Magic of Love: A Twidance Prompt Collab

by ArguingPizza

Germs by ArguingPizza

by ArguingPizza
~~~

Cadence walked softly, her head low and wings tucked closely against her barrel. She had cast a silencing spell to muffle the sound of her hooves on the crystalline floors of the Spire, but even still she had cast aside her sollerets as an added precaution. She was being hunted, and she would fail the moment she underestimated her opponent.

Instincts old as equinity were coming to light, urging her to keep moving. Movement was life, staying in place was death. It had been true when her ancestors had roamed the plains and skies of modern Zebrica, and it remained true for her. She could not outfight her pursuer, could not fly her way to safety, and could not disguise herself well enough to hide in place. Her only hope was to remain mobile.

It was a dim hope indeed.

The normally bright lighting of the Spire had turned against her, robbing her of shadows to mask her presence. It was just as well, as her pink coat stood out starkly against the subdued blue and white latticework.

As Cadence neared an intersection, she heard voices approaching. Her heart leapt into her chest and she jumped into a nearby closet. She left the door cracked open just enough to see who it was. A moment later, a Crystal Knight and one of her courtiers passed by, whispering furiously to one another.

“Where could she be?” the mare, who she recognized to be Winnow Wind, asked urgently. Her eyes were darting every which way, even above to search the high vaulted ceiling. “We have to find her!”

Cadence’s jaw ached. Winnow Wind had been one of her most trusted advisors. Her talent for managing court petitions was second to none, and she was one of the few ponies in court that Cadence could truly call a friend. Her betrayal hurt deeply.

The guard Cadence didn’t recognize. Of the two of them, it had always been Twilight who had managed the Imperial Guard.

Cadence swallowed thickly and tried to force herself to think of other things. The darkness of the closet hid her tears well enough.

“Relax, Winnie. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.” The guard put a hoof on Winnow Wind’s withers to calm her. She melted into his touch. A few deep breaths later, she gave him a much calmer smile.

“You’re right. Thanks, Pyrite.”

Pyrite returned her smile. “No problem.” After only a brief moment, he turned serious once again, and his smile evaporated. “Come on, we need to keep looking. You know what’ll happen if we don’t find her.”

Winnow Wind shivered and nodded. The two continued down the hall once more, walking just a bit closer together than before. They had nearly rounded the corner when Cadence let out a sigh of relief.

It was a mistake.

Pyrite paused midstep and looked back over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed, focusing in on the door that concealed her. Cadence slammed her lips shut, nearly crying out when another white hot lance of pain rocked her.

His armored sollerets clicking against the crystal floor, Pyrite approached her hiding place. He was tense, his shoulders taught and his head low in a battle stance. Winnow Wind followed behind him, trying to both shield herself behind his bulk and peer around him.

Cadence’s heart was hammering in her chest. She didn’t want to hurt the guard. She couldn’t. Even after all that had transpired, after all the betrayals, she could never bring herself to harm one of her subjects.

Each step pared down Cadence’s options until she was left with only one.

When Pyrite reached for the handle to pull open the door, Cadence shoved it forward. The door swing wide and crashed against the wall, surprising Pyrite and giving her an opening. Cadence exploded out of the closet’s narrow confines past Pyrite and Winnow Wind.

She barreled down the hallway, the hoofsteps trailing behind telling her that Pyrite had recovered from the sudden upset. She ran as fast as she could, her longer legs giving her an advantage that was matched by Pyrite’s superior physical conditioning. Her mind raced to provide her an escape route, but she had nowhere to go. If she continued deeper into the spire, she would be cornered easily. If she attempted to find a window and fly away, she would be intercepted by the guards flying constant patrols. Down was out of the question, as it would have taken her past the guard barracks and meant near instant capture.

Her only option to keep even the most fragile of grips on her freedom was to go up, and there was not far to go. It was the best of terrible plans, so Cadence quickly made her way to one of the Spire’s secondary staircases. It wound its way up the internal walls of an auxiliary support column, allowing her to look down nearly to the base of the Spire.

She peaked her head over the railing, only to quickly pull it back in favor of running faster. She had caught glimpses of glistening armor on nearly every floor, all of them headed up after her. Only the Empire’s shortage of native pegasi had kept her from being outflanked from above: what few pegasi the Crystal Guard had were tied up acting as aerial sentries in case she tried to make her escape by air.

Lungs burning and heart slamming in her chest, Cadence struggled to keep pace in her climb. She may have had an earth pony’s magic, but the majority of the Knights were not only earth ponies, but trained soldiers. They could run circles around her without even trying. The stairs were exacting a heavy toll on her legs. Her muscles were on fire, each step a fiery struggle of willpower against exhaustion.

Eventually, Cadence’s fear lost out against her body’s urgent protests. She collapsed on the spiraling steps, unable to go any further. Her ears swiveled to take in the sounds of hoofguards approaching from both above and below, and she knew it was over. She closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears.

A Princess should face her final moments with dignity.

The clacking grew nearly deafening and then stopped all at once. Cadence could not bear to open her eyes, could not bear to see the crowd of turncoat guards. She would not remember them that way. Most likely, she would not remember them at all.

“Cadence?”

A voice sweet as nectar reached in to grab Cadence’s heart. Its tendrils sank deeply into her core that even now could not help but brighten at the contact. Cadence squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and buried her muzzle in her forelegs. She couldn’t look. If she did, it would break her.

“Cadence?” The voice was closer. Warm breath tickled her ears. The smell of parchment filled her nose. She felt a hoof on her withers, and though she tried to resist, Cadence could not stop herself from looking up.

Her eyes opened to Twilight, her wonderful, beautiful, traitorous Twilight. She was looking down at Cadence softly, a wing raised to give them a sense of privacy away from the guards. Cadence was shaking from fright, curling into herself to keep the distance between them.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come on, Cadence. This is getting ridiculous.” She leaned down to nuzzle Cadence’s neck, and Cadence found enough strength to pull herself away. Twilight straightened herself once more, looking unamused. “You know this is for the best.”

Cadence shook her head viciously, the pain flaring once more and leaving her to writhe and groan on the chiseled granite steps.

“Oh for the love of–Cadence, it’s just the dentist! You have to go, or that cavity is just going to get worse.”

The pain tapered off to a bearable level, and Cadence mumbled, “Dun wanna.” Her words were slurred by her careful avoidance of the left half of her mouth. Even the slightest contact could send her into a spasm if she wasn’t careful.

Twilight sighed and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. She sat contemplating before a spark flashed to life in her eyes. “You know, Cadence, a cavity doesn’t just happen. It’s caused by bacteria.” Twilight leaned down, her mouth scant inches from Cadence’s ear. “Right now, there’s millions of them in there. Tiny germs, each feasting away on your teeth. With every second that passes, they eat a little more.”

Cadence shivered, and Twilight pressed her attack. “Eventually, they’ll finish with that tooth. And then they’ll move down into your jaw.” Twilight trailed a hoof down Cadence’s mane, softly stroking the tangled mess back into order.

“They’ll feast on the bone until it become brittle enough to just snap.” With her magic, Twilight replicated the sound of a snapping twig. Cadence shuddered. Her jaw ached more than ever, and suddenly she could feel the writhing mass of microorganisms writhing inside her agonized tooth.

“Or we could go down and visit Doctor Pearly and have you feeling better in about an hour. Does that sound better?”

Cadence whimpered, and Twilight lit her horn. “I thought so.”

Comments

[cvvvrt]

Dentist? Harmless. Oral surgeons are a lot nastier.

[Hobbestc]

[Noble Cause]

As somepony that's had FAR more than their fair share of dental work done... Cady, trust me, the dental work is the lesser of two evils. Unless you want a gold grill to show off, M.C. Crystalass...

[Iron Nebula]

The worst dental thing I ever had to endure was getting my wisdom teeth removed. I've never actually had a cavity once in my life. Which is weird, 'cuz I love sugar.