The Empress represents mothers, prosperity, creativity,, abundance, fertility and comfort, often in maintaining peace like an ideal mother would. - Persona Wiki (paraphrased)
Cadence observed Twilight Sparkle, wondering how to get through to her.
“So, what do you like to do for fun, Twilight?” Cadence lowered her front half to the ground as though she was going to pounce on Twilight, her tail waggling with excitement. “Maybe you want a piggy-back ride?”
Twilight made no motion to show she heard Cadence.
“Oh, or maybe there's some toys we could play with?” Cadence looked around the room for said toys. “Maybe we can sneak into Shining Armor's room and read his diary? Or perhaps we could go and bake fresh cookies?”
Twilight continued reading her book and ignoring Cadence. It was almost as if Cadence didn't even exist to her.
“Come on, Twilight!” Cadence begged. “Give me some kind of response! At least let me know you can hear me!”
Twilight's eyes flicked from one passage of the book to another.
"Hmm.” Cadence began pacing around the room. She walked towards the kitchen door.
Cadence had never had a foal ignore her so ... skillfully. Most of them would be loud, or rude, banging toys together or sticking their hooves into their ears, but Twilight just sat down and read her book. Filtering Cadence out seemed almost as second-nature as breathing to her.
Twilight's ears didn't even twitch at the sound of Cadence's hooves clomping as she paced. If there was such a thing as PhD in 'Ignoring Ponies and Acting Like They Don't Exist,' Cadence was sure Twilight could earn it with ease.
“Okay, okay, Cadence … think.” Cadence tapped her hoof against her head, comfortably speaking aloud because she knew Twilight wouldn't hear her. “I have to enter her world, not bring her into mine.” Cadence put her hoof on her chin. “Now what do I like to do when I read my books? Ah-ha!” Cadence put her hoof into the air. “I've got it!”
Cadence walked back up to Twilight. Cadence sat down on the floor next to her.
“Twilight, at least tell me this. Have you ever turned the crisp page of a book under a warm sun on a fine, spring day?”
This, at long last, generated a response from Twilight. Twilight took her eyes away from the book, lifting her head up before turning to Cadence. “Um … no. No, I don't think so.”
Cadence flashed a mischievous, almost predatory smile. Cadence knew she had Twilight right where she wanted her.
“Would you like to?”
Thus, Cadence took Twilight to a local park, where there were a bunch of foals and fillies playing and benches for weary ponies to rest on, parents to supervise their children, or, as in Twilight's case, sit down and cuddle up with a good book. Cadence and Twilight made themselves comfortable on one such bench.
“So,” Cadence craned her neck over Twilight's shoulders, “what book are you reading?”
“Daring Do and the Quest for the Stone of the Elements.” Twilight answered.
“Daring Do, huh?” Cadence smiled and rested her neck on the bench. “Yeah, I love that series, too. I can't believe Daring got married to that Saddle Arabian prince! It was a great ending to the series! What did you think about it?”
Twilight looked up at Cadence with an air of haughtiness. “Obviously, you're referencing the events of Daring Do and the Secret Clan of Yeti, which, if you'd been keeping up, per the interview printed in issue thirty-seven of Pony's Digest, you would know A.K Yearling stated was not necessarily canon.”
Cadence took on a shocked expression. “Um, all right. But what about Ahuiztol? Why wasn't he in the Secret Clan of Yeti?”
“If you'd pay attention and examine the hints, you would know the Secret Clan of Yeti took place later in Daring Do's life, and it's implied in this alternate timeline, she's defeated Ahuitztol for good.” Expecting no further distractions, Twilight returned to her book.
Cadence sat there, slack-jawed. I don't believe it. Does this filly really know more about literature than I do? Was I just outdone in my understanding of a book series' chronology by a filly?
Cadence was snapped out of her realization by the sounds of yelling foals.
“Give it back!” One custard cream-colored unicorn filly said.
“No!” was the reply, followed by a raspberry.
Cadence lifted her head up. She became displeased when she saw the foals involved. Jet Set was holding a ball, likely keeping it from the filly and her friends, all of whom were saddened by Jet Set holding onto their ball for himself.
“Twilight, stay here.” Cadence said. “I have to go deal with something.” Her eyebrows furrowed, Cadence marched towards Jet Set and the other foals. Jet Set was enjoying himself, tongue outstretched as he bounced the ball up and down.
“Jet Set?” Cadence asked, successful in gaining Jet Set's attention.
“Yeah?” Jet Set asked. “What do you want?”
“I was wondering what's going on here.”
“He took my ball!” The filly said, pointing at a hoof at Jet Set.
“Jet Set? Is this true?”
“Yeah. What of it?” Jet Set made the ball bounce with his hoof. “My parents always say, “you have to take what you want!” I wanted it, so I took it.”
“That's not very nice.” Cadence said. “And I'm pretty sure your parents meant something else. Would you please give her the ball back?”
“Hmm … nah.” Jet Set took the ball away.
“Jet Set!” Cadence snapped, doing her best to emulate the authoritative voice of most parents.
“I don't have to listen to you!” Jet Set said. “You're not my foalsitter right now!”
Cadence, despite her best efforts not to and to refrain from yelling, lost her temper. “Now you listen here, you ungrateful, unappreciative, spoiled brat … I may not be your foalsitter, but I am older than you AND I'm still a Princess. Do you see the crown? Do ... you ... see the crown?” Cadence gestured to the crown on her head.
Jet Set blew his tongue out at her.
Cadence growled. She was about to do – she didn't know, something, something physical to him. Something she knew she would regret. But she heard the other children talking, and it was enough of a distraction she could got a hold of herself and not go through with it.
“Hey, is that Twilight Sparkle?” One foal said, pointing at Twilight on the bench.
“Yeah, I think it is!”
“I heard she's scared off twelve foalsitters. Twelve! I can't even scare off one.”
“When I heard the story, it was twenty-four foalsitters!”
“I heard she frighted off a criminal from out of her house.”
“And you know what I heard? I heard she controlled a ghost to do it! A ghost!”
“Don't be ridiculous. There's so such thing as ghosts.”
Cadence wrapped her wing around herself, putting a feather to chin. Hearing all those foals talk and exchange rumors gave her an idea.
Cadence returned to the bench. “Twilight?”
Twilight looked up from her book, regarding Cadence once again with those curious yet at the same time detached eyes.
“I was wondering if maybe you would be willing to come help me?” Cadence gestured at Jet Set. “You see, that little colt has a ball that doesn't belong to him. If you would come over and help me in asking for it back, I think we have good chance of actually getting it.”
Twilight shifted uncomfortably. She turned her head away.
Cadence put a hoof on Twilight's neck. “What's wrong?”
“I … I don't like playing with other foals.” Twilight admitted. “There's just something about them that makes me uncomfortable ...”
She's shy. Cadence thought. “Okay.” Cadence put a hoof on Twilight's neck. “If being around those foals will make you uncomfortable, I won't make you.”
Twilight gave Cadence a soft, appreciative, tiny smile. Given Twilight's previous disinterest in her, Cadence wondered if she was maybe hallucinating.
“Thank you ...” Twilight's voice was little above a whisper. She raised the book up to cover her face.
A smile AND a thank you? Cadence thought as she turned away from Twilight. Yup. Definitely hallucinating.
“Well ...” Cadence turned her attention back to the foals. She gulped nervously. “I guess I'll just have to go back to trying to deal with Jet Set by myself ...” Cadence was not looking forward to it, even though she forced herself forward back into the playground.
Cadence didn't meant to guilt-trip Twilight in any way. She was just lamenting the unenviable task ahead of her. But it was enough to make Twilight peek her head up over the book anyways, watching as Cadence tried to reason with Jet Set.
Twilight attempted to return to her book. But as easy it was for her to ignore Cadence when they were in the safe, and more importantly, quiet confines of Twilight's own home, the cries, wails and protests of children as Cadence talked to Jet Set proved harder to ignore.
“Ugh.” Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, unable to focus on her book and read in peace with all of this commotion. Making a mental note of the page she was on, Twilight closed the book and tossed onto the bench before hoping down and walking towards the gathered foals.
The foals (and Cadence) all stopped and stared in surprise as Twilight approached them. She walked up to Jet Set with the most disinterested expression Cadence had ever seen on a filly; if one were to put the stoic, neutral, faceless moon and Twilight's face side-by-side, Cadence would have to say the moon would look passionate by comparison.
Jet Set had heard the rumors about Twilight Sparkle and he trembled with fear.
“Jet Set, would you please give the ball back to this filly?” Twilight pointed to a brown pegasus filly in the crowd.
“Um … that's her ball.” The filly said, pointing to the proper owner of the ball.
“Whatever.”
"Okay! Yes! Sure!" Jet Set crawled on his knees, nudging the ball with his nose towards Twilight as though she was some sort of goddess. "Here! Just don't turn me into a sheep or - or whatever it is you do!"
Twilight utilized her favorite method of communication and raised her eyebrow at him, With all the boiling fury of a broken coffee maker sputtering out a thin stream of vaguely-coffee flavored water, she kicked the ball towards the filly and began walking back towards the bench where she left her book.
“Twilight Sparkle … got my ball back.” The filly said, looking at her ball in utter disbelief. “Twilight Sparkle got my ball back!”
“Yay!” The other foals pounded their hooves and cheered in excitement. They followed Twilight Sparkle and spread out around her, expressing their admiration for their new hero. Twilight was confused when she found herself being crowded by foals on both sides. Cadence giggled at the foals' antics, not realizing the effect they were having on Twilight.
“Good work, Twilight.” Cadence said. “Good work.”
“Twilight! Twilight!” The cream-colored filly exclaimed. “Do- do you want to play with my ball, maybe?”
“Twilight, did you see how Jet Set was afraid of you? You gotta teach me how to do that!”
“Did you really scare a criminal out of your house? By yourself?”
“Eh ...” Twilight winced and froze in place. She wrapped her tail around her flank to comfort herself. All these ponies … surrounding her, calling her name, asking her so many questions …
“Twilight! You should totally come over to my house sometime. We can hang out!”
“No way! She should come over to my house first. My mom's a baker. She can make us these totally rad cookies!”
“Eh ...” Twilight began to hyperventilate. Twilight didn't think she had claustrophobia, but with all these ponies around her, it sure felt like she did. “Eh … eh … AAAAAAH!” Twilight screamed and galloped as fast she could away from the crowd. She ran and turned in the direction of her house, almost bumping into a confused passer-by, who was kind enough to move out of her way.
The foals fell into stunned silence.
“Did we … did we do something wrong?” One of them asked.
“Oh!” Cadence groaned, slapping her hoof against forehead. “I should have seen this coming! No, kids, you didn't do anything wrong. Just … maybe the next time you see her, give her a little room to breathe, okay?” Cadence took off in pursuit of Twilight. “Twilight! Twilight, come back!”
Cadence ran all the way back into the city proper, where she was surrounded by buildings and sidewalks from every direction. Twilight could have gone anywhere.
“Twilight?” Cadence asked, her voice pitiful and full of despair. Cadence had seen Twilight run towards the direction of her house, which was something, at least. Cadence hoped the little filly knew her way home.
“Twilight?” Cadence called out, opening the door to the Sparkle family's home. “Twilight Sparkle?” The door creaked, as if giving Cadence an ominous warning.
“Please be here, please be here …” Cadence begged under her breath, hoping Twilight Sparkle was here and Cadence hadn't wasted her time going to the house – time which she could have spent searching the streets.
“Twilight!” Cadence called again, looking around the foyer for signs of disturbance. She had yet to have the chance to become familiar with the building.
Neither the living room or the kitchen proving helpful to her quest, Cadence went up the stairs to the second floor. She found a hallway with two doors – one on the right, one on the left. If Cadence had to guess, she would say these were Shining Armor's and Twilight Sparkle's rooms.
The door on the left was ajar.
Cadence put a hoof to it. Closing her eyes and preparing herself for the worst, Cadence pushed the door open.
The first thing she noticed – aside from the blazing pink color – was the bed's sheets were askew.
Cadence walked into the room, frowning. If Twilight wasn't here, where was she?
Stepping into the room, she heard something. Taking a moment to calm herself, Cadence perked her ear and listened. It sounded like … breathing. Heavy breathing and teeth chattering. Now, what could be the cause of such noises?
Getting an idea, Cadence dropped to the floor and peered under Twilight's bed.
Twilight Sparkle was there, shivering and hiding in the darkness from under her bed. Twilight shivered and grimaced at the sight of Cadence.
“It's just me, Twilight. No pony else.” Cadence put on her best comforting smile, her eyes half-lidded with confidence. “Are you okay?”
“I … think so.” Twilight squeaked out.
“Want to tell me what happened?” Cadence asked. She knew what happened, but she found foals were more comfortable around her if she let them tell their version of the story.
“All those ponies ...” Twilight said. “I just – I wasn't comfortable with all of them … LOOKING at me and – and crowding me.”
“I know.” Cadence nodded. “I understand.”
“You do?” Twilight raised her little filly head up, bumping against the rafters of her bed. “Ow.”
“Uh-huh. I remember what you said about other foals making you uncomfortable. If I'd been thinking, I wouldn't have let them get so close to you and crowd you like that.”
“You … wouldn't?” Twilight asked.
“I wouldn't.” Cadence assured her. I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle. I should have been there for you, like a good foalsitter. A good foalsitter would have kept in mind the special and unique treatment every little pony needs. But I promise you, I won't put you in the spotlight like that again, and I'll make sure none of those other foals do, either.”
Twilight looked at her with hopeful eyes. “Do – do you mean it? Do you promise?”
Cadence put her hoof across her chest. “I promise.”
Twilight smiled, however soft and slight a smile it may have been.
“I think you may have left something at the park when you ran off.” Cadence reached behind her and pulled out Twilight's copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Stone of Elements. Twilight was overjoyed to see it.
“After you ran off, I went back and made sure to pick it up.” Cadence said. “Now, why don't you come out from there and we can sit on the bed and read this book together?” Twilight gasped at the idea, getting stars in her eyes. The expression on her face was all the permission Cadence needed to reach under the bed and pull Twilight out, lifting her up like a big teddy bear.
Cadence set Twilight down on the bed. She placed the book in front of Twilight before going around and climbing up the bed on the other side so she would be behind Twilight. Cadence draped a wing around her. “Would like you do the honors?”
“Mm-hmm.” Twilight nodded with a smile. She opened the book back to the page number she had memorized and began reading it out loud. “Daring Do had just escaped from the trap of the village ponies, led astray by Doctor Cabelleron. She knew it wouldn't be easy, but she had to get the village ponies on her side if she wanted to reach the temple in time ...”
“Twiley!” Shining Armor was the first to enter the house, soon followed by both Twilight Velvet and Night Light. “Twiley, are you here? Did you scare Cadence off already?”
There was a giggle coming from upstairs. Cadence waved goodbye to Twilight, leaving her to finish the rest of the book on her own, before going downstairs.
“Nope!” Cadence announced to them. She had to admit, she felt a bit of pride. “I'm still here.”
“Still here, and you look … okay.” Night Light said.
“So, how did it go?” Twilight Velvet asked, her nervousness showing as she tapped her hooves together.
“It went well, all things considered.” Cadence said.
“R-really?” Night Light asked. “She didn't use any tricks or any magic or anything?”
“Nope. No tricks. No magic. Okay, well, she did give me a tiny bit of a cold reception at first, but I think she's warming up to me.” Cadence said. “Oh. I should probably mention I took her to the park to read a book under the sun, and then she ran away from me, but she found her way home and she's okay.”
“You managed to get her out to the park?” Twilight Velvet yelped, her surprise overwhelming any concern she might have had about Cadence letting Twilight run away from her.
“No way!” Shining Armor said. “Twiley hates leaving the house.”
“I convinced her.” Cadence said, brushing a hoof against her chest proudly. “The trick is to play by her rules, not make her play by yours.”
“Well, I can't say I'm not impressed she hasn't broken you yet.” Night Light wore a brief smile before it faded under an expression of worry. “But still, I know Twilight Sparkle. I know my daughter. She's smart. Just because she didn't fire her opening salvo on day one doesn't mean she's not still planning to fire it. Why don't we find some excuse to get Shining Armor out of the house so we can know this wasn't just a fluke?”
Cadence looked up at the stairs. As crazy as it sounded, considering what Cadence heard about her, she was actually looking forward to sitting for Twilight again.
“I would love to sit for your daughter again, Mister Night Light.”
“Great.” Night Light shook Cadence's hoof. “I'll get in touch with you as soon we have an opening.”
Cadence and the family said their goodbyes and Cadence left the household, waving as she went through the door. She went on her way to the castle. Her excitement had her bouncing up and down the entire way to the castle.
She couldn't wait to sit for little Twilight again.