//------------------------------//
// Cadance's Troubles - Part 2 
// Story: The Piano Man: Act II 
// by The Sentient Cloud 
//------------------------------//

I tug at my clothes, briefly checking to make sure that I haven’t somehow defiled them on the walk to the palace.
This seemed like a pretty good idea up until now. At the moment, all I can think of is how I know nothing about dealing with traumatized individuals. That said, I can’t just leave. I’m pretty sure that Cadance knows I’m here. I did knock, after all.

With a quick nervous swallow, I slowly walk over to the princess’s couch and stand beside it, mulling over what I’m going to say.

I stand still for a moment, hoping that Cadance will open the conversation. She doesn’t, of course.

Finally, I clear my throat and open with I quiet and respectful greeting.
“Good morning.”

Cadance doesn’t respond, although her eyes turn towards me. She looks like she’s been crying.

I gesture at the second couch, arranged to sit at a ninety-degree angle from Cadance’s so that they both have a view out the window.
“May I?”

The pink alicorn nods slightly, watching silently as I slowly sit down, and rest my cane across my lap.
I myself am quiet, simply staring out the window at the spectacular view of the countryside. It blows the view I have from the Clinic out of the water.

After a good twenty seconds, I turn to look once more at Cadance, who apparently hasn’t taken her eyes off me.
“How are you feeling?” It seems as good a place to start as any. I have no idea what I’m doing, so I suppose at the moment there’s no ‘wrong’ approach – aside from pointing and laughing, of course.

“Fine.” Cadance replies softly. It’s more than I expected – in fact, almost more than I hoped for – for her to be talking, even if she’s lying through her teeth at me.
“No, Cadance.” I don’t change my expression, also speaking in a quiet and soft tone. “How do you feel?”

The pink mare bites her lip, taking a few seconds to look out at the sunrise as she mulls it over.
“…Bad.”

“Bad?” I press the matter gently, even though I already know that she’s feeling bad, and I also have a fair idea why. “And why do you feel bad?”
“It’s… I…” Cadance brings a hoof up to her head, and I notice that there’s a strip of white bandage hidden underneath her mane.

She falls silent, and turns to stare out the window. I wait ten whole seconds before I realise that she isn’t going to say anything.

I frown. What we need right now is a subject change. Possibly to a triviality, so that I can ease her into conversation.
Of course, I’m not a sociologist, which means that I’m probably going to misread the situation, and any plan I make is likely to blow up in my face.

It’s to my surprise that it’s Cadance who changes the subject – although it isn’t to what I expected. From one touchy subject to another, actually.
“How could a pony be so evil?”

I nod thoughtfully. Of all ponies, Cadance would be able to understand how evil others can be – after all, she was kidnapped by the changelings – But I can also see how shocking it must be for her to realize that such a level of evil can also exist in the population Equestria itself.

“Sometimes… sometimes ponies are just bad.” I speak softly, trying not to think about Trixie herself. “It’s normally a matter of where and how they grew up, and with whom.”
I need to make myself clear. I don’t want Cadance coming away from this with the wrong message.

“But...” Cadance looks down at her hooves while I briefly think about how this is going much better than I’d hoped. “That mare… she…”

“Don’t think about it, Cadance.” Right now all I want to do is hug her, but that could easily be as much a negative action as it could be a positive one. “Trying to understand why Trixie did… what she did, is a waste of time.”
I shudder slightly as I remember the beatings, and the fire. “What’s important is that she did do it.”

“And look at what she did.” Cadance gestures at me, still talking in that same diminished voice. I watch as she takes in my gaunt face and thin form, before once again voicing her first question. “How can somepony be so evil?
“Cadance, how can somepony be so kind?” I counter, looking pointedly at her. “Do you know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t come? Do you know what Trixie was planning?”

“Yes I do!” Cadance suddenly raises her voice, and I realize that I haven’t exactly helped my argument with that point. “She was going to… to…”
The pink alicorn trails off, turning her eyes to the window. “She was… was going to… kill…”

I can see tears welling up in her eyes. Cadance, the mare who’s special talent is interacting with the emotions of others, unable to control her own.

“Trixie is the proof that there will always be ponies that try to take advantage of each other, and that there will always be ponies who are willing to do unspeakable things in the name of bits. It’s a by-product of any society where there are those who earn more, and hold more power than others.”
I stand up and move to sit next to Cadance, placing a hand on her shoulder. “And then there’s you. You’re proof that there will always be ponies with hearts so pure that mine wilts in comparison. Do-no-wrong ponies who would never think of harming anypony else.”

Cadance doesn’t smile, which is what I was hoping for. She does, however, acknowledge my praise.
“I… th-thank you, but what about all of them?” She raises one hoof to wipe the tears from her eyes before gesturing out at the Equestrian countryside, and the city of Canterlot that we cannot see.

Even as she finishes the statement, it clicks into place for me. This isn’t just about what Trixie did. This is about what other ponies could do. If I understand this right; after seeing what Trixie was willing – and prepared – to do, Cadance has started to question her faith in her fellow pony.
No matter what, she must not lose it. This is Cadance. What would happen if she hated her own kind?

I never thought that my enslavement could have triggered such a pivotal and important crisis for the princess. To think that because of what happened to me, she could turn into a self-hating introvert that always sees the worst in others…
It makes me shudder.

I refuse to let this happen. There is no way I will stand by as Cadance pulls herself apart over this.

“Cadance!” I exclaim sharply, removing my hand from the princess’s shoulder as she gives a little start of surprise.
“What? What is it?” She’s clearly startled, confused as to why I’ve raised my voice.

I shake my head, taking a quick second to gather my thoughts before beginning.
“Cadance, you can’t just lose faith in your fellow pony over the actions of one single mare. The ponies of Equestria are the most good-natured and friendly creatures I’ve ever seen.”

I take a deep breath. “Trixie’s show ran for three whole weeks, and it was seen by several thousand ponies. In that time, not a single one even suspected that I could be an intelligent creature. It didn’t matter that I was playing the piano, or that I was wearing fabrics. They simply didn’t consider it, because none of them thought that another pony could do what Trixie did.”

I pause quickly running through the next stage in my speech. My mind is in overdrive at the moment, as I slam words together in my mind to try and make my point as coherent and convincing as possible. I know everything I need to say. It’s pretty much a standard ‘Don’t lose hope’ speech with my own opinions thrown in. All I need to do is make it convincing.

“The ponies in Equestria are absolutely wonderful. They shout compliments and apologies at me when I go out on my balcony. Three teenagers stopped me in the street yesterday just to compliment me and apologize for what Trixie did. None of them had anything to do with it, and yet they all apologized.”

The princess looks doubtful at my words, although in my opinion I’ve made an amazing amount of progress since the conversation started. The topic of discussion may be touchy, but it’s an area where I can make a lot of progress in drawing Cadance out of her shell.
“Cadance.” I return my hand to her general shoulder area. “Never, ever think that the ponies of Equestria are anything less than a shining example of kindness and friendliness, and don’t you dare lose faith in them because of what that one mare did.”

Cadance looks thoughtfully out of the window, while I wait nervously. It’s is unbelievably important to me that she retains her love for others.

She’s still thinking it over, and all I can do is add a few more words. They aren’t well thought out, and they don’t have a deeper meaning, but it’s the best I can do.
“Cadance, if you ever need an example of how good ponies can be – of how good most ponies are – all you need to do is look at Celestia, and Luna. Look at the Elements of Harmony, and your husband. Take a trip to Ponyville, and you’ll see exactly how good most ponies are.”

The princess nods softly, showing a little more conviction. “You’re… you’re right…”
I’m overcome by waves of both relief and disbelief. My improvised bull-charge of an approach has actually worked. If Equestria wasn’t influenced by the many tropes of television, then I’m sure this would have been a crushing failure.

“So, you’re feeling better?” I press gently, once again removing my hand from Cadance’s shoulder as my voice drops back down into the soft tone we began the conversation in.
She nods, not offering thanks or any other acknowledgement – which is absolutely fine. For once, things aren’t revolving around me. For once, I can be the one helping someone else.

Slowly, I stand up and plant my cane on the ground.
“Things can always get better, Cadance.” I put my weight onto the cane and give a little weary sigh. “No matter what, things can get better. I’m living proof of that. You should enjoy Equestria, because it’s damn better than where I come from.”

The alicorn has no response, which is still just fine.

I look down at Cadance – who has turned her eyes to me – and smile.
“Get well soon.” I nod at her, before turning and hobbling away.

Cadance stays where she is as I walk away. It honestly seems like the perfect, most ideal ending to this whole mess. I even managed to avoid getting caught up in a shi-

“How do you know Aria?”

I freeze, practically locking up as my heart immediately doubles its pace. The only noise I let out is a loud cough in place of a surprised noise.
‘Shit. Shit.”

I’m starting to panic. I was going to talk to Twilight about this stuff. Not Cadance. I haven’t even had time to get all of my answers in order.
What do I say? What did I decide on? Why have I fucking forgotten?

Without any better alternatives, I simply turn around to look at Cadance. I need to stall for time.
“Ahem.” I clear my throat as a follow up to the cough. “Excuse me… I’m sorry, pardon?”

The pink alicorn is staring at me intently, seeing straight through my ruse.
“I asked how you know Aria.” Her voice isn’t angry, or irritated, or accusatory. In fact, it’s exactly the same voice she’s been using for our entire conversation – albeit with a little more volume for the increased distance.

My mind is racing. There has to be a way to sidestep this. There has to be a way I can wriggle out of it.
Desperate for a little more time, I manage to compose myself, and fall back on my only remaining tactic for question diversion.

“Cadance…”I look past her at the sun. It’s well over the horizon now, and I can see multiple pegasai flying out above Canterlot. “Do you ever think that maybe… that maybe there are some things that you’re…”

My partially rhetorical question goes unfinished and unanswered, and upon looking at Cadance I see that her expression has only changed in one way. Now she looks more curious.

I’d rather not finish the statement. It would just make things worse.
I never thought that trying to be mysterious and enigmatic would work here. Everypony is too naturally curious.

Nervously licking my lips, I open my mouth and let a hesitant “Uh.”
I’m out of cards to play – and if there’s some other way to get out of this, I can’t see it.

“Cadance… there… there are some things that…” I trail off, realizing that I was about to simply continue with the diversion.
“I mean… we… we have…”

I fall silent again, and Cadance turns to look back out the window. What is she thinking?
I open my mouth, unsure of what I will actually say, when I am suddenly cut off by the one pony that I could never be happier to talk to than I am right now.

“Oh, are you done?” Maneworthy asks in a hushed voice.
“Huh?” I whip my head around. “Uh, yeah. I guess we are.”
“Good.” He nods briskly. “We’ve got to get moving soon.”

“Right. Just a second.” I motion with my head to Cadance, and Maneworthy nods his own in reply, before turning and walking back into the ‘maybe-dining room’.
I take an unsteady breath, saved from what could possibly have been an unheard-of level of hell.

Slowly, I walk back to Cadance, who is once again looking out the window. She’s carrying a sour expression, which makes me feel bad.
I take half a minute to quickly gather my thoughts, managing to recall a few key points that should be able to get me out of this.

“Listen, Cadance.” I begin unsteadily, unwilling to leave the conversation with something as rude as letting myself be dragged away by Maneworthy. “There’s a reason I can’t tell you – and it’s not what you’d think?”
“What is it then?” She asks sharply, her voice also conveying a fair bit of curiosity.

“It’s Twilight.” I put a partly-sincere smile on my face. “I promised that I’d answer her questions tonight if she took today off for a break. That promise means nothing if I just hand out answers to somepony else first.”

Cadance blinks twice, showing that I’ve taken her by surprise. This is the perfect way to back down from her question without invalidating everything I said to try and break her depression. It makes sense
I’m not even lying. Like I said, I will be talking to Twilight, and I will try to answer as many of her questions as I can. It’s also true that just handing out answers to Cadance would make my promise empty and meaningless – although at the moment I am just using it as an excuse to get out of this.

“I… I guess that makes sense.” Cadance begins uncertainly, her resolve slipping away in the face of my hastily constructed logic. “She has been working a lot lately…”
Hopefully, once I’ve talked to Twilight, I won’t have any more questions to avoid. I’ll answer as many as I can, and redirect the ones that I can’t. Lying is a bad idea, because my answers could eventually come up in a conversation with Applejack.

“Listen, Cadance.” For no particular reason, I tap my cane on the ground twice. “For now, just think about what I’ve said, and tomorrow Twilight can answer your questions for me.”

Cadance seems hesitant, but my tactical use of the Twilight card manages to pay of. Eventually, she nods, which draws a relieved sigh from me.
“Okay. Just… if you can just wait until tomorrow, and you’ll have all of your answers.”

The alicorn nods again, and I give an awkward little bow.
“Enjoy the rest of your day, Princess.” I finish rather formally, before turning around once more and starting to hobble away.

After a few steps, I pause and turn back to look at Cadance. She’s standing now, and has moved over to look out the window.
“By the way, Princess.” I cough delicately. “I never did thank you for what you did… so… thanks. If you hadn’t come along, I’d be dead by now.”

Cadance turns to look at me, smiling ever so slightly.
“You’re welcome.”

I nod before continuing my shuffle back to the dinning room, now smiling myself. Earlier, I said that the ponies of Equestria seem adverse to leaving things on bad terms.
Well – to be honest – so am I. I wouldn’t be able to stand myself if I alienated any of the ponies here.

Maneworthy and Shining both break off their hushed conversation as I enter what is definitely a dining room. Their expectant and hopeful looks make me feel quite proud of myself.

Equestria isn’t the most logical place. Sure, there are ponies like Twilight and Maneworthy, who are well educated and have just as good logic skills as me, but far more ponies seem to be more impulsive. From what I can tell, it puts me at a bit of an advantage with my ability to reason things out.
Of course, I could be completely wrong. I would never bet my life on my observations of Equestria, as they seem to be just as likely to be incorrect as they are to be correct. I haven’t exactly talked to a sizeable portion of the population, which means that I don’t really have that many ponies to base my observations on.
Long story short: Many ponies in Equestria don’t seem overly logical, but what I think about Equestria is unreliable, as I don’t really have much to base them on.

I smile at the two stallions. “Progress, gentlecolts.”
“Really?” Maneworthy and Shining both ask at the same time, their voices incredulous.

I nod. “I’m not sure how much… but… well, Shining, maybe you should go talk to her. What she needs now is comfort, and you’re the pony to give it to her.”
“Uh, sure!” Shining stands up abruptly, clearly surprised by the turn of events. “Thanks!” He roughly pushes his hoof into my hand and pumps it once, before rushing out the door.

I smile broadly. Is this what it’s like to be those people who fix broken families? Probably not, considering that their family was never broken.

Maneworthy still looks rather surprised at my apparent success. I suppose he didn’t think I’d be able to make much progress at all – as did I.
“How did you…”

“Cadance was – and possibly still is – having a crisis about her faith in her fellow pony.” I explain in a stripped down version. “So I just told her to look around her, and see that most ponies she will find are upstanding and moral.”

The doctor grins. “And that’s why I could never be a psychiatrist. I wouldn’t know where to begin dealing with something like that.”
“I didn’t either.” I shrug. “All I needed to do was ask her how she was feeling.”

Maneworthy nods, raising his front leg and checking his watch. “Oh. We need to get moving soon.”

“Let’s just go now. I think it’s better if they’re alone.” I quickly glance out the door to see Cadance and Shining sitting on back down on the left-hand couch, embracing in a hug.
“I would be inclined to agree.” Maneworthy steals a glance at the scene as well. “We should go give your statement, and then check out your accommodation after that.”

“Right.” For once, I take the lead, quietly walking back towards the exit.
Right now, I am one lucky person. Like so many other things, this turned out better than I could ever have hoped. I achieved more than I hoped, and I managed to avert a real shit-storm over my Brony Knowledge.
And because of that I know that my luck certainly can’t last. No matter how lucky a person is, they should never bet on it coming to their rescue every time. Never take something as game-changing as luck for granted.

We slip out of the front door, trying to be quiet as possible as Shining and Cadance continue their loving embrace.

Storybook love. It’s such a beautiful thing. Too bad I’d never have been able find it on earth.
After all, my first attempt didn’t exactly end well.