“You seem preoccupied this morning, my dear. Is anything the matter?” Aunt Celestia inquired of me as I lost my hold on another spell book from loss of concentration. It was such a filly type thing to do I was surprised she wasn’t scolding me. But I couldn’t concentrate.
It was Friday, the day the colt I had no idea how I felt about, but was aware I had made a complete fool of myself in front of, was going to come home to where I was stuck foal sitting for Twilight. I thought about faking illness but was pretty sure my all over powerful aunt would see through it. So I just fretted in silence hoping I didn’t do something stupid again, or better yet didn’t have to see him at all because Twilight’s parents would come home before he did and relieve me of my duties.
“N-no…I’m just tired.” I murmured, successfully picking the book back up. I should have really known better than to try to hide anything from my aunt Celestia. I think she was psychic because she dropped the subject, but somehow later brought it right back up and nailed exactly what was bothering me.
“Is that little filly giving you a run for your money?” she chuckled, demurely.
“Heh, heh, I guess so.” I replied, but quickly added. “I’m having fun though. She’s a nice filly.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” She smiled. “I have to say, I feel a little bad for asking you to take on that obligation. I imagine you wanted to enjoy your summer in Canterlot, but my advisors really needed a sitter for this week and I thought you would be perfect. Along with giving you a chance to assume some responsibility now that you’re getting older.”
“Oh it’s no trouble really. I like foalsitting for Twilight.” I replied, distractedly as I tried to get the stupid book to do what I wanted it to.
“In any case, next week the Light family shouldn’t be as busy so you won’t need to come every day. Maybe just three times a week instead, how does that sound?”
Surprised, I dropped the book again. “Really? Only three times? I’d like that.” Maybe I could finally get out on my own now.
“Good, how does Monday, Wednesday and Friday sound?” she asked.
“That would be great.” I said, feeling some of my anxiety leave at the thought of being able to have some time to myself like I had hoped for.
“I know you’ve had it difficult being protected as an alicorn and princess and not had many chances to meet other fillies and colts,” Aunt Celestia paused, thoughtfully. “I had a somewhat…similar upbringing.” She seemed troubled, but continued. “I had hoped you would be able to take this time to find friendships of your own. I am a mare who believes everypony should have a friend, and I am sorry you had to wait this long to find one. You’re a lovely filly, Cadance, and I wish nothing but the best for you. Being an alicorn in modern Equestria is not such a difficult thing; growing up is. A friend can help you through it more than this old princess can.” She smiled, warmly, her wise eyes that had been somewhat sad getting their usual sparkle back and I nuzzled up to her.
I loved my aunt Celestia. We were the same. More so than my parents or any other pony. She taught me magic, how to fly, and how to add a little fun into the endless monotony of royal life. I felt like she could understand me more than any other pony, and her millennia of experience never left me for want of anything I needed to know.
“Thank you, auntie. I’ll do my best.”
“Ah, speaking of which, did you know that Twilight has an older brother? He’s been working at a leadership training camp for colts interested in attending the royal guard training academy which he is an excellent student of. He’s coming home for the weekend tonight and he’s about your age, you should introduce yourself to him.”
I immediately wilted into a blush and she smiled with that familiar glint in her eyes. I think my aunt might just be messing with me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And so the afternoon with Twilight passed quickly until I was once again trying to get her to go to bed. With their elder son coming home the Lights were staying out later that night, but I was free to go home when he arrived. I wore a short, white flowing cape to keep the cool night chill off my back and also to conceal my wings from any curious ponies not wanting to put on a display ever again. But mostly to hide them from the colt who I hoped hadn’t already noticed them in my grand introduction the other day.
It was nearing eight o’clock which was Twilight’s usual bed time, but she would have none of it. She was too excited to see her big brother again, and since I knew he planned to take her stargazing when he came home I figured there was really no point to put her to bed. So she hopped around the room like she always did, excitedly telling me everything that was awesome about her BBBFF as she called him.
“What’s a BBBFF?” I asked, wondering if I was so out of the loop that the more familiar term of BFF had changed on me.
“Big brother best friend forever, duh!” she shouted bluntly. Of course, how could I not have known that?
“He taught me my first spell and how to fly a kite, and he gives me piggy back rides, and he knows all about the stars in the sky and he sometimes gets to meet Princess Celestia, and he wears shining armor cuz he’s Shining Armor and he even knows how to use a sword!” she exclaimed in one breath while still jumping around the room. I didn’t know how she did it. “And you totally have a crush on him.” She added, and I focused all my willpower into not blushing in front of her. I think I failed though because she just giggled more.
“I do not. I was just embarrassed because I banged into him.” I tried to cover for myself.
“Yes you doooooo” she sang, happily.
“Do not.” I retorted.
“Do too!”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
I realized I was arguing with a seven year old and stopped, making her laugh more because she thought she had won. I sighed, exasperatedly. First my aunt teases me into submission and now a little filly.
I didn’t like him, I was just… afraid of him. He was the first colt I’d met outside of my family, and our meeting hadn’t exactly been graceful on my part. He also just happened to be a very handsome colt.
“Look, Twilight, would you just do me a favour and not tell him I’m a princess right now?” I pleaded with the hopping little unicorn. She stopped mid hop and eyed me.
“What? Why not? He’s a royal guard in training and going to protect princesses. That means you.” She declared pointing a hoof at me.
“No, he’s not, because I don’t live in Canterlot so he doesn’t have to protect me or even know I’m royalty.” I said emphatically.
“Whatever. If you don’t want to be a princess I’ll take over for you.” She looked up at me with a wide grin and squeak of pleasure.
“Fine. I officially knight you Princess Twilight.” I leaned over her and touched her shoulder with my horn as I’d seen my aunt do with knights in the royal court. “Now would you please promise to keep my royal lineage to yourself?” I repeated, but I’d lost her because now she was prancing around the room in a royal march.
“Yay! I’m a pretty, pretty princess!” she giggled.
“Looks like you’ll need a guard then, princess.” I jumped as suddenly Shining Armor trotted into the room and caught the bouncing filly in his hooves.
“Shining!” She cried and cuddled up to him.
“Hey Twily- I mean Princess Twily.” He grinned.
“Cadance just made me a-“ the little unicorn started to say but bit her lip and paused as she looked over to me. “-we’re pretending we’re princesses.” She reiterated, giving me a smile and to that I was grateful.
“Hello again Cadance. Is my silly little sister refusing to go to bed for you like she always does?” the alabaster colt turned to me smirking, wryly.
“Hello, welcome back.” I managed without stuttering. “She said she wanted to wait for you to come home and I couldn’t deny the wishes of a… uh… a princess.” I smiled, sheepishly. Could I go home now?
The filly giggled.
“Well I was just going to take her out stargazing. You’re welcome to join us.” He offered.
“Oh no, I couldn’t impose-“ I tried to say but Twilight interrupted.
“Cadance you have to come! Please, please, please!” she suddenly jumped out from her brother’s hooves and pleaded with me. I didn’t know what she was doing as she seemed to be keeping my secret for me, but for some reason torturing me by trying to get me to come. Didn’t she want to be alone with her brother?
“Twily, I think Cadance needs to get going.” Shining Armor told her. Even he didn’t want me around, I thought with a bit of a pain in my chest.
“No. I’m the princess, and I say she has to come.” The unicorn filly said, defiantly.
“I guess you can’t argue with that.” The colt shrugged and I tried to protest but lost my words in my throat. “Besides, it’s late, I can’t let a young mare like you walk home on your own. It wouldn’t be very gentlecoltly of me.” He flashed a brilliant smile at me that I would probably say now was flirtatious, but back then I was just very confused.
“But..I…uh…” I gave up, and before I knew it all three of us were heading to the very top of the tallest hill behind the Light’s house with a magnificent view of the night sky unimpeded by the towers of the castle or other buildings.
I always thought the night sky was beautiful and could spend hours looking at it from atop the highest tower in the humble castle of my home. In the taller Canterlot towers I was treated to a panoramic view of the starry sky, but the first time I asked my aunt to join me in star gazing she said she could not and I felt a deep sadness from her so I could never bring it up again.
Sometimes when I looked up at the moon and saw the strange dark marks that seemed to resemble a unicorn, known in legends as The Mare in the Moon, I wondered if it were true, and if the unicorn was lonely up there. On particularly clear nights I felt a deep loneliness and regret wash over me, seeming to waft off of the very surface of the shining bright orb. It reacted to my sensitivity and I usually had to stop looking, but I couldn’t help but wonder what it was the moon was trying to tell me.
That night it seemed to be watching out for the three of us, and I felt like it was giving me strength to conquer my shyness and embarrassment from being around this friendly and confident colt. The hill we stood on didn’t offer as beautiful a view, but I was happy to be with somepony else, and Shining Armor had brought a telescope which he was adjusting into position.
“If you look up there you can see the Summer Triangle.” He raised a hoof toward the east where the Milky Way spread a scattering of stars across the sky. In the lower end were three bright stars that seemed to form a triangle as he had said.
“I see it!” Twilight called out.
“I do too.” I replied.
“Good. Now try and find the brightest star of the three. That is Vega and is part of the constellation Lyra.” He continued, and I gazed up at the star that stretched toward the west, but I couldn’t really identify the full constellation which I guessed would be a lyre.
“Beside it is Veneb, a part of Cygnus the swan. Veneb is the swan’s tail.”
“I wanna see the swan!” Twilight cried and sidled up to the telescope and her elder brother adjusted it for her, putting his forehoof on her shoulder as he helped her find the group of stars. I couldn’t really see it either, but I didn’t want to intrude on them.
It really touched me the way he looked out for her and genuinely cared for her. The older brothers of my cousins always seemed to fight with their sisters or vice versa. Sometimes the elder was jealous of the younger getting more attention and having certain allowances, but I didn’t see any of that with them. She was so much younger than he was so it seemed strange to see them get along so well, but I could see that little Twilight idolized Shining Armor and probably wanted to be just like him if she could. He was a kind and gentle colt to take time for her now that he was home and I felt my heart flutter in my chest with how moved the whole scene made me feel. Although not negative emotions, I still felt a little overwhelmed and took a seat in the grass as he continued to show the filly the summer stars.
“I’m sorry, would you like to look through the telescope too, Cadance?” Shining Armor offered, after a few minutes coming over to where I sat in the soft grass. I looked over to the device to see Twilight giving me an encouraging nod and I rolled my eyes.
“Sure.” I said, standing up and following him. The insufferable filly moved out of the way, and I had to lean down to reach the eye piece since it was adjusted to her height.
“Here, let me adjust it for you.” The unicorn colt said and he came to my side and used his forehooves to pivot the telescope further up on its axis, brushing by my neck as he did so. He paused and turned to me, and I met his gaze feeling my heart thump in my chest as I saw his white coat turn pink around his muzzle. We quickly turned away and I stammered out a word of thanks for him, before I looked into the eye piece, anxious to focus on something else. But not even the magnificence of the starry night sky could calm my pounding heart or the heat of the blush on my own face.
What was happening? Why was I feeling this way? It wasn’t magic, it wasn’t the emotions around me; they were my own. And I had absolutely no idea what to do with them.
“The last star is called Altair….” He paused and I stifled a giggle as I heard his deep voice break into a higher pitch at the end of his phrase. I wasn’t the only one losing it.
He cleared his throat to start again “Uh… its part of the constellation of Aquilla. An eagle.” He smiled, sheepishly, seemingly embarrassed by his lapse in his voice.
I looked down at Twilight expecting her to kick me out of the way again to see the eagle, but she was curled up in a ball at my hooves, fast asleep.
“Ah, it sleeps.” I giggled and Shining Armor moved back over to see her.
“What do you do with her in the day? She never falls asleep this early.” He stated, his confidence back as he picked up the little filly in his magic and lay her on his back. I was jealous he could do it so effortlessly.
“Oh, we just do a little magic together and I chase her around the yard until she falls over… or more like until I do.” I replied feeling somewhat sheepish myself. “I think she’s trying to set us up together.” I added, watching the elder colt startle and wilt into a blush.
“Uh…yeah… sorry about that.” He mumbled. “She’s seen too many Disneigh movies and thinks every filly and colt should have a happily ever after.” He rolled his eyes, but I smiled feeling more confident now that he was acting befuddled.
“That’s actually really adorable.” I laughed and he did too.
“Well, I guess we should get back. Where are you staying? I’ll walk you home.”
I immediately panicked, not knowing what to say for a minute while still concealing my royalty for the time being. But then I remembered it was common for Aunt Celestia’s school’s students to take a room in the castle, especially if they were visiting from far away, so I told the truth.
“I’m studying at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns this summer and have a room at the castle.”
“Nice. I know my sister would love to go there.” Shining Armor said as he began to take down the telescope and pack it in his saddle bag.
“She’d be perfect.” I agreed, glancing over at the still sleeping filly draped over the colt’s back. I felt a little bit less shy talking to him without Twilight awake to mess with us or embarrass me more, but she was darling when she was asleep. A little lavender ball of fur that looked like a blossoming flower against the whiteness of Shining Armor’s coat.
He finished packing up, and then started to walk beside me toward the castle. “So, you’re from Istalia? Isn’t that right beside the sea?”
“Yes, it’s right on the Mardeiteraen Sea.” I replied, not sure how he knew where I was from, but guessed Twilight must have told him.
“I’ve always wanted to see the sea. I went to the lake at the base of the Canterlot mountain in the summers when I was a foal a lot and always enjoyed it. But I heard the sea is really different and beautiful. I’d like to see it.” The unicorn colt said, wistfully, and I felt touched by being privy to his simple dream.
“You can see the sea from my…from my house.” I told him, stumbling on almost saying castle. I needed to tell him the truth soon or I was going to just give myself away. “Oh, and there’s Equinice, which is a city in Istalia that has buildings that rest on water. Their streets are made from water called canals and you need a boat to get around.” I eagerly told him, loving the place myself although I had only visited once or twice.
“Really? Now that I’d like to see.”
“It’s not too far from where I live, you could come and…I-I mean…” I stopped, suddenly realizing I was inviting this colt I barely knew to my home when I had only minutes before been too shy to speak to him. I looked down, feeling awkward and embarrassed. He also seemed a little uncomfortable and we walked along in silence for the next while.
“You know, when I first bumped into you, I could have sworn you had wings.” Shining Armor suddenly spoke up again as we neared the palace, and startled, I turned to him.
“Wings? I’m a unicorn, silly.” I laughed, nervously.
“Yeah, I see that now, but I thought at first you had both wings and a horn.”
“Only the princess is like that. I’m just Cadance.” I said, and felt like it was true. I was just Cadance, walking along with her first friend in a foreign city while learning magic like other normal unicorns did. It felt so perfect, finally having that freedom to be myself and not the princess all the ponies expected me to be. I was Cadance the unicorn, student of Princess Celestia’s school instead of her niece, working her first summer job, meeting her first real friend, and not one of the only alicorns who had wings that had to hold up the weight of the world.
“Well, ‘Just Cadance’, since you’re new in town would you like to come with me on a tour of Canterlot tomorrow? I’m sure Twily would love to accompany us.” The alabaster unicorn offered and my heart skipped a beat at being invited to go out again with the alluring colt. Of course, Twilight was going to be there again but I’d try not to let her embarrass me too much.
“I’d like that.” I beamed, hoping my blush didn’t show too well in the moonlight.
“Great. Can you meet me at the Royal Sister’s fountain on Mane street around 10am?
I knew the area and agreed as we approached the castle gates, flanked by guards I was worried would give me away.“I can go on from here. Thank you for walking me home.” I smiled, giving a little bow of my neck.
“Goodnight, fair Cadance.” And the colt gave a low bow to me, than looked back up with a silly grin and we both burst out laughing.
“You really are a knight.” I giggled.
“In shining armor.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N Thanks for reading! This is a short establishing chapter, the next one is almost done and will come up in a few days. It will have the first bit of drama. For now enjoy Twilight being a brat and watching these two crazy foals fall for each other. Oh and Trollestia... not that I really believe in that. I love her. But she does like to mess with ponies if she knows something they don't- Cadance is no exception.