At first the Princess was genuinely concerned about how to act around her husband having done what she done, but after being informed he'd been placed on assignment of his own volition she welcomed the familiar numbness his absence presented.
Things between her and her guard had turned into a game of secret glances and flushed cheeks, at least on her part anyway. True to his word, Faust kept their relationship strictly professional withdrawing from her. Now that had hurt and Cadance found herself wondering how things had gotten so complicated. She had no Shining Armor, and now she'd lost her best friend.
Life was beginning to take a dreary turn. And yet it felt as if no pony had noticed her strife.
So she painted a pretty smile on her face and pushed forward like the benevolent force she was. Behind her stylized looks and her sweet temperament a maelstrom was growing and Cadance didn't know if she could contain it all.
She'd only ever seen the changeling queen once after her wedding. And it was to find out that she was expecting her husband's child. She never imagined she'd be down here again or so soon for that matter.
But once she descended the castle's depths and found her gaze locked with the Queen's unnatural gaze, she wondered why she ever sought her out.
"Princess Cadance..." The royal mare continued to through the magical barrier that only reacted to the other’s type.
"Changeling Queen."
Chrysalis never thought she'd see Princess Cadance from this place. The absurdity of such a statement was not lost upon her. Back wherever she'd been, Cadance had been the pony she loved to hate and respected at the same time. Now as she gazed at the mare, she didn't know what to think or how to feel. She knew the other was hurting and while she'd normally consider such a thing collateral damage, it was a moot point when she had nothing to show for it.
The Princess swallowed. "You may have everypony fooled with this 'woe be me' act... But I'm not."
Chrysalis didn't know what to say to the other, but she knew that nothing could make up for what she'd done to Cadance. At least not now anyway so she kept quiet accepting the other's angry words. "My Aunt and my husband maybe be bleeding hearts, but I know better. You made sure of that. You're an evil wench who's going to get exactly what she deserves. Celestia won't be able to protect you forever. They’re going to crucify you, bug." She smiled with a baleful look in her eye. "And I'm going to watch from the front row."
Chrysalis was wise to heed the other’s words, but she refused to cower in front of her. “I know…” She began slowly careful not agitate, “that you couldn’t possibly understand why I did what I did to you… But know that I didn’t do it out of spite. You could’ve been anypony… I’m not sorry for being good at what I do. I’m sorry I just wasn’t good en-“
Cadance smacked her hard enough to knock her off her hooves eliciting a small shriek. Chrysalis moaned from her position on the ground as she narrowed her eyes at the mare with a heaving chest. Her face pulsed in pain from the slap.
“You know nothing,” Cadance seethed with a sneer. With a violent toss of her mane, she spun on her hooves and left the mare to interpret her words how she pleased. Oddly enough, speaking to the other hadn't felt as good as she thought it would, but it was better than the emptiness that she lived off nowadays. What Cadance didn’t count on was running into her husband on her way out.
"What're you doing here?"
"I would ask you the same thing, but I think I already know the answer. Don't worry, your girlfriend's fine." The worried look on his features melted into something angry and defensive.
The stallion had heard about the publicity stunt his wife had pulled and he had a sinking feeling that all of this was going to be drug to light in the least favorable of opinions.
"You don't have the clearance to be here."
"That's rich, coming from the stallion that married into that clearance you seem so proud of." Cadance rolled her eyes annoyed with his stoicism.
"A clearance you still don't have. And marrying you didn't give me that. I earned it, something you know nothing of." He could be an elitist too.
"Are you serious? I'm just as much a princess as my Aunts are! And as an Equestrian Princess don't talk to me that way." Everything was spiraling so fast. When had they become so antagonistic towards each other?
"You don't run anything Cadance." Shining Armor he gritted as he felt his blood boil. All he could picture was her and Faust together. Damn Cadance for making him this way. And damn Chrysalis for robbing him of the future he could've had with the Princess of Love.
Her laugh was disbelieving. "You've got some nerve. You'd stand up for this whore but you won't-"
"Whore?! You've got no room to talk, Princess!"
"Excuse me?" Cadance was genuinely surprised by the vehemence in his voice.
"Forget it, Princess. You should leave before I come to my senses and arrest you."
"Arrest me? Shining I'm your wife, you wouldn't dare!"
"My wife? That means something to you now?
"What ar-"
"Being my wife didn't stop you from letting my guardsman fuck you sideways now did it?!" Her eyes were as wide as saucers as her mouth soundlessly flopped around.
"Shining..." So he did know... But how?
"Forget it, Cadance. You should leave." It seemed as if the moment caught up with him as all his anger was replaced with exhaustion. He couldn't keep this up. It was breaking him down and turning him into the worst kind of stallion.
"No! I am so tired of fighting you, or the memory of somepony I'm not..." She was crying as the words spilled from her mouth. "Yes, I slept with your soldier. I let him 'fuck me sideways' as you so delicately put it." Shining Armor reached out for her already regretful. She held up her hooves in a silent request that he come no farther. "But maybe... Just maybe if you treated me like your wife, someone would've never had the chance the fill those shoes." The stallion looked away in shame. "Maybe if you talked to me, fucking looked at me or pretended to have the least bit interest in me, he wouldn't have had it so easy... Maybe...." Her voice was hoarse now. "Just maybe if she wasn't having your child... I could've held on a little longer."
"Cadance..." Dammit.
"I'm a horrible wife... you're right... but what kind of husband were you? What kind of husband did you have to be to make the one pony to love you all her life finally decide to give up on you?" With that, the Princess of Love quickly left his presence.
*-*-**-**-*
When Cadance was in the safety of her room she slammed her bedroom door shut and tried to calm herself. Violet eyes looked over the room she shared with Shining Armor. All throughout the room there were reminders of the two of them as individuals and then trinkets and gifts they'd received from their wedding.
Before she realized it, she was moving towards a very expensive crystal vase that had been a present from some dignified no name at her wedding. The precious piece began to glow with the soft shimmer of her magic. Shining Armor had loved this piece, she remembered.
Cadance marveled at the many facets of the vase. The quality of the cuts and the material. It was an immaculate vase. Like everypony thought about her marriage, about her person.
Oh how far it was from the truth.
'Lies,' she thought bitterly. 'All lies.' Her marriage was such a disappointment. A sentiment that burned as much as it stung. With a cry, she hurled the heavy piece across the room.
"Princess! Are you-" Flo burst into the room obviously concerned once she heard the shattering of glass.
"Get out!" Cadance screamed more upset than embarrassed. "Get out!"
Another item sailed across the room, this time aimed at her door. With wide eyes, Flo managed to yank the door closed before the item crashed against the spot where her face was. She had never seen any pony so upset. The screaming and the sound of destruction on the other side pushed her to find the Princess' guard.
"She’s lost her mind!" Flo was telling him as they quickly hurried to the ornate doors that signified Cadance's room. They could hear the distressed mare all the way on the other side.
Faust looked to Flo who took a step back. "She threw a vase at my head- no thank-you..."
With a sigh, the pegasi knocked on the door and took his chances entering, locking the entrance once inside. What he saw surprised him quite a bit. The room was thrashed and Cadance stood in the middle of the wreckage with angry tears and angrier words dripping from her tongue.
The bed was unmade, her pillows cut open, her vanity drawer were flung across the room as the mirror was shattered. Various items littered the floor. Some were broken, most were torn. Furniture was tipped over and it looked as if the princess still wasn't done.
She still hadn't noticed him as her attention was elsewhere as she ranted angrily.
“The nerve of that self-righteous, hypocrite-“
"Princess! Cadance! Calm down... You're causing a scene." She whirled around with fire in her eyes.
"I don't care! He doesn't get to judge me when he's the father of 'her' baby! He has no right to look down on me!"
"What did you say?"
"She's having his child. That changeling witch is having his fucking baby..."
That would explain a lot. A regretful air came over him as he realized maybe he should not have distanced himself so much from her. She was hurt, and embarrassed. "Cadance... I didn't know... How long have you known?"
Her cheeks flushed in memory as she calmed considerably. "I found out the night we...." Her tone was soft as she looked up at him shyly.
"I see..." Was the pegasi's reply. It really did make sense now.
"No! No, it wasn't because of that." she searched his face to make sure he believed her. "I wanted you that night... I still do." Her violet eyes were as serious as they were pleading.
"So he knows about us." It was more of a statement than it was a question.
"The night I finally decide to not care about him he decides to want to be my husband..." Cadance shook her head with tears in her eyes. "I... I think I'm done pretending." She laughed. "I'm tired and he doesn't love me. He just hasn't realized it yet."
"Cadance... what are you saying?"
"I want a divorce." She nodded as she continued quietly to herself. "I want a divorce."
*-*-*-*-*
Though she was wary about going in, Flo had no problems listening in. The purple mare couldn't stop her gasp that as she listened to the Princess' muffled words.
Holy shit! She thought as she stumbled back. For once Deb was onto something. The changeling queen was very much live and pregnant by none other than the Captain of the Royal Guard.
*-*-*-*-*
A single pony stood in front of a crowd of a few thousands speaking with both passion and authority. Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies listened to the bronze colored stallion enraptured with the words he pleaded.
Kahn stood with the Emerald Sapped City sparkling just behind him. Light streamed in from a hole the former changelings blasted to help with their crops.
Some wore skepticism while others nodded with determination. It was hard to say if they believed in their leader’s sentiment, but Jedzia and Kirai stood off in the shadows watching with veils of neutrality.
Jedzia chanced a look at her friend whose eyes betrayed her anxiousness as she watched her husband.
While she was grateful to the other and the mare they’d left in foreign lands, she couldn’t say she was thrilled with the prospect of returning to Equestria. Frankly, she was tired and ready to push on with life. The past few months had been the worst of her life. She’d lost a lot of things and ponies. Everypony here had and as loathe as she was to say it, seeing Chrysalis would only make it more difficult to ignore.
She vocalized what she’d been dying to ask since they’d returned.
“Kirai why does this mean so much to you?” Tired eyes watched as the other tensed.
“She deserves it. She thought we were worth it.”
“How do you know that though?” There was a trill of pleading in her voice, and for once the supposed ‘tough girl’ didn’t care if anypony heard it. Right now she needed a reason, and Kirai was one of the most reasonable ponies she knew.
“You were there too,” Kirai reminded with eyes that belied her own exhaustion. “I… I’ve been having dreams about what she could have had with him... What she did have- what ‘we’ could’ve had.”
“What’re you saying?” This was the first she had heard of any of this.
“I’m saying that I’ve been seeing things about a different kind of life. Like some kind of Idyllic world where changelings never existed and we had lives of our own. Your daughter was alive and well, you had your own business, I travelled a lot and no day was ever the same. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know if I could’ve let that go. I love you and everyone else that is my brethren, but I love my family Kirai. I couldn’t leave my husband like that.” Dark eyes studied the stallion that stood tall rallying the inhabitants of the Sapped City. “And if Normandy were still a child....” She couldn’t even finish that thought as she thought of her daughter. “We owe her. Or at least I know I do.”
It was silent between the two as the ponies left began to argue amongst themselves over their decision to find their monarch or not. Kirai didn’t know if Jedzia understood or not, but she had said her piece and all she could do was hope.
Finally the other spoke up. “Kikyo has a way with the beast.”
A light shone in her eyes as a breath she didn’t realize she was holding expelled from her lips. “That she does.” Kiria agreed. “That she does.”