//------------------------------// // Canterlot (rewritten) // Story: Daughter of the moon // by Helia_Writes //------------------------------// Twilight was somehow more bored than she had been on the moon. That statement seems impossible, yet somehow it was true. "Ugh, so much paperwork that is just stupid nobility trying to suck up to me and gain things. Do they think I am so weak minded?" Twilight complained to herself Not to mention she has to run the Solar court for the next few days, as well as the Lunar court. Her duties didn't seem to end, not to mention she was grumpy, although she didn't know why she felt grumpy because Cadance was on a mission. She sighed and signed another document, yet another stallion from the nobility trying to ask permission to marry Cadance. The amount of marriage proposals both Cadance and Celestia get is ridiculous. I'm so glad I don't get any of those. Oh, nevermind She stared down at a marriage proposal from a high ranking pegasus guard called Flash Sentry. She swore she recognized that name, but decided it wasn't worth her time and rejected the proposal with a red stamp. Always say no, they just want something for themselves. I'm not interested in marrying anypony unless it's Cadan- Where had that thought come from? She told herself she wouldn't entertain this little crush of hers. She knew Cadance probably wasn't interested, despite what her mother claimed. "Pff, dreams about me. I doubt it. Probably just a one off thing" She assured herself "Oh, you have someone dreaming about you? Do tell" Twilight jumped as the familiar voice spoke. "Cadance? I thought you were on a mission? Why are you back so early?" Twilight questioned Cadance chuckled a bit and got closer to her. "Yes, well, it turns out the griffins made a false report. Paranoid creatures" She joked. Twilight grumbled. She remembered what her mother said about the griffins. They were violent, warmongering creatures. Apparently they enjoyed eating ponies, and other meats. Being honest, she wouldn't mind trying some meat. "Soooo who do you think is dreaming about you?" Cadance teased Twilight glanced into Cadance's eyes then looked down at the floor, feeling her face heat up. "Uhhhh ohwouldyoulookatthetimecourtisabouttostartitwasnicetalkingtoyoubyeeee" Twilight quickly said as she walked out the room as fast as she could. Wow. That was the most cowardly thing I've ever done. Hope I didn't upset her, I just panicked Twilight kept on thinking about Cadance and made her way to the throne room. Why did she feel this way? Why did she have to be so useless? The biggest questions Twilight asked herself almost made her steps falter. Am I evil? Am I the villain? Do I even deserve an amazing pony like Cadance? She knew what the answers to those questions were, but she tried her best to maybe convince herself otherwise. Yes. Yes. No. She felt hollow, she just felt wrong. She felt worthless, unloved, even hated. She hated how she was around her mother, and around Celestia. She hated how she was when she was alone. She hates her stupid wings, and her stupid ugly face, and her stupid hair. She hated herself, no, she loathed herself. Guess I wouldn't be a good villain without self loathing After a while she realised that she was standing at the door to the throne room, with guards nervously watching her. Ever since a lot of the guards saw her beat Celestia, she was feared by them. Sighing, Twilight walked into the throne room and sat on the throne. All the ponies in there stared at her, as if she was a filly in the wrong place. "Good afternoon, Princess Twilight, may I ask why you are here rather than Princess Celestia?" One noble mare asked "Celestia is in the infirmary injured. I believe they have her in one piece again but they might be struggling with the dark mind control magic" Twilight explained, sounding bored. The crowd gasped at hearing the news that their beloved Princess was injured. Fucking solar hoof-lickers. Probably going to ask who did it and if they have been brought to justice. I might actually enjoy the looks on their faces when they find out who did it "We demand that the pony responsible for hurting Princess Celestia be punished!" one voice called "Will you punish them yourselves?" Twilight asked "Anything for Princess Celestia" another called "Well, go ahead and punish them. She is sitting on the throne right in front of you. Celestia challenged me to a duel and I won after three moves. I don't care what else you have to say about this, I declare solar court to begin!" A few ponies stepped up, fighting over the classic case of land. So Twilight let one split the land however they wanted, then allowed the other to choose which piece of land in the split they wanted. It's a guaranteed 50/50 split. Another pony wanted funds to build a school in a small town called Ponyville. "And you say this town doesn't have a school due to lack of funds? Where is this town again?" Twilight asked "Um.. It's between Canterlot and the Everfree forest, Your Highness. It's a small town, mainly earth pony" the magenta mare with a flower cutie mark answered "I will take a look at the documents for the town, and visit the mayor. If I see no operating school, like you have said, I will give the town funds to build one and fund the salary of some teachers" Twilight declared. The magenta mare nodded, thanked her and left the throne room. As Twilight watched her, she saw something move in the shadows at the top of a pillar. It was a pony with some strange item in their hooves. She quickly closed her eyes and sent her shadow over to the pony secretly, to investigate. The pony was wearing some clothes to blend into the darkness, and had a picture of a large white unicorn with a blond mane. She didn't care for finer details in the image, she just needed to see if the target was in the throne room. After confirming the unicorn was not there, she continued on with court. She was constantly looking out for the white unicorn she saw in the picture. After a small while, the doors to the throne room burst open, and a few guards walked in, following a white unicorn who held himself high, his combed blonde mane seemingly perfect. Twilight's shadow watched the pony hidden in the shadow aim the stick thing at the unicorn, and just watched him. She was sceptical about what the pony was using, she sensed no magic powering it, no arrows or anything. It didn't seem like it could pose danger. "Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" The unicorn said, his voice full of arrogance and entitlement. "Princess Twilight Sparkle" She corrected him. "Right. I am Prince Blueblood. I demand to speak to Princess Celestia" A mere unicorn prince trying to demand something from an alicorn. Twilight did her best not to laugh, it was the most amusing thing she had heard in court. "She is unavailable right now. I can tell her you stopped by" Twilight calmly said, but her gut was telling her that something was wrong. Her shadow reported that the pony in the shadow had a miniature cannon, and that it was going to shoot the Prince in three seconds. She cursed herself for underestimating the weapon. She had to move, time slowed in her eyes. She began planning, she knew that if she pushed the prince out of the way, the weapon would hit another innocent pony. She had to be the one hit by it. Twilight sprung into action, and all the crowd heard was a bang, and all they saw was a lavender blur leave the throne and move towards the prince. Fuck. Miscalculated. Went to far, went in my neck rather then my shoulder She turned back to Prince Blueblood, who stared at her neck in shock. She couldn't breathe or speak, but she could still act. She took off into the air and darted to where the shooter was. Tackling the pony to the ground was easy, the multiple panicked weapon shots into her chest and head was not so easy. She couldn't fall unconscious yet, not until she brought this assassin to the guard. She grabbed the scared, shaking pony and glided down to one of the guards. She dumped the pony down in front of the guard, and pointed to him, the shaking pony, then the door. The guard saluted and grabbed the pony, and a few other guards helped drag the pony out. Twilight had one more thing before succumbing to her injuries. She sat back onto the throne, and carefully looked over every pony in the room. None were hurt. Twilight nodded in satisfaction, and the last thing she heard was a guard shout her name as the world turned black. Cadance ran. No pony would get in her way, not when she heard that Twilight had been shot multiple times. She knew Twilight would be ok, but she still couldn't help but be worried. After this event, she knew. She knew that she loved Twilight, and she now knows that she wants to be with her. She probably shouldn't have yelled at the doctor, but she just needs to see Twilight and help her. Nothing can stop her. She burst into the room where Twilight and Celestia were. She saw Celestia with the bandage wrapped around her waist, like it had been for a few days. Celestia smiled at Cadance, and then looked at Twilight. "The bullets in her chest hit her lungs, and one in the heart. The bullet in her head hit the frontal lobe and luckily stayed in there. If it had hit the temporal lobe, it could have resulted in a loss of memory. We can't grow back memories" Celestia explained, repeating some of the things the doctor told her. "Frontal lobe? Just tell me what will happen with her" Cadance demanded "The doctor said something about a possible personality change for a few days, and she might be a little more open when expressing feelings. She will be back to normal in a few days, but right now, I think she is waking up" Celestia pointed out She heard a groan from the other mare in the room, and saw her start to move. "Ugh... My head hurts... Where am I?" Twilight groaned "Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're ok! I was so worried!" Cadance hugged Twilight, and after the hug, she looked at Twilight, and saw that the lavender alicorn was looking away with her face as red as a beet. "Are you OK Twilight?" Cadance asked "You look a little red" "I can't help it! You're so beautiful and attractive and amazing, it's so hard not to!" Twilight blurted out before shoving a hoof in her mouth, going more red Cadance stepped back a bit, face red and surprised by the outburst. She began to wonder if Twilight truly meant what she said or if it was something to do with her injury. Twilight groaned again, this one seemed to be in annoyance, and started hitting her muzzle with her hoof and calling herself horrible names. Eventually she stopped, looked at Cadance, then cast a spell and was suddenly back asleep. "Well, that was pretty expected. So, niece, do you share these feelings?" Celestia carefully asked, trying not to ruin her plan. Cadance nodded a little. "Yes, but I want Twilight to ask. I want her to be the one to decide to invite me to a date when she isn't recovering from an injury and not truly herself" Cadance said as she sat down at Twilight's side, and closed her eyes. She didn't see Celestia's frown. Celestia watched Cadance sit at Twilight's side and close her eyes. She frowned, and cursed under her breath. The assassin that was sent for Blueblood was not the same one she had sent to attack Twilight. Who had hired the other one? And what happened to the one she had sent? It was all supposed to be perfect! The assassin would hurt Twilight, Cadance would come running, they would discover their feelings for each other and get together. Once they were together, she could plan the wedding and make her move against the changelings. She needed answers, but she couldn't get any while stuck in the hospital. The duel was a bad idea, of course the alicorn of magic would win. The only good thing about the duel is that she knows that Twilight can beat Daybreaker. Celestia got up off her bed, and decided to leave the two sleeping alicorns alone. The doctors would probably complain, but she felt she was healed enough to resume her duties. First, however, she had a statue and a mirror to visit. She managed to 'convince' the doctor that she was ready to leave the hospital. After eventually arriving at the old room, she opened the door and entered. She sat down in the middle, watching both the mirror and statue. "Good evening, Pulsar. I hope you are doing well, or at least as well as you could be. Forgive me if I repeat myself, but I need you to know how much I regret it all. I take responsibility for Daybreaker's actions, I regret them all and blame myself. You will hopefully be free very soon, just wait till Luna comes back. Your prison has a weakness to very strong Lunar magic, which means when Luna is freed, so shall you be. I hope you are able to forgive me, and then become a happy family" Celestia sighed. Celestia glanced at the mirror, and her heart sank more. She had blamed Pulsar for her old student running away, but for the last few hundred years, she knew she had no one to blame but herself. She stared at the statue for a while, until she noticed a faint crack in it. She smiled, she knew this meant the spell was weakening. Her oldest niece will be back soon. Cadance woke up and yawned. She glanced at the lavender pillow she slept on, and slowly began to realise it wasn't a pillow, it was a certain alicorn. She just stared at Twilight, who was still asleep, and felt her heart drop. Twilight was crying. She didn't know what to do, should she wake her up or leave? As she was thinking, Twilight woke up. Still crying, she quickly looked around the room until her eyes rested on Cadance and widened. Before Cadance could ask anything, there was a flash of bright light and she found herself suddenly in the hallway. She quickly rushed back to the room, but stopped outside the door. "Bury it.. Just Bury the stupid feelings... What is wrong with me, why can't I simply keep these stupid feelings buried..." She heard Twilight through the door. "No! I do not love Cadance! SHUT UP!" Cadance winced slightly at the shout, and felt a pain in her chest. It wasn't physical pain, it was emotional. "F-fine... Maybe I do... Maybe I want something good, something stable... Someone who won't use me as a puppet for their own gains... Then again, maybe she will. It's all anypony wants me for anyway... Maybe you are right, Midnight..." Cadance continued to quietly listen, wanting to rush in and try and help, but knowing that it would be a breach of trust. "Even if she won't use me, I would just bring her down with this stupid self hatred and depression I try to hide. I did it for 900 years, I can do it now" Twilight ended with a sigh. Cadance knocked on the door, waiting for Twilight to let her in. She was feeling conflicting emotions and thoughts, some telling her to comfort and tell Twilight, while others telling her to keep quiet and help in a less obvious way. "Come in" she heard Twilight say She walked in, and decided what she should do. "I'm sorry Twilight, I was worried about you so... I came back as soon as you teleported me..." she began She saw Twilight's eyes widen slightly in a panic, and she got closer to the panicked mare. "I heard what you said... I'm sorry for breaking your trust... But I want to help you, I want to. Please, let me help you" Cadance begged. Twilight's ears went down and she looked away, suddenly finding interest in the bland white wall. She obviously hadn't noticed Cadance get closer, cause she flinched and tensed when Cadance hugged her. Eventually Twilight relaxed and calmed. "I.. I can trust you.. You don't have any bad motives..." Twilight quietly said before breaking down into tears and hugging Cadance back. "It's ok. I'm here, I'm here to help you" Cadance cooed. "I just... I feel like mom and aunt Celestia just use me for their own plans, like I'm just a puppet or a key to their victory. The council and nobility try the same thing... The only pony I know who doesn't is you" Twilight said through chokes and sobs. "It's made me hate myself, and it's made me think maybe you are just good at hiding the fact that you are using me... And I really hope you aren't because then that means... Well, it means I'm not worth anything to anypony" "You are worth something to me, Twilight. You are worth a lot to me" Cadance whispered, loud enough for Twilight to hear. Both of them stayed cuddled for a while, until eventually they seperated. "We should go into Canterlot one day and I can give you a tour. It would be fun" Cadance smiled. "Sure, maybe when I get out of here?" Twilight asked and smiled too when Cadance nodded. Cadance was glad she could help Twilight with her problems, even if they seemed like it would take a long time to fully fix them. A long, long time. Twilight sat in front of her mirror, staring at herself. She was about to go on a tour with Cadance around Canterlot, and she was nervous. Cadance knew. She had heard everything and knew. She knew of her self-loathing, her depression, but most importantly her love. Cadance knew Twilight loved her. Then why didn't she feel scared? Or nervous? Why did she feel like she had a weight lifted off her shoulders? She hasn't rejected me. That's why Well duhhh, it's because she either loves you back, or wants to use your love for her own gains. Just like aunt. Just like mother. Hehehehahahaha wouldn't that be hilarious? Oh hey, we should kill the guards outside! Wouldn't that be Fun!? Twilight winced at Midnight's musings. Would it hurt to maybe investigate to be sure she wasn't being used again? No. No it wouldn't. If Cadance found out she would understand, hopefully. But what would Cadance use her for? Twilight thought hard, trying to figure it out. She was quite intelligent, maybe Cadance wanted information and knowledge. It would make sense, since she could possibly have lost information about history and magic. She was also quite powerful, so could she be used as a weapon or a tool? Maybe even just a battery to fuel Cadance's magic, allowing her to take over Equestria and rule for thousands of years, killing Luna and Celestia? Maybe Cadance was secretly working for a cult or organisation to bring Twilight and her mother down? Maybe Celestia was using Cadance to get information or power from Twilight? What if Cadance actually just wanted her mother, and was going through Twilight to get to her? Maybe Cadance is just torturing her? All these thoughts chipped away at Twilight's heart, as if they were a miner on an ore of coal. She was so deep in thought, she hadn't noticed her starting to cry, or the fact that she wasn't alone anymore. After a while, she finally noticed that somepony was hugging her. She knew who it was by the pink hooves around her withers. Maybe... Maybe she doesn't have an ulterior motive, and just likes me? "Cadance?" Twilight whispered "Yes, it's me Twilight, I was coming to pick you up for the tour but I saw you crying. I tried to talk to you but you were staring into space, not answering. I thought you might have needed a hug so... Yeah" Cadance explained. Twilight stared at Cadance, then looked away and blushed a lot "I... Uhh get lost in thought easily" Twilight nervously chuckled Twilight looked back in the mirror and saw her mane dishevelled, with strands sticking out all over the place. She thought it was pretty impressive considering it was pretty impossible to do with an ethereal mane. She grabbed a brush in her magic and brushed it. "Ready to go?" Cadance asked Twilight nodded and her horn started glowing, and the glow surrounded her whole Body. Cadance looked towards her, slightly confused. Eventually Twilight shrank slightly, and her mane and tail lost their ethereal touch. Her wings slowly dissipated, and her cutie mark slightly changed. Once the spell was finished, Twilight noticed Cadance's look of shock. "I have to disguise myself or we will be swarmed by ponies. Don't you have one?" Twilight questioned "I don't. I didn't even know we could do that" "Haven't you been taught it by Celestia during alicorn magic lessons?" "I don't have 'Alicorn magic lessons'" Cadance revealed. Twilight gawked and stared at Cadance. "No magic lessons?! It's necessary for new alicorns according to mom! I went through a few hundred years of it! You must learn it!" Twilight exclaimed "Maaaybe we should talk about that later and go on the tour now, Twilight" Cadance suggested Twilight sighed and nodded, dispelling her disguise. The two trotted out of the castle in silence, headed towards the main gates of the castle grounds. As they walked, many ponies bowed and gawked at the two princesses. Cadance was very uncomfortable with the attention, but she was used to covering that up. She glanced at Twilight, who was holding herself tall, straight and regal like. It was like she had been doing this her whole life. She looked like she was basking in the adoration, respect and attention ponies gave her. Cadance could see Twilight glancing at the crowds, as if she was determining a winner for a contest. Cadance didn't understand it at all, Twilight had seemed very introverted and the type of pony to hate crowds like this. The kind to hate too much attention, yet here she was, acting as if the attention was the best feeling ever. There was something behind her grin, something in those eyes. "Ah Lady Rarity, good to see you again" Cadance snapped out of her musings when Twilight spoke, she hadn't seen the pony in front of them before Twilight had acknowledged her presence. "Your majesty" Rarity bowed "What brings you into the city proper?" "Oh, just Cadance here wanting to give me a tour of the city" "Right. Yeah, then a meal after of course. You can discover something other than castle food" Cadance said Cadance saw a glimmer in Rarity's eyes as she looked back and forth between the two alicorns. She didn't want to know what she was thinking. "Woah! Awesome! You didn't tell us you were actually friends with the Princesses! I thought you were just a maid or something" a voice above them exclaimed. Cadance and Twilight looked up to see a cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. "Uh sugarcube, ah don't think that's such a good idea to go flying fast towards the Princesses" A different voice with a heavy country accent remarked. "Well duhhh, obviously you run up to them with a party cannon and give them cake!" Said a pink mare, bouncing up and down beside Rarity suddenly. Twilight scowled. Cadance noticed. She smiled at the ponies in front of them. "So will you introduce us to your friends, Rarity?" She said, ignoring Twilight's look of protest. "Hmm? Oh yes of course! This is Rainbow dash" she pointed up at the rainbow maned Pegasus. "Of course it is" Twilight grumbled to herself, unaware Cadance heard. "Hey! You forgot my middle name, Danger!" Rainbow said, crossing her forelegs and rolling her eyes. "And this is Applejack" Rarity pointed to the orange coated mare with a blond mane and tail. A stetson upon her head, which she lightly lifted up then down as a sign of hello. "Pinkie Pie" the pink mare smiled wide and waved. "And Fluttershy" she pointed to a pony hiding behind her. "Nice to meet you all. Maybe all you can help Twilight here with something. You see, she doesn't have any friends, and you all look like great friends with each other. Maybe you can all come to the castle some day and become great friends with her" Cadance smirked slightly at the look of disbelief on Twilight's face. The smirk faltered when the disbelief seemed to turn into a hint of betrayal. "Of course we can be her friends. Ohh! Let's celebrate this with a party! A we-are-friends-with-the-princess-party! I will also get the castle wedding decorations out!" Pinkie shouted, gaining attention from some other ponies walking around. "Wedding decorations? I don't think there is any wedding planned for this month in the Castle?" Twilight asked, puzzled. "Sorry, I went too far into the story plans" Pinkie said as she was suddenly right in front of Twilight Twilight just blinked and stared, as confused as everyone else. "Right, well, nice to meet you all. We will let you all go back to whatever it was you were doing. Cadance was just taking me on a tour of Canterlot" In a sudden burst of magic, a small scroll with Celestia's royal seal appeared in front of Twilight. After taking it and reading it, Twilight frowned. "Or not, sorry Cadance" Twilight apologised "but it seems a small army of everfree creatures are attacking a small village. It seems my duty calls once again. I will be back later today, if you want to continue this then" "That's fine, I understand. Be safe" Cadance smiled, which was strained and not so obviously fake. After Twilight flew off mumbling about the incompetence of the Royal Guard, Cadance noticed the group of ponies looking at her. Rarity was giving her a look of empathy. "Still haven't asked her yet?" She asked. Cadance shook her head, which began to hang low. "You know, dear, for the alicorn of Love you seem to be struggling with your own" Rarity not so helpfully pointed out. Cadance just sighed and her wings drooped slightly. She could feel some sort of connection with the Alicorn most recently nicknamed 'The Warrior Princess', and there were a few signs she gave that Cadance knew meant Twilight felt something, but most of the time she just seemed so disinterested in relationships and love. "It's just, I know she has some kind of feeling towards me, but she has made it clear about her disinterest in love and relationships. It's so many mixed signals, that I have no idea what she wants" "Um, if you don't mind, could I help?" Everypony looked down at the shy pegasus that spoke up, which caused her to squeak a little and cower down slightly. "I, um, have worked with the Princess and the Royal Guard a few times with the animals" "What?! Fluttershy they deal with monsters like manticores and hydras!" Rainbow dash shouted in disbelief. "Oh, I don't help with hydras, but the manticores are very good big kitties" Fluttershy's eyes sparkled when talking about the animals. "But, um, a lot of the missions I was always at the Princesses side, being a citizen. After the first few, she began to talk to me, and I always listened" "So, what did she talk to you about? It might help Princess Cadance woo her" Rarity suggested. "Oh um, she mainly talked about her life on the moon. She didn't really want to talk to me about it at first, but she suddenly started to anyway. She has been visiting for the last few weeks" Fluttershy explained, trying to avoid telling the others what Twilight had told her in confidence. "Perfect! If you tell us, we can understand her personality and why she seems to not like love and relationships! That can help Princess Cadance woo her!" Rarity practically bounced with excitement. "Oh, um I don't think I should tell you. She trusted me with that and it would break her trust" "That's how you lose a friend... Forrrrevvvveeerrrrr" Pinkie said, suddenly face to face with fluttershy. "Fluttershy is right. I will wait for her to confide in me. I'm sure it will be soon" Cadance reassured, despite the fact that she felt like Twilight wouldn't at all. Only time can tell. Twilight was exhausted, and surprisingly pretty injured. The amount of creatures that attacked was concerning, and fighting an Ursa major while simultaneously holding back a manticore is hard work. She winced as Cadance cleaned out a gash on her back. Cadance was obviously mad at her, and to be fair she had a good reason. "How could you be stupid enough to not wait for backup?! That was stupid and reckless!" Cadance chastised. "It worked though, and I was the only injured pony. Well, the only injured after I stepped in anyway" Cadance glared at Twilight, giving the new Warrior Princess a very good reason not to be so reckless next time. Both mares awkwardly sat there staring at each other for a minute or two, and they would probably be there longer if Twilight's stomach didn't basically roar at her. "Since we couldn't do the tour, I want to at least go and have the planned dinner on the gazebo in the gardens" Cadance demanded "That's fair, and once again I'm sorry" Twilight apologised again, for what she felt was the hundredth time. Cadance nodded in satisfaction and walked out the room, most likely expecting Twilight to follow her. What Cadance didn't know was that Twilight was dreading this dinner. She knew Cadance would ask what everyone had tried to ask, and she also knew she would tell Cadance everything. She slowly followed Cadance through the castle and into the gardens, which were absolutely beautiful in the light of twilight. Speaking of the twilight, she needed to start the raising of the stars soon. She could wait till she got to the gazebo. Twilight froze as she saw the gazebo. It was lit up by candles, and a table with red cloth stood in the middle. Two plates with metal covers rested on the table along with two wine glasses and a bottle of wine. It looked almost romantic. This caused Twilight to have an internal panic attack. She promised Cadance to attend this dinner here, but she couldn't stop thinking of how many possible ulterior motives this could bring. It scared her and slowly chipped away at her heart. She created a quick emotional mask of happiness and followed Cadance through the entrance of the gazebo. She needed to try and recover from these thoughts before getting into a proper conversation. "I quickly need to raise the stars, Cadance. I will be right back" She said quickly as she trotted over to the other side of the gazebo. Her mask broke, and her smile faltered. All this was obviously done to make her comfortable, because Cadance had obviously planned to ask her about her past. She shuddered slightly and quickly raised the stars, painting the sky in various hues and contrasts. She reapplied her mask and went to sit down opposite Cadance, who was watching her every move. "It is a nice nigh-" "You brought me here to discuss my past, didn't you?" Twilight asked while her mask broke once more, her smile fading. "I... I had wanted to ask tonight, yes, but it wasn't the only reason. I enjoy spending time with you" Cadance said She was telling the truth, but it didn't make sense. Why would such an amazing, beautiful mare that is so obviously a hero, feel that way about an old, monstrous villain like her? It made no logical sense in her mind. "I will tell you about my past. I promise" Why did she say that? Her mother would be so disapointed in her. The Nightmare would definitely punish her dreams tonight. She sighed. "I was basically raised as a soldier and ruler. I had times with mother that were akin to a mother-daughter relationship. Unfortunately most of it was more of a teacher-student relationship. The Nightmare was to blame for this, of course. The punishments for failure were... Severe. There were no rewards for success, as it was expected of me. Mother taught me everything, from battle tactics to politics to... S-se... Nevermind... She basically raised me to be a tool for her rule. My final test is to secure her rule when she returns and help her take the throne" Cadance seemed to be listening to every word, emotion after emotion flashing through her eyes. "That's the gist of it all" Twilight finished Pffft yeah right, that's all the mild stuff. Let's be honest, kiddo, you are screwed up in the head, and it's all that Nightmares fault "C-can we enjoy a nice dinner now? I... Have said all I am comfortable in saying" Twilight eventually asked Cadance gave the mare a hug and nodded. They spent the night close, chatting about friends and good times underneath the stars. They were unaware of the third alicorn watching them, smiling and congratulating herself that her plans are finally moving along.