A Heavy Crown

by Fullmetal Pony

Chapter 9

A cloud shaped like a pegasus wing drifted past the window. A lizard-shaped one blew beneath it. The window rattled. As the wind grew stronger, the clouds curved around each and the space between them darkened. A faint stench of smoke and rotten wood seeped into the air. Lightning flashed, filling the tempest with flares of emerald fire before thunder roared and shook the castle to its roots.

“Cadenza!”

Cadenza bolted upright and looked out the windows. There was only sunlight and a few small clouds in the sky now. She let out a light sigh and sunk into her chair. Mystic scowled down at her. Despite not being all too fit for his age, the rigidity of his body displayed what little musculature he had.

“Would you mind telling me who won the Battle of Trotsdale?” he asked.

“Um…” Cadenza stared at her desk. “Adams Pearmain?”

Mystic’s face didn’t change, but the rest of him relaxed to his usual formal stiffness. He let out a long sigh and shook his head. “Sir Pearmain wouldn’t be born for another two hundred years and was far too busy founding Manehattan to bother with time travel.”

Cadenza sunk lower into her seat. An aura raced over her, straightening her back until you could have used it for drawing graphs. Now even Mystic’s face had lost some of its edges. The frown remained but it served more to highlight the small wrinkles around his muzzle than slice at Cadenza’s conscience.

“You can’t keep daydreaming like this,” he said. “It’s not good for your health.”

“I just thought it was a nice day outside.” Cadenza managed to raise her head, but quickly lowered it again upon making eye contact with Mystic. “At least until the thunderclouds.”

Mystic’s forehead creased upwards. “You haven’t been having nightmares again, have you?”

“N-no, Mr. Rune. It… it was just some weird clouds. That’s all.” Cadenza grew a shade paler. “I really don’t wanna see Dr. Pick.”

“Cadenza,” Mystic said, his tone growing hard again, if not quite as hard as before. “I know Dr. Pick’s spells can hurt a little, but they help keep you healthy and get rid of your nightmares.”

“Do I have to? I haven’t had any really bad dreams for a long time now.”

“All the more reason to see Dr. Pick and deal with a small problem before it becomes a huge one.” Mystic stepped backwards and turned towards the blackboard. An eraser flew up and wiped away the first line of text.“Since you’ll be seeing Dr. Pick, we’ll postpone today’s magic lesson until next week. Depending on how long he takes, we’ll instead have a remedial lesson on Trotsdale in the Megarian Era this afternoon. If there’s not time though, we’ll make it a reading assignment for the weekend instead.”

Cadenza let out a groan and was about to bury her face in the desk but found herself stopped by Mystic’s magic and lifted onto her hooves.

“I’ll assume you were yawning.” He walked a little closer to her. “Do you need me to help you over to Dr. Pick’s office?”

“I can go by myself,” Cadenza grumbled.

“Very well,” Mystic sighed.

Mystic spun around and picked up the eraser again. The door creaked behind him and he shook his head as he wiped away the simple lines and uncomplicated numbers of the day. When the blackboard was clean, he turned to his desk and shuffled through his papers and books. After a moment, he glanced at the ajar door. His eyes closed as his horn lit up.

“Mi Amore’s had a slight relapse,” he said. “She should be on her way to you, Pick.”

The glow around Mystic’s horn shifted to a soft grey hue. “Crud,” Pick’s voice sounded in Mystic’s head. “I thought last time would stick longer than this.”

“I know. Her magical growth is throwing off our estimates.”

“You said it was a minor one though, right?”

“She was daydreaming, so it’s hard to say.” Mystic glanced up at the window Cadenza had been staring out of. “Treat it as you regularly would.”

“Understood.”

The glow around Mystic’s horn now took on a golden color.

“I’m just glad it happened today,” Celestia said. “If it had been tomorrow…”

Mystic sighed. “Well, it threw my lesson plans off slightly, but as long as tomorrow works out, it’s worth it. “

“If that’s all, I’m going to get back to preparations,” Celestia said. Despite being on the other side of the castle, Mystic could feel the soft grin Celestia normally wore fading from her face. “I’ll look over the full report of the treatment later.”

~~~

Cadenza fidgeted while a beam of bright light stabbed into one of her eyes. Pick loomed not an inch from her nose, watching his spell reflect off her aching pupils. Just as tears started to well up, he pulled back and the light went out. Cadenza shook her head and blinked while he scribbled down some notes.

When he turned his attention back to Cadenza, she’d lowered her head, hiding part of her face behind her mane. It helped obscure that small smile Pick was always wearing. The one that reminded her of the smiles plastered on dolls she’d had as a foal. She wondered what would happen if she jumped off the bed she was on and hit him square in the chest, spread her wings, and zoomed off into the sky. Maybe that would finally get rid of it.

“Well, I’m glad we caught this when we did,” Pick said. “You might have been here all day if we hadn’t.”

“Or else I’d miss Mr. Rune’s lessons,” Cadenza muttered.

Pick’s smile slipped a little. “Now, that doesn’t sound like a happy pony to me.”

“When is a pony ever happy to see a doctor?”

“You should talk to the Wonderbolts sometimes.” Pick let out a cough when Cadenza crossed her legs and pressed her chin down to her chest, pouting. “Er, look, I know this spell doesn’t have the most pleasant side effects, but it beats the alternatives. Grand Tantibus Memoriae is not something you want left unchecked.”

“Can we just get this over with?” Cadenza said flatly.

“Okay then.” Pick’s horn lit up and a bin marked with a biohazard symbol flew within hooves’ reach of Cadenza. “Just in case. Since this was just a daydream, it hopefully won’t be that bad. Now, close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

Cadenza did as she was told. The routine was nothing new. She took calm, measured breaths even as the glow from Pick’s horn grew bright enough for her to notice it through her shut eyelids. Her hair pricked up and goosebumps erupted across her body despite knowing what was coming. She could never control the reaction, no matter how many times they’d done it.

Something akin to a needle the size of a foal’s horn jabbed into the base of her own horn. She gritted her teeth as the pain was quickly replaced by the sensation of oil flooding into her skull and shuddered as the spell oozed through her head, invading every nook and cranny hidden within her brain. Bile clawed its way out of her stomach and up her throat.

The temperature suddenly spiked. It felt as if tongues of flame were dancing just inches away from her skin. She gasped when something constricted around her neck like a collar of thorns and always swore she felt a bit of blood dribble out of a cut she didn’t have. The scent from her daydream returned, only now in full force, like somepony had dredged something that had rotted to the core up from the bottom of some foul bog and set it alight. Her stomach roiled and she clenched her jaw tighter.

Then, she was back in the Pick’s office where she’d collapsed onto the bed and was gasping for air. The sheets were dampening with sweat while she struggled to not lose her breakfast. The faint scitter of Pick scribbling down notes sounded like booming thuds that pounded against her head alongside the heartbeat that shook her chest. Everything spun around her and she closed her eyes.

~~~

When Cadenza opened her eyes and managed to lift her head, she found it had been placed on a pillow. Sitting upright caused a sting of nausea, but it quickly faded as she shifted around. She shivered a little despite the blanket that was wrapped around her. A bitter taste remained in her mouth as she looked over at Pick who was finishing up whatever sentence he was on. She wished he’d kept writing— it helped hide that stupid grin.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like somepony punched me in the stomach and laughed about it,” she muttered. “The usual.”

“Right…” Pick’s quill darted across the page. “Experience or see anything unusual?”

“No.”

“Do you taste rubies?”

“Never have, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Do you smell ozone?”

Cadenza furrowed her brow at him. “I’ve never flown high enough to smell it.”

“Okay, okay. I think you’re all clear to go whenever you’re ready.”

Pick’s horn lit up again and one of the many cabinets that lined the walls sprung open. She watched as a piece of chocolate wrapped in bright foil floated onto the sheets in front of her and glanced up at Pick for a moment before quickly unwrapping it with her own magic and shoving it into her mouth. Hazelnuts crunched between her teeth while milk chocolate melted on her tongue. Whatever unease was left in her stomach faded and her body felt a bit warmer. No matter what flavor the chocolate was, it always seemed to remove the lingering nausea in her gut and nasty flavors on her tongue.

Now that her hooves had stopped shaking, she threw off the blanket and leapt onto the floor. Her knees wobbled a bit, but she managed to stay on her hooves. Breathing a sigh of relief, she noticed that Pick had drawn near.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Just want to be sure,” he replied. “I can have some guards help you back to your room if it’s still too hard to walk.”

“No. I think I actually feel like going on a walk. It’ll help me feel better.”

“Well…” Pick raised a hoof to get between Cadenza and the door, but stopped and lowered his leg. “You seem as okay as anypony who goes through this treatment can be, so just be careful, okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Cadenza muttered as she flung the door open and marched out into the hall.

A glance up at the windows showed that the sun was nearing its apex. A decent number of guards zipped through the halls, some adjusting their freshly donned armor while others removed their helmets and finally combatted itches and other minor annoyances. Yet, every single one of them took care to give Cadenza at least five feet worth of space around her. At least their distance made following the multiple twists and branches of the hallway easier. Cadenza stared down at the carpet while she walked, watching it slowly shift from red to blue.

Eventually, she reached the massive stone archway that served as the entrance to castle’s library and peered inside. Mrs. Decimal sat at her desk pulling book after book from the ever-present pile on her right, stamping them, and floating them over to several smaller stacks on her left. Cadenza remained concealed and watched her work until a guard appeared through some of the nearby shelves pushing an empty cart. Cadenza couldn’t hear what Mrs. Decimal and the guard said to each other, but the discussion was quick and ended with both of them filling up the cart with some of the sorted books.

Cadenza watched and waited until the cart was fully loaded and the guard vanished into the shelves. As soon as she saw Mrs. Decimal return to her sorting, she darted into the library and swerved right, ducking into the nearest aisle. Her heart caught in her throat as she pressed herself into the shelves and hid in their shadows, ready to bolt if she heard hooves approaching.

After a moment, the only things she could hear were her own breathing and heartbeat. She slowly stood back up and quietly made her way deeper into the aisle. When she reached a break in the shelves, she stuck her head out just enough to see if anypony else was there. The only things to her left and right were a few art pieces.She darted through the open space between the shelves and plunged into another aisle. Unlike the open corridors that broke up the aisles, the shelves had plenty of empty spaces where a filly could hide herself in a snap should a guard or a librarian draw near.

It took a few more minutes of sneaking around the library, but eventually Cadenza stopped in front of an aisle and grinned. The shelves around her were no longer packed with thick tomes but with thin vinyl records. Hanging from the ceiling was a large sign that read, “JAZZ”. Similar signs rested above nearby shelves, covering everything from classical orchestra to the latest radio singles.

She crept through the area, scanning the shelves while occasionally glancing over her shoulder until she would reach a certain shelf and trace over the decimals on it. Sometimes she would snort in frustration and either move up or down the aisle or switch to a completely different one. A tiny grin gleamed whenever she found the correct shelf and pulled out a record. This continued until she had a stack about half as tall as she was floating beside her. The aura around the stack flickered every couple of seconds and a bit of sweat dotted Cadenza’s forehead.

With her collection trailing behind her, she moved over to one of the library's walls where private rooms lined it like piano keys. Within each room was a desk, a pair of chairs, a chalkboard, and a record player with a big brass horn and a long iron handle. Cadenza grinned again.

She silently slipped into the room and floated the records over to the table; her jaw clenched and the base of her horn ached as she slowly lowered the records down. They landed without a thud. As soon as they touched the wood, the aura around them vanished and Cadenza gasped for air.

“Just a little more,” she whispered to herself.

Closing the door behind her, she advanced over to the desk and pulled one of the records out of its sleeve. It felt as if her horn was spiralling back into her head. The record wobbled a little as she levitated it onto the record player and set the needle. With everything in place, she fell back into a chair winded and glistening with sweat. She opted to turn the handle with her hooves.

The smooth opening tones of a clarinet sounded before rising to a siren-like pitch. When it returned to a level tempo, it gained accompaniment from oboes and saxophones and eventually the piano. As the full orchestra joined in, Cadenza leaned back and relaxed, closing her eyes while Gershwhinny’s magnum opus filled the room.

With the swell of the orchestra came the vision of a city in her mind. There, countless streets crisscrossed, fused, and split in all manner of directions. Shops and massive homes stretched as far as the eye could see. When all the other instruments gave way to a piano solo, the windows lit up one by one. With each note, ponies slowly filed out into the streets. Some wore the clothes she read about being the latest fashion, other just went out in nothing at all. The only two colors missing were white or gold; there wasn’t a scrap of armor to be seen anywhere.

Suddenly, the whole orchestra swelled again. As the horns trumped, the imaginary ponies congregated into a living river, which Cadenza flowed along with, feeling the cobblestones under her hooves.

Shops now displayed their wares, ponies hawked their goods on the streets, and the sweet steam of freshly baked pastries billowed onto the roads in mouth-watering mists. The fruits, cakes, and vegetables were all around her and far more delicious looking than anything in the castle. Ponies buzzed by her, a few even brushed against her due to the intensity of the traffic, but she didn’t mind. She breathed in deeply.The scent of aged paper and worn wood forced a sneeze.

The music was still going strong with the whole orchestra sounding off a bombastic tempo as if a burly stallion were lumbering down the street. Cadenza took another deep breath and followed in his wake, listening to the strains of woodwinds and strings singing the city to life.

~~~

The energetic duet of Glistening Stardust and Dazzling Mercury faded away, leaving only the rhythmic strum of the bass that had started off the song and a final little piece on the piano to escort the remaining music into white noise. Cadenza let out a contented sigh as if she had just eaten a large meal and lifted a hoof up to replace the record with another from the pile.

It wasn’t there. She opened her eyes to find Mystic staring at her from across the desk.

The force of her kick propelled her chair backwards while Cadenza herself launched into the air. Her wings flapped wildly to stay aloft and it was only thanks to a shimmering barrier that she didn’t collide with either a wall or the low hanging ceiling. She could feel the flow of the barrier’s magic brushing against the back of her head, like a cool fog charged with electricity. A similar feeling bubbled up in her stomach when Mystic turned his gaze up to her. To Cadenza’s dismay, she also saw that the door was encased in the same glow as the barrier slowly closing in on all sides.

“Good to see that you’re able to fly so soon after your session with Dr. Pick,” Mystic said. “I must admit, your takeoff time is getting quite impressive. Your father truly has been a skilled teacher. However, flying can wait for later. We still have a few lessons to cover and it’ll be much easier if you’re on the ground.”

Cadenza rose slightly and felt the barrier push against her. It squished and bent outwards, but only a fraction of an inch. She could feel it growing denser and firmer, pushing her back. With a sigh, she swirled down to the ground with her head to the floor.

“How’d you know what room I was in?” she muttered.

“Given how long you’ve been here, I could’ve have made quite a few guesses at where you were,” Mystic answered. “Luckily, Mrs. Decimal is always aware of anypony that goes in and out of the library. It saved a lot of time.”

Cadenza stiffened.

“Now, Mi Amore, don’t think you’re in trouble for coming to the library of all places.” The piles of records floated off the desk and coalesced into a single hovering stack by his side. “You actually seem to be developing quite the eclectic taste in music. Improve a little in your studies and I might add musical history to your curriculum as well.”

Cadenza grimaced. “Great.”

“I’m sorry, is that a problem?” Mystic asked.

For a moment, Cadenza was silent under Mystic’s glare. But, as she stood there, she felt a fire growing in her core. Her wings pressed flat against her back, her teeth ground together, and she raised her head to look Mystic right in the eye. Floating beside his head were the records—her records— and the sight of them encased in the dull glow of Mystic’s magic made the flame in her grow. She opened her mouth to answer him.

A loud grumble from her stomach beat her to the reply. The fire inside her chest turned into a flush of heat that reddened her cheeks. Her head went to the ground again.

“Ah, of course,” he said. “Anypony would be a little moody if they skipped lunch. I’m quite familiar with the experience actually.” The door opened with a tiny motion of his horn. “Let’s return these and get you a snack before we resume our lessons.” He flicked her a glance over one shoulder. “And, Mi Amore, you can come back here whenever you want, and without all that unneeded sneaking around.”

With a huff, Cadenza marched toward the door. Mystic led her out of the room, every now and then glancing back to make sure she was still following.

~~~

The descending sun glinted off the pegasi guards’ armor as they swooped above the castle in groups or two or four. Each patrol kept to a strict path, sometimes coming within inches of colliding with another group yet never speeding up nor slowing down. If their combined movements over an hour were compressed into a minute, they’d have formed a solid gold dome over the castle. At the top and the eastmost, westmost, southmost, and northmost edges of the protected airspace hovered five guards. Epaulettes rustled around their shoulders. Eyes like an owl’s dominated their faces. Every few minutes they would shift what direction they were looking in by a few degrees, but otherwise remained still, save for the slow, silent flap of their wings.

The guard at the top stared out at Equestria. His thick greying beard swirled around his muzzle as he saw the first star twinkle far off on the eastern sky. His sight shifted a few degrees to the left. Despite the large distance from Canterlot, Cloudsdale was still a bright beacon on the horizon. Its base glistened so strongly that even the senior guard had to blink while his eyes adjusted to it. Above the blinding base, the structures atop Cloudsdale shimmered with a dazzling prismatic light that few were able to behold from afar.

The view was nothing new to the senior guard, nor was his focus: a turquoise-blue dot that was steadily growing closer and more defined. He’d caught the glint of the daily signal from edge of Cloudsdale two hours ago and had occasionally glanced at it every now and then since to make sure its path hadn’t radically shifted. Soon, he could make out the wings and legs and even the crater-shaped scar that dominated the pony’s underbelly. To see a pegasus make the daily trek to Cloudsdale and back with such an injury always drew a bit of respect from him.

Eventually, the pegasus drew near and came to a hover in front of him.

“Sir Reed,” the guard said against the howl of the wind. “Papers, please.”

“Of course.” Willow flipped open the saddlebags on his left side and handed over a small stack of documents held together with a rather large and ornate clip shaped like a thunderbolt. The senior guard quickly scanned through the documents, the identification spells attached to each sheet calmly pulsating under his hooves. After a moment, he looked up at Willow and handed the documents back over. While he didn’t smile, there as an approving look in his eyes.

“All clear,” said the guard.

“Thanks.”

With another bow, Willow twisted and headed downwards through the path opening in the wall of flashing gold and white directly in front of him. He continued his descent down the virtual corridor until he landed on a small balcony on one of the castle’s many spires.

After two quick knocks and three hard ones, a pair of guards appeared behind the door and allowed Willow in, falling in beside him. Once fully inside the castle, he came to a stop with the guards flanking his sides. A third guard advanced with a small angular stone that looked like an onyx of some sort balanced on a gloved hoof.

“Just hold still, Sir Reed,” said the third guard.

“Always do,” Willow replied.

The guard drew close and pressed the stone into the space between Willow’s wings. An immense pressure forced Willow’s knees to bend slightly as he was pushed down. His wings felt like lead. Just as the room began spinning, the weight lifted and the smell of fresh air and the incoming rain for the night returned to Willow in a rush. He let out a deep breath and watched the guard step back and place the rock into a small, lead box. With the anti-magic charm safely contained, he turned his attention back to Willow.

“All clear.”

Willow gave one more bow and entered the castle proper through one of the many doors that led into a hallway. He stretched out his wings to shake off the last effects of the security check and then took to the air. In a few minutes he came to a stop and landed beside a door. He gave it a knock.

“You can come in, I’m just finishing up some paperwork.”

Willow pushed the door open and stepped into the office. Lock Pick sat at his desk writing away while the papers all around him shifted with each fresh line written down, threatening to spill over and swallow up the entire desk.

“Busy day?” Willow asked.

“The usual.” Pick continued to write for a moment before he reached the end of the page and propped it atop one of the paper piles. Then he looked up. “Oh, Cadenza also had a small relapse, but it was corrected.”

Willow paled and stepped closer to Pick. “Was her reaction bad?”

“Actually, it was relatively light,” Pick replied. “No vomiting and she was up and moving after a few minutes.”

“They’re getting more frequent.”

“Now, no need to panic. It’ll make training all the more difficult.”

Pick spun around and flung some of the papers on his desk off with a spell, keeping them floating in midair. Scanning over the various sheets, he soon locked onto a thick piece a paper that was folded in half. While Pick sent the rest of the papers back to his desk in a tittering tower, he unfolded the remaining sheet and floated it it front of Willow. An assortment of equations and medical language dominated the top half of the paper while the bottom was taken up by a large graph. Looking at the date and the large red dot scrawled where the axes of the graph met sent a chill down Willow’s spine.

A steep black line jolted out from the dot, peaked, and then sunk but still remained quite high on the chart. It rose and fell in quick succession, forming a range of narrow mountains. As the months progressed though, the spikes widened and decreased in height until they more resembled hills. The increment at the end of the graph glistened with fresh ink.

“See?” said Pick. “I know a relapse gets you worked up; it happens to all patients’ families in long term recoveries, but at this stage of treatment everyth—”

“She’s been talking in her sleep.” Willow’s throat constricted like a great rope had wrapped around it. Finally, he managed to gulp and thrusted his head to the floor. A deep sigh shuddered past his lips. “It only started recently and she wasn’t in pain or having trouble breathing.” Willow turned away. “Just little things, like talking about pastries or walking down a street. I thought she was only having normal dreams, but the past few nights have been different.” He took another breath past the knot in his neck. “They’re always about Aria. She murmurs about her for a few minutes and then goes quiet again.”

Pick’s brow cast deep shadows over his eyes. “Does she mention anything about her attackers?”

Willow gave a harsh shake of his head. “I’d have woken her up and sent her to you immediately if that were the case. Not with Aria though. I can’t do that to Cadenza.”

“Hmmm.” Pick pressed a hoof to his chin. “Willow, during these dreams, have you noticed any sort of magic coming from Cadenza?”

“Not that I’ve seen. I can’t catch every dream though. I don’t know if there’s something I’ve missed or something you or Mystic or Celestia might pick up that I can’t. I… I should’ve told you as soon as this started. I—”

A hoof pressed into Willow’s shoulder. He snapped his head up, launching a few beads of sweat off of his face. Pick was staring straight at him. “Willow, breathe.”

Pick’s nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. Willow followed his example. Both of their lungs swelled and they held their breaths for a moment. Willow felt his heartbeat slow while his breath flowed outwards.

“Good good,” Pick said. “Now where are we?”

Willow’s jaw tightened. “Your office.”

“Yes, we’re in my office,” Pick said while setting Willow down in his chair. “Cadenza is just finishing up her lessons with Mystic. No guards have acted strange today. Everything is fine.”

“Everything is fine,” Willow repeated.

Despite that, he still shook. From his hooves to his mane, a small tremor kept him from sitting still. Sweat was forming into a lather on his coat. Yet, his breath still came in and out without pause or change.

“Everything is fine,” he said again.

Suddenly, he lunged forward, his forehooves slamming down on Pick’s shoulders.

“Tomorrow!” He pressed down hard. “What about tomorrow?!”

Pick didn’t move an inch. All of Willow’s jitters stopped upon contact with Pick’s body. In spite of his lanky frame, there was a rigidity to Pick that kept him unmoved, like rock or a stubborn thunderhead. A smile came to his lips.

“Everything is in order,” he said calmly. “Shall I give you my full debriefing?”

Willow stiffened. Just as suddenly as he’d sprung out of Pick’s chair, he fell back into it. A foreleg crossed over his scar as he stared down at the floor.

“Yes, please,” he said, voice little more than a whisper. “I think that’ll help.”

“I think so too. Definitely more than our regular lessons. And you should enjoy tomorrow too, you know.” In lieu of a chair, Pick planted his flanks on the ground, all the while ensuring that both his smile and eye contact remained unbroken. “Anyway, unlike the rest of you, I’ll be out of view in the Grand Hall…”

~~~

Cadenza let out a groan— the last in the line of many within the past hour— and glanced away from her homework towards the western windows of the Lunar Suite. The sky was a fiery red, rapidly cooling to blue with only the tip of the sun remaining above the horizon. Then she looked over at the door, almost pleadingly, and held her breath. When only silence greeted her, she grumbled and went back to reading about Commander Silver Bolt, wanting him to just finish his address and get on with the Battle of Pendulous Pass.

The creak of the door opening easily pulled her out of her studies. She spun around and was greeted with Willow sticking his head into the room.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said, his voice dry and scratchy.

“Dad!” Without waiting for him to fully enter the room, Cadenza flew out of her chair and wrapped her hooves around his neck in a hug, nuzzling him by the ear. “I missed you.”

Willow stroked her mane. “I heard you had a bit of a rough day. Are you feeling okay now?”

“I guess,” Cadenza murmured. “I hate going to Dr. Pick though… and Mr. Rune gave me extra lessons too. He wouldn’t even let me listen to all my records. ”

“He just wants to make sure you become a smart little pony.” Willow pulled away, smiling down at her. “You’ll need to know all those things he teaches you someday, and not just for tests.”

Cadenza tucked in her chin. “When am I ever gonna need to know that Old Oak and the Branches of Equus won the Battle of Trotsdale?”

“Well… there might have been some important weather tactics used.”

“Both sides were made of only Earth Ponies.”

“You know, we should probably head to dinner.” Willow patted his side with a wing. “Nothing gets my appetite up like the flight from Cloudsdale.”

Cadenza squinted at Willow suspiciously, but, after a moment, relented and let go of his neck with a sigh. “Can it just be us tonight?” she asked as her hooves hit the floor.

“Are you sure? Aunt Celestia probably wants to see how you’re doing.”

Her muzzle wrinkled. “Please, not tonight. I’m tired.”

“Oh…” Willow glanced out into the hallway. “Okay, we can go to the smaller dining hall then. You’re sure your treatment didn’t hurt too much?”

“No, Dad. It’s fine.”

“Cause if you’ve been having strange dreams or if something feels weird, you can always tell me.”

A draft from the hall drifted into the room. Willow partially shut the door, leaving only a hairline crack, but a chill still bit at Cadenza’s skin. When he brought her close and stroked her mane, it only made the knot in her stomach grow harder. She tried to focus on the floor, ears flattening against her skull until she finally lost the fight and closed her eyes to keep from getting dizzy. Luckily, the swaying motion was hidden by pressing harder into his chest as if harboring against the draftiness of the door.

“It… it’s nothing. It’s not like the nightmares, I promise.”

Willow said nothing and instead draped a wing about her shoulders. Her trembling rustled the feathers. Kneeling down, he brought his head close to hers.

“It’s okay, sweetie. What happens in the dreams?”

“It…” Cadenza gulped down some air. “It’s not just dreams. It’s sounds and smells too. If I do certain things, it’s like we’re down in Canterlot again. It has to be Canterlot. There’s so many ponies and so much food. There’s records I can listen to in the library and all these other things that I want to see and do, but I…”

She could feel Willow’s wings bristling against her back. She looked up and saw he was paling. Sliding closer to him, she pressed her head closer to his chest.

“I want to see mom.

She could now feel every muscle in his chest relax as he tightened his hold around her, a little color finding its way back into his face as a leg joined the wing on her shoulders, and glanced over at the stand by her bed where a lone picture frame rested. Willow stood in the picture with a jittery grin on his face. Beside him, Aria managed a much more even smile. In between the two of them was a sky blue crib with Cadenza bundled up in the center of it with a happy though utterly confuddled smile on her much smaller face.

“She’s standing right next to me,” she whispered, “like you are, but I never hear her voice or remember her smell. Nothing else happens though. Something always pulls me back here. Everything after that must be when the accident happened.

Goosebumps ran up Cadenza’s left foreleg as she reached for the back of her neck. A shudder went through her when her hoof connected with a cold bead of gold embedded in the spot where her shoulders met.

“I don’t want Mr. Rune or Dr. Pick to know.They can take away the rest of the day, but not those things.” Her muzzle brushed up against the the edge of his scar and she felt her eyes burning. “Please, dad.”

Willow felt his fur growing damp. With his leg firmly on Cadenza’s back, he whispered back, “Okay.”

~~~

Down in Canterlot, a handful of lights could be seen from inside the houses and shops as the evening’s rain dissolved before the coming dawn. In the Lunar Suite, the only sounds were Willow’s soft, wheezy snores.

The first rays of sunlight stretched into the room, illuminating two queen sized beds resting on one side of room near the master bathroom. A partition of cabinets containing toys, novellas, and records on one side and textbooks, various flight apparati, and writing implements on the other rested between them. Near the beds were a pair of lounge chairs that enclosed two sides of a low lying table with a record player resting atop it. The faint silhouettes of a blackboard and a desk could be glimpsed through a stockade of screens near the doors that led out to the balcony. A void filled the center of the room, emphasizing the Suite’s decadent dimensions, while overhead, the epic mural of the night sky slowly lost its luster just as the actual sky turned orange and gold. There were no shadows here, only rays of the sun which danced off the dust specks floating through the air.

A beam of sunlight finally managed to fall upon Willow’s face and he sat up, covers bunching around his middle. He slipped out of his bed with a smile and crept over to Cadenza’s. The covers here rose and fell as they had all night: quietly and without a single interruption. Only her head poked out of the sheets while she slept as if five years ago was simply yesterday. After a small stroke of her mane, he laid a hoof upon her shoulder and gave her a small shake.

“Cadenza?” He gave her shoulder another gentle shake. “Cadenza, it’s time to get up. It’s a very spe—”

Pain went screaming to his brain. He glanced down to see a crystallized hoof pressed against his leg, barbs growing out of it to burrow under his skin. He froze, the blood in his veins like ice when a pair of pupiless eyes turned beneath the covers to glare back at him.

“You lied!” she screamed.

“I-I…”

His hindlegs began to sink into the floor, forcing him to stare up at Cadenza while she stretched and grew until she almost filled the room, wings slicing through the melting walls like knives. Green flames erupted across her body, replacing fur with an oozing blue liquid as the stone worked its way up his body to his neck. Then its mouth opened, a serpent’s tongue drooling blue and green acids that dissolved the liquid stone beneath its hooves.

“You can’t help!” it said. The voice had taken Cadenza’s and smashed it into Aria’s until both were mangled almost beyond comprehension. Everything was wrong: the pitch, the volume, and even the cadence was completely alien. Then the stone closed over his head and the roar of blazing fire filled his ears.

“Dad!”

Willow shot up from his bed with a scream, sweat flying off his muzzle. Cadenza was at his side, face torn with worry. Slumping back into damp sheets, he reigned in his ragged breaths and forced his muscles to unclench. Cadenza continued to stare, lips quivering and legs shaking.

“Dad?” she whispered.

“Just a bad dream,” Willow huffed between breaths. “It’s nothing.”

“But what if you have Grand Tan… Grand Tanty…” Cadenza shook her head. “That thing I have!”

“I’d know.” Willow reached out and ran a hoof down the side of her face with a grin he only half felt. “Your condition only happens in young ponies though, so it’s nothing a big strong pony like me has to worry about.” He flexed a foreleg. Cadenza did not look convinced. “Really, Cadenza, I’m fine now.” He gave her mane a stroke. “Come on, that’s no way for the best little filly in the world to look on—”

The door creaked open. Willow’s grin widened and warmed while Cadenza scrunched her nose and grimaced.

“Well, so much for a surprise wakeup,” Celestia said as she walked into the room. Taking in the scene, the smile on her lips shrank. “Is everything alright?”

“It was,” Cadenza grumbled.

“Just had a small nightmare and Cadenza was worried about me is all,” Willow replied. “You really didn’t have to come all the way over here to say good morning though, Celestia.”

“On any other day, perhaps.” Celestia drew near the bed. The smile returned and Cadenza wished it hadn’t. “But it’s not often that I get to personally wish somepony a happy birthday.”

A burst of confetti exploded from behind Celestia and showered the bed. Cadenza snorted as she tried to scrape off a piece of paper that had gotten stuck on her nose.

“Yay.”

Author's Note:

R.I.P David Bowie
See you, Major Tom

Comments

[cowbrony93]

Cadence has very good taste in music (as do you)

[Chaosreverent]

I dont know if it was mentioned before, but may i ask what "Grand Tantibus Memoriae" is?

[pahnazd]

A special day pretty much shredded immediately in the morning.
Cadenza doesn't get a break, does she? Neither does Willow.
Well, Celestia, you need to step up your game to make little Cady enjoy her day now.

[Legiondude]

7104190 Did you watch "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep"?

[Chaosreverent]

7108895
Yes, but that tantibus was a creation of Luna's. What Cadence has sounds like some kind of disease or disorder and i'm curious about the spacifics because it seems like it will play a major part in this arc.

[herp]

thumbs down, chrysalis is not a ever mentioned in this story even once.

[Tsuguri]

7108917
It hasn't been mentioned before because it doesn't really exist. It's what they are using to justify a continual suppression of Cadance's memories of the attack. Most likely to help control her crystalline powers.

Overall I'd say it's a very BAD idea to keep it up though. The mind has an annoying habit of overcoming external programing at the absolute worst times in stories like this. And I'm sure Fullmetal will be putting her breakthrough/down front and center in a most spectacular fashion.

Should be fun though.

[Backlash91]

Epic update, loved it. Want more, hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs

[StarzGecko]

Oh yea her mother is died? I think I forgot about that.