//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Cadenza // by SingMeloetta //------------------------------// Early one Saturday morning, Celestia knocked on Cadenza’s door. It hadn't been anything urgent due to the smile on her aunt's face, but that didn't help Cadenza's wandering mind. “Cadenza, I hope it’s not too quick to ask you this, but how do you feel about foalsitting?” Cadenza smiled. While she’d been walking home with Shining Armor the other day, she saw a group of foals smiling and playing together and wished that she could have grown up with siblings like that. They had been talking about his own younger sister then. “I like them.” “How would you like to try your hoof at it then? You’ll be watching one of my most trusted advisors filly for the day. Don’t worry about stress too much though; Her older brother will be there if you need help. “I will do it.” She wasn’t sure what or who she was supposed to expect, but at the very least, she would know a new face and have a bit of experience. Celestia gave her the address of the home and sent her on her way. “Thank you so much, Cadenza. We’re terribly sorry to have you do this on such short notice.” “It is alright.” Cadenza smiled as the mare called for her filly, Twilight Sparkle, to come and meet her new foalsitter. Twilight barely spared her a glance before her eyes went back to the book she’d been levitating in front of her. The grey mare nudged her daughter lightly. “Twily, this is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She’s going to be your foal sitter.” At the mention that Cadenza was a princess, Twilight dropped both her book and her jaw to the floor. Like magic, Twilight’s entire attitude suddenly did a 180.“You’re a princess?! Oh-oh, can I see your wings? Can you do any cool spells? Do you know Princess Celestia?” Her mother sushed Twilight gently. “Alright, alright, let’s at least let the princess settle in first, sweetheart.” Twilight’s mother laughed a little at her filly’s antics. “We’ll be back probably around 7. If you need any help with Twilight, her older brother’s here as well.” Cadenza saw the couple leave, meaning that it was just her and this strange young filly in the room together now. Still, Cadenza felt her heart race; It was a similar feeling to what she’d felt the other day with that mysterious white stallion, but different. This was a strong bond of friendship, almost like they were destined to become sisters, where that was love, like the kind you’d find in fairy tales. It was strong, and she didn’t really know if this sudden pull of the heart was right, but it wasn’t like she could control it. “Well? Do you know really know the real Princess Celestia? Like, do you actually get to talk to her and stuff? Do ya, do ya?” The filly was jumping around her now, making her head spin. Cadenza nodded and smiled. “She is my aunt. I live with her in her castle.” Twilight’s bouncing only sped up. “Really? Can we go meet her? Please, please, please?” Though it hurt to deny the wish of such an adorable filly, she also knew how busy the princess was. “Twily, what’s all this fuss-” He cut himself short upon noticing the familiar pink alicorn standing in his living room, his face turning just as pink as her coat.  “O-oh Cadenza… I didn’t know you were gonna be foalsitting for Twily.” “You’re gonna be protecting her one day, Shiny! Mia Door Caden-ssa is a real princess!” Cadenza giggled, finding Twilight’s inability to pronounce her full name beyond adorable. Even Cadenza herself didn't like how imposing and out-of-place her name sounded compared to the other ponies in her village. She should probably make her name a little bit easier to pronounce for the young filly; She had the potential to eventually become the princess of many things, but doors probably wasn’t going to be one of them. “You may just call me Cadance.” “Okay Cadance! This is my big brother, Shining Armor! He’s my B.B.B.F.F!” Cadance was confused. She’d learned lots of English since she came to Canterlot, but that word was one she’d never heard of before. “Y’know, my Big Brother Best Friend Forever?” Cadance rolled her eyes playfully before asking Twilight what she wanted to do first. She was just about to suggest they read together or something before Twilight suggested something else; Something that was much more frightening to Cadance than she first thought. “Can you show me some of your cool spells?” Cadance had barely had her horn for a week, and the most she could do as of right now was just barely open a door by herself. She could also control the feelings of other ponies around her, but she didn’t want to use that unless she had too. “I have not been a princess for a long time. I do not know magic very much.” “Well, you have to know something! You live with Princess Celestia, for pete’s sake!” Cadance couldn’t tell whether or not she was being sarcastic, or angry or none of those things at all; This happened with some ponies who were just “wearing a mask”, as the princess had called it. Shining Armor tried to calm his sister down. “Twily, there are some ponies who just don’t feel comfortable with performing their magic in front of others.” Shining and Cadance had both hoped that would help her understand the whole situation, but with unpredictable emotions that fillies had, of course it only pushed her to get more upset. “But she’s a princess, and rule number 4691 of the Princess Rulebook says that princesses can’t be nervous!” Cadance now knows for a fact that Twilight was joking, and attempted to joke back with her. “Oh? And where did you find said Princess Rulebook? I must look at this myself, then. I guess, with you being the princess expert and me having only been a princess for a week, maybe you could teach me about some of the princessy rules that I have to follow now.” Twilight stuttered and struggled to find an answer. “Well-well-okay, maybe the rulebook hasn’t been written yet, but, since my mom works for Princess Celestia, she’s probably gonna be the first pony to write it all out!” For the most part, the rest of the day was spent without any other major problems. Twilight and Cadance even came up with their own hoof-clapping game, at Twilight’s insistence that they needed a special “princess code” that they could share with only each other.  “One more, one more! We need to get it perfect!” Twilight giggled, and they started their little dance over once more. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” They smiled, falling to the floor in a pile of uncontrollable laughter. That happiness was soon crushed, however, by the sound of arguing coming from outside the front door. “Night, I’m just worried about him, okay? It’s a mother’s job to worry about her foals, and of course a mother should be worried if her son wants to risk his life, right?” “Velvet, he’s not doing this for no reason. He’s already told us that he wants to protect Equestria; If I’m honest, I personally think you should be more proud of him.” “He’s going to get himself hurt out there! Or maybe…” Twilight Velvet’s voice trailed off, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Cadance could feel her hurt too, wanting nothing more than to curl up into a ball and not move until these heavy feelings were gone. But she couldn’t do that now, not in front of Twilight or her parents; She had to prove that she could handle stress if she wanted to keep on seeing Twilight. Suddenly, two small hearts leaked out from her horn, encircling Twilight’s parents without either of them noticing. When the hearts touched, the expressions in their eyes softened, and they had seemingly forgot about their fight altogether. Twilight’s eyes widened upon seeing this. “If you don’t know any cool magic...then how did you do that?” “It is simply my special talent.” “Can you teach that to me, so I can get my mom and dad to stop fighting like that?” Twilight looked up at Cadance, her eyes seemingly growing wider and more irresistible by the second. Her magic wasn’t just something she could teach though, lest she face the wrath of her village’s holy father. “Do your parents argue a lot?” Cadance wouldn’t know what parental arguing was like, but she had seen fights break out before, and, no matter who had “won” she was always guaranteed to get hurt. “Not usually, but ever since Shining’s told them that he wanted to go to the Royal Guard's training academy, they’ve started fighting a lot more often. It scares me sometimes.” Cadance could feel the filly’s pain. She must’ve been terrified, with all the anger and uncertainty that surrounded her every night. Cadance was almost at a loss for words, but she did think of one thing to say while holding the young unicorn close to her chest at an attempt to soothe her. “Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle. I will protect your Shining Armor.” “Really? You can do that?” Twilight suddenly grinned at her, eyes filling with hope and optimism once more. “Well, if Shining Armor actually does get to become a member of the royal guard, and I am a princess…” She left her sentence unfinished on purpose, waiting for Twilight’s eyes to light up again once she did the math. “You promise, Cadance?” “I promise. Good night, Twilight Sparkle.” With that she left them for the evening, a small smile remaining on her lips through the rest of the evening, her dreams the sweetest they had ever been during her time in Canterlot.