*Whack* *Whack* *Whack*
Large branches and springing underbrush fell at the cut of Fancy Pant’s magical blade. The white coated stallion breathed heavily as he continued the work of clearing a path through the northern Everfree Forest. He had opted to discard his trademark suit around the first few days of the trek into seclusion. His mustache and hair were a mess, as he hadn’t had the energy or time to spare grooming them. He wearily looked back over his shoulder to check on the Princess’ progress. Princess Cadence was not too far behind, and she was doing a remarkable job of reconstructing the environment behind them, leaving as little of a trail as possible for the Changelings to follow.
“How are you holding up, Princess?” Fancy Pants asked breathlessly with a smile, wiping away some sweat from his brow with his left hoof.
She offered him an equally tired smile, “Never better. How many times do I have to tell you that you can just call me Cadence? We are the same title, after all, and there’s no need for any sort of formality out here.”
“True, but you are our only real Princess at the moment,” Fancy resumed his pruning of the foliage in front of him, “I’m just a bureaucrat with a pearly title, even if I was Princess Celestia’s student once.”
“If it’s all the same to you, please just call me Cadence from now, even when we return to Canterlot.”
The sun was moving beyond easy access to the forest canopy, and even though it was only four in the afternoon, the forest would be dark very soon.
“I think we should rest here for tonight,” Fancy Pants breathed as he began cutting out small underbrush for a fire.
The Princess’ horn lit up once again, and the plantlife within a ten foot radius of her flattened to the ground, providing the two of them a springy bed to lie on. By six in the evening, the forest was dark but for the small pit flame Fancy Pants had made for the two of them, and the fireflies that flew all around. The two of them made due with a meal of the grass near the edge of the campsite; decidedly not the finest ever, but living rough like they had for the last two months, they had had their fair share of less than savory dinners.
Most often in the evening times, Fancy Pants and the Princess would alternate every few hours of being awake and on guard with a few dreamless hours of rest, so they rarely ever conversed after each full day. Tonight, though, Cadence felt she had enough energy to talk. She scooted closer to the fire and looked into its dancing flames, “Where did you learn all this? Making use of what’s around you, living out in the forest?”
Fancy Pants chuckled a little to himself, “I admit, I don’t look the type to have ever been a member of the Colt Scouts, but they taught me a thing or two. Imagine it, the sycophants who always grace me with their presence finding out that I once played in the woods like one of the common earth ponies, or deliberately got my hooves dirty for fun!” He gave a laugh that also came out as part scoff, “The shock would kill them, I’m sure.”
The Princess gave a giggle herself, “Oh, I can see them now!” She flapped her wings in mock agitation, and put on as horrendous of a botched upper class Canterlot accent as she could, “What? Our Lord and object of adulation? A Colt Scout? Such slander!”
Fancy Pants got a good laugh out of that; he had to bring his hoof to his mouth to stifle his snickering in case something would hear them.
Cadence calmed herself down from her own round of giggling before she continued, “Where exactly did you grow up, Fancy Pants?”
“Oh, I was raised in Western Fillydelphia in the outer suburbs. I was close to the woods and the city, so I received an education from both. At age ten, I was sent to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, as any aspiring unicorn desires, where I received commendations on understanding magical theory and practical dexterity. Somehow, I caught the Princess’ eye, and she took me on as her then latest apprentice.” Fancy Pants contently sighed, “As I’m sure you’d understand, Canterlot became my home after that. It almost feels like a modern day fairy tale; the unicorn colt of average birth, who with the help of a wonderful, discerning teacher became one of the members of the Equestrian cabinet.”
Cadence remained quiet as Fancy Pants finished. Her mind had wandered to elsewhere, of where she might have come from. The stallion realized what he had said and guessed what she was thinking, and he began to try and backpedal, “Oh stars, I’m so sorry. That was really rude of me-“
“No,” Cadence said softly, “Don’t apologize. I was the one who asked you to tell me; please don’t feel guilty.”
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes as Cadence lowered the sun and raised the moon. She silently strained as she brought the orbs in the sky to their correct alignment, until the task was finally done, and she released her concentration.
“Do you think she knows?” she asked softly.
“Who knows what?”
“Princess Celestia. Do you think she knows where I came from?”
Fancy Pants ruminated on the question; he turned his right hoof to his face and rested his head on it, and he continued pondering for a few moments. Eventually, he softly cleared his throat, “You and I had very different educations under the Princess. Mine was more open ended and allowed some freedom of thought; a thing the Celestia desired above everything else. Yours was related exclusively to stately duties and politics, along with a standard education of mathematics, literature, and the natural sciences.”
“It was a very strict regiment,” Cadence nodded in agreement, “Learning to keep up to date on the latest figures of state for the surrounding countries, being exposed to the issues and troubles of Equestria and those abroad was..less than exciting on a daily basis. I only got to see Aunt Tia every few weeks, with hers and my schedules always being derailed by one issue or another. She always joked about taking a break from holding up the world and going on vacation to somewhere warm.”
“One thing I can tell you about Princess Celestia is that she has done her best to embody the virtues of the Elements over her many centuries. If she would have known where you came from, her belief in honesty would have compelled her to tell you.” Here he paused, and his eyes widened as he realized something, “Oh my word! Now I remember!”
Cadence looked at him in confusion, “What? What is it?”
“It just came to me, but we’ve met before our time together these past few months. It was nearly twenty years ago, when I was still a very young student of Princess Celestia’s! It was the night you were brought to the castle for the first time.”
It was a black night at Canterlot Castle; there was no moon to light the skies. Fancy Pants had been down in the palace kitchens, as he had awoken to an empty stomach. The cooks were good to him, and provided him with everything he could ever want for a midnight snack. Contented and once again sleepy, the unicorn colt made his way back to his quarters, when he heard the distinctive light clanking of his teacher’s golden shoes. Panicking, he ducked into a shallow causeway to avoid being seen, hoping that the Princess would not find him and punish him in some way. He found, instead, that Princess Celestia was proceeding down the hall towards the private foyer where dignitaries and members of the royal family were received. Out of curiosity, Fancy Pants quietly followed behind, tiptoeing as best as he could manage, while still trying to keep up with the much longer legged mare. Down a winding staircase they went, and through a second marble hall, until the Princess was ready and waiting at the small double doors, with Fancy Pants not too far behind, crouching behind a tapestry.
A light appeared on the doorstep, which bled beneath the doors and grew in intensity for a few moments, the light being accompanied by strange popping sounds. Princess Celestia was not surprised by the sounds, and she was not shocked when the doors opened at the behest of two ponies. One was her most recently graduated protégé, Bunsen Burner. The other was..
The Princess was absolutely dumbstruck. The other pony’s fur was pink with purple tinges on her wingtips; but she had a horn as well as those wings!
The mare was leaning on Bunsen Burner’s shoulder, sweating profusely, and completely delirious, “Mommy? Let me sky dance for five more minutes. Daddy said I was getting stronger. I know I can do it!”
Bunsen Burner held a book clenched in his teeth, which he motioned for Princess Celestia to take from his mouth.
Obliging, the book floated close to her under the power of her levitation spell, and she recognized the book. It was wrinkled from extensive use, and the enchantments that had been placed on it to preserve the knowledge held within had begun to decay around the edges of the spine. The cover was adorned with runes of an unusual design, but the centerpiece was two six pointed stars connected by an arcing swirl.
Starswirl.
“At long last,” the Princess murmured, “Your prophecy is fulfilled, old friend. ‘You will see my book again, when the pink and purple mare who is three in one appears.’ ”
“What?” Bunsen Burner asked in agitation.
“It’s nothing. Where did you find her? What's wrong with her?”
“I’m leaving her here with you,” he declared, ignoring her question, “She needs to be with her own kind, and I can no longer provide her the possibility of a good home,” the earth pony angrily spat with his words, “thanks in part to you.”
“Does this have something to do with Lily-“
“DON’T SPEAK HER NAME,” he roared, “Because of your inability to act, no matter how many times I tried to contact you and plead on her behalf, I can never see my wife again! Now my best friend and his wife are dead, leaving their daughter’s future up to me. You can take better care of her than I can, as much as that galls me to say it. She shouldn’t have to grow up listening to a cynical stallion like me. She needs a sickeningly sweat idealist like you.”
“How did she become like this,” Princess Celestia asked, “How did her parents die?”
“It doesn’t matter. It would be best for all three of us if she never knew who I was, or what our relation is with each other.”
The stallion then turned and stormed away, “I’ll be in my office below; I have something urgent I need to work on.”
Bunsen Burner briskly walked past Fancy Pant’s hiding spot, taking no notice to the little colt at all, leaving his goddaughter with Princess Celestia.
The Princess’ eyes followed her former student with a look of guilt and sympathetic anguish for him, before those same eyes turned to the pink and purple alicorn child.
"Hello little one,” she said as she slowly led the child to the hospital wing, “What is your name?”
The child didn’t seem to hear, but she began to murmur a few words, “Protect Mi Amore Cadenza. Protect Mi Amore Cadenza. Mommy, Daddy, don’t leave!”
“I don’t know where you’ve been,” Princess Celestia spoke as softly and sweetly as she could, “but you are safe now. I will protect you, Mi Amore Cadenza.”