//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Cadence // Story: Mare of the Void // by Eclipse Guardian //------------------------------// Mare of the Void Chapter 4: Cadence Nightmare Star opened her eyes as floated deep within a vast featureless black abyss. “Celestia better thank me for agreeing to this foalish plan of hers.” She growled angrily. -'Well, what did you expect Star? That that monstrous horror would just let us in here without a fight?'- “It ATE us for our Sun's sake!” Nightmare Star yelled. “I could have turned it into a puddle of molten slag if you had just let me!” -'I know that, but I wanted Void to think we were weaker than it. Besides you know as well as I that Eternals are made of sterner stuff than any foe we have ever encountered before.'- “And your brilliant plan was for it to EAT us!? From what I can see, there's nothing in here but darkness and more darkness!” Star squinted into the endless black trying to make out something other than just her flaming mane. -'Look, we don't really know much about Void and its real intentions for Equestria.'- “Couldn't you have just used the Elements on it? You've handled all six of them before, so it should be a simple matter for me.” The false Celestia grinned smugly. -'No, we lost our connection to harmony when Luna was banished to the moon...anyway, Void is powerful, immensely so. So defeating it will take more than just brute force.'- “So getting eaten whole was part of your plan?” Nightmare Star shook her head. “While we're stuck in here trying to find its weak spot, Luna, Twilight and Equestria are in danger!” She warned. -'That's what worries me, Star. But this was only plan I could come up with. You have to trust me. Twilight's friends...there's more to them then meets the eye. I know there's a core or heart of some kind in here. We just have to find it.'- Star lowered her eyes. “You are insane, Celestia.” -'*sigh* You tell me that every day, Star.'- Twilight nosed open the door to her study within Golden Oaks Library in search of a particular tome. “Void mentioned something about Eternals before he set me free. I remember reading something about them in one these books but I can't recall which one it was exactly. 'Beyond the understanding of mortals' it said, but what does that mean?” She thought back to how Celestia fought with Voidras up on Canterlot as felt tears building up. 'She's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead. Celestia would never go down so easily.' Despite her memories of being turned down by Celestia during the wedding, Twilight never completely gave up on the princess. “Void's words, Celestia's trust, I'm so confused.” Her bladed horn glowed a dark purple as plucked a small book from her personal collection. “...Aha! This is it! Myths and Ancient Rites of the Forgotten Era. The tome Princess Celestia and Luna gave to me last year.” Opening the small book, Twilight scoured through its pages looking for anything related to Eternals. Then she hit page sixty-seven and her eyes widened. “Let's see here...” Eternals are beings not known by most races of Equis, much of the world has either forgotten about them, has been expunged from their histories or replaced by more recent religions... Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Religion? I don't know of any religions in Equestria, maybe besides a few groups who worship Celestia and Luna as goddesses.” She turned back to reading. “Eternals” in short are beings of some cosmic force in our world. Ranging from; Light, Darkness, the very elements themselves, Day and Night etc.. Twilight took in all she could from the short amount of knowledge held within the page. 'Is this really all there is?' She read further. ...then there was one Eternal who wanted a Utopia for all who lived as mortals. We believe the name of this being was Harbinger of the Endless Black, a monstrosity with an endless thirst for life and even magic itself. At first, the Eternal wanted nothing more than to unite all under its banner for peace, but some unknown incident happened so the Eternal went mad and began to devour the very souls it wished to unite. “Wait, Harbinger? I thought it meant Void, after all it was sealed deep underneath Canterlot by the Sisters. Maybe it changed its name or perhaps-” A loud knocking cut off her train of thought causing her to sigh. “Who is it!?” When nopony answered, Twilight shrugged it off as a prank and continued reading before being interrupted again by even louder knocking. “It's open!” Another knock this one even louder than before. 'I hope it's not another pony trying to get me out of my treehouse.' Sighing, Twilight trotted down the stairs and opened the door with her new magic. Three figures stood outside, but just who it was shocked Twilight to her core. “Hey Twily...” Princess Cadence solemnly looked over the other mare's transformed body. Shining Armour in full guard armour stood beside her along with surprisingly Prince Blueblood. “Can we come in?” Cadence asked gently. Twilight could feel her bile rising as she stared into Cadence's light-purple eyes. “Why hello there Cadenza.” She spat. 'So my anger is still there after all. Voidras sure is picky.' Cadence gasped at Twilight's not-so-friendly tone. “Twily? It's me, Cadence. You know, your old foal-sitter.” She reached out with a pink hoof. “Please Twilight, you're friends need you...I-I need you.” She flinched when Shining's face contorted with a grimace. The void mare glared at the whimpering princess, unsure whether to slam the door in her face or outright attack her. “How did you get here so quickly? I was sure Void wouldn't allow anypony to escape Canterlot.” She said growling. Shining returned his sister's glare. “Princess Celestia helped us. Did you already forget about the emergency teleporter in Canterlot?” He asked rhetorically as Cadence, Blueblood and himself moved past Twilight into the library proper. Twilight's gaseous mane rolled in anger as she slammed the door behind them. Her anger toward her brother and Cadence still fresh in her mind, at least Blueblood had the decency to appear frightened by her. “I'm aware Shining, but the fact still remains.” She levitated Cadence over to her. “Cadence, is Princess Celestia alright?” “I...I don't know Twily. Shining told me she stayed behind to keep that thing busy.” “So she's...” “...” At Cadence's silence, Twilight's eyes hardened. “Void told me some frightening things about Celestia and you.” Cadence paled. “I'm not a fool Cadence, Void is dangerous. But I made my choice and I'm going to help it.” The pink mare began to tear up. “Why? Why are you helping that thing?! It attacked Canterlot, it harmed ponies, I know it did something horrible to Auntie Celestia!” Unable to break free of Twilight's magic, Cadence instead hugged Twilight's slender neck. “It turned you into...this!” She whimpered. Twilight sighed than glared at Shining. “I must, Cadence.” She let go of her magic, forcing Cadence to flap her wings in order to keep her balance, followed by Cadence gripping Twilight's neck even tighter. “I am no longer a normal pony. I've...changed.” Her mane wrapped around the pink mare's body. Shining noticed this and lit his horn. “Twilight, don't you dare harm he-” He was cut off by Twilight lifting Cadence and capturing her lips in a sudden kiss. “Twilight!!” He bolted over to them. Twilight moved her mouth against Cadence's with a boldness she wasn't used to. 'It's so sweet, oh Cadence it is you...' Unknown to most, this wasn't the first kiss the two shared. 'I was just a teenager at the time, and very curious...then she began seeing my brother.' Twilight caught sight of Shining Armor lunging at her with his magic ready. 'Brother, I love you as a sibling, but you have taken too much from me.' She channeled her new void magic through her blade-like horn. 'Sorry Shining.' The guard captain charged his taller sibling. “Twilight!” He went to tackle Twilight, but immediately found his legs frozen to the floor. “What did you-” He got his answer when he looked at his hooves. Cold, black-grey something was gripping his legs in a vice grip. Twilight backed away from Cadence's lips, a string of saliva connecting them before it broke, she smirked at her brother. “A little trick Void taught me.” Twilight lowered the slightly shocked Cadence to the floor, then trotted over to Shining. “Forgive me, brother. But Cadence is...important to me.” The pink princess blushed at this. “I have...loved her for a long time, not like I did with Celestia, but-” Shining glared at her. “So you wish steal her from me. That thing corrupted you after all!” He pulled against his restraints feebly trying to reach Twilight. Cadence through all of this, merely looked between the two siblings unsure of what to do. 'Twilight I...I wasn't aware that this was how you felt...but Shining.' “I was not corrupted, Shining! I was reborn.” “Don't make me laugh! Just look at yourself! You are not the same anymore!” “I am still Twilight Sparkle! Only with more power, and a new future without any lies to hold me back!” The void mare rose to her full height, standing over Shining easily twice his height. “Lies?! What lies?! It's rather obvious to me that you have betrayed the princess and Equestria by helping that monster!” He went to summon his magic but Twilight stopped him by placing more of the black-grey stuff over his horn. “Despite the lies she fed me, you and those so called friends of mine condemned me! The false Cadence had you all wrapped around her evil little hooves, you couldn't see all the obvious signs that she was false! I've come to realize that Celestia may have been in league with that fake the whole time just to get me out of the way when they realized I was onto her.” Twilight snarled as she stalked closer. “I still want to believe in Princess Celestia, but I'm finding that very hard these days since it seems so easy for her to give me the cold shoulder.” “What did you expect!? You called Cadence evil without any proof! Even if she was not the real Cadence, you should have found some real proof of her falsity! You can't just go around screaming and calling ponies such things, especially if they're royalty!” Shining snapped back. Twilight stamped her hooves causing cracks to appear in the floor. “But she wasn't Cadence! I knew it the moment I looked at her and her blatant disrespect against my blind friends! You're all idiots!” Cadence began to feel a numbing chill in the air as Twilight ranted. She looked over at Blueblood only to find him missing from the building entirely. “Celestia lied to me, Shining.” Twilight backed off and released him. “How!? You haven't explained anything!” Shining yelled. Twilight bit her lip, she recalled the depressing information Void told her within the caverns. The Alicorns destroyed Our home, and sealed us away to keep us from purifying the land. She didn't believe the eldrich horror's words completely, but she felt this pull that refused to let her go. It was small at first, but it kept growing ever since she gained her new body, she could feel Void's power no matter where or how far she was from it. “...It's not something you would understand Shining.” She turned around and snatched Cadence up in her mane again. “Take Blueblood and leave, Cadence stays with me.” “No Twilight! She's my wife and you're gonna tell me everything that monster told you to turn you into this...this...” Shining grit his teeth. “...abomination.” Twilight's and Cadence's jaws dropped at his words and tone. “Shining Armor, you-!” Cadence started only to be interrupted by a angry snarl of rage from Twilight. “GET OUT, ALREADY!!” Twilight raised up on her front hooves and bucked Shining right in the muzzle sending the wounded stallion hurtling out the door, the impact busted the door off its hinges and he hit the dirt road with a bodily thud. “Aghh!!” “Come back when you've cleaned up your attitude!” Twilight yelled as she slammed the broken door shut and sealed it with her magic. “T-Twilight I won't let...you g-get away with this...” Shining stammered before a deep lavender barrier surrounded the library cutting off all of his future attempts at getting back inside. “...Buck!!” “Twilight?” Cadence took a step back as the other mare turned her gaze on her. “I admit it, I have had a crush on you ever since I was fourteen years old, Cadence.” She began trotting slowly toward Cadence. “I was hurt when you announced your relationship with my brother after our kiss.” “That was an experiment Twily. You wanted to know what it was like but were too embarrassed remember?” Cadence was still stunned by Twilight's confession and quite shaken up by her and Shining's fight, but she shoved those thoughts back and adopted a soft smile. Twilight shook her head while keeping her eyes on Cadence's. “It was a revelation for me, that was the day I discovered the depths of my feelings for you. Despite what you may think, Shining and I were never really on the best of terms. We always used to fight when we lived together with Mom and Dad, even over the most simple of things.” She now loomed over Cadence who found her rump against the wall of the library. “Sorry, if I'm being very forward here Cady, but Void's influence over me has suppressed several of my emotions.” “I-its fine, Twily.” Cadence gulped as Twilight rubbed a hoof across her cheek. Twilight sighed at her reaction and lowered her hoof and stepped away. “You're important to me just the same as Luna, Cadence.” Cadence blinked. “Auntie Luna? How?” “She's like me. A Seed of Void, or she was one once before being banished to the Moon.” Her thoughts took her back to the book she was reading. “Oh! That reminds me I need to continue reading a book Cadence. Follow me.” With an excited grin, Twilight bounded up the stairs. The pink princess stood there for a moment going over what Twilight just revealed to her. “Things are going to get worse before they get better, I just know it.” She noted before following Twilight up the steps leaving the library cold and empty.