Eros and Philia
Its been awhile hasn't it? I have extra time with the state of our world right now and wanted to keep this old story going. This chapter was originally delayed because I had to completely rewrite it while the rest had been written already as I planned out the full story. I wanted to show more about the relationships Cadance had created in the previous story and felt like I hadn't shown enough before the next chapter would come and bring the climax toward the ending. So here is the continuing story of young Princess Cadance, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle...
Note: The teen rating shows its face in this chapter a little. I have not and will not ever get explicit in this story, but I wanted to show how the young teens are changing as they grow older and how in her sheltered life its particularly confusing and quick for Cadance who is still very naive.
PS, Remember, this is still really old. I have updated it a bit as I worked on it the past few months with some references to later seasons of the show but there's still alot thats non-canonical. Its pretty much alternate universe now. So no, Shiny is not talking about Autumn Blaze at the beginning and Princess Celestia makes the best pancakes. 
All scenes with Sweetheart are brand new.
They were fun to write. Enjoy!
“I can’t believe you actually got to meet a kirin!” Shining Armor exclaimed, dreamily as we hid together under the leaves of our willow tree. My aunt’s sun bright and warm in the cloudless early summer sky.
“They were amazing.” I murmured, blushing a little as I told him what I could about meeting the ancient creatures and how they seemed to understand my magic along with who I really was. More than he ever could.
“You are so lucky. I mean, the only way to even get to their island is to be a registered partner to a citizen, or be a part of approved trade. But I guess as royalty you can bypass all that. I mean, jeez, they were here in Canterlot. How did they even travel here? Were they huge? Like real dragons? Did they even fit in the palace?” the young stallion rambled on into the sun rays shining through the branches as I cuddled up to him. I loved the feel of his passion and curiosity, his insatiable thirst for knowledge of something new, of something grand, just like his little sister. They were so alike. So dear.
“I thought maybe the royal guard could get a chance to visit their land, but turns out we’re not welcome either unless accompanying a princess on a royal visit….” His ears perked up and he looked down at me. “Hey, maybe I can accompany you one day.”
“Maybe you can...” I sighed, drunk on the sweetness of the love I could feel in my heart whenever I was around him, and the warmth of his soft body against me.
I closed my eyes as he spoke more, still listening to his dreamy speech, but resting my tired body and mind after a whirlwind of activity the past few days. This was a place I felt more relaxed in than my unfamiliar Canterlot bed. A more meaningful softness, a more restful respite.
I drifted between wakefulness and sleep. Trusting I was safe in his forelegs, and forgetting the anxiety of what lay ahead. A familiar tickle on my nose brought me back, and I smiled as I looked into his eyes and returned the kiss.
“Did you really fall asleep on me? Am I that boring?” He joked.
“I’m sorry. I just felt so comfortable laying here with you. And it's been a busy few days.” I replied, dreamily.
“Are your royal duties catching up to you, princess?” he asked in that slightly mocking tone that made me giggle.
“Hmm.. maybe a little.”
“I know what you need,” I watched as he sauntered over to the edge of our small space, where tendrils of the willow leaves fell over his mane before he turned back to me, “a proper date.” he flashed a brilliant grin, trying to be sauve I supposed, but it was ruined by the leaves hanging over his face and I giggled.
“And how are we going to do that?” I asked, helping him by magically parting the greenery from his forehead.
“Oh, I have my ways.”
The discomfort of the cloak draped over my back, covering my much larger wings like a time so long ago was lost on me as I giggled and thrust the frothy milkshake at my silly colt friend's nose. His grin was so wide it seemed to cover his comically mismatched coloured mustache, his mane flopping into his bespectacled eyes. He was so bright to me that I no longer had to squint through my own dark glasses to see him.
His silly disguises had allowed us to go to a cafe together with only minimal stares and embarrassment, but most importantly freedom from the prying eyes of the ponyrazzi.
“You look like Shercolt Holmes.” I giggled, blushing, discreetly under my hoof.
“And you look like Marelyn Monroe.” Shining Armor chuckled, and then feigned distress. “ I did a terrible disguise job. Now you’ll have even more Ponyrazzi after you.”
I giggled, blissfully as he nuzzled against me.
It was true we did get a few strange looks, for our lovey doveyness or our strange disguises, it didn’t matter. We still were together, unimpaired, and having a simple milkshake on a date as any yearling colt or filly could hope to do. As we had done only a year ago, when I was still that shy, scared filly, unable to show him or anypony who I really was.
We talked about all the things we had missed while separated. He told me how he was a part of the Junior Equestria Army Reserves now and only had to attend short summer training sessions leaving him time to see me during this visit. How he traveled around Equestria to battle sites of the past with his fellow cadets, and other military bases, hoping each time to receive a post in Roam near me. About joining the hoofball team and suffering a concussion where he blurted that he dated me and has never heard the end of it from his classmates who didn’t believe him. And proudly spoke of the leadership award he had earned that winter, unprecedented for a colt his age or rank, earning him a congratulatory visit from Princess Celestia.
He blushed more and more with each of his words, finally looking down in bashfulness at the mention of the high princess, but I took his hoof and smiled. I was so proud of him. So happy to hear that he was happy, and that even though he had a full and productive life, sometimes he still thought of me.
I told him what I could about the year past. About the lengthy tutoring sessions, the pranks I played on my curmudgeonly old wizard teacher when I could, the long choir practices in the basilicas where I was expected to perform for my country. My only real royal duty then, but it did give me a little more social interaction. Even if that interaction was with snooty nobles just like everything else. And the soft, white kitten mom had bought me to help spend my days when I was still weak and bedridden. How I named her Splendente, and I watched as his blush grew when I explained that it was the Istalian word for Shining. The kitten’s deep blue eyes always reminded me of him.
“It's a nice cat right? It's not one of those evil bitey-scratchy ones is it?” He asked, narrowing his eyes as he pointed a hoof at me.
“No, she’s a sweetie like you,” I chuckled. “But she’s afraid of her own shadow.”
“I hope you don’t think we have that in common.”
“Hmm, maybe just a little...” I laughed and covered my face as he flicked whipped cream at me.
It felt so normal to laugh and joke around with him. As if we hadn’t been separated for a year, and had always been together. As if there had been no secrets, no lies. I hadn’t hid my true self from him, and we were as close as foal hood friends. No shyness, no need to censor words or feelings. It was as natural as pure air.
And then his mustache fell off.
Giggling, I sat back in my chair, as he fished the disguise out from his milkshake, and of course, my giant floppy hat fell over my face, uncovering my mane for all to see.
“Uh oh…”
It was my mane. It really was. My long, subtly gradated, multi-coloured locks were as conspicuous as my wings and horn in their obscurity, and we were noticed.
“Oh my Celestia. It’s the princess!” Somepony squealed from the table across from me in the now familiar way they had when seeing some sort of celebrity.
“And she’s with the colt we read about. Could this be an actual date?”
“Duh…” I muttered under my breath, at a point now where I just had to accept their mindless drivel and move on.
“I wanna get a selfie with them for my scrapbook!”
I couldn’t manage to face hoof hard enough before they were in front of us, cameras at the ready, causing a ripple of curious stares across the cafe as I sank down in my seat.
Plump, middle aged housemare ponies who probably didn’t have much else to do excitedly confirmed that I was indeed who they thought I was with the incredibly subtle whinny of, “Are you really Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”
Nope, I’m Marelyn Monroe here to haunt your dreams, I thought even as my noble upbringing forced me to answer in the affirmative with polite, regal composure.
I watched miserably as Shining Armor scrambled to retrieve his disguise, then sauntered over to us with a tip of his hat to the mares.
“Terribly sorry, ladies, but the princess really must be going now.” he trilled in an unexpected Cockneigh accent as he put his hoof over my shoulder and started to push me from my seat.
I giggled, and demurely waved as he dragged me through the crowd of bewildered on-lookers muttering something about my ‘royal duties’ and 'cake' as we spilled onto the street.
“It’s the princess!”
“Princess Cadance!”
Quicker than I could imagine the ponies milling about on the streets became aware of me through the shouts from the cafe patrons, or just from glimpsing the two of us tumble out the door. They descended on us before I could even get up, cameras blinding me senseless as I tried to cover my eyes.
“Go, go!!” Shining cried, suddenly lifting me to my hooves in his magic aura and hurrying me out of the crowd. And somehow this time as we ran together through the streets it didn’t feel as horrible to be chased by them. It was fun to gallop with him as he protected me in his silly but gallant way. It was a rush to have that small freedom again to just run and hide like little foals playing hide and seek.
We ducked into an alleyway just losing the crowd by our tails. Shining Armor stood up on his hind legs with his back against the wall, and diligently watched out for anymore overly curious ponies as only a trained guard like him could do. I stood up beside him and started to laugh somewhat maniacally as I took in our hopeless situation and how very silly it really was. He turned to me and started to laugh too, clutching his unshorn hoof to his head and together we slid down the wall in resigned giggles where I hugged him close to me and burrowed into his soft white fur.
“I guess…” I gasped between giggles, looking up into his blue eyes bright with laughter. “...this is how it’s going to be now.”
“Looks like it.” he responded with barely controlled chuckles.
“Oh, but we looked like such fake dorks. What were those ponies supposed to think?” I demanded of no pony in particular, lost in my own laughter and squeezed him closer.
“I know. What were we thinking?” the colt added, tossing away the last of his disguise.
I picked up the moustache and glasses and put them on, grinning at him. “We could switch,”
I was rewarded with a coltish smirk from Shining Armor, but I sighed, letting the failed disguise fall into my outstretched hooves. It was the face of another pony. One who didn’t worry about Ponyrazzi or housemares with too much time on their hooves. A colt free to walk down the streets with their marefriend. The mare I couldn’t ever be for him.
“It really is hopeless now… I can’t even go on a date with you…” the laughter faded in my heart as I spoke these very real words. There was no running away from them now. As much as we couldn’t escape the actual curiosity and invasion of privacy from those meddlesome ponies, we also couldn’t escape the fact that this was how it was now. This was what my life had become. And as my emotions that seemed to rise and fall like the setting of the sun faded into despondency, I feared it would not be what he would want. And I couldn’t do anything to change it for him.
“Hey,” Shining Armor’s gentle voice enveloped me as he lifted my neck up to look into his caring eyes. “Nothing’s hopeless, and no pony is stopping us from seeing each other,” he smiled softly.
“We just have to be creative in our ways.”
“Like how? Hide in another tree?” I dead panned, grumpily turning away from him.
“No…” he nudged my chin back over to him. “You just have to fly, Princess.”
I reached the mountaintop before him this time. I didn’t hurt my hoof, or become breathless, it was me who pulled him up to the final ledge of the cliffs overlooking Canterlot where we had had our first date last summer. It was another hideaway, as was our only choice now, but at least it held the memory of a time when we were free together and oblivious of what lay ahead for us.
“No fair, you have huge alicorn wings.” Shining Armor breathed as I walked with him along the rocky edge, the sun hazy and low in the sky just as I remembered.
“You’re the one who told me to fly here,” I reminded him with a smirk, which he returned before we settled in a patch of grass together.
“And did you encounter any ponyrazzi or other pretty princess stalkers along the way?”
“Actually, there was a pegasus that tried to get a shot of me but I’m pretty sure he was frightened off by my ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE of GO AWAY!” I laughed, minimally demonstrating the archaic, and excessively loud voice of address my aunt had shown me once.
The colt blinked and rubbed at his ears. “Effective.”
“I’m sorry! Did I hurt your ears? I didn’t mean to… Oh, I was just trying to make you laugh, I didn’t mean to—“ My anxious cries of concern were suddenly cut off as he gently kissed me and guided me closer to him. I instantly relaxed as his touch could always do for me and my sudden empathetic freak outs.
“Effective.” I mimicked, snuggling against his chest, and he chuckled as he brought his hoof up along my back causing a slight tingle to go between my wings, and suddenly I felt them flutter out behind me.
“Ah hah!” Shining Armor exclaimed, and I squealed, clutching my cheeks as they burned in a blush as hot as any fever and I turned away, covering my face in my hooves, and wrapped the traitorous appendages around myself. I had not wanted him to see that. It wasn’t at all princess-like. It was so embarrassing!
He had already joked about how Pegasus wings seemed to respond to passionate and even sexual feelings, probably hearing about this from his own Pegasus friends, but I had actually not experienced it. I was not even sure if I was pegasus enough to. I had been lucky they had stayed put the year before. In any case, the unicorn colt I loved had grown a little more frisky and bold over the past year, as I had tried to joke about with him, and he was older than me—in more ways than age. He had the social experience to compare his changing hormones and conflicting feelings and experiences with, while I was still sheltered and innocent with my parents the only ponies to explain about growing up, and the mysteries of puberty to me (however much I didn’t want to hear it from them,) and he had not only been the first and only pony to show me what love was, he had been my first friend. I was so naive.
“Oh Goddesses!” I whined, squeezing my eyes shut as he laughed and reached out to hold me closer, but again, the feathered monsters flapped out and slapped his hoof away. It may not have been just a reflex that time.
“Whoa, I didn’t know wings could do that.” he blinked, his forelegs still stretched out toward me.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about wings…” I murmured, curling myself up, more shy and embarrassed than I ever had been with him.
“I know they’re soft and warm and fuzzy,” The colt’s laughs receded and I felt his gentle touch along my furled up wings, the resultant shiver warmer inside me this time. “And yours look like Twily tried to paint them her coat colour but gave up half-way.” he smiled, making me feel a little better as he shifted back to his silly, coltish self.
“Ugh, she wouldn’t dare.” I muttered giving him my own slight smile as I felt the heat along my cheeks start to cool and my heart return to its own familiar rhythm.
A placid sigh escaped the colt’s lips and he shifted to his hooves as I felt the cloak still resting on my shoulders lift from over my wings. I watched as a rose coloured aura drifted it to the grass near the edge of the cliffs over Canterlot. The fleece material spread out among the grass like a blanket and Shining gestured for me to sit with a reassuring and gentle smile with which he tried to mask his feelings from me. But he couldn’t. Nopony could.
I felt his despondency, his battle inside to not push more, his frustration. He wanted to follow his feelings as much as I did too, but he was frightened, blocked inside by fear and his own sense of morality. I felt it too, like I could never hold him close enough to me, like if I didn’t let myself get closer to him I would never have the chance to. This was the first time I had seen him in a year and I still couldn’t count on when I would see him again. How long could either of us hold on to those feelings deep inside? How long would he?
We were quiet then. Both a little lost, a little shy and embaressed. The cooling evening breeze drifted through my mane, long and loose along my back, and I saw the colours in the sky seem to mimick its candy coloured shades as the sun hung low on the horizon. Was that who I would become? A princess of this fleeting golden moment between day and night? Or the equally rose and lavendar colours as the time of dawn when the sun rose again? It wasn’t the first I had thought of it. And its connection to my uncertain and challenging future helped me focus on something else besides the arduous, passionate emotions I tried to keep at bay.
“Hey, look,” Shining Armor’s deep, soft voice drifted toward me and I saw as he did the distant form of the true Princess of Equestria flying into the horizon, the aforementioned colours fading as the distant, shining moon followed underneath her.
“So I guess Princess Celestia is training you to raise the sun now too, huh?”
“What?” I turned to the white unicorn surprised that his thoughts were so alike to mine. “No. I may be her heiress in title but I don’t have any connection to the celestial bodies like she does,” I paused, thoughtfully, staring down at my hooves, the new moon glinting off the silver slippers. “I mean I guess I could eventually... all unicorns can, right?” Shining’s eyes brightened with understanding as I turned back to him and smiled.
It hadn’t always been Princess Celestia who raised the sun and moon alone. If we were to believe the legends another alicorn had dominion over the moon and stars once but had been cast away due to envy in her heart. A story that seemed to fit with our own ancient history which spoke of the most great and powerful of all unicorns getting together to raise the sun and moon each day at the expense of all their great magic inside. Only an alicorn of an ancient and lost race with the power of the tri-ponykind could handle the heavens themselves without the loss of their magic. And so that was how it had been for thousands of years.
A muggy and distant lore seemed to confirm the existence of the second one, the moon princess who would become Nightmare Moon of which I found some testament of by reading old books my aunt sent me during my time of convalescence. I had wondered if she had been trying to tell me something as the books continued to pile up by my bed then, but she had been as impassive and reticent as ever when I tried to speak to her about it. I was always left in the dark. Her sun’s lost shadow.
“But I’m not her real daughter. Her true heiress. I know she wishes to train me as one... I am the only alicorn besides she...” I continued to speak, gazing into the now darkened but starry night sky. “But I’m torn, you know? I have a duty to my own country, a family... its.... complicated.” I sighed, deep and wearily lapsing down amongst the warmth of the fleece and settling close to the warm body of my dear colt.
“Hmm... I sort of have the same problem...” Shining Armor started, pensively his eyes still gazing out into the moonlight. “I mean my father always wanted me to be a scholar like him, but all I want is to be like my uncle in the royal guard. I mean Dad has given me his blessing now and Twily’s pretty much the scholar now.... but I still want him to be proud of me, you know?”
“I try to get the best grades, do projects for extra credit, hay, I’ve even had Twily help me but its hard to do both. I mean my training or grades is going to suffer if I slow down on one or the other so...ugh its exhausting.” He put his head in his hooves and pushed back his scruffy mane before turning to me blushing as a slight chuckle escaped his lips. “And you have to worry about ruling a country or learning to move planets in the sky....my problems are nothing compared to yours. I’m sorry.”
His deepest troubles touched my heart as I perceived them and could feel the same yearning from his words as my own, however trivial he may believe they were.
I leaned over and lay my hoof on the unicorn colt’s back before speaking, “No Shining, I want to hear what’s troubling you. I want to be able to help you too. I may have big political trials to deal with but that doesn’t mean I care any less about yours.”
With the emphatic fervor in my voice I hoped he could recognize that I was serious and his problems were meaningful to me. They were just as valid as mine.
“I do believe you are feeling torn in the same way I am. You want to do what your family thinks is right for you but have other desires for yourself. In this we differ because you can do what I cannot. You have the liberty to do what makes you happy. You can be the pony you want to be, not who your parents or your uncle or even your country want, but who you want. You have the freedom to do that for yourself. I don’t. Its in your hooves and you’re going to be an amazing royal guard one day. One I would trust in mine and my family’s care always.” I smiled at the shine in his eyes as I poured my heart into giving him the reassurance he needed and I could discern how he longed for.
“If your father can’t be proud of you for that at least know I am. I’ll always be proud of you and know I’m on your side. Embrace your freedom to decide for yourself what you want to be and never lose sight of your beautiful dreams.” I lay my hoof on his and smiled lovingly as he turned away and rubbed at his eyes his cheeks flushing. But I didn’t miss the tears. I could feel them myself.
“Jeez, Cadance, you always know just what to say to make a pony feel better...” he breathed his voice breaking.
“It comes with the talent.” I grinned and cherished in his laugh as the stars glistened brightly overhead.
“But if you could do something besides government what would you want to do? You must have dreams of your own...” Shining Armor asked of me with as much care apparent as I had tried to show him. But it was difficult for me to respond.
“Um... well...” I turned away, feeling flushed and mumbled something incoherent so that the colt reached over and turned my head back to him so that our eyes met.
“Hey, come on, I know you have dreams too. Don’t be shy with me.” his smile steadied my pounding heart and I knew I could keep my fornlorn wishes safe in his care and not worry about sounding silly or ungrateful for what I had or who I was.
“I’ve always liked to sing...” I started, softly. “I sing soprano in the choir at home but I don’t want to sing traditional songs like that... I like to sing the songs on the radio like Marea Cary. I guess I’d like to be a singer... like her.” I giggled, gingerly into my hooves and waited for him to laugh with me but it didn’t happen.
“Will you sing for me?”
With the trust I could now and always had felt from him my resolve I lay my gentle wing against his side and lifted the melody I always felt in my heart to the stars and the ears of my first true audience.
“There’s a hero... if you look inside your heart... you don’t have to be afraid of what you are...”
“Your highness, I do think that having a pizza delivered to the palace might be a security concern.” The stoic uniform-coloured and comparably stale personality wielding royal guard tried to tell me again as we waited at the door in the castle entrance hall. A bell like giggle escaped the mouth of the lithe, white unicorn filly standing beside me as I patted the withers of the discomfited guard.
“Oh come on, what’s a pizza delivery pony going to do?” I reassured him, then narrowed my eyes and turned to my friend beside me, “And I told you, I’m not in charge right now-- she is.” I pointed a hoof at Sweetheart who blushed and the heavy tiara along her head listed to the side just like it always did on me. I couldn’t help but giggle too as I adjusted it for her in my magic.
Aunt Celestia had graciously approved of me having Sweetheart stay in the castle guestrooms with me that warm summer evening. My parents didn’t mind either as long as the Princess permitted it and I behaved myself like a princess should... whatever that meant. And I was so happy. It was my first ever sleepover party and I was going to make sure everything I had ever read about or seen in movies could be experienced and become a part of my memories. And ordering a pizza was much more fitting of a slumber party than anything the palace kitchens could provide.
I had also temporarily bestowed my royal title and regalia on my dear friend as had always been her unexpressed wish which confused the guards more than ordering a pizza to a high castle ever could.
“Cadance, you really don’t have to--” Sweetheart started to say and then we all turned around at the somewhat recognizable but incredibly unexpected sound of a doorbell ringing.
“Whoa, there actually is a doorbell...” the guard muttered incredulously.
I blinked myself not really thinking this part through as I copied the lives of middle class ponies seen acted out in dramas of which I had never been apart of, and followed Sweetheart’s hesitant advice on what exactly a slumber party entailed. Actually, I had had a book on the subject once but gave it away to Twilight when we had failed at every step together and gave up.
Shrugging, I used my magic and pulled at the heavy, ornate doors and stepped back as they opened to reveal---a skinny unicorn colt not much older than myself, crushed between the large bodies of two more royal guards. They blocked him with their spears from going further as he clutched at his aura’s hold on a pizza box balanced precariously in the air.
“Put him down!” I shouted, as regally as I could, feeling more than a little bad for the poor delivery pony. The two soldiers unceremoniously dropped the colt to the ground but he still somehow managed to hold onto the pizza box. The two guards then scrambled to their hooves and saluted me.
“Your highness, Princess Cadance!”
I ignored them and Sweetheart followed me to the steps where the unfortunate courier sat dazedly and took the pizza box into my own aura and set it inside, before reaching out a hoof to help him up.
“I’m so sorry, sir. Are you alright?”
“Uh... I have a delivery for uh...um..” the dusky orange unicorn stammered as he focused on the two ponies in front of him. “Princess!” And he dropped back to the ground in a bow and I face hoofed before coaxing him back to his hooves.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. You did nothing wrong. I ordered the pizza here to the castle but didn’t think about how you could get in....” I told him guilt setting in on me for causing such a mess for an innocent pony. I was so silly. Of course this would happen with the castle entrance guards. I couldn’t just do something as normal as get pizza delivery could I?
“Here, did those bullying guards hurt you? Oh, you have a scrape on your fetlock.” Sweetheart sat down beside the delivery colt and held out his left hind leg to her breast.
“Oh um, don’t worry about it your majesty..” the young unicorn mumbled, rubbing his front leg behind his head, his blemished young face flushing.
“Come now, you can’t continue delivering with a hurt hoof,” Sweetheart soothed as she retrieved a small bandage from her purse at her side and guided it in her magic to him.
“You just happened to have those on you, huh?” Was all I could think to say to her, going into my own purse to find money to pay for the order and whatever else I could give as a tip for the poor pony’s unintended suffering and harrassment.
Sweetheart grinned. “Of course, its part of my medical training.” Her light hearted smile and seeing the delivery pony get back up with his dopey puppy dog eyes never leaving Sweetheart’s own started to relax me and I realized how ridiculous the situation really was. And how as usual my sweet little friend had somehow fixed it.
“T-thank you your highness...”
“Apologies on behalf of the palace! Please accept this gratuity in compensention.” I shoved my whole purse at the unsuspecting colt who only took his eyes off his kind eyed caretaker when the bag fell into his hooves and knocked him over again.
Fed up with the whole situation I turned to the entrance guards still standing stalk still before me, and glared until they offered their own apologies.
“Thank you again for coming here and I’m very sorry about the mixup. You take care for the rest of your deliveries tonight, alright?” Sweetheart gently continued her undaunted nursing of the young colt who bowed cermoniously in front of her.
“Its been an honour, princess!” he squeaked out before galloping off toward the main courtyard exit gates in a cloud of dust. Come to think of it how did he even get that far in the first place?
Stunned, I turned to walk back inside, mumbling for the guards to be at ease again. Sweetheart followed me in silence and as the doors closed behind us we leaned back against them letting out a breath of relief. “Well... that went well..” I murmured turning to the filly beside me and as our eyes met, Sweetheart burst out into infectious laughter that I couldn’t help but join in with her.
“That poor colt!” she giggled, harmoniously her breaths lost in the melodic sequence.
“He totally thought you were the princess!” I added, the tightness in my chest loosening as I sank back against the door beside her. As much as this whole thing had been a disaster and had me anxious over messing things up and hurting somepony, Sweetheart’s kindness and jubilant laughter transformed those turbulent emotions into helpless laughter of my own.
Covering her mouth with her hooves my friend guided me in laughing more and I felt tears in my eyes from the joyful feeling of losing myself in giggles and laughing at the most ridiculous of things. Just like any other filly my age would do.
“So, are you going to share that after all this?” the gruff voice of the original castle door guard interrupted, poking his nose toward the forgotten pizza box on the floor. But we just laughed harder, more shrill and undignified so that he rolled his eyes and turned away.
“Girls.”
We shared with the guard of course. Even Aunt Celestia (who had been disrupted by our crazed giggles) came to join us, surprised that we had actually gotten a pizza delivery to the castle just as much as we had been.
We stood in the castle kitchens and ate at the island counter without cutlery or even sitting down at a table. It was so strange to me but also so perfect. A princesses’s chance to let their manes down. And to show my friend that we were just like other ponies like herself.
Still, Sweetheart was shy around my regal aunt--her real princess-- and didn’t talk much, embarassed and blushing from the result of our silly behaviour.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you, Princess,” She mumbled, hanging her head, her self conciousness hanging heavy in the air.
“Uh yeah, sorry Auntie.” I said in between a mouthful of pizza, although I knew Aunt Celestia wouldn’t be upset at all. Still, I felt bad that Sweetheart was.
“Come now, young filly, you are here eating pizza with two princesses and a royal guard in the palace kitchens. This is about as far as a formal engagement as you can get. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. I want you and Cadance to have a wonderful time at your slumber party,” The kind hearted monarch said, gently laying a hoof on her shoulder. “And you are not in my school now.” she added, emphatically.
“Yeah Sweetheart, Princess Celestia is cool.” I encouraged grinning at my royal aunt.
“Cool?” The Sun princess pondered aloud. “I do believe that is the first time I have heard a young pony refer to me as such.”
This made Sweetheart giggle into her hooves again, hiding her face that was still flushed around her cheeks.
I would later find out from her, (and discover for myself) that Princess Celestia, Headmare of the school of magic where Sweetheart studied at was not as easygoing and forgiving as she had shown me as a family member. She was by no means cruel, but a strict yet fair teacher who had high expectations for her talented students and demanded as much respect from them as she gave in return. As the ruler of our land with a multitude of royal duties she was not able to be the aproachable, fun loving mare as I knew. In fact, the students only spoke to her if they were in some sort of trouble or for a special academic achievement. They were pretty much terrified of her, and I could see why my friend had been confused to have the Headmare and Princess she knew only as an authority figure join our pizza party and act casual and like any other pony.
“Sweetheart of House Remedy, class 2A, you have always managed to keep my neice out of trouble, and above all have been a dear friend to her. I want to thank you for that.” Aware of her students’ conceptions of her Princess Celestia leaned her neck closer to the yearling filly and spoke to her gently and kindly, so that she visibly relaxed and the heavy emotions in the air subdued.
With bright, clear eyes, no longer ashamed or scared, Sweetheart looked into her teacher and princess’s eyes. “You don’t need to thank me, your majesty. I really like Cadance. She’s so sweet and kind and the most loving pony I know.” I only vaguely could make out when she turned to me and smiled, my eyes blurred by heart-touched tears.
“Aww, I love you too, Sweetheart!” I cried and grabbed onto her in a hug, feeling familiar warmth spread through me and into my heart. A different kind of feeling than I felt with Shining Armor. Her treasured words were just how I thought of her too, and to hear them about myself reminded me that I had learned that love was present in all types of relationships, not just the romantic love I had longed for, and I had found it in so many ways that one summer only a year ago. My dearest friend had always shown that multi-faceted emotion to me through her compassion and trusting nature. Encouraging and supporting me in some of my most difficult times. I only hoped I could be there for her too even with our distances so far apart.
It’s you who is the most loving pony. It was you I learned it from. You and Shining Armor showed me to love myself as much as anypony else. And through that I could spread love to others as was my calling. But I couldn’t have done any of it without you.
“Well, I’m sure you two girls have more things planned than sitting around with this old mare all night. I will retire to my quarters now and let you get back to your fun.” Princess Celestia said as she finished helping us clean up. It was no time to bother any of the castle staff to do it and we only had a small amount of dishes, while we gave the guard the leftovers to share with the rest of the night soldiers. I’d have to tell Shiny about the hidden benefits of his chosen career later.
“Goodnight Aunt Celestia.” we both said while Sweetheart omitted the familial title.
“I’ll be sure to make you my specialty pancakes tomorrow morning, so don’t stay up too late.” She added, smiling as she started to take her leave.
“Wait... Princess Celestia makes pancakes?” Sweetheart asked turning to me.
I giggled thinking about the sweet, decorative stacked pancakes with fruit faces and whip cream manes she had made on weekends for my last visit. “Just wait.”
We did our best to fill that evening with all the fun things a slumber party was supposed to have including more snacks, letting Sweetheart try on every piece of royal regalia I owned and taking pictures together dressed up. And trying to do each others’ makeup but failing since she didn’t really wear any, and I would have a mare in waiting usually do mine if I ever wore any myself. But it all ended in giggles and joy no matter how much we messed it up.
Neither of us really had the heart for a pillow fight or any type of truth telling games, (because I could usually guess a lie by the emotions shown to me), but with my mane done up in curlers, and her rosy curls straightened out so she looked completely different, her mane hanging down long past her tail, Sweetheart and I sat side by side in the castle guestroom that had two beds for us each to use and chatted before settling in for the night. Which eventually devolved into Sweetheart telling me a strange and scary story which I would not have expected from my gentle, shy friend. But she had always surprised me.
“Once, many, many moons ago in the eternally green islands of Connemara, Shireland, of my ancestors, there lived a earth pony carpenter and his wife who’s only wish was to have a foal...” With the curtains closed and the lights off she began her tale, letting her light pink glow from her horn shine dimly in front of her as our only light in the darkness of the castle quarters.
“Wait, you’re from Connemara?” I interrupted always interested in other parts of the world that I had been shut away from until now. And somehow it made sense because the ponies of that region of Shireland were known to be usually of short stature as well as other characteristics I realzied I saw in her now.
“My father’s family is...” she paused. “Didn’t my curly mane and how tiny I am give you an idea?” she seemed disheartened.
“Hey, I’m not judging. Ponies expect me to look like Princess Celestia because of my ancestry.” I held up my hooves and shrugged.
“I know you aren’t. Now shush, and let me tell the story.” At her scolding tone I put my hooves over my mouth trying not to giggle and listened attentively.
“Anyway... "
The wife could not bear a foal for the 10 years they had been married. So in desperation they travelled into the dense woods where the husband had been cutting trees for his livelihood. He had been told by the local ponies of the area that there were faeries living in those woods, and they would give bad luck to anypony who disturbed them. But faeries were also known to grant wishes, so he and his wife walked deep into the forest where they came to the largest and most magnificent hawthorn tree untouched by anypony as if it had been protected by the faeries of legend.
So, without thinking of bad luck or anypony but themselves and their desires, they cried out their wish to the forest faeries offering anything in return. The husband promised to stop cutting wood in the area, and the wife promised to be the most loving mother, and to raise a fine stallion or mare who would always pay tribute to the faeries and their world.
Sadly, they did not hear an answer to their plea and they returned home in despair. The husband went back to his work in the faerie forest, despite the locals’ warnings in retaliation for not hearing from them, and the wife continued tending to their household. And yet, in a few weeks she had discovered she was finally pregnant and together they rejoiced in becoming parents.
After an easy pregnancy the wife gave birth to a beautiful baby filly of white coat and white mane with blue eyes of starlight, blessed with the traditional features of the Connemara of the past. They named their foal Féileacán (Fae-la-con) or Butterfly in our language, and were happy. The foal grew healthily and the parents continued with their lives, forgetting about their failed attempt of wishing to the faeries, and believed their good fortune was their own.
“And this is where it gets scary, right?” I chuckled and received a weak slap on my hooves.
“Shush!”
Sweetheart really never did treat me like a princess, just like I’d always wished for. Because who would slap a princess but her best friend? I tried my best to quit giggling and sat up straighter to show I was listening again.
So, the family lived happily until the baby Butterfly became three months old. Despite always wanting a foal, the father would usually have to be working to support the peasent family and did not get to see his lovely foal very often. Because of this he did not notice when the filly began to change... but the mother did.
At first it was small things. The baby would cry more now, when she had been a quiet and temperant child, only crying if needing something or hurt. Then she began to eat more. She was always so hungry and crying because of this and the mother didn’t know how to help her. No matter how much she fed the filly was inconsolable and cried through the night. The only time she was quiet was when the mother held her to her breast and rocked her gently, singing a song about how much she loved her foal. But she could not hold the child forever, and the mother needed to find some relief for her beloved baby filly. She asked the other mares in the village who had little advice except some silly superstitions about the faeries stealing a child away and replacing it with a faerie foal called a Changeling. A faerie child that only looks like your own. She thought of this as only nonsense, and when she told her husband he didn’t notice any change and just thought Butterfly was getting older and bigger and needed more attention from them.
But the child only continued to change. Her pure white mane had grown longer since birth, but had started to change to a sickly, green colour at the roots, growing out fuller each day and covering her original colour. Her incessent crying would redden her muzzle and cheeks, but when she would take a breath or settle to eat her coat colour still seemed to have a tinge of darkness that spread from her face to her ears with each day. And then her teeth began to grow in. They were pointed and sharp like a wolf’s fangs and she bit whomever tried to touch her.
This the husband could not ignore, and he and the wife took the baby to the village doctor and demanded an explanation. The doctor only shook his head and said, “There’s a Changeling alright,” and spoke of the same legend the village mares had told the wife. That the faeries would steal a beautiful foal, or in rare cases a young stallion or mare who was deemed to be alluring by people who know them, for faeries love beauty and grace. There was little she could do but continue to show love and care for the foal, because the faeries could be known to treat their captured child in the same way as you cared for their child, or worse.
Hearing the legend for a second time, and with how very much she had watched her baby change and grow aggressive and inconsoluable, the wife chose to believe the stories despite the husband saying it was more silly old mares’ tales, and he was sick of hearing about faeries and would not have them spoken of in his house again. But the wife remembered their plea and their bargain with the faeries which they had not committed to as they didn’t think the faeries had listened, but what if they had? What if the faeries had blessed them with their beautiful foal, and when they did not return their end of the bargain they had taken their baby away? And the husband continued to destroy their beautiful forest!
Without telling her husband the wife begged the village mares to tell her what she should do to have her baby returned to her if she indeed had been replaced by a Changeling. They had strange remedies such as giving the baby a flute or other instrument and if she jumped up and started to play it she would realize she had been discovered and run away, and the faeries would return her child to her. Or hanging a horseshoe near the baby’s crib because faeries hated the smell and taste of iron and would try to get away. Or the puzzling advice to boil water and fill eggshells with it so that the faerie would reveal itself by speaking aloud about the ridiculousness of such a thing, which a baby of her age should not be able to do. In all cases the faerie should be frightened into leaving the house, and letting the real foal return home. But although the wife tried these things the baby just grew more aggressive and feral so that nopony could touch her except to feed, and the poor mother would always suffer injuries from her sharp fanged teeth. To make matters worse the baby never seemed to sustain nourishment and would no longer grow, and the mother pitied the sickly thing that had once been her beloved filly.
At her wits’ end the mother begged her husband to stop disturbing the faerie forest, and to come with her to offer their apologies to the magical creatures and to plead for their real baby back. But the husband was disgusted at the behaviour and appearance of the child who now had a look of decay about her tiny hooves as if the skin were being rotted from the inside, her ribs skeletal despite that she did nothing but scream and eat. She seemed to be withering away in front of them and there was nothing they could do. The husband said that if they were really to believe that their child was a faerie Changeling then the best way of being rid of one is to throw it in the fire, and if it is a faerie it will save itself and return their true foal to them.
“They didn’t burn the baby did they?” I couldn’t help but interrupt then as the real horror of the story started to settle in.
“No,” Sweetheart replied. “Not in this story anyway.”
I had no words as the truly horrifying story I’d thought wouldn’t be scary came to its dark conclusion.
The wife was horrified and said she would never hurt a child no matter how horrible it was, and whether or not the faeries had taken their foal, this foal was suffering and if going to the faeries and begging for their help could save at least one child, she would do all she could to make it so. But the husband forbade her and said that the next day he would put that creature out of its misery himself.
Desperate to save the foal, that night as the husband slept, the wife snuck out into the forest with the baby cradled close to her to keep her screams at bay. She came to the hawthorn tree where they had called out to the faeries almost a year before. She held up the screaming child and cried out into the darkness of the faerie forest dwelling for forgiveness. She apologized for her and her husband’s actions against them and said she realized they needed to be punished, but the baby shouldn’t have to suffer because of them. She begged them to please take the changeling foal back so that it could grow healthy and strong, and not be in pain anymore. And in fornlorn tears of a mother who had lost a child, she begged for her own child back too. And this time the faeries answered.
In voices of echo and starlite, the faeries told the mother that they were humbled by her desire to help their faerie child as well as her own. That they were grateful she had given love and care to their child because that was what she had needed, and she wasn’t suffering but growing as a faerie child should. And the only way to make sure she would not suffer is to continue to have the mortal mother’s love.
And so the normally relentless faerie people offered the desperate mother a deal. She would be able to see and care for her own foal again if she would continue to care for their child as well. To do this, she would have to give up the mortal world and join them in theirs. And neither she nor her child could ever return.
In this way the pony who had most wronged the faeries was punished. The husband who had continued to destroy their territory, and refused to acknowledge their child had lost both his wife and foal. They were never seen again, and the story of the childless couple who had been granted a foal from the faeries became part of the many legends of the faeries and their changeling children within the isles of Shireland.
The rosy light of Sweetheart’s horn suddenly went out and I couldn’t help but cry out in the darkness. Small hooves held on to my shoulders and the light returned brighter now, lighting up her face in front of me. Gentle blue eyes in a familiar kind face looked into my own. “Hey, its OK, Cady. Its just a story,” She smiled, but her eyes showed concern as I shivered in her hold.
It wasn’t the actual story that held me in the clutches of fear, but was the thought of how these malignant faeries seemed to depend on love to thrive. Like me. What could that possibly mean? Was I some kind of changeling child? An evil faerie? Did my unicorn parents lose their normal unicorn foal to me? Was that the reason for my magic and being unable to survive without love? Was that who the Mederi were? Was I even an alicorn?
“Was it really that scary? Its just a creepy legend my grandfather told me,” her words of comfort started to get a little more frantic as she took in my quick breaths and glazed over eyes.
“B-but aren’t faeries supposed to be tiny, magical, nice ponies? Aren’t they supposed to grant w-wishes?” I stammered out, unable to say the real reason I was scared and shaking.
“W-well.. All fairytales usually have a darker backstory... right?” her own tone seemed to rise in fear and I tried to pull myself together for her sake.
It wasn’t working. “What if they come here? W-what if they take a foal like Twily away? What if they come for me?!” I cried and gripped her shoulders, trying to convince myself as well as her that this was all I feared.
“Its not real though. Its just a legend... like the mare in the moon,”
At that I clutched my hooves to my head and moaned knowing it was no legend, and that most stories were based on some sort of real event.
“OK, OK not that legend! Cadance look at me!” I finally focused on the frantic filly in front of me as she called to me through my blind panic.
In a slow and practiced movement the white unicorn brought her fore hoof up to her chest while she held my shoulder with the other and closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath of air. Opening her eyes she guided me to follow her movements and together we let our breaths out through pursed lips, letting our hooves guide the slow release.
As I felt the renewed oxygen flow through my lungs, my foggy brain started to focus and sort out my anxiety into something more logical, however illogical the whole thing seemed. I knew who I was. I knew what I was. There was no reason to believe this legend was anything but a legend or that it really connected to me in any way. I knew love was a powerful emotion for anypony, not just for me. That all baby creatures needed the love of a caregiver to make sure they survived. Perhaps that was all this story was based on. Or it really was just a scary story from an old Coltic culture shared over thousands of years when the world was different.
“Better?”
I nodded my head slowly, not trusting my voice and felt Sweetheart’s hooves leave my shoulders.
“It really is just a story. Ponies in those times lived difficult lives and they explained things they didn’t understand with stories based on what little magic they knew. I’m sorry for scaring you, Cadance. No Changeling faerie is going to take you. I’ll protect you.” The smaller filly pulled me against her in a hug and I wrapped my wings around her in response, feeling safer and comforted in the darkness of the night.
But I never forgot that story. Maybe I wasn’t meant to.
If only her words of assurance could have been true.
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Well damn another skeleton coming out to play, always interesting to see that happen.
Imagine my surprise to see this story pop up on the featured out of the blue. I think it's an excellent comeback and I'm glad to see you're still willing to write it!
Holy shit, now this is a blast from the past. Welcome back, thanks so much for continuing this story.
Welcome freakin back! I'm going back on chapter 1 so I know what's happening then get to where it is now.
Five years might be a record for me. Glad to see this story return.
Better late than never
....Oh my God.
Oh hello. :3
Hey guys thanks for the welcome back! I know its a surprise. Can you let me know what you think? I can publish another chapter soon but I just want to gage people's interest. Hope you liked it!
10293333
You’re welcome
The new chapter was awesome! Your description is amazing! I felt like I was watching from afar distance. Keep it up!
Yay and new chapter! Loved it, especially Cadence and Shining Armor As they are always adorable.
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Heres the next chapter:https://www.fimfiction.net/story/205861/5/becoming-a-princess/family
Oh boy...
The story is still good, even 6 Years later :)