“Eventually the time of the book fair came around. Shiny was eager to see Twilly again, and he still believed that I was helping him get together with her.”
Whatever was to come was only the story from Cadance’s perspective. Spike took mental stock of what ponies know, versus what they believe in this convoluted series of events.
Shiny Horseshoes:
Shiny likes a cute bookish filly named Twilly. He thinks: Cadance is helping him with his romance. Shiny desperately needs to know that he’s a biological duplicate of Shining Armour, which Cadance created to be her future husband, who instead became infatuated with his (sorta) biological daughter, who disguises herself as a younger version of his (sorta) biological sister.
Princess Cadance:
Cadance is frustrated because the biological duplicate of her husband is in love with a filly named Twilly. She thinks that Twilly is Twilight Sparkle. She desperately needs to know that Twilly is her own daughter, Flurry Heart, who disguises herself with a magic necklace.
Twilly
Twilly is an alias used by Flurry Heart so that she can spend time with the biological duplicate of her father. She thinks that her and the biological duplicate are just good friends. She desperately needs to [st]know[/st] never find out that her dad’s biological duplicate is in love with her.
Flurry Heart
Flurry is a total dingbat, according to Spike.
The night before the book fair, I met with Shiny, and asked him if he was expecting to see Twilly again. He just said: “Gee, I hope so,” and “she hasn’t missed a fair yet.” It seemed they didn’t even make any set plans.
By some coincidence, Flurry Heart came to Canterlot on the morning of the book fair. I met her at the train station.
I was a bit curt with her that day. She wanted to talk, and I was in a hurry to get to the fair before the event started.
I remember how excited she was to see me, when she got off the train. Kids her age don’t generally get excited about seeing their parents. She rushed up to me, and even presented her muzzle, and closed her eyes, like a filly. I nuzzled her a little bit, though she could tell my heart wasn’t in it.
She asked, “So, how did it go?”
I was a bit confused by the question. She corrected herself, by asking, “How has your trip been?”
Since then, I’ve always wondered if Flurry knew more then I told her about the situation. I hope she’s not disappointed. She’s such a dear child.
Spike sighed.
“You know, I always thought the two of you would make a cute couple.”
Spikes attention shot up, when Cadance said that. He looked around, hoping the dingbat wasn’t still listening in secret somewhere.
I took Flurry to our hotel, then made an excuse and headed off. When I got to the fair, Shiny was wandering the aisles. Apparently, he had not met up with Twilly yet. I considered going to search for Twilight Sparkle instead, when I spotted a little lavender Unicorn just entering the gates.
The unicorn ran up to Shiny. It’s funny, for a moment she kind of reminded me of the way Flurry was when she met with me, back at the train station.
I kept my distance, just watching. They were so happy to see one another. Twilly seemed to be the more energetic one at first. She talked fast, and whatever she was saying made Shiny blush beet red. Shiny did get a few words in, and over time Twilly’s happiness diminished. She seemed mad at him, at first in a playful way, then more seriously. Soon it was the opposite, Shiny was trying to tell her something, and whatever he said made her turn red, and pull back. He grabbed her, and puckered his lips. She pushed him down, and stormed off.
Shiny chased after her.
I flew a little ahead. When she turned a corner, Twilly seemed to be trying to take her necklace off in mid jog. She stopped when Shiny also turned the corner. This confirmed some of my suspicions. At that point Twily broke into a run.
Next I flew over to Shiny, who until then didn’t know I was there.
“What happened I asked.”
“I don’t know what went wrong. She was asking about my twentieth birthday. She asked if I met some special pony. It sounded like she already knew, so I let it slip that I met you, Princess Cadance.”
“Was it then that she became angry.”
“No, at that point she was just really excited. She asked what we talked about, and that’s when I must have said something wrong.”
I flew upward again, looking for Twilly. Twilly was gone, however I did see Twilight. A line of colts and fillies was forming around her, as she tried to browse.
Down toward her I flew. “How dare you!” I yelled, not caring that we were in public.
Twilight leaped in the air, like a cat with her tail stepped on. She turned around and saw me flying above her.
“I know what you’re doing here.”
“Okay, I confess.” Twilight pulled a leather bound tome of ancient magic from her saddle bag. At the time I thought Twilight was going to confess, and reveal the arcane method by which she appeared as a younger version of herself.
“I just paid the sticker price of 3 bits for this book. I never even told the sales pony that I’ve seen it go for 40 bits online.”
Twilight was playing dumb, or trying to make a fool out of me.
I tried to call her out on her lies, when an old sales pony poked her nose from behind another stack of books.
She laughed hardily, then told a long rambling story. “Old books scatter all over the world. If a book is out of publication, it may seem rare in one place, while there are dozens of copies just sitting unloved somewhere else. Some of these online sellers believe they have collectibles, others are just after a quick bit. Honestly, my whole career is books and I wouldn’t charge more than three bits over the digital copy, even though I hate digital, because…
At that point, Shiny caught up with us.
“Did you find her?” He asked.
The book seller seemed a bit miffed at the interruption.
I was in such a bad place back then. I turned my nose to Twilight in a snooty way. “Perhaps Princess Twilight knows where she is. Tell us Twilight, did you see that girl named Twilly?”
Twilight stuttered.
“Please Princess Twilight, I really care about her, in fact I love her.”
That’s what he said, “I love her.”
Cadance dropped her head, and starred into her cup of tea. “I think that’s when I realized…”
Cadance had trouble speaking. She seemed ready to cry. “That’s when I realized it just wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes I comfort myself by thinking that it wasn’t him, he wasn’t really my Shining Armour. Maybe it was though, maybe it was him and he just …” sob, “he just didn’t choose to spend another lifetime with me.”
Spike put an arm on her shoulder. Damn these misunderstandings, the dragon thought. Twilight should have been able to do this hundreds of years ago.
It was about then that things became really weird.
There was a commotion elsewhere in the book fair. All the ponies started ignoring this soap opera between princesses, and went to see what else was going on.
A bunch of fillies where taking turns passing around the magic necklace.
When I arrived there, one filly was saying: “Hey it’s my turn,” to another filly who just looked like Twilight. She took off the necklace, and revealed herself to be a green mare with curly hair and glasses.
A colt took the necklace, and put it on his dog. The hound seemed confused, and chased after its tail, until its master whistled, here girl. It ran up to the colt and started licking him in the face.
Shiny seemed really offended by this. He took the necklace by force. The dog nipped at his paw, and another colt cried, “Hey, my turn was next.”
Twilight intervened. She got the kids to stop fighting, and demanded to know where they got the necklace.
“We just found it in the grass princess.”
“I was going to bring it to the lost and found,” one filly lied.
At this point poor Shiny was just staring at the thing, lost in his thoughts. Part of me still wanted to reach out. Like I said, I realized it just wasn’t meant to be in this life. That’s when I turned to Twilight, and said:
“Please take care of him.”
Then I flew off.
That evening, Spike and Flurry Heart were on the return train to Canterlot.
The had a booth, but rather then sit across from one another, Flurry sat next to Spike, trying to snuggle.
“Hey,” Spike asked, “did you listen to the last half a Cadance’s story.”
“Um… I might have overheard a little bit.”
“Okay, so maybe you can shed some light on what really happened that day.”
Spike knew he was going to regret asking.
Oh, well, it’s actually kinda obvious, what happened.
You see, I’d known for years that mom planned put the moves on Shiny on his twentieth birthday, and I really wanted them to get together. I guess I actually believed it would be just like having dad back, y’know.
That morning, I met mom at the train station, and I tried to get her to spill the details, without letting on that I knew about Shiny. She barely had anything to say. Princess mom’s mood didn’t seem right. Even her hug was a little off. You can really read a person from their hug, y’know.
Flurry wrapped her hooves around Spike, oblivious to how he recoiled away.
Later, I got to the book fair, I met up with Shiny.
Acting all cool like, I gave him a little nudge, and asked: “So how was your twentieth birthday.”
I figured my subtle hint wasn’t clear enough, so I asked a few more questions. I asked, “did you meet any special pony. Was it love at first sight? Which of us is more cute, her or me? Are you engaged yet? Y’know, I always wanted a little brother.”
Shiny just looked at me, all confused like, and said ‘no.’
At that point I must have looked a really dejected, because he changed his story, and said, “I met a princess.”
“Oh wow, you met a princess.” With a coy smile, I asked, “Which princess was it.”
“It was the princess of love. It was Cadance.”
At this point, I was jumping with joy.
He told me about how the wind blew rose petals into a path and he followed the path, and it led to a flower garden that wasn’t there before, and the princess appeared in a magical golden light.
I asked him, “So what did the two of you talk about?”
“Well, what does anyone talk about with the princess of love.”
“Go on.”
“I told her all about the girl I like.”
Spike slapped his head. “So that’s when you got mad at him.”
I called him a doofus.
He was so clueless. My mom is like the pony love goddess, when she puts out signals you have to be a doofus not to get it.
Y’know this is actually something that had been building up for a while. My dad was a smart guy, and Shiny was always a bit of a dope. I know it’s not his fault, it just made me so mad.
I don’t think Shiny even understood why I was mad. He says, “Wait, Twilly,” he always called me Twilly, “It’s you I love.” Then he grabs me, and tries to kiss me.
Anyway, I know I have a daddy complex, but I did not want that. So I pushed him down and left. I figured I’d smooth it out in a letter later, right then, I did not want to even look at him.
Anyway, I turn a corner, and try to slip my magic necklace off so I can lose him. He follows me so I turn another corner and I try again, two corners later.
When I finally get the necklace off, and return to normal, I’m really relieved. I’m so relieved that I just stick the necklace in my saddle bag, and totally fail to realize that it fell right out again.
So, I dropped my necklace, and mom always told me never to lose magical things, so when I realize it’s gone I go back to look for it.
Anyway there’s this big crowd gathering. It’s so big even an alicorn can get lost in it. When I finally manage to push my way far enough to see what all the ponies are looking at, I see Twilly, no me, licking a guys face, while aunt Twilight is watching.
It’s so loud, that I can’t hear what any pony is saying. I know that some dummy put the magic necklace on a dog, and now aunty Twilight is super embarrassed. She didn’t deserve that y’know.
Anyway, my mom whispers something to Twilight, then flies off. She never even knew I was there.
Maybe it’s for the best. I knew Shiny, and he was no replacement for daddy. Of course, who is?
After mom was gone, Twilight approached Shiny Horseshoes. He’s all quiet, like he’s about to cry or something, then he suddenly starts yelling:
“I knew it. It all fits. She was a space pony.”
Aunt Twilight tried to set him straight, Shiny just wouldn’t hear any of it.
“It all fits,” he yelled, “there’s the photo of my mom being taken by a UFO, the promise of a secret that would be revealed to me on my twentieth year, Twilly, just Twilly. She was a space pony. Space ponies are among us, and the princesses are trying to cover it up.”
“We are not!” Twilight insisted.
“As princess Twilight Sparkle is my witness, I will find my love, the space pony, or spend the rest of my life trying.”
Crazy, don’t you think? He even kept my necklace. When auntie Twilight tried to get it back, he said she was covering up evidence, y’know.
“Huh. So what ever happened to Shiny Horseshoes.” Spike asked.
“He spent years of his life chasing conspiracies.”
“Too bad, the poor kid probably alienated everyone who ever loved him and died alone.”
“No, actually, he became rich and famous doing that. He was on reality TV for awhile, and wrote a book. He didn’t just look for aliens though. Shiny actually found some ancient temples, and saved Equestria from some previously unknown race of cryptids”
“Huh,” Spike said again. “I guess he never found his Twilly though.”
Flurry blushed. “Well, I tried writing to him. There was a little back and forth, because he didn’t believe me, at first he thought the ‘evil princesses’ were forcing me to write what they wanted me to write,” Flurry made air quotes when she said evil princesses. “After that, I guess he was more embarrassed then my mom was about the whole thing.”
Flurry took a moment the fumble through her saddle bag, looking for something.
“I invited him to the castle and we were finally going to come clean about everything that really happened. Unfortunately, before he could come, Shiny disappeared on one of his expeditions.”
At last Flurry seemed to find what she was searching for in her saddle bag.
“It was thirty years later, when I recieved this in the mail.”
Spike examined the picture carefully. There was a red sky with three moons, one full and two crescent. The rock was red with a copper like hue. Shiny Horseshoes stood in a triumphant pose, like a conquering hero. He held a great broadsword, and wore strange leather like armour. A great beast lay slain beneath him. On his side, a mare snuggled next to him. She had the likeness of Twilight Sparkle. She looked into the camera, with a come hither expression, uncharacteristic of the Twilight he new. Spike was shocked at first, then noticed the necklace she was wearing. It was the magic necklace, just as described to him. Surrounding them were mighty looking humanoids with green skin, and insectoid mandibles. they seemed to be there to cheer their warrior king. Could the mare who was wearing the magical necklace have originally been on of these fierce creatures?
“It’s probably fake,” said Flurry. “That doofus must have took his bits retired somewhere, then got vain in his old age, and wanted to be remembered on a high note.
“I don’t know, those moons look pretty real to me.”
“You’re so naive Spike.”
“Did you ever have an expert look at this photo?”
“Don’t have to, it’s obviously fake.”
EPILOUGE
Twilight Sparkle took a small jewellery box from her dresser drawer, and examined the contents.
Inside were two necklaces, both fairly nice on their own, even if they had not been magical. Twilight never even had Celestia’s original magic necklace to examine, yet over time she was able to produce items of similar ability.
She was so grateful that Cadance had given her the idea. Finally she could move freely about Equestria, escape being a princess for a time, or just dance and have the other pony lead.
Tonight Flurry Heart was going to join her, and they were going to enjoy the night together.
She draped her necklace around the nape of her neck. In a moment the transformation happened. Now she was just a cute Pegasus, with an orange coat and a purple mane. It was a different, richer purple then her own mane, though it manifested in a tangle of the most magnificent curls. She borrowed traits from some of the finest ponies she’d ever known, mixing and matching them to create a fetching, yet realistic form.
Twilight eyed the other necklace. This one would turn Flurry into a white unicorn with a rainbow mane.
She really wished she had never agreed to keep Flurry Hearts ridiculous secret. Her only consolation, was that the unpleasant business was so far behind them.
Cadance should have known that biological duplication isn’t the same as bringing your friends back. Twilight had learned that lesson when her first Pinkie duplicate grew up to be an accountant. With Cadance’s confession, this nonsense would likely be done and forgotten, and they’d never have to worry about misunderstandings nearly leading to incest again.
Cadance eyed the necklace that Twilight had given her as a friendship gift nearly a century ago. It was quite an amazing thing, it had allowed her to connect with the ponies of Equestria in ways she never could as the princess.
Perhaps, thought she, she would unwind by popping over to Canterlot, and going dancing. Cadance licked her lips. I hope that white unicorn with the rainbow mane is there again.