//------------------------------// // Fight // Story: Winter Storm // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// Cadence Our little forest light show lasts for hours. How long precisely eludes me, but it doesn’t matter. I can tell that Shining Armor is enjoying simply being out here in these peaceful woods to relax with me, and I with him. Not much is said between us, but then not much needs to be. Why spoil the moment with words? But like with most good things, all too soon the aurora fades from the sky and Shiny and I are left sitting alone in a dark forest. It’s not a problem for either of us, but without the natural spectacular above to distract us, the normal sounds of a woodland at night reassert themselves, and the magic is lost. It’s time to go home, but I don’t want to leave. I’m content right where I am: far away from all finery and politicking and responsibility, alone with somepony who loves me. So I just cuddle up, rest my head on his neck, and close my eyes. Time passes, but I don’t know how long. Shining – ever the dutiful stallion – is the one who gets up first, nudging me gently with his muzzle to prod me into action. Reluctantly, I remove myself from him before regaining my hooves. I remember where I asked our drivers to wait for us, so I take the lead again as we trudge back through the nighttime forest. I’ve enjoyed this little outing immensely, and I feel a bit melancholy to be heading home in what feels a blink of an eye. Something of this must be showing on my face, because Shining gets a concerned look on his. He walks beside me and gently nuzzles the side of my neck and lower face, reaching as high as his own height will allow. I smile and wrap a wing around him to pull him close just as the trees part to expose the clearing we landed in and our waiting chariot. By the time we hop back off of the royal chariot onto our balcony, I’m getting worried again. Even when we were trying to cuddle in the air, Shiny seemed somewhat distracted. He was continuously making small gestures on the ride back: running a hoof over the chariot’s base, flicking his ears, even licking his gleaming crystal lips. I’ve known him long enough to recognize the signs of impatience in my husband. If he’s like this even during a date with me, whatever the issue is must be important. As soon as we’ve shut the balcony doors behind us, Shining gives me a kiss, his lips cold and hard against my pink coat. “Cady?” he whispers gently. “Yes?” He sounds a little nervous, tugging at his collar gently. “I… have a little work I need to catch up on, and I was thinking I could get some of it done before hitting the hay.” “Must you?” I ask, throwing in a small yawn for effect. “It’s getting late, and you need your rest as much as I do.” He nods slowly. “I think so, yeah. And don’t worry, I’ll be back pretty quickly. Just need a bit of time to finish.” “I’ll miss having your hooves around me when I go to bed tonight,” I respond, running a hoof up and down his foreleg. In truth, I’m not actually planning to sleep tonight, but he doesn’t need to know that. “I’ve… got to finish it tonight. Timetables and all. You understand, right?” “What is this thing you’ve got to do anyway?” I prod. “… Paperwork. For the guard. Approving expense reports, assigning new personnel, things like that.” Damn, Shining, you are an awful liar. I can sense he’s feeling guilty as he continues. “You don’t mind, do you?” I hesitate for barely half a second before responding. “No. Go and do what you’ve got to do.” He grins. “I’ll be back soon,” he says, trotting towards the exit of our chambers. “Oh,” he turns and winks. “And be sure to keep the bed warm for me.” I snicker slightly. “Of course.” His face suddenly becomes that of a drill sergeant. “Is that any way to answer a superior officer, private?” I giggle and salute. “Sir, no sir!” “Good!” he snaps. “You’re learning, maggot! We’ll make a soldier out of you yet!” “Sir, yes sir!” I try my best at a stereotypical grunt’s voice, but the effect is ruined by my soft giggling. “Now, your assignment for tonight is to lie down on that piece of furniture and get a good, restful sleep.” He points a hoof at our bed. “Is that clear, private?” “Sir, yes sir!” “Good! Dismissed!” he says with a salute of his own, before sauntering out the door and shutting it behind him. My smile drops as he leaves, replaced by a worried frown. What’s going on? Shining never likes to go behind my back, and he likes lying to me even less. What could be so important that he thinks he can’t tell me about it, but that keeps him occupied even during a date? I don’t like my husband wandering off where I don’t know where he is. I’m aware that this is hypocrisy, and that it might sound paranoid, or even possessive, but the last time this sort of thing happened he was brainwashed and seconds from killing himself. My emotions go to war with each other. On one side, there’s my respect for my husband as a grown (and very old) stallion, my desire not to violate his privacy, and the part of me that thinks that I’m just being a paranoid fool. I mean, Celestia wouldn’t just up and… Nopony else would… I swallow. On the other hoof, it’s my duty as a loyal spouse to protect my beloved, even from himself if necessary. Is it spying? It’s my castle every bit as much as his. And so what if it is spying? I do plenty of that already. I pay a ring of ponies to bring me information on their masters without even feeling bad about it anymore. But what if it makes me seem like a stalker? Shiny needn’t know, does he? Just a quick peek to be sure that all is well, and then back to bed to wait for him. Is it right to keep secrets from him? I do that already, don’t I? And he’s trying to do it to me, albeit ineptly. Would this be an abuse of power and trust? … No. It’s for his own good. My mind made up, I cloak myself in a spell of concealment and follow him. Shining Armor As soon as I’m out of earshot of our rooms, I up my speed from a light trot to just barely below a full-on gallop. My conscience is burning me, and badly. I’m taking advantage of my wife’s trust in me. She’s doing everything she can to try and make my life more bearable out of the goodness of her heart, and here I am going behind her back in the dead of night like some filthy… adulterer. I’m actually glad right now that I don’t have a stomach, or I would be sick to it. Still… all this is for her. I may be breaking my promise and sneaking around to do wicked things with a stolen body, but it’s all for Cadence. No matter what, I can’t leave her to suffer when I could be doing something about it. If it means some stains on my conscience and honor for her sake, then those will be my burdens to bear. I hurry down flights of stairs, ignore the salutes and inquiries of surprised staff, race through crystalline corridors, and don’t slow down until the room where my LSBFF works is in sight. I want this over and done with asap, so I pray to all the gods I can think of that we can work quickly, get a clue that I can use, and return this body to its resting place. I open the door to find Twily standing over a skeleton laid flat over a table, eyes closed and horn aglow with a purple aura, which pulses through the room in waves. Her magic illuminates the otherwise pitch-black storage room, giving it a rather creepy purple-black color scheme. Shutting the door carefully behind me, I whisper softly. “Twily?” No response from my alicorn sister. Unsurprising – she’s always been one for intense focus. I raise my voice a bit. “Twilight?” Still no answer. I walk to her side, put a hoof on her shoulder, and shake her a little. “GAAAAAHHH!” she screams at the top of her lungs, flailing her forelegs wildly and jerking her head around in a panic. When she lays eyes on me, Twily manages to stop, staring at me and breathing heavily. “Oh, Shiny,” she says between gulps of air, with a faint and rising blush on her cheeks. “You startled me there.” “Studious as ever, I see.” I give her a slightly teasing smirk. She scratches the back of her head with a sheepish grin on her face. “Yeah, I guess so. Heh heh heh.” “How’s it coming, sis? You find anything?” Twilight frowns. “I think so, but it’s not proving very cooperative.” “What do you mean?” She looks a little unsure. “I’m… not entirely certain. The spell is woven deep into the earth pony magic of the body, and seems to be almost… actively resisting my attempts to pull it out to where I can properly get a look.” I know a bit about investigations of this sort myself, but to get addition confirmation I ask the question anyway. “Is that unusual?” I’m pretty sure I already know. She nods. “Definitely so. Even in a spell freshly cast, most don’t have the capacity to resist being dug out. One that’s been attached to a rotting corpse for two decades? That’s very impressive. Most ponies would have neither the knowledge nor power to cast such a thing.” “And that tells us something in and of itself,” I immediately deduce. Twilight nods again. “Right, it tells us that somepony with a lot of power and skill didn’t want anypony else getting a good look at this magic. You were definitely right; Lady Rose Quartz had to have had-” My sister is interrupted by a shout from near the door. “WHAT?!” Cadence Half of my mind is screaming at me the whole way down as I follow in my frantic husband’s trail. I’m a snoop, an untrusting paranoiac, a stalker, an… an abuser! Am I an abuser? I don’t know. I don’t want to be, but what else is trying to observe and maybe control your spouse’s private movements but the act of some manipulative, possessive, emotionally abusive control freak? I don’t want to be an abuser. I want our relationship to be healthy. But even more, I want Shiny to be safe and healthy. So I shut down the part of me that’s overflowing with regret and self-loathing, and continue to walk quietly, invisibly, after Shining Armor. At last, my husband comes to a door that should lead to… I think it was some closet or something. I’m not completely sure – it’s not like the princess gets much time to explore the more mundane spaces of her castle, and we’ve remodeled more than once. He opens it, and I catch a glimpse of purple light spilling out. My heart almost stops. Somepony’s casting a spell in there. And Shining is going in. My thoughts immediately jump to that night in the garden twenty years ago, and the weeks leading up to our wedding before that. Is somepony casting a spell on my Shiny? Is that what’s going on? My mind dredges up memories of seeing my poor husband standing beside Queen Chrysalis, being brainwashed into believing her to be me. Yes, my rational mind reminds me that Chrysalis is confirmed dead, perished from the immense fall (I don’t regret that any more than I do killing Sombra), and the changelings are supposed to be extinct, but… I can’t help it. I have to know that my Shining is safe. With a silent spell, I vanish from the spot and reappear on the other side of the doorway, now shut again. I release a breath I didn’t realize that I was holding when I see the room’s other occupant. Twilight. Twilight Sparkle is here. Why didn’t anypony tell me? I would have loved to see her again, and we could have done all sorts of fun things together and- My eyes wander to the table in front of my sister-in-law. My heart skips a beat. There’s a skeleton laid out on a fine oak table, illuminated an eerie purple by Twilight’s magic. Whose is it? Oh gods… please don’t tell me that is what I think it is. I watch my husband rouse his sister from her concentration, resisting the urge to giggle at her jumpiness. I listen carefully as they talk about what’s going on, and more and more my guess seems to be getting confirmed. Gods, please… don’t be who I think this is… Shiny… please… please… tell me you’ve left well enough alone… please… In spite of everything, I’m still shocked when I hear my sister-in-law name the remains on the table. “WHAT?!” I scream at the top of my lungs. Immediately, the siblings Sparkle turn their heads to stare at where I stand with shocked expressions on their faces. I don’t even bother trying to hide anymore, releasing my cloaking spell as raw panic consumes me. Twilight’s eyes could be mistaken for dinner plates, while Shining’s jaw hangs limp. “…Cady?” he eventually manages, expressions of fear and guilt warring for control of that handsome face of his. I’m not listening. My mind is going through a meltdown from the sheer terror I’m feeling right at this very moment. Oh gods… if Shining and Twilight continue this… and they find out what happened… and who was responsible… It would be even worse than I feared. I’ll lose the two ponies that matter more to me than anything else in the world. The sweet little filly I foalsat and watch grow into a wonderful and accomplished mare along with the stallion I love like no other. Celestia would kill them both, I know it. If she was willing to kill Shining to prevent a theoretical future danger… then why would she hold back against both of them if they presented a clear and present one? I don’t know what to do. My mind is drawing a complete blank. Then, without warning, an idea pops into my head, and I seize on it like a drowning pony clinging to driftwood. I don’t take time to evaluate, to consider. I just do what seems like the only way to protect these two stupid, stubborn ponies. My horn lights up, and before either of them can so much as make a move, blue magic bursts out and lances into the skeletal figure. In an instant, bones become so much dust and ash scattered about the room. The table beneath it explodes, showering the room with splinters that bounce off alicorn hide and rock-hard crystal. My two favorite siblings in the whole wide world stare at me in slack-jawed stupefaction, neither seemingly able to come up with anything at all to say. I breathe heavily while my initial panic resides, giving way to apocalyptic levels of anger. At Twilight Sparkle in part, but mostly at Shining Armor. How dare he endanger himself like this?! Doesn’t he know how much his life means to me?! How dare he violate his promise to me?! How could he rope his own little sister into helping him betray me? Why is my stupid… pigheaded… stubborn... mule of a husband doing this to me?! My feathers start to ruffle in my wings, while my legs quiver and my tail twitches. “How long?” I demand, through gritted teeth, my breathing speeding up again. “Cadence?” Shining Armor looks confused and worried. Is he really that bucking dense?! “How long have you been doing this?” I snarl out, advancing a few steps towards my husband. “How long have you been violating your promise to me?” “I… I…” Shining Armor’s ears fold back, and he puts a single hoof backwards. “How long?” I repeat, not giving him a chance to come up with another lie. He hangs his head. “T-the whole… the w-whole time.” He’s been putting himself in danger… going behind my back… for twenty years?! I don’t think I’ve ever felt the temptation to hurt Shining before, but I suppose that there’s a first time for everything. I take a few more steps forward. I’m almost on top of my husband now. “You blind. Bloody. Fool!” I shriek at him. “Did you ever consider that there was a reason I asked you to stop?! Did you ever wonder if I knew what I was doing?! Did you ever wonder if I was trying to protect you?!” “Protect me?” he looks up, meeting my gaze but not wilting under it as most ponies would. He still looks guilty, but now puzzled as well. “Protect me from what?” “I…” I trail off, the memories of what became of Rose Quartz when she betrayed her vow flashing through my mind. A drooling, incoherent vegetable that knew little and didn’t even resist her own execution. My overstressed mind can’t come up with a plausible explanation, so I resort to the truth. “I can’t say.” He frowns. “Can’t, or won’t?” I hesitate, fearful of what could happen but unable to see an immediate way out. “… None of your business!” I finally manage. His frown deepens. “You’re my wife! Of course it’s my business!” His expression softens, and he walks directly up to me to lay a gentle hoof on my shoulder. “Cadence, you know what’s going on, don’t you?” I don’t say anything. “Tell me, please,” he continues. “I want to help. I want to make you feel better. Just tell me what’s going on, and we’ll face it together.” I just melt under those honest, caring eyes of his. Even in crystal instead of flesh, they’ve lost none of that strangely innocent charm he had in life. At the moment, I want nothing more than to break down and confess everything to him. But I can’t do that. All I can do is cry a moment, while Shining hugs me tight. “I-I’m s-s-sorry,” I squeak when I find my voice again. “But n-no. I won’t d-do it.” “Why?” Shining asks. “Why won’t you trust me?” “I do t-trust you,” I reply. “More than a-anypony else.” “Which is why you followed me, right?” he says, his tone slightly hurt. That stings. Dear gods, that stings. My conscience was already killing me over that, but to hear it from his lips… “N-no,” I answer. “I followed you because I want to protect you, Shiny. The last time you wandered off… I came so close to losing you… I was so scared.” His expression softens, and he hugs me again. “Shining,” I manage, once we’ve released each other. “Please, please, please, drop this. I beg of you. If you love me, please don’t torture me by endangering yourself so.” “But what’s so dangerous?” he looks a little frustrated now. “Cadence, you’re hurting. I can’t just let you stay this way forever. Please, tell me what’s the matter, so I can protect you.” “I won’t do it,” I declare in a tone of finality. “I won’t permit you to risk yourself like this! Not for me!” “Permit me?” his eyes narrow. “Since when do I need others’ approval to do my job? Are you my wife or are you my mother?” Some part of me knows that I’ve hurt his pride now, and that that’s a very touchy subject for him. The rest of me is fed up with this bull-headed fool of a love-struck stallion. “I am your princess and supreme ruler of the Crystal Empire.” I draw myself up to my full height, towering above my husband. “And as such I order you to stop this foolishness at once!” “As your prince and your husband,” Shining also stands tall and proud, looking me directly in the eyes without flinching. “I refuse to carry out that order. I will not allow you to hurt when I can do something about it.” “Guys…” Twilight tries feebly to interject, only to be stared back into meek silence by both Shining and I. “You can’t!” I half-scream at him. “Don’t you get it, you thick-headed numbskull? You can’t help me here!” He grits his teeth. “I am Royal Guard, and I will protect my princess until the day I die.” I want to slap this idiot. “I don’t need protection, you twit! You are the one who needs to be protected!” “And why is that?” he demands, so utterly blind and oblivious. My temper breaks. “Because I am a goddess and you’re just a fragile little mortal!” I scream directly into his face. Shining’s angry face vanishes in an instant, replaced with naked shock. Then he… deflates would be the best world for it. His ears droop, his eyes halfway shut, and he hangs his head before me in a posture of meek submission. What I just said finally penetrates my thick skull, and I clamp both hooves over my mouth in horror. Oh gods… what have I done? “Shining,” I finally manage after a long silence, tears in my eyes. “I-I’m sorry… I’m s-so sorry… Please…” I reach with a hoof to put it on his shoulder. “I d-didn’t m-mean it… Please… I-” He bats the hoof off of himself with a gentle nudge of his own foreleg. “No,” he says, his voice low and soft. “You were right, Cadence. You two,” he gestures at his sister and I. “Are goddesses walking the earth. And I?” He hangs his head even lower. “I’m nothing. A failure. A disgrace. Only meaningful at all because Cadence chooses to make me.” I can only stare in naked horror at the damage I’ve done with just a few words. Twilight tries to wrap her brother in an embrace, but he shrugs it off. “Please,” he says. “Twily, Cady. Please… just leave me alone for a little while. I need some time… to myself. I promise I won’t… won’t…” he looks up, and I can tell there would be tears in his eyes, had he the ability to make them. “Won’t hurt myself… I’ll still be here, for both of you.” “Shiny…” Twilight is openly crying now, tears dripping down her lavender cheeks. “Please, your highness,” he repeats, looking meekly up at me. “May I be permitted some time alone?” I can’t find any words, so I just nod through blurry eyes and step out of his way. Shining Armor slowly exits the door and leaves the ruined storage room behind. A few seconds later, the room’s other alicorn makes her own way out, stopping just before the exit to look back at me with teary eyes for a few seconds, and then she too is gone. I’m alone. I can only stare dumbly after them. “RAAARGH!!!” I smash a table full of carefully-brewed potions to splinters and glass and spilled multicolored liquid with one blow of my hoof. I don’t care, picking up the debris with magic and throwing them into a nearby bookshelf. It topples, destroying dozens of valuable books and months of research notes. “Useless junk!” I scream as I rampage through my own laboratory. “All of it! Useless! Worthless! JUNK!” I lift a dozen different tables covered in everything from chemistry sets to cell samples to alchemy textbooks from the Lost Continent. At my unspoken command, they’re crushed to so much compressed rubble, as if by the claw of an invisible dragon. It’s still not enough. I toss the rubble indiscriminately, destroying tens of thousands of bits worth of equipment and books without giving the slightest of bucks. This equipment failed me. This equipment failed Shining. And now, coupled with my insensitive stupidity, it may well have broken the stallion beyond anypony’s power to repair. It deserves to be punished. I deserve to be punished. But there’s nopony to punish me, besides my own conscience. To the thing’s credit, it’s doing an awfully good job of that. I flop backwards onto the ruins of a bookshelf, my alicorn body easily ignoring the sharp splinters of wood that fruitlessly try to pierce my skin. I wish they would, though. I wish somepony would come down here and make me suffer for what I’ve done. But nopony does, and I’m left to cry my heart out on top of ruined furniture. Time passes. I’m not sure how much, and I don’t care. I’ve ruined everything, perhaps destroyed the pony who I want to be with eternally more than other. What do a few hours matter in comparison to that? I can’t see much through the tears that pour endlessly from my eyes. Not that there’s much to see – just a half-wrecked laboratory in an underground cave. And… I think I may see some grey smoke. Did I set something on fire in here? I don't remember doing that. Then, finally, sounds beyond those made by my sobs echo through the cavern. A voice. A familiar voice. “Hello again.”