Cadance hated being alone. Shiny had disappeared to the dungeons with Auntie Luna, and Auntie Celestia had just plain disappeared. Leaving her by herself, just twiddling her hooves waiting for chaperones to show up before she could return to a party like nothing had happened.
Like nothing had happened?! This wasn’t some scandal like a Noble’s business benefiting from a bill they were lobbying, or a servant pocketing a set of antique, dragon forged, one-of-a-kind, Spiral Heart earrings, (‘I really miss those earrings . . .’), No, this was big. Elements of Harmony big, literally since Kindness was directly involved. No matter what the outcome, this couldn’t be covered up. . . Or could it? Should it be? This was so far beyond her league, she just didn’t have the faintest clue of what she should do.
What she needed to do was to talk to somepony about this. Shiny and Auntie Luna were obviously occupied, and since she needed to talk to somepony about whether she should talk to about the ‘situation’ to others, that left only Auntie Celestia.
As she heard the regulation quick march clopping of the guards Shiny had sort of ordered her to stick with (She frowned a little at this. She knew he cared about her, and just wanted to keep her safe, but it rankled that nopony had thought to ask her opinion.), she made up her mind on what to do.
Once they entered the throne room, she announced, “Gentlestallions,” giving them a small nod in acknowledgement of their quick salute, “I appreciate your escort, but I will not be immediately returning to the festivities. Please take me to Princess Celestia’s study.” She knew the way well, of course, but Shiny’s troops were sticklers for protocol, no matter how many times she tried to get them to loosen up. Plus, she had sort of promised Shiny not to ditch them. Again.
The three sets of hooves echoing through the grand hallway began to make her feel agoraphobic. The background hustle and bustle of an active palace, the well-oiled hum of the hundreds of servants that always darted about in the background was absent. All the staff that wasn’t absolutely necessary had been given the night off in recognition of the victory over the invasion and in celebration of the royal wedding. With no sounds to distract from the staccato clopping of their hooves, she could feel what little confidence she retained being chipped away like shards of marble beneath a sophomore sculptors chisel.
None too soon did they arrive at the modest (for Canterlot Castle anyways) gilded door of her Aunt’s study. Telling the guards to remain outside, she slipped through the door, and secured it behind her. As she had expected, Auntie Celestia was seated inside. Unlike what she expected, there was no hint of the baked goods that were usually broken out when the solar princess was stressed. Instead, the one who had quietly adopted her after her surprise ascension was laying in the familiar sphinx pose, staring into the cold fireplace. The white ears had reflexively turned towards the door, but otherwise her aunt had not acknowledged her intrusion into the private sanctum.
“Auntie, I need to talk about earlier,” Cadance began lamely, “What is going to happen? Or what should happen? Goodness I am just so overwhelmed by everything that has happened today.” She sat down roughly on her haunches, her formally exquisite mane now showing her frazzlement by releasing several of its strands randomly.
Her Aunt remained silent for a time, continuing to stare into the ashes before her. Then, finally responding, “I . . . I have no words of comfort Caddy. I never foresaw any situation remotely like this. Even to me, changelings were half myth.” She turned her head, looking at her niece for the first time, revealing the reddened eyes, as well as the unfamiliar look of fear on the normally stoic face.
Cadance was beyond shocked. She had never heard of Princess Celestia being scared of anything, let alone seen evidence of it with her own eyes. Breaking through her shock, she continued, “But what are we to do? The story of what just happened will get out. You know Ponies, even if we think we are the only ones who know what’s going on, somehow a story will get out. I mean, this is Fluttershy! There is no way that this will stay quiet. And I don’t know if it should be kept quiet. It just seems like our world just got a lot bigger.”
After a long pause, Celestia replied, “I know this well, young one, however we can’t jump to decisions without knowing what we are leaping from. Right now I feel that all we can do is wait for Shining Armor and my sister to give us some facts to work with.”
“That’s not true,” Cadance interrupted, “We can look into the evidence we already have.”
“To what evidence do you refer?”
“Well, what do we know for sure? The force-field Shiny and I created was basically the same, if stronger, selective spell as the one that had been protecting Canterlot. A spell that first was a sphere that prevented enemies from entering, then, because it was cast as an expanding bubble the second time, it catapulted the invading Changelings out of Canterlot. Yet, despite throwing Queen Chrysalis into the sky, Queen Fluttershy,” Her pink muzzle scrunched a bit at the title, “Was unaffected, as near as we can tell. You know magic isn’t really my thing, but do you know how Shiny’s shield worked?”
Celestia’s eyes widened at her niece’s observation, “Well, yes, I do. The warning we received was frustratingly vague, though it contained details enough to be taken seriously, so it was decided that the shield was not to be attuned to any creature specifically, but rather to emotional intent. ‘Shiny’ and I designed the shield to block malice and violent intentions. Hence why the train and passengers were able to easily enter. They, and it, were benign.” She paused, “In fact, we actually arrested several ponies during this period because they were unable to enter the shield, and after questioning them we discovered that they were actually members of an aggressive criminal organization based in Manehatten seeking to expand here in Canterlot. Since they were actively planning to use violence to intimidate their victims, the shield refused them. Bad timing on their part.”
“So, if a creature had any ill intentions, there should be no way to get through it while it was at full power.” Cadance pondered, “Even when he was weakened, it took an army to break through it. I know that Chrysalis kidnapped and imprisoned me before he started casting the shield, so she was already inside Canterlot. So that means one of two things, either: 1) a Changeling was able to enter Canterlot, infiltrate and replace Fluttershy in the hours following the Love powered blast the two of us created, or 2) that Queen Fluttershy arrived with the other Elements, and held no malice or ill intent in her heart that could trigger the shield.”
“But how do you suggest we determine which is correct? We are still at an impasse as to what happened to Kindness.” They both leapt to their hooves as one, “The Element of Kindness. If it is bonded to her, then . . . “
“Then she was Fluttershy, at the very least since they battled Discord.” Cadance finished, “That was the last time they were out, right?”
“Yes, the Elements were immediately returned to the vault after his reimprisonment. While they tried valiantly, the six were overwhelmed before they could reach the vault earlier today. If it does not react to her, then Fluttershy would have to be nearby. Likely hidden in a cocoon somewhere.” Celestia then used some of her magic to put a glamour over her puffy eyes, regaining the mask of the implacable Solar Princess once again, “Come, let us retrieve the Element of Kindness so that we can begin moving things in the correct direction."
That decided, the two Princesses exited the Study, and began heading for the Element's Vault. Upon seeing the purposefulness of their stride, Cadance’s two guards knew better than to ask where they were going, and simply fell into step, following a few strides behind their charge. Their keen eyes were able to tell that her demeanor had vastly improved since the walk to the study, and were heartened. Nopony likes to see their leader despondent, after all.