A thousand years of stability they called it, but to her eyes it was truthfully a thousand years of stagnation. Surely; it had been less tumultuous as the ancient powers that had shook the world grew weary and one by one had drifted into a millenia long slumber. However so too had faded the hero, the iconoclast, the inspired genius and the raving lunatic.
Solaris Sol Invictus - Princess Celestia, once living goddess of the sun and steward of the material world, now soul immortal and lighthouse keeper of civilization tightly grasped the tarnished gold rail round the battlements of her grand city keep. It's grubby marble spires illuminated with the warm hues of sunset as the sparks of yellow mage light flickering out from windows and doors, she had heard it described as like unto an ornament in a snow globe, to her it felt more like a mausoleum of past glories.
Around her she had watched the world fall into indolence as her list of potential allies grew thin. The once mighty and proud Empire of Griffonstone had crumbled, its folk becoming mean and petty scavengers. The indomitable and brash Khans of YakYakistan had hedged themselves in and turned their back on the rest of the world, ignoring the concerns of others. The Hippogriff Kingdom had just outright vanished one day without a word. The Tribes of the Buffalo Desert wandered in dreams and spoke with no one. Meanwhile the avaricious and wild bands of the Dragon Lands grew lazier each time she saw them. Even her own kingdom seemed to shrink.
Her subjects had become stunted and timid; darkness and ignorance had crept into the empty spaces on the map as explorers, frontiers men and trailblazers became accountants, bakers and home bodies. As the master of the world that was she had kept them housed and well fed but without Lu... without the mistress of dreams they had lost their inspiration and drive. She had tried to nourish their souls but it was not her domain or skill.
As she walked in the waking world and saw her subjects grow more decadent, while as her mortal body rested her divine eye in the heavens saw ancient titans stir in their troubled dreams, soon to walk abroad once more, but this time the world lacked the fortitude to endure them.
Turning away as the last hues of twilight faded, she pulled out from her tabard the scroll her spy had sent her: a young girl with Aurora hair and the mark of a crystalline heart on her chest. Mi Amore; the herald of love and guardian of the crystal empire had returned unlooked for to the mortal realm. She was a harbinger of things to come and time ran ever shorter, many seeds had been planted and the immortal only hoped that by gathering the last dying embers she could rekindle the flame that had awoken in that cave so long ago.
She hoped for the security of her kingdom, the salvation of her sister's soul and that the ones who were to come could triumph where she had failed, otherwise they were all damned.
***
Cadence staggered through the bustling crowd of canterlot; the bright sun relentlessly dazzled her as it bounced from the marble, whitewashed stone and pale slabs that made up the entire of the heart of Equestria, attacking from every angle the glare broiled the air around her.
Ducking and weaving around the people wandering the narrow streets in their dull finery and tacky jewellery, as she passed they turned their pinched, sneering faces towards her; squawking their self important platitudes, to anyone one else they would seem as vacuous marionettes.
However, since her fight with the sorceress something had awakened in her, the desires and wants in the hearts of others called to her, in her contented little village it had been a novelty to hear the gentle desires of every day folk, but in this shrine of avarice their wanting hearts screamed by the hundreds making her head ring.
Finally pushing out of the choking crowd she stumbled onto the clinical emerald lawn before the cathedral opening to the castle proper; rich with statues wrought in gold and marble it's facade was equal part diorama and shrine. Huffing with determination Cadence steeled herself and stalked forward towards the vast pale ash doors wrought with astral symbols that marked the threshold.
The guards in their mirror-like polished plate armour did not react, almost as if she was expected, that or they had propped up their armour and snuck away for a break. The entrance hall’s dominating feature was the exquisitely mosaiced floor representing the sun and moon in their eternal dance, illuminated by its vast vaulted ceiling that groaned with a thousand enchanted chandeliers. Positioned at its centre, like a part of the installation was a well dressed butler with an exacting pencil moustache and an expectant look.
Jerkily folding like a tin soldier, his cut glass voice somehow failed to reverberate in the space.
“Mi Amore Cadenza, It is my great honour to receive you, Her Royal Highness awaits your pleasure in the Solar Throne, up the stairs to your left.”
Cadence frowned “I’m sorry, my name is Cadence, I would like to speak with Celestia if possible but I wouldn’t want to pinch someone else’s appointment.”
The butler failed to rise “The appointment is for you Excellency, Her Royal Highness advised you may be confused but assures all will become clear in time, Please.”, He swept out his arm to invite her up the staircase.
With crinkled brow Cadence slowly started walking up the stairs, this was all too weird, apparently despite sending no missive and being of little note her arrival had been anticipated, but for all the foresight they couldn’t seem to get her name right. She was sure there had been a mistake but at least she was heading in the right direction.
The stairs lead to a long wide hallway of white marble with red velvet carpets, Cadence rolled her eyes at the fatuous pomp of the whole affair; the lines of intricate stained glass windows blasted her with rainbow light, shoving the accomplishments of the kingdom in her face. Finally in the distance she saw her goal, the distant throne, but was once again was thrown off balance.
When she heard of Princess Celestia her mind had conjured up a big shiny gold crown and a very fancy dress, probably on a very dainty lady who spends a lot of time sewing in a tower. What was currently sifting through a bunch of scrolls was an seven foot tall amazonian warrior with biceps and thighs that could throttle a hippo; bronzed chestnut skin like a bikini model, startling amber eyes and a flowinging cascade of hair that writhed with the colours of the dawn exuded primal power and unshakable control. She was garbed modestly in a flowing white samite robe that covered from knee to elbow, her wide motherly hips were bound with golden cord and a band of pure gold above her brow that kept her unruly mane out of her stoic face.
Without looking up an honest and warm smile cracked her face “Greetings Mi Amore, it's been a long time, though for you it may seem like our first meeting, suffice to say I am very relieved and glad to see you”. Laying down her scrolls she turned her bright eyes on Cadence, as if an exposed blast furnace had suddenly kindled waves of heat poured out from her aura and washed over the teenager, stripping away her defences like a blowtorch to lay bare her very core.
Buckling under the pressure Cadence winced and tried to shield herself from the metaphysical flames with her arms, over the roar of the fire a small voice whispered “...sister”, her reverie was dispelled by two mighty hands grasping her. Suddenly the flames were gone and a concerned motherly gaze searched her face “Mi Amore are you OK? I am sorry, it's been so long since I met another immortal, I forget what influence we can have on each other”.
Cadence brushed off the loose grip and staggered backwards, she was barely into her teens with the sort of stretched chewing gum look of all those destined to be tall. Her skin was a flawless rich peach and her Cyan eyes that could have seemed icey cold, instead danced with the life of a tropical ocean. Her hair was striped with the colours of the aurora and bound tightly in a ponytail by some simple twine, dressed in a ragged summer dress of faded pastel rouge she looked neither stately or immortal.
She raised her eyes like levelling a lance “What are you talking about? My name is Cadence! I came here looking for help as ever since I stood up to that bog witch weird things have been happening to me, now people are bowing and scraping like I’m a visiting dignitary? What's going on!?” Her slight frame heaved as she panted with the over boiling stress.
Celestial dimmed slightly “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought….” She ran a hand through her hair and inhaled, fixing her stoic face in place “...You Cadence are the new avatar of Love, the mark on your chest confirms it, your predecessor Mi Amore was a strong ally and a good friend, you look so much like her...I got excited. I had hoped...I hoped she had come back to me, it would be so nice to see a familiar face”.
Cadence circled her hands “Woah, woah. Avatar of Love? I didn’t sign up for this! I just wanted to protect my home and now you're telling me I have to be a god!?”
A wry chuckle came from the lips of the immortal sun “I said the same thing when Star Swirl laid a similar burden at my feet. Do not worry, I’m not going to saddle you with a bunch of chores as he did, I know it is in your nature to want to help others and that you feel their pain as your own, in time I believe you would have come to serve of your own accord. Unfortunately for us both you have chosen the very last moment to arise, that which has eternal laid stirs beneath us. There is much to be learned and you have no time.”
Cadence crumpled, her perfect face scrunched and haunted as her eyes swung back and forth searching for a way out “I didn’t want this, I just wanted to live in peace, I just wanted my parents back”. Powerful arms warm as a summer's day encircled her, reminiscent of her mother but alien and new.
“It is a sore trial, but you are strong Mi Amore. Together, we will bring a new golden age, you will see, I promise”.
***
Celestia awoke groggy and uneasy, there was a heavy tension in the air that oppressively hung over the world like a blanket, she slogged through her routine and as the day continued the pressure only grew heavier and heavier as if all the world was in a bottle and the cork was working its way free. It got to lunch before she couldn’t take it anymore.
Celestia adjourned the royal court citing her headache and crawled off to her chambers, stretching her body on the sheets as the room spun and wheeled. In dreams she glared down upon the earth from her heavenly vault; a storm was brewing, invisible to mortal eyes, black, tense and riddled with lighting.
She had visions; she saw darkness spread over the land, she saw clouds plummet from the sky and rocks hurtling into space, she saw a wasteland filled with desiccated corpses, she saw armies marching across the land and the world burn. She heard the thump of a heart beat, the rhythm of a crystal tree long forgotten. She saw a child filled with worry stretch towards home, another hauled by unknown forces into a desert, one more lay alone in a dark wood. On an empty farm one more raised her eyes to the sky in hope, one pushed through the sky knuckles on fire and finally the last, hands extended forcing magic upon an egg in desperation.
Six, it was them, it was time. Six, hoping for a miracle and reaching for the impossible.
The cloud burst, probability unwound, the world shifted and six individuals were remade in an instant, their souls lighting up like beacons burning into the sky.
A nearby explosion shook Celestia back into wakefulness as she fell un-regally out of her bed. She tried to stand and tripped over her bed clothes before hauling herself up to the balcony taking fistfuls out of the brickwork. A rainbow stretched out over the skies like a war banner going up, signalling the arrival of the ones who would be to all the world. She blinked blearily around before double taking, the roof of her school had been blown open and a pillar of purple light was rocketing out like a geyser.
Leaping into action her hands performed a series of eye watering gestures before her whole figure imploded with a thunder clap, arriving on the scene with a bang in her dressing gown. An astral storm blew out of the testing room as mages struggled unsuccessfully to contain the wild magic. Her bare feet dug into the paving slabs as if they were snow while she trudged inside, furniture and masonry smashing unheeded on her divine frame like little more than styrofoam, she pushed into the heart of the storm: the Youth Induction Room.
The situation only got more eye opening form there; at its heart was a eight year old girl, she had the death pallor and panda rings of someone that shunned both sleep and the outside with her olive skin almost grey at the edges, her head seemed disproportionately large for her weedy stick frame sporting knobbly knees and elbows. Her razor straight fringe flowed vertically from the updraft and her raven black hair twisted above her as a single stripe of dusk colours burned it's way along her centre parting.
Her eyes were glowing bright white which was not a good sign and a mandala of unstable magic seem to be expanding off her in concentric rings, this was being orbited by a long serpentine dragon shape made of emerald energy that was probably the dead test egg she had some how revived, meanwhile the outward force had pressed the majority of the faculty against the walls as they screamed in horror.
Gritting her teeth Celestia extended her divine will, and like stuffing a sleeping bag back into its carry sack, forced the mysterious arcane forces back inside this strange child. With a sudden inhale the light in her eyes winked out, the spirit dragon retreated back inside its egg which continued to radiate emerald energy and the floating debris, egg and people dropped to the floor. The girl rubbed her eyes before shakily asking “Did I pass?”.
Celestia with her windswept bed head, brick dust covered face and torn pink dressing gown gave the child a crooked grin “I think you’ll do fine, what's your name?”
The child looked around at the destruction and gasped, she hung her head and ruefully mumbled out “Twilight Sparkle”. Celestia gently cupped her chin raising her watery eyes and smiled down patiently.
“Twilight, how would you like to be my personal student?”
***
Cadence peaked around the door frame at Celestia who seemed happily engrossed in paperwork on her throne, she ducked back. She had been summoned, which was new because outside of their personal lessons she had been mostly left to her own devices, she couldn't remember doing anything scandalous recently so what may have caused a royal edict for her attendance remained a mystery.
This musing was interrupted by the soft contralto of Celestia "Your not in trouble Cadance, so stop lurking like a guilty child and present yourself like a deity". There was an awkward pause as Princess Mi Amore sidled in like a crab, bowed, curtsied and cleared her throat.
Celestia rolled her eyes but pressed on regardless "Cadence I have a job for you, I have my eye on a young child of prodigious talent, I am seeing to her arcane instruction but she seems... insular. My track record with helping others with social or emotional problems, if I can be honest with you, is abysmal. It is out of my domain and I can't afford to make a grave error with this one. So I'm sending you to babysit her weekly and asking if you can try to bring her out of her shell a bit?"
Cadence shrugged blankly "I mean I can try, I've never babysat before but a lot of the less well off kids do it, are you sure you want me? Just because Sunset…"
"There are others, many others" Celestia cut across.
Cadence furrowed her brow "....oh, well you've never asked me for anything so I'll be happy to pitch in.”
Celestia fiddled with her fingers “One more thing, there is something...unusual about her magic. Unusual and incredibly powerful. They may need someone on hand that can...contain her if she loses control”.
Cadence folded her arms and quirked an eyebrow.
***
Twilight could not concentrate on the lesson today; she had gone to see her new brother who was very sick, Mom and Dad were very sad and worried, they did not say it but she knew they were worried that he would not get better. Twilight did not care for many people but the thought of her newborn brother dying made her feel cold inside. She did not realise when she had started crying but the vast warm hands of the princess cupped her face.
“Twilight, why is your soul troubled so?”
Twilights lunged forward and gripped the Princess by her waist and buried her face in her robes “Mom had another baby...Dusk, my little brother, he is very sick. Mum and Dad don’t say, but they think he will die. I think so too.”
A bead of sweat rolled down Celestia's stately face as she desperately searched the room in hope that Cadence would magically materialise, lacking divine intervention she stroked her students hair and gave her calmist voice “Do not lose hope, he may pull through”.
“No he won’t, not without help, can you help him princess?” Twilight gazed up with a look the Sun Goddess had seen many times, begging for a miracle that she could not provide.
Celestia gently pushed her away to stand on her own two feet and kneeled so they were both at eye level “Power is not given to me over life and death”, she hated this part as hope gave way to despair and a look of betrayal entered the supplicant's face. Her train of thought was suddenly cut off by a dim green light that tickled the edge of her vision. A crazy idea entered her mind and she licked her lips trying to discard it, but the look on Twilight's face caused her to turn her head inexorably towards the Dragon Egg displayed in the teaching room “However, there may be something you can do.”
“Long ago in the time before time the ancient dragons ruled all the world, in those strange aeons they eventually came to death but left behind many unhatched eggs deep in the earth. When people fled the misrule of DIscord they passed into the barren wastes beyond the mountains hoping to escape the notice of the Lord of Chaos. It was hard living, few survived but buried deep beneath the earth they found the last treasure of the ancients. By mixing their blood with these eggs they were granted the breath, wings and more over the hardiness of the once rulers of our world. This new found strength gave them the fortitude to survive the harsh environs of what we now call the Dragon Lands.
Be warned young Twilight that not all survived the Dragon Blood, some were consumed by it. Also he would be clearly marked by his mixed blood and suffer strange drives and passions, but if you think it is worth the chance then you have my permission to bring the egg to your parents”.
***
There was a long medical talk with mum and dad. Twilight had never seen dad cry like this and it felt so wrong and scary that he was just a person like everyone else. She gripped the Dragon Egg tightly as it pulsed with magic between her hands, afraid to let go of this spark of hope lest it disappear, she didn't cry because if mum and dad weren't going to be strong she would have to instead.
Finally the talk ended, mum and dad were holding each other and Celestia turned to Twilight and extended her hand "It is agreed, give me the egg Twilight", the young apprentice felt something harden within her and all the confusing feelings that made her feel funny went away "No, it's my egg and if something goes wrong I want to be there for Dusk".
Celestia searched her vibrant violet eyes and for a moment, Twilight wondered what she was looking for, finally she relented and turned away "so be it Twilight Sparkle".
Twilight hated the hospital room, the walls were a green that looked like puke and the black rubber floor was all sticky, baby Dusk was curled up on a rusty gurney making this horrible wheezing noise, a device gave off steam to ease his breathing that made the room muggy and hot. The blinds were half closed sending shafts of sickly yellow light into the room. Celestia produced a rubber hose, some sort of pump and a pair of long finely crafted needles, she dumped them in a basin of chemically smelling water before assembling the contraption held aloft in her magic field.
With a flick of her wrist she flung a binding rune on Dawn to hold him still and carefully pierced his delicate ankle with the needle, Dawn gave a watery moan but lacked the energy to cry, blood back flowed up to the pump. On cue Twilight placed the egg on the rough off white sheets and as the second needle went into it she silently prayed to anyone who might be listening. Celestia worked a wheel that drew a glowing green liquid out of the egg and down the tube before a small amount dribbled out a valve, she flicked a clamp and the blood in the pump swirled with green before it became the dominant colour and the ichor was forced into Dusks little body.
Twilight watched as the light faded from the egg and finally the flood of green liquid stopped drawing only air up the tube, Celestia using purely magic removed the needle from Dusk's leg and sealed his wound through force of will. The infant got redder and redder, twilight could see him straining against the binding magic, his mouth opened and a horrible scream came out. Celestia shouted a bad word and started casting lots of spells, but Twilight was fixated on her brother, they were losing him.
Twilight tightened her fists, she'd been here before. Staring down failure and faced with the impossible, that was how she had got here, she hadn't blinked then and she wasn't going to blink now. She saw the path life laid out before her and dug in her heels, gripped destiny by the hair and dragged it screaming and kicking to where she wanted to be. This was going to work, her brother would be fine and there was no two ways about it.
Celestia was boiling with anger, her divine light surged through the small child re-knitting flesh and extinguishing destructive flames, she had broken her back and bled for this word but did it ever give her any gratitude? Why could nothing ever just work!? the casualties of Discord, losing the empire, losing Luna and Sunset. This innocent child was dying in her hands and for all her might she could do nothing but watch him turn to ash and violate the trust her student had placed in her. Twilight would fall and with her the last hope for us all, all the world would crumble into ruin because it JUST WOULD NOT COOPERATE!
But as that dark thought reverberated in her soul stirring some repressed shadow, she felt a lurch as if she had lost her footing causing her magic to wink out in shock. The baby stretched and made a long sigh as like rapidly growing nails, his arms and legs were coated in deep violet scales, the tuft of blond hair at the top of his crown took on a rich emerald sheen, needle like teeth protruded through the gums of his open mouth and his wide blue eyes narrowed into emerald serpentine slits.
Celestia was aghast, she hadn’t done this, she was losing him then suddenly the universe changed its mind and it all went off without a hitch. She turned to see her student Twilight Sparkle; she had glare that could drill through rock aimed straight at the small child on the bed and her arms were shaking with the force of her clenched fists. Trickles of blood dripped on the floor as her nails dug into the soft flesh. Sol Invictus stared with her divine face twisted in bafflement, concern and abject terror; she had been hoping for miracles but now she was confronted with someone who can forge them from sheer determination alone the implications were horrifying, her divine eyes could see waves of eldritch and mysterious energy rolling off of her that distorted the world around her and for the first time she began to have serious doubts as to her blind faith in those who were to come.
One thing was certain, she would have to handle these new gods very carefully lest they break the world before the titans do.
The parents rushed in and after a gasp at their child's new monstrous appearance, softened as he breathed easily and giggled happily which was a welcome change from the quiet melancholy of sickness, there would be an adjustment period but he is alive and that's all that matters. Celestia was dragged out of her ruminations by a small hand tugging at her sleeve, looking down Twilight was smiling back up at her. The goddesses' face softened, for all her power she was only a child after all, she had a good heart, Celestia would just have to be doubly careful not to break it.
“Thank you for saving him Princess” Twilight enthused, Celestia shook her head and placed her massive hand upon her head, ruffling the hair as she spoke “This was your victory Twilight, you were very brave for your brother and didn’t give up on him even when it seemed impossible" Twilight hid bashfully behind her hair. Another stray thought shook loose and Celestia snapped her fingers "You know something interesting; the drakeîn had a tradition that their members would take a new name after surviving the trial of blood, and Dusk Sparkle is no name for a proud dragon".
Her parents turned to Twilight who bit her lip in thought and casting a sideways glance at the tools used in his rebirth, she smiled giveing a little chuckle “How about Spike?”
***
Twilight Sparkle sat with a vast tome propped up on a stand, a single beam of light shone in through a parting in the sun bleached red damask curtains, illuminating the free falling dust that circulated in the room and falling finally on a page of erratic arcane scrawling. She was perched on a brown leather settee in the living room, her usual spot, before a tea stained oak coffee table.
Her delving into arcane secrets was disturbed by a peach forehead rising slowly from behind the book, followed by joyful cyan eyes and a slender nose that perched on top of the hard back cover, the eyebrows waggled. Twilight tried to ignore her but it was just too distracting, so definitely not smiling, at all, she marked her place. "Hello Cadence, Celestia said you would be looking after me today".
Cadence had entered her late teens and already had the kind of impossible hourglass figure that made other women cry into their celery as they watched her casually scoffing a whole tray of donuts, they had forgiven Celestia because she had to fight demons to look that good, but considering Cadence looked better after a day of loafing about than they did after a lifetime of struggle they considered her existence a slap in the face. To compound the problem she often referred to her good looks as ‘a hassle’ and had taken to wearing a formless frumpy hooded top with lots of pockets full of knick knacks and rubber band hair ties over the ever useful dungarees.
"Twilight.." she gently scolded "...you look like a corpse, when was the last time you got some fresh air and sunlight?" she strode passed the young nerdling and gripping the curtains, casting them back to reveal a bright sunshiny day. Twilight whined and kicked her legs "Noooo, there's melanoma out there! I wanna read my book!" Twilight found herself boyed up by arcane forces and dragged in tow by Cadence towards the front door. "Wrong answer…” the embodiment of love chimed “...you say 'why yes Cadence I would loovve to go outside and play with all my wonderful friends'", A very grumpy looking Twilight with crossed arms slowly orbited in front of her as they passed over the threshold into the bright summer's day "Why bother, they never have anything interesting to say and just want to scream while running about or meet Princess Celestia. Whenever I bring up something I'm interested in they call me a weirdo".
Cadence deposited her on the lawn under the oak tree in the Sparkle residence small front garden, giving her a friendly shoulder nudge "That because you are a weirdo Twilight, be proud of that, you shouldn't let other people's opinions of you phase you so much, when you meet the right group of people they'll like you for you". Twilight quirked a sardonic eyebrow as she blinked, adjusting to the light "I am being myself, I want to read my books in peace and not be bothered by stupid people who are mean to me. I’m just not a pretty charming princess like you.” Cadence leaned back against the tree and exhaled, score one for Twilight Sparkle, oh well there was always next time “that's a fair point I suppose. I missed biology class this week, I think it was about the life cycle of bees. Could you fill me in?”.
Twilight also leaned back against the tree and began to rattle off all the factual information Equestria had gathered thus far on the common honey bee. It was not that her charge was isolated; she had her and Celestia, the librarian enjoyed her company and the moondancer child seemed to have taken a shine to her so was rapidly gaining ground in the learning gap that separated them. She felt Twilight would be like a flower bud, all contained potential until the right conditions caused the tough barrier between her and the world to open wide revealing the beautiful person inside.
“Shining!”
“Twily!”
Cadence’s eyes snapped open, she had never seen Twilight so animated as she bounced in place flailing her arms. Shielding her eyes from the sun's glare she peered to the peeling white picket fence that marked the edge of the garden; standing in the gate was a tall young man just shy of six foot. He wasn’t a wall of muscle but had that tone of a ballet dancer, a body that was for work instead of for show. His weather beaten and tanned skin told a story of long days toiling under the sun. He had a long shaggy raven mane like a rockstar that hung around his shoulders and a stained, worn flannel shirt covered with pins from every comic, sci-fi film and cartoon going that was undone to give a modest glimpse of his humble abs.
Their eyes met across the sun beaten lawn, they were a soft rose; yielding and shy but with a core like flint that would bend but not break. Like a whisper in her ear a voice breathed ‘she’s beautiful’, Cadence shook her head “sorry what did you say?” the man awkwardly scratched the back of his head as his other hand hung in space “I said you must be Twilight's sitter Cadence, I’m her brother, Shining”, she took his hand as a voice screamed in her head ‘Oh no, he's HOT!’ however she forced her face into a genial smile, he had the decency not to drool over her and she could at least return the favour.
“Hello Shining, I haven't seen you about before, have you been on holiday?” Cadence internally cursed Twilight Sparkle and her tight lipped disinterest in gossip, she would of strangled her if she wasn’t happily swinging from Shinings arm who held her up like it was no effort at all, Her new crush simply chuckled and looked away with a hint of embarrassment “Nah, I wish. I’ve been away in Stalingrad studying defence magic, I was just dropping in to show off my cool locks before they get sheared off once I enlist”. Cadence’s grin grew even more brittle “Oh, that’s a shame it really suits you...” she awkwardly coughed “...anyway me and Twilight were just talking about bees, do you wanna get a blanket and make it a picnic?”.
Shining smiled, shook off Twilight and headed inside, stuff moved about and he called back “I’m impressed you managed to drag her outside, I can barely get her out of her room for some O&O” Twilight gave a good natured whine about being embarrassed by her brother, meanwhile Cadence was struggling to keep her composure as her mind raced ‘He’s good looking, kind, modest, good with kids, a dork and soldier, He must be mine!’
Cadence dragged Twilight behind the tree with a yelp and dropped down to eye level “Why didn’t you tell me you had a...a brother, he so….he's very nice and you seem to like him too”.
Twilight cocked her head to one side “you didn’t ask.”
Cadence face palmed.
***
Celestia sat wearing the face she usually saved for budget meetings as she flicked through a bunch of crime statistics, Cadence had come back from Twilight's house, burst into her inner chambers and started burbling about a boy, it had been two hours now.
“....The way his hair shined in the sun and he has this soft half smile like he’s afraid to fully commit to it, it's so cute!..”
“Mhmmm…”
“...Did I mention that he is going to be a defence specialist in the army! He’s so brave and has these big strong hands!...”
“Mhmmm....”
“...He told me all about...”
“Cadence!” The young Princess stuttered into silence startled by the rebuke, she looked over to the sagging face of Sol Invictus, for the first time seeing it drained of all goodwill. “I may be eternal…” groused Celestia “...but my patience is not, I am happy for you to be so taken with this lad but two hours is beyond even my endurance”.
Cadence muttered an apology into her lap as her cheeks glowed with embarrassment, a moment passed in the vast marble hall only disturbed by the shuffling of paper and scratch of a quill. Suddenly Celestia looked up with a furrowed brow “Has anyone talked to you about sex?”
Cadence spluttered “Sex!? What?”
Celestia fixed her with a serious glare “We don’t need any scandals or unwanted heirs popping up, things have probably changed somewhat since I sook a mate but there are some spells…”
Cadence wheeled her arms “Nope, no, no, no! Were not talking about this, I am not talking about intimacy with someone so old they call them ‘mates’”
Celestia rolled her eyes “I’m just attending to the practicalities…”
Cadence cut over with a level of finality “...Which are well in hand, Thank you”.
There was another protracted silence.
“Is he well hung too?
“Celestia!”
A deep and rich chuckle rang through the vast halls of Canterlot Keep as the sun bathed in the embarrassment of young love.