Chapter 10
“Here's your waffles, sir!”
Rosseth folded up his morning newspaper and set it down on the table in front of him, right next to a steaming mug of hot coffee. Having reached the Crystal Empire early that morning, the zebra had slept at one of the inns at the far edge of the city, and now was trying to wake up with a nice breakfast to keep him one step ahead of his enemies. His waitress was a cute earth pony mare, yellow in color with white hair tied up with the head ribbons citizens of the Empire found comfortable. She set down his plate, a wide metal platter stacked high with four Belgian-style waffles nearly turned white with the amount of powdered sugar the chef had piled on top. He chuckled and wondered if the large syrup bottle she set down next would even be necessary.
“Thank you sweetheart,” he said smoothly, “these look absolutely wonderful.”
The waitress gave him a wink and a smile before turning around to serve another customer, her long tail swishing near the table. Rosseth brought the plate of waffles closer to him using his hoof, and grabbed a bite from the stack. She seemed quite pleasant to look at, and her friendliness probably carried over outside her job as it did for many crystal ponies.
“Rosseth, what are you doing?” thought the zebra, “There's no need to take a liking to these soon-to-be-gone disposables. They're ponies, not a zebra like you, they have no interest in getting to know you anyways! That's why you're here.”
He tried to finish his food, but couldn't get through the third waffle due to the outrageous portions the restaurant had served him. After shamefully pushing the plate away from himself, the waitress came back to carry the leftovers away. She smiled to let him know there'd be no judgment over the wasted food, and tried to start a conversation as she cleaned up the table.
“So how was it?”
“Excellent, as I thought it would be, thanks,” he said to her, smiling.
“Glad to hear,” the waitress answered, sweeping a few crumbs off the table with her hooves, “you know, we don't get too many zebras here in the Crystal Empire. Any reason you're up here?”
“Business,” answered Rosseth, using his typical lie, “I have some things to take care of for my career, including paying a visit to Princess Cadance if she's in town.”
“Oh, going to see the Princess on official business? Must be important,” she said in a supportive way, “so what's your job, anyways, to have to work with royalty?”
The zebra decided he was going to tease his server with a little bit of wordplay. He was beginning to take a liking to her, and felt playful. It wouldn't matter anyway once his plan had been completed and she would be out of his mind for good.
He leaned back in his chair, “I work in the potions industry, and I've come up with one that the Princess absolutely must see. It's quite the powerful recipe, I even think it'll leave her... speechless.”
“Oooh, good luck!” she answered, batting her eyelashes at him, “I'd ask just what your new potion is, but I'm sure it's a company secret.”
“And you'd be right,” laughed Rosseth gently, “of course, it's much easier to keep it secret from greedy coworkers than it is from flirty mares serving good food.”
The mare giggled and set the plate onto her clearing tray, “How else am I supposed to get tips?”
“Well you've certainly earned this one,” he answered, reaching underneath his cape and pulling out a small bag of bits for her, “I hope you'll take this here so the other waitresses don't get jealous.”
“Th.. thanks!” she stuttered at his generosity, the weight of the bag telling her it likely contained at least twenty coins, if not more, “my name's Lighthearted, by the way.”
With her introducing herself, Rosseth wondered if he could use this friendly conversation to his advantage. If the pests that had attacked him in Stargazer's Peak came back, they'd have a harder time detaining him if the Crystal Ponies saw him as a good guy. The potion maker added a hint of concern to his expression and lowered his voice.
“I'm Rosseth,” he answered softly, “I'm so happy to talk to anyone friendly. There's been this horrible group of guys after me. They think I'm up to no good, but I'm just trying to make an honest living in the potions business. Especially this green stallion with a metal saddle, I think he has it in for me.”
As expected, Lighthearted assured him, “I don't know what their problem is, but if I see that guy and he asks for you, I'll pretend you weren't around.”
“Thank you sweetie, I appreciate it,” answered the zebra as he stood up, dropping the rest of the money required of him on the table, “now, I need to go and take care of that sales pitch to the princess.”
“If.. if you want, since you're new here, I'd like to give you a tour of the empire if you don't mind, this afternoon,” she said, smiling, “I get off at three.”
“Why, we've just met!” teased the zebra.
“I know, but I'd do this for any guest, really, most crystal ponies would,” she answered, rolling her eyes, “it's a courtesy, not a date.”
It was as if blessings were pouring from the sky. Rosseth had no idea where the primary power crystal vault was, but this mare in front of him was likely to let him know if he could just hang out until three without getting caught. That would be easy, if he played his cards right and avoided another fight with Techorse.
“In that case, I accept! I'll be back here at three,” he said, bowing gently, “have a good day now, Lighthearted!”
“Thanks, you too!” she said as she watched him walk away, “And welcome to the Crystal Empire, Rosseth! The best place to be!“
“Thank you!” he answered finally before walking away.
Rosseth chuckled and shook his head.
“The best place to be... for now.”
Breakfast at the Crystal Palace had been more humble than usual, with Shining Armor wanting to get his guards mobilized as soon as possible. Still, the cooks had prepared a decent meal of toast, scrambled eggs, and hot oatmeal with brown sugar for Techorse and his friends. They sat at the large dining hall table, a fixed piece made from marble, with Ignitus and Arbiter sitting on the opposite side. Limpwing had left the palace early in the morning to do some “advance scouting”, having disappeared from her room without a trace.
Midnight Blaze was still trying to avoid the glances of his father, who was finally without hat and coat. For the first time, Techorse could see just how large the unicorn was, and how menacing he looked. Perhaps the detective's strategy for apprehending criminals was to scare them into submission, unlike his cousin Arbiter, who was happy to use skillful acts of force to subdue his opponents. Either way, Techorse saw his friend chewing on a piece of toast and avoiding eye contact with his father, tension clearly between them. They were all sitting around, chewing in silence, avoiding the talk a healthy family would have.
Flaming Ivory decided to break the awkward silence with a hoofball reference, “Soooo, how about them Hoofington Howlers?”
“I don't keep up with sports much,” muttered Ignitus, cutting into a hard cooked egg with a fork and knife suspended into his aura.
“Oh...”
“So what's it like being a detective?” asked Shadow Breeze, hoping he'd get a more solid answer.
“It's a lot of travel, and a lot of hard work, but you get to see the world,” answered Ignitus, putting his silverware down and taking interest in the question, “and my contributions are helpful to Equestria. Last month I looked into a group of ponies in Manehattan going around demanding protection money from the store owners. Fairly easy to see why they called themselves the 'Broken Glass Gang'.”
“Yeah, wave goodbye to your windows if you don't pay up,” sighed Flaming Ivory, “I remember hearing about those creeps. So many broken shop windows and display cases.”
“Right, and the citizens of Manehattan just decided to put up with it and let the police take care of the robberies,” continued Ignitus, his fiery eyes staring into Shadow Breeze's, “that is, until the chief of police's son went to buy a wedding ring so he could propose to his marefriend.”
With the story getting good, Midnight Blaze finally looked up from his piece of toast and listened in. He obviously didn't care about his line of work, but there was something fun about hearing troublemakers getting what was due to them.
Arbiter chuckled, “Oh those poor stallions. I remember this story, Ignitus. Are you sure it's appropriate to tell at the breakfast table?”
“They're adults, Arbiter,” grunted Ignitus, “I think they'll be fine with it.”
“Uh oh,” chuckled Techorse, “if Arbiter thinks this gets crazy, maybe I don't want to know.”
“Anyways,” continued Ignitus as he ignored the interruption, “the chief of police had her son go and choose a nice ring for his wife. He had a piece custom-ordered from a prestigious wedding band company in Manehattan square, and it was held in the store until the goons decided they wanted it for themselves. In the middle of the night, just a day before the proposal, they smashed the store up and stole the ring.”
“How horrible,” commented Shadow Breeze, frowning.
“So I was sent on the case to sort things out and track down the missing ring,” Ignitus explained, “I'd handled many robberies before, and I knew they'd strike again if we offered something tempting enough, so I had the police chief order another jeweler to stock ten hundred thousand bits worth of gold and silver watches.”
Midnight Blaze heard the comment about the watches and cringed. He remembered the story, and knew he was going to be embarrassed when his father had finished it.
“Dad, wait,” he said, panic in his voice.
Ignitus ignored him, “So that evening, the suspects showed up, four of them, all earth ponies wearing ski masks. They break the windows like they always do, and then they enter the shop. I had hidden myself in the vault, and was ready for them. Several of the police officers had taken position in the sewers beneath the store and were ready to jump out.”
“Please stop!” begged Midnight.
Techorse caught on to Midnight's pleas, “Ignitus, I know you're a brave guy, but Midnight's clearly not comfortable...”
“Just a minute Techorse, almost done,” he said, “besides, you're a hero. You won't mind hearing a story like this, I'm sure you've seen a lot like it before.”
Techorse gave him an angry look, but that did nothing to deter him from finishing the story.
“So in they come to steal the watches, and then, I burst out of the safe with an explosive spell. The blast triggers the store alarm, and heavy metal bars come down over the windows and doors,” he said, Midnight covering his head with his hooves, “we had forgotten about the security system, and the police were locked out.”
Shadow Breeze gasped, “Oh no, you were trapped in there with four violent criminals?”
The red unicorn smirked, “On the contrary Shadow, they were trapped in there with me.”
Then, with a calm and collected voice, Ignitus described the horrid event, “All of them rushed me at once, but I was prepared for them. A fire spell was enough to make the one on the right regret their charge immediately, and he was rolling around, screaming as the flames started to eat away his clothing. The other two jumped, and I caught them with my magic before I slammed their faces into the display cases. From the reports it took them an hour to remove all the shards from their...”
Each of the other ponies save Arbiter grew wide-eyed as Ignitus described the scenes of the intense beating he had given the four robbers. One of them thrown through a display case and left to writhe, another burnt, and one more bashed up against the bars.
“...finally, it was down to just me and the leader. I grabbed him by the throat with a constriction spell, and held him aloft in the air, choking him. He wouldn't tell me what his gang had done with the ring, so I decided to take things a step further. I located the colts' room at the back of the shop, and thrust his head down into the first toilet.”
“Sweet Celestia, why?” whimpered Shadow Breeze, sobbing gently, “Make him stop, Midnight!”
“I...I can't,” he answered gloomily.
“Every time he was about to drown, I'd pull his head out and demand to know where the ring was. Eventually he gave up, and spilled the entire story,” finished Ignitus, “it wasn't pleasant, but we got the ring back, and the gang was finished. It was a great service to Manehattan, but I left before I could accept the medal the city wanted to offer me...”
The detective paused as he noticed that Techorse, Flaming Ivory, and Shadow Breeze sat there, mouths agape.
“Is something... wrong?” he asked.
Techorse tried to say something, but Flaming spoke first, “That's messed up! You erased four unarmed guys like that? All they ever did was break windows, and you put 'em in pony bags!”
Ignitus realized he had left out a crucial piece of information and said apologetically, “Oh, I beg your pardon, gentlecolts. I should have mentioned the suspects all survived the ordeal before going into detail.”
“Like that makes it any better,” groaned Techorse, “do you understand how cruel you were? You could have just pinned them down magically until the police got past the bars.”
“Nothing is too cruel for those trying to disrupt Equestria's peace,” stated Ignitus flatly.
“You tried to drown somepony in a toilet,” cried Shadow Breeze, “that's too cruel for anyone!”
“I fail to understand your offense,” grunted the detective, “I was just doing my job, and torturing the leader was the best way to get the information on the ring. I never said my family's duty to Equestria was pleasant, nice, or fun, just that it is necessary.“
“Well, I can see why Midnight doesn't want to follow in your hoofsteps,” said Techorse sternly, standing up from the table, “come on guys, let's go. I'm not hungry anymore.”
The four ponies stood up and left the dining room, leaving a dumbfounded Ignitus and Arbiter alone at the table.
“I don't understand, cousin,” he sighed, “Techorse is supposed to be an Equestrian hero, at least as far as I've been told. I thought perhaps the Broken Glass incident would be mild in comparison to what he's faced in his travels. His saddle is bristling with advanced weapons, as far as I've know from you, and he's supposedly good with them.”
“Techorse is very powerful,” agreed Arbiter, reaching for his cup of coffee, “but he is not much into beating his opponents senseless like you or I. He prefers to only have to take things as far as they need to go in order to defuse the situation.”
“What are you saying, Arbiter?” he asked.
The white stallion sipped from the cup and set it back down before smirking at his relative, “I'm saying that Techorse is idealistic and very gullible at times, but he has something you don't... the willingness to give others a chance. If you were to explain to him why you treat Midnight so poorly, he'd ridicule you for it and give you a lecture. Just like his marefriend...“
“Which is why I’ve made you swear not to tell him our secret,” cautioned his cousin, frowning.
“Right, but the fact you are making me keep it a secret is evidence enough that it's foolish,” laughed Arbiter, “you've done enough, Ignitus. There's no more need for paying back society.”
“We can never do enough for Equestria,” growled Ignitus.
Arbiter turned in his chair to face him directly and confronted the unicorn, “Are you sure it's Equestria you're trying to satisfy, or yourself? I gave up on this stupid game ages ago, Ignitus. That 'passion' for stopping threats to our nation is what led me down a path that nearly resulted in my death. I really worry for you, cousin.”
“Thanks Arbiter, but I don't need you or anypony else to worry about me,” he said, pushing away from the table, “I'm going out there to look for that zebra now. I don't want to hear about this topic again.”
He left Arbiter alone in the room, the caped pony staring at his now cold scrambled eggs and steaming cup of coffee. A sigh escaped the stallion's lips as he reclined in the chair. Getting the message across to his relative was not going to be easy, despite Techorse's rejection and his own logic.
“Guess you'll just have to learn things the hard way, old friend...”
A pink-colored carriage pulled by two pegasus stallions pulled up to the palace, and the doors opened quickly as a dress-clad Cadance stepped out. Her outfit was a simple green dress with a few yellow buttons on the front, and she quickly walked up to the first of the four doors of the palace to get inside as soon as possible. Her crown was missing, and the matching high heels she was wearing made her have an awkward strut to the door.
“Strange, where are the guards?” she mused as she pushed open the door and entered the foot of the palace.
Since there weren't any ponies around to watch, she uncouthly changed out of the dress right there at the doorstep, and put back on her crown and mantle. High heels were kicked off into various directions, and the young princess decided to scratch an itch on her back from the discomfort of the gown.
“From one duty to the next...” she sighed as she placed the tiny crown back on her head, her neck jewelry having been worn underneath the dress, “having two jobs is quite the adventure.”
After stuffing the dress and her shoes lazily into her bag, the slender mare continued on into her home, hoping there'd at least be one staff member to talk to. With the guards gone, chances were her husband was out as well, such was life for a two-job couple.
The hallways were lonely and empty, but on her way back to her room, Cadance spotted Techorse and company brooding in a tea room set aside for guests. She walked up to the door of the room, not spotted by the four, and listened in on the conversation.
“I'm thinking we should ditch the others and go get Ross ourselves,” declared Flaming Ivory, slamming his hooves on the tea table, “we got too many losers like Ignitus and Shining Armor telling us how to do things and then ruining our appetites by telling us how many ponies they've beaten up. Princess Luna said we gotta get the chalice back, so we're still in charge here!”
“Luna's chalice has been found again?” thought Cadance as she continued to eavesdrop, “That can't be good...”
“Flaming, we don't need to totally remove the others from the situation,” said Techorse, trying to calm him down, “we just have to get the chalice back ourselves before they do.”
“Oh? Why?” asked Shadow Breeze.
Cadance, unable to stand her curiosity anymore, knocked quickly on the glass doors to the tea room with her hoof.
“Come on in,” called out Flaming Ivory.
The princess pushed the door open gently, earning smiles and bright eyes from the stallions, especially Techorse.
“Princess Cadance,” he beamed, standing up with his friends, “good to see you! How'd the counseling go?”
“Good to see you too, Techorse,” she answered, smiling, “and it went great. They're going to give things another chance.”
“I'm glad to hear it!”
“So who are these guys?” she asked, pointing to the other three stallions in the room.
“Oh yeah, sorry, these are my friends, Shadow Breeze, Flaming Ivory, and Midnight Blaze,” he said, a bit embarrassed he was holding a casual conversation without them.
Flaming Ivory tried to bow to her, “It's an honor to meet you, your highness!”
“Please, you can call me Cadance, I'm on a first name basis with most of the crystal ponies... and you're friends with Techorse,” she said humbly, “being a princess is just a title to me.”
“Aw well, I'm just being nice,” answered the musician, blushing.
“Anyways Cadance, we need to talk to you about something,” said Techorse a bit more seriously.
“I'm going to assume it's about Luna's chalice,” Cadance said meekly, “I might have overheard your conversation a bit.”
“That's ok,” forgave Shadow Breeze, adjusting his posture in his chair, “long story short, we were sent to Stargazer's Peak by Princess Luna to try and buy the lunar chalice back from the duke. But when we got there, it was stolen by a zebra! Now he's here, and we're trying to hunt him down before he does something awful with it.”
“He's also in possession of a dark artifact of another kind,” warned Midnight Blaze, standing up, “we're not sure what it is, but it had to be contained in a heavy-duty artifact transport container lined with magic absorbents. At least, that's what my dad told me.”
“So who is this zebra?” asked Cadance curiously.
Techorse answered with a clear tone, “Rosseth.”
The stallions watched as Princess Cadance's face went pale, and the slender princess took a step back, her mouth falling open slightly.
“Did you just say... Rosseth?” she said weakly.
“Uh oh,” groaned Flaming Ivory, “sit down and tell us what you know about this guy...”
She stumbled over to another one of the wooden, padded chairs, and sat down gently, breathing as if anxious. The four others in the tea room looked at her with concerned expressions, and Techorse offered the princess a cup of tea, which she refused.
“Cadance, what's wrong?” asked Techorse, “What do you know about Rosseth?”
“He... he's my... biggest failure,” she answered slowly, her ears sinking back and her eyes going to the ground.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Shadow Breeze, tilting his head.
The princess looked up at him, “Long ago, before the Crystal Empire returned, I grew up learning how to be a marriage and family counselor. About the time I was babysitting and just getting used to my strength in love magic and therapy, I got the strangest case I had ever seen, and rushed into headfirst not knowing what I was doing.”
Cadance eventually accepted the teacup Techorse had pushed her way, and with her magic she picked the cup up and sipped from it, trying to calm her nerves. Once the cup was safely back on its saucer, she took another deep breathe and continued her story.
“It was the strangest thing. A zebra stallion nicknamed Lancer had come to Equestria on vacation from his island nation, and met an earth pony mare named Honeysuckle his age in port. They fell in love, and become a married couple that year, with him moving permanently to Equestria,” continued Cadance, eyes unmoving from her cup of black tea, “they conceived a foal, Rosseth... a pony and zebra hybrid. I always knew they were possible, but I had never seen one before.”
“That explains why he has a brown patch from his chin to his belly,” said Shadow Breeze, “he's half pony and half zebra!”
“Rosseth was never ostracized for his appearance, thankfully, but Lancer and Honeysuckle started to drift apart from each other. I think they rushed their marriage too fast, and realized they weren't very compatible,” she said, “I later on met a different zebra and pony couple with better luck, but...”
“But what about Ross?” asked Flaming Ivory, trying to keep things on track.
She realized she was getting off topic, and adjusted herself, “Right, sorry. What happened was, I tried my hardest to make sure Lancer and Honeysuckle stayed together, for Rosseth's sake and to prove myself as a learning Princess of Love. But... I failed. They divorced, and I was reprimanded heavily by my peers in Canterlot for my failure.”
Shadow Breeze frowned, “I'm so sorry...”
Princess Cadance shut her eyes, crying bitterly, “No Shadow Breeze... don't feel bad for me. The real loser was Rosseth. He ended up running away from Honeysuckle's home just before he became an adult. Lancer and Honeysuckle begged me to help them find him, and they'd agree on custody... but we never saw him again, and it was all my fault!”
“Cadance...”
The princess opened her eyes, and saw Techorse's saddle open, the mechanical arms clutching a box of tissues. She grabbed one magically and dried her eyes with it, crumpling the facial tissue in a ball and dropping it on the table before taking another and blowing her nose. Techorse's friends seemed to share her misery, barely able to make eye contact, their faces downcast.
“You can't blame yourself for Rosseth's parents splitting,” said Techorse, “they chose not to work things out. But now that I know Rosseth is out for revenge against you... I think maybe showing him your pain over it might be just the thing to get him to stop.”
“Oh man, don't tell me we're giving that creep a chance, Techorse,” moaned Flaming Ivory, facehoofing, “he tried to blast us, man!”
“I know, but...”
“No, Flaming Ivory is right,” sighed Cadance, “it's a shame, but we're going to have to bring Rosseth in before we can do much for him. I'm assuming my husband is out trying to catch him, can't wait to tell him too about all this...”
“All right,” answered Techorse, defeated, “we'll bring him in first. Let's go guys, we need to support the guards.”
They stood up, and headed for the door, until Princess Cadance saw Midnight Blaze pass. She stuck out her wing, blocking his exit as his friends left.
“Hold on, Midnight Blaze, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Please, sit back down, I sensed something about you... do I know you?” she asked.
“Probably not,” he answered as he returned to his seat, “what's this you sensed?”
“I sensed something was wrong,” she said gently, “you were sad before I told the story about Rosseth. What's bothering you?”
“Nothing's bothering me...”
Midnight Blaze looked around with his light blue eyes, trying to avoid contact. A feeling started to tug at his heart to talk about it, and the warm smile Cadance had reached out with was quite difficult to resist.
He decided to give up, “I guess you being the Princess of Love and all, I'm not going to fool you. I'll tell you if it means that much to you.”
“I would have been willing to let it go if you weren't comfortable talking about it,” said Cadance, “but I'm glad you want to open up now.”
“Well... I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't love me,” admitted the unicorn, “he's been disappointed with me for not going into the military like he did.”
Princess Cadance almost felt like laughing. If she had a bit for every time she had heard that from a stallion with a very accomplished dad...
“That is a very common thought of young stallions growing up under tough fathers!” she laughed, “I'm sure your father still loves you, and just wants you to be the best you can be.”
“I thought you might say that,” grunted Midnight Blaze, “but he won't leave off about it. I already have a career in magical items, but he keeps hounding me about serving. I know he was Captain of the Guard, and he thinks it's great and all... but why do I have to go in too?”
Cadance stopped him, “Wait, your father was the Captain of the Guard? I'm not sure I follow...”
“Yeah, he's Ignitus, he used to be Celestia's captain ages ago before he quit to become a private investigator.”
“Oh... Oh dear,” she said through gritted teeth, “Shining Armor was his replacement, and then Arbiter after him. I think I can see why he's so tough on you, both of them are pretty brutal.”
“I know,” he said miserably, “my mother wasn't even able to get him to stop picking on me. I don't know how they stayed together honestly, maybe it was because my little brother Twinken wouldn't be able to handle them breaking up.”
“I'm sure things have been hard, but I bet Ignitus still loves you very much,” assured Princess Cadance, “it's very difficult to get somepony to stop loving their own foal.”
“I'm just tired of the harassment and the disappointment, I want to go back to my inventing career,” Midnight groaned, “but even when I show him what it's good for he still thinks its not good enough. Even my friendship with Techorse is worthless to him... he's taken it to mean Tech's mentoring me instead.”
“Oh he's in for a disappointment,” chuckled Cadance, knowing Techorse's nature.
“The worst part is, he says our family owes Equestria some kind of a debt, and that's why I have to serve, but he won't tell me what that is exactly,” continued Midnight, ignoring Cadance's moment of fun, “if he just told me why I have to go and become a soldier, maybe I'd actually think about it.”
“I'll tell you what,” said Cadance softly, “I'll go talk to Ignitus myself and make him tell me why he's being so harsh to you. Since he claims to be in service to Equestria, it'll be hard to say no.”
“That'll just make him more upset,” he answered, choking, “please don't!”
“...and if that doesn't work, I have another idea.”
Midnight Blaze paused, “What is it?”
The princess didn't really want to offer what she was about to, but it was her job to take care of special cases in relationships, and this was definitely worthy.
“I'll pull a couple of strings and get you a nice desk job with the Crystal Guard,” she said, “you'd still have to get your mane cut, and do some basic training, but I'll get my husband to put you through that so you don't have too much trouble. Then Ignitus should leave you alone, and you won't be out on patrol all the time like him. Sound good?”
It wasn't really what he wanted either, but doing paperwork for the military sounded better than being some kind of a front line fighter like his father, so Midnight Blaze agreed reluctantly to the deal. He nodded slowly, and returned Cadance's looks finally after avoiding eye contact for so long.
“Great! I'll work my magic then,” she said, giving him a wink, “now I bet Techorse is outside already waiting on you. Best of luck finding Rosseth.”
“Thank you Princess Cadance!” he said happily, getting up from his chair.
As he pushed open the doors to the room, Cadance called out, “Oh, and one more thing.”
“Sure.”
“Please go gentle on him,” she requested.
“It's not me you have to worry about,” joked Midnight, “it's that Flaming Ivory. He's a powder keg, we're going to have to restrain him once we find Rosseth.”
“Oh, well please go gentle on Flaming, too!” joked Cadance, “Be safe, Midnight!”
He left her sitting in the tea room and walked down the empty hallway of the palace alone, happy with the outcome of their talk. Hope that Cadance would figure out what was wrong with his father helped him to take his mind off of his problems. Well, all but one of them...
“Why do you need her? You're about to prove your father wrong under your own incredible power. Believe in yourself...”