Centuries. On paper, they don’t sound like much. In real life? They felt like Tartarus was a kindergarten. The first century after Tia had been banished along with Platinum could have been a lot worse if Liz hadn’t entered our lives. Luna and I started to feel like the universe wasn’t actually out to get us for once and Liz was the reason for that.
She still hated that nickname but she let me call her like that despite her misgivings. Only me, though. Luna called her her Cuddlebug, which probably managed to annoy her just as much (if not more so). I could tell that Chrysalis secretly liked it, though. She always buzzed her wings cutely when she tried to act annoyed. That, and her gray blush gave her away immediately.
We also found out she could go to the Realm of Ascension. She somehow managed to get lost in there and we had to get her back out. That only cemented her role as the Guardian of Emotions now, just like Luna was the Guardian of the Night and I the Guardian of the Day (together with my twin... once she got back from her exile, that is).
Changelings now lived openly among our ponies and none of them thought it was weird to have them there. Chrysalis actually started to include ponies in her definition of her hive and I couldn’t have been prouder of her for how far she had come after that first century with us.
Luna and I actually introduced her to the alternative version of my ‘twin’ and we learned about the alternative Liz in her version of Equestria. Apparently that Liz was her actual sister and didn’t need to eat emotions at all. Celestia was understandably surprised that our Chrysalis was a member of our herd now.
Haah... I feel like I was rubbing the whole incest thing under her nose a bit too much. Oh well. It's not like I was doing it on purpose (with Liz, I mean).
Aside from the occasional visits to Celestia's parallel Equestria, nothing much happened during that first century that was worth mentioning. I was just glad things were quiet and calm for once.
Actually, there was one thing that had me prancing around for a few months straight, and that was my discovery of how to transform myself into different species on a temporary basis. Chrysalis had been a lot of help with that spell and I was happy that I didn’t have to scrap my earlier experiments, after all. The downside with that particular spell, though, was that I needed the species I wanted to copy as a template to scan every time I used the spell.
Unlike changelings, I couldn’t copy everything that caught my fancy and I was very much limited to organic lifeforms. Obviously, the first template for using that spell was a changeling, so... I could have caused a lot of mischief that way. 'If' I also had changeling magic while looking like an albino version of a changeling queen, that is.
At least Chrysalis enjoyed seeing me in a similar form to her for a little while. And by that I mean she really enjoyed it. I couldn’t walk straight for a while after my first success with the spell because of how much she enjoyed it. I was just glad that changelings weren’t overly insectile in nature or I’m sure I would have fainted on the spot right then and there. As much as I've gotten over my fears of insects with her help, I’d rather not think about copying actual, tiny creepy-crawly insects.
Aside from my success with the spell, it was nice that no major threat popped up to make our lives miserable for once. There were still a few wars here and there, but nothing on the scale that actually threatened Equestria as a whole.
Enjoying the peace and quiet was almost like a vacation for us. After the second century, though? I started to... kind of miss those times. Was it bad that I missed the danger of conflict and the uncertainty of how the next day would look like?
That second century after Tia’s banishment was... mind-numbingly boring. Nothing at all happened to draw our attention away from the monster that was paperwork. Nothing! It was driving me crazy that we had nothing, no threat at all, that we could just defeat for the good of the world. Not one wannabe demon lord got it into their head to cause trouble. Not one!
Chrysalis was pretty much of the same opinion as us. She had started to enjoy going out with us to deal with a few minor villains that thought they had a good shot at overthrowing Equestria, taunting them for being the pathetic failures that they were.
But minor villains were just that: minor villains. None of them proved themselves to be a challenge and it made me feel like the universe was mocking us with nothing that was able to make us work up a sweat. And since the ones strong enough to make us go all out were locked up, we let others handle them. Perhaps that way an ordinary pony might ascend to alicornhood, not that I was very confident it would happen after living more than three centuries of none doing so.
Chrysalis didn't count since she was already kinda immortal, to begin with. As long as she had energy in the form of emotions in her, she could always return from the Realm of Death (which led to us learning about her more reckless youth and the reason why she had to learn how to shapeshift in the first place).
Anyway, Luna and I eventually succeeded in making Liz agree to be crowned as a Princess of Equestria. She has been helping us rule our nation for quite some time anyway, so we saw no reason why she shouldn’t also be a princess. She was officially the Princess of Empathy now.
One would have thought that changelings and empathy were mutually exclusive, but that was far from the truth. While yes, they do depend on emotions to sustain themselves, one has to be an empath in the first place to evoke and sense those feelings in order to consume them. And it wasn’t like they needed that much to function properly. After Liz found her calling, their hunger was reduced to nothing. Well, almost nothing, I should say. Their insane level of hunger was reduced to manageable amounts that are reasonable for an individual alone.
In a way, before Chrysalis got her Cutie Mark, their empathic sense was on a feedback loop that caused them to feel the hunger of their hive as a whole. And since Chrysalis needs a lot of energy as their queen for reproductive reasons, her hive mainly suffered due to the large amount of eggs she would lay, no matter what.
Essentially, Liz gave her drones and workers a way out of having to share their energy with the whole hive as a collective, granting them an even greater individuality than they had before. Due to that, they actually started to feel full just by being in the proximity of ponies and the ‘emotional residue’ they left passively behind.
But I digress. Their integration into pony society as a whole brought with it many benefits. For one thing, changelings were great psychologists and generally wanted to lend their ears to help out with any problems a pony might have had. They also made for great secret agents, working extremely well together with our thestral agents.
Obviously, there were a few bumps along the road, particularly their animosity with the thestrals. It took a lot of work, mostly on Chrysalis' part being unwilling to forgive them for the crimes they committed against her hive while she was young, but even a grudge could only last for so long. Their ancestors have already paid the price tenfold for leaving Liz as an only child, her brothers and sisters having long since been avenged while she went on her 'crusade against the assholes of the world' (her words, not mine). There was only so much she could hold against those that had no part in it.
And, well... Liz couldn't deny that they were incredibly cute, even as adults. It's hard to hold something against them when they acted like super serious ninjas all the time but were reduced to purring cats on catnip when offered their favorite food. It didn't hurt that their skills for espionage meshed so well together with changelings. Thestrals were the ruthless, sadistic kind to hunt you down from the shadows while changelings were long gone with all your secrets before you knew it.
Now that I think about it... maybe that was the reason why nocreature wanted to enter a war with us anymore. Having changelings as part of our military made it next to impossible to actually try anything with us. When your opponent could literally look and act like your own soldiers, how could you ever stand a fighting chance?
But enough of that, there were far more pleasant things to focus on than the history of changelings and thestrals making up over a shared kinship of eviscerating your enemies during a single night.
For one thing, there was that one time during the third century when Starwirl stumbled out of a time vortex that brought all kinds of shenanigans and chaos to Canterlot. He sadly wasn’t there to stay with us, as it was during the testing phase of his time-travel spell. It was nice to see him again, regardless. It still had us puzzling over his whereabouts after he seemingly disappeared so very long ago now.
It was funny to see Liz call him daddy, to be honest. The face Starswirl made was just priceless. He totally never expected to become a father, did he? At least we made him sputter for a moment, he totally deserved to be caught off guard for once in his life.
How's it feel to be on the receiving end of a centuries-old immortal teasing you now, huh?! Take that, mean, old bastard! The student has become the master, ah hah hah ha!
...I'm also happy to say that we got even more homework to work through now. Yay. The old coot just couldn't help himself from torturing us some more, could he? That's what I get for getting cocky, haah...
Anyway, moving on! After Starswirl returned to his proper time, things went back to the same old boring routine as more and more time passed on. At some point, it started to blend together as peace was now a constant staple.
Decades upon decades flew by and I actually didn’t want to complain about life becoming calmer. And by that, I meant a lot calmer. Maybe I had become addicted to the threats against Equestria that had popped up in our youth, but the lasting peace gave me some time to actually appreciate what we had built up.
Life was great and once my twin was back and in control of her own body again, it would only become better. The closer we got to that date, though, the more I started to panic. We still had no idea how to separate Platinum from Celestia, and in all those centuries, there was no sign of the Elements ever reawakening from their stasis.
'If' they could be reawakened, that is. I dearly hoped there would come a time that they listened to my prayers and new ponies would take up the mantle of wielding them, instead. I didn’t trust myself with them anymore. I had betrayed everything they stood for by abandoning their ideals when I needed to stay true to them the most. I had wanted to use them for selfish reasons and forced them to work when I had no connection to four of them. I had used them in hatred and I suppose it was my just punishment that they abandoned me for that.
It took Luna and Liz a great deal of effort to get me to stop panicking so much and concentrate on the things that I could actually do. And as I have come to enjoy it very much, I liked teaching quite a lot. Luna wasn’t any different in that regard, so we paid more attention to what was going on in our own School for the Gifted. Every once in a while, we would offer one of our ponies to learn directly under us, making them our personal students. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes it was nice to have a pony there to focus our teachings on and help them grow.
It always left a bitter taste in my mouth to see them grow old and die, though. We relished the time we had with them, so it wasn’t all bad. And their memory lived on, either through their own accomplishments or through the little memory balls Luna made (she has made quite a lot of those over the years, we even have a whole tower filled with nothing but them). Some even were the creators of famous spells, like one of my new favorites that allows a pony to enter a book and experience it like it was a play moving right in front of them.
Chrysalis... she wasn’t much of a teacher and I explicitly forbade her to teach a sex-ed course at our school by actually demonstrating it right in front of the students. Changelings had absolutely no shame at all and I dreaded the thought of her and Celestia getting up to shenanigans of that kind once my twin returned (and was actually free of Platinum... which I was still panicking about, 'cause... you know... time is running out, damnit).
Sometimes, I swear. That changeling could have been my sister’s twin instead. She primarily wanted to rile me up with those things in good-natured fun, though. I was thankful for that because otherwise, I would have started to consider sending her into time-out within that volcano for a day or two (not that I would actually do that to her, I loved her too much for that).
Liz had laid quite a few eggs over the centuries, too, so that was... a thing. Are they technically also my children? Since they came to be through our love for her, I mean. I have no idea and I don’t want to seriously consider the idea of having thousands of 'lings as my offspring, either. That... was a bit too much, even for me. As much as I actually wanted to have a foal of my own someday (I was still debating whether to risk it with Luna or not), considering myself the mother of that many changelings... thanks, but no.
Then again, Liz didn’t consider them her children as much as she thought of them as her subjects, so that left me quite confused. I chalked it up to her being a changeling and decidedly ignored everything else, lest I go mad in trying to figure out how changeling families work.
There was that time her heir abandoned us, taking a few dissenters with her to never be seen or heard from again. It hurt Liz to see her first successful attempt at creating a changeling princess turn out to be so... bitter. Ocellus... she was... a difficult topic for Liz. So much so that she avoided talking about her by pretending she died instead. For all we know, she might have starved herself to death in the wilderness, disgusted by the idea of ponies to even feed off of some for her own survival.
My sweet Liz never tried to have another heir after that. I could understand her fear, I didn’t want to have to go through such a thing again, either. I just wish Liz could get over her loss, I hated to see her hurt so much because of that betrayal.
After the halfway mark of Tia’s banishment, I had started to pick up... let’s call them 'hobbies'... in order to distract myself from the thought of what would happen if we couldn’t defeat Platinum (and various other, lesser, things that plagued my mind from time to time). Most of those hobbies didn’t stick around long enough for me to actually become good at them, but that wasn’t the point of picking them up in the first place.
Among those I kept dabbling with, I had to admit I was quite good at the art of masonry and sculpting. Shaping a body was a relaxing task, and I totally only did it because I wanted to honor my first friends in this world. Yep. Totally. The secret statue of my twin I put in the hedge maze wasn't at all the reason why I picked up this hobby in the first place. Nope. And I totally didn't get the proportions right because I kept groping her butt and strong legs. Nope. Definitely not. Who do you think I am?! A pervert?
Ahem. Anyway, there were a few (meaning: a lot) more statues in our garden now, giving Discord a bit of company (not that he deserved it). It was nice to have something to remember my friends' faces by. And it served as an incentive for other ponies to do good in society since I occasionally honored particularly noble and heroic ponies with a statue of their own. It kinda was my own version of the Nobel Prize.
I might have also gone a bit overboard in growing the Royal Hedge Maze, but what can I say? I got bored. When you are (almost) immortal, you start to do all sorts of crazy things to keep the boredom away. Luna had started making tiny figurines of random ponies she saw so that she could give them to them while in disguise (for free, duh), so eh... she wasn’t any better off than me in that regard. I do like the one she made of me, though. It’s cute.
If we didn’t have each other, I think I might have gone off the deep end after the first century. I suspect that Celestia from the alternate Equestria visited us so often because she was lonely herself, her Chrysalis was apparently too busy to entertain her for long (or at all, really). Alt-Liz was, as I understood it, the Fairy Queen or something. Celestia didn’t really elaborate all that much about her sister.
I wonder if they live in trees and dance around all day... Nah. She actually sounded like she was that strict but fair ruler, surely they weren’t the little foal’s version of fairies. Even though my inner filly wanted that to be the case, so very much.
Things started to get exciting again during the seventh century without Celestia (ours, that is) after we figured out how to modify the spell Starswirl and Tia had used to change the destination of the prototype mirror. Luna made me promise not to visit the dinosaurs again, though. Liz was of the same opinion after Luna told her what a dinosaur was. Spoilsport.
There were a few... interesting worlds we went to. One was a version where we were all opposites in a weird way. It was... something, alright. My ‘evil’ self there thought that it was cruel to steal the ice cream from foals, seriously. I mean, yeah, that is not nice, but not exactly the ‘Ultimate Evil!’ type of thing. Suffice it to say, we never visited that world again, even though there was a good version of my twin running around (and a good Sombra, but he wasn’t important).
So... that happened. Never going there again. Definitely not. Maybe. Okay, no, I’m seriously not going there again just because my (not actually) twin is there and I’m not replacing her with an alternate version, damnit. Besides, one alternative Celestia is enough for me and that one was actually a delight to be around. In a sisterly way, not in a romantic way.
I still feel guilty that the Celestia of Evil!-Equestria kissed me...
Moving on! One of my favorite worlds we went to was a giant theme park world. And I mean that literally. It was a world that was a giant theme park with entire continents dedicated to one theme. That world was absolutely amazing. They had so many rollercoasters and other (thankfully slower) rides there (not to mention the overwhelming amount of games! Eee!), I couldn’t decide what to do first. Turns out, changelings get drunk on adrenalin if exposed to it for long enough. Or Liz was just that much of an adrenaline junkie.
Considering we went there multiple times... my money was on the latter and I couldn’t blame her. She won me a whole army of plushies which managed to appease me enough to go on rides with her that I wouldn’t have otherwise. And it was fun seeing her act like a drunk fool, so that was also a plus in my book. She was that giggly type of drunk which was really cute to watch.
Sadly, for as long as we searched through other dimensions, we never managed to find our original homeworld, Earth. We came close a few times, finding a few ‘Earth-like’ planets (as in, they looked like it could have been Earth, but were nothing like it in various and surprising ways... things like different species evolving to be the dominant race on the planet), but we had yet to find a version of Earth that was close to the Earth Luna and I had been born on as humans (like finding a version that actually had humans in the first place).
I began to make contingency plans for the worst-case scenario where we were unable to deal with Platinum as the ninth century came around, and honestly? I don’t think any of them would work. Anything short of killing her, that is. But that would also mean... killing my beloved. In no way could I do that and if I had to sacrifice Equestria instead... I don’t know what I would choose.
How could I choose between Celestia, my twin, my wife, my everything, and the rest of Equestria and the world? Both of those were the most important things to me. This wasn’t an easy choice to make (but if I was honest with myself, I knew what I needed to do, and... I didn’t like it one bit). In the end, it would be a choice Luna, Liz, and I have to make together and we would have to make it as the Princesses of Equestria and not as Celestia’s wives.
Time started to run out for us and we were no closer to a solution than we had been at the start of this mess. All of these centuries building up our nation, ushering in a golden age, making life easier for everypony... it was all about to come crashing down on us because nothing we could think of would work. Nothing short of the Elements or killing Platinum and my sister with her.
Damn this universe, making me choose between my twin and the world. I started to feel resigned to my (and Celestia’s) inevitable fate. If that damn prophecy was going to come true, and I dearly hoped it would be, there might still exist a chance of the Elements returning from the dead. But if they don’t... I would have to do what is necessary. For the good of Equestria and all our little ponies. For the sake of the world, I couldn’t risk Platinum destroying everything we've built up.
Then, a little glimmer of hope arrived in the form of a pink pegasus filly that suddenly found herself in the Realm of Ascension one day. It was like there was this... 'pulse' that went through the fabric of reality and it drew the attention of my wives and I to it. At that moment, I knew something monumental had just happened and we would be finding out exactly what it was soon after. Or rather, who it was.
“Hello?” the soft melodic (and quite frightened) voice of a young foal rang out all throughout the space of the mystical plane of existence she had managed to enter. I smiled gently as she craned her neck up to look me in the eyes. In them, I saw the same awe I have seen in so many other ponies throughout the centuries. “P-Princess Summer! A-and... oh my dear fluffy bunnies, am I in Heaven?”
I raised my eyebrow in surprise as she asked us that and Luna quietly snickered to herself. That... how does this filly even know about Heaven? I knew for a fact that ponies believed in the cycle of rebirth and not some eternal afterlife (I might have been an influence on that belief since I openly expressed my viewpoint on that from time to time when asked). “No, you are not, my little pony. As curious as I find such a young filly assuming they've been brought to the afterlife, there's something else I want to know. Tell me, what happened to bring you here?”
“Uh...” she stuttered, trying multiple times to get over the fact her princesses had just appeared in front of her out of nowhere. Not that her reaction was all that surprising to me. I have dealt with these kinds of situations enough by now to know that giving her a little time to collect her thoughts would work best. “I don’t know... there was that bright light and then I was here. There was this mare in our village that was being mean and I couldn’t just... not do anything about it. Where is here, anyway?”
“A very special place, young filly,” Luna answered with a smile. “This is where we will see if you are worthy of the gift that will be bestowed upon you. What is your name, young one?”
“C-Cadance,” she said before she looked a bit startled and quickly moved into a deep bow. “Y-Your Highness!”
I let out a sad sigh that this young pegasus bowed to us like so many other ponies and that I had gotten used to it, even if I wanted nothing more than to have them stop doing that.
“There is no need for you to bow,” Liz laughed gently, putting her hoof underneath the chin of Cadance, making her look up to her sparkling eyes. “Not to us, do you understand? There is no need for you to do so anymore, You who is touched by Love.”
“I... I don’t understand?” Cadance asked, baffled. “Don’t ponies need to bow to you? I mean... uh... there's gotta be a rule for that. I don't want to get locked up by guards because they found out I was being disrespectful to you!”
I giggled. "There's no such thing. You don't have to worry about that anymore, my little pony,” I told her before giving her a nudge with my wing tip. “Come, walk with us.”
Cadance didn't need to be told twice as she quickly followed me. “Can I ask you something?” she whispered shyly and I gave her a nod. “What’s it like? In Canterlot, I mean. I have heard it hangs off the side of a mountain! The view must be so great there. I can't think of anything more romantic than that.”
Liz snorted at that before giving Luna and me a look. "You would believe that," she said, her lips quirking up into a smirk. “And in my opinion, it is the biggest hazard our ponies could've come up with. Seriously, why did you let them build there of all places? I don't know how many already have tried to jump off the edge there.”
My sister gave her a glare for the morbid comment. “Canterlot was already built before we moved there, Liz,” Luna told her with a roll of her eyes. “And it's not like Canterlot is unsafe. It is practically chock-full of wards and enchantments to keep it from falling down or ponies from jumping off the edge. Even if something were to go wrong, the failsafe would teleport everypony to safety. You're just mad the hive would get damaged in the unlikely case it drops off the mountain.”
“Can you two stop the argument before it gets out of hoof again?” I interjected, feeling the urge to rub the side of my head with a hoof. The nature of Canterlot always manages to get them going and I’d rather avoid it with our little guest present. Even with everything Luna said being true. Heck, if we wanted to, we could probably keep it afloat by ourselves. It wouldn’t even be that hard for us to do. And since the archmages of Dalaran on Azeroth had done exactly that with their city, I saw no reason why we couldn't (not to mention, they didn’t have goddesses to do it for them).
“Are you together?” Cadence asked and I sputtered in shock at the question. We gave her an incredulous look and she looked at us innocently.
“How did you get that idea?” I whispered, my heart hammering away in my chest as she just friggin’ guessed that. How?! Just... how?
“You behave like a married couple! A married trio? A herd, I guess,” Cadance answered. “That’s what they are called here, right? I've seen them around in the village I live in.”
“I don’t believe this,” I stuttered, flustered. “A filly just... are we really that obvious?”
“I suppose we let our guard down,” Luna shrugged. “Besides, she doesn’t seem to mind it.”
“Just for the record, this time it wasn’t my fault,” Liz snarked. I glowered at her and she stuck her tongue out at me with a little grin. “So, Cadance... Would you like to become a princess?”
“But... I’m not royalty,” Cadance said. “Wait, that was stupid. Of course, I’m not royalty if you are asking me if I want to be a... H-hold up, did you just ask me if I want to be a princess?!”
“Oh, she is a bright one, I can tell,” Liz snickered and I tugged harshly at her ear as I glared at her. “Ow! Stop! Summer, ow! Why?! What did I do no—ahh ow, ow, ow, ow?!”
“Don’t make fun of her,” I warned her. “She is... how old are you, Cadance?”
“Twen... uhh, four!” she laughed, grinning innocently back at us. Luna narrowed her eyes at her in suspicion and I can’t say I didn’t feel the same way. Not to mention, her behavior was unlike that of a filly of her 'supposed' age. She couldn’t actually be four, right? Besides, she was about to say twenty... Was she reborn? And she remembered it? That initial fear she had, of being in Heaven... had she been a human? That's the only explanation that would make sense.
“Four... right,” Liz said in a way that made it clear she didn't believe her at all. I saw it from a mile away that she was about to get snarky again, so I used my magic on her to keep her mouth shut before she could get started. From a megalomaniac to a snarky bitch, yay...
Haah. Where did we go wrong with her? I do love her for it, but sometimes she really needs to learn that there's a time and place for it.
My dumb bug of a wife gave me a look and silently promised me to not do what she had been about to do and I let her go with a reluctant sigh. I trusted her enough to actually keep her promise, she was well aware of the consequences if she did not. And by that, I mean no sex and cookies for a year straight.
Before I could say anything, Liz skipped ahead and turned around with a dramatic flair, a mischievous smile on her muzzle. “Let us see what your past says about that, little one.”
Cadance was about to ask what she meant and then began to panic as the little memory bubbles started to appear the further we traveled down the path of lights.
The first memories we saw were the typical foalhood memories I had been expecting. Things like learning how to walk and her first words, the first time she managed to fly. Her first crush on a teenage filly living next door. A big birthday party with all the foals in her village.
The more I saw, the more I learned. And there was one thing, in particular, I got furious about. She had been abandoned... in a forest... at night... in the middle of winter. I suppressed the flicker of rage welling up within me and kept myself calm as we continued down the path.
The little filly had been discovered by kind ponies living nearby and found a new home in the orphanage in their little village. There was no sign at all of her birth parents in those memories and I had no idea whether to feel sorry for her or even more angry.
Alright, Summer. Focus on the good memories. Throwing a tantrum can come after you're alone. Deep and calm breaths. Relax.
From what I could glean from the memories that followed, she was very much involved in trying to bring ponies together as special someponies, playing matchmaker whenever she felt like it.
Hers was an admirable goal, bringing love to everypony that wanted it. I gave the Cutie Mark on her flanks a knowing look and knew the importance it would one day have. It seems the Crystal Empire wasn’t lost for eternity, after all. I had been hoping that it would return one day. With Amore gone, it would need a new ruler. A kind and loving ruler. Should it really return, then we also need to make sure Sombra wasn’t coming back with it.
Knowing my luck and the cruel tendencies of the universe, that's one thing I can be certain of. Sombra was also going to be coming back at some point. Platinum wasn’t the only threat to ‘look forward to’ as it seems. What else do we have to prepare for, I wonder? Discord? That possibility alone made me shudder with fright. It would be the worst thing that could happen, actually.
One of the most recent memories we saw of Cadance was the event that led up to this. Her ‘fight’ against Prismia was... interesting. She somehow managed to reverse a twisted love-stealing spell and I could tell that the necklace around Prismia’s neck was one of the dark artifacts that must have escaped our notice a millennia ago. There shouldn’t be many left, though. We had rounded up the worst of them, at least.
Then, we came to the memories that Cadance was so fearful for us to see. And... I don’t know how I should have reacted to them as an overwhelming sense of hope and relief washed over me.
“Please, don’t banish me!” Cadance cried, whimpering as I saw a young woman go through life with wonder and excitement in her silver eyes. Eyes that looked so familiar to me even though I haven’t seen them in a millennium... “I didn’t steal a newborn’s place, you have to believe me!”
I wanted to hug her, I wanted to dance around in joy, I wanted to cry for her that she died like us and I... I just wanted to comfort my daughter. I had almost forgotten the promise Magic made to me, the spell she had cast. Cadance was... is, my daughter. From a past life, granted, but here she was... back home with her family. And...
...and she was about to be judged worthy of becoming an alicorn. Oh, ponyfeathers. I-I... I have to make sure she wants that. I couldn't just force her into this. She has to make that decision on her own, fully knowing what she would get into. She has to make an informed decision without any of our bias (which might as well be impossible since pretty much everypony looks up to us with an almost fanatical zeal). Heck, she looks up to us like we were actual, genuine goddesses.
Would she choose a normal life over an (almost) immortal one? What... what would I say to her in that case? I... I don’t want to lose her again. Even if I wanted to stay unbiased and give her all the facts she could possibly want, she was still my daughter. I couldn't just ask her to forsake her mortality and choose a life of eternity for my sake. She wouldn’t ever find somepony that would share her path, be there for her in a romantic sense for the rest of her however long life...
But... I still want to keep her with me. I still want her to become an alicorn so that I would never have to lose her again. And... I want to be a mother again. An actual mom, instead of 'Super-Dad' as I'm sure she no doubt remembers me as.
Could I ask that of her? To stay with me and Luna, Liz, and (once she was back) Celestia? This was a lot to ask of her and if I didn’t give her that choice in the first place, would she hate me for forcing it on her? I can’t do that, as much as I wanted to. That wouldn’t make me any better than Magic, and to a lesser extent, Hope.
What Hope and her siblings had done in their desperate search for new defenders of Equis wasn’t okay. Far from it, even. While I knew it was necessary, much as I hated to admit it, I cannot follow them in their hoofsteps and make that choice for Cadance. I won't.
She was so young and I don’t believe she would understand the weight of such a decision. Even if she agreed to this burden, how would she react once everypony around her started to wither and die while she stayed forever young? Would she eventually start to resent me for it?
By my sun, I don’t even know how I should tell her I was her... well, mother now, I suppose. How would she even react when I told her that her 'Super-Dad' was now her 'Super-Mom'? Technically, I wasn’t her actual mother anymore, though. Then again, her 'biological parents' forfeited that title as soon as they abandoned her within the woods without ensuring she was safe from predators or bad weather conditions. Or give her a chance to survive... like at all...
If I ever find those disgusting demons, I swear, I'll do unspeakable things to them. How could they leave my poor petal in the woods all by herself as an infant?! Poor thing must have had abandonment issues ever since then considering how much she was shaking at the mere thought of being banished away from Equestria.
Liz was quick to correct her of that notion, though. “We aren’t going to banish you,” she giggled, shaking her head in amusement as Cadance was about to start begging to be spared of whatever ridiculous fate she could conjure up with her imagination. Sadly, we weren’t strangers to ponies assuming they had displeased us to such a degree that we would consider doing something like that. Sometimes it was amusing to hear what they could think up, though.
“You’re... not?” Cadance whispered, confused. The little filly lifted her forelegs away from her muzzle in order to stare at us with puzzlement. “But I’m not really a pony! I... I don’t even belong here!”
I suppressed the shudder that wanted to force itself out of me, horrified that she would think that. “But you do, dear Rose,” I told her and gave her a hesitant, but nonetheless loving, smile. If nothing else, I would make sure she would always have a home to come back to.
“How do you...” Cadance began before her eyes widened. “...Mom?! Is... is that you?”
“Yes, my little petal,” I nodded, and as soon as she started sniffling, I already held her in my forelegs. I made a few calming noises as she sobbed heavily into my chest, rocking her up and down slightly and telling her that everything was okay. She was such a sweet little filly, so vulnerable, that I’d love nothing more than to keep her safe from everything and everypony.
She deserved at least that much. No matter what she ends up deciding, I'll support her. Always.
The little filly started to hiccup in my arms as she cried her heart out. “I-I m-missed you s-so much!” she exclaimed, rubbing at her eyes with those tiny hooves and I smiled gently as I gave the top of her head a small nuzzle. “After you and D-Dad...”
I hummed, not needing to hear more of what she was going to bring up. “It’s okay, Cadance,” I told her. “It’s okay. I’m here. Although, there is one thing you should know...”
“W-what?” she sniffled, looking up at me as I gave her a mischievous smile. This was going to be so awkward...
“I’m your father, Luke,” I said with a fake gravelly voice and Cadance started to snort with laughter, only interrupted by a few hiccups.
“Really, Dad? Star Wars..?” she giggled. “Or is it Mom, now?”
“Mom is just fine, dear,” I answered, relieved that she was so accepting of this 'change'. “I feel more comfortable as a mare, little petal. I’m sorry your mother and I left you and your sister alone so suddenly. I wish I could have done something, told you one last time how much I loved you...”
“I understand, Mom,” Cadance said, sighing forlornly and in happiness. “I know how highly both of you thought of Tabby and me. I’m glad to have you back, Mom.”
“You have no idea how much I missed you, dear,” I smiled, mussing up her mane with my muzzle, causing her to giggle and try to swat me away with her hooves, but I was having none of that. I needed to shower her with all my motherly affections, now that I had her back. “How have you been, little petal? You must have so much to tell me.”
Cadance grinned up at me. “Not as much as you, I imagine,” she said, giddy. “You’re a princess! How did that happen? And do you really move the suns? Why are there two suns? How old are you?”
“One question at a time, little one,” I giggled. “That’s a story for another time, I fear. I would gladly tell you all about it once we’re done here.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “I suppose it would be too long to tell in one day, huh? You must have done lots of cool things and met all kinds of people. Oh, oh! I heard you even have a sentient sword! How did that happen? That's so romantic! He's like your own personal knight!"
"..." I blinked, momentarily overwhelmed by the barrage of excited babble from her. Of course, Rose would have heard about my sword despite it being more of an obscure, lesser-known fact. Remorse was... a difficult subject to explain, especially to somepony like her. "My sword has been asleep for a while now, I didn't think you would know about him."
"But he's a sentient sword!" she pouted. "Of course, I would know all about that. That's like... ten times better than Excalibur!"
...Excalibur? Wasn't that the sword in some human myth about a wizard and a king? I guess they were kind of similar in that regard. Our swords were gifted to us by the old king while we were trained by Starswirl to rule Equestria.
"You can try to wake him up if that's what you want," I told her with a shrug. The lazy bastard never got very talkative after he gained awareness a couple of centuries ago. Nor did he stay awake for long. "But that's a topic for a later time, dear. I want to hear about you."
"I..." Cadance began while hesitating for a moment. "Nothing much happened to me after..."—she fidgeted, looking away—" after you died and auntie disappeared. Tabby was the one that was really successful, Mom! She was about to become a professor!”
“Really, now?” I asked, intrigued. “So... she hasn’t stopped her academic pursuit at all? Did she at least make some friends?”
“No...” Cadance said, sighing sadly. “She was always too busy with her research and whatnot. She seemed a bit obsessed with it, really.”
Luna snickered at that. “Typical little Miss Bookworm,” she said. “I’m not surprised.”
“Luna...” I said with a chiding tone. “Don’t make fun of my daughter.”
“... is Luna?” Cadance asked in uncertainty and I smiled softly.
“Your aunt? Yes, she is Rebecca,” I answered. Luna offered Cadance a bright smile of her own and my little petal sent one right back.
“Auntie?” Cadance mumbled timidly, prompting Luna to quirk a brow at her. “Where did you go? The police gave up searching for you after three months and... Tabby secluded herself in her lab, afterward. She... I don’t know, she said she wanted to test a theory she had...”
My sister grimaced at that. “It’s not something I’m proud of,” Luna admitted, looking away in shame. “You know how bad I got when your..."—she stopped, gesturing vaguely in my direction—" Well, Summer died. Suffice it to say I did some questionable things and ended up owing the wrong people something that I couldn’t repay.”
“That’s... I... "—Cadance sighed, frowning sadly—"At least now I know what happened,” Cadance said while rubbing a hoof against her other foreleg. “I wish we knew. We could have helped you.”
“It’s okay, little one,” Luna said, smiling slightly. She lifted Cadance’s chin up so she could look her in the eyes. “Besides, it worked out better this way. Had I not made these choices, I don’t know if I would have been reunited with my sisters.”
After hearing Luna’s reassurances, the eyes of my little petal wandered over to Liz next. I could already predict what she was going to ask and I shook my head sadly. “No, Liz isn’t Cath, little Rose. Your mother, she... I’m sorry, but I suppose I’ll have to tell you at some point. There was a monster worse than what you have faced, a thousand years ago. She... she took your mom and we had to banish her to the moon.”
“Wait, you mean the Mare in the Moon is Mom?!” Cadance asked in shock and I nodded sadly in reluctance. “I thought Nightmare Dream was only a myth!”
“I still can’t believe our ponies started calling Platinum that,” Luna muttered with a slight growl showing through in her voice. Her mane turned slightly misty as her eye color started to change. “She drags the name Nightmare through the mud. Little miscreant...”
“Uh... why is Auntie so... upset?” Cadance whispered to me while Liz snickered as Luna had her... moment.
“Let’s just say that there is a lot more to us than what you remember,” I told her. “I’d rather not show you right now, but Luna and I have... let’s say alter-egos. Mine is a bit more... violent than Luna’s. I don’t want to frighten you with how... heartless, I suppose, I can be as Fallen Star. See that miasma Luna's mane turned into? That's how her mane looks like when she is Nightmare Moon.”
“Can you still show me?” she pleaded with me and I bit my lip. Liz put a hoof on my shoulder and I turned my head towards her, seeing the kind sparkle in her eyes.
I sighed, uncomfortable. “Liz, do you really think it wise? Nightmare Moon is one thing, but Fallen Star?” I asked and she smiled back at me.
“Changeling, remember?” she told me, the snarky tone in her voice muted to the barest minimum but still showing through. “You don’t have to show her if I can.”
I suppose she had a point there, she had seen me enough times as Fallen Star. If she were to shapeshift into my alternative form, she wouldn’t have the same... ahem, personality problems that I would have. While I wasn’t 'that' bad as Fallen Star, I also wasn’t gentle, either. I’d rather not risk snapping at Cadance if I could avoid it.
After I gave her a nod, green flames enveloped the form of my wife and Cadance watched on curiously as Liz was replaced with a facsimile of Fallen Star. Her orange fur gave off an illusion of heat and the deep red flames that replaced her mane whipped around in a fiery storm as she opened her golden eyes, the normally cruel slit eyes looking almost kind on her instead.
“My flanks are not that fat,” I pouted and Liz cackled with that raunchy voice that sent tingles down my spine. Damnit.
“They are,” Luna commented and I shot her a glare, too. “You have let yourself go, sister. Perhaps cut back on those cinnamon rolls and cookies?”
“I’ll end you, Luna,” I growled. “Don’t you dare. I won’t make you any cookies anymore if you put me on a friggin’ diet!”
“I wonder which flank is bigger, yours or Tia’s?” she laughed teasingly and I was about to chase after her were it not for the giggling foal in my forelegs. Cadance was having a great time, it seems. “Let’s get back to the matter at hoof, sister.”
“Right. Don’t think I’ll forget this, Lulu,” I said, sending a warning look her way. “But before we get to the important question, my little petal, there is one thing I want to know...”
“Ask away!” Cadance smiled and I felt bad for having to ask her what I was about to ask and turn that smile upside down. But I needed to know.
“How did you die, little Rose?”
Her ears splayed back as she realized that fun time was over and we had to get back to the seriousness of life, and with that, what brought an end to her previous one. “Do I have to tell you?”
“Please, my little petal,” I whispered gently and gave her a gentle nudge with my nuzzle apologetically.
“I...” Cadance murmured, fidgeting slightly. “I had a brain tumor and the doctors said it might have been hereditary. Tabetha might have had it, too, but I don’t know for certain. I died while in surgery.
"Next thing I know is that I woke up as a pony in that forest you saw. I don't really remember a lot of my rebirth, just that I slept a lot and that it was cold. Had I not cried out for food, I don't think anypony would have come looking for me...”
A tear escaped my eye and I heaved a heavy sigh, trying to keep myself from openly weeping. Oh, my sweet little filly, you poor thing... I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I squeezed her tightly to my chest, whispering reassurances I wasn’t certain were for her or for me.
Eventually, I found the strength to go on and put my little filly on my back as we traveled further down the starry path and I saw more of what had become of my daughter after Tia and I had left our children on Earth. Much to my surprise, she never married anypony in her past life. If I would have thought one of my daughters would have married for sure, it would have been my little Rose.
Soon enough, we were at the end of the path. Going any further this way would mean she has to make a choice. Stay like she is or become something greater. I set her down on the ‘ground’ and readied myself for what was to come. No further delay anymore, Summer.
“Cadance, where you are going now is somewhere we can’t follow you,” I whispered softly and she gave me a quizzical look. “A choice needs to be made. Embrace your destiny or forsake it. I can’t make it for you, little petal. What awaits you down that path might frighten you and... and it might not be what you want.”
“What do you mean, Mom?” she asked fearfully. She looked so frightened and it broke my heart that I had to make her choose between staying with family for eternity or living as a normal, regular pegasus for the rest of her mortal life.
“You asked us what this place was,” Luna said, coming over to stand beside me as we looked down at the young filly in front of us. A young filly that turned out to be my daughter from another life. Cadance nodded hesitantly and Luna smiled softly. “This is the Realm of Ascension. Every alicorn at some point passes through this realm to be judged worthy of their destiny. It is here they are granted their domain and immortality.”
“A-alicorn?! But I’m n-not an a-alicorn!” Cadance stammered and I leaned down to look at her from an eye-level point of view. “Mom, w-what’s going on?”
“Cadance, we asked you if you wanted to be a princess,” I said, forcing my voice to be as calm and serene as I could make it. I wasn’t at the level my twin could have pulled off serenity, but it was close. “If you so choose, you can be one. Guide our little ponies alongside us and make their future a little bit brighter than it has been. Down that path, you can take up the mantle that you rightfully deserve for your accomplishments this day. Or... you can decide to fight against it, demand to be in charge of your own destiny and put the life of an alicorn behind you, stay like you are, and live the rest of your life growing old like you have been denied in your previous life.
“Should you embrace your destiny and take up the mantle of your new domain, you will live eternally young, never to die of mundane causes. Be warned, though, such a life is not an easy one. You will be faced with many challenges and be forced to make choices that might leave regular mortals utterly broken. An immortal’s life is never easy, little petal. We should know, we have gone through many hardships over the many years we have been around.
“But don’t think you will be all alone with that burden. There will be others that will accompany you through your journey. While, yes, many will eventually leave you due to old age, others will stay. We ourselves are always here for you, no matter what you choose, little petal. And in a few years, hopefully, Celestia will also be here with us to support you. You have a family here, don’t ever forget that.”
“Don’t make that choice lightly, though, young one,” Luna said gravely, drawing Cadance’s attention away from me to her. “Eternity is a curse to endure alone and if you really choose to take this gift, then know that anypony you come to love will eventually leave you. We can’t promise you that you will find somepony that will live as long as you do, so bear that in mind when you go forth upon this path and are confronted with what your destiny holds for you.”
“And should you, despite these warnings, still go through with this,” Liz whispered harshly. “And fall into the deepest depths of despair, then know that we will have to deal with your darkness accordingly, as much as it would pain us to do so. You won’t be completely invulnerable, an alicorn can be killed. We won’t allow you to become a threat to this world.”
“That, while possible, is not something that just happens, though,” I continued on. “Only a being of equal power to an alicorn will be able to slay you. The other possible way for you to die is for you to choose such a fate by relinquishing your hold over your alicorn domain. When your time comes, and it will come at some point, make no mistakes, you can move on from this life. Whatever consequences that will bring with it.”
Cadance stared at us utterly overwhelmed and I didn’t fault her for that. I wasn’t better off after I learned the true nature of my particular pony 'tribe' and Liz had to learn that lesson by herself, too. She still didn’t talk much about what she had learned of her destiny as she was lost within this realm. I could make a good guess, though, and the fate in store for her wasn’t going to be any better than Luna's and my own. Or Celestia’s for that matter. She has a close tie to emotions and I shudder to think what a world would look like with a lack of those. It would probably be a worse thing than destroying the world.
Until we actually destroy the world, that is...
“I... I won’t die?” Cadance asked, sounding strangely hopeful. I frowned back at her, dreading that she would let her own fears control her decision. “Not if I don’t want to?”
“No...” I answered, keeping the glare to a minimum and the disapproval out of my voice. “That shouldn’t be the reason why you make that decision, though. Believe me, after the first century passes, after you see everypony around you wither and die, this will become more of a curse than a blessing. This gift that lies down that path... you should be fully aware that it will bring much pain and suffering to your heart. But it will also bring you the greatest wonders and joys you could possibly imagine.
“Becoming an alicorn shouldn’t be influenced by your own fear of your mortality. It should be influenced by what you could do to improve the lives of others. You will become a shining beacon for all of those around you and selfishness can’t be a deciding factor in that choice.
"You will have to set an example of all that is good in life and embody that, do you understand? You will be tasked with keeping the balance between those that seek love and those that do not deserve it. I'm sure you know what kind of ponies I mean by that. It is no easy task and failing to do so will result in dire consequences.”
The little filly in front of me withdrew behind her long mane, chastised. She bit her lip thoughtfully, fidgeting nervously on the spot before peeking out from behind the violet, rose, and pale gold strands of hair with her light purple eyes. They sparkled with determination and I couldn’t decide whether to be proud of her or weep for the choice she was about to make.
“I understand,” she nodded with a resolve that was out of place on such a young face. “I will do my best, for everypony! I will stay true to myself and be the best pony I could possibly be.”
“That is all that we ask of you,” I smiled gently. “Go now and don’t be afraid of what you will face.”
“Is... is it going to hurt?” Cadance asked shyly and we looked at each other before turning back to her.
“It shouldn’t,” Luna answered truthfully. “But we haven’t ever borne witness to an ascension from mortal to alicorn. We can’t tell you for certain.”
“Okay...” she mumbled anxiously as she worked up her courage to go forth. “Okay, I... I can do this. Just... don’t chicken out, Cady.”
“I will come to your village first thing in the morning, little petal,” I told her and Cadance seemed to draw strength from that reassurance. We watched her give us one last wobbly smile before she disappeared down the path. I was about to hyperventilate with worry, but Luna and Liz were quick to embrace me tightly in a blanket of fur and feathers.
My sister nuzzled me softly before giving me a kiss. “She is going to be fine, sister,” Luna told me and I wish I could have believed those words without hesitation, without doubt. My little petal was about to make the most life-altering choice she could possibly make and I wasn't certain whether or not she truly understood what that would mean for her. We did our best to give her as much knowledge as we could, but I still felt like I forgot to mention something very important to her...
Wait a second... did we ever tell her what 'being' a princess means?
“We didn’t even tell her how mind-numbingly boring being a princess truly is,” I exclaimed while trying to break out of the embrace in order to race towards Cadance before she could make an uninformed decision like that! She would hate me, I just knew it! I would have hated me for not telling me that! How could she not?! “Or social events! The nobles are gonna eat her alive! I can't let them corrupt her with their nonsense!”
A tongue invaded my mouth and my panicked thoughts came to an abrupt halt. I melted against Liz and hummed approvingly as she played around with my tongue while Luna giggled next to me.
“I don’t think she knows anything about being a princess, you dolt,” Luna snickered. “Isn’t that the point? To show her and guide her towards becoming a princess who is worthy of her tiara? She has all the makings of becoming a fine princess, so don’t you worry your pretty head, sister.
"She will make mistakes, just like we have done, but I doubt they are going to be as grievous as you fear them to be. And neither will we throw her in the deep end with important events and court.”
“I... you’re right, of course,” I sighed. “Everything will turn out to be okay, no need to worry.”
“We will teach her everything she needs to know,” Liz said and I felt myself calm down considerably. Yes, that’s true. With my wives at my side, we would prepare Cadance for everything she needs to know. And if my suspicions were correct, we will prepare her for the return of the Crystal Empire, too. She won’t be defenseless and we will be there to help her should she need it.
I’m not going to risk her to that mad monster.
That day, the weave of destiny accepted Cadance as the first alicorn to ascend since the founding of Equestria, a monumental moment in history. And I couldn’t have been prouder for her to take up the mantle, despite it meaning she would have to go through life without aging beyond a certain point.
Luna, Liz, and I returned back to the physical realm once we felt her ascension complete itself and lowered the suns to bring about night once more. As I had promised my daughter, I didn’t wait to make the trip over to the little village near Vanhoover, sacrificing a night’s rest so that I could meet her as soon as the first rays of sunshine touched Equestria for a new day.
It felt nice, being reunited with her. Despite all my fruitless searching for Earth, I finally had her back. And seeing that horn on her head, it warmed my heart. She would stay with me, with us. I wouldn’t ever have to lose her again. It lifted a massive weight from my back, knowing she was here and that she would stay here.
Cadance brought back my hope that the universe wasn’t going to take everything away from me. Perhaps temporarily, but never forever. What was lost can be found again and that much was true for my daughter.
“So, how old are you really?” I asked her as we rode in the carriage drawn by a pair of pegasus guards. I would have flown by myself, but apparently, I wasn’t allowed to leave the castle without an escort nowadays. Suns forbid I have to fly with my own wings!
Well, to be truthful, it had a certain luxurious feeling being chauffeured everywhere, but still... with how our ponies sometimes treat us, you would expect we were made out of porcelain instead of being ‘goddesses’ (as much as I hated to admit that).
“I’m sorry for not having been honest with you about that,” Cadance whispered back, ashamed. I smiled softly before taking her into my forelegs and cuddling her for all that she was worth. “Physically? I turn five in a few months. Before? I was a bit over twenty-two when I went to the hospital for the surgery. So... that would make me about twenty-seven years old? Mentally, that is. Though I don't know how much of that counts since I barely got any life experience past my previous age. And honestly? I never really got the chance to do 'grown-up things'.”
I let out a laugh as her muzzle took on a deep red color. If I didn't know her so well, one could have mistaken that statement to be about naughty things. That's just silly now, isn't it? My little Rose would never think about doing it with some unworthy colt, right?
Pfft. Nah. She was clearly talking about driving too fast on the highway and paying taxes. Totally normal, adult things that are in no way related to what growing adolescents do in private. Yep, that's it. Totally.
Anyway, that's enough of that. There's no need to worry about something that has never happened and never will, right? ...right?
Okay, maybe I'll ask a guard to keep an eye on her so that they can keep any potential 'risk factors' away from her, just in case. She's far too young to think of such things. My little petal was barely a foal. Twenty-two is nothing compared to how old she will get. She can wait a couple of decades before thinking of kissing somepony, can't she? That's a reasonable time, right?
...right?
I shook my head, unhappy with my heart telling me I was being too protective of her. What does that shriveled thing think it's doing, trying to dictate what's good for my poor, innocent filly, anyway?
Ugh, I'm such an old hag. Still, two decades and some odd years was not much, was it? I could still tease her about being young and small, at any rate. “So, you didn’t lie about your current age, then,” I commented with a mischievous glint in my eyes and a smile tugging at my lips. “You’re so very young, petal! Barely out of the age of a wee-little foal.”
“I’m an adult, Mom!” Cadance shot back indignantly and I snorted, grinning in amusement. ”In a few years, I’m going to be thirty!”
“As I said, barely old enough to not need your nap time,” I said and she pouted cutely. “My little Rose, when you are as old as me, everypony else is but a foal to you.”
“How old are you?” she asked curiously and I smiled cryptically.
“Old.”
“But how old?” she whined and I chuckled as she tried to get out an exact number from me. “You must be ancient if you were there for the founding of Equestria!”
“Then I’m ancient, little petal.”
“Come on, Mom!” Cadance insisted, wiggling around in my forelegs. “Please?”
“Does it matter, little one?” I whispered back, taking delight in her sulkiness as she tried to futilely get a truthful answer out of me. Haah. This is what Starswirl must have felt, right? I can see why he did this. “I don’t count my age anymore, Cadance. Believe me, you won’t be doing that, either, once you get past your first millennium.”
“How come you, Mom, and Auntie were reborn so far back in the past?” Cadance asked and I hummed with the barest hint of sorrow. My daughter looked at me with concern and I smiled reassuringly. Might as well tell her the reason why her parents were taken away from her, right?
“There was..." I began before halting for a moment. "Hmm, how to best explain this..?” I mused with a grimace. I should probably keep this simple. There's no need to mention the eldritch horror for now (especially when there were prying ears around). “Let’s just say the alicorns of old needed somepony to keep the world safe while they couldn’t. Your mother and I, as well as your aunt, were ‘fortunate’ enough to be the ones they brought here.”
“Wow...” Cadance whispered, sounding slightly in awe but also a little bit upset for my sake. “They summoned you like heroes! What were they like? Are they still around? Can I meet them?”
“No, petal,” I answered, sighing both in relief and in sadness. “They aren’t around anymore. Not in the sense of how you would expect them to be, at least. And even then, I’m not entirely sure. They were... virtuous, I suppose. Shining examples of what we all should aspire to be. Except for Magic, she was... unpleasant to be around, to say the least. You would have loved Hope, she was always looking out for the best in others. Even when Magic was... 'difficult' with her opinion of us.”
Her ears wilted slightly as her brows furrowed in thought. “What happened to them?” she asked.
“They sacrificed themselves,” I told her. “They made the ultimate choice and stood against the greatest threat this universe has ever seen.” I guess that's as vague and accurate as I could describe it. "They lived on as powerful artifacts for a while. Now they are nothing more than petrified stone orbs, I fear."
“That’s... sad,” Cadance mumbled and I agreed with her. If not for the Elements, this universe wouldn’t exist anymore. Without them, all of these wonders would have been lost, wonders I learned to appreciate for what they are. Life itself was the greatest one of them, despite it being so fleeting. “So... two suns?”
“Two suns,” I agreed, smiling again. “They are sentient, you know.”
“Seriously?” Cadance asked in awe and I grinned. Oh, how very happy it made me to see so much wonder in her eyes. “What are they like? Can they talk to you?”
“My sun is very excitable, almost child-like, and always happy,” I explained, enthusiastic to talk about my special connection to the Summer Sun in the sky. “Celestia’s sun is very stoic and doesn’t trust anypony very easily. I suppose we have our own ways of communicating with them, but we don’t talk with 'words', rather with sensations and feelings.”
Cadance looked almost as giddy as I felt when I talked about the suns, sharing my enthusiasm with that sparkling wonder in her eyes that I couldn’t get to see enough of. She was so young and had so much to see, to experience, it almost made me jealous that she had such an innocent outlook on life. Ah... to be young again, it must be a blessing to know so little about the world.
“Did you become a princess for raising the sun?” Cadance asked and I started laughing amusedly, confusing her as I genuinely felt like laughing for a few minutes. Oh, how I wish that would have actually been the case. So many ponies could have avoided losing their magic to the ritual had we discovered our special talents earlier.
Maybe Platinum might have even respected us had we presented ourselves as goddesses instead of 'lowly farmers'. Instead, she resented us for the audacity of being crowned as princesses when we did nothing to 'earn' it.
Alas, things turned out the way they did and there was no changing it. I shook my head as I focused back on the pouting filly in my forelegs. I gave her a slight squeeze in apology, it was kinda insensitive of me to laugh like that.
“No, dear. We were already princesses by the time we started guiding the celestial objects over the horizon. That was the day we learned of our alicorn nature if you can believe it. That and we figured out who we were.” I winked at her and she giggled.
“Then how did you become princesses?” she asked. I smiled before giving her a quick nuzzle and a soft kiss on her forehead just below her new horn. I couldn’t wait to teach her how to use her magic (together with Luna and Liz, of course). I know she will love it.
“That... is perhaps a story for another time,” I said, directing her attention to the mountain in the distance. Her eyes widened as she beheld the shining jewel of Equestria, Canterlot. It looked very picturesque from the distance, framed by the shimmering rays of sunshine.
“It’s even more beautiful than I imagined,” she exclaimed, wiggling out of my forelegs as she held onto the very front of the carriage while trying to get the best view possible. I wasn’t concerned about her falling out, I had pretty good reflexes with my telekinesis and it wasn’t like she couldn’t fly (or at least glide).
Cadance looked at everything with amazement as we got closer to the city, asking me questions about various buildings that looked interesting to her and I answered each and every one of them with as much accuracy as I could. It wasn’t that hard to remember the history of every building in Canterlot when the majority of them weren’t as old as I was.
The awestruck sparkle in her eyes as we neared the castle was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in them (and her joy was very much contagious, uplifting my own spirit in a refreshing way).
“Welcome home, little petal.”