Diary of a Foalsitter

by Hivemind


Prologue

“How long until the carriage arrives, dear?”

Shining Armor looked up from his weekly edition of ‘Spears and Shiny Swords’ and turned his head towards a nearby grandfather clock.

“Not for a few hours. That gives us plenty of time to get ready,” Shining Armor replied. “Why the rush?” he asked, turning away from the clock.

Cadance nervously trotted out of the master bedroom with a luggage bag floating over her head, suspended in the air by her sparkling blue magic. Her hooves noisily clattered along the polished tile floor with each step she took, the noise resounding off of the stone walls and echoing up towards the high ceiling. Tiny beads of nervous sweat dripped down from her forehead as she lowered the bag to the floor and turned to face her husband, a mild expression of panic stuck to her face.

“I’m sorry, dear. I’m just a teensy bit nervous about how everything will go since yesterday’s disaster. First, there was the false wedding, the hostile takeover of Equestria that almost happened, the over-exciting reception, that long meeting with Celestia and Luna about how--” The raging flow that was Cadance's rushed words was suddenly cut off when Shining Armor placed a firm hoof on her shoulder, putting on a comforting smile when Cadance worryingly locked eyes with him.

“Look, Cadance, you’re stressing yourself out. I’ve already taken care of everything for our honeymoon. You remember where you wanted to go, don’t you?" Shining Armor slowly dragged his hoof down the backside of Cadance’s shoulder. He shimmied closer to her, and wrapped a leg around her shoulder while he pressed the right side of his face against her left cheek. “It took a bit of convincing, but Celestia agreed to let us use her private mountain retreat for the whole week!” Cadance's eyes opened wide with delight, blushing at the mention of the private royal retreat. She sighed with content and snuggled up next to her husband. “There will be sweet smelling pine forests, peace and quiet, and an entire army of royal servants and spa ponies ready to make you feel like a true princess!”

Shining Armor slowly unwrapped his leg around Cadance’s neck. Just as slowly as before, he placed both of his front hooves on her shoulders, bringing her face closer to his. Cadance continued to hold her kind smile as her husband lovingly stared at her with the very same eyes that she fell in love with.

“There isn’t a thing to worry about, trust me.” Her heart now filled to the brim with excitement that she could barely express, the pink princess did the only thing she felt like doing, leaning forward and planting a soft kiss on the bridge of her husband's nose.

Shining Armor smiled when he felt Cadance's lips brush against the far edges of his muzzle when she moved her head back. He turned his head off to the side, eying the empty luggage bag leaning against the grandfather clock. “Is your stuff ready to go?” he asked.

Cadance’s horn glowed an azure blue and the luggage bag was lifted off the ground. The bag maneuvered backwards through the air and stopped above Cadance's head. “I still have a bit more packing to do. I suppose I should get back to it,” she said as she turned around and cheerfully cantered back into the master bedroom.

The more than excited pink princess threw open the drawers of the clothing dresser with her magic and started to fill her luggage bags with various items of clothing and accessories. Her bags were stuffed full of necklaces, earrings, pendants, and even her favorite nightgown, which always seemed to add an air of pleasure to the calm atmosphere of the nighttime conversations she would have with Shining Armor.

She threw open the final drawer and was surprised to find only a tiny blanket meant for little foals and babies folded up in a neat, orderly square in the middle of the barren wood. She could only stand there with a curious look on her face and wonder as to how it got there. Convincing herself that it was of little importance, she drew her attention away from the blanket and moved to close the drawer.

Suddenly, a glitter of silvery light flashed in the bottom corner of Cadance's eye, instantly attracting her attention like a moth to a flame. Her front right leg remained stilted in the air. Her head and body paused in the middle of the quiet atmosphere of the bedroom as if she were posing for an awkward photo shoot. Her curiosity heightening, she looked down at the partially opened drawer, taking notice of a corner edge of a tiny silver key lock underneath the blanket. She removed the blanket from the drawer and looked on with curiosity at the dark purple front cover of what appeared to be a journal of some kind. She lowered a front leg into the drawer and ran the tip of her hoof over the lock, pondering as to what secrets it guarded.

She wrapped the book in a veil of her magic and flipped it over with the utmost care. She noticed a small row of elegantly written words scrawled with what may have been a quill pen onto the thick backing near the bottom of the book. Intrigued, she brought the book up to her face and diligently read each word in the row.

Cadance's eyes went wide at the nostalgic sight of her long lost tome of well kept memories. Her lower jaw hung from her mouth, agape in astonishment. With a strange sense of urgency, she hastily flipped the diary over to its front cover and broke the tiny lock with her magic. The pages of the book creaked and separated instantly as if they were held together by a single piece of year-old sticky tape. As quick as a flash, she threw open the diary cover and gasped when she looked upon a beautiful, tearful sight displayed in the form of a written note in a corner on the front page.

Tears of happiness welled up in Cadance's eyes. Her mouth snapped shut, her lips quivering as she fell back onto her haunches while she continued to stare at the page, reading the same line of delicately painted words to herself over and over again.

Suddenly, Cadance slammed her eyes shut while she quickly wiped away the tears that were already starting to accumulate on her face, putting on the biggest, toothiest grin she could muster. Being as cautious as possible, she quickly glanced from left to right, checking to make sure that nopony was around. When the coast was clear, she rushed to the bedroom door and slammed it shut, squealing with glee as she tightly hugged her diary against her chest while leaning against the back of the door, her happy, yet somber thoughts quickly replaced with ones of pure joy and delight having found a book so dear to her after so long.

Taking a quick glance at the nearby bed, Cadance ran from the door and pounced onto it, bouncing off the thick blankets when she landed. She levitated a nearby pillow in front of her and rested her hooves on it while she floated the diary close to her face. She composed herself and gently turned the pages to the first entry of the diary, which was simply titled, ‘Day One’.

“Dear Diary...”