Twelve Years Ago in Canterlot

by SS Nomad

Chapter 1

For what was not the first time, Cadance stared at the ceiling of her bedroom in Canterlot with a sense of longing. Not to say the room wasn't magnificent. She lay on her massive and comfortable bed gazing up at an ornate fresco of open fields and frolicking ponies on the ceiling. The beautiful dressers and cabinetry accented the room wonderfully and the campfire styled fireplace with its ornate steel smoke stack and circle of soft sitting space served as a spectacular centerpiece. And yet all of this did nothing to make the place feel like her own. This had been her room for years, centuries even, and yet it still felt so wrong, like there was somewhere else she needed to be. Celestia always told her she'd feel better in time, and things would make sense, but she wasn't so sure. All she knew was that she was a princess in exile, she even couldn't remember where she had been exiled from. That didn't help any.

And here she was, being treated like the royalty she was, and it grated. Sure, she'd managed to make a few friends, but one big thing nagged at her mind. Could she really claim to be the princess with domain over love while she was single? Her ability to sense when true lovers were nearby was wonderful, and she had made countless happy through its use, but... where was hers? Celestia said not to let it bother her, but...

There were three polite knocks on the door, followed by what sounded to be a pony throwing themself bodily against it. Cadance's mood brightened instantly, and she moved a large pile of pillows into position on her side of the door. The three knocks came again, and at just the right moment, Cadance flung the door open and a confused mass of minty fur rocketed into the room, landing horn first in the pillow pile. The guard positioned outside the door let out a laugh followed by a polite fake cough.

Cadance giggled as Lyra stood up, an expensive silk pillow skewered on her horn. "You know you're far too predictable when..."

"Yeah, yeah, can it," Lyra grumbled as she stretched after the crash.

Cadance smiled and nodded toward the cushions around the fire pit, "You know, Lyr, I'm pretty sure I can have you arrested for saying stuff like that."

The guard outside visibly rolled his eyes and quietly shut the door as Lyra responded playfully, "You know, I'm friends with a princess, I'm pretty sure she'd get me off the hook on that."

Cadance chuckled as she settled onto one of the cushions, "So why'd you stop by? Something on your mind?"

Lyra shrugged, flopping bodily onto another pillow, "I wanted to hang out with somepony. Say, we could get Cole and Twink up in here, sneak in some booze, it'd be great."

Cadance laughed aloud, her previous introspective mood gone as quick as it came, "Sometimes I swear the only reason you spend time with me is because you're underage. Anyways, doesn't Twinkle hate you calling her that?"

"That's basically why I do it. She's cute when she gets mad," Lyra smirked, "but seriously, the four of us need to hang out some time soon."

Cadance pondered. Sure, she could go hang out with her three best mares, but she was having so much fun here wallowing in self pity over being single. The answer was clear.

"Help me find that book with the disguise spell in it again."

---

It was a quiet day in the hive, for once. Her daughters' song was slow but cheerful, like someone whistling while they did chores. The sound of the hive mind was such a good indicator of her subjects' mood; it was like taking the hive's collective blood pressure. She let her daughters' singing wash over her for a moment before pushing their voices to the background.

Chrysalis sat up from her bed, smiling as she noticed the drone still in her bed from the night before. Obligations of being the queen, she always joked. Well, not strictly that, but she'd never admit otherwise, not to her subjects. She wandered to her doorway and gently opened it, stopping to look down at the familiar face before her.

"My queen," Squire chirped, "your attention is requested by the advising council."

The Queen rolled her eyes. Politics, no doubt. Her children pretending they know how to run the place and that they can get on without her. If they were without her for a month, even a week, it'd be chaos. Without a word to her assistant, she turned toward the council chambers.

She opened the door, finding the six advisors already in the room waiting. As it should be, wait in your room like the little grubs you are, I'll give you my attention when I feel like it.

She sat at the head of the table, "So what is the subject of discussion?"

It was the same problems as always, and they each had the same opinions on them as always. Predictable. This job was making her cynical, but the worst part of it was the damned advisors. She originally gave them the roles because she wanted someone to bounce ideas off of, but then at some point they started having opinions, the bastards. And now that her children had grown attached to them, it would be hard to remove them unless they lost the public trust.

One of them was in the middle of complaining about some minor labor dispute when the idea hit her, "I think I could use a vacation."

The table went silent until one of them spoke up, "You mean like... leave?"

"I do believe that's what the word usually implies," she snarked back, "I've grown quite tired of the day to day here, I could use a refreshing week away."

The advisors looked around to one another in confusion and slight terror, it was quite delicious. Once the hive was on the verge of collapse, she'd come back as the returning savior and kick the incompetents out of their positions. The perfect plan.

Chrysalis smiled, "I mean, if you all don't think you can run the hive without me..."

They all stammered objections, claiming it was no issue, and one spoke up in particular, "What about the hive mind? If you leave, we'll likely lose our connection."

"Ah, good point, I'd nearly forgotten," she smiled impishly, "hold still and try not to explode."

The Queen lifted the advisor who had asked the question from the ground, enjoying the look of terror on her face as she focused on the worker's mind. For a fraction of a second, the entire hive mind hiccuped as Chrysalis transferred her control of it onto the unsuspecting advisor, and when she was done the pathetic worker looked like more was going on in her head than she could process. Chrysalis set her in the corner of the room, catatonic.

"Now," she sang cheerfully, "I'll begin packing."

---

From a window in her study, Celestia could see a very lightly disguised Cadance and her green friend, Lyra, she believed, making their way out of the castle and toward the city proper. She smiled and took another sip of her tea. Sure, the idea of an exiled princess galloping around town with a noble's daughter who had practically renounced her title seemed like perfect scandal material, but honestly she thought Cadance needed to get out more.

Celestia looked over to what most ponies assumed was an odd statue on her desk. Normal clocks still mattered to her daily life, but this one was far more important. As the century hand edged closer to the thousand year mark, celestia had been getting more nervous. Just over a decade left until the thousand years of peace were through and the active struggle to protect equestria started again.

She sighed inwardly and looked back out the window at Cadance and Lyra vanishing into a crowd. She'd promised herself to let this part of her plan flow naturally, not to interfere, but there wasn't much time left.

Celestia sighed, "Well, Cadance. Good luck today and happy hunting."

---

Squire grinned conspiratorially, "I feel you're up to something, My Queen. Vacation?"

"And if I AM scheming something?" Chrysalis shot back with similar expression, "What would that have to do with you?"

"Just wondering when I need to prepare the popcorn," Squire cheerfully replied.

Ah yes, that's why she kept this one. Chrysalis chuckled inwardly and patted Squire on the shoulder before opening her door and looking about the room. She said she'd need to pack, and yet...

"What would I even bring?" The Queen wondered aloud.

Squire pondered, "Well to answer that, I'd need to know where you're going."

That hadn't occurred to her either. She turned to the map of her hive's territory, a chart of changeling colonies speckled all across a half dozen foreign kingdoms and territories that each thought they were still in control of their affairs. As she looked, for the first time she noticed something strange. Her range of control had spread more or less evenly, but up to the north-west, all progress was halted at what the dragons called "Hayseed Swamp." She'd always considered the name strange, but the residents of the far side seem to have picked it for whatever reason. The residents... an uncharted land. Perfect.

"We go north-west," Chrysalis announced with force and purpose.

"The swamps? Hardly a fitting vaca..." Squire stalled out, "We?"

"Naturally," The Queen announced, her voice softening into a joking tone, "I'll need someone around to do my dirty work."

"Such is my duty," Squire snarked back, but then she settled into a moment of wonderment, "I don't think I've ever been on vacation. What do you do?"

"My intent is to personally scout an unknown foreign land for possible takeover. Also... have a picnic. With tea."

Squire nodded curtly, "I'll pack a blanket."

Comments

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Ok, so this is before the wedding.

Nnnnnnnot much to say, really, outside that.

~Skeeter The Lurker