To Glory

by Quantum Solace


Reunion

To Glory

Chapter IV

Reunion

Our mouth was still agape as the princess of love, now battle scarred but still as lovely as ever, trotted into the room, also her presence warming us to the brim. Our niece gave a quick nod to Chrysalis and Judgment, before she turned to us. A smile spreaded on her face. “Hello aunty Luna.” She said. We could hear her voice quivering, and tears in her eyes. We hoped they were tears of happiness. We leapt forewords; Cadence backtracked back, but we were embracing her before she get out of our hoof range. Our eyes similarly filled with tears at the sight of a face so familiar.

                “Cadence!” Our voice was mucked with happiness at seeing a (friendly) familiar face. Cadence seemed startled at first, but we felt her slowly relax. Her hooves wrapped around our neck and they hugged us tight. Then they let got and we gave her some space “It brings us great pleasure to see thee again!” We said happily. Our eyes caught those of Judgment, who seemed relieved to see that we were happy. We shot him our best “shooty” look, and turned our attention back to a smiling Cadence. “But... why art thou here... with them?” we pointed a hoof at an indignant Chrysalis. A horrible thought struck us. “Didst they... kidnap you!?” If they did, we were going to release our own unbridled and unwavering rage on those sons of--

                We were interrupted by Cadence bursting onto a laughing fit, and Judgment giving a low chuckle. Chrysalis however seemed quite offended. “No, I did not ‘kidnap’ her!” She said indignantly, “She came to us quite willingly!” Chrysalis gave a huff, “Judgment and I must speak. Cadence, will you please show Princess Luna the dining hall? She has a mission after this.”

We noticed Cadence give the great dragon a look of intense dislike, so quick we almost missed it, before turning back to Chrysalis. “Yes, Queen Chrysalis.” she said crisply. The Queen gave our niece a soft look.

“And... please explain to Luna about what else has transpired over the last few months. I don’t want to be answering any awkward questions.” The Queen finally said before motioning for us to leave.

As we left following the flank of the alicorn of love, we were drawn to several deep scars along it. We had never noticed them before, but the looked old. And the could have only some from one thing: the act of forced procreation.

We kept this thought in mind as Cadence showed us to a grand staircase in the immense ship. It was bustling with changelings going every which way; up, down, sideways. Many stopped as we walked by and bowed... not to us, but to our companion. It was almost unnerving, watching those creatures with soulless eyes bow down to her like she was some sort of queen. Cadence stopped as  one changeling came before her. Unlike the majority of those gathered around us, we could see emotion in it’s eyes. Deep, cutting guilt and grief. Well, our memory served us correctly from the changeling invasion, which it could quite possibly not be, these creatures had imprisoned her below canterlot. Who knows what else had transpired there? We were surprised  to find such an emotion such as remorse in it’s eyes. Weren't these creatures supposed to be soulless and heartless?

Nevertheless, we watched as this changeling stepped forwards and bowed to Cadence, stretching out a forehoof and offering her a vial of purple glowing liquid. Our pink companion took it, and placed it in a pack next to her sword. Then she leaned forwards, and kissed the changeling on the horn. The poor little thing looked like it was going to faint right then and there. It swayed on it’s hooves until another trotted up to support it. The changeling who had just received his first kiss buzzed something at Cadence, before it trotted off, supported by a bunch of his companions. We gaped at Cadence questionably as she glanced at us.

“What in the name of the moon was that!?” We demanded, “Thou hast just shown a changeling unbridled affection, in exchange for a small vial of liquid! What resides in thy bottle!?!”

The pink alicorn giggled a bit before answering back, “Luna,” She responded in a soothing voice, “You don’t need to speak in such a weird way. I can hardly understand you!”

We sniffed. That was hardly anyway of getting us to speak better! Nevertheless, it was indeed not how many spoke this day. We.... I attempted to speak regularly. “We are... I apologize cadence,” I said, “But.. what in the world was that? You basically committed an act of foreplay with a creature of a different species, in exchange for a small bottle of purple liquid. What is in the little vial you placed in your pack?”

Cadence stared at us... ME (I decided to mentally smack myself every time I made such mistakes), in a way that made me think that perhaps ‘foreplay’ was not the correct word to use. “It’s... complicated.” She responded, “But this stuff,” She levitated out the vial, ”Is a special healing potion made from love. It can heal anything, even regenerate a lost foreleg, or even a head if you're quick enough! The only thing it doesn't work on is the dead. No necromantic power unfortunately.”

We, (mental slap) I, nodded in interest, “Quite the powerful magic.” We commented. The love goddess had a faraway look in her eyes,  “I have another inquiry.” I said, “Why did the changeling give you such a powerful potion, and why did you kiss it?”

Cadence paused before answering. “Well, when I first arrived here, I was... hurt. The changeling’s tended to me. At first, I hated them; I kicked them; I pushed them away.” I remembered my first encounter with the bug like creatures on this vessel. Kicking.... indeed. “But they always came back, trying to help me. One was quite ambitious. He came back no matter what. Always helping. Always...” She scrunched her eyes, and we were surprised to see a tear roll from it. “Always trying to... do Better.” Obviously this was something incredibly emotional to her. I wished she’d let me in. But she drew a shaky breath and continued. “Anyways, that changeling taught me to keep on trying to live and forgive. So that’s what I’m doing. Every changeling here is trying to gain my forgiveness. In my opinion, they already have... but some don’t accept that.” She gave a hint of a smile, “They come bearing gifts. Honestly, it’s themselves they’re looking to forgive, not me.”

We nodded. It made sense. the changelings locked Cadence beneath Canterlot, guarded her, where over all not nice to her. Like anypony, they were now looking for forgiveness. We-- (mental slap) I was beginning to realize that changelings were not much different than ponies. Indeed, they looked different, and spoke different languages, but  they had the same kind of fundamental nature all ponies shared.

We--(SMACK!) I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of clicking hooves. I turned to find myself face to face with another changeling. This one was about the same height as me, and it’s bright red eyes seemed to drive into my skull. I mentally gulped. Slowly, it took it’s eyes off of me, and turned to Cadence, who gave a bow to it.

“Cloud Strife.” She said,“Pleasure to meet you again.” The way she spoke seemed to imply to me that ‘pleasure,’ was not the word she would have chosen, given the chance. The Changeling dipped his head in return.

“Ex Princess Cadence.” He said icily, “Such a... heart warming thing to see you well.” I snorted at his obvious contempt, and he returned his unnerving eyes to us. “And Princess Luna!” There was a slight hint of genuine warmth in his voice. Slight, but warm. “It is an honor to meet you! Queen Chrysalis requests your presence on the upper deck.”

I blinked. That was quick. I shared a surprised glance at Cadence, who quickly smiled in response. “I guess it’s time to go.” She said, trotting back up the stairs. I followed wearily, Cloud taking up the rear.

When we were back on deck, Chrysalis and Judgement were already there, sharing hostile glances at each other. I once again glanced at Cadence, raising an eyebrow in question, but the love goddess merely smiled, and shook her head. Later, she seemed to say something inaudible. Shrugging, I approached the duo. “It is time for us to embarch?” I asked, “You did not give us much time to address our problems.”

Judgement gave a little growl. “You would, if a certain queen wasn’t in such a hurry.” He loomed over the changeling.

Chrysalis, for her credit, didn’t flinch. “I know you want to give her more time,” She snapped, “But if she’s not on the move, She’ll get caught.” She turned her attention to me, “There are several Solar Empire warships heading towards Blackrock. Using the memories they took from you-”

“The ones you won’t tell me.” I interjected.

           “They know where we’re heading next.” She continued, heedless of my interruption. A light flickered at the edge of my vision. Turning, I noticed a pulsing orb of bright light floating above Cadence’s head. “They’ll be there in a few hours. We need to move now!” She was back to yelling at Judgment again. I ignored the confrontation, enthralled by the pulsing light above the Alicorn's head.

Cadence gave me a weird look as I raised a hoof to touch the light. “Princess?” She asked, “What are you doing?” The light pulsed warmly around my hoof, inviting me into it’s care.
“What is she doing?” Chrysalis questioned as my horn began to glow. Maybe if I touched the light with my magic...

                “No Luna, don’t!” Came Judgements call, causing Cadence to jump. My magic connected with the orb...  darkness consumed my vision.