"Would you please explain to me why two fully armored guards are escorting me through the Crystal Palace? I probably should get back to the games."
"Royal orders, sir," one of the guards reply.
Ugh. Great. You were really busy sitting in the stands complaining about how you hate sports. At least, when you were in the stands you had popcorn.
"Fine, I guess. I hope this doesn't take long or else Twilight and the others could get concerned about where I am," you reply.
"How long you stay here is entirely to the discretion of Princess Cadance."
"Princess Cadance? Really?" you inquire.
“That's correct," he answers.
You look straight ahead and nod. A moment of silence follows as you follow the guards to where ever they are taking you.
"That's the pink horse right?"
A harmonious groan comes from the guards.
"Why is this one important again?" he whispers to his partner.
"Heck if I know," The other replies under his breath.
"Hey!"
"Yes. She is the pink one."
"Shit. The married one. I guess my devilish charms won't worm me out of this one,” you joke.
The guards look to each other and sigh.
"Oh come on guys. Lighten up. It's just a joke. Of course I know who she is. Jeez."
They halt in front of two large wooden doors.
"This is it, Anonymous."
"Alright. Let's get this over with, I guess," you sigh to yourself.
"If I may add though,"
You place you hand on a door handle and look at the stallion speaking to you.
"Yeah?"
"Just... Don't do anything you might regret," he says.
You eye him carefully. He seems concerned, his eyes pleadingly looking at you.
"Uh... Ooookay. Thanks."
Okay. Officially weird now. You honestly weren't concerned before now. Suddenly what waits behind these two doors concerns you. You pull the door open and slip inside. The sound of quiet sobs instantly reaches your ears. Oh shit. You shut the door quietly.
"Uhhh. Princess Cadance?"
Cadance sniffs loudly and wipes her tears upon hearing your voice."O-oh. Anon... Good. Good. Thanks for coming. C-come over here. I-I want to talk to you."
"Uhm. Okay."
Is she... crying? Can princesses cry? You take quiet, measured steps to... the bed? Why are you in a bedroom? Tissues are scattered throughout the room and the Princess's royal regalia is tossed into a pile on the floor. Cadance lies in a mess on a bed made of some form of purple, velvet-like material. How long has she been laying here? How long has she been crying?
As she unfurls herself on the bed out a fetal position, she keeps her eyes on the floor and takes long, wavering breaths. Each shallow breath sounds like it could erupt into tears at any moment. She continues to rub her eyes with a hoof and sniff as you approach her, mascara running down her face.
"I-It's... It's just... I caught him... with some guard," she sniffs. "I was wondering why he didn't want to be around anymore. "
You hold your tongue as you move to console the crying Princess.
"I-I should have known... He was coming home late. Barely talking... I was always so worried about him. B-but, he never cared at all!"
Cadance leans over into her hooves and bawls into her hooves, losing what little composure she has left.
"I'm... sorry, Cadance,"
She's taken this much to confide in you. You might as well call her by her first name. It's only respectful.
"B-but, now it's my turn." Cadance says, trying to regain her composure. "I'll show him that TWO can play this game. I'll show him."
"Cadance... I don't think..."
She turns her rear to you and presents herself to you, dry as a whistle, small pools of tears that collected on her hind legs running down them.
"Please..." she begs.
"No. This isn't right."
"I-I DON'T CARE!" She orders you. "Please! J-just rut me. RUT ME!"
She covers her face in her hooves as she sobs into the floor. You take a deep breath. Now you know what you are here for. You walk up to the pink princess and pick her up into the air.
"W-what are you doing? S-stop. Rut me! I-I order you!"
Pulling the alicorn into your arms, you hold her tightly to you. Her body lays limply into yours as you feel her tears bury into the shoulder of your shirt. Cadance's body begins to shake as the last straw was pulled. Her cry isn't loud, instead, it's silent, her face buried into the crook of your neck and her mouth open, too speechless to say even a single word. The muscles in her frame give away, allowing you to gently guide her to the ground, but your hold on her remains tight as you sit on your knees. Her tears pool on your shirt and her hooves cling around you tightly.
"W-why? Why doesn't he want me, Anon?" she whispers through the tears.
You stroke her hair and gently shush her.
"Why doesn't... Why doesn't he love me anymore..."
"Shhhh," you quietly mutter. "Don't talk like that..."
She grips you tighter.
"Why doesn't anyone love me?"
You tighten your grip around the mare and stroke her hair. That's when every last ounce of willpower drops from her body. Her cries fill the room and her body convulses with each sob. All you can do is sit there and hold her. And whisper something that you only pray will be true.
"It'll be okay. I promise."
You hold her for what feels like hours. Hours you were more than happy to give up. Her sobs only come in short bursts of tears. Slowly you help her to her hooves.
"Here, let's get you into bed. Sleep is good."
The Princess simply nods and you place your hand on her back as she slips under the covers. You grab a bunch of the tissues on the ground to clean up a little. As you head to the trash can to throw them away, you see two empty bottles of wine sitting at the bottom. Ooph. That explains the clinging smell on her.
"Anon?" she asks weakly.
You turn to Cadance and return to the bed, sitting on the side of it.
"Yeah?"
Cadance looks down to the floor again, then back to you.
"W-would you... do something for me?"
"Anything," you say, trying to be supportive.
The pink alicorn bites her bottom lip and takes a deep breath.
"Would you... lay beside me... as I go to sleep?"
Okay Anon. Calm down for a second. A married mare wants you to lay beside her as she falls asleep. This is wrong. But, this make up smeared, watery eyed mare has had her heart broken. She needs someone to help her through this. And, well, she summoned you. It had to be for a reason.
"Yeah. I'll do it."
For the first time, you see a slight smile etch on her face.
"T-thanks."
Cadance scoots over and you kick off your shoes, climbing under the covers and laying on your side. The pink alicorn curls herself into a ball and pushes herself into your chest. You lay there, slightly unsure of what to do next. This isn't really right. There is no way you would take advantage of her... so there's that... But the way her body lies against yours and the way she cried into your chest.
You can't help but feel something tug from the inside of your chest, seeing her lay beside you. Perhaps that's why you reached over carefully and put your arm around her. Yet, you couldn't explain why she took your arm and wrapped it in her hooves, like a young filly holding a teddy bear. You were happy to be there for her, when she needed it the most. But the question lingers on your lips... Why you?
You've met Cadance a few times. Every time through Twilight. She was always very chatty and kind. The Princess only really seemed to care about others... from what you knew. You thought that was just part of the territory. Maybe it even was. But even then, all of that time, worrying about others before herself. It must grate on her. She never gets to do what's best for Cadance.
The alicorn's breathing regulates and her body radiates warmth. Through the pungent smell of alcohol, you smell something else, something like freshly cut flowers. You couldn't help yourself when your ran your hand through that silky smooth hair one more time. This is what was best for her right now. Time to herself. Time to reevaluate and recover.
Shining. How could he do this? Love works in mysterious ways... but he's married. Why... if it were you... You blink for a moment.
Anon. Get ahold of yourself. Shining isn't you. You are the random guy she begged to rut her, while she was probably drunk. With a sigh, you look over her dirtied face. What are you going to do? You listen to the silence the room provides, only broken by Cadance's breathing. She looks so peaceful this way. That's when a muffle is heard from outside.
The walls are too thick for you to understand anything, but ponies are definitely outside Cadance's door. Oh shit! What do you do? What if someone comes in? Shitshitshit. You look to the pony, then to the door, then to the pony again. Then back to the door that is slowly opening.
Game over.
First, a white horn pokes out of the door. Then a deep blue mane. Then the rest of a white stallion body.
"Hey Cadance... I-"
He freezes, staring directly at you. You stare back at him.
"What the..."
"Prince Shining... I told you not to-" A guard tries to explain.
"WHAT IS THIS!" he screams.
Cadance stirs awake and looks up.
"Here I am, trying my best to make things right, when I walk in on this!"
"Go away, Shining. Please." Cadance says, looking away from her husband.
"No! This makes you just as bad as me! How could you do this?!"
"You tell me why YOU did it?" Cadance sniffs. Is she... not going to tell him that you didn't...
"What is wrong with you," Shining barks at Cadance. "You are a Princess. Do you have any idea what that means?"
"Yes, Shining. I'm the Princess of Love. And I thought I knew what Love meant. Until you proved me wrong. Nothing's been the same since you slept with that other mare!"
The room goes silent. The guard quietly backs out of the room as Cadance rises to her hooves on the bed. Her breathing quickens and her brow furrows. Shining growls under his breath. He looks from you to his wife. Then back to you.
There have been a lot of points in your life when you felt unwanted. Like the time that you first arrived in Ponyville being the only human. Or the time that you were bored in Twilight's library and kept bugging her as she was reading. However, this... was a whole new level. This single glare seemed as if it was meant to strike you down where you stood. As if that if the stare was hard enough and long enough, that you would simply die where you lay. You can only hope but wonder if Cadance even going to explain this? This really isn't what it looks like.
The growling becomes louder as a vivid purple aura envelops his horn and shoots a beam at you. Without time to react or room to move in your bed cover prison, the magical enemy surrounds you. With a gesture of his head, you are launched from the bed and get sent flying across the room.
"SHINING!" Cadance cries.
The wall smashes into your face, and you feel your nose become significantly shorter. As your body bounces off the wall, like a child's toy, blood shoots out of your shattered nose. That's when your vision is covered in purple.
You feel your body lifted into the air and spun, facing the ground. Shining's eyes connect with yours, filled with hatred and anger. Your body propels to the ground at blinding speed. The wind is knocked out of you an a small bloodstain covers the floor where your head collides. Pain ripples through your chest and breathing is significantly harder. Your arm twists in a way you didn't know it could and it becomes as limp as a noodle.
"Anon!"
A bright flash of blue light fills the room and Shining is knocked to the floor, the purple aura fades away as gravity does the rest of the work. You close your eyes and your muscles tighten, preparing for impact. But the floor doesn't come as hard as you expected it. Instead, it was rather soft. You open your eyes to find yourself enveloped in a light blue light, which fades after you lay on your back.
With a cough, blood splatters on the floor and the guards rush in.
"Get a doctor for Anon! Now!"
A guard looks over to Shining.
"What about the prince, Princess?" the guard asks.
"I don't care. Just get him out of here..." she commands.
The guards help Shining to his hooves as you use your still functioning arm to wipe the warm red liquid off your face.
"GggrrraaAAAHH!" Shining growls, turning around to face you one last time, his horn radiating with energy.
You cringe and try to edge away from him, but pain shoots up your broken arm as you try to move it. Cadance stands over you and a bright blue energy field protects you and her from... him.
"Get out of my kingdom," she says.
He stares at the Princess with pure, unadulterated hatred. His gaze returns to you one more time. Shining Armor turns and walks away from the two large wooden doors, as blood leaks out of your nose and onto the floor. Your chest feels like it compresses on itself, causing you to hack and cough. Hurried hoofsteps approach the room, and belong to two ponies that step inside, One nurse unicorn mare and the other a guard that was posted outside.
"Oh my Celestia... What happened in here?" asks the nurse.
"You are not allowed to speak of this to anypony," the guard tells the nurse sternly.
The nurse looks over the blood that runs down the walls, and pools at the base of your face as you desperately try to breathe. She nods silently and approaches the protective blue bubble that Cadance holds up over the two of you. Her face is contorted in anger, like a mother bear protecting her cubs, as she stands over you.
"Princess... I'm here to help the human."
The princess simply continues to stare outside the door, her face fixated on who could be ready to spring an attack the moment she lets her guard down.
"Princess?"
Cadance looks at the nurse, her threat redirected. The nurse takes a few steps back.
"I promise I won't hurt him... We can move him to a private room," The mare attempts to persuade Cadance.
Her breathing begins to calm and the bubble slowly fades away from the two of you. Cadance steps off of you and the nurse takes a few steps closer to you to examine the damage.
"Shattered muzzle on first glance... possible broken ribs... I think..." Whispers the nurse.
"You think?" Cadance says angrily.
"I'm sorry Princess, I've never cared for a hooman before."
The pink alicorn nods and looks around the room. "Where can we move Anon?"
"There is a room just down the hall. One bed and reserved for V.I.P. player injuries. It'll be the best care we have," the nurse assures the Princess.
"Perfect."
Maybe once it stops feeling like you are breathing in pepper spray with each breath, you might notice how comfortable the silk sheets feel on your back. Before the nurse left you and Cadance alone in this new room, she braced your arm, made you drink some form of foul tasting yellow medicine and peeled off your shirt while they try to discover some way to help your nose and chest. Human-sized braces are on an extremely short supply in Equestria. Go figure.
As you take slow, calculated breaths Cadance hasn't moved an inch from your side. You turn your head to face her and she moves a hoof to your cheek.
"Did I kick his ass?"
A slight smile flickers on her face.
"Oh yeah. Totally did." You mutter to yourself. You chuckle, but it feels like a thousand burning coals fills your lungs, so it rapidly devolves into a coughing fit.
“You have to be more careful, Anon..."
With a nod, you return to your breathing pattern that hurts the least.
"Right."
Cadance opens her mouth to say something, but closes it, shaking her head. You return your gaze to her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie now," you look into her eyes. "I know you were going to say something."
She looks down at your beaten frame and her breathing quickens slightly.
"I did this to you..."
"Hey. No you didn't-"
"If I didn't call you down here, none of this would have happened. You would have been okay... and, and..."
With your good arm, you reach your hand up and place it on her cheek, turning her face to look you in the eyes.
"It's okay."
"But look at you. You're-"
"As strong as a horse," you reply.
She stares at you in concern, or perhaps it was your choice of words.
"All of this will heal with time. I'm much more concerned about you, Cadance."
The princess moves a hoof up to the hand on her face and caresses it.
"How are you holding up?"
Cadance sighs and thinks over her words carefully.
"I'm tired, Anon."
"Well, let's fix that," you mutter to yourself.
Although it makes your body feel as if it were on fire, you carefully grunt, moan and shift yourself to the edge of the bed. With a light pat, you motion for her to lay beside you. It's a fairly large bed, letting her easily climb up next to you. She studies the delicate and partially broken features of your face. You smile, but your mind gets the better of you. If this is going to go any further, you have to know. For your own sake.
"Can I ask you a selfish question?" you wheeze.
"Anything," she answers with a smile.
"Why me? Out of any other pony or animal you could have called, you chose me. Not that I mind... just why?"
She bites her lip.
"It's hard to explain..."
"Well, I can promise I'm not going anywhere."
She lightly laughs. At least your jokes are still effective.
"One of the first things they taught me as the Princess of Love is that no pony has a 'one' that they are meant to be with. There is no such thing as the one. Anypony can marry somepony else, even if it's for the wrong reasons," she sighs. "It was really hard for me to understand, until I watched a marriage crumble while studying to be the Princess of Love. I watched them fight, and fight, and fight... and I never understood why they couldn't just leave each other."
You watch as her expression becomes more pained.
"I remember thinking to myself... Why? Why do they keep saying such terrible things to each other, then try to patch it all back up? It was love. The power of love binds two ponies together so strongly that even the most hateful and mean words don't immediately break it's bond, even if it isn't shared by both ponies."
She looks to you.
"Does that make sense?"
You nod, but you aren't sure what it has to do with you.
"As I studied more, I began to learn spells and tricks that I swore to never use for my own personal use. Ways of seeing how compatible two ponies were... I figured out quickly why not. I would study ponies out on the street and see how compatible the couples were, out of curiosity.”
She lays her head on a pillow beside you, relaxing a bit more.
"I found that compatibility has nothing to do with love. Ponies will love anyone their heart tells them to, even if it isn't the right one for them. If ponies would come for advice or to see how compatible they were, I would answer honestly, but it was almost never taken seriously. Their hearts already made their decision."
Cadance turn her gaze back to you.
"Until, one day when Shining and I had one of our own fights... I can't remember why... It was probably something silly, but I remember being so... mad. Twilight was going to introduce me to you that day, since you were new in Equestria and... I couldn't help myself."
She looks away from you.
"I looked at how compatible we were." You stare at her. Curiosity eats at your insides, but you know you shouldn't press too hard.
"I've... never felt a compatibility that high before."
Silence fills the room as Cadance sighs.
"I suppose, that's when everything fell apart. We began to fight more. He wasn't home as often... and you began to invade my thoughts... and dreams."
She slightly chuckles.
"Even though I only met you once, I already knew so much about who you were as a person from one little look. My heart was trying to find ways to love you, or the idea of you."
Cadance looks back to you.
"That's when it became clear to me why the spell isn't supposed to be used for yourself. I found myself wanting to ask Twilight to bring you along when she visits. I was trying to find an excuse to invite you to the Crystal Empire. I let my marriage fall apart off of some crush." You look into her eyes.
"It wasn't fair to anypony. When I found out about... about...."
Gently, you place a good hand on her side, a quiet look of understanding.
"I didn't know who else to ask for help. I didn't know what to do. So I let my heart decide," she whispers. "None of this is fair to you either though... and I'm sure all of that sounds absolutely terrible and I wouldn't blame you if you call me a terrible pony for it."
You shift in your bed, trying to comprehend the words you just heard.
"Well, I can't say that I would have done the same thing... but I will say that I don't think I blame you."
Cadance looks at you in disbelief.
"Really?" she asks.
"Well. Yeah. You were angry and made a mistake. It wasn't really cheating, but you opened your eyes and looked around if grass was greener on the other side. I suppose in your case, it was."
She looks into your eyes as you tell her your honest opinion.
"Under the circumstances... I don't think anypony could really blame you," you say.
Her eyes begin to water and she tries to wrap her hooves around you. The searing pain returns, causing you to gasp for breath.
"Sorry! Sorry. Sorry..."
"It's fine... just, gentle."
Cadance pushes her body closer to yours and lays a hoof over your stomach. Cradling her head into your good shoulder, she closes her eyes.
"I love you, Anon."
A new form of tightness forms in your chest. You've only really talked to this mare for over several hours. But, I suppose being the Princess of Love has it's own set of rules.
"I know you aren't sure... and it's okay. Just... do you think you could give me a chance?"
You look down at the alicorn's silky smooth hair and waft in her scent. The smell of fresh lavender fills your senses and a strange new feeling that you haven't felt since you came to Equestria. If you tried to describe it, you could only describe what it reminds you of.
Home.
Your mind trails back to the words of the guard. Don't do something you'd regret Anon. This won't be an easy road. You have to commit yourself to her. Shining could reappear at any moment and do this to you again. Or worse.
She looks up at you with hope filled watery eyes. You bite your lip.
"I'm sorry... That wasn't fair of-"
"Yeah." She looks into your eyes. "I want to give this a chance."
Cadance moves her body up closer to you. She cranes her neck over you, bringing her face closer to yours, and plants a delicate kiss directly on your lips. Warmth spreads throughout your body and your chest begins to flutter. That's when you knew. You knew that for the rest of your life, you would never regret this decision. Cadance snuggles back into your side and closes her eyes.
You know what? A nap sounds awesome right about now. Wrapping you arm under her head, you close your eyes and let sleep take you and Cadance far away from the Crystal Empire.