Ducenti Septuaginta Septem

by Capacitor

Chapter Fourteen: A Pony Called Cadance

Author's Note:

The following chapter contains explicit amounts of Flash Sentry and ends in tears.
Proceed at your own peril.
You have been warned.

Part Two: Theory of Singularity


Chapter Fourteen: A Pony Called Cadance

"In many ways, old Sand Song was like a mother to me. She took me in when I was but a colt, and she taught me, as they say, everything I know.
She was this subtle fusion of madness and brilliance that makes a true visionary. Me, I am a realist. I know that Princess Everfree is not alive, not dead, but still with us, and in my visions I can see the future she wants to guide us into, and while this future holds many regrettable events, I recognize the importance of the twilit princess – without her, our future is only chaos. This is why the Order is needed, this is why I will make this future I see come to pass.
Sand Song held more esoteric views. She claimed that unlike mine, her much greater talent of prophecy was not entirely natural – that she had viewed, or been touched by some unseen great entity (not the Watcher, who she saw as merely her equal) that had or would once tangle time itself into a knot, maybe acting as a lens for her to see through. She never quite agreed with herself on the specifics of the being she called Nyug-Haggeb, which allowed her to see or mayhaps be seen, which maybe was or maybe will be. I have never viewed something like that – indeed she told me that Nyug-Haggeb is where my vision ends, for the greater seer may obscure the lesser one and in turn change what others see."

—From the Memoirs of Pillar Base, Third Listener to the Watcher, 308 before Nightmare Moon

[Equestria, Crystal Empire; 2nd of Bloom in the year 1004 after Nightmare Moon]

Flash Sentry was worried. Primarily, he was worried about the sky; the sun vanishing and reappearing in quick succession, moving stars, strange lights on the horizon – really, a pegasus wasn't ought to worry about the sky.
But in fact, Flash Sentry had worried about the sky quite a few times recently. He had been worried when one day, it hadn't become morning, the moon had looked strangely blank and ponies whispered about the Mare in the Moon. He had been very worried when the sky had turned green, clouds had turned pink and rain had turned into chocolate milk. And he had been worried every single day during his stay in the arctic north when he had looked up at the grey, cold sky filled with wild, hostile, murderous weather. It just wasn't natural.

His secondary worry was, of course, the paperwork. When ponies thought of the life as a Royal Guard, they usually thought of either heroic deeds like fighting monsters or standing a long, boring watch without ever moving.
Nopony ever thought of the paperwork. As Captain of the Crystal Guard, most of the work Flash Sentry did was paperwork.
Any time anything glorious or even remotely interesting needed to be done, Prince Shining Armor would take the reins and he would be left on the sidelines.
As a Captain, guard duty was something to be organized (implying paperwork), and law enforcement something to be documented (implying more paperwork) – in fact, the only times he had to actually leave his office was to discuss shifts with the guards, report to the Prince, or, on the odd occasion, be present for important official events.

Today, there had been a strange occurrence – the one that had him worried about the sky – which, of course, needed to be meticulously reported. That meant, of course, extra paperwork.

The Royal Couple had reacted to the whole event a lot more nonchalantly than him – sure, they had looked worried when the sun had vanished, but just as quickly they were convinced that everything had been put back to normal when the sun came back – certain that the newly crowned Princess Twilight had sorted things out. They had other things on their mind – some kind of anniversary – and retired early for the evening, leaving Flash to disperse the worries of the populace and, naturally, tend to the necessary paperwork.

Paperwork just wasn't for Flash. He was too scatterbrained and disorganized to do it efficiently, and he kept taking quite a bit longer than somepony more concentrated might have. For example, Flash had spent the last five minutes rummaging through his dustbin in search of a form he'd already filled out. It wasn't the first time he'd accidentally thrown something away that he actually still needed.

In truth, it was this absentmindedness that had brought him into this position in the first place. Originally, he had been a lower ranking officer in Canterlot, but a wandering mind, wandering hooves and work as a guard didn't mix well. Not paying attention to where he was and where other ponies were in relation to him had led to ponies bumping into him. Important ponies, the sort of ponies who expected everypony else to pay attention to and make way for them. Specifically, it had been Princess Luna. Multiple times.
Long story short, he had been transferred to the arctic north—apparently simply suspending him had been too good for him.

Not that he would've minded it that much. He'd never really wanted to be a guard in the first place, but it was, to say the least, a tradition for members of the Sentry family to join the guard. When he'd gotten his cutie mark by saving a filly from a stray lightning bolt during a rare thunderstorm, his parents had seen it as a sign that guarding and saving ponies was his destiny. Flash, on the other hoof, believed that his destiny was being a weather pony – weather safety being his special talent.

In the end, he had caved, not wanting to disappoint mother, father and grandfather. It hadn't done him much good, though. While his family's connections had left him with a post as an officer despite his less-than-stellar aptitude, he couldn't concentrate on the ground – he needed to feel the wind under his wings to truly feel alive – and a wandering mind had led to carelessness had led to his current situation; in the frozen north, commanding the crystal guards, whose mindset was a thousand years backward, away from his home in Canterlot, away from his family, far away from his beloved special somepony (incidentally the same filly he'd saved from being struck by lightning).

As Flash Sentry fished the lost form out of the trash, staring at it bleary-eyed, lost in self-pity and entirely oblivious to how completely cliché his grievances were, the sound of somepony clearing their throat abruptly roused him from his musings. Peering around the dustbin on his desk, he found a unicorn mare standing in front of him, violet eyes under a dark grey mane and a pale horn boring down on him.
Her mouth curled around something that seemed unable to decide whether it was a scowl or a smile.

“The Captain of the Crystal Guard, I presume?” she asked. “Cardboard Cutout, was it not?”

He pushed the bin to the side. “Flash Sentry, Miss,” he replied. “I only took up the post recently.”

“Whatever.” She gave a dismissive wave of the hoof. “Listen, we have got a princess-tier emergency as defined in the Third Lunar Amendment in the castle. By the Pony Mutant Quarantine Act, we have to evacuate immediately.”

“Uh, what?” he stammered. The words 'princess-tier emergency' in conjunction with 'in the castle' proved both worrying and distracting to him.

The Equestrian code of law floated up in front of his face. “The castle has been infiltrated by three entities falling under paragraphs 2a, 5 and 14b respectively.” Each paragraph briefly lit up. Flash only caught the snippets 'cosmic power', 'abhorrent, amorphous' and 'mutant with emotion-based magic' before the book snapped close. None of those sounded good in any way or shape.
“We have to evacuate the castle and put it under lockdown to protect the populace.”
The mare paused long enough to magically fetch an official form and a quill from his desk. “Here,” she said, placing the sheet in front of him and filling out a formally compliant quarantine order.

He could only stare as the quill danced over the paper, creating a legal document that would have taken him an hour to fill out both in record time and the most neat, orderly hoofwriting he had ever seen. By the time he had closed his mouth, the unicorn had made three copies. Quill and stamp were floating patiently before him; all the paperwork was waiting for was his signature and seal.

With a cursory glance and a shaking hoof, Flash signed the orders. Monsters in the castle! He shuddered at the mere thought. At least this mare seemed to know what to do. “Go alert your guards and get the staff out safely,” she instructed him. “I will inform her highness. Understood?”

Flash nodded, his throat felt dry. He swallowed. Get everyone out of the castle, he thought. Just pull yourself together and everything will be fine.

“Good,” the unicorn said. “Now hurry.” She snatched up one of the copies, spun around and briskly trotted out of his office.

He watched her leave, allowing himself a brief moment of reprieve, breathing deeply. Then he got up from his desk, grabbed the quarantine order with a wing and left as well.

---

Quiet and swift as a breeze, Theory trotted through the hallways of the Crystal Castle. Produced noise and velocity of a gait were dependent on the technique used, and with the right models, one could easily solve the minimization problem that yielded the parameters for a gait that was optimized in a certain way.
It was trivial for Theory to work out in what ways her hooves needed to connect to stone and not make a sound, and she knew the rhythms that would allow her steps to reach farther and move her faster than classical models of her kinematics would indicate.
She knew that equally, with the barest flex of her power, she could cause her destination and current position to fall together without the need to navigate the castle. But really, what need was there for immense power to change and warp reality itself to your liking when you had the knowledge to achieve your end through other, lesser means?
Besides, as loathe as she was to admit, she understood walking far better than she understood herself, particularly the parts that came directly and solely from Beyond, such as the fragment of an elder and far greater power that empowered her. The better-understood tool took precedence from the lesser-known, and the simple solution from the arcane one.

Two Crystal Guards stood watch at the entrance of the Crystal Princess' personal quarters. As Theory approached, they stood straight, squared their shoulders in an attempt to look imposing. Adorable. They had roughly as much chance of stopping her as a blade of grass had of stopping a tornado.

“Halt!” the guard on the left commanded, stomping his hoof for emphasis. “These are the chambers of Her Royal Highness, the Crystal Princess. You cannot trespass here.”

“The Princess and her consort have already retired,” the other guard said in a more approachable tone. “If you would make an appoint—”

Theory presented them the quarantine order bearing their Captain's seal. “Captain Sentry sent me,” she explained with confidence and a serious look. “The castle is being evacuated due to a princess-level emergency. You need to join the rest of the Crystal Guard and bring everypony to safety. Meanwhile, I will inform the princess about the current situation.”

“But—” the left guard wanted to object, but Theory gave him no chance.

“There are several lethal threats inside the castle.” Theory moved closer as she spoke, looking the crystal stallion directly in the eye. “The lives of ponies are at stake if you do not hurry.”

The guard blinked nervously, shared a quick glance with his companion. Then, in silent accord, they galloped off to find their Captain. Without turning to spare them another look, Theory pushed the door open and entered the antechamber of the princess' rooms. A being who didn't describe things through their atomic composition might have used the word 'lavish' here, but there wasn't anyone there who would be impressed by the exquisite decorations and expensive furniture.

A few seconds later, Theory entered the bedroom of the royal couple. She closed the door behind her, then waited for the occupants to notice her. They didn't for more than half a minute, until Theory decided to make herself known audibly since simply glaring at the apparently distracted two ponies didn't seem to do the trick. She cleared her throat, an expression that didn't do justice to a sound that had more in common with a police siren than with the onomatopoeic word 'ahem'.

The effect was immediate. Shining Armor flinched so hard he tumbled from the bed onto the floor, while Princess Cadance jumped into the air like a startled pegasus, fell down again, bounced once on the mattress and then rolled off the bed to the other side.

Shining Armor quickly picked himself back up, face flush with a confused blend of outrage, embarrassment and physical exertion. “What in Tartarus is going on here?” he blurted at the intruder of his privacy. “Who are you? What are you doing in here?”

“That does not concern you.” Theory, who had been fixating the pink alicorn at the other end of the room, didn't as much as spare Shining Armor a sidelong glance. “I did not come here for you.”

She made to move around the bed, but Shining Armor quickly stepped in her way, blocking her path through the opulent chamber. “I am Prince Shining Armor,” he explained through gritted teeth, “and this is my bedroom. I think it does concern me what you're doing here.”

Theory met his glare with a cold stare of her own. “No one is interested in what you think, prince-consort Shining Armor. Now be a good colt and be quiet while the big girls talk.”

“Excuse me?!” the prince bellowed, his stamping hoof slightly muffled by the soft carpet. “Just who do you think you are?” He turned his head to the door and shouted “Guards!”

But when he turned his expression of anger and grim triumph back to the intruding pony, the eyes he found looking at him had changed. The two shimmering pools of darkness caught his gaze and held it, held his thoughts, held him paralysed, floating in nothingness. “Sit, and be silent.”
The voice poured into his mind, thick like syrup, soft and light like a cloud, pushing everything else aside. He felt his legs give away, saw the eyes rise out of his field of view. He wanted to shake his head to clear the fuzziness that filled his brain, but his neck didn't obey him. He wanted to say something, anything, but his jaw worked in vain. No sound passed his lips as he sat there, only dimly aware of the unicorn now moving past him.

Theory smiled as she moved towards the princess. The alicorn was confused and afraid in equal measure, and would probably have tried to flee were she not backed against a wall both figuratively and literally. “Now that this is out of the way, I think we can concentrate on a little chat, can we not, Mi Amore Cadenza?”

Whatever Cadance might have wanted to respond, she found she couldn't. Her head was spinning and her vision blurred, everything but the advancing grey unicorn seemed to melt and fade before her eyes. Her breathing sounded unnaturally loud to her ears, and she could hear the thundering pumping of her heart, the blood rushing through her veins, drowning all other sounds. Only the voice of the unicorn pierced the noise of her own body.
“Who are you, Mi Amore Cadenza?” the mare asked. “Why are you here?”

“W-What do you mean?” Cadance could just barely pick up the sound of her own voice beneath the frantic beating of her heart. “I'm the princess. I live here,” she explained almost desperately. Something about the situation was terribly disquieting to her. It was only barely possible to focus on anything but the unicorn without the noise of her own body obscuring her senses; it left her disoriented, frightened.

The other mare frowned. “Do not try to evade me with idle semantics. What is your destiny? What is your purpose in this world?”
Something shifted, subtly but abruptly. Maybe Cadance had blinked, for the unicorn wasn't where she had been just a moment ago. And then she was right next to her, although Cadance didn't remember her moving there, peering down at her side.
“I see. Your cutie mark—”

“It's a heart,” Cadance explained quickly. She felt uncomfortable having this strange pony so close to her. “It symbolizes my talent for spreading love—”

“It is an image of the Crystal Heart,” Theory interrupted her firmly. “The Crystal Heart protects the Crystal Empire. This mark predetermines your place as Crystal Princess.”

Princess Cadance couldn't really disagree with that. She had drawn the same conclusion a short time after Sombra's defeat. Still, it was wrong to just reduce her to her title when her cutie mark in fact meant so much more. “Yes, but—” she started.

“There is more to it,” Theory finished the sentence before Cadance could. “The mark that represents your destiny shows a tool, a weapon even, one that forwards the cause of the Empire and brings woe to those that oppose it.” Her eyes locked onto Cadance's, held her in place, staring into her very being. “A weapon powered by the very light and love you view as being your calling to spread. Your mark is love—” She interrupted herself, blinked. Immediately, Cadance's head cleared. For the first time since she had entered the room, the unicorn displayed something other than confidence. Theory took a step back, repeated in a whisper “Your mark is love...”

She stared at Cadance with wide unfocused eyes, head tilted, visibly puzzled, speaking in a low, fast voice, as if to herself. “They say that love is blind, do they not? They say one cannot love and be wise, and that all is fair in love and war. Your mark, the mark of the Crystal Princess, is love. But that means...” A wide, lopsided smile spread on her face, her eyes twinkled as she focused on Cadance again. “So that is what you are, Mi Amore Cadenza. I see who you are.”
She raised her voice and her head, proclaimed “Then know that I am Theory, and I see farther than you can imagine! I will know love and not be blinded, and I will know it not through heart alone, but through mind and will as well.”
Theory stepped closer again, gave Cadance a condescending smile. “You appear to be at a disadvantage, my dear. I know who you are, but you do not know that yourself.”

“I know who I am.” Cadance's throat felt like it was forcefully constricting. This mare was mad, obviously, rambling. “What you're saying makes no sense,” she said. Inside, she wasn't sure who it was she wanted to convince that what Theory had said was nothing meaningful. She looked for a way to escape, but her eyes wandered lost, involuntarily drifted back to Theory, as if there as nothing else there to hold her gaze.

Theory laughed, a beautiful, melodious sound. Cadance would have felt better had it been a deranged cackle. “A pitiful display, ” Theory commented. She smiled, and it almost seemed sympathetic. “I am afraid you are mediocre at best. An excuse for an alicorn.” Again, in the blink of an eye, Cadance lost track of her. Her voice stayed though, reaching Cadance without apparent source and direction. “Do you know what you should have been, Mi Amore Cadenza? A pegasus. A charming little light-hearted pegasus with a passion for music.”

Slowly, Cadance could make out a light. As if through a clearing fog, she saw the bright blue sky, above her, around her, dotted with pretty little clouds. She tried to move, to fly away, but her will couldn't find her limbs, her wings, her legs, amidst the tangle of veins running through her and the racket of her organs.

The voice returned, coming not from in front of her, not from behind her, just being there.
“You would have been happy, too.”

There was a pony flying through the sky. Had she only noticed it now, or had it not been there before? She didn't know.
The pink pegasus mare danced with the clouds, wind playing through tricoloured strands of mane and tail, violet, magenta and yellow. She almost, almost looked like Cadance when she had been a bit younger as she flew by, smiling, happily humming a cheerful tune mirrored in parts by the symbol on her flank.

“You would have known your parents, you might have found a lover, and all would have been fine.”

The pegasus turned back, flew towards the princess, landed before her. For a few long seconds, the two alternate selves looked into each other's eyes as the smaller pegasus slowly trotted closer to the larger alicorn. Then, a ripple of change washed over the pegasus. The sky darkened, the colours bled away, perspective shifted.

Theory took the final few steps and came to a stop face to face with the princess.
“In short, ” she said, “you would have been Cadance.” She turned, started pacing. “But that is not what happened. You, Mi Amore Cadenza, were born an alicorn. You were adopted by Princess Celestia. You found a lover.”
Theory stopped, laid a hoof on Shining Armor's shoulder, who sat there next to her, slouched, head hanging.
“You had a marvellous marriage, 'treulich geführt, ziehet dahin' and all that kitsch.”

For a moment, Cadance was really there, back on the day of her wedding. She could see the aisle before her, the ponies crowding left and right. The memory was so strong, so intense, she thought she could hear the bridal chorus of the birds carrying her train, thought she could feel her rejoicing heart carrying her legs forward, where her eyes, almost tearing up, could see Shining Armor waiting for her so they could say their vows.
It was overwhelming, it was wonderful, to be cast back, to relive these moments, to revisit with such clarity and awareness the day she had her perfect wedding, married her perfect stallion.

“Or did you?” The voice of the unicorn came unasked, cutting through the powerful impression of love and joy, separating her from the vision of the past.
As Cadance became aware of the present again, the image grew still, gray and distant.

Briefly, everything seemed to pause, as if frozen in time. Then, like the memory of a nightmare breaking through the walls of denial, chaos erupted. The shock, the nauseating, tingling jolt of arcane disturbance shot through her horn as Shining’s great shield around Canterlot shattered. In some strange, confused manner she saw both the interior of the great hall and the streets outside, where the black forms of changelings, wreathed in emerald flames, rained down from the sky like comets and sowed destruction wherever they struck. Ponies galloped about in panic, and in her ears echoed the voice of the horrible changeling queen. “First we take Canterlot, and then all of Equestria!”

Her head spun, her heart filled with terror. Before her, Princess Celestia fell, her horn blackened.
The queen of the changelings loomed over her, gnarled, black horn burning with bright green magic, her dark carapace, hole-riddled legs and ragged blue-green mane a stark contrast to Celestia’s white coat and resplendent radiance.
Cadance’s beloved Shining Armor stood by sheepishly as the queen cast the Princess down, mesmerized by the changeling’s spells.

The queen’s head turned towards her, and she felt her knees grow soft. Cackling, the changeling made towards her, sneering “Well, princess? What do you have to say for yourself? After all, all of this happened because of you.”
Halfway through the sentence, a ripple of change, a shudder of reality washed over the towering changeling, replacing her with Theory.

“No. I didn’t cause any of that.” Cadance was still shaking all over. Backing off didn’t seem to have any real effect, but she tried nonetheless. “I never wanted any of this.”

Was she dreaming? Was all of this just a nightmare? It was all as lucid and vivid as she could ever remember anything being, yet so bizarre she doubted its reality. The memories that had haunted her had been as vibrant as though she had been reliving them, but this limbo she shared with Theory was blurred and seemingly featureless – nothing but the unicorn was caught in her focus, try as she might, like this was some horrible dream were nothing else existed, nothing but the thundering of her heart and the unsteady roar of her breath. Theory was doing this, somehow, that was the logical explanation.

Yet as Cadance's thoughts began to stray, the unicorn spoke up, catching her wandering attention in her shimmering eyes. “You never wanted it? Do you honestly believe you have a say in who you are?” Theory shook her head, gave Cadance a brief sympathetic smile. “The changelings attacked Canterlot because you were a princess. It was your presence that enabled their invasion. Without you, they wouldn’t have found such an easy way in and wouldn’t have been able to launch their desperate attack. The fear of Luna and her ability to walk dreams would have driven them into hiding and away from Equestria.”

Cadance’s eyes lost track of Theory. She shuddered. Had it become colder, or was she just imagining things?

“In time,” Theory continued, “a city would have appeared – reappeared, even – in the frozen north. And the changelings would have remembered an ancient tale about a crystal city up north, overflowing with love. Unable to gather love in Equestria, they would have trekked to the Crystal Empire in hope of finding a place where they could feed.”

Something icy touched Cadance, and she almost jumped. It was a snowflake, and as she looked around, she saw more falling, more and more, until she stood inside an impenetrable storm of white.
It had grown colder, she realized. The frost-bearing wind stabbed at her side, and the snow clung to her coat and mane.

Then, she saw a dark shape moving past her just a dozen steps away. She moved towards it, stumbling half-blind through the flurry of snow, and soon she saw more of them, all moving in the same direction, some huddling together for protection against the storm, trying to shield their faces with holey forelegs. They were changelings, and she was one of them, wandering through frost and ice in search of shelter. As with her pegasus self before, this was a vision of what could have been.
She walked with them, and just as she thought she could see a light in the distance shining through the blizzard, Theory’s voice returned.

“But instead of a promised land, they would have found a death trap.”

The words were followed by a ghastly, unnatural howl coming from behind, causing Cadance's heart to freeze with fear. She turned, and saw a great shadow licking upwards like a tongue of black flame, a monstrous, billowing darkness. Most changelings turned tail and fled forwards, towards the light in the distance. A few brave ones stood their ground, curved horns lighting up with green fire.

Cadance fled with the bulk of the changelings, trying to reach the city, as the stragglers left behind were swallowed by the advancing cloud of shadows. They charged onwards through the storm, doing their best to ignore the irate howls from behind.

Finally, the city came into sight, and Cadance wasn’t all that surprised to find it protected by a shimmering pink, dome-shaped barrier. Some of the first few changelings crashed into the shield in an attempt to enter the city, the rest quickly slowed down as they realised that they were trapped outside.

A short moment of hesitation, then the darkness was already upon them. Red eyes lit up within the shadows, suffused in a malicious, purplish-greenish glow. A warped, curved horn sparked to life with sizzling, unholy energy. Pure, unfiltered hatred washed down unto Cadance and the changelings from the rising shade of King Sombra the Cruel.

She just stared up into those eyes, stared as the changelings around her fired green beams of energy that harmlessly passed through the shadows, stared as the fallen unicorn roared in rage and tendrils of dark magic whirled around them. She stared as changelings fell around her, sharp, grey crystals growing from the cracked, paled carapace of their shrivelled, lifeless husks, stared into those eyes that knew only hate.

She stared, and the eyes blinked, closed as Sombra’s and opened as Theory’s. “So,” the other mare said, “Twilight Sparkle’s quest to save the Crystal Empire would have been a little different. Parts of the changeling vanguard trapped inside the city, mayhap even the queen herself, would have pleaded to her for help. At first, events would have unravelled much like they did; up to the point when Twilight found the Crystal Heart. Sombra, who would have been preoccupied with the changelings and less focused on forcing his way into the city, would still have remained locked outside by then.
Then, Twilight would have discovered her actual task: Help the crystal ponies and the changelings accept each other before either Sombra breaks through or the Crystal Fair reaches its conclusion, for without the bonds of friendship protecting them, the Crystal Heart would have destroyed the changelings just as Sombra.
Naturally, she would have succeeded; accomplishing the impossible is like a second nature to Twilight.”
Theory’s mouth curled into a wry smile as she slowly circled Cadance, always keeping her eyes firmly on the alicorn.
“All would have been well. Sombra would have been vanquished, the changelings would have found their paradise in the freely given, abundant love of the crystal ponies; as well as friendship. It would have been a wonderful symbiosis, perfect harmony.” Theory stopped, her eyes bored into the princess’.
“None of that happened, and just because of you, Mi Amore Cadenza. Instead of allies and friends who have overcome their parasitic nature, changelings are feared and hated, enemies of the ponies of Equestria. Just because of you.”

Cadance shook her head. It sounded so terrible. This didn’t make sense. This couldn’t be true.
“But—but the changelings are horrible!” she stammered. “They steal love. Their queen is a heartless, evil monster, and they’d never have become friends with the crystal ponies.”

“Yes,” Theory sighed, rolled her eyes, “changelings are vicious creatures, and they would have been vicious without you, there is no denying that, is there?” Her expression grew serious again. “You are not the cause of their negative qualities, no. However,” – she raised her hoof – “you are the reason they never got a chance of betterment. You allowed them to become hated, and prevented their redemption.”

“No,” Cadance whispered. It just didn’t make sense. It weren’t even accusations. Even if it all were true, it wouldn’t make it her fault. Then why did the thought it could be true feel so horrible?

“For all the love you claim to spread,” Theory droned on, “I cannot help but notice all the hatred and pain you have caused.”

Was that it? Was that her cutie mark? A heart of crystal, radiant with light and love – a heart of stone, hard and cold. “Shut up!” she shouted. A beacon of hope – a weapon of destruction. “It’s not true!” she sobbed. She’d never wished for any of this. Why couldn’t she tell? Why couldn’t she tell if it was true? Had she destroyed the chance of happiness the changelings had had, or had she saved Equestria from them? Was her mark a symbol of love and unity, or a depiction of a magical weapon?

“No? Not true?” Theory echoed her. The unicorn chuckled. “What is with the denial, Mi Amore Cadenza? Really, you are exemplary of all the workings of Harmony in Equestria.”

And then, Shining Armor was there, charging between them. Eyes fierce, strong legs quivering, teeth clenched, he growled “She. Said. Shut! Up!”

He ignited his horn and barrelled into Theory, but the mare moved quick and light like a feather, backed off, and his charge trailed off into nowhere.

Yet, as Theory’s eyes flicked away from her for a moment, Cadance found, like it had always been there and she just hadn’t noticed it, the world around her returning, the Royal bedroom, the nightstand, the soft carpet she had curled up on, her stallion standing between her and the grinning mare, protecting her.

“And here we have your greatest strength and greatest weakness;” Theory declared with sparkling eyes, “the bond of love you two share. Really, I may not know much about love, but even I recognise the significance of your correlation. How else would your dear husband have overcome my hypnotic command if not for the power of his love?”

A translucent wall of force sprung up between the couple and Theory, Shining’s signature spell. Without heed of the mare’s words, he shouted “Stay away from Cadance! I don’t know what you’ve done to her, but you’ll stay away from her!”

Shining Armor was furious. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, but this mare had hurt his wife – Cadance was crying, and all that mattered was that he had to protect her.

Never ceasing her smile, Theory cast her eyes onto Shining Armor, who was far too blinded with rage to notice the shimmer of inverted light and impossible colour that filled them, or even the way their gaze brushed against the inside of his soul.

“Oh, the noble Shining Armor, whose destiny it is to protect those stronger than him from those he is powerless against,” she chirped in wry falsetto. As she continued, her tone vibrated between amusement and pity.
“Tell me, prince-consort, how can you protect your little sister when her magic outmatches yours by far? How can you protect your wife when she is stronger than you? How can you protect your rulers when anything that is a threat to them is beyond your ability to stop?” She gave her head a sad little shake and stepped right up to the magical barrier.
“You are a tragic figure, Shining Armor, a small knight in a world of dragons. It would be funny if it were not so sad. But do not worry behind your silly little shield, I will not harm you.”
She took a step back, smiled, her horn wreathed in crimson fire. “No, having you around will be far too interesting for that.”

She giggled and spun around on the spot, once, twice. Each pirouette left a circular band of red flames hanging around her, tongues of fire forming into shifting symbols.

Theory came to a stop facing the door, and a flick of the horn sent the rings of fire spiralling through the room and flat onto the door, one within the other. Here, the circles expanded until the outer one nearly reached, now about five feet across, the floor, the inner ring being not much smaller. As the arcane circles began turning, one clockwise, the other anticlockwise, the area of the door inside the smaller ring began to shimmer and shift, as if viewed through a sheet of very hot air.

With a light-hearted skip, Theory closed the distance and pranced into the rippling surface of the door as if it offered as much resistance as a veil of fog.

As soon as she had passed, the smaller of the fiery bands began to contract, collapsed into a red-glowing dot before pulsing outwards. A soft wave of magic washed over the door, propagated over walls, floor and ceiling before crashing into itself at the opposite end of the room. The layer of magic shimmered and faded, the remaining outer runic ring flared, rotating faster and faster until it became a solid, flat red band on the door. Across the red circle, written in equally red lettering, emerged the Equestrian word ‘Stop’.

Shining Armor kept glaring at the door until he was certain the unicorn wasn’t coming back. He lowered his shield with an angry snort, unsure whether to count this as a victory – the mare had left, sure, but did that mean he had scared her off?

He telekinetically reached for the door handle, only to find it elusive, slipping from his magical grasp like an overly wet piece of soap, leaving him without leverage to actually turn the handle. Attempting to use his hoof or mouth proved equally fruitless, only yielding a slight tingle on his tongue.
Finding himself unable to open the door, he stepped back and tentatively fired a short blast of magic against it, but that, too, dispersed uselessly.

He turned to Cadance and found her still huddled on the floor, face buried in her hooves. Quietly cursing himself for his negligence, he rushed over to her side, laying down next to her and placing a comforting foreleg around her shoulders. “Cadance, are you okay?” he asked.

She looked up at him with teary, reddened eyes. “Is—is she gone?” Cadance whispered.

Shining nodded. “Yeah. She sealed us in, too, and I don’t think I can get past that spell. Calling for the guards is probably useless after they didn’t come earlier. I guess she must’ve done something to them, too.”

Cadance simply stared down at the carpet, resting her head on her crossed legs, her eyes distant. “Shiny?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled by her own soft coat.

“Yes, love?”

“Am I” – she hesitated for a moment – “a bad pony?”

He blinked, slightly startled at her words. “Of course not.” He frowned. “Why would you even suggest something like that?”

“But the changelings...” Cadance began, trailed off, then started anew. “When they attacked—”

He held her hooves with his, interrupting her unsteady flow of words. “There’s nothing you could have done, okay?” Shining said. “The changeling queen overpowered you and locked you away. You have done nothing wrong, in fact, you were the one who defeated them in the end.”

“But that’s just it!” she exclaimed. “They need love to survive. I’m supposed to be the princess of love, and I sent them away. I sent them to the badlands, the most barren, loveless place imaginable.”

“It wasn’t like that, and you know it,” he said sternly. “They were invading your home. You were just acting in self-defence, and if anything, I’m as much to blame as you are. Besides,” he added jokingly, “all’s fair in love and war, right? In that case, it was both.”

Instead of laughing at his little joke, Cadance just paled, and she turned away from him, again staring down at the carpet, a haunted look on her face, her lips slightly quivering.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Shining Armor asked in a voice of concern.

She didn’t reply for a moment. Finally, she began whispering, growing more and more agitated as she went on. “But what about Sombra? I killed him, Shiny. I never looked at it that way, but when you think about it, I killed him.” She looked up at him, tears now streaming down her beautiful face. “Shiny, I killed a pony,” she sobbed. “How can I not be a bad pony?”

He reached around her and pulled her up into a hug, held her tight, saying “shh” in a soothing voice. Softly stroking her back, he let her tears seep into his coat, repeated the soothing sound until the crying stopped.
“Look, Cadance, Sombra was a monster. He wanted to kill us all, or worse,” he told her. “You and Spike did something admirable. You brought back light and hope to the crystal ponies. And if someone is so sick and twisted, so evil that something that inspires love and hope in everypony else is harmful to them, I think it’s better for them to not live.”
Almost as an afterthought, he added “You didn’t want to kill him, did you?”

“No,” Cadance said quietly.

“Then you’re not a murderer,” he said with conviction. “Is that clear?”

She nodded, then let her head sink and lean against his chest. They sat together in tight embrace for a little while. Cadance had closed her eyes and listened to the calming sound of her husband’s steady heartbeat. It was good to have him here, with her, supporting her.
At last, when her tears had dried up and breathing had slowed, she said “Thank you.”

“I’ll always be there to protect you, Cadance,” Shining Armor replied. “Always. Even if it’s from yourself.”

Comments

[DDDDDDDDD23]

This is stupid theory is a sociopath trying to take the moral high road.

[Capacitor]

8356347
While I mostly agree on the latter part, I would like you to elaborate on the former statement.
Why do you think this is stupid?