Chapter Four – Heart
Twilight tried to wait patiently in her seat after Luna had left the room. She honestly did. But after what felt like hours (though it was more likely only a few minutes), she stood up. Normally she was fine with waiting. Then again, she normally had a library full of books at her disposal to help her. She took to pacing the room and trying to measure it using her stride.
Seven, eight, nine. She had already determined it was fourteen paces wide. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. She wondered what the alicorns could be talking doing behind the door. No, she really didn’t. She knew they were discussing her. Not that knowing helped at all. Twenty two, twenty three, twenty four. The room was fourteen paces wide and twenty four paces long. It struck her that there was really no point in measuring a room that she was unlikely to return to.
She returned to her seat and sat down. Her mind wandered and she lost track of time. The door eventually creaked open. Her eyes shot up to see who it was. Cadence stepped out of the blackness behind the door. It was as if someone had set up a black curtain not far behind the princess solely to limit Twilight’s view.
Cadence gave her a warm smile as she walked over. The pink alicorn sat in front of Twilight in the same place Luna had occupied earlier. She glanced over at the large chair that Celestia had sat upon, “I’ve always wanted to sit in that chair.”
“Then why don’t you?” asked Twilight. She didn’t see any harm in it.
The princess shook her head slowly. “I can’t. Luna told us that you know of our little game. Only the winner can sit on it. That’s just the way it is.” She looked back at Twilight. “Not that it really matters. We’re here to discuss the spell, not Celestia’s chair. You read how the spell is cast?”
“Twice. The unicorn first casts a soul detection spell to visualize their soul. Next she draws upon the power of an artifact to enhance the power of the spell. Lastly she speaks the name of the spell aloud. All of this is done within a casting circle of enchanted emerald dust. Runes formed of crushed ruby ring the circle. Its design can be found in the book.” Twilight had clearly rehearsed the spell in her mind.
“You mentioned an artifact and the name of the spell. Do you know either of those yet?” Twilight shook her head in response to Cadence’s question. Her questions suggested that both used to be in the book. “Must have changed it at some point…” she muttered.
“Is there a problem, Cadence?”
“No, no. It just means I have more to teach you before we can continue. All previous casters have been bearers of the Element of Magic. I’m sure you can guess what the artifact is?”
A light appeared in Twilight’s eyes as she realized it. “They used the Element of Magic?”
Cadence bowed her head in the affirmative. “Even Celestia bore it briefly before Changing. It then went to Luna for a few years before her time came. It has passed from unicorn to alicorn and back hundreds of times over the millennia. About half of them have been given the opportunity before you today. Less attempted the spell.” A pained expression passed over her face, “Not all of them succeeded.”
Twilight hesitated before answering. Her stammered response: “The book mentioned nasty effects resulting from trying to cast the spell on other ponies. Is that what you mean?”
“Yes, and no. That accounts for some of the failures, but other unicorns were simply too weak to cast the spell properly. Their bodies twisted and deformed while their souls were simultaneously destroyed. I only saw it happen once. His screams still haunt my dreams.” Her voice had steadily fallen until it was barely audible at the end, as if speaking only to herself.
“Surely the Princess wouldn’t let me cast the spell if I weren’t capable.” Twilight didn’t dare make it a question.
Cadence brightened suddenly. “Of course not. There are ways to artificially augment magical capabilities. As long as you haven’t cheated to obtain your power, you should be safe.” She paused before adding, “Now would be the time to confess to using magical enhancing drugs, Twilight.”
“Um. No. What kind of pony could even think about putting that stuff in their bodies?”
“I agree, but not everypony does. Can you think of no one that would try to artificially increase their powers?”
Twilight remembered her duel with Trixie and the amulet that she had used to boost her magic. “I can think of somepony who might. It’s a real shame; she had a lot of potential.”
A tense moment passed. Neither of them wanted to be the first to speak. Eventually the moment stretched from tense to awkward and they both tried to rectify the problem.
“Why did you–”
“Did you bring–”
They both cut off to allow the other to finish. After a second or two, Cadence went ahead, “Did you bring the element with you? I’m not sure if Celestia would have told you to bring it or not.”
“No, I didn’t. Celestia keeps it stored here in the castle. It’s probably safer here. We tend to come here whenever Equestria needs saving so it’s fairly convenient.”
“We’ll have to ask her for it. Later, though.” Cadence tapped a hoof on her chair. “You were about to ask something?”
Twilight fidgeted uncomfortably. “Oh. Never mind that. It was nothing.”
Cadence wasn’t willing to let her off that easily. “No, Twilight, tell me. ‘Why did I’ what?”
Twilight did not answer at first. When she did, the words came slowly, as if being carefully filtered before passing from her lips. “Why did you marry my brother? I know it seems out of place, but I just realized that you, an immortal creature, married a mortal being. You will live on yet he will die in time. It doesn’t make sense.”
A smirk graced the princess’ lips. “We all have needs, Twilight. Although you won’t admit it, your brother, my husband, is one sexy hunk of stallion. As for why I married him instead of having my way and leaving him in an alley somewhere, keep in mind that I am royalty. It doesn’t do to have a princess casually fooling around with the guards. There’s far less political backlash this way.”
Twilight sputtered for a minute, trying to figure out whether or not to be mad that her brother was being used. Eventually she sorted out her mind enough to continue the conversation. “Does he know? That you’re using him, I mean. Not the politics of the situation.”
Cadence feigned being offended, “Why Twilight, it’s not as though he does not get perks of his own. Keep in mind I have a cutie mark in making love.”
Twilight’s jaw fell to the floor, and then burst through and kept falling. Cadence’s bluntness of the situation shocked Twilight. She took another minute to regroup her thoughts. Most prevalent was “She’s using him”, although not in so polite words. She realized something after replaying the princess’ words in her mind. “You didn’t really answer my question.”
The pink alicorn sighed before answering, “No. He doesn’t know that I’m using him.” Then, realizing how bad that sounded she added, “It’s not as though I don’t love him. I just love what he can do to me more.” Her eyes glazed over and smiled slightly as if remembering something pleasant. She snapped back to reality after a moment, “I’ve learned by observing others that getting emotionally attached to somepony that will die only causes problems. To be immortal is to be alone, Twilight.”
It struck Twilight that she too would end up alone if she lived on forever. Her friends in Ponyville would all die after time. Her family would likewise die. Did it not make sense to make the best of them while she could? Twilight could not begrudge Cadence for having the same wisdom, even if it meant taking advantage of her brother. She remembered that she would not be alone. Celestia had seen to that. She could live on forever with Spike, watching him grow as she likewise grew in magical capabilities. Twilight wondered when Celestia had started that tradition.
Cadence’s voice interrupted Twilight’s thoughts, “It’s not like I regularly do that or keep ponies around for that purpose. I’ve been an alicorn for close to six hundred years and your brother was the first since before my Changing. Not like a certain other princess in this castle.” A knowing smile skittered across her face, suggesting juicy gossip lay on the tip of her tongue waiting to burst out. “Why, I almost got Celestia removed from power for that very reason.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide, clearly not used to imagining that about her teacher. Cadence went on when she saw the unicorn’s response, “What? I’m an alicorn. I play the game too. I would have been around two hundred years old at the time. I was still a child as far as alicorns go; I still bore my original cutie mark.”
Twilight couldn’t help herself. She just had to interrupt. “Original cutie mark? You mean it changes and you get a new one?”
“Yes. Keep in mind that we all used to be great wielders of magic. As far as I know, we all had cutie marks similar to yours before Changing. We discover our other talents after we Change and no longer need to focus on magical abilities alone. I used to have a pair of crossed wands, stars raining down from the tips. Celestia didn’t have a picture of the sun on her flank until she took control of it, long after Changing. Nor Luna her moon.”
Cadence didn’t seem displeased by the tangent, although she was eager to return to her tale. “Like I said, I played the game regardless of my youth. I was in a unique position. Celestia thought me too young to cause any real damage so she allowed me nearly unlimited freedom. Over time I got a great knowledge of the inner workings of Equestrian royalty, especially when it came to, shall we say, hidden relationships.”
Cadence was clearly not impressed with the nobles. “Because of their ‘power’, many of the nobles believed they could do what they will to any pony below them. While not excluded from the letter of the law, many of the peasants felt pressured to remain quiet about their abusers. This led to a gradual increase in occurrences. Naturally, Celestia trumps all of these nobles, and so she would, theoretically, be free to do what she would with any of them.”
A glimmer sparkled in her eyes. “When I realized this, I started thinking of how I could use it against her. She seemed oblivious to the fact, likely due to the nobles striving to hide their actions from her. I devised a way to force two ponies to lust for each other. I believe it is now referred to as a love poison. I later devised a spell based on it capable of the same thing, but lasting a shorter duration. Anyway, I slipped a portion of it into her drink one evening. She had invited a Count over for the evening to discuss something.
Cadence was visibly struggling to keep a straight face. “I don’t know why they met, but I do know what ended up happening. The whole of Canterlot heard exactly what happened. Their activities could be heard halfway to Ponyville. Of course, it didn’t end there. It took close to a week for the caretakers to soundproof the castle to a satisfactory level. By then complaints had started pouring in from all over of Equestria. Word traveled fast. Most of the castle staff had left by the end of the month.”
The princess was close to losing control, and she knew it too. She made an effort to wrap up quickly. “In short, she was too busy being… busy… to manage Equestria. I had the unicorns left in the castle take control of the sun and moon. Celestia left them to roam wild. In the end I took over her duties and had complete control for a few years, although it was from a location far from the castle to get away from the noise.”
“What ended up happening?” Twilight asked.
“He died. Time (and effort) caught up with the Count and he keeled over dead, freeing Celestia from the potion. Equestria had been mine for close to a decade before she regained her senses. Needless to say, she was less than amused, largely because she was powerful enough to remember what happened during that time. If not for the elements being under other ponies’ control, I imagine that I would have been sent to pay Luna a visit.”
After her conclusion, both Cadence and Twilight sat in silence for a while. Minutes passed, yet neither moved nor dared to speak. Twilight was busy figuring out where her role model now fit and Cadence was trying to figure out whether or not she had broken Twilight. She hoped not, or eternity would be a long, long time for the unicorn.
Twilight was roused from her thoughts by Cadence’s voice. “Before I leave, you should know the name of the spell. By now you should be able to figure it out.” There was a brief pause wherein Twilight scrunched up her face in concentration. Cadence carried on when Twilight’s shoulders slumped and she shook her head, “Fine. It’s <<<CENSORED BY EQUESTRIAN BOARD OF DEFENSE>>>.”
With that Cadence left Twilight to ponder her newfound knowledge. As she opened the door, the princess turned back. “Twilight, a word of warning: alicorn puberty sucks.” The door’s latch clicked shut behind her.