess’ words in her mind. “You didn’t really answer my question.”
The pink alicorn sighed before answering, “No. He doesn’t know that I’m using him.” Then, realizing how bad that sounded she added, “It’s not as though I don’t love him. I just love what he can do to me more.” Her eyes glazed over and smiled slightly as if remembering something pleasant. She snapped back to reality after a moment, “I’ve learned by observing others that getting emotionally attached to somepony that will die only causes problems. To be immortal is to be alone, Twilight.”
It struck Twilight that she too would end up alone if she lived on forever. Her friends in Ponyville would all die after time. Her family would likewise die. Did it not make sense to make the best of them while she could? Twilight could not begrudge Cadence for having the same wisdom, even if it meant taking advantage of her brother. She remembered that she would not be alone. Celestia had seen to that. She could live on forever with Spike, watching him grow as she likewise grew in magical capabilities. Twilight wondered when Celestia had started that tradition.
Cadence’s voice interrupted Twilight’s thoughts, “It’s not like I regularly do that or keep ponies around for that purpose. I’ve been an alicorn for close to six hundred years and your brother was the first since before my Changing. Not like a certain other princess in this castle.” A knowing smile skittered across her face, suggesting juicy gossip lay on the tip of her tongue waiting to burst out. “Why, I almost got Celestia removed from power for that very reason.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide, clearly not used to imagining that about her teacher. Cadence went on when she saw the unicorn’s response, “What? I’m an alicorn. I play the game too. I would have been around two hundred years old at the time. I was still a child as far as alicorns go; I still bore my original cutie mark.”
Twilight couldn’t help herself. She just had to interrupt. “Original cutie mark? You mean it changes and you get a new one?”
“Yes. Keep in mind that we all used to be great wielders of magic. As far as I know, we all had cutie marks similar to yours before Changing. We discover our other talents after we Change and no longer need to focus on magical abilities alone. I used to have a pair of crossed wands, stars raining down from the tips. Celestia didn’t have a picture of the sun on her flank until she took control of it, long after Changing. Nor Luna her moon.”
Cadence didn’t seem displeased by the tangent, although she was eager to return to her tale. “Like I said, I played the game regardless of my youth. I was in a unique position. Celestia thought me too young to cause any real damage so she allowed me nearly unlimited freedom. Over time I got a great knowledge of the inner workings of Equestrian royalty, especially when it came to, shall we say, hidden relationships.”
Cadence was clearly not impressed with the nobles. “Because of their ‘power’, many of the nobles believed they could do what they will to any pony below them. While not excluded from the letter of the law, many of the peasants felt pressured to remain quiet about their abusers. This led to a gradual increase in occurrences. Naturally, Celestia trumps all of these nobles, and so she would, theoretically, be free to do what she would with any of them.”
A glimmer sparkled in her eyes. “When I realized this, I started thinking of how I could use it against her. She seemed oblivious to the fact, likely due to the nobles striving to hide their actions from her. I devised a way to force two ponies to lust for each other. I believe it is now referred to as a love poison. I later devised a spell based on it capable of the same thing, but lasting a shorter duration. Anyway, I slipped a portion of it into her drink one evening. She had invited a Count over for the evening to discuss something.
Cadence was visibly struggling to keep a straight face. “I don’t know why they met, but I do know what ended up happening. The whole of Canterlot heard exactly what happened. Their activities could be heard halfway to Ponyville. Of course, it didn’t end there. It took close to a week for the caretakers to soundproof the castle to a satisfactory level. By then complaints had started pouring in from all over of Equestria. Word traveled fast. Most of the castle staff had left by the end of the month.”
The princess was close to losing control, and she knew it too. She made an effort to wrap up quickly. “In short, she was too busy being… busy… to manage Equestria. I had the unicorns left in the castle take control of the sun and moon. Celestia left them to roam wild. In the end I took over her duties and had complete control for a few years, although it was from a location far from the castle to get away from the noise.”
“What ended up happening?” Twilight asked.
“He died. Time (and effort) caught up with the Count and he keeled over dead, freeing Celestia from the potion. Equestria had been mine for close to a decade before she regained her senses. Needless to say, she was less than amused, largely because she was powerful enough to remember what happened during that time. If not for the elements being under other ponies’ control, I imagine that I would have been sent to pay Luna a visit.”
After her conclusion, both Cadence and Twilight sat in silence for a while. Minutes passed, yet neither moved nor dared to speak. Twilight was busy figuring out where her role model now fit and Cadence was trying to figure out whether or not she had broken Twilight. She hoped not, or eternity would be a long, long time for the unicorn.
Twilight was roused from her thoughts by Cadence’s voice. “Before I leave, you should know the name of the spell. By now you should be able to figure it out.” There was a brief pause wherein Twilight scrunched up her face in concentration. Cadence carried on when Twilight’s shoulders slumped and she shook her head, “Fine. It’s <<<CENSORED BY EQUESTRIAN BOARD OF DEFENSE>>>.”
With that Cadence left Twilight to ponder her newfound knowledge. As she opened the door, the princess turned back. “Twilight, a word of warning: alicorn puberty sucks.” The door’s latch clicked shut behind her.
Okay, Cadence is first on the "kill" list. Just for using Shining Armour, it gets to be personal, slow and bloody.
1826259
Yeah, it's kind of mean-spirited to have that in the story anyway. Twilight should be furious at her for it. Hell, I'm pissed at her (and the author) for it.
Ok, I with form all of these alicorns to die horrible deaths. They are all selfabsorbed, give next to no thought about other ponies well-being and they cruelly abuse mortals in their game. Is there any reason for these beings to exist at all?
>>>“I’ve learned by observing others that getting emotionally attached to somepony that will die only causes problems. To be immortal is to be alone, Twilight.”>>
Wow... they really ARE arrogant assholes! This sounds exactly like the 'Mine is a high and lonely destiny' crap Queen Jadis used to excuse her use of the Deplorable Word to end all life but herself on the world of Charn before coming to Narnia and becoming the White Witch in "The Magician's Nephew".
Such cold, calculated cowardice! Gah! Haven't most of us had pets we loved dearly who died? Does that stop us from getting another one and loving it just as dearly? Do we not know that they are 'lesser' than we are? That we'll outlive them? Yet we still get them, we still love them, we sorrow when they die and we remember them. And then we find another.
I have had over a dozen pets die, and I can name them all and their ages at death: cockatiels Heckle (5, crushed by falling window) and Samantha (7, died of pneumonia), parakeet Eli (16, died of extreme old age), Sasha, grey short-hair Persian mix cat (7, likely liver cancer), Ben the tabby cat (6-8, found as stray unsure of age, died of neuroblastoma), Ami the 'cow-hair' fat cat (14, put to sleep due to large interstitial tumor), Queenie, tuxedo cat (12-14, also rescued stray, heart failure), Mittens (semi-stray, age unknown, hit by car, dragged himself to the house by his front legs though his back was broken), Figaro, cat which looked like the cat of same name from "Pinnochio" (unknown age, rescued stray, brain tumor leading to complete blindness before euthanasia), Laddie, yellow lab mix (rescued stray, age unknown, put down from unspecified wasting disease), Buddy, Yello Lab, one of the most intelligent dogs I have ever seen, could ollow complex commands containing simple syntax (7, dilated cardiomyopathy).
I currently have 5 cats, a dog, and two birds. And I will be alive long after every last one has died. And yet I will still have more pets and love each and every one.
I have also outlived quite a few friends, the most recent to die being a very unexpected and sudden death due to bacterial pulmonary infection after nearly recovering from severe influenza in 2010. And still I make new friends, some already fairly close to dying due to age or disease, knowing that I will likely outlive them.
Now tell me, is any immortal alone by virtue of their immortality, or their pathetic, childish inability to deal with loss and grief? Nay, not even childish. Many children are far stronger than these alicorn idiots. They are worthy of nothing eternal but my scorn.
1827565 Yeah! You tell 'im! *Keeps reading the story anyway*
If anything else, and I'm sorry, but this story IS enjoyable for A) the original purpose, but more B) finding flaws in their logic and how they're still ruling and whatnot. I can only assume that, perhaps, the more 'frown up' Alicorns are actually DOING something outside of Equestria, and aren't as childish and stupid as THIS universe's Celes, Tia and Cadence seem to be.
Minor correction: By now you should be able to figure it out by now. = eliminate one of the repeats.
I hate this
but i love this
You are putting them in the place of the gods and i haven't seen a good one like that before.
It just keeps getting more strange by each chapter.
Want it need it spell. called it.
1829378 im right with you on this one
alicorn puberty sucks. Best quote ever.
I MUST KNOW THE NAME OF THE SPELL!!!!!!
why won't you tell me!!!!!!!
1836380
Isn't it obvious? It's REDACTED
This story's Cadence is now officially placed as number 1 on my "Characters to Nuke First" list.
List of Characters to die be my blade
3. Crysaslis
2.Celestia
1. Cadence ()
Arrg... if you are trying to make me hate all alicorns you are doing a very good job.
Okay ... I was continuing to read out of curiosity, but I think I'm done now.
I see what you're doing mr author. i see it and i like it.
Ooh how the plot thickens. This story is dastardly delightful!
Speaking of plot. Bow-chicka-wow-wow. EVERYONE knows Molestia but to think Cadence would just...AARRGGHH
1826259
You can also look at things this way: when you live forever, "Till death do us part" stops being a commitment, and starts being an escape clause.
Everyone reading this who says "wow, alicorns make war for fun, what assholes" has apparently missed the part where no one has mentioned any wars. It's all been subterfuge and intrigue. And that's probably way more interesting.
Also damn. I like this Cadance. Honestly I wouldn't even call what she's doing "using" Shining Armor- she says she does love him, and it's not as though he went into this not knowing she was immortal. Frankly the idea that he's the first one to inspire this level of commitment from her since she changed seems like a pretty big honor to me.
I'm not exactly on board with the name of the spell being censored. It takes the reader out of the story rather sharply, especially with the metatextual reference to Equestria- if an Equestrian authority censored this text, then who wrote it and where is it being published, etc., etc. And frankly it seems more like a decision by the author not to come up with a name for the spell than anything.
1827565 really people. JUST A story . you people are so friggin serious!
Wow, Cadance is a cunt.