by Cytotoxin
~~~
If Twilight Sparkle knew anything with certainty, it was the fact that anything odd and defying explanation could be traced back to one of the princesses. It was inevitable - so long as the investigator in question was willing to put in time and effort to trace the chain of events far enough, it invariably began with something one princess or another have had said, done or ventured.
So, the only thing that really puzzled her was which of the three her current predicament would trace itself to. Her bits were on Luna. A mage with such an enviable grasp of offensive magic seemed like someone Luna would`ve likely known or even employed prior to her banishment. Inordinate prevalence of shadow use in magic also hinted at Luna. However, she noted with a measure of distaste, Luna was currently the least available of all the princesses - off on a diplomatic mission in Saddle Arabia. Privately, Twilight suspected that mission entailed nothing more then hobnobbing with sultan while pigging out on lukum and pahlava. Luna`s sweet tooth have had been well known around Equestria by now.
Celestia was a good fallback option, but unfortunately, she`s been busy with inauguration of a new airship. "Decadence" was slated to moor tomorrow at midday, which meant Twilight still had to wait at least a full day before she could pose any poignant questions to her mentor. Which left only Cadence for today. - the least likely option, but one Twilight felt the need to explore as well, simply to soothe her sense of completionism, if nothing else. Which, in turn, lead to a current situation - sitting across from Cadence and holding a cup of tea that Cadence dropped in shock.
"...Oh dear. Do you have any idea as to when it all began, Twilight?" - proffered pink princess cautiously, as she took her cup back and took a long sip from it. Twilight Sparkle rubbed the back of her head as she mulled over the situation. It wasn`t the easiest of questions. "Roughly about a week ago. At least, that`s for how long I`ve been consciously aware of it. I take it you know what this is?" - she inquired thoughtfully, gesturing at the crystal holding the magical construct. She`s been able to capture the core of it, but unfortunately it didn`t cut the link entirely - she could still feel the weight of foreign memories vying for her attention.
Cadence sighed. "I do." - she proffered with a measure of grim resolution coloring her voice - "What you see is the soul of Prismia. I didn`t expect her to manifest like this or so soon for that matter, but... clearly, she has other ideas about it." Twilight pursed her lips as she regarded the core with newfound distaste. "Prismia, huh? So she`s the reason why you ascended? Funny, I thought you`ve won that fight once and for all." - she mused, unaware that Cadence flinched and turned away at the word fight. The words, however, caught her attention well.
"I`m afraid it wasn`t much of a fight, Twilight." - Cadence offered pensively - "If anything, I was rather sympathetic to her. Unfortunately, there was simply no way to settle things fair and square back then." She leaned over and nudged the geode with wingtip. Sparkling ball wobbled and dimmed for a second, wisp of shadow swirling around the crystal haphazardly. "We can`t afford to let it degrade, Twilight." - she proffered seriously - "Let`s go see what we can find in the treasury. I think I saw some suitable diamonds there."
"Hm. Why? Cadence, this is rather cruel. I understand she`s an enemy of the state, but really... keeping her entrapped in a soulgem for ages? I think I can tolerate a few more days of haunting, if it helps her to pass on." - objected smaller alicorn, as she nudged the soulgem from her side - "The only reason why I bothered to trap her is to show you what exactly we`re dealing with."
Cadence heaved a sigh. "It`s... not that easy, Twilight. It never is." - she muttered - "I made a deal with her, you see. And to keep my part of the deal, it`s really important to keep her here, as it were." Lavender brow creased as Twilight mulled over the response. "...A deal. That... huh. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, are you telling me that you`ve agreed to reincarnate her?" - she proffered slowly, shaking her head - "That`s... rather bucking crazy, if you pardon my prench."
Cadence leaned back and sighed again. "I think it would be easier if I`ll tell you the story from the beginning." - she proffered, taking a long sip from her cup - "It would answer at least half of your questions in one go, at the very least." Taking the silence of other alicorn as a go-ahead sign, she continued - "To begin with, I`d like to note one important thing. Lady Prismia is responsible for a whole lot of things... but a vast majority of them are good."
"It`s not a common knowledge nowadays, but a hundred years ago, she was pretty much second most important pony in Equestria, right after Celestia. Exceptionally gifted general and battlemage, the existence of Equestrian Centennial Armistice is mostly there because all of our neighbors would rather agree to a century-long legally binging non-aggression pact rather then deal with her again." - proffered Cadence pensively - "Despite that, she`s largely unknown in the history books. I`m pretty sure you had an inkling about her involvement, but never had any idea just how much of an influence she really had."
"...Oh. Don`t tell me she tried for Equestrian throne after that." - quipped Twilight - "That must`ve been awkward." Pink alicorn chuckled - "It would be, if she did. The truth, however, is far stranger then that. Prismia, for all her merits, had one... rather peculiar... well, let`s say condition, because the only other word I can think of is curse, and I`m very much certain no one cursed her." Cadence paused for a moment, and shook her head - "And yes... try not to laugh. The problem was that it was all but impossible to actually reward Prismia somehow."
Twilight snorted - "She wanted immortality, didn`t she? Now it`s clearer, indeed." Cadence shook her head, however. "Not really. At least, she never asked Celestia for it, to the best of my knowledge." - she proffered - "In fact, she never asked for anything, period, because with her, well... condition? It was hazardous to."
That merited Twilight`s attention. "Cadence. Can you please just tell me what is it all about?" - she proffered - "You`re beating around the bush... And while normally, I`d like a challenge to figure it out myself, I can`t help but think there is some crucial detail you`re withholding from me."
"Not hiding anything, Twilight. Prismia had the most peculiar misfortune regarding rewards. Anytime anyone tried to reward her for anything, things happened. And by things I mean coincidences, mistakes and misfortunes of unprecedented magnitude and malice. According to what I knew at the time, not a single reward intended for her reached her hooves safely. Celestia awards her a medal? Jeweler accidentally added tin instead of silver into the alloy. Whole thing just broke off the ribbon when Celestia tried to award it, bounced off Prismia`s nose, rolled across the whole plaza and disappeared into a gutter. Awk-ward, to hear her tell it. Celestia tries to give her a landed title? Earthquake swallows the town, ponies flee from the county. You probably know this area as Crags County. Yeah, it`s part of Badlands, now. Used to be pretty profitable county. Grew best watermelons in Equestria, if I recall it right. As the dust settled down, Prismia found herself a countess of a province that had no subjects - neither current, nor willing to move in. Celestia attempts to at least throw her a parade after she brings home another win? Clerical error - public is told that parade is held in honor of Prism the Fourth. As he was among the other dozen ponies honored by the same parade and held the highest nobility title of them all, no one thought it strange. Prismia herself didn`t even get an invitation. And so on and so on and so on. You have to agree, Twilight - when it looks like fate itself is doing it`s best to snub you, going a little mad with anger and jealousy is, well... kind of likely."
"...Well. That explains things, yes. If that kind of condition was persistent, I guess I wouldn`t blame a pony for snapping eventually." - Twilight mused slowly - "So... she did, huh?" Cadence shrugged. "I`d like to think she didn`t. But she wasn`t exactly of sound mind when I finally met her, Twilight." - she responded - "You have to keep in mind - I was born when Prismia was already in her nineties. As far as I know, she resigned shortly after centennial armistice was ratified, retreated into her county, built herself a shack and started magical research into the source of her problem. If I`m reading between the lines right, nobles at the time figured out there was something wrong with her and were not merciful with their rumors in the slightest. So by the time I actually ventured there to deal with her, it`s been about fifty years of living on her lonesome trying to decypher something directly related to chaos magic. By that time, ponies have had managed to flat-out forget any good she`s done - she was simply "that wicked pony witch from gnarled forest" for pretty much everypony you`d ask."
"Let me guess. You went there, got the story from her, then did something... unexpected enough to actually ascend you to deal with her problem." - Twilight proffered slowly - "And now I`ve got stuck in your loose ends again, correct?" Pink princess shrugged - "Well, yes, pretty much. She wasn`t in any condition to fight, really. I know there`s a lot of talk about me "defeating" her, but the truth is? Anypony out there to actually defeat Prismia would only need one good kick to end her for good. What I really did? Well, nothing particularly important. I just hung around trying to make her last days as comfortable as I could. She never found out how to defeat her misfortune, after all. I thought the least I could do is to care for her for as long as she`d last. Turned out, it was merely seventeen days."
"Wait, so how did you ascend at all? I thought that you made her see all the... well, as the common story goes. Now you`re telling me that you never caused any epiphany in her at all?" - inquired Twilight incredulously. Cadence shuffled her hoof. "Well, uh... this is where things get dicey." - she proffered awkwardly - "Remember what happens when ponies die? The whole reincarnation until you`re content business? Turns out Prismia was so discontent with her life that she couldn`t reincarnate. As in... there literally wasn`t a thing simple enough to accommodate her."
"Wait, that`s not possible. If the cycle of reincarnation is so fluffed that... oh. OH. You mean she was literally going to worms?" - exclaimed Twilight as she finally figured out the problem - "And you... ascended by... intentionally soultrapping her? Hole in the sky above you, what were you thinking?"
"It`s not like I was aware of her plans at the time, Twilight." - responded Cadence wearily - "It was her last-ditch effort. Keep in mind, I was just a pegasus filly back then. I had no idea about the cycle of reincarnation other then it happened. I most certainly didn`t know there is such thing as soultrapping. All that I really did was promise her that I`ll do my best to carry out her "last experiment" if she happened to die. Well, she did. I still have no idea how I got the horn out of the deal, but... Celestia thinks it`s because Prismia was exceptionally powerful unicorn back in her day, and I ended up "borrowing" her ability when I went through with her plans."
Twilight snorted - 'Wonderful. So, what you`re telling me is that you`re liable to revert to pegasus as soon as you`re done with your long-standing obligation? And what does it mean for our little arrangement, hm?" Cadence sighed - "Actually, I planned to speak to you about it. Hence having the original soulgem delivered. Unfortunately, it seems that Prismia found you before I did. As to what it means for our arrangement? Well... The good news is, I`m not reverting back to mortal form. It`s just not an option right now. And by not an option, I mean it in a "it`s easier to end the world" sense, rather then "I don`t want to consider it" sense. The... neutral news is that I`d have to follow up on the promise sooner or later, and that means... options. Which I have to discuss with you."
"Alright. Correct me if I`m wrong, but the option we are looking at right now goes like this... We use the gem, you go pregnant, give birth to a foal with Prismia`s soul, and then we bring her up as our child." - Twilight proffered dryly. Cadence shrunk back on herself. "...Yes. Sort of. Except right now it`s more likely you`re the one who`d have to go pregnant. But other then that... would you really object?" - she mumbled.
"I guess I won`t... but I`m still mad at you, Cadence. You really could`ve told me earlier. What if I decided to disperse Prismia instead?" - she returned wryly - "I`m not sure just how much of conscience she has like this... but do try to reassure her if you can. I`m going to get some fresh air and think about it. And then we`re going to get some quills, some ink, some parchment, and draw up a checklist to check all the checklists for that. If I`m having a foal with you, it`s going to be a planned one."