<<<1:40pm the next day – Canterlot Castle>>>
Cadance
I had been searching the castle for some time looking for Twilight. I think I’ve finally found the courage to confront her about this… I hope. Months had passed since our last talk and things had only been… escalating. I had even caught her making looks when she thought I wouldn’t notice. I needed to confront her now, get everything out in the open and sort this all out before things grew further out of hoof.
What she did yesterday- taking Andromeda out -was the last straw. I needed to say something, now.
I finally found her in the castle kitchens. Spike was with her, and it looked like everything was fine; Twilight was just accompanying Spike as he grabbed a snack. But I could tell that she seemed antsy- more than usual, anyways. Probably wants to get somewhere instead of waiting for Spike.
“Twily!”
Twilight jumped a little, obviously not expecting me to be present.
“Cadance…!”
Well that wasn’t very enthusiastic… She’s probably guessed what’s going to come next.
“We need to talk, do you have a minute?”
“Well, um, Spike and I hav-“
“Sure! I’m going to go see Andy again, he wants to go and check something in Canterlot and wanted me to come along. Don’t worry, I’ll go get him and we’ll wait at the gates for you to catch up! See you in a bit Twilight!”
Spike then proceeded to run off, stuffing something into his mouth as he ran. Twilight grinned sheepishly, knowing she was caught. I sighed.
“C’mon Twily, it’s not that bad, we just need to talk about this before either of us decide to do something rash that we both regret.”
Twilight sighed in defeat and hung her head.
“Come on, let’s go somewhere a bit more… private.”
Twilight nodded and we headed up to my room so we could speak without any of the castle staff or guards overhearing us. It wouldn’t do for rumours like this to spread around, especially when Andromeda’s presence is supposed to be kept hidden. When we arrived I closed the door behind us and we both sat down across from one another. I thought I’d have the strength to talk about this, but right now my well-planned-out speech I had prepared was lost on me, completely forgotten in the anxiety of the moment.
“Twilight…”
I swallowed nervously.
“…so… y-you like this beautiful weather we’re having?”
Dammit Cadance, pull yourself together.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“Are you-“
Twilight cut me off.
“I don’t know! I’ve never experienced anything like this before! I thought friendship was always just a waste of time! Why make friends when you could be studying? It didn’t make sense to me! But after I read your diary, something just… snapped in me and now I suddenly can’t stop this weird feeling I have. I wanted to say it was love, but I didn’t know, but it isn’t like I can just look this stuff up, there isn’t anything in any library on ‘warm, fuzzy feelings’ except for Fuzzy Fever, which I’m certain I don’t have!”
Twilight paused to draw breath before continuing, but I put out a hoof to stop her before she could begin again. I guess she really does love him. Dammit. Now what am I supposed to do. I thought she might have been, as the alicorn of love I could tell that the feeling was there, but I just didn’t want to believe it was true. Now that I know, what do I do? Do I break the heart of one of my best friends? Or do I give up on my own desires and help her on her way with her own? Should neither of us pursue him?
“Twilight, I… You do love him. I can feel it, though I didn’t want it to be true…”
“Really? So then, will you help me…?”
“That’s the problem… you’re not the only one, I feel that way about him too. That should have been clear from my diary…”
Twilight seemed to shrink a little bit. I could almost tell what she was thinking to herself: ‘It was too good to be true…’
“Look,” Twilight turned to face me, “We can’t just go on like this. We both have feelings for him, but I don’t want that to get in the way of us being friends. I would hate for us to do something stupid and loose each other just because we can’t see eye-to-eye on this.”
“But then, what do we do? Ask him who he likes better?”
“NO! Nononono! He’s still hurt, Twi. If we told him now, the shock might make him back away from both of us for good. He’s introverted, and still opening up to the world. Anything that he doesn’t understand is scary for him, and something like this might only make his condition worse.”
“So, what then? If we can’t tell him…”
“I don’t know… but, we can’t keep going like this.”
We sat in silence and thought.
“Maybe… turns? Like…”
“That could work; but what if he finds it weird, and I’m around the castle a lot more than you are, so how would that affect things?”
We fell back into silence.
“What…”
I look up.
“What if he doesn’t even like us? What if all of this is pointless and he doesn’t like us to begin with? You said yourself that he’s still naïve; what if he doesn’t understand any of this?”
“He doesn’t understand, he’s never known kindness before Celestia, and love is on a whole other level than that, which is why we need to make him understand what love is, bit by bit. We need to teach him to love, like how Celestia is teaching him about magic.”
“I think you meant to say: like how the Princess has been revising him about magic.”
We both laugh at that. Andromeda had aced every topic we’d covered so far, at a pace that even I had difficulty keeping up with. It was like he already knew most of what he was being taught, though he wasn’t quite at Twilight’s level yet- Twilight was a prodigy among ponies without a doubt. As we calmed down we sat in silence once more, only one question on both of our minds.
“What do we do now?”
“What do we do now?”
Andromeda
“What’s taking them so long?”
Spike and I had been waiting by the front entrance for a few minutes now, and he was starting to grow impatient. To be honest, I was a little worried about them, though I was also feeling more impatient by the second.
For a different reason.
I had been meaning to grab something from Canterlot yesterday, but I just hadn’t had the time to do so, and now time was ticking away. I would’ve liked to have gone and grabbed it immediately; we would’ve already been back by now.
…maybe it would be better if we just left them behind?
A nagging feeling was still settled in the pit of my stomach, the same one I had felt yesterday, as if something bad was going to happen… though nothing bad had happened… Celestia said it was probably just my nerves when I told her about it last night… maybe she was right?
“Perhaps we should just go…? It’s not like this will take very long…”
“You sure? It might be safer to wait for them.”
I thought to myself and quickly analysed my options. I might feel better with them by my side, though this was personal; and I’d already lived on these streets most of my life- I knew them like the back of my hoof. I guess if something goes wrong, it goes wrong. I’d have to deal with whatever results from my actions should it occur.
I nodded.
“I’m sure. Let’s go.”
“Okie dokie!”
The two of us began the walk through Canterlot. Now that I was… better, than my former condition, I got to see the city in a whole new light. Buildings were open and welcoming, stores no longer a place to stay away from, but somewhere to go and see what was for sale. Homes were no longer “just another building”, but a place where actual ponies lived. It was incredible… while it lasted.
Soon we had turned off the main road and started heading through the backstreets. I knew exactly where I was headed, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
As we walked, the architecture began to change, stone walls seemed to enclose us, the cobblestones beneath us becoming grey and dreary. It was almost like I was… well, ‘home’ isn’t what I would say anymore. ‘Home’ is with Celestia back in the castle, this is… well, I suppose it’s what it is.
“W-w-why are we here? W-where even i-is here?”
“Dark Canterlot… The beating heart of Black Canterlot. The only place the ponies living in this city fear to tread.”
“B-black Canterlot?! Why are we here of all places?!”
“Because there’s something I need…”
I stopped before a storm drain.
“Something I left here a lifetime ago.”
I lifted the grate and moved it aside, lowering myself to get a better look at the back wall behind it.
It’s been a while, so the mark I left is probably eroded, but…
I grab a loose brick that seems slightly out-of-place with it’s surroundings and pull it out, revealing a hidden compartment in the stonework.
“Whoa… How’d you know that was there?”
“Because I made it…”
I reach into the dark space and pull out a small, worn box, held shut with a strip of cloth and covered by a small sheet.
“Got it.”
I swiftly replace the brick and grate, and before Spike knew it we were already back on the main street of the city.
“Wait, that’s it?”
I nod my head.
“Well, what’s in the box?”
I look around for a place that is less crowded and find one by Joe's Donut Shop. We walk over and I sit down with my back to the wall. I uncover the box and unwrap the cloth before looking around again. It wouldn’t be good if anyone found out about this.
I lift the lid slightly, peeking inside to make sure the box’s contents are all still there.
…ten, eleven, twelve. All there.
I close the box and quickly wrap it back up.
“Wait! You didn’t show me yet!”
“I-it’s personal.”
“O-oh... Ok.”
Spike nodded and made a motion as if zipping his lips shut and tossing away the key. I smiled in return. Celestia had explained this one to me a few weeks ago, that it meant “I won’t tell anyone”. Glad mum told me when she did or I’d be clueless right now.
We sat there in silence for a little while.
“So, what now?”
“We’re finished… but, do you want to grab a donut?”
“Yippee!!”
I couldn’t help but slightly chuckle at Spike’s antics.
Cadance
We’d been brainstorming ideas the whole afternoon and by evening we had still gotten nowhere. We just couldn’t figure out how this was going to work. I was exhausted by this point, though Twilight was still going strong, having turned one of the walls into a mind map of our thoughts, ideas, and the pros and cons on each. I was about to speak up and tell her I couldn’t keep on going with this when my prayers for relief were answered by a knock on the door.
The door opened slightly and a white muzzle appeared through the gap.
“May I come in?”
I perked up.
“Auntie Celestia! Come in!”
Celestia walked into the room and closed the door behind her, making her way over to us and noticing Twilight’s work on the wall.
“My, it appears you two have been busy.”
Twilight snapped out of her trance at Celestia’s voice.
“Princess! I didn’t see you there. Um… yes, we’ve been… busy… but we haven’t gotten anywhere! We’ve been trying to find a solution but no matter what we come up with, it just doesn’t work! There are just too many unknown variables!”
Celestia was studying the wall.
“I see…”
She turned to the both of us after she finished her analysis of the situation. We couldn’t help but blush given the personal nature of the topic.
“So the problem is that you both have feelings for a pony, but don’t know how to make it work without one of you getting hurt.”
We nod and Celestia seemed deep in thought for a few moments.
“Hm… (It’s not exactly proper etiquette these days, but perhaps…) …Have either of you attempted looking for a historical solution to this problem?”
“Historical…?”
“…Solution?”
Celestia nods.
“Yes. Back in the days when Equestria was young, there were concerns about the future generations of ponykind. There were too many mares, and so few stallions willing to enter relationships that the population was actually in decline. Thankfully, although the ratio of mares to stallions is still not as evenly balanced as I would like, in current times there are enough stallions open to the idea of marriage that this issue is no longer present. However, back when it was a problem, a solution had to be found to ensure ponykind’s future. Many solutions were brought forth; the idea of mares creating relationships with stallions of other races, ‘volunteer stallions’…”
We all shuddered at that idea.
“Believe me, that is the nicest way I can put it. It sounded much worse when it was first presented. But I digress. Have you ever heard about the concept of herds?”
Twilight and I looked at each other before shaking our heads.
“While it is not a practice that is commonplace today, it was the solution that we settled upon back in the older days of Equestria, where two or more mares would share the same stallion. Of course, this wasn’t for everypony and some resented the idea outright, creating a rift in society that took many years to heal. While the practice isn’t popular- nor well known -today, and some still look down upon it as uncouth or primitive in nature, numerous ponies across Equestria still practice herding, and… it might just help the two of you.”
Twilight and I looked at one another. Sharing a stallion? It had crossed my mind, though I had simply dismissed the idea at the time as nothing more that something that happens in romantic fiction. To hear it is not only a possibility, but is practiced in Equestria? That changes things…
“Of course, this may not work for many reasons. One of you may prefer to have the stallion all to yourself, or the stallion themselves might reject the idea outright. I am merely bringing it up as a possibility in case it helps to alleviate the tension between you two.”
Celestia stood up and began making her way towards the door.
“Now, come on. It is almost dinner time, and Spike and Andromeda returned hours ago. You’re invited to stay, if you wish to, Twilight. I know Spike would like to stay a little longer, and besides…”
Celestia turned to us before she left, showing us a coy smile and a wink.
“I know neither of you would want to miss the chance to get closer to Andromeda.”
Celestia left the room, closing the door behind her. We sat there for a few seconds before we both bolted to reach the dining room first.