//------------------------------// // Girl Talk // Story: Love is Blind // by RaijingtheClockworkPony //------------------------------// A small purple dragon walked around the library, enjoying a rare night to himself. Twilight was away in the Canterlot, visiting her brother and sister-in-law. He had stayed behind, mostly due to his want to make a perfect gem encrusted cake, and he enjoyed the thought of a nice mini-vacation with the library all to himself. At the moment his gaze was focused solely on the cake slowly rising in the oven when he heard an ear popping bang from the upper floor of the tree. "Wait... did Twilight tell me to watch one of her experiments?" The drake tapped his chin for a moment, as he racked his mind for anything he might have forgotten, but his thoughts were interrupted when the sounds of shattering glass, and breaking wood came from the stairs, and he saw a picture frame soar through the air and land on the floor a few feet from the kitchen. "Well then... looks like Twilight is home..." He shuffled for a moment, nervous of how the rest of the night was going to go. Should I go talk to her? What if she tosses me like the photo... Spike took a few steps, freezing as another crash went through the tree home, and moved to the frame. "Why did she... oh crap..." He picked up the frame and saw the contents. It was a picture of Twilight and Shining at the wedding, both of the ponies pictured were smiling, and hugging the other. Something big happened... big and really bad. Did she get in a fight with Shining? The dragon looked up in to dodge a pillow and look up the stairs to see the shadow of his friend throwing items around her room. "It must have been a really bad fight..." Spike shuffled for a moment then looked to the stove and back to the bedroom. She needs a friend... but... I don't want her mad at me too... she might make another force field and keep me out of the house like she did the Crusaders... Spike nearly walked to the kitchen to let Twilight let off her steam, but he noticed that there was another sound coming from the bedroom. A sob and it was one filled with pain. His lifelong friend was crying in the room above and he was thinking about a cake. Spike took the picture of the siblings out of the frame and moved up the stairs slowly, just in case he had to avoid another picture or pillow. He reached the top of the stairs, and took a tentative look in the room. If a tornado had gone through the room, it would have been much cleaner than what was before him. Books were scattered across the room, pages ripped from their place, the dresser was in shambles, and clothing was spread across the room, and some was hanging from ceiling. The bed was moved across the room, and was mostly intact save for one of its legs. The broken leg was lying where the bed once was. Lying on the bed with her back to the door, hugging a pillow close to her, and sobbing heavily was the purple pony. Spike gently knocked on the door. "Um... hey Twilight..." The mare sniffled for a moment and looked over her shoulder, eyes red and cheeks glistening with fresh tears. "Hey... Spike..." "I have a Gem Cake in the oven... I could get you a slice if you want." The mare gave a weak smile and rolled over. "Thanks... but I'm not in the mood for cake..." Her voice was shaky, and she sniffled once more. "Maybe later..." The dragon nodded and shuffled. "So... um... I noticed that your trip was cut short..." Twilight nodded and wiped her eyes. "Yeah..." Her face scrunched up and tears sprung forth again. "Shining and I had a fight!" She hugged the pillow to her face and yelled through the pillow. "And I was so mean to him! I was such a jerk!" "Well... um... maybe if you told me what happened I could help?" The mare shook her head on the pillow. "It won't help..." She took a deep breath and looked back to Spike. "I... I think this might not be an easy fix..." The dragon nodded. "Well, this is your first real fight with him... so... it might take time... what happened?" Spike hopped up onto the bed and sat next to the mare. Twilight shuffled. "Can you cuddle with me, like when you were younger?" She cast her gaze to the pillow, and Spike nodded. She needed the comfort right now, and he was there to give it. The dragon cuddled close to the mare, and she hugged him tightly, and began telling him of her trip. Three weeks had passed since the fight between her husband and her former charge, and neither had contacted the other. Cadance sighed and looked over the Tree Library, noting that it looked as perfect as always. This is either a good sign, or a really bad one... The mare sighed and strode towards the tree with purpose. She had been in contact with Spike though, and the fact that he seemed okay with her taking in a changeling showed that he was open minded about it, and perhaps he could help make Twilight open about it as well. She reached the door, and spotted motion from a nearby window, and a moment later the door opened and the drake she was thinking about was at the door. "Hey Cadance...” The dragon looked around quickly and whispered. “You didn't bring Rose with you, did you?" The elder mare shook her head. "No... she's with Shining today. I wanted to talk to Twilight about her though..." The dragon looked disappointed. "Darn... I wanted to meet her.” His disappointment was quickly replaced with a warm smile. “Anyways, come in. Twilight is in her lab downstairs... she's been in there since the fight... more or less..." "What do you mean?" The princess closed the door behind her and followed the young dragon. "Well... she came home crying, and was really upset, wrecked her room and stuff.” He paused and looked over to the stairs. “She went to work in there after she woke up the next morning..." Spike sighed and they reached a door leading to the basement of the building. "She only comes out for food, or to shower." "I see..." Cadance swallowed nervously. "Do you know what she is working on?" The drake only shook his head. "No, but if I did, I probably wouldn't understand it anyways." Spike gave a small chuckle and opened the door. "Good luck, I'll be up here if you need me." The dragon grimaced. "I have to reorganize the biology books by subject and age today..." Cadance gave the dragon an apologetic smile and headed down into the basement. The light in the room was dim, given that there were only a few small candles at the far end of the room on top of a desk. The desk was covered in papers, ancient tomes, and a few scattered quills. In front of the desk, or rather, slumped onto the desk was the purple mare that Cadance had traveled to see. Twilight was sleeping on the desk, she back rising slowly and falling gently as she slumbered. The pink mare moved over to the desk and gently nudged her young friend. "Twily... time to get up." Cadance was suddenly reminded that she had done this a few times when she was Twilight's foalsitter, and like all those times before, the mare let out a small moan and placed her hoofs over her eyes; however she also mumbled in her sleep. "Twilight, please. This is important." The purple mare yawned for a moment and slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She smacked her lips to remove the odd taste of waking up and slowly looked around and spotted her former foalsitter. "Oh, hey Cadance..." The unicorn looked to the tomes for a moment then looked back to the princess. "You don't live here..." The pink mare giggled and nodded. "I don't, but I wanted to visit... you and Shining had a really bad fight..." Twilight's ears fell and she sigh. "Yeah..." Her head slumped back down to the desk. "We also said some mean things... I can't believe it even happened... and well...“ She looked at the princess. “Why? Why a changeling? After all they did, and when they nearly destroyed your life with Shining..." The mare nodded. "I know... you both acted very poorly..." Cadance sighed and sat next to the purple mare. "Twi... when I found Rose, I wanted nothing more than to hurt her, the way I was hurt by Chrysalis. But then I saw something in her eyes that made me pause." "What was it?" Twilight sat up again and looked her sister-in-law in the eyes. "Fear... she was so scared, and I realized that I was the same when I was trapped in the caves beneath the castle... I was alone, afraid, and the only pony that I had seen wanted me to suffer..." Cadance let out another sigh. "I couldn't bring myself to harm her. She is a changeling, but she is also a foal... most likely she was abandoned when the changelings were forced from the city. The guard spent weeks getting all the hiding changelings out, so somehow, she managed to escape notice..." Twilight sighed. "So... she's staying with you and Shining?" The pink mare nodded. "She is. Look, I know this is hard for you, and a little odd... but it would mean the world to Shining if you could be her aunt..." Silence fell between the mares. Twilight looked back to her books and nodded, her voice heavy with acceptance. "Okay... I'll... I'll try to be family for her... but... is Celestia okay with this? Does she even know?" Cadance nodded and smiled. "She does, and she thinks Rose is cute." The mare hugged her young friend. "Thank you so much for this! You'll love her. She's not a monster; she's not like the others." The purple mare returned the hug after a moment. "I need to apologize to you and Shining... I shouldn't have yelled at Shining like that... is Shining still mad at me?" They broke the hug and Cadance shook her head. "He's mad at himself... I've never seen him lose his temper like that... I think he's really taken a liking to Rose... She loves to cuddle him, and smiles so much when she is with him." The mare giggled. "I think he is her favorite. I'm almost jealous." Twilight found herself smiling at the sound of her brother being a father. She knew that eventually Cadance and Shining were going to have a foal, but the idea of them adopting a changeling foal seemed so... appropriate. It was a way to show that a race is not guilty for the crimes of others. "I... I can't wait to see her... and Shining too." Twilight smiled. "Maybe she'll like me." Cadance smiled. "I know she will. You just need to be nice to her, and smile now and then." "Deal." The pair hugged again, and Cadance knew that things were going to get better. “So… how about breakfast?” The pink alicorn walked along the streets of the Canterlot markets, looking into the window displays of the stores she passed, stopping now and then to better look at the product. She loved the little moments like this, and after the morning trip to Ponyville, she needed a small break to relax and unwind, if only until she got home to Rose and Shining. She paused for a moment to admire a dress shop, particularly a deep salmon colored evening gown, when a stallion walked up to her and gave a small cough to get her attention. Cadance looked to the stallion and spotted the uniform of a Canterlot butler on the deep grey earthpony before her. "Sorry to ruin your window shopping madam, but I was sent to collect you." The princess sighed for the moment then nodded. Even on my own days something happens. "Who is sending for me?" She asked as they set off down the roads towards the castle. "Your husband, your majesty." The butler led her through a small crowd. "He said that he wished to see you. He didn't say much else." Cadance nodded. This must be something about Rose... I hope they didn't get into trouble... If he dyed Rose purple again, he is sleeping on the couch for a year. Cadance was too busy thinking about all the possible reasons that Shining would need her that she failed to notice that they had left the main streets and had entered a small back alley and the butler was now behind her. "I think you have gotten us lost... This is not the way to the castle." Cadance noticed that the butler was now blocking the entrance to the main streets. "Sorry, but a detour was needed. You have a very important visitor that wished to speak to you." The alicorn’s eyes widened in horror as the butlers eyes flashed green and a flash of green revealed a chitinous shell and large blue eyes. Cadance took a step back and readied a spell when a small chuckle resounded from the deep alleyway behind her. "A little jumpy aren't you, my dear." The voice sent chills down the mares spine. She shifted herself to look at the voice and swallowed hard at the chitinous form of the queen of the Changelings are before her. "You! What are you doing here?!" The alicorn focused more power to her horn and was ready to blast the queen through the building behind her, but stopped as the queen spoke. "How is your little hatchling? I hope she is faring well." A wicked smile crossed her features. "Rose is a cute name as well." Cadance felt the blood drain from her face and she stared daggers into Chrysalis. "How do you know about her?" The queen strode towards the princess and giggled. "Oh, so naive. You think you could purge my people from your ranks so easily? We have been with you for centuries, and will be for far longer than that." As the queen spoke, another figure entered the alley from behind the queen. A figure clad in the armor of the royal guard. She recognized him as the very guard that had found Rose after she had run off in the castle. She nodded to the guard and moved to keep the focus of the queen on herself. "So... how many do you have in the castle?" The princess watched the queen giggle again but she didn't speak. The deep tone of the royal guard spoke up instead. "My queen, the alley is secured. You will not be interrupted." His deep tan eyes flashed green and for a brief moment, she saw his true form. Like a mirage on a desert road she saw him shift to a large, bulky, and very intimidating looking changeling, then an instant later back to the stallion that had saved Rose from possibly being thrown out of the kingdom. The stallion looked to Cadance and bowed to her. "Princess." He looked her in the eyes. "Thank you.” Chrysalis nodded to the guard and he stood at attention. "I am not here to harm you princess. I have learned the lesson of my failed invasion, and I shall not risk my race again." Chrysalis circled Cadance, and the princess kept her eyes locked with the emerald orbs as best she could without moving. "I came, because you adopting that hatchling was far to good to miss." The queen chuckled. "So, now you've come to steal her from me?" Much to Cadance's surprise, the queen shook her head and chuckled. "No, she is yours now." Seeing the confusion on the face of the princess the queen continued. "When a hatchling is born, they search for a bond, a source of love to feed off of and grow. Normally that bond is with a changeling and they share a source of love, the adult giving a portion of the love they have collected and give some to the hatchling." Cadance shuffled as she waited for the other hoof to drop. Why would a mere emotional bond keep this queen from stealing a foal? After all, it didn't stop her from trying to steal her husband. "However, when this bond is formed, they form a deep emotional bond with the first source of love, a bond so powerful, that if it is severed, the foal may die, as it is unlikely that they will form another bond like that." She stopped in front of the alicorn. "You have formed that bond, and as such, she is yours. She shall have that bond with you until she is old enough to gather love on her own. Think of it as her earning her cutie mark." Cadance opened her mouth to speak but found no words. Chrysalis looked the princess of love over and smiled. "I would have had her collected by one of my informants if she hadn't bonded, but now, she is yours to deal with." The queens eyes narrowed. "I shall be keeping a close eye on this situation. Enjoy being a mother." She turned away from the princess and deep green smoke began to gather around her. "I leave you with your guard, Brass. He shall make sure the foal stays safe." She let out a chuckle as she was enveloped in the smoke and faded away. The smoke cleared, leaving only Cadance and Brass Hail in the alleyway, and a silence fell between them. The disguised guard was the first to speak. "My princess, we should head to the castle now. Your husband has dinner waiting for you." Cadance could only stare at the guard, as he acted like nothing had even happened. "Pardon me? You have no right to even begin talking to me right now!" The guard remained emotionless, a trait that showed how well trained he was. "You're upset at my true identity... I understand... but right now, I think you have more pressing issues than yo yell at me." "You lied to me, and to everypony you work with!" Her voice was rising and growing much more heated. "You could have stolen Rose away from me and given her to Chrysalis!" "But I didn't." The guard sighed. "Your highness, I may be a changeling, but that doesn't mean I am heartless. I knew she had the bond with you after I heard about you finding her. I couldn't separate you two after finding that out." The blunt honesty of the guard took Cadance aback. She was expecting him to dodge the question, or simply not talk, but to be open about it seemed a bizarre move to her. She gave him a stern look. "You took an oath to protect your kingdom, or do you not consider Equestria your kingdom?" The guard took a moment to swallow. "I do. It's been my home for years... I'm as much a pony as I am a changeling." He let out a small sigh and removed his helm, looking into the refection as he spoke in a softer tone. "You and the other goddess are my princess's as much as she is my queen, but... I still honor my oath. I fought to keep them safe in the invasion, and I will do so until I die. I know you don't trust me, and if you want me gone you can have me gone." Cadance nodded and knew exactly what he meant. One talk with Celestia and she could have him banished, or worse. He spoke with a sincerity that made her regret being angry with him. "You are her mother, and I won't be the one to break a mother from a foal..." "Answer my questions and I will consider letting you continue to serve." She voice was dripping with the threat she hoped she didn't have to follow through with. The guard nodded and she took a breath before she spoke, calming herself. "When Rose gets older, will you try to steal her from us?" The guard shook his head. "No, she'll be free to choose what to do with her life. Many changelings serve the queen willingly, but some choose to live their own lives. She shall have that freedom." The princess moved closer. "Will you reveal your true form to her, or anyone else?" "No..." He shuffled for a moment. "I won't reveal it to her. Maybe somepony I trust deeply with this secret, but not to her or anypony else." Cadance nodded and sighed. "Okay... so... there are no drawbacks here? She's not plotting anything behind the scenes?" "She is not." The guard looked around to make sure they were still in private. "She simply wished to confirm what she was told, and wanted to let you know that Rose is yours." The mare sighed. "Very well... so, you can keep your job... but you owe me something." The guard’s eyebrow rose as he placed the helmet back on. "I... I can do that for you." Cadance flashed her own grin, but made sure it was playful in nature. "You have to go on a date with my personal maid." The guard shuffled uncomfortably and gulped. "The one that flirted with me?" The princess moved to the street and nodded. "Escort me to the castle please. I'm late for dinner." The guard moved to position and began escorting her through the streets while Cadance felt a wave of worry, and strangely, relief at what had just happened. The queen won't steal Rose from me, but... she might leave me to join the changelings... She bit her lip for a moment. She knew that telling Shining what had happened would be one of the hard conversations that he was going to have over the next few days. She sighed and looked to the guard in front of her than to the castle. “Well… my day is going very bizarrely…”