//------------------------------//
// Episode 2 
// Story: Nostalgia for Infinity 
// by SoleReclaimer 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Two


Twilight stood at the base of the Crystal Palace, in what was becoming it’s very own statue garden.

At the center stood the Statue of Spike the Great. She couldn’t help but smile at the young image of her Number One Assistant. He looked so adorable, standing there being all ‘tall and proud.’ The princess couldn’t help but wonder what he’s up to nowadays. She should probably write him a letter. He’s too big to follow her around like he did in the old days. Now he’s been knighted and dubbed a Protector of the Land by Celestia, and travels around helping ponies or anyone else who are in need of protecting. He comes to the Tower whenever his travels comes near, but she still misses him constantly.

Shifting her gaze Twilight’s eyes lay upon one of the newer additions of the garden. The Statue of Interstellar Harmony. It depicted of two beings, a human and an alicorn standing on top of a pedestal that had a six sided star, much like her own cutie mark. It was being orbited by several spheres, like the electrons of an atom. The spheres represent the 4 ‘Home’ colonies found in the human’s solar system.  They were Earth, Luna, Mars, and Titan. The representation was of the mating of Magic and Technology. Looking up at the two figures, the human was totally generic, nothing noting him as any one person. It’s suppose to represent humanity as a whole. The alicorn was a representation of all three pony races of course, and it wasn’t suppose to depict any particular princess. Though Twilight couldn’t help but notice that she looks a lot like her. Except she was taller… and thinner… and had a better jaw… and better looking all- Twilight shook her head quickly to clear her thoughts.

’Bad Twilight, you look fine. Everypony says so. Yes there’s a little pudge from sitting at a desk all day. And it doesn’t matter if you’re still so much shorter than all the princesses. And it doesn’t matter if you need to go to the gym more...’

Once again she shook her head quickly with a soft groan. 

’Bad thoughts, that leads only to depression.’

With a sigh she turned her head to the main reason of her visit to the garden. Twilight sat in front of the newest addition. The statue was a crystal representation of a tall and broad unicorn. He stood there proudly in royal armor and simple crown. His cutie mark was carved into the pedestal, it was a shield that was overlapped by a six pointed star.

As Twilight stared up at the statue of Shiny with forlorn, she felt a feathered warmness rest upon her back. Looking up she saw her fellow princess, best friend, and sister-in-law Cadence looking at her with a sad smile. 

Twilight smiled back at her before wiping her eyes quickly. Standing up she cleared her throat before beginning their normal ritual.

“Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

Cadence and Twilight giggled and gave each other a big hug. A little depressing atmosphere wasn’t going to dampen their meeting.

“Oh Twilight, it has felt like ages since we last seen each other!”

“It definitely feels like it huh?” Twilight smiled up at her sister apologetically, “I’m sorry, it’s so hard to get away from work. With the constant flow of out of system traffic increasing, and the Gryphons and Humans arguing about trade agreements, and the-” Cadence placed a hoof over Twilight’s mouth before her rant can go into full swing.

“Sshhh, no discussing work right now. Let’s just enjoy each other’s company, hm?”

Twilight’s smile grew bigger and gave her a nod. Resting head on shoulder for comfort, she looked back to the statue of her dear brother.

After ten minutes or so of looking up at her BBBFF Twilight let a sigh.

"Its almost been 30 years hasn't it?" She murmured.

Cadence gave a nod, "Yeah."

Letting another prolonged sigh, Twilight slapped both cheeks and forced a smile on her face before facing Cadence.

"So, is it ready?"

Her sister smiled and clucked her tongue, " Ah ah, lunch first, then business. It's been years and there's so much to catch up on."

Looking back up at the statue before facing Cadence, Twilight's smile turned more genuine as she responded, "I would like that."


~~~~~<('-')>~~~~~


The two princesses soon found themselves at a quaint 'Equestrian' style restaurant. After ordering and then receiving their food, Cadence a crystal berry pie for dessert and hayburger as the main while Twilight just had a simple salad, the statue from earlier flashing across her mind when she was ordering. 

While Cadence ate and Twilight picked at her food, they talked about anything and everything. From local gossip to what they had for dinner last week. But of course, being in the presence of the Princess of Love, means that the conversation soon led to one thing.

"Oh my goodness, that's adorable." Twilight couldn't stop herself from giggling, "I finally have something to tease Celestial about." She smiles and takes a drink of her orange juice.

"Speaking of teasing love struck princesses," Cadence smiled coyly, "how's that good admiral that I saw you flirting with at the delegation party the last time we saw each other? What was his name? Admiral Abrams?"

She laughed as Twilight almost does a spit take while flushing considerably.

"Wh-what?"

"Oh you know who I'm talking about."

"I-it's not like that!"

The pink princess pouted, "But you two were getting along so well!" Cadence teased, "You definitely have a crush on him."

Twilight huffed, "That was the alcohol talking..." She lowered her voice a murmured, " and besides he turned me down anyways..."

Cadence's smile didn't waver, "So nothing happened then? You were getting awfully close."

"Cady~! We just talked. Mingled. Converse! Enjoyed each other's company-"

"And kissed"

"-and kissed," Twilight said before her eyes bugged out, "We didn't kiss!"

The entire restaurant went silent as everyone stopped to stare at Twilight's table. Cadence burst out in laughter as Twilight tried to hide her blushing face... In her salad.

After calming down Cadence brushed Twilight's mane and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry Twilight, I couldn't help myself." She quirked an eyebrow, "Maybe next time you should refuse the smelly drink from the alien then?"

Lifting her head up, Twilight groaned, "But I couldn't be rude to the Russian delegate! It wouldn't have escalated if the Germane mayor didn't insult the Vodka and initiated a drinking contest. And then!" She tapped the Element of Laughter on her chest piece, which glowed with mirth in response, "This one got involved and it all went downhill from there."

Cadence couldn't help but giggle at her before taking a sip of her tea.

The Element of Magic looked at her before quirking an eyebrow and grinned, "And what about you?"

Cadence pause in her sip, "What about me?"

"I so happen recall you making out with the mare from Los Pegasus."

The Princess of Love sputtered while taking a drink before clearing her throat, "Really? A mare?" She blinked owlishly a couple times before murmuring, "I wondered why I tasted cherry lipstick in the morning..."

"Wait, you don't remember?"

She shrugged, "I remember most of the party but it grew fuzzy towards the end."

Twilight stared at her, "You know you can use your implants to help recall those memories."

Cadence smiled, "I believe we all would rather forget that night. Besides, I don't like using my implants outside of work. They're useful and all and I know that being a princess its practically a requirement to deal with the work load and the humans, but if I could I would be like most ponies and not have them." She frowned, "the thought of thousands of those bugs-"

"Nanites."

"-Bugs! Crawling around inside me gives me the shivers." To accentuate the point her body visibly shakes as if a severe case of goosebumps overcame her.

Her eye twitched from holding back going on a tangent about all the things wrong in that statement. Twilight settled with rolling her eyes instead. 

"Its progress!"

Cadence takes on last bite of her pie, "Its unnatural"

The other princess huffs, "You sound like Celestia. You know from the humans point of view, our manipulating the weather and controlling everything in nature seems unnatural to them."

"Oh I do not, and I guess it's all about perspective." She takes a sip of her tea, "Although they do have there uses I admit. Heck, if it weren't for the ability to just simply look up what ever information I want at any given time I wouldn't know half of how these ships we're building work... Of course that's why I have Logical Course for too."

Twilight tilts her head at the ship wright's name, "How is Logic by the way?"

"Oh the old coot is getting, well old.  He's even gotten himself an apprentice."

"Really? Well that's interesting. Who is he?... or she?"

Cadence smiles, "You'll see." She pauses and gets a far away look in her eyes, a sign that she's probably looking through her POV on her implants,"Speaking of, we should get going or else Logic is going to yell at us for being late."

Twilight giggles, "He never changes huh?"

They tossed some bits for the meal on the table, along with a generous tip, and make their way out of the restaurant. Being flanked by their personal guards they get into the hover car before heading to the shipyards.