Twelve Years Ago in Canterlot

by SS Nomad

Chapter 10

Squire slowly blinked awake, quickly checking herself to make sure her disguise hadn’t slipped in the night, happy to see herself still small and lavender colored. The absence of Shining Armor hit her suddenly, and she bolted upright to look around the chamber, lighting up her horn to get a better view. Had she lost him? Did he notice? Should… she report this back?

There was a glint of magical light approaching from a tunnel, and Squire quickly called out, “Shiney?”

After a sound of confusion and some muffled swearing, Shining Armor called back, “Heya, Twiley, sorry about that. I’m over here.”

Squire quickly galloped toward the sound, bumping into Shining as they both rounded a corner, and nuzzling at his chest in barely faked panic. If she had lost track of him…

“Hey, relax,” Shining comforted, patting her on the back of the head, “And hey, I think I figured out a way to get us out of here.”

Squire blinked and looked up into his eyes in shock, “You did?”

“Yup,” Shining announced proudly, “just follow me, alright? Even if we have to backtrack. I promise I’ll get you out of here.”

Confident that he was just bluffing to make her feel better, Squire smiled, “Which way then?”

“This way first,” Shining replied, nodding in the wrong direction.

With a relaxed sigh, Squire nodded, “O-okay, I’ll follow you.”

---

Sprawled. It’s not a word one usually heard in relation to the Princess of the Sun, but it’s exactly what she was doing. Laying on her back in bed, reading from a novel levitating in front of her face, Celestia had stretched out into a comfortable position and was, yes, sprawling. It was the only fitting word.

The gentle tap at her door drew a sigh from her, and she twisted her neck around to stare at the source of the sound, sliding her reading glasses from her nose so she could see properly. She was certain she had told the guards she was taking the night off, so…

Accepting that it must be important, she set her book aside with a light thump and rolled upright, stretching her wings and shaking them out with a gentle shiver before tucking them back to her sides. Stretching her legs as she walked, she approached the door and closed her eyes, focusing her magic to see who was on the other side. Sensing Cadance, she opened the door with a smile.

“Could I come in?” Cadance cut her off before she could speak, her tone serious, almost accusatory.

“Of course, Cadance,” Celestia replied, stepping back to let her through the door.

Silently shutting the door behind her, Cadance turned to Celestia with a flat stare, “You knew already, didn’t you?”

Ah, she was mad about Shining Armor, “Knew what, dear?”

“That he was my true love,” Cadance replied emotionlessly, “I don’t know how yet, but you already knew, didn’t you?”

Celestia tried to laugh it off, “At best I suspected. Since you clearly think astrology and prophecy to not be reliable, I didn’t think you’d want theories based on it.”

Cadance wanted to retort, but found herself backed into a corner, but that only frustrated her more and her tone shifted to match, “The entire affair with you looking for your love was a pretence, wasn’t it? You wanted to see if you were right.”

Being seen through like that was an unfamiliar feeling to Celestia, but she countered the best she could, “I knew one of us was finding their true love in the next few days. What better way than to get us both out and about? I’m honestly happy it was you. How was the date?”

The blush melted into her coat color, and Cadance stomped the ground, “I wish you’d just tell me when things like this are going on. Why must you always make it a scheme?”

“If I had come up to you and told you the fate of Equestria rested on you finding love,” Celestia explained firmly, “Do you really think that would have been better?”

Cadance froze.

“Do you really think that, if I directly told you that Canterlot would fall and thousands would be taken, you would have been of sound enough mind to focus and do your job?” Celestia continued, her tone direct and firm, but not angry, “You know how much effort it takes for you to focus on the strands of fate. Do you really th-”

Cadance flopped her head forward, hiding her face behind her mane, and mumbled something, just slightly too low for Celestia to hear.

Concerned, Celestia stepped forward, “W-what was that, dear?”

Cadance’s head snapped upward to stare into Celestia’s eyes, venom in her voice, “I said ‘stop treating me like a foal.’”

Celestia staggered backward, not familiar with such a tone from her dear niece, “W-what do you-”

“You always do this,” Cadance spat, eyes starting to water, “For heaven’s sake, I’m nearly as old as you are, and you always treat me like an idiot child. Stop it.”

Celestia shook her head, this turn of events not something she had accounted for. She knew Cadance would be frustrated when she knew, but… Celestia had no idea how these sort of thoughts managed to take root in Cadance. She just stood there dumbfounded.

Seeing Celestia’s confusion, Cadance chuckled derisively and looked away, “You don’t even notice you do it, do you?”

“I-” of course Celestia did, this very outburst proved she wasn’t ready yet, “I’m sorry you feel that way, Cadance. I never meant…”

Cadance wiped her eyes with a hoof, still unable to make eye contact, “I… I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to snap like that. That was… uncalled for.”

Satisfied to hear Cadance acknowledge that much at least, Celestia took on her normal, motherly poise, “It’s fine, dear.”

Celestia took the few steps forward and hugged her niece, letting Cadance rest her head on her shoulder and draping a wing over her body. She truly was still a child sometimes. Celestia held in a chuckle and tried to comfort Cadance to the best of her ability.

“So,” Celestia decided to break the silence, “How was the date?”

Cadance chuckled with the unique tone of somepony sad remembering something nice, “He’s nice. I… think we’ll be seeing more of each other.”

“Good,” Celestia stated solidly before adding, “I’m happy for the two of you.”

“You could have told me,” Cadance retorted weakly, “I could have handled knowing.”

Despite having even more evidence that Cadance couldn't have, Celestia still replied, “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

---

Sitting in the barracks, staring at Shining Armor’s books on military strategy, Queen Chrysalis for once began to doubt herself. She knew that if she went through the books, she’d know enough about the Royal Guard’s habits and methods to casually sweep her army through Canterlot in mere moments. These were not warriors, they were barely better than decorations with gruff voices. Yet, despite knowing it was the correct choice for her goals, she hesitated.

Her mind kept drifting back to sitting across the table from a gorgeous beacon of love and hope. She let out a great sigh and mounted the bed, clutching a pillow to her chest as she thought. Could she even go through with this anymore? Even if Cadance wasn’t the true regent, it was her home. Simply wading in and claiming the territory for herself…

She sighed and rolled on her side, staring at the wall. Here she was, Queen of the Changelings, acting like a dumb little worker who just pupated. She was better than getting all lovestruck like this. Well, she had literally been hit so hard with love that she fell over earlier, but that’s… Her mind traced back to how amazing it had felt when Cadance first saw her in the park and she quickly found herself blushing. Pulling the pillow over her face, she rolled over to hide in the sheets.

Chrysalis really had no idea if Cadance would accept her for who she truly was, but… Some part of her had hope. It was a strange, almost entirely foreign emotion, but she knew how it felt and it was certainly the one she noticed growing inside herself. Perhaps, just perhaps, she could find some way to admit it to her, but... that's not something she'd ever done before. She'd never had any desire to be known for who she was.

She sighed. Everything was based on a lie, and she knew that lie could come back to bite her. Still… that hope in her heart was making her feel like it would work out anyway. Even after Cadance found she wasn’t Shining Armor… nothing would have actually changed. It was still her, the one who had said and done all the things to make her happy. She should understand that.

She needed to check up on her loose end. Chrysalis sent her thoughts down to Squire, “Status report?”

“Still wandering aimlessly,” Squire chirped back, “He’s acting like he has a plan, making marks on the wall, but we keep wandering deeper into the caves.”

Chrysalis snickered before replying, “Inform me if anything changes. I can’t have him interrupting me.”

“As you command, my Queen,” Squire accepted tactfully.

With a sigh, Chrysalis rolled to stare at the ceiling. It was far from an ideal situation, but the Queen was used to playing it by ear. She knew she could make this work. Still clutching the pillow to her chest, she lay there, a grin slowly forming across her cheeks. The slow realization of how lucky she’d been to have that chance encounter crossed her mind, and she couldn’t help but smile. This was a relationship she’d do anything to keep.

Comments

[Makazi]

I just read through the entire story and I'm enjoying it a lot, looking forward to seeing where it goes!

I'd like a happy ending for Chrysalis, but it seems that's not going to be the case.

Just one thing stuck out to me: Chrysalis replaced Shining Armor, and in the prologue we see the real Shining Armor along with Cadance using the spell to eject her from Canterlot. We also know that this story takes place twelve years before that event. So has real Shining Armor been stuck in a cave with Squire for the past twelve years, or am I simply misinterpreting something? lol

[resistorserve]

I just read through the entire story and I'm enjoying it a lot, looking forward to seeing where it goes!
7838273
I think Chrysalis and Cadance separate during the story and Cadance ends up with the real Shining Armor who gets out of the caves and she eventually marries him.

[Makazi]

7858440 Ah yeah, that would make more sense.