//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Twelve Years Ago in Canterlot 
// by SS Nomad 
//------------------------------//

It was a simple disguise, but it worked for her purposes.  Cadance was always amazed that nopony recognized her when she was smaller and wingless, but she wasn't one to complain.  The less you change, the less tiring the spell.

It was a bustling cafe in the Canterlot downtown, and the four unicorns had just ordered drinks.  Twinkleshine sat politely, waiting on her drink, lost in lala land like usual.  Lyra was checking out stallions' flanks as they wandered by, oblivious to the conversation.  That left Colgate and Cadance to catch up.

"So what's the latest news in castle life, Cadance?" Colgate casually asked.

Twinkleshine snapped back to the conversation, "You sure that's okay to talk about in public?" 

Cadance shrugged, "Nopony is paying attention, we're surrounded by self absorbed nobles." 

After a quick glance around to notice the sheer number of cravats in their immediate vicinity, Twinkle decided they were alright and turned back to stare at the door she expected her drink to be brought out through.

"But to answer your question," Cadance continued, "it's as slow as ever.  So little to do." 

"At least you're constantly surrounded by muscular stallions with chiseled jawlines," Lyra offered.

Cadance sighed and covered her face with a hoof, "Lyra, you know I don't look at my guards like that.  Besides, do you ever think about anything other than colts?"

Lyra turned with a playful smile and spoke in a mock-formal tone, "If the older generations aren't going to be partaking in the time honored tradition of staring at some fine flank, then I just suppose that duty falls to the youth now doesn't it?  I'm just making sure we don't fall behind as a culture, so cut me some slack, granny." 

Cadance chuckled, "I'm old enough to be your granny's granny.  Probably even a few more layers back." 

But Lyra was already distracted again, silently mouthing 'daaaaaammmn.'

Colgate rolled her eyes, "We really need to stop bringing her out in public." 

Cadance smiled, forgetting her worries from earlier.  Friends were great, especially these three.  For whatever reason, they always treated her like she was one of them, a normal teenage noble, not a centuries old deity and ruler.  Maybe she shouldn't let her hopes drop.  If these three could accept her, surely she could find-

"My tea," Twinkle announced.

The other three ponies turned to face her, but her eyes were locked on the inbound waitress, sporting a tray with four elegant looking glasses perched atop it.  The waitress smiled politely, setting their drinks in front of them.  Before the tray even touched the table, a tea cup full of something that smelled flowery had drifted its way to Twinkle's lips.  Other than that, what was left on the platter was one glass of milk, some hot chocolate, and the sugariest, most tooth destroying milkshake possible.

Colgate glared at the milkshake, then at Lyra, who had already lifted it and was sipping tauntingly. "They'll rot out of your head one day." 

"Probably," Lyra replied between sips, "but milkshakes don't require teeth." 

Colgate seemed too disgusted by the concept to properly respond.  Yup, these were her best friends all right.  Cadance smiled into her hot chocolate, enjoying the normalcy.

Twinkleshine set down her tea cup, somehow already empty, "Cadance, we should go dancing later." 

"Very forward, Twinkle," Colgate teased, "but luckily I think Cadance is the type to respond to that well." 

The joke seemed to fly right over Twinkle's head, but it made Cadance chuckle.  "Why should we go dancing, Twinkle?" 

"So you can find your true love, of course." 

For what was not the first time, Cadance was happy that her face was naturally pink and blushes just vanished into it.  She tried to maintain her cool, "I... you usually don't find them by actively looking, it just sort of happens." 

"How about that one, he's cute," Lyra offered, pointing out a stallion who was clearly her own type.  He was a muscular white pegasus stallion with a chiseled jaw line, but in this case a familiar one, and he was walking straight toward them.  Oh, it was Hank.  Damn, he saw her.  Looked serious, too.

"Looks like it might be time for me to go," Cadance mumbled.

The pegasus walked up, an aura of official guard business hanging over him, "M'lady, you are needed elsewhere." 

"Hi, what's your name," Lyra asked on reflex.

Hank blinked at her, but Cadance was the one to reply, "Lyr, he's almost twice your age and he's married."

Lyra shrugged, grumbled something that sounded remarkably like "cock-block," and returned to her milkshake.  Despite that display, Cadance was torn.  She always hated to leave the girls like this, but it sounded important this time.

She sighed and turned to her guard, "To the castle?" 

"It's not so urgent you need to skip your goodbyes," he replied with his usual polite air.

When Cadance turned back, Twinkleshine looked half sad and half understanding, "So no dancing?" 

"Some other time, promise," Cadance smiled forcedly.

Colgate nodded, "Duty calls, or something."

Lyra was busy with her eyes locked on... a mare?  Well that was far from Lyra's usual tastes, but Cadance supposed it probably wasn't a first.  Regardless, Cadance struggled to grab Lyra's attention, "I'm leaving, you know." 

"Sounds good," Lyra absently replied.  A second later it registered and she turned around, "Aww, we hardly got any time together." 

"It's not like I'm leaving the planet, I'm just going home early," Cadance joked, "I'll make sure to see you all again soon." 

With a few hugs and vigorous wave goodbye, Cadance followed the guard back to the castle.  Leaving her friends early.  Again.  They insisted they understood, but that didn't stop her feeling bad about it.

Hank picked up on the tension, "You know you aren't being brought back because the princess didn't want you out, right?" 

Cadance looked up at him inquisitively.  He continued, "She didn't seem to mind you sneaking out, she just wanted me to find you.  She said there was something it was time you saw." 

Intrigued, Cadance picked up the pace back to the castle.





Queen Chrysalis was surprised at how different the hive mind felt when she wasn't the nexus of it.  The contents were the same, she could hear her children just as clearly, but it just felt oddly different.  Almost as if she was only hearing the echo of their voices as bounced off of her surrogate.  Not being the center of the universe was a truly peculiar experience.

"My children," Chrysalis began.  The entire hive mind went silent, awaiting its Queen's words.  It was always satisfying to demand the respect of so many with just two words.

She continued, "I'm sure the rumors have already been circulating, so I will set the record straight.  The temporary hiccup in the hive mind earlier today was not a sign of anything wrong, it was just a side effect of changing its origin." 

She could feel the mind calm slightly.  Apparently that little hiccup had stressed them more than she'd noticed.  Then the murmurs started back up.

"Yes, I transferred the origin.  It is all part of a larger plan I will be setting into motion.  As the hive grows, we will need to plan for our future.  In order to support our loving family, we will need ever more client states from which to draw our feeding stock.  Shall we go find a kingdom and ask politely?" 

The mind was awash with the sounds of sinister chuckling.  Her subjects always responded well to cruel sarcasm.  As she continued, they immediately went silent.

"Our strength lies in our cunning and brutality.  My mother knew this, and she toppled kingdom after kingdom, driven by a sense of purpose and a love for the hive.  We look back on her legacy with pride.  It's a matter of indifference what those we depose think of us.  I have set into motion the groundwork for a new conquest.  We will be spreading the hive's influence to the northwest, into uncharted territory.  Naturally, this project is full of unknowns and must be executed perfectly.  As such, I will be doing the initial scouting myself, that I may truly understand the situation on the ground.  I will be spending the next week personally investigating the kingdom we are to invade." 

The response was about half cheers of excitement over a new kingdom to conquer and half murmurs of those troubled by the idea of their Queen's departure.  She'd have to word the next line carefully.

"Since you all seem to trust their judgement and skill, I will leave the daily business of the hive under the purview of the advising council while I'm away.  I can only assume they will live up to all of our expectations." 

The cheer of confidence seemed weak.  Perfect.  Maybe she'd have even less difficulty ousting them when she returned than she expected.

"And now I take my leave.  For the Glory of the Hive!" 

Hundreds of voices repeated the shout in unison.  Then the hushed whispering started.  They were nervous.  As they should be.

Chrysalis turned to Squire, "Shall we away?" 

Squire smiled back, a lightly packed bag slung over her back, "Naturally." 

For the first time in decades, Queen Chrysalis turned to leave the hive.





Shining Armor stood at one of Canterlot Castle's countless lesser doorways, guarding... what was it again?  He honestly didn't even remember.  It was a single short tower, detached from the rest of the castle structures, but deep within the walls.  All he could tell us that it was one of the shit details that they gave new recruits.  Standing still in the hot sun guarding something that nopony would ever try to break into, most likely.

He snuck a glance over his shoulder at the placard on the door.  Apparently this was the Royal Long Term Planning Tower, whatever that might mean.  As he was looking, he caught a glimpse of Princess Celestia landing on a balcony above.  He snapped immediately back into position, just in time for an out of uniform guard to round the corner with what seemed to be a short and wingless Princess Cadance.  He held his frozen pose.





"This is the place," Hank announced, "she'll be waiting for you inside." 

Cadance looked up at the tower, confused.  She'd never noticed this one before.  An odd little tower in a nearly unused section of the castle grounds.  But if Celestia wanted to meet her here, apparently it was about "Long Term Planning."

Intrigued, she dropped her disguise with a resounding pop.  The guard at the door jumped in surprise, which earned him a stern glare from Hank.  She glanced the stallion over.  Looked young, probably a recruit.  Kinda cute.  Probably worth introducing herself to later, but right now Celestia was waiting.  She stepped through the doorway.

The entry room was almost the entire height of the tower and all but empty, save for a large central spiral stair.  It was unlike any other structures she'd ever seen on the castle grounds, an undecorated and apparently unused tower that seemed to serve only to hold up the room at the very top.

She turned back to face Hank, "Are you sure this is the right place?" 

He was still standing just outside the doorway, "I was as surprised as you, but the princess was very specific."

Cadance turned back to the stairwell.  She wasn't exactly sure what to expect as she ascended, but this entire tower had a strange feel to it.  As she started up the stairs, she heard Hank close the door behind her.  The whole tower felt ominous and out of place, and here she was climbing the stairs because Celestia wanted to show her something.

The feeling lingered as she ascended to the upper chamber.  What could Celestia want to show her here?  She inwardly hoped that this would just turn out to be another of Celestia's moments of eccentricity.  As she stepped up to the door at the top of the stairs, she braced for anything.

As she reached for the door with her magic, she felt it impact something.  Some sort of powerful ward was on the door, but it seemed to dissipate the instant she touched it.  She cautiously reached for the door again and swung it open.

Her first thought upon seeing the upper chamber was that it was beautiful.  It was a large, ring shaped room, bereft of Canterlot Castle's standard adornment, but that's not to say there was no decoration.  All across the walls, there were pictures of ponies, cities, objects, all connected with filaments of glowing magic.  She stepped closer to look over a section of the wall.  It was fascinating to look at, even without knowing what it was.  Yet something about it felt odd to her and left her on edge.

"You are the first pony other than myself to set hoof in this room in about seven hundred years," came Celestia's voice from behind her, "what do you think of it?" 

Cadance nearly jumped out of her skin at the surprise.  She turned to face Celestia, who was sporting her standard amused grin.  Even after hundreds of years, Celestia still took great amusement in startling ponies.

Once Cadance's heart settled down, she replied, "What is this place?" 

Celestia's expression turned more serious, "Exactly what the name implies.  This is where I have spent the past millennium preparing." 

"Preparing... for what?" 

"Everything." 

Cadance looked around herself once more.  She finally realized what this room reminded her of.  She'd heard of madponies papering their walls with things they think important and drawing lines between them in an attempt to find patterns.  This realization did not help her confidence in the situation.

Cadance turned back to Celestia hesitantly, "So... What do you need with me?" 

"Ah, yes, that will be obvious in a few moments.  This way," Celestia gestured to a different section of the room and started moving that way.

Cadance cautiously eyed the room as she followed.  One of the walls seemed to serve as a focal point for many of the filaments.  She cautiously edged closer to it while still walking.  By the looks of the images and notes, Celestia was trying to narrow six groups of ponies down to six individuals.  Mildly fascinated, she looked the panel over, casually wondering if it was any ponies she knew.  Not spotting anypony immediately, and noticing Celestia had gotten pretty far ahead of her, Cadance stopped gawking and moved to catch up.

Celestia had stopped in front of one of the sections of pictures and turned around, "This one." 

Before Cadance was an oddly bare section of wall, by comparison.  Central to the diagrams were images of Celestia and Cadance.  There was also a map that Cadance thought resembled something the military would use.  It showed what seemed to be troop movements that led to every major population center in Equestria, all starting from some swamp in the southeast.  Hayseed.  She'd honestly never heard of the place.

She turned to Celestia, "Wait, are we being invaded?" 

"Well... Not yet," Celestia replied, "but yes, that's what this is about." 

Cadance pointed to her own picture, "But where do I come in? I'm no military strategist."

"Ah, but that's not what's needed," Celestia smiled, "I have a job that only you can perform.  It's absolutely vital to the safety of Equestria.  Will you help?" 

Cadance stood bolt upright, "of course.  But..." 

"'But?'" 

Cadance faltered, doubting herself, "Well, what could only I be capable of?" 

Celestia smiled awkwardly, "I... need you to help me find my true love."