“I don’t wanna go!” the filly’s little voice seemed to echo across the town, as I tried to drag Twilight Sparkle to the park to meet Lyrica and Medley’s sisters that hot, July day.
“Come on, Twilight, it’ll be fun.” I pressed, trying to pick her up in my hooves, but she squirmed out of my grip like a cat. I could just pick her up in my magic but I felt invasive doing that, and tried to give her a chance to relent.
“Playing with other fillies and colts is boring!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, glaring at me as she stood braced on the cobblestone street.
“Come on, you don’t mean that. You like playing with me, don’t you?”
“You’re not a filly!” she shouted back.
“Yes I am. Just a bit older filly,” I told her.
“You are not, you’re a princess alicorn!”
Say it so all the ponies can hear you, why don’t you, Twilight.
“Shining Armor’s and my friends are going to be there. Don’t you want to meet them?” I reasoned again as a group of prissy mares stared at me, no doubt wondering about the ‘princess alicorn’ line. Exasperated with the filly and the townsponies’ impertinent gawking, I stretched out my wings from where they hid under a skirt and saddle, and fluttered them at the nosy nobles. “Look, I’m a unicorn with wings. They’re even purple tipped, isn’t that amazing? Oh yeah, I’m a princess too, but nopony ever listens to me, especially not this defiant little filly!” I glowered at both the onlookers and Twilight, but she just started laughing, and the mares hurried away, which satisfied me at least. I turned back to the giggling little unicorn and glared at her. “Let’s go.”
Amazingly, she got up and followed me, but kept laughing all the way, until I demanded what was so funny.
“You’re funny when you’re angry.” She giggled, and I grimaced.
“You want to see me angry?” I demanded, teasingly, stomping at the ground with my hoof. Twilight laughed and jumped up, before scrambling down the street with me close behind her. I managed to chase her all the way to the park without falling over, where I was happy to see my two friends waiting for me.
“Hey Cadance, you made it.” Lyrica waved, because I was a little late due to Twilight’s initial unwillingness to cooperate.
“Hi Cadance.” Medley smiled.
“Hey girls,” I responded, nudging Twilight along, because she had stopped as soon as we reached the park.
“Can’t I just stay with you?” she whined, glancing uncertainly over to the sandbox where I saw two little unicorn fillies about her age playing with their dolls. One was minty green with a cyan and white mane, while the other was light blue with a white and blue mane that did look like toothpaste, as I had heard her elder sister, Medley describe. I guessed the green filly was Lyrica’s sister. They looked happy and normal just playing together with their toys. Why couldn’t Twilight do that?
“No, go play with the other fillies.” I said pushing her into the sandbox.
“But I don’t wanna!” The lavender unicorn shouted, right back to the angry, defiant little imp she had been earlier. She planted her rump in the sand and refused to move from her spot, her eyes narrowed, and her hooves crossed across her chest, with an insolent pout, and completely ignored the other two ponies who looked at her curiously, as if she was a new toy for them to play with. She certainly was sitting as still as another one of their dolls.
“Twilight~” I groaned.
“Is your little filly giving you trouble?” Lyrica asked, coming over to us.
“You have no idea.” I muttered.
“Aw, she’s so cute!” My naïve friend squealed as she first took in the sight of the little purple unicorn with large violet eyes, (although, at the moment they were narrowed). She was deceptive that way.
“Yes, she’s cute, but she doesn’t like playing with other ponies, because there is something wrong in her great big bookworm head.” I glared at Twilight, and she stuck her tongue out at me.
“Haha, you two act as if you were real sisters.” Medley commented.
“We do not!” somehow both Twilight and I said together, which also made us both blush and the two teens burst out laughing.
“She sure doesn’t look too happy sitting there.” Lyrica said when she had recovered from laughing at us. Medley was still going and I felt like kicking her.
“Go ahead, try to get her to play with your sister. I give up.” I said, and flopped down on the ground next to Medley who stopped laughing long enough to look at me.
“You look like a tired out old mare.” She giggled.
Why did I come here again?
“Hi there, I’m Lyrica. You must be Twilight. It’s nice to meet you.” Lyrica ignored us and approached Twilight, who looked up at her suspiciously. “I’m Cadance and your big brother’s friend. My friend Medley and I brought our little sisters to play here today, and we thought you could play with them too, doesn’t that sound fun?” she smiled, warmly, which I knew would never work on Twilight, but I had fun watching her torture somepony else for awhile.
“No.” Twilight grumped.
“Aw, why not? Pleeeaasee?” The elder unicorn gave a toothy grin, receiving a dead pane look from my little charge.
“Who’re you talking to, sis?” suddenly the two were interrupted when the minty green filly trotted over to them curiously. Now that I saw her closer she seemed smaller then Twilight, maybe six or even five years old. Her voice still had that little lisp some foals had in magic kindergarten. Could she really be that young? She certainly was adorable with her big golden eyes exactly like Lyrica’s, short, coltish mane cut, and huge bushy tail that might have been bigger than her.
“Hi Lyra, this is Twilight. My friend, Cadance is her foal sitter so she brought her to play with you and Minuette."
“Yay!” the little filly cheered, clapping her hooves, but then suddenly she frowned and examined them intensely for some reason. “Hi Twiright.” She drawled, her lisp making it hard to pronounce the other filly’s name.
Twilight stubbornly ignored both sisters, and I felt bad when the smaller filly pouted a bit when she didn’t get a response.
“Do you like my dolly?” the little one pressed again, holding up a Pretty Pony doll. It was lavender coloured like Twilight’s pelt, and caught the unyielding unicorn’s attention. I quickly dug into my saddle bag where I had brought one of her Pretty Ponies, and floated it over to her, smiling encouragingly. Twilight caught it and looked down at the doll in her hooves, then back up at the little green unicorn shyly, holding it out to her.
“Hehe, come on, let’s play.” Lyra smiled and walked back over to where her friend waited.
Twilight looked over at me, uncertainly, and I grinned, nodding her on, and then she slowly trudged over to the group.
“Well that wasn’t so hard.” Lyrica mused, trotting back over to me, and I just glared at her. Twilight wouldn’t have budged if she didn’t have her doll which I had brought her. It hadn’t been anything that she said or did.
“Are you girls just going to ignore my sister then?” Medley asked, disapprovingly.
“I’m sorry, Medley, I haven’t even had a chance to say hi to Lyrica’s sister yet.” I said, guiltily, pulling myself up from the ground, and making my way over to the sandbox where the three fillies were playing. Lyrica followed cheerfully behind me.
Twilight still didn’t look sure of herself, and just watched the other two with an intense expression of concentration on her face, but she glanced up and smiled weakly at me when I came by. I smiled brightly in return.
“Minuette, I’d like you to meet my new friend, Cadance, and I see you’ve already met the filly she is sitting for.” Medley happily introduced me to her little sister who looked up from her doll.
“Hi,” she said, shyly, waving her hoof. The light blue filly was bigger than little Lyra, and seemed to be the same age as Twilight. She really did have a mane that looked like toothpaste, a deep, royal blue colour with a perfect stripe of white running down the middle on both her mane and tail. Somewhat ironically she was holding a toothbrush and pretending to brush the teeth of her doll. I wondered what her cutie mark would be.
“Hello Minuette, are you brushing your doll’s teeth?” I asked, unnecessarily.
The filly grinned, widely, showing a mouth full of white, shiny teeth. “Yup! Mommy’s a dentist and says all little ponies need to remember to brush their teeth everyday.” So that’s where the teeth obsession came from.
“You’re my little toothpaste pony.” Medley cooed, cuddling up to the little unicorn.
“No, stop! I’m not toothpaste!” she whined, and pushed her sister away, which made me laugh. It seemed the two dental similarities didn’t go together hoof and hoof.
“It’s nice to meet you.” I smiled at the blue filly who grinned in return.
“You have a pretty mane. It’s like cotton candy.” She said.
“I like your mane too. It looks like blueberries and cream.” I told her, glad to find something other than toothpaste to compare her to. She seemed satisfied and blushed.
“Look what I can do!” I looked over to see Lyra suddenly stand up on her hind legs and start walking around the perimeter of the sandbox, holding her front hooves out, and balancing precariously on the edge of the wooden platform.
Minuette started to laugh, and Twilight looked confused as the minty green filly struggled to stay up, but ended up toppling over into the soft, white sand and joined her friend in laughing.
“Lyra you’re so silly.” Lyrica giggled, helping her little sister up. “She wants to be able to walk around like a bear or something. She’s always practicing to stay upright.”
“Not a bear. A human! Like in the myths!” the filly insisted, surprising me. I didn’t think such a young pony would know about the fabled bipedal beings called humans, who were not thought to be friendly, and my nanny would tell me scary tales about.
“Her teacher said she’s really imaginative and creative with her magic skill, that’s why she was recommended for Celestia’s school next year.” Lyrica beamed, proudly. Again I was surprised. It wasn’t normal for a young unicorn to get recommended to the specialty magic school right from kindergarten. They usually had to take an entrance exam when they were already in elementary school. Lyra must be a very special unicorn to have been given that chance.
“I’m going too!” Minuette added. “I passed the entrance exam.” She grinned, widely. I wondered if there was some sort of family preference with my aunt’s school.
“Cady, I want Smarty Pants!” Twilight whined, suddenly pulling on my tail.
“I didn’t bring her, Twilight. I just brought your Pretty Pony doll.” I told her gently, wishing I had brought the silly thing so she would cheer up.
“Can’t you get her?” she pouted, sticking her lower lip out, her wide eyes glistening.
“Twilight, I’m not going all the way home right n----“ I started to say, but stopped as I realized what she wanted me to do.
“Is she sitting on your bed?” I sighed as the little filly grinned excitedly, nodding her head.
Envisioning the funny little doll and Twilight’s bed where she sat, I charged up a teleportation spell and in a pop of indigo magic, the pant wearing pony doll appeared in front of us much to the lavender filly’s delight.
“Thank you!” Twilight beamed, hugging the doll to her chest and I smiled at her.
It turned out that using my teleport spell was a bit of a mistake, as my two friends stared at me wide eyed, making me blush as I asked them what was wrong.
“How’d you learn that spell? We don’t learn that until senior year!” Lyrica exclaimed, incredulously.
“And you teleported it from all the way inside a house back in town?” Medley added.
“Uh…” I knew I probably had more advanced studies under my tutor and aunt’s teaching, but I thought that students at Princess Celestia’s school would be more or less equal to me. Especially since it had taken me so long to develop any magic next to other regular unicorns. “Princess Celestia is a good summer tutor?” I replied, lamely. It had actually been my old crotchety wizard tutor who had taught me that spell, mostly by drilling it into me day and night relentlessly. Until I got back at him by teleporting his hat somewhere and ‘forgetting’ where I put it.
“Wow! I thought it would suck to go to school in summer, but to learn that spell, I’d go.” Lyrica said, wistfully.
“Me too.” Medley agreed.
“Why does your doll have pants?” Minuette spoke up, curiously examining Smarty Pants, and rescuing me from having to explain further.
“Hehe, it has pants like a daddy!”Lyra giggled and Twilight didn’t look amused. In fact, she looked downright miserable.
As weird as it was, that doll was her cherished toy, and my heart ached for her as I could feel her hurt and sadness from the other fillies’ unassuming teasing. I didn’t think they even realized they had hurt her, they were just being curious children who sometimes spoke too bluntly, somewhat like Twilight did herself.
“She has pants ‘cos it’s her first day of school, and she dressed up nice to meet Princess Celestia.” She explained, glumly.
Lyra seemed intrigued, but Minuette still was confused. “Why is she meeting Princess Celestia?” she asked.
“’Cos daddy gave me her when I graduated from magic kindergarten so she could help me when I go to the princess’s magic school,” she paused and then held up the notepad that usually was stuck in the doll’s pocket. “See? She has a pencil and paper for homework time.” The filly glanced over to me with glistening eyes, and I tried to smile for her but she just sighed and looked down. “But I didn’t do good enough to get in and I let mommy and daddy down.” Twilight sniffled and then burst into tears.
I had been feeling her get more disheartened by the minute, but her pain at admitting her failure almost brought me to tears too. To think such a small and truly talented little unicorn as her was so burdened by a failure as to let it consume her into abandoning her childhood to do nothing but study, tore at my heartstrings.
I finally understood her dedication, her perseverance, the reason she wanted to learn and better herself. Why she never wanted to or allowed herself to let loose and play like other fillies and colts. And why she pulled away from others and acted unapproachable. She was ashamed of her short comings and trying to build a wall around herself. She didn’t play with other foals because she didn’t want to be faced with the type of situation that was happening now.
Even the Smarty Pants doll seemed to mean more now, and I could never tease her about it again. It was what she clung to, putting it in the role of her dearest wish and knowing that it both represented her one failure, but also kept her going to achieve her dreams. That’s what Smarty Pants was. A symbol of her hopes unfulfilled, and any mocking of it was a mockery of her own fragile confidence. Not to mention being in the presence of two fillies who had already achieved that dream couldn’t have helped, and was probably why she asked me to get it.
“Oh, Twilight, come here,” I beckoned, holding my hooves out to the sobbing unicorn. She ran into them and buried herself in my front legs as I held onto her close to my chest.
“Oh dear…” Medley murmured.
The two fillies looked confused, and Lyra had a bit of an empathetic pout, threatening to start crying too.
“Don’t cry, Twiright!” She stammered.
“I didn’t mean to say bad things about your dolly. I was just asking.” Minuette added, sadly.
“Sorry girls, I should probably take her home.” I said, moving the sobbing little unicorn to my back where she clutched around my neck tightly, somehow still holding Smarty Pants under her belly.
“Don’t worry, you girls didn’t make her cry. She’s just sleepy.” I told the fillies, trying to spare their feelings.
“No I’m not~!” Twilight wailed.
“I know, I know.” I soothed her as best I could.
“Bye, Cadance. Sorry things didn’t work out.” Lyrica waved, than looked over to the filly clinging to my back like another doll. “I hope you feel better, Twilight.” She added, patting the distraught unicorn’s mane.
“Take care.” Medley added.
“I’ll see you all at the dance!” I called as I started to walk my crying charge back home, trying to act like the responsible foal sitter I was supposed to be, but really I felt just as bad as her, and staggered under the weight of her sadness.
I brought Twilight back into town, and then found a bench to rest, her strong feelings of remorse and inadequacy too much for me and I couldn’t go on. She had quieted down to a hiccup and sniffle, but still looked completely miserable and I took her into my hooves again.
“I’m sorry, Twilight. I shouldn’t have made you play with those other fillies. I didn’t know how sensitive you were. I-I didn’t know.” I stammered, holding her warm body close to me and swallowing back my own tears, refusing to cry when it was she who was hurting. I couldn’t be so selfish, I had to be strong for her.
“It’s okay…” she mumbled against my chest.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me? I would have understood.” I pressed.
“’Cos you’re a princess, and you’re smart and magical. You even have Princess Celestia as your teacher and your family. You’re not a dumb old unicorn like me.”
“Twilight, I wasn’t always good at magic. I had to learn just like you,” I explained. “And you’re not dumb.” I added, vehemently.
“You probably didn’t take as long as me,” she scoffed, her tears turning to bitterness quickly.
I pulled away and sat her beside me, looking seriously into her wide, tear filled eyes. “I did take a long time. I was older than you before I could even manage to pick something up with levitation magic. I got my cutiemark at age eight, but barely knew what to do with my talent. I didn’t go to school like you either, and I certainly wasn’t taught by Princess Celestia.”
The filly blinked. “You weren’t?”
“No honey, I had a tutor for school and I was late with all my magic. Needless to say I never got very good grades.”
“Even I can levitate stuff now,” Twilight said, thoughtfully. “But that’s ‘cos you helped me.” she added, and I smiled.
“I told you you weren’t just a regular old unicorn. You’re going to be somepony special one day, you just have to keep working as hard as you are and believe in yourself.” I picked her up again and she giggled, her tears gone, and I felt the heaviness in my heart lighten as she began to calm down.
I held her close and reached over to the small garden beside the bench where we sat, and plucked a yellow flower out, tucking it in her mane behind her ear with my magic. “Sometimes the most beautiful flowers are the latest to bloom.” I smiled, warmly, as she happily poked at the flower in her mane, feeling a different type of heaviness in my heart. A happy, joyous feeling of which I could somehow control and give away. A feeling I had felt many times for this endearing filly, and also toward her older brother; the overwhelming emotion of love. And for the first time, it was returned to me.
“I love you, Cady. Please stay with me always.” As I felt her small hooves clutch around my neck, and heard the words I had unconsciously so desperately wanted to hear, warm tears fell from my eyes, and I held on to her as close as I could.
“I love you too, Twilight, and I’ll always be there for you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day I met Sweetheart at the Canterlot Centre Mall after my lessons. I didn’t have to foalsit that day, and she had asked me to come look at dresses with her, and also shyly hinted at some good news she wanted to share with me. With yesterday’s disastrous outcome I was glad to get another chance to spend time with a friend, and was eager to go shopping too.
I had been to the Canterlot Centre Mall before and knew that it was a massive shopping complex with all the best retail chains as well as high end boutiques. It was a glamorous and thriving place of activity compared to any of the small stores that lined the streets in my home in Roam, and I was excited to have some of my own bits to spend on the perfect dress for the dance.
I may have been a princess but my parents were kind of thrifty, only buying me things I needed and never really allowing me to earn my own money until that summer. So although I probably had a few appropriate dresses in my closet, I wanted to be able to pick out my own, and being able to shop around with another filly was something I hadn’t experienced and longed for. I just hoped that being in a big place like a mall wouldn’t set off my stupid sensitivity with how many ponies would be around.
“Cadance, guess what, guess what?” Sweetheart’s high and enthusiastic voice reminded me of Twilight, and I giggled as I saw her blush a bit when some ponies turned to look at her.
We had met at a table in the busy food court filled with lunching equines of all kinds, who exhibited no strong feelings, and generally were happy in their day of shopping, much to my relief.
“What, what?” I teased.
She stopped and then looked down, pawing at the tiled floor in her embarrassment. “Um…Palomides asked me to the dance…” she mumbled, her voice growing so quiet I couldn’t hear her. Well, almost.
“What was that?” I asked, putting a hoof to my ear. “There’s cheese in Prance? Well that’s to be expected isn’t it?” I grinned, teasingly.
“Palomides asked me to the dance!” the white unicorn blurted out, getting more looks, but her happy smile and blush didn’t falter.
“Congratulations, Sweetheart. You guys will be so cute together.” I told her, happily, after the obligatory teenage girl jumping up and down and squealing had ended. I had always wanted to do that.
“It’s thanks to you! Palomides said that once Shining Armor got a sweet and kind marefriend like you he was able to find the confidence to ask me out!” She exclaimed and pulled me into a hug so that I was now the one blushing.
I knew she was exaggerating. It had always been obvious that Palomides liked her you didn’t have to be like me to see that. But if his best friend’s first marefriend had inspired him somewhat, I was glad to have been that mare that helped in some way.
“We should double date,” I suggested.
“Oh we should!” Sweetheart agreed, clapping her hooves.
“Come on, let’s go shopping and show our colts how good we look!” I cheered just as eagerly, and the two of us trotted off into the crowd of happy, shopping ponies, completely unaware that each of us would gain a different understanding of each other by the end of that day.
~~~~~~~~~~
You know that one friend who always takes forever to pick out and try on clothes? She leaves you waiting in the dressing room for hours on end when you’ve already picked out your dress, and expects you to support her many decisions? Well, I’d heard about them in movies anyway, and it seemed I was one of those friends. I couldn’t decide on anything, and I ran into a lot of troubles with the dresses I did like, so I would end up dragging poor Sweetheart from store to store. Fortunately she was a patient filly, and seemed happy to wait for me to figure out what I was doing. Or she was just too kind to complain.
I had tried on a pink ruffled dress with a golden neckpiece that seemed to blend in with my coat colour but that I adored and couldn’t let go of, and was currently trying on a baby blue dress with a longer skirt that Sweetheart liked best, but I had trouble keeping my wings inside of. I glanced longingly at the pegasus speciality dresses with the side holes for the wings, wishing I could buy them and give up this whole charade. I had never had too much trouble hiding my wings before. I could always just wear a vest and then any skirt overtop, but the regular pony dresses were too thin to conceal my wings without either creating a bulge on my side or hurting them by squishing the feathers and tiny bones painfully against the side of my body like some sort of vice. It convinced me more than ever that this would be the last time for me to do such a silly thing, and I was going to tell the truth to everypony after that night.
I hid in the dressing room of what must have been the tenth boutique we had visited, and tried to squeeze my wings which were a bit larger than a regular pegasi’s into the thin, sheer material, terrified that I was going to tear it, while Sweetheart waited for me outside. Realizing it wasn’t going to fit without causing me more discomfort than my sensitivity could, I exasperatedly threw the dress off, and flapped my wings out to get rid of the stiffness and pain from being squished against me.
“Miss, how is the dress? Do you need a different size?” the friendly, but somewhat pushy salespony called through the curtained door.
“Uh… I don’t think it’s the right one for me.” I mumbled, dejectedly, wondering if none of the dresses were going to fit me and I’d have to ask my aunt for help. But she would probably tell me to stop being silly and wear a proper pegasus dress. I was pretty sure she’d had enough of me hiding my identity, and wasn’t going to support it anymore.
The only other option was to get a larger size, which would be able to hide my wings, but it would also probably fall off my body because I was thin and continuing to grow taller and thinner every day, so that only the smallest sizes ever fit me. If I ever developed the slender and tall body of an alicorn like my aunt, I hoped there would be special tailored dresses available to me because I was not going through this again.
“Cadance, can you show me the blue dress? I wanna see how it looks,” I heard Sweetheart’s meek voice through the dressing room curtain and grimaced. I did not want to put it back on. I hated it for not fitting, and hurting my stupid too big alicorn wings. And so I made my first big mistake in the month or so since I decided to hide my royalty, and ultimately my wings from everypony. I trotted out of the dressing room, frustrated and not thinking, and forgot to put my vest back on.
“Whoa, Cadance, you….” Sweetheart gasped as she took in the sight of me without my usual skirt and vest ensemble covering my body. In my thoughtlessness and haste my wings were still partially spread, they weren’t even tucked at my side so that I possibly could explain them away. I could feel myself grow bright red in a blush, disbelief that I had been so stupid to forget to hide my wings after all the torment I had been through trying to find a way to hide them in the first place, creeping into my consciousness, and leaving me dizzy with sudden anxiety. But it was the salespony I really had to worry about, who gawked at me like I was a full grown dragon standing in her store, no doubt the size of the purple tipped, feathered appendages were freaking her out, not to mention I was a unicorn too.
There were no other ponies like me but the princess of Equestria, and the rare born alicorn in the regions to the West, (where I came from) and we were all royalty, so I knew that salespony was going to do something to embarrass me as soon as she figured me out. So, quickly gathering my skirt and vest and throwing them on my body to cover the wings back up in my magic, I grabbed the still stunned Sweetheart and dragged her out of the store, covering her mouth with my hoof so she wouldn’t say anything.
I managed to get her to follow me out of the mall and into the back lot where carriages lined up waiting for passengers. Fortunately, it was still the middle of the day, and there were no ponies waiting for rides yet so we were mostly alone. Not that it really mattered anymore.
I gingerly removed my hoof from over Sweetheart’s mouth and she just blinked at me as I lowered myself back down on my four legs. Then, sighing, heavily, I removed the vest and skirt and spread my wings out for her to see, hanging my head.
“T-they are real,” the little unicorn stammered out. “You’re a unicorn, but you have wings too.”
“Yeah, I’m a…an alicorn.” I mumbled, not even looking up at my friend. I was too ashamed. I hadn’t wanted her or anypony to find out this way. Not through a mistake of my own doing. I hadn’t wanted to shock them, especially poor Sweetheart.
“An alicorn? Like Princess Celestia?” her words seemed to mimic little Twilight’s from so long ago. How easy it was to explain back then.
“Princess Celestia is my aunt. I’m actually a princess too, back in Istalia where I live. And I’ll take the throne if Princess Celestia ever can’t rule anymore.” I said, surprisingly not feeling any strong emotions from Sweetheart, but I had my own shame and fear to deal with still.
“You’re really a princess? Like a real princess?” Sweetheart asked, still sounding amazed and somewhat like a little filly meeting their first royalty. Would that be who I was to her now? Just a real princess? And not a real friend?
“Yes. I’m sorry I kept it from you.”
“Your wings are sooo pretty! They have purple tips! I’ve never seen anything like that!” the pink maned unicorn galloped to my side and marvelled at my wings, her blue eyes sparkling, as I became the one who was so shocked I could only blink. Did she not hear me? Or was she too overwhelmed by my deception to properly respond?
“And your cutiemark. It’s a heart like mine! I always wondered what yours looked like. Wow, it’s a jewel too. Is that because you’re a princess?” my flighty friend (and I thought Lyrica had been the flighty one) switched to admiring my cutiemark, which I hadn’t really kept secret from anypony, they knew my special talent at least, but my mark had been hidden under the skirts I wore.
“No, it’s because of my---“ I started to explain, but stopped. “Wait, Sweetheart, aren’t you mad at me?” I asked her, cringing at what her answer would be, and mentally preparing my fragile emotions to be struck down.
“No, why would I be mad at you?” she asked, genuinely confused, which just made me more confused too.
“I lied to you. I didn’t tell you or any of the others who I really was. Including Shining Armor!” I cried, tears suddenly coming to my eyes as I thought of how I had deceived all the ponies I cared about, and what they must think of me. If it was going to be this hard, I could never tell them the truth.
“You didn’t lie to us. You just didn’t tell us you were royalty. I understand… it must be hard to go anywhere without ponies all bowing to you or something. Like Princess Celestia, she doesn’t seem to like it either, she always tells us to rise when we bow to her at school and-----” she stopped abruptly as she noticed my tears, and galloped over and hugged me. “Oh Cadance, don’t cry! I promise I’m not angry at you!” she insisted, brushing her hooves through my mane, but I just began to sob harder. I didn’t deserve her understanding. I felt like I needed somepony besides my aunt to tell me that what I had done was deceptive and wrong. I deserved their punishment, and I had been so terrified of having it dealt to me, that to have her kindness and understanding just made me feel worse.
“I’ve really messed up, Sweetheart. I never told Shining Armor, and when I met all of you, all I could do was continue to lie. I know it’s gone on too long now, and somepony is going to find out like you did, but I don’t know how to stop it. It’s like I’m on some sort of runaway train without any breaks.” I whimpered as the smaller unicorn held me like my mother would.
“It’s alright. Your lie isn’t really hurting anypony. Once they find out they’re just going to see an even more special you.”
“That’s the thing though. I don’t want other ponies to think I’m special because I’m a princess or an alicorn. I kept my identity a secret because I didn’t want Shining Armor or anypony to like me just because of my royalty. I just wanted to be a normal unicorn,” I sighed. “All fillies think it would be wonderful to be a princess, but really it’s boring and lonely. You can’t know what it’s been like to have been kept inside a palace all my life, without going to school or ever meeting other ponies except other royals who hated me because I was an alicorn and different. I’ve never had a friend until I came here, and meeting you a-and the others has made me the happiest I’ve ever been.” I explained, shakily, tears still gathering in my eyes as I admitted my past and how much finding true friendship and love had meant to me. Sweetheart sat calmly and continued to hold me as she listened, letting me pour my heart out to her, and to that I was forever grateful.
“I think I sort of know what you mean,” the teen filly spoke up. “I was always shy, as you can probably still see, but it was way worse when I was in regular school. I never really had many friends either, but then I found out my special talent was taking care of sick ponies when my mother was very sick, and after I was accepted into Princess Celestia’s school to study to be a doctor I got the chance to come out of my shell and meet other likeminded unicorns. We had more in common, I guess. I know it’s not the same thing as what you’ve been through but…” she trailed off, a little self-consciously.
Her words surprised me. Sweetheart had told me she wanted to be a doctor, but I didn’t know she had gained her talent from taking care of her mother. That must have been difficult to deal with, and it endeared her to me more.
“No, that is a lot like what I experienced. Sometimes I think you’re the only pony who really understands me, Sweetheart.” I sighed, nuzzling my dear friend under the neck.
“No, that’s not true. I know Shining Armor really cares about you. I’ve never seen him so happy before. He was actually kind of shy and reserved before you came around. Palomides was the one who introduced him to all of us. But now he’s so cheerful and strong. When he looks at you there’s nothing but love in his eyes.” She smiled, wistfully and I blushed, feeling my initial fear and sadness begin to melt away as I was calmed by her comforting words, and felt humbled by what she had told me about my coltfriend. I wished I could see him then. I would tell him everything right at that moment, and Sweetheart would be there to support me.
“Aw, I can’t believe he was shy,” I giggled.
“You probably shouldn’t tell him I told you that,” Sweetheart mumbled, sheepishly. “But don’t worry too much, Cadance. We all like you for who you are, and nopony’s going to be mad at you just because you didn’t tell us about your royalty. They might be confused, and wonder why you didn’t tell them at first, but just explain to them what you told me, and they’ll understand. I can help you if you want.” She smiled, and I felt so very grateful to her. I knew with Shining Armor I would have to tell him alone, but to have her offer to help me, to stand by me as I admitted to the biggest mistake of my life, meant she truly was the best friend I could ever hope for.
“Thank you, Sweetheart, you really helped give me confidence for what I need to do. I’m glad it was you who found out my secret.” I told her, seriously.
“I’m glad I could help,” She replied with a tender smile.
“Will you promise me something, though?” I added, a little shyly, scared of what she would think of my request.
“Sure,”
“Please, never, ever treat me like a princess. I’m still Cadance, and your friend, and always will be.” I pleaded, and was startled when Sweetheart pulled me back into a hug.
“Oh, Cadance, I’ll always be your friend, even when you’re princess of Equestria and even more taller than me,” she giggled, but she had tears in her eyes. “And even when I’m a little old granny pony and you’re still the most beautiful of princesses, I’ll still be your very best friend.”
I lost my breath at her words. The world seemed to grow white, and I could barely still feel reality under my hooves. She had touched on my greatest fear of being a part of the Sacred Race. Something most ponies didn’t really know about, but they could see it with the thousand year reign of my Aunt Celestia. The way she never changed, never was succeeded. The long life, the eternal youth, and possible immortality. That which scared me to my very core.
“Oh, Sweetie, please don’t,” I moaned, as my surroundings came back into focus and I could draw a breath again. “I’m not like that, I’m not.”
My friend sniffled, and then chuckled, weakly. “I’m sorry, it’s just something I thought of when you said you were like Princess Celestia. But I’m just being silly. We’ll be little old grannies together, right? And reminisce about today, and how funny it was when we freaked out that salespony.” She smiled up at me, and I could do nothing but hold her closer. She hadn’t meant it, but her words had hurt me to the bottom of my heart. So much so that I was breathless with the despair it brought me. I didn’t blame her, especially after all she had done for me, but to be reminded of my uncertain future at such a time as this was just plain cruel of the fates that gave me this strange and powerful body.
“We’ll be friends until ponies are fairytales in books written by rabbits.” I quoted a book an old wizard had written, who believed that magic would go on until the world turned upside down. Well, so would our friendship, no matter how old we grew. Or who grew older first.
Sweetheart giggled at my little saying and I smiled, desperately trying to dismiss the forlorn images from my head. “Do you think that salespony has called the royal guard on us yet? I think she was scared of you.” The little unicorn asked, trying her best to switch the subject for both of us.
I grimaced. I had forgotten about causing a scene. It did cause a momentary distraction from my crippling despair though. "Uh, I hope not.”
“Here, put your vest and skirt back on and maybe nopony will notice.” She offered, floating up the fallen clothes to me, and standing in front of me as sort of a shield.
I quickly slipped into the garments through my magic, and then was back to the fake unicorn I had always tried to be. It somehow felt even more wrong now that one of my friends knew the truth. My wings felt tighter against my side, and I noticed how hot it was with my chest always covered in the summer heat. This was going to end soon. Just a little longer. I had already taken the first step.
“Do you want to still shop?” the kind unicorn could not hide her reluctance from her tone, and I agreed with her by shaking my head.
“Let’s just get home before I do something stupid again.” I muttered, sliding my saddlebags on to my back, cautiously looking around for any sort of commotion. But it seemed nopony cared that a rare alicorn princess had shown up in their mall without any sort of royal procession. Or maybe that one earthpony salespony did and was telling all her friends---- wherever she was.
Despite all the turmoil, and my big mistake, our shopping trip had been somewhat of a success. Sweetheart had managed to pick out a cobalt blue, floor length chiffon dress that matched her eyes, and made her young filly form seem more like a full grown mare. I was happy for her, even if I had found nothing. I was probably going to have to ask my aunt for help now.
“So, if you’re a princess do you get to wear a crown?” Sweetheart, like any curious filly asked as we trotted home in the bright setting sun of the day. I was feeling better now, but still welcomed more of a diversion.
“Sometimes…” I replied, graciously allowing her any question she wanted to know about being royalty. I usually hated answering all the same silly questions, but she could bug me all she wanted. She deserved to be made a lady for all she had done for me.
“Oh, and those little golden slippers. Do you wear those?” she beamed.
I laughed. “I have a pair here in Canterlot, actually. I can show you one day.”
“Wow, really? They must be so pretty~” she sounded like a young filly, curious and awed just like a certain little lavender unicorn, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “What about your parents? Are they like… king and queen in your country?”
“No, silly, they’re just nobility. We all trace our lineage back to the royal family and Princess Celestia. Because I was born an alicorn like her though, it makes me first to succeed her. But Princess Celestia is still the one true ruler of Equestria,” I giggled again. “You don’t really know your history do you?”
“Haha, no, I was never really good at that. Sorry.” Sweetheart blushed.
“It’s okay. It’s less complicated once you…live it.” I murmured, my tone emitting some of the discomfort I felt toward being a part of that history.
“OK, can I ask one more question? I know it must be boring you, but…” the excitable unicorn continued, tentatively.
“Sure, Sweetheart, ask me anything, I don’t mind,” I assured her.
“Can you…um…” she paused, shyly. “Can you…fly?”
“Why don’t you tell me,” I quipped, coming to a stop where I had pulled ahead of her somewhat, and turned back to grin, as for the third time that day I removed my vest, then spread my wings and jumped into the sky, letting my stiff and battered wings catch the wind and be free, along with my sorrowful thoughts.
Sweetheart had found out my secret that day. I had foolishly given away my true identity to one of my best friends, but she had accepted it. Showing my true self to her had led to us both growing closer as friends, and to me finally finding the confidence for when the time came for me to tell the one I loved all I had kept from him. I knew it would be difficult, that I would experience the same shame and fear again, but that day I had been given sort of a dress rehearsal that showed me just how important it was for me to tell the truth as soon as I could, and that I had somepony on my side when I did it.
I had discovered that the short stature, kind unicorn and I shared a lot in common too. From our shyer and calm personalities, to our similar cutiemarks and empathetic nature, along with our kindred sheltered upbringings, we were even dating two best friends now. There would be more as we grew older, some not so positive, but there was also something the two of us shared now that was not such a good thing; when it came to anticipating another pony’s reaction to matters of trust, and probably in a general sense as well; we were both very naïve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day of the dance came too soon. I was excited, but also really nervous because this would be my first dance, and also I planned to tell Shining Armor the truth about who I was that night. I wasn’t sure what part of that night I would do it. I was kind of hoping to have a nice time before having to deal with the difficult emotions my deception might cause him and myself. Despite how well Sweetheart had taken it, she still brought up some of my most private fears, and I was truly scared that he would as well. How was I supposed to stay with a colt if he believed I would grow into an immortal princess who would also quite possibly be taller than him? No wonder my aunt was single.
Aunt Celestia had managed to help me find something to wear among the royal tailor’s orders for the court that didn’t cause me pain, but still hid my wings for now. I told her about Sweetheart finding out my secret, and that I planned to tell Shining Armor at the dance, and she was glad I was finally going to tell the truth, but she warned me that not all ponies were as accepting as Sweetheart was and I should be prepared for repercussions of some sort. She had always warned me that a lie could hurt a pony. I hadn’t wanted to hurt him, or anypony, but I had been selfish and thoughtless with my lie and all I could do was tell the truth now and hope he could forgive me.
I bashfully peeked my head out of my room to show my eagerly awaiting aunt how I looked, after refusing entry to her for the last few hours as I got ready. I gingerly stepped into the light of the setting sun that shone in from the stained glass windows, reflecting the colours, and dancing across my body like a gentle kiss, complimenting the pastel fabric draped around my back. I wore a soft, floor length lavender dress with a gold neck piece decorated with a pink hibiscus ornament, and of course, the little pink pearl necklace that Shining Armor had bought me. The material was light and silky against my coat, and the darker colour made it easier to hide my wings under as it seemed to blend in with the purple in my mane too. I left my mane loose with the natural curls hanging down around my shoulders, my bangs pulled back with a real, bright fuchsia coloured hibiscus to match the pink in my hair. I also wore tiny yellow slippers that were not part of my royal regalia, but might as well be. Still, they were easier to walk in for a klutzy poor excuse for a princess like me.
“You look beautiful, Cadance. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time tonight.” Aunt Celestia smiled at me as I blushed and pawed at the floor.
“Thanks, auntie…” I mumbled, feeling self-conscious and shy.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to be going to your first dance?” she asked with concern.
“Yeah… it’s just that… I’m scared,” I sighed.
“Why are you scared?”
I took a deep breath before saying, “Because I’ve never been to a dance before, and I trip over my own hooves, and I can’t really dance either, and I get sick whenever ponies are upset around me, so like, if somepony asks another to dance and they refuse, then they’re sad and I’m done for!” I wailed, falling to my knees and covering my head with my forehooves.
Princess Celestia chuckled, and laid a gentle hoof on my shoulder. “You silly filly, that’s what you have your spell for, so you can help those lonely ponies.”
I looked up at her. “Oh, yeah, I didn’t think of that.”
“And even if you think you can’t dance, it’s my understanding that these days young fillies and colts just bounce and sway when they dance. Another time I could teach you a proper royal waltz, but I don’t think you’ll be needing it tonight.”
“Bounce and sway?” I asked, blinking innocently.
“You don’t know it?”
I shook my head.
“Am I really going to have to show you?” my regal aunt was now the embarrassed one, as I just looked at her, feigning ignorance, and wondering how far I could take this. “Like this,” she sighed and started nodding her head and stepping forward to a non-existent beat. Giggling, I got to my hooves and started copying her, but I lost it when one of the stock-still guard ponies standing by the door couldn’t help himself but look over at us, and I fell over laughing.
Aunt Celestia stopped, and gave a cold stare to the guard pony, quite possibly wiping his memory of the scene clean, and then glared at me. But not before her sparkling white coat turned as pink as mine around her muzzle, and I just continued laughing.
“All right, you naughty, manipulative filly. If you’re quite done humiliating me in front of my court, isn’t it about time you got going?” she asked, sternly, but always with that same twinkle in her eye.
“I only learn from the best, auntie.” I grinned up at her, getting back to my hooves and running over my dress with a bit of magic to make sure I didn’t get it dirty from falling on the floor.
“Indeed,” She smirked. “Go have fun then, and don’t be late this time.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t make that mistake again.” I assured her.
“And just be yourself, Cadance. If your coltfriend really cares for you it won’t matter to him if you’re a princess or a pauper, and he’ll forgive you.” She added.
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you get that cheesy line from a fairytale or something?”
“Just go.” Aunt Celestia was uncharacteristically flustered by my teasing and I loved it.
I laughed as I began to trot toward the doors. “Bye-bye, Aunt Celestia. I’ll come back as a princess who everypony knows, and then maybe you can even meet my friends!” I called, happily.
“Have a good time!” her voice faded into the long corridors as I walked toward the exit with my head held high, doing my best to believe in myself for once. I could do this. I was going to meet my friends, dance with Shining Armor--- the colt I loved--- and have a good time. I wasn’t going to let other ponies’ emotions get to me, and I certainly wasn’t going to get sick. The night may end with me admitting to keeping something from him and every pony, but it was the right thing to do, and I knew he cared enough about me to look past my deception and like me for who I really was.
But I could never have predicted what would happen at the end of that night, I don’t think anypony could have. But it would lead to finding out who I really was, and eventually proving that just as I had always wished, I truly was loved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Lyrica says all the colts are wearing their uniforms from the royal guard training academy tonight,” Medley said as I met her and Sweetheart in the line at the doors to the community centre where the dance was to be held.
It was a large, modern, but plain looking building with exercise rooms, a pool and big gymnasium that was set up for that night’s festivities. Crowds of teen fillies and colts waited in line and in groups around the double doors where staff was set up to sell tickets to get in when the sun set, which was when the dance was scheduled to begin. Considering I had left with my aunt watching out for me, I knew that she hadn’t set the sun yet, and I was early along with the rest of them.
We had each seemed to arrive earlier then our other friends, and both Sweetheart and I were without our dates. I wasn’t sure what Medley was doing for a date but she looked really pretty. She was dressed elegantly in a layered pink and royal blue silk cape that complimented her similar mane colour, with a sky blue neck piece that had two gems of violet at her chest. Her short, curly mane hung at her side with a gold hair tie, and she was most definitely wearing makeup on her thickened, black eyelashes, her eyelids painted violet like mine.
Sweetheart looked just as beautiful as I had seen her when she first tried on her dress in the store. It was long and flowing, and made her blue eyes sparkle. She had also put her pink curly mane up on top of her head with a silver hairclip, with wisps of curls trailing down to frame her round, young filly face.
“Really? Why?” I asked, curiously, after complimenting and being complimented by my two friends.
“Because they’re colts and they don’t know anything about fashion. So Ivory told them all just to wear their uniforms from school. That’s why they’re all together, and Lyrica came to help with Ivory.
“So where are they?” I continued.
“There, there!” Sweetheart cried out, pointing over to the carriage lot where the four colts in matching military uniform and Lyrica trotted over to join us.
Ivory, Blue, Palomides and Shining Armor were all in the same navy blue, almost black, button-up jacket with long sleeves and high collar, but they all looked different in some way. Ivory’s buff, muscular body didn’t seem to fit in his, and the sleeves didn’t properly cover his forelegs, but he still had buttoned up each gold button along his bulging chest, with his wings sprouting out from the sides of what looked like a homemade alteration, and stood proudly with Lyrica. Blue’s uniform fit him fine and he had the proper pegasus wing holes at his side for his wings, while Palomides seemed to be rebellious with his coat open, revealing an improperly buttoned, white dress shirt, and a shiny Celestial crest around his neck. But it was a dance, and he could probably dress however he wanted, while Sweetheart looked like she was going to faint as she stared, wide eyed, and blushing profusely at him. But it was Shining Armor who I couldn’t take my eyes off of. He looked so handsome in his uniform, like a real member of the royal guard, or even a prince. His large, muscular frame really stood out in his form fitting buttoned-up jacket, and he had attempted to comb out his matted, messy mane. He was the most majestic and alluring stallion I had ever seen, and looking at him I forgot all about my fears and self-consciousness, and felt myself falling in love with him all over again.
“Shining… you look amazing…” I stammered, letting my hooves seem to float me over to him, my heart lifting me without the use of my wings.
“Nah, you’re the one who looks amazing,” He said, bashfully, looking down at the ground, his familiar blush returning to his muzzle. “You look beautiful, Cadance. Just like a princess.” He looked back up and into my eyes, and I stretched up to his height to kiss him quickly, painfully aware of the irony of his words, but not caring.
“Sorry I was late. Lyrica had to do some last minute alterations on Ivory’s uniform. Unfortunately she’s not the best seamstress so uh… yeah…” the unicorn colt gave his endearing sheepish grin, and I smiled, waving to the others.
“You’re not late. They haven’t even opened the doors yet,” I looked over to the lineup, only to see it moving steadily toward the doors as the shadows of the sunset streamed over the land. “Well, they are now…” I muttered.
“Let’s go join the others then.” Shining Armor said, starting to trot over to the quickly moving line where Medley still waited alone.
“Sure, leave me alone to keep your spot.” She muttered, bitterly, as we all joined her behind some burly looking colts.
“Hey, don’t cut in line,” the white pegasus in front of her complained, turning to us along with the unicorn beside him, and I grimaced.
“You!” the unicorn and Shining Armor shouted in astonished and angry unison.
“Great, I hate these guys.” I heard Blue mumble from behind me.
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Knight In Shining Armor, and the rest of the freshmen,” the big, gray unicorn who turned out to be the jerky upperclassman who had tortured us back at the café, and who Shining Armor had beat up, almost causing me to lose respect for the colt I now loved, jeered at us. I groaned.
“Look at you, you got with that cute filly. Congratulations.” He added, as he noticed me from my little protest. I could vaguely recall his name being Lacolt or something, and just glared at him.
“I’m not going to waste my time with you two dateless wonders tonight,” Shining Armor muttered, bristling and stomping a hoof. “But if you insult her again, being dateless is going to be the last thing you have to worry about.” He threatened, and I felt proud of him for his strong words, as I always should have.
“Ooooh~ Burn~!” the pegasus lackey laughed.
“Shut up.” Lacolt grumbled to his friend. “I don’t need a date for this lame dance. I could get any of these mares to dance with me, including yours.”
“I wouldn’t dance with you if you were the last colt on earth!” I spoke up, angrily.
“Buuurr-“ the pegasus tried to say again, but the unicorn covered his mouth.
“Don’t say it.”
“Cadance, stay out of this.” Shining Armor whispered to me.
“No, they’re ticking me off.” I hissed back at him. I vowed that once I had let everypony know my identity these guys were going to pay.
“Uh guys, the line is moving,” Sweetheart nervously informed us.
“Yes it is, so why don’t you two move on and find your filly to dance with, and leave us poor ponies with actual dates alone.” Palomides joined in the fun with a lazy smile on his face, but he stood in front of Sweetheart with a fiercely protective expression in his dark eyes, somewhat like Shining Armor was trying to do for me, but I foolishly thought confronting these dumb colts was a better idea, and kept brushing him off.
“Seriously? You got a date too?” Lacoltmalle Tail demanded, incredulously, but then we all felt the rippling of a push from behind us by one of the impatient teens telling us to move with the line, which we grudgingly did, and ended up closer to the bothersome duo.
“Yup, unbelievable, I know. So go on and find your own dates and leave us little colts and fillies to ours.” Palomides said dismissively, waving them off with a hoof. I thought his position in the guard was going to be negotiation; because he certainly was good at it.
“Whatever. Just don’t complain if your dates decide they want to be with a real stallion tonight.” The lecherous unicorn sidled up to Sweetheart and I and winked, which I responded to by pushing him away with a disgusted expression.
Just then the line moved up so that the two annoying senior colts reached the ticket counter, and were admitted to the dance, so we didn’t have to deal with them anymore. At least I hoped we wouldn’t be seeing them in there.
“That arrogant little…” Shining Armor growled under his breath.
“Let’s just forget them and have a good time, ok?” I nuzzled up to him, trying to calm him down for both our benefits.
“Sorry Cadance, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said, guiltily, returning my nuzzle. “l promise we’ll have a good time, and I won’t let them get to me.” He smiled and so did I.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inside the dance was an electric playground of lights and sounds and spectacular colours, some made of pony-created electricity, and some made from magic that danced with the beat and created flying butterflies made of pastel lights, pretty flowers with petals to pluck and play with, and even musical instruments that could be used to pretend to play along to the music. It was held inside a large gymnasium with streamers and balloons lining the ceilings, some scattered tables and chairs to relax in and take refreshments from the concession stand outside, and at the front of the gym was the DJ booth where a dark blue unicorn stallion with a spiky purple Mohawk mane and goatee, spun loud beats next to extravagant speakers, and used his magic to control the enchanted interactive forms that floated around the dance area like fireflies in the night.
It was beautiful and intoxicating and the beat of the music pulsed with the beat of my heart as I pulled Shining Armor onto the dance floor. The others joined us, and together we did a perfect imitation of my aunt’s embarrassing demonstration of ‘bouncing and swaying’ to a giddy bubblegum pop song about fireworks which the DJ made appear to explode all around us in vibrant and sparkling colours. At the end of the song he lifted up a little white, unicorn filly with an electric blue spiky mane and large sunglasses who cheered and started playing with the equipment and making funny sounds. It was adorable, and the crowd cheered for her as she rocked out. It was dreamlike and as much fun as I had ever had. All I could feel was everypony’s excitement and euphoria as they danced around me, only making my own joy that much stronger.
The music selection was eclectic, but mostly stayed to an upbeat tempo, and so my friends and I stuck together dancing in groups or with each other. There was no exclusive pairings yet, and I even found myself being swung around by crazy Palomides, or jumping up and down with Sweetheart or Medley. For the most part she didn’t seem to complain about not having a date because of this, and our other dateless friend, Blue, couldn’t seem to care less. But eventually the rocking filly stopped, and the lights dimmed, as the playful light toys turned into softly glowing fireflies, and the music switched to a slow song.
I watched sympathetically as Medley backed off and stood in a corner, while oblivious Blue took the opportunity to go to the snack stand. I thought that at least as a friend he would ask her to dance.
“May I have this dance?” I was pulled from my sympathy by Shining Armor reaching his hoof out to me in invitation, and blushing, I accepted, and then selfishly forgot all about Medley as I walked onto the dance floor with him. We moved close to each other, and I reached my hoof up to his shoulder in a hug, than closed my eyes, contently as we began to sway back and forth to the music. I could feel his warm breath against my back as he leaned into me, and I rested my head against his shoulder, the material of his uniform somewhat scratchy against my skin.
“I missed you this past week,” he said as we moved together, the fireflies surrounding us and lighting up his white coat.
“I missed you too.” I breathed.
“I’m really going to miss you when you have to go back to Istalia,” he added, looking into my eyes, sadly, and I felt a pain in my heart from the thought too.
“I’ll miss you too. I wish I could stay here forever.” I sighed, and looked down at my hooves in their tiny slippers, trying to make sure I didn’t trip, or maybe it just hurt to look at him anymore because I knew I couldn’t grant his wish. I could never leave Roam. It was my home, and the kingdom I would rule one day. And he had no idea. “La dolce vita.” I murmured, to break the somber mood.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s a saying in Istalia. It means ‘life is sweet’, but I like to think of it meaning to live life in the moment. That’s why it’s so sweet; it only lasts for a short time and you have to enjoy it while you can.” I explained.
“Huh, that’s really nice.” He smiled.
“Let’s just enjoy the time we have together, alright? And not think about the future.” I nuzzled closer to him and tried to sway with the rhythm of the music, but I had lost the feel of it, and just lay against him for a while, listening to the soft piano, and watching the other ponies dance together, content to just be near him.
“Shining, there’s something I have to tell you,” I started, unsure if this would be the right time, but with the softer music and us so close, I thought maybe it could be. But as soon as I had said the words, the quiet music dissolved into a loud and booming beat, and the fireflies were chased away by a dragon made of fiery red and orange lights. Any more of our soft words were lost in the music, and frenzy of dancers who had left during the slow dance galloping back on to the floor.
We parted to let some rowdy ponies through, and I could only dimly hear him call to me through the pounding bass. It seemed I had lost the moment, but with the way the music seemed to blend seamlessly from quiet to loud here, it probably was for the best since we couldn’t get a word in for more than a few minutes anyway.
As I pushed through the crowd back to him, I noticed Medley trotting onto the floor, following behind a very familiar grey unicorn. My heart dropped when I realized it was the lewd and bullying colt, Lacolt, with a satisfied smirk on his face as he lead my friend through the mass of moving bodies. What was she doing? Was she really that desperate to go with him? I galloped after her and caught onto her dress with my magic, causing her to turn around.
“What are you doing?” I tried to ask, but she held up a hoof and gestured to say she couldn’t hear me, as the colt turned around to see what the holdup was. I glared daggers at him, and then charged up my magic and yanked the startled unicorn off her hooves, dragging her off the dance floor and out toward the concession stand where I could talk to her.
“What’s the big deal, Cadance?!” she demanded as I let her go outside of the lineup for the snack bar.
“Why are you with that jerk?” I shot back.
“Because he asked me to dance, which is more than I can say about the other colts in this room.” She muttered with bitterness in her tone.
“But he’s a bully and arrogant. You can do so much better, Medley.” I told her.
“What do you know? You’ve had Shining Armor from the beginning, but this is all I get. So I’m going to take it.”
“But you’re so much better than him. There are so many other colts you could dance with.” I tried to convince her.
“Oh really? Name one.”
“There’s Blue. If you asked him, I’m sure he’d dance with you.” I suggested, hopefully.
“Hmph, he doesn’t care about dancing with anypony.” She scoffed.
“How do you know if you haven’t asked him?”
“Because, do you see him out there at all?” she asked, pointing her hoof out to the dance floor.
“Hey girls,” I jumped a mile when the very colt we were discussing showed up behind me. “I got snacks, want some?” he offered out his bag of popcorn to us, holding a drink container in his teeth as he used his hoof to pass the bag over. I had no idea how pegasi could hold things in their hooves like that, and frankly didn’t want to as I tried to recover from the shook he had given me.
“Hey Blue, you don’t have a date, why don’t you ask Medley to dance?” I offered, and the light blue unicorn filly blushed as the pegasus stuffed his mouth with popcorn before we even had a chance to accept his offer.
“Huh? Oh…yweah…” he mumbled through a mouthful of food. “After I finish my snack.”
“Ugh, don’t bother,” Medley muttered, disgustedly. “Forget it Cadance, I’m just gonna take what I can get.” She said, seemingly confidently, but I could sense her feelings of inadequacy and loneliness as she scampered off to find her perfect stallion. I sighed, hanging my head as Blue watched obliviously as usual.
“Guess she already had a dance partner.” He shrugged, and I gave him a dead pan look.
“Hey, there you are. Did you leave me just to get a drink?” Shining Armor trotted over to me, feigning hurt feelings and giving me a hug.
“Sorry,” I muttered, distractedly as I scanned the crowds for Sweetheart and Lyrica. “I was trying to talk some sense into Medley. She’s dancing with Lacolt.”
“Seriously?” the white unicorn asked. “I would have thought she’d have higher standards. She’s a pretty mare.” He added, and I pretended to be jealous by raising my eyebrow at him.
“Is she now?
“Y-you’re pretty too. I didn’t mean anything.” he protested as I giggled.
I resumed my serious expression of concern for my lonely friend. “I’m going to try something. Can you help me find the others?” I asked, and the two of us plunged into the crowd, narrowly missing being swallowed by the light dragon still flying around like a ghost dancing to the music.
I grabbed Lyrica and Ivory, while Shining Armor went after Sweetheart and Palomides, who had wondered to the middle of the dance floor and was break dancing in the middle of a crowd, randomly flinging Sweetheart around, who seemed a little drunk and dizzy when she was retrieved.
When I had gathered them all together just outside of the dance floor area, I sent Lyrica to recover Medley from her forced exile, and had Ivory keep Blue in one place by asking him a riddle which seemed to always confuse the poor colt, but being stubborn he would keep at it.
“This better be good, Cadance, because I’m perfectly happy dancing with that strapping stallion over there,” Medley huffed as Sweetheart started to giggle at her words.
“He’s no strapping stallion.” she slurred. “He’s a colt. Lacolt.” The usually demure unicorn burst out laughing, hanging all over Palomides, who laughed along with her. “I mean what kind of name is that anyway? He’ll never grow up that way. Lacolt….Lacolt… hehehehe.” I think someone spiked her juice.
“You got that right, Sweetheart,” Palomides added, grinning. “Lacolt. Heh”
“Do you really think we haven’t thought of that one?” Shining Armor muttered. “It’s a French word… From Prance. You know? Where the knights come from? He’s actually proud of the stupid name.”
“Really? That’s all you guys called me here to say?” Medley stomped a hoof, glaring at the two seemingly drunken ponies, along with Shining Armor and I. “Forget it, I’m going back.”
“No, that’s not why!” I insisted, rearing up, and feeling my powerful emotions grow to surround the feelings of despair and bitterness I could sense from her in a warm embrace of encouragement and healing, the strength igniting a spark in my horn as I prepared my spell. “You deserve better, Medley!” I cried, and she turned to me, her eyes wide, but calming as she began to feel the comfort I was projecting to her.
I concentrated my remaining energy on Blue’s contemplating form, than closed my eyes and focused on the times I had seen both Blue and Medley in similar situations, with the same nonchalant expressions and reactions. The way they were both polar opposites, with him being aloof towards everything, and her being passionate but critical, creating situations where they agreed, and sometimes confided with each other. His obliviousness, and her loneliness and the way they fought all the time, all contributed to both the positive and negative feelings I needed to create and spread love to them.
I staggered back on my hind legs as some of Medley’s feelings of self-loathing and inadequateness flowed into my painfully sensitive heart, along with Blue’s shame over his name, unworthiness next to his elder brother, and general loneliness from his lack of social skills, but I concentrated harder, vaguely aware of both Shining Armor, Sweetheart and Palomides watching me in awe, as I gritted my teeth against the pain. But I would take it all in to help my friends be happy. They were who I should always have used it for. My gift was meant to be spread.
In this case I cannot say how I did it. The act of taking in a pony’s emotions was something I did for each type of spell I could cast, including the newest and most difficult one I found myself performing for my aunt in her time of sorrow. But if I wanted to create love, to create happiness from scratch like this, the next ingredient and the method of combining them was a mystery to even me. But somehow it all came together with the magic inside me, and reached its intended two ponies in a display that floated toward them like a shower of heart-shaped cherry blossom petals in springtime. At least, that’s how I liked to describe it.
I fell back onto my four legs and to my knees as the strength of the spell drained me somewhat. Shining Armor came to my side, and together we watched the fruits of my labour blossom.
Blue slowly looked up from his brooding, and over to where Medley stood somewhat dazed, blinking in the bright lights, and then she locked eyes with the awkward young colt. The two ponies walked over to each other as if pulled by magnets, their steps slow, but deliberate, and Blue’s wings fluttered a little when they met. Then they were released from the power of my magic that could only encourage and coax a love to grow, not force it between anypony. They grew shy and shameful again, but the pegasus tried to continue with the clumsy exchange.
“Medley… um… you want… to um… dance? With me?” he asked, swirling his hoof around on the shining floor, his eyes cast downward.
“Uh…” the more apprehensive filly looked back to the crowd where somewhere her previous dance partner probably had given up waiting for her, and then back over to the shy colt who was her friend, and who actually wanted to dance with her, and not just any pretty mare. Blushing, she managed to smile at him.
“Sure.” She smiled, and as if it were part of my spell, (which it was not) the music slowed down again, the coloured lights turned into shimmering crystals, and bubbles floated through the air, as the two newly affectionate ponies trotted off into the middle of the dance floor where they embraced, and somewhat awkwardly began to sway together.
I smiled at the touching results of my reluctant magic, and sighed, weakly, as Shining Armor nuzzled me shakily back to my hooves.
“Whoa,” I heard the high pitched and more composed voice of Sweetheart say in front of me. “What did you do?”
“You totally made grumpy Blue and stuck-up Medley get together.” Palomides added, with his mouth comically open wide in shock.
“Cadance is a love goddess.” Shining Armor grinned putting his hoof around me, and blushing, I pushed him off.
“I am not.” I mumbled, self-consciously.
“A what?” Sweetheart asked.
“She’s the goddess of love.” My silly coltfriend smiled.
“Oh, oh, like Cupid!” Sweetheart exclaimed.
“I am not like Cupid.” I grumbled, not appreciating the comparison to a god who forced ponies to love by shooting them with an arrow, while I had to work hard to touch a pony’s heart, and I certainly didn’t force them to fall in love.
“Did you guys see what happened? Medley and Blue totally hooked up!” Lyrica called, galloping over to us excitedly.
“Yeah, Cadance did it. She cast some sort of love spell.” Palomides told them.
“You can do that?” Lyrica asked me, and I grimaced, unused to the attention regarding my magic. I had never had friends to show it to before.
“I didn’t make them fall in love,” I started to explain, wearily, to the curious ponies. “I just sort of gave them a push toward each other. It’s my special talent, and more like encouraging love. Not making them love each other.”
“Cadance has a beautiful heart and wants others to share in that beauty.” Shining Armor grinned, gesturing along to his flowery words, and nuzzling me. I tried to return the embrace, but suddenly my weakened knees gave out from under me, and I collapsed to the floor.
Performing my spell on teen ponies for the first time had been difficult for me. Adolescents like Medley and Blue had confusing and chaotic emotions that seemed to be too strong for my magic to process, and had physically weakened me more than usual. I wasn’t faint, or sick, just shaky and without strength in my legs, causing me to fall and find it hard to get up.
A chorus of worried cries surrounded me from my friends, but I smiled weakly at them to show them I was okay as I struggled back to my hooves, with Shining Armor seeming to be used to my weakness and holding me up. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or just made me look really pathetic.
“Cadance, maybe you should go sit down for awhile.” The colt encouraged with concern, and I sighed, defeated.
“I’ll be okay. I just need some air. It’s hard work being a love goddess.” I tried to make light of the situation with a smirk and the others seemed placated, but Shining still looked worried.
“I’ll take you outside,” he started, but Sweetheart somewhat roughly cut in.
“No, no, I’ll take care of Cadance. I’m the one with medical training after all. You and Palomides just go get us something nice to drink.” The little unicorn said, pushing away the colts, and with surprising strength from her smaller frame, leaned against me, encouraging my hoof around her neck.
“Thanks, Sweetheart.” I smiled, accepting her help because I figured she must want to ask me something about my secret, or maybe she just did need some girl time. I was really too weak to care.
I smiled, helplessly at Shining, our eyes meeting, and he looked confused as the white filly led me away, through the outside doors and into the moonlight.
~~~~~~~~~~
I breathed in the crisp night air, expanding my lungs, and feeling better as I sat on a bench with Sweetheart in an alcove just outside the community centre doors. The moon looked down at me from the heavens, and I turned away from its invasive emotions, although it was only a crescent moon now, and didn’t have as much power over me as it usually did.
“Thanks for bringing me out here, Sweetheart. I’m starting to feel better now.” I said, with more strength in my voice.
“No problem. I’m glad you’re feeling better.” she smiled, but it was somewhat forced, and I started to notice her worried and disheartened emotions now that I was recovering.
“I actually wanted to ask you something, so um… I dragged you out here. I hope that’s okay…” she mumbled, displaying more of the negative emotions, and making me close my eyes against the sickening effects. I really didn’t need this now.
“It’s okay. What’s up?” I managed, trying to act nonchalant so she would too.
“Uh…it’s just that…that spell you cast…” she paused, stumbling over her words, and I breathed in more of the cool air to try to feel better. “…you didn’t cast it on Palomides and me did you?” as she faced me I saw her eyes were filled with tears, and it made me feel the worst I had felt that entire night, cutting into my breast like a thousand daggers.
“No Sweetie! I-I didn’t!” I stammered out, reaching my hoof out to shakily touch her shoulder.
“’Cos, I really like him, and I kinda thought he liked me too… but if…” she trailed off, sniffling.
“I promise I didn’t cast my spell on you. It’s all been you two. I can feel it, you’re crazy about each other.” I tried to smile, but found tears in my eyes too.
“Aw, what’s the matter, pretty fillies? Did some colt leave you all alone out here?” A deep familiar voice echoed from out of the shadows. Rubbing tears from my eyes, I turned to see the large white pegasus, and his crude and egotistical unicorn friend, Lacolt step toward us.
“Ugh, not you,” The unicorn grumbled as he noticed me. “You may be one cute filly, but you’ve been a real pain. What did you do to my date anyway? She totally ditched me after you ran her off.”
I grimaced, suddenly realizing Sweetheart’s dark emotions were gone, only to be replaced with these guys’ ridiculous lust and frustration. Could this get any worse? “I didn’t do anything, she just found a better date than you.” I muttered, angrily.
“That’s not true dude, she cast some crazy spell on some dorky pegasus and your date, and then they ran off together.” the pegasus lackey spoke up, causing me to face hoof. I thought he just laughed, or teased Lacolt. He was supposed to be the harmless lackey. How’d he know I cast that spell?
“Okay, that’s creepy. Making two ponies fall in love. And you say I’m arrogant.” Lacolt said with real disgust in his vacant and usually laid back tone.
“Arrgh, I’m not making anypony fall in love!” I shouted back at him, frustrated and jumping to my hooves again.
“Cadance, don’t encourage them.” Sweetheart nervously whispered into my ear as I gritted my teeth in anger. I had really had enough of this colt and his jeering.
“I remember you,” Lacolt’s sneering tone turned smoother and sly as he sauntered over to where Sweetheart clung to me, making her jump as he drew closer. “You’re the pretty little filly who somehow got with that foal Palomides. Why don’t you let me show you a real stallion?” he murmured, and the frightened pink maned filly buried her muzzle in my mane, making my anger at this stupid colt even stronger.
“Leave her alone, can’t you see you’re scaring her?” I growled.
“Oh yeah, I forgot, you’re the dominant one. A much better soldier than that coward, Shining Armor.” the gray unicorn colt snickered, and his idiot pegasus friend laughed too. I felt my blood boil at that remark, and pushed Sweetheart away to stand braced in front of her, as I felt the fur bristle along my spine, and my wings ache to spread out in anger and intimidation.
“You take that back!” I shouted.
“Jeez, calm down. I’m not interested in you anyway. Shining Armor can deal with you. You’re scary.” He said, defensively.
“I’ll show you how scary I can be!” I stomped my hoof, and pawed at the ground, feeling my enraged emotions spread out toward him, which made him back away a little. But I had forgotten about the other one, who had crept behind me to Sweetheart, and suddenly I realized there were more of them stepping out of the shadows like ghosts in the night. It was a gang of five of the rowdy colts from back when I first met them all at the café. I may have had the confidence to deal with Lacolt on my own, but seeing five of the larger, fifteen and sixteen year old military trained stallions come together in the darkness of the alcove outside of the dance, far from any other pony’s help, made my heart start to pound, and a cold sweat develop on the back of my neck.
“Cadance!” I whipped around to see a terrified Sweetheart fighting off the hooves of the white pegasus as he grabbed at her with his stronger ones.
“Stop it!” I shouted, galloping over and rearing up to push him off her. “Leave us alone, we told you we’re not interested!”
“She didn’t.” The stupid pegasus said, laughing, as the others moved in to surround us. I bent my ears back as Sweetheart stood on her hind legs and clung to me, sobbing in fear, which I could feel in my own heart too. We were hopelessly outnumbered, I had no idea what these colts were capable of, and there was nothing we could do to escape. Except one thing. Which didn’t come to me until it was almost too late.
“Come on, little one, you look a little young for me, but that flank of yours says differently.” Lacolt said, lewdly from somewhere behind us. I grimaced, remembering how Shining Armor could teleport already, and realized the intimidating unicorn had done just that.
Suddenly Sweetheart shrieked and jumped up against me, and my eyes grew wide, and I shuddered in rage as I saw that lecherous gray colt move his hooves off of my shy and dear friend’s backside with a smirk, as she jumped away from him.
I saw red as my rage at him encompassed my mind, my sensitive emotions absorbing all the fear and hurt from Sweetheart, and mixing with the pure fury I felt from seeing this horrible colt touch my friend as if she were some sort of object.
The burning anger in my heart spread through my body like wildfire, and covered my vision in blinding light, as I somehow created a bubble shield around Sweetheart, who cowered inside it. I lost all control of myself and felt my wings rip through the light material of my dress, and I flung myself into the air high above the group who looked up at me in shock. I hovered above them, my large wings pumping against the wind and whipping it through their manes, my own mane flowing wildly above me as I began to speak.
“I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of Istalia, heiress to Princess Celestia, and one of the only living alicorns. I’ve had enough of the way you treat mares and I won’t stand for it. You are not worthy of being a royal guard to my family, and you colts will be punished. You will regret you ever crossed me or my friends!” I shouted into the night sky, unconsciously assuming the Royal Manifesto, but nothing close to the Royal Canterlot Voice. Still, I was scaring the colts out of their horseshoes.
“You will apologize to my friend and myself, but you will not go near her as she is protected by my shield. And then you will leave this establishment, and pray Princess Celestia decides that expulsion from the academy is enough punishment for your heinous deeds.” I concluded, and floated down, calming slightly, to watch the gang of colts bow, trembling before me, as they shouted their apologies and begged forgiveness. It was a scene I normally would have been embarrassed by, but instead I relished in seeing the once proud and arrogant ponies submitting to me and my royalty.
“No, Lacoltmalle Tail, you show Sweetheart just as much respect as you would show a princess, and bow to her. She is the one you have most wronged, and you need to apologize to her.” I fluttered intimidatingly in front of the now small looking gray unicorn as he stood outside of the shield I had made around Sweetheart, who had recovered somewhat, and was standing on her hooves again.
“Y-yes, your majesty, please forgive me. I-I didn’t know… I-I didn’t mean to…” he stammered out, falling to his knees beside the white unicorn filly, and apologizing profusely. Sweetheart seemed confused, glancing down at the groveling colt and back up at me, and I smiled at her, floating down to the ground, but keeping my wings spread to show I still was not through with the gray unicorn.
“Now go.” I murmured my voice eerily soft as I approached him. He cowered on the ground, his wide blue eyes full of tears that did nothing for my usually infallible empathy, and only made me think of him as more pathetic. “And don’t let me ever see you bothering anypony again.”
With that, the bullying colt scrambled away, tripping over his hooves as he disappeared into the night, and causing me to giggle under my breath. But I was done with him, and the others had long since retreated, so I let down my shield which I couldn't even remember creating, and Sweetheart looked around nervously as I approached her.
“Are you okay?” I asked the distraught little unicorn, worriedly, as she still looked pale and frightened.
“Uh y-yes, I’m OK,” She stammered, as I gave her a gentle hug. “Thank you for scaring them away and protecting me… you were really brave,” she paused. “But Cadance…”
“Is what you said true?” A familiar, but somewhat rough sounding voice came from behind me, and I turned around to see Shining Armor, along with Palomides, Lyrica, Ivory, Medley and Blue, along with about a dozen other curious teens gawking at me, and I gulped, tucking my wings behind me and tried to crouch down away from the crowd. I even noticed a couple of guards who must have been alerted by the commotion I had caused and felt even more embarrassed.
Palomides galloped over to Sweetheart and she held him tight, while the others continued to stare at me, but I ignored them and focused on Shining Armor whose expression was unreadable.
“She’s a princess!?” Medley shouted, incredulously, causing the crowd to turn to her, but Blue pushed her away. “A princess?! Her?!” her shouts echoed through the night, as the pegasus dragged her back into the dance, and despite the tension in the air, I rolled my eyes. I guessed I had hid my identity too well for some.
“Shining Armor,” I began, shakily, taking a step toward to the white unicorn colt. “I-I didn’t want you to find out this way. I-I----“
“It’s true then, you really are a princess?” he interrupted me, his voice cold and dark, and I shivered as I was hit by his strong, negative, but somehow unidentifiable emotions. “All this time you were royalty, an alicorn, and you never told me.” his statement was not a question, and the way it passed through his lips frightened me. I had never seen him this angry before. Not even when those colts had insulted me and he’d been enraged enough to use violence.
“I tried to,” I stammered, lamely, reaching my hoof out to him, but he coldly turned away, piercing my heart with the pain of rejection he spread to me, but I would not let it strike me down. I had to at least explain myself.
“You lied to me, Cadance. I don’t really know anything about you, do I?” he spoke so calmly, but his words came out hard and cold as ice. I bent my ears back against my head, and stepped back, panicking a little, but then I noticed the crowd around me, watching our altercation like it was some sort of entertainment, and I grew angry too.
“Well, go on, get out of here! I command you!” I shouted at them, and the groups of teens hurried back into the dance, while what was left of my friends hesitated, Sweetheart particularly watched me with empathy in her wide blue eyes.
“Cadance…” she started, but I was overwhelmed by the negative emotions resonating from every corner around me, and I somewhat lost myself to my own pain and fear and lashed out at the only pony who seemed to care about me at that minute.
“Just leave us alone. All of you!” I cried, bitterly, scrunching my eyes shut against tears, and the pain inside me. The four ponies who had become my first friends looked dejected, but turned away and began walking back into the doors, although Sweetheart looked back, her lip trembling, and her eyes filled with tears as Palomides led her inside. I could not bare to look at her, and hung my head.
When I managed to look over to Shining Armor, he just shook his head, disappointedly, and moved to leave with the others, but I reared up and galloped over to him, grabbing onto his messy long mane in my teeth desperately.
“No, don’t leave me, Shining, please!” I begged, tearfully, tugging onto him like a foal pulled at their sibling in play.
He sighed, but seemed to pity me and turned back. “How am I supposed to trust you anymore? Everything you’ve told me has been a lie.” He sounded more subdued now, and my heart jumped at the chance to somehow reconcile with him in this brief moment of appeasement.
“It wasn’t all lies. I really am from Istalia, and I’m studying under Princess Celestia for the summer…” I trailed off, my voice breaking. “...and I really do like you.” I gave him a tiny smile, but he turned away and began pacing.
“It’s not just that you lied to me, you put me in an awkward position.” He began, continuing to walk back and forth, but pausing and looking up at me as he spoke. “I’m training to be a royal guard. All I’ve ever known is to respect and protect royalty, but with you I never knew. I could have wronged you, I could have broken my own creed… I acted like an idiot around you… I beat up that colt…. argh…” he stopped and put his hoof to his head in frustration, and my heart ached for him, and all he was saying.
“But that’s why I didn’t tell you!” I cried, reaching up to him, and not being pushed away this time as I gently lifted his hoof back down, and he regarded me with more sympathy in his eyes. “I-I just wanted to be normal. I was so happy to have met you and that you liked me for who I was…not just because I was a princess.” I looked down, my heart pounding with more than just the fear that I was losing him, as a blush spread across my face, and tears came to my eyes as the emotions around me dissolved into heartache and guilt. I steeled myself for what I was about to say, taking a deep breath in, and looking into the eyes of the dearest pony ever to touch my life.
“I…I... love you, Shining Armor.” I stammered out, and felt my heart seem to pause in my chest as I waited for what he would say or do.
The alabaster colt’s cerulean eyes widened, and he took a step back from me, causing me to feel the beating of my heart again as it seemed to jump into my throat, burning me inside as if I had swallowed fire. He looked this way and that, anxiously, and I felt his fear as all my hopes seemed to melt in the inferno inside my chest, my breath held in deep.
Finally, Shining Armor, my first real friend, and the colt I loved turned away from me and muttered, “I can’t deal with this right now,” then, spotting one of the useless guards who had meandered over to the doors of the dance, he called out to them and asked them to escort the princess home, before he turned his back on me and walked away into the shadows of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
end
AN: Sorry it took so long, but this was a 16,000 word chapter so I hope you enjoyed it. And it's heartbreaking. Poor Cadance. 
The scene where Cadance becomes enraged is based off of Luna Eclipsed. She has some of her other auntie in her ;), and kudos to anyone who can tell me the real origin of the quote she says to Sweetheart about 'ponies being fairytales in books written by rabbits'.
I am going back to work in the next few weeks and also moving so there might be a short delay with the next one, but it will be very different and hopefully worth the wait. I'm excited to write it, and need it done before season three starts and Cadance turns into some sort of crystal pony or whatever.... boo. Hehe. Thanks for reading!