It had taken the royal couple nearly two weeks to reach their lakeside honeymoon villa nestled in the province of Mustangia by carriage, and they had enjoyed every minute of both the trip and the destination itself. They had taken in the exquisite cuisine of the region, trying every conceivable dish under the sun they could find. They had danced with each other to a street performed quintet of a trumpet, trombone, viola, clarinet, and saxophone. Canoeing, hiking through a nature preserve, resting on the sandstone beach; they had done it all, as well as the usually anticipated newlywed activities. During the middle of their time in that blissful region of the world, they had begun to look at some of the wedding gifts they had received. Most newlyweds of course received things which were bound to be useful around the house; something practical that could last a while. This of course was not the case with this couple. Since their needs were provided for by the castle, they had simply asked that any gifts that others intended to give them would be better used by donating to local charities or other generous organizations. Despite this request, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence had received many gifts. Some were collections of gems, or fine quality jewelry. Princess Cadence had received no less than twenty different tiaras. Though she wasn’t quite sure of what to do with them all, she had made a promise to herself to wear each one at least once for public appearances. Prince Shining Armor had received a ceremonial halberd from the Royal Guard, along with several different outfits he had been gifted from his parents in the rare instances when he got off time from guard duty. In among the many different gifts lay a small rectangular package. It was wrapped in commonplace brown paper, and was addressed specifically to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
“Who is it from?” asked Shining Armor as he got onto the bed where his wonderful wife had been unwrapping all their gifts.
“I don’t know,” Cadence said as she flipped it end over end with her magic, “It was wrapped by hoof, and there isn’t any name on it but mine.”
“Well,” Shining Armor wrapped his forelegs around her as he scooted to her side, “maybe the next step to solving this mystery is opening the package.”
Cadence smiled slyly as she kissed her husband, “And this is why I love you, my knight.”
“Why’s that?”
“Your brilliant mind,” she giggled softly.
“Well of course!” he replied, “I mean, what else would you have married me for?” He began to flex his muscles, “My strength? Or perhaps,” he offered her a smoldering look as he dropped his voice an octave, “it’s because of my astounding handsomeness?”
Cadence loved it when Shiny did these outrageous little outbursts, and she began to laugh, “It was definitely for your humility!”
“Well yeah, I’m always the most humble stallion in the room, but I don’t like to show it off; it might make others feel bad!”
Cadence just kept laughing and laughing at her very silly but wonderful husband, until she finally caught her breath a few minutes later. “Well, we don’t want to put it off any longer,” she declared as she began to unwrap the nondescript package, “let’s see what it is!”
When the object was fully unwrapped, the both of them found it was a modest necklace that had been placed on a small oak plaque. It was made of sterling silver, and at its center was a small ruby. A small envelope had fallen out of the packing when Cadence had begun to examine it.
Shining Armor picked up the envelope, unfolded the letter held within, and began to read its contents aloud, “I wish you and your husband a happily wedded life together. This necklace belonged to your mother when she was alive. It was her wish, I believe, that you should have this when you were grown up and married. I do wish that I had been there to answer your questions when you had wondered where your parents were, and who they were. Your father was devoted to you and your mother, and he loved you both dearly. Your mother was a beautiful mare in both appearance and temperament; you took after her in many ways. If they were still alive, they would be proud of you for the mare you’ve become.”
Cadence snatched the letter from her husband’s hooves and quickly began to read it for herself. As she finished, she muttered, “I don’t believe it.” Looking up to the ceiling, she began to tear up, “After all this time, there’s somepony out there who knows.” For as long as she could remember, Princess Cadence had lived in Canterlot Castle under the watchful care of Princess Celestia. She had of course wondered where her parents were for many of her early years, but as she had grown up, taken on responsibilities, and lived her life, she had become resigned to the fact that she may never know the answers that she was seeking.
“Are you gonna to be okay?” Shining Armor asked compassionately as he began to stroke her mane with his hoof.
“I think so,” she replied, before she corrected herself, “No, I know I will be. If there’s a chance that I can find the pony who wrote this, I’ll might be able to know exactly what my parents were like.” She paused as she wiped her tears away, “I guess that it’s good to know that they didn’t just abandon me, but now I won’t ever get the chance to know them fully like others did. Like this pony did.”
Shining Armor wrapped his hooves around her, and she wrapped a hoof around him. As the two of them sat in silence, he spoke after a time, “You know, I’m sure that if we went back to Canterlot, we could go to the Census office and go through the records there. I’m sure that we can find the writing style that matches this one.”
Cadence nodded her head slowly, “We should do that when we go back in a couple of weeks.”
“Not in a few weeks,” Shining Armor said as he got off the bed, “We should go, like right now.”
“But what about all this,” she waved her hoof at the villa and the lands beyond, “What about all the things we had planned for the next few-“
“Those things don’t matter,” Shining Armor said as he turned back to look at her, “You deserve to learn about who your parents were. All of this would be a distraction in the meantime, and you wouldn’t fully enjoy it. This means everything to you, so it means everything to me now too. We’ll leave as soon as we can.”
Cadence got off of the bed and joined Shining Armor in a loving embrace, “Thank you so much for understanding, my shining knight.”
There was a sudden series of soft knocks at the door to their bedroom chamber door, “Your Highnesses, I have an urgent letter from the royal courier here for you.”
The two looked into each other’s eyes and then looked to the awaiting door.
“I wonder what’s happened,” Shining Armor said as he broke the embrace and slowly made his way to the suite entrance.
Opening the door, he found that one of the servants of the villa was there to greet him with the letter in hoof. “There’s an awaiting carriage for you and the Princess, which I’ve been told is to depart immediately upon your reading of the letter. Your amenities will be dealt with for you.”
Shining Armor accepted the letter with grim anxiousness; whatever message was contained in the letter was most certainly not good news, “Thank you, concierge.”
The servant bowed slightly and came into the room to begin packing the royal couple’s things.
“What’s happened?” Cadence asked as her husband opened the scroll adorned with the seal of Princess Luna. As he silently read the message to himself, his face became paler with every line that he read, and he began to shake a little.
“What is it, Shiny?” she asked worriedly. Shining Armor rolled up the scroll and sealed it, teleporting it to in and among their belongings.
His eyes were hollow, and he numbly said, “Cadence, there’s a carriage waiting for us outside. We need to go right now. There’s been a death in the royal family.”