“The Crystal Empire is in King Sombra’s hands, and Princess Celestia and Luna are gone,” Princess Cadance announced to a room full of Canterlot nobility.
Several ponies fainted dead away, and many more gasped in shock, their jaws falling to the floor. Their princess, their perfect, immortal princess of the sun… was gone? They couldn’t believe it. They heard she was dealing with something of high importance and might not be seen again for quite a while, however, they weren’t expecting this. They weren’t expecting to hear that Sombra had returned, and certainly didn’t think that he could possibly win against their beloved princess…
“I urge you all to stay calm,” Cadance spoke with authority before they could ask questions and start to panic. “The bearers of the Elements of Harmony are currently working to stop him and bring back the princesses. As well, in the unlikely event the Elements are brought down, I have reason to believe that he will not be looking to conquer the whole of Equestria, and should be satisfied with the Crystal Empire.”
“Why would they lose?” somepony asked worriedly, barely able to keep himself calm. “Why wouldn’t he try and take over all of Equestria?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t disclose the answers to those questions,” the alicorn responded. “However, I ask you all once again to stay calm and rest assured that all is not lost. In the unlikely event that we do see him try to take over Canterlot and Equestria, we have preparations in place to assure his defeat and secure ourselves.”
Princess Cadance sat on Celestia’s large throne in the now empty room, staring blankly at both everything and nothing. It was almost surreal to her that she was here right now, and she was still processing everything that happened.
Celestia was gone. Luna was gone. She was almost certain that Twilight and her friends were gone, although she had yet to confirm that. She knew her husband, Shining Armor, didn’t stand a chance against Chrysalis, and with as cocky as the draconequus was, she was certain that the combination of Sombra and Radiant Hope would be enough to take down even Discord. If events played out the way she expected they would, she would be the sole ruler of Equestria, her daughter, Flurry Heart, being the sole heir.
Sure, she could try and take steps to defeat Sombra. She could check the archives for a spell to bring Celestia back from her banishment and defeat the stallion if she liked, but why would she do that? Celestia was out of her mind with rage, and that wasn’t something she particularly felt like dealing with. Besides, the former princess only brought it on herself. The immortal Princess of the Sun, the same one who had ruled Equestria for hundreds of generations, had gone completely insane just from interacting with one stallion. It was quite remarkable, the way she was able to let her emotions be affected and her judgment become clouded by him. To be fair though, Cadance had intentionally edged her on, expecting her darker side to come out. And it worked.
“This is my throne,” the Princess of Love, no, the Princess of Equestria, whispered to herself. “This is my throne.”
She still couldn’t believe what Celestia had done to her, or, what was planning on doing to her. She fully expected to see Twilight Sparkle take up a position of power, and could honestly say that she was happy to see it, too. She was the filly she helped guide over the years, and almost took some pride in the fact that she was moving up in the world. At least, until Celestia had announced that she would rule Equestria instead of her. It felt like a kick in the gut to her, after all she’d accomplished, after all she’d been through, to be relegated to the background by somepony who just became an alicorn. Somepony who was practically still a filly. Sure, she’d done a lot to help Equestria, but she wasn’t ready to lead Equestria. Twilight herself even admitted so, on several occasions. And yet, Celestia wouldn’t relent. She chose Twilight over the pony she raised.
And then Shining Armor had the nerve to say he agreed with her, to say that Twilight deserved to rule Equestria over his wife. Over his daughter! She made sure to raise that specific point with him, and yet he wouldn’t back down. “My little sister has worked hard and deserves to be ruler of Equestria,” he told her. He was saying that she deserved to lose out, that Flurry Heart deserved to lose out. They deserved to lose to somepony who didn’t even want it! That after all she'd been through, she still deserved to lose.
“This is my throne,” she told herself again with conviction. "This. Is. My. Throne."
Eventually, somehow, she found herself holding her sleeping daughter while walking slowly back and forth through Celestia’s bedroom. No, her bedroom. She walked back and forth across her bedroom holding her foal as the filly started to stir.
"Daddy?" Flurry Heart asked as she opened her tired eyes and briefly looked around.
"Daddy's not here right now, sweetie," Cadance answered in a soothing sort of voice. "Daddy might not be coming back. But you don't need to worry about that. You just go back to sleep now."
"Daddy..." the foal sniffed out sadly as she closed her eyes again.
“It's going to be okay,” she whispered as she set her daughter back down. "Mommy did this all for you."
She really had done it, and quite successfully in fact. Making a pact with Sombra, fueling Celestia’s anger and hatred and pushing her to her emotional limit, creating a spell that Starswirl the Bearded would’ve been proud of… she really had outdone herself. For a little while, she was sure that Luna would discover what she was doing, but somehow, to her great fortune, she hadn’t. It was perfect. She had created a no lose situation for herself. If Twilight managed to defeat Sombra, she was certain she wouldn’t mind her ruling Equestria, and could explain that she was here making sure Canterlot was secure while she was doing that. If Discord defeated him and brought Luna back, she knew she'd be able to convince her to give her a position of power, and could simply wait for her to retire like she was planning on doing. If Sombra won, which was the most likely scenario to her, she knew he would be more obsessed with enacting revenge on the Crystal Empire than he would be in controlling Equestria. More importantly than that, Sombra wasn’t an alicorn. One day, he would grow old and die and that would be the end of him. By that time, Flurry Heart would be more than capable of running the Crystal Empire. And then, in however many thousand years, when she herself was ready to retire, she would leave running the whole of Equestria with her. It would be a storybook ending for Cadance, for both of them. With these things in mind, she made a mental note to announce that she and Sombra had come to "an agreement" about how he wouldn't try and take over Equestria. She knew many wouldn't like it, but would accept the outcome. She was an alicorn after all, as well as the Ruler of Equestria.
“Mommy did this all for you,” she whispered again, lying to her little filly.
"I swear if she lied to me, no one will be happy..." Alex growled.