//------------------------------// // 20. Cadance // Story: A Kingdom Divided // by Samey90 //------------------------------// When it comes to politics today, the devils' not in the details; the devil's in the big picture, more often than not just hiding in plain sight. Marianne Williamson “48 hours,” Cadance said with a sigh. “We need to tell Celestia…” “She’s heard that,” Twilight replied quickly. “I doubt there’s someone here who didn’t…” “Then why she didn’t answer?” Cadance began to pace nervously around the throne chamber. “I have to check on her.” “It’s not necessary.” Twilight’s voice was dull and mechanical. Cadance looked at her unsurely. “I’ve already talked with her. We’ll wait.” Cadance furrowed her eyebrows. She looked at Twilight more carefully, trying to guess her feelings. Twilight’s expression remained unchanged. She had bags under her eyes – Cadance didn’t remember when she’d last seen her sleeping – and her fur seemed darker that last time they’d met. Cadance closed her eyes, focusing her magic on Twilight. A picture started to slowly unveil under her eyelids… Cold floor. A sound of a drop of water falling from the ceiling. Three seconds and another drop fell, waking Cadance up. She tried to stretch her wings, only to find out that she was tightly bound. Her hooves were numb, blood flow cut off by the ropes. Her head was throbbing with pain; she didn’t remember exactly what had happened, but she remembered well the dozens of griffons trying to seize her. She remembered firing her horn and watching how her magic changed the stomach of one of them into a carmine cloud. She remembered her own scream when she saw that, as well as smirks of the other griffons who realised how unfamiliar with the killing she was. They’d even remembered about putting a ring on her horn. She only hoped that they didn’t know that she didn’t have to use it to influence the others. “Guard!” she called. “Anyone here?” “Shut up!” she heard a raspy voice behind the massive wooden door. “I want to talk to your leader,” she said, trying to sound as calm and noble as it was possible in her situation. “What if he doesn’t want to talk to you?” “He has to. It’s called ‘politics’,” Cadance explained. “You doesn’t simply invade a country just to lock its leader in some cell. You have to have some other aims…” “Well, I don’t know much about politics,” her guard replied. “I know only war. This one was short and unsatisfactory…” A brief pause. Two drops of water later, the griffon continued, “I wonder if the same would apply to the prize…” Cadance frowned. She heard the clicking of the lock and screeching of the wickets. She rolled on her stomach and saw a limping griffon with a large scar on his face. Some of his feathers were missing; some of them were scorched. “Well, your army at least tried to fight…” the griffon said. “I wonder if the same applies to you…” “You can try…” Cadance replied, focusing her gaze on him and trying to tune her voice in a way best influencing his mind. “You’ve never had a princess, haven’t you?” The griffon smirked and approached her. “There always have to be the first time...” A minute later, Cadance was unchained. Two minutes later, the griffon was dead. “There always have to be the first time.” Cadance looked at the blood on her hooves. She didn’t suspect that her spell would tear such a large gash in his body. She shuddered and threw up into the puddle of the griffon’s blood. She barely remembered teleporting to the mountains surrounding the Crystal Empire. The first stretch of her wings. She was never a good flyer, but she had to get to Canterlot, even though she’d never taken such a long road. There always had to be the first time. Cadance shook her head, blinking. What was that? she thought. Seems that Twilight got better in hiding her thoughts than Luna, not to mention Celestia… “Are you okay, Cadance?” Twilight asked. “You don’t look well…” “I was just thinking…” Cadance said. “Maybe we should at least try to convince Celestia…” “I’ve tried,” Twilight replied. “She won’t change her mind. And now excuse me, I have to talk with the guards…” Cadance watched her teleporting away and sighed. She was about to leave the throne room, when she felt that somepony was watching her. She lowered her head and lit up her horn, looking for the nearest source of strong emotions. It was hard – Twilight and Pinkie Pie were quite emotional as of late, not to mention the constant droning buzz coming from the dungeon. Cadance, however, managed to localise the eavesdropper. She teleported, appearing right behind his back. “Spying on us, Blueblood?” Cadance asked the white unicorn hiding behind the door leading to the eastern tower of the castle. She tried to read his emotion – it was easy even without her magic. Prince Blueblood’s mane was disheveled; his eyes were bloodshot and he seemed to be lankier than Cadance remembered him. “Someone has to, your highness,” Blueblood muttered. “And before you say something about me plotting, I think you’d better look at your sister-in-law first...” “I’ve never said that you were plotting something,” said Cadance dryly. “Though standing here while we talk certainly doesn’t improve my opinion about you.” Prince Blueblood rolled his eyes. “Your opinion doesn’t matter, your highness,” he said. “What really matters is what the future generations will say about us. How do you think, who’ll be remembered better? Two princesses, who are only concerned with what will happen in the next 48 hours or a pony who already thinks about what’ll happen after that time?” “What do you mean?” Cadance asked, looking at him unsurely. “Have you wondered how Equestria will look like after this pathetic brawl?” Blueblood asked, leaning closer to her. “I dare to say that Celestia won’t matter anything anymore... If she’s still alive. Young Sparkle has been behaving weird recently...” “She lost almost all of her friends... And have you just suggested that she committed regicide?” Cadance asked, glaring at him angrily. “And what do you mean by saying that Princess Celestia won’t matter anymore?” Blueblood clicked his tongue. “You see, ponies definitely won’t forget who started all that. Even if Luna wins, her reign won’t be all sunshine and rainbows. I give our subjects a year before they start to fight again. And, as much as I hate to admit it, same applies to Celestia.” “Yeah, and I think I know who’ll be the leader of the rebellion...” Cadance muttered. Blueblood shook his head. “I’d rather avoid it. You may think differently, but I’m also deeply concerned with Equestria’s fate. Do you think griffons will waste such an occasion? Last thing we need is another rebellion. Also, I don’t need to rebel. I’m the heir to Equestria’s throne, but I’m aware of... an opinion I have among the simpleton.” “So, what do you propose?” Cadance asked. “Equestria needs a new princess,” Blueblood said. “Somepony who also lost their home during the war. Somepony who wasn’t involved in starting the war. Somepony strong, not like Sparkle, who, in my humble opinion, should be with Ms. Rarity in a hospital now. Somepony like you, Cadance.” “Do you want me to take over Equestria?” Cadance asked. “That’s... That’s ridiculous!” “It’s the only way,” Blueblood replied. “You know well, how quickly griffons attacked the Crystal Empire... And now, some of them are in Cloudsdale... Soon, it won’t be just a local conflict caused by a princess who wanted to help the poor... And then, we’ll be just another province of the Griffon Empire...” Cadance scratched her mane. “But what can I do?” she asked. “I can’t just overthrow Celestia...” “It’s simple...” Blueblood trotted closer to her. “Just let Sparkle play the princess. From what I’ve seen, she wants a confrontation...” “She doesn’t,” Cadance replied, backpedalling. “She said that we’d wait.” “Do you really think she’s telling the truth?” Blueblood shook his head. “You, the Princess of Love? You, who can read other ponies’ minds like open books? She’ll wait, of course. And then she’ll defeat Luna... or die trying.” “That’d be insane,” Cadance said. “Twilight isn’t like that.” “She wasn’t like that...” Blueblood sighed. “Ponies change, my dear Cadance. I lost my nephew and look at me. And Twilight? Three of her friends are dead, one is in the nuthouse and one in the hospital wing. This is a dirty, insane war... Ponies snap like twigs. Only few, like you and me, get stronger and it’s up to them to support the nation. A kingdom can’t be divided or it’ll fall. Remember that, Cadance.” He went past Cadance and walked away. Cadance walked back to the throne room. She sighed, looking at the empty throne in the middle of it. She tried to imagine herself sitting there, but she couldn’t. For her, it’d always belonged to Celestia. “It looks so empty, doesn’t it?” Cadance shivered, startled and turned around. Spike stood behind her, also looking at Celestia’s throne. “Pinkie Pie feels better,” he said. “Also, I’ve seen Blueblood on my way here. What did he want?” At first, Cadance wanted to tell him. But then, she thought that Twilight would surely hear about that. The vision she had was still playing in her head. “Oh, the usual...” she muttered. “He says that we shouldn’t listen to Luna and continue to fight.” “Well, Twilight would agree with him,” Spike said. “She’s sending a detachment of guards somewhere.” “What?” Cadance asked. “Where are they going? Behind the barrier?” “I don’t think so,” Spike replied. “The one I talked to mentioned something about the caves. Also, she was looking for ones trained in using sleep spells.” “It’s good that she doesn’t want to kill anypony...” Cadance said. “But still, she’s preparing attacks on her own? I don’t know much about strategy, but I think she should talk to Shining Armor first...” “Maybe she did.” Spike shrugged. “I’m not sure about her. It’s like she’s hiding something...” Since when we all agree with Blueblood? Cadance thought. “Well, the death of her friends surely hit her. The feelings I can detect...” “What’s with them?” Spike asked. Cadance sighed, fighting the urge to check the aura of feelings above Canterlot. Since the war had started, it was getting increasingly worse. One of her last attempts to get to Luna ended in her passing out. “It’s like a dark cloud,” she said. “Most of the ponies lost someone in the battle and even those who live are devastated.” Spike nodded. “I still hope that there’ll be no battle...” He looked through the window, at the barrier and Luna’s forces behind it. “Maybe when the ponies see each other, they’ll just refuse to fight...” “If it was so simple...” Cadance thought about what Tungsten Heart had told her about the battle of Ponyville. Ponies there definitely weren’t in the mood for going AWOL. “Yeah...” Spike sighed. “I’m gonna check on Pinkie...” “Good idea...” Cadance said. “I have to talk to the guards...” She teleported away. *** Sleepwalker stretched her hooves and charged her horn to check if her spell was working. The blue bolt shot into the air. “Watch out, Sleepwalker,” The guard next to her laughed. “None of us wants to sleep through the whole action...” “Don’t worry, Sandy,” Sleepwalker replied. ”I’d be more afraid of that thing dangling from your neck...” Unlike Sleepwalker, Sandy was an earth pony. He looked at his dart launcher; each of the darts could paralyse a pony for an hour. “Don’t worry, it’s safe. Why are we even going to those caves? I thought our enemies are on the surface.” “Princess Twilight is afraid that they may use the caves to get to the town. Apparently, there are some spies who live there, preparing the way for them.” “As if we didn’t have enough problems...” A bright flash of magic blinded them temporarily. Sandy lifted his launcher, but lowered it, seeing a pink alicorn who appeared in front of them. “Princess Cadance!” Sleepwalker bowed. “What have we done to be blessed with a visit from you, your highness?” Cadance searched the guard’s feeling, looking for any trace of sarcasm, but she found none. Just another thing about being a princess... Ponies talk to you like idiots, not because you want it, but because they’re used to it. This will change once I will... She paused and scolded herself. “I wanted to see my sister-in-law,” she said, not even trying to sound regal. “Do you know where she is?” “She teleported right after the briefing, your highness, Sandy replied. “We were just going to leave.” “I’ve heard about it,” Cadance replied. “Does my husband know about your mission?” “He’s currently with the soldiers,” Sleepwalker muttered, looking around unsurely. “But Princess Twilight said that she told him.” Cadance was still looking into Sleepwalker’s mind, trying to spot a lie. She didn’t find one, but still the results were interesting. The guard didn’t lie; but she didn’t believe her own words either. Cadance realised that Sleepwalker told her something she wanted to believe in. “We have to go, your highness,” Sleepwalker muttered, avoiding eye contact. “Duty calls.” Cadance nodded. “Take care of yourself, soldier,” she said. “We’ll need more ponies like you.” Sleepwalker and Sandy saluted and walked away. Cadance was looking at them till they disappeared, joining the rest of their group. Or rather, Blueblood will need more of you... she thought.