by Knight of Lycaeus
~~~
Days after the incident in Shining's office the four had agreed to meet, this time at a secluded part of the Royal Gardens. Not the most private place but more isolated and less likely to be disturbed or heard by others. By unspoken consent the three ponies took a seat on the grass while the lone dragon took a seat on one of the scattered chairs in the garden, this arrangement gave him a degree of height and a more central location between the three ponies. The gathered group sat in an uneasy silence, a sense of quiet tension filled the void.
"Okay, a few days have passed. Let's talk then. Shining, direct this time." Spike said clearly breaking the awkward silence.
Shining sighed and looked at the pink alicorn, "Cadan-"
"Cadenza" came the monotone rebuke, the alicorn stared at him, her eyes like ice.
Shining was stunned and quickly averted his eyes before he continued, "Cadenza, I'm sorry. I should have never done it, I know words aren't enough but I'll say it. We became friends, young and even though we should be equals, I've felt uncertain about me and you. You're royalty and I'm from a noble's family, that should've been enough but I felt.... short compared to you. I didn't think we had a chance but it was a great dream. But you saying yes.... was one of the happiest moments for me. I thought we had a chance but I knew soon we didn’t, your mind was elsewhere and I was scared to talk, I’m both uncomfortable and bad with it. Even so I'm sorry, if I did talk to you this could have ended better." He raised his head and looked directly at her, "I do think you and Twilight have a better chance together than we did." falling back down as he finished.
Spike nodded, "Cadan-"
"Cadenza" came the rebuke again, "Only Twilight may refer to me as Cadance."
Spike gulped, "Cadenza then."
Cadance lifted her head glaring at both the drake and the stallion, her voice frosty, "What you both did was wrong, I'm not sure I'm ready to forgive yet. Shining Armour, you are an idiot, a thickheaded idiot, we're supposed to be friends and you go behind my back to do this?" She paused, "Yes, we should have talked and in a way I'm sorry for not noticing something was wrong.You're not inadequate, I don't know why you feel that way. I just wanted us to talk." Cadance collapsed; clearly still feeling the stress of the last few days.
"Twilight?"
"Spike this was still irresponsible", scolding him, "I know you wanted to help but it shouldn't have been like this. I'm still not sure how I feel about this besides being torn” Twilight sighed, “I’m here in the middle between two who I care about and I can’t decide what I’m supposed to feel about it. But I'm also unsure about where Cadance and I stand."
"You care for her deeply, maybe love." Spike interjected, "I can read you easy, your journals helped for proof."
Twilight jerked her head to stare at the drake, "My journals Spike? What abo-"
"Scientific journals" he quickly threw in, "even though I know where all your journals are I’ve only read all your experiment notes which you let me, they have bits were you aimlessly talk about Cadance. You've been too distracted to notice."
"Okay fine, I need to hide my personal things better and you didn't invade my privacy but I'm still unsure about Cadance and I. But I don't want this to just end, we're all close and this is important for us, I want-" a deep breath, "No we should fix things between us."
Silence fell over the group; all three ponies looked dejected and hesitant, none were sure of what to say.
After a while Cadance pulled herself up, her voice now more defeated than cold, "In truth I'm still hurt by this.", she turned to face Shining, "I know you meant well but it will take time before I can forgive you. Maybe then we could address this inadequacy you feel but you're still my friend. Running away will do nothing, I need time but I do want to fix this especially since Twilight wants that too." she turned to Spike, "You're a part of this, maybe less but Twilight's right, we've been close for a long time and it shouldn't just end."
At this Shining sat up as well, "Twily's right, I should have thought about it would affect her too but I was too wrapped in these plans that I forgot. I'm sorry Twily. We do need time to fix this, thankfully we have a few months off so maybe we could fix this."
"Good, probably the best outcome we could have right now." said Spike.
"Before anything" Shining added as he took a deep breath and braced himself, "I have to start fresh, so Cadance I'm sorry but I'm ending this, properly this time. I want us to remain just as friends. Can we do that, I want to move forward."
Cadance sighed, "Fine, I accept. We all need to move forward and keeping this going wouldn't have helped."
"Perhaps a few weeks apart could help?" suggested Spike.
"I think we should" said Twilight, "It would allow things to cool down some more, maybe recover a little." she sighed, "But I'm hoping things will work out."
Spike stood up, "You and Cadance should spend time together" he held up a hand when he saw Twilight open her mouth, Yes, you two together may have a shot, I do wish for that but I meant reconnect. You haven't just talked or spent much time together in years"
Twilight nodded and stood, "Cadance?"
Cadance also stood, "Reconnecting would be nice."
"I'd say a month or two" suggested Shining, "for some time apart. After maybe we could talk again."