//------------------------------// // 62 // Story: Twilights Mane Passion // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// Inhaling, Twilight knew she was going into this for the long haul with every ounce of ranting she could force out of her mind for just the cold hard facts before she started. Cadence wasn’t a very old princess and didn’t run her own kingdom, but she was to take charge in case something happened to Celestia. As such Twilight very much doubted Cadence was a take charge kind of pony or even understood that there were consequences to her own actions. “Look I don’t like you very much. I’m going to ask you a few questions so you’ll know why I don’t like you by the end of what I have to show you.” Twilight immediately had the alicorn perplexed and there was a slight hurt look on her face. “Okay, quick question do you bother to get involved in a situation or do you just cast a compulsion spell and leave it up to the magic to deal with the problem?” “The second one, the compulsion spells are pretty safe to use and shouldn’t cause to many troubles. It’s just a quick fix to friends and lovers if they get into a quarrel.” Cadence had no idea what she just walked into, but she was receiving one of the harshest glares she could ever remember getting in all of her life. “And that is exactly why I don’t like you, do you even think before you cast magic that is restricted for a reason? Do you even know what happens if you use even one of those compulsion spells on a single pony multiple times? Do you realize the problems you could cause just by interfering in the lives of other ponies without getting to know the situation first? I understand you’re the princess of love, but you’re doing the exact opposite of causing love to blossom with the lives you’ve possibly ruined!” One would ask why an alicorn princess would be shrinking back from a unicorn half her size, to be fair Twilight was about to deliver a powerful you suck speech. She was going to be very direct to this princess whether or not she cares to hear it personally. “What do you mean exactly?” Cadence had this feeling creeping up on her that she felt would lead to a horrible revelation. “I only know one of the lives you possibly ruined, can you teleport us to the Canterlot dungeons real quick?” Twilight had had a huge hunch about something, she wanted to Cadence to see what she had done. “Yes, but… okay.” Cadence saw the look of angry determination in Twilight’s eyes and she didn’t even know the purple unicorns’ name. Closing her eyes Cadence’s horn lit up and they appeared at the entrance of the Canterlot dungeon, there was a large hole in a nearby wall caused by the minotaurs breaking out. A guard was immediately at attention and was saluting to Cadence. “You brought a stallion pegasus in here earlier named Shock Hazard, princess Cadence needs to check him for magical mental interference.” Twilight knew what she was doing, as far as things went Fleurs true love was probably what beat out the compulsion spell. It was either that or pure mental disgust for this stallion they were visiting. There was a possibility that another pony didn’t beat the compulsion spell and she was going to force Cadence to see what she has wrought personally. “Is this true princess?” The guard waited for an answer. “I… Yes. I do need to do that.” Cadence had foreboding feelings in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t know who Shock Hazard was but she would soon find out. As they were led along to see this Shock Hazard, Cadence had to ask the guard about it. “What are Shock Hazards crimes as they are known now?” “He’s on the charges of attempted murder of a mare and at her wedding no less. Fired two high powered lightning bolts that would have been enough to kill his target; at least a hundred witnesses saw it. The Trouble Takers took care of the problem and are vouched to have been prepared for every occasion, they saved that poor mares wedding. They are a legit organization with no history of wrong doing and were thanked personally by the bride for making sure the wedding stayed on schedule.” The guard didn’t see the look on Cadence’s face as it sunk a bit further and the princess was biting her bottom lip. They came up to a cell and inside was the sleeping pegasus chained to a wall, the guard unlocked the door for them. “Do it Cadence.” Twilight ordered immediately. The alicorn princess lit up her horn and used some magic to scan the pony. The princess gave off a gasp and backed away shaking her head at what Twilight was already aware of. Shock Hazard might have been trying to use Cadence to get Fleur to love him, but he never accounted for the fact that the compulsion spells would have an adverse affect on him at all. “No… I… I couldn’t have, I didn’t mean… how could I have? I have to fix this!” Cadence lit her horn only to find it dragged around to face an angry Twilight who lit her own horn. “Cadence, do you see yourself above the law?” Twilight asked in a very flat icy tone. “N-no, I don’t see myself higher than any other pony.” Cadence was living a nightmare she has caused and could only hope she was sleeping. “Then why were you about to remove evidence from a crime scene, given it has your magical signature.” Twilight stated calmly and Cadence reacted like she had been punched in the gut. “The mare at the wedding was a friend of mine and she’s quite popular around Canterlot as she’s a super model. Her name is Fleur De Lis; she shrugged off your compulsion charms because there was no love for the stallion that kept forcing her into arguments when you were around. Sure he brought this on himself by getting you to use your compulsion charms on him, but because of this you are an accessory to his attempted murder.” “I…” Cadence’s mind broke, but the unicorn looked ready to continue going on and she was going to hear every word of it. “You disgust me you know, I know you’re young and everything but that’s no excuse considering you had the right stuff to even become an alicorn in the first place. At what point do mind altering spells help ponies? You could have been forcing brothers and sisters to sleep together, mothers and their sons, fathers and their daughters! Sure you may have caused some good things to happen, but you wouldn’t know if they did considering you walk away before finding out the results of your actions.” Twilight paced around the alicorn, thinking of all things she could bring up. “Have you ever thought once that maybe letting ponies work out their issues might have been healthier for them? This Pegasus is trapped in your compulsion spell due to his unceasing lust. What you do isn’t helping ponies; it’s forcing them to get together instead of working out their issues and that’s only if the spell doesn’t wear off and make the situation even worse. Now I have to ask, do you know a mare named Luna?” “No, who is that?” Cadence feared hearing what Twilight had to say about that mare, she was already crying because she had to turn herself in. She had become a bad pony and hadn’t even noticed when she slipped into the bad habits that led to her being guilty of almost getting a pony killed. What if this wasn’t the first time though? Did that mean she had gotten a pony killed by association as causing what might be irreparable mental damage to a pony? “It’s a pony who if Celestia had used a compulsion spell on a long time ago, she would have gravely regretted it and she would have lost a pony most dear to her forever for even attempting it. Don’t ever ask Celestia about that name, it brings her nothing but heartache.” Twilight turned sharply to Cadence ears forward and a glare that caused the alicorn to take a few steps back. “If you have to ask her, then don’t tell her where you got your information from. Just state that it was from a very reliable source that knows of Lulu.” “… I have to try something… I’m not taking the evidence away, but this may incriminate me even further.” Cadence just had to know how many ponies were here because of her. Her magic went outward in a pulse and the final straw broke inside of her. There were five ponies other then Shock Hazard four of which were stallions and one was a mare, Cadence broke down completely. “Five… four stallions and a mare… what… what have I done? What have I been doing?” “Now you know why I don’t like you. All I want to do now is go back to the hospital; as I have to visit my father and talk to my brother some more. Cadence… you have a few choices and I know one is where you could just have Celestia sweep this under the rug oh so easily. Can you truly live with the guilt of not knowing everything you’ve done in happy blissful ignorance or will you be a princess that you’re supposed to be and face up to it?” Twilight turned and exited the cell followed by a broken princess. Cadence could only stare at the floor and asked the guard to lock up the door as they left, they returned to the hospital in the flash of a teleport in silence. They appeared back in the hospital in front of Fluttershy and several female guards heading towards Shining Sparkle’s room. Fluttershy got incredibly spooked and cowered behind the two guards who took immediate notice of Cadence’s state of mood. They also noticed Twilight walking up to Fluttershy who immediately stood up and hugged her for a few seconds once she realized who was there and not looking happy. “You will remember that your actions no matter how seemingly inconsequential can have dire effects, magic alone can’t fix what’s wrong with the heart and it might even end up destroying it in the end. I hope you’ve learned something from all this. You might want to even look into the reason why the other unicorns who checked them didn’t question why your magic was affecting those ponies.” Twilight turned to Fluttershy and gave a slight jerk of her head in a come on gesture, her voice was laced with venom that Cadence knew she deserved. “Come on Fluttershy, I’m going to visit my father. We’ll see Shining after we’re done there. I’m through sticking around this disgusting thing that calls itself a pony. Maybe one day I can actually see the beautiful creature that once was there.” “Princess Cadence, are you going to let her talk to you like…” The female celestial guard was cut off by a pink hoof solemnly lifted into the air. “I would like to report a grievous crime.” Cadence stated with a bit of finality in her voice as tears slid down her face. “And I need to see Celestia about it personally right now.” “Twilight, are you feeling okay?” Fluttershy looked back at the princess as she teleported away with the two guards before she turned back to her friend. “Do you want to talk about it, if that’s okay with you?” “No Fluttershy, I’m not feeling fine at all.” Twilight has just confirmed that the alicorn of love really hasn’t been spreading her namesake and has just called her out on it in such a horrible manner. She had been so horrible to Cadence, but it was something she needed to hear as otherwise Twilight thought they could have been friends in another time. “I don’t want to talk about it, but goodness knows I will anyway just to relieve the heavy feelings in my chest.” The shy mare exuded caring and understanding as they slowly made their way towards Nightlight Sparkle’s room in the hospital, he was staying overnight to be sure his affliction was completely gone. She listened to every single detail that flopped out of Twilight’s mouth clearly; she didn’t judge Twilight as she hadn’t done anything bad and she didn’t want to judge Cadence as she didn’t know her personally. Even then Fluttershy was horrified to find out that Shock Hazard wasn’t the first pony that Cadence had driven mad with compulsion spells. Fluttershy had thought that when Fleur talked about it, it sounded like a temporary spell at first. The fact that the magic could actively force ponies to act against their will was not something she wanted to know that unicorn ponies could do. She also didn’t need to know that Twilight had found a spell called the ‘want it, need it’ spell that Celestia left lying around in the castle of the two sisters. Fluttershy had always known that the world was not a perfect place, even then she still trusted in Celestia and even Cadence to try and do the right thing. “Hey there girls, what’s with the long faces?” Nightlight greeted the two ponies pleasantly; they both gave him a big hug while sniffling. “Awe, come on now. What’s got my little sparkle and her cuddly friend so upset? Cheer up; as long as you’re alive and you can keep looking forward to the future the past will never stop you. Tomorrow is another day after all and it seems to me that it would be a good day for cookies.” Nightlight even went as far as to tickle the two ponies, one that was his daughter and another that was like a daughter to him. He got them to start giggling and they started to cheer up immediately at the feeling of his comforting warm hooves wrapped around them.