It was about 24 hours since Cadence decided to mother the absolute daylights out of Sombra and Discord. She had everything set up, her husband knew and approved. So why did it take so long? Well, Flurry had an insane bought of powerful spells, and by the time she stopped every creature was much too exhausted. It was the wrong time. So now was the time, except Cadence had no idea how to do this. Was she just supposed to go up to them? 'Hey there Buckaroo I want to be your mom.' How? Should she make tea, should she bring Shining with her? Should she sit them down, be serious, be goofy, lighthearted, straight to the point?
It's all she thought about as she went to meeting after meeting, obsessing over every little detail. Should she bring food, water, what was needed? Was that even needed? She should probably do it somewhere private. She was so inside her own head that time passed by without her knowledge, and now she was just sitting, staring at a meeting room wall. Trying to figure out what to do, and if that action was the right one. She took one look at the calendar and her heart dropped, today was the day, it was Flurry's first birthday. It was hard to believe that Sombra and Discord had been helping with Flurry for about a year. Cadence wanted to mentally slap herself again, how could she? Sometimes, she swore she could be so stupid. Her self loathing was quickly interrupted by just the creatures she was thinking about.
"Hiya Cadence." Discord waved to Cadence he had teleported into the room with Sombra. He was very excited for so many reasons. One of them was the surprise for Cadence that he and Sombra were hiding behind their back. Another one was because it was his little ball of chaos's birthday. Though he was somewhat concerned that Cadence was sitting in the meeting room alone. "Are you ok Cadence?"
"Of-of course!" Cadence could feel her anxiety grow, her chest tightened. She had to do this but all she could think of was, what if this went wrong? What if she ruined everything? What if she wasn't good enough? What if she made everything worse?
"Close your eyes then," Sombra said as he smiled at Cadence, he too was pretty excited. He just could not wait any longer.
"But!" Cadence interrupted. She felt that she HAD to do this, right here, right now. No option, no choice.
Sombra trotted over to Cadence and put his hoof over her eyes. "No butts! Close your eyes and relax." He insisted, she was just going to love what he and Discord planned.
Cadence reluctantly closed her eyes, she took this moment to take a deep breath. She felt she would fall into an anxiety attack. That wasn't what was needed. She started some breathing exercises only to feel a pair of claws on her head. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she opened her eyes to see only hoof.
"No peeking," Sombra said as he kept covering her face, he didn't want their surprise ruined.
Cadence closed her eyes, finding it easier and easier to relax. Discord's claws gently scratched and massaged her head. Hair went from one side to another, to another. She wondered what was happening but only briefly as Discord reached the base of her head. The scratches only felt better "oooo, am I getting a massage? Then why can't I see?" Her mind drifted off her problems and into Discord's claws.
"Sort of, now hush." Sombra insisted as he made sure she didn't peak.
Discord was concentrating, concentrating very, very, hard. Over, under, through, over, under, through. He worked his way down her head from her right ear down to the left side of her neck. Brading in a sort of arch. Discord couldn't wait for the best part, the bows. See the colors moved when you moved, gliding in and out. They were calling it holographic. The creation of the bows took a long time and many, many tries, but they did it. Much to a stressed-out Rarity, who they now owed big time.
Since the magic backfired and did some....interesting things to her shop. Things they promised to go back and fix, things like. Crystalized and chaotic furniture, half of her store was black and half an insane checkered pattern. Rarity, always the generous one, said that she would work with it until they could address it. Soon enough Discord was done her hair, he put the bow by her ear, a very large and him themed bow. It was time for her tail. "Cadence may I touch your tail?"
Cadence nodded, "of course." Tails were a touchy subject among pony kind, a sort of a special somepony thing. Though she let Discord do it, she trusted him, and she knew he didn't mean it like that. So she sat still, wondering what on Equestria they were doing.
With a tie of a Sombra themed bow on the top of Cadence's tale, Discord was done. He took one look at Sombra. Who seemed like he would explode with excitement at any moment.
"Cadence, we just want to say. Thank you for being so great to us while we are here. We both know how much you like the windows. So for Flurry's party, we thought we do something like that again. And well, you can look now." Sombra said as he moved.
They waited as Cadence opened her eyes. Discord snapped a mirror behind her and one in front and her jaw dropped. "Wow, I'm so pretty."
"Your always pretty." Sombra and Discord stated back without missing a beat.
"YOU GUYS!" Cadence cooed "you two are just the sweetest. Thank you I love it so much!" She said as she twirled around in front of the mirror. She used her magic to bring them into a hug. She felt good, better, she realized that she was putting to much pressure on herself. That wasn't doing any good.
"So you ready then?" Sombra asked from inside the hug. He really liked hugs now. "We are rather late, the party has already started. What were you even doing in here?"
"Ohh uh, just needed some space hehe." Cadence decided to let it go. It had to happen naturally she couldn't force it to happen. At least not now. She was teleported to Sugar Cube Corner by Discord. Tomorrow, for sure.
Once they got there Sombra bounced inside. Today was the day Flurry could finally have that cupcake, a fact that made him very excited. “Hellloooo Pinkie Pie. It is time for Flurry to have a cupcake.” Sombra said as he rushed over to her, totally ignoring the party that was in full swing.
“OMG, that’s fantastic! This isn’t like last time, is it? She can actually have the cupcake?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Sombra sighed, the rumor had gotten around really quickly due to Celestia and Luna's big mouths. To his surprise, Discord told one pony Fluttershy who told no pony else. Who thought representations of alicorn royalty could cause that kind of chaos? That was Discord's thing. He really didn’t appreciate that every pony knew about this, but he was willing to admit that it was sort of funny, with some hindsight. “Yes, Pinkie I asked Cadence before coming here.”
“I made her a super-duper-extra-special cupcake box.” Pinkie said as she packed a box of 12 cupcakes. Chocolate, vanilla, banana, raspberry, orange, lime, lemon, strawberry, apple, daisy, hay, and blueberry.
“Thank you Pinkie,” Sombra said with a smile it was nice to see her again. He was finally getting to socialize with the elements once more. Now that Flurry stopped teleporting he could see them a little more often. Though his day could be interrupted at any point due to Flurry casting a large spell. Something that made him nervous for tonight. Although she had been incredibly well-behaved today, so it might be fine.
“Why do you want to feed her a cupcake so badly?” Cadence asked as she entered Sugar Cube Corner. An action that made the party stop.
“Sugar was very rare when I was young. I didn’t get to have a cupcake until my reformation.” Sombra said as he briefly looked back on his past, he wasn’t kidding there was quite the food shortage.
“Oh. That makes sense.” Cadence quit while she was ahead, she wanted to ask more. But she did not want to cause a scene. That was something that she already did though as she could feel every creature staring. "Uh hi." She said to them.
"Your mane is gorgeous!" Pinkie and Fluttershy stated at the same time.
"Who did it for you?" Rainbow asked it was very different. Unlike anything, she had seen. It was cool, rad even. She liked it.
"Yeah, it's really somethin' special. Was it done by anyone fancy like?" Applejack asked, assuming some professional did it. Maybe it was one of Rarity's friends.
"Discord did it for me." Cadence stated as she looked among the surprised faces. It wasn't that unexpected, was it? Even if it was, Discord did that all the time. So it shouldn't be.
"Rarity helped us make the bows for your Cadence." Discord added. "Thank you Rarity."
"Oh darling, it was no problem." Though she said that she was still dealing with the aftermath of that experiment. Opting to close for the time being. Though she was getting some new inspiration. Darkness and chaos clothesline. She could see it now, then she wouldn't need to change her shop. Not for a while.
It looked like other ponies were about to chime in before Cadence's booming voice echoed off the walls of Sugar Cube Corner. “She can have ONE,” by now Cadence learned Sombra and Discord spoiled Flurry rotten. She didn’t want her to grow up with a rotten attitude as well. She thought of Flurry's room which was stuff to the brim with stuffed animals, various other toys, and fireflies. Discord insisted on those, said he was afraid that Flurry was afraid of the dark. It did help, she cried out a lot less often. Her parents got a lot more sleep as well as Discord, who helped out during the night as well. She was extra thankful for that gift. Discord and Sombra pouted, they kept pouting but Cadence did not give in, “ONE!” She insisted she had to remain firm because if she didn't two would become three, would become four, and so on.
“Uhg fine!” Sombra said grouchy, he wanted to give Flurry all the cupcakes, but he knew Cadence was right. What if it made her sick, and she never liked cupcakes again? He sighed as he realized his mistake, “sorry that was rude.”
“Its ok Sombra. I know both of you just love to spoil her. It could make her sick, that wouldn’t be good. So just one.” Cadence explained, she always made sure she gave them a reason as to why she was making her decisions. Why? Well, she didn't want them to be confused or out of the loop. She wanted to include them in all the bits of parenting even the sucky parts.
So Flurry could only pick one cupcake, Discord and Sombra wondered which one she would pick. What she chose now would be destiny. Would she grow up to be a chocolate pony? Vanella pony? Would she hate them? This was the single most important thing in the history of things. Not really, but Discord and Sombra sure thought it was. They entered the kitchen and sat down in front of Flurry.
With Cadence, Discord, and Sombra's attention on Flurry, the party went back into full swing. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Starlight, and Rarity danced on the dance floor. “Soma, Issy,” Flurry said. She seemed to pick up language very easily, knowing things were even if she didn't know the word.
Cadence wondered if it was because she was an alicorn. She also knew that Discord, Shining, and Sombra read to her every night which could also be helping. Either way turned out her baby was a fast learner.
Discord and Sombra waited with bated breath, which cupcake would she choose, what would be her destiny? DESTINY! This cupcake would define her for the rest of forever, she could never ever like another cupcake. Just this one cupcake, forever. “Is a cu cap” Flurry said as she smashed face-first into the raspberry cupcake. Guess she would be a berry pony, that or it just so happened to be the brightest cupcake. It was neon pink. That couldn’t be it though, this was a destiny cupcake. DESTINY!
"Yes, Flurry it's a cupcake. You are a smart alicorn!" He and several other ponies melted at Flurry's baby speak.
Discord took this moment to grab "Tia and Cadence. He dragged them away unnoticed, a grin on his face. Though it hurt to be away from Flurry.
"Discord where are we going," Cadence asked, snuggled away in his lion arm.
"Yeah, where are we going?" Celestia added, snuggled away in his eagle claw.
"I saw DDR the corner of my eye. Kay-Kay, 'Tia you are having an intervention. I noticed you both seem pretty stressed. I would take Twilight but she isn't here. Were gonna get trashed and play." He said as he turned into the back room where Pinkie Pie set up a temporary DDR station. He gave them each a drink that he swiped from the table. Making sure they were strong drinks.
"Where is Discord?" Sombra asked as he noticed his mismatch friend wasn't making smart remarks. He always made smart remarks. He was silent so something had to be wrong.
That statement was followed by "where is Cadence?" Shining noticed his wife's absence as well.
"OH NO!" They said as they realized that Discord and Cadence were most likely together. Last time they went off they got trashed and wrecked the kitchen table. Not to mention they ate all the food in the fridge. "Has anyone seen them," the two of them asked in a panic.
"No" rarity stated, they seemed concerned, which made her concerned. "Why?"
"Last time they partied together they went a little crazy we have to find them!" Sombra clarified.
"I saw them go off to the DDR station!" Pinkie Pie announced with a bounce.
Sombra and Shining ran off. "Pinkie watch Flurry" Sombra stated as he was followed by the rest of the elements who were curious. They ran down the hall and to the dining room where they found Discord, Celestia and Cadence poorly cheating at DDR. Cadence managed the left step, Celestia managed the right step, Discord managed the back step. Each creature took turns hitting the front step resulting in a lot of hoof and claw slapping. That resulted in a lot of giggling. It wasn't the craziest thing they assumed that they were doing. Which was a relief.
Just then Twilight stumbled in the door quite exhausted. She was done with all her duties for the day and had just barely made the party. The only reason she was here was because her friends were making a big deal about her schedule changes. She had to prove that those changes were for the best. That meant showing up today, she would make up the lost time in secret. "What did I-?" She stopped her sentence as the image of three entities she knew, clearly plastered, entered her brain.
"Twilight!" Celestia said as she turned away from the game and stumbled over to Twilight, "did I ever tell you. You're my favorite subject. Don't tell my other subjects. its a secret. Your the best!"
That got Discord's attention, "no because Fluttershy is better. Anything Twilight can do, Fluttershy can do better." He corrected Celestia. His attention was drawn from the game.
"Anything Fluttershy can do, Twilight can do better. Twilight is much greater!"
"No!" Discord argued, angry at the very thought. How dare she!
"Yes!" Celestia insisted, she was of course right.
"No!" Discord insisted back, he was right!
"Yes!" Celestia said, getting up into his face.
"Fluttershy can calm a manticore, like Twilight could do more."
"Twilight invented new magic, she is just that epic."
"Fluttershy reformed me, never did she flee!"
"Twilight helped, you jerk!"
"You know Fluttershy did all the work!"
"Well can she bake a pie?" Celestia asked though she wasn't sure why she did.
"No." Discord stated with a frown.
"Neither can Twilight but anything she can do, she can do better than Fluttershy."
The rest of the night consisted of an argument over who was better performed in a song. Twilight greatly regretted coming to the party. As soon as she got a free spot she was going to bail. She made an appearance, that was all that mattered. Plus there was an upside to showing up. Clearly, if Discord and Sombra were messing with Cadence, they were also messing with Celestia. The princess she knew was above this. The situation was worse than she thought, she would have to give Gold another call.