Cadence

by bahatumay

Chapter 5

Celestia frowned at the empty seat where Mi Amore Cadenza was to sit for breakfast. She looked over at the attendant sent to retrieve her and raised an eyebrow, wordlessly asking for an explanation as to why she was alone.

“She said she was coming.”

Celestia raised both eyebrows. It was hardly like her to leave with such a flimsy excuse.

“And then she threw a vase at me when I offered to walk with her.”

Celestia exhaled sharply through her nose and suppressed a small smile. That did sound like something little Mi Amore Cadenza would do. Hopefully, the vase wouldn’t take too long to repair.

Mi Amore Cadenza eventually shuffled in, a deep scowl on her face. Her wings hung limply at her sides, and it suddenly dawned on Celestia why. Her wings were sore from all the flying yesterday.

Not wanting to call attention to that (as she might take it as an attack in her time of weakness), she merely inclined her head in welcome, and Mi Amore Cadenza gave her a sullen nod in return as she clambered onto the nearest chair. As she pulled herself up, her wings flared instinctively for balance, and she froze. She let out a pained groan through gritted teeth before narrowing her eyes and finishing her ascent, but this time using only her hooves.

Celestia smiled politely. “I’m glad you could make it.”

Mi Amore Cadenza scowled and muttered something under her breath that sounded vaguely like ‘suck shards’.

Celestia considered. “You know, whenever I feel stress, I’ve found that a visit to a masseuse is helpful. You might find that, too.”

Mi Amore Cadenza’s eyes narrowed. She flared her wings. “I can-” Whatever she was going to say quickly got cut off in another pained whimper. She slowly folded them back down. “-hardly wait,” she finished through gritted teeth.

* * *

Gentle Touch had been warned about this filly. Word traveled fast around the castle staff, enough so that they had drawn straws to see who would have the ‘privilege’ of dealing with the castle’s new princess. As the proud owner of the shortest straw, he now had her on his table. He expected a troubled experience; definitely even a troubling one. Still, having her start a conversation with-

“Hey, Slave.”

-wasn't entirely expected.

“My name is Gentle Touch,” he said pleasantly.

Mi Amore Cadenza shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s say you wanted to do something… nice-” she nearly spat the word, “-for another pony. What would you do?”

Gentle Touch shrugged. “Something they wanted me to do, I guess.”

Mi Amore Cadenza snorted. “I doubt it’s this, because I can barely feel you doing anything back there.”

Gentle Touch’s nose scrunched up. He was good at his job, and he wasn't about to take that insult sitting down. With a little bit of his earth pony strength, he pressed down harder, but she gave no indication that she had noticed the difference. He tried again, harder this time, but still nothing.

The way she flicked her tail, though, told him that she knew that he was trying and failing; and though he couldn't see, he was certain she was smirking. Defiantly, he adjusted his weight and pushed again, this time elevating to Celestia-tier pressure.

A sharp cracking sound split the air. Mi Amore Cadenza’s whole body arced, her hind leg kicked out, and she let out a little shriek. For a brief moment, he thought he had hurt her; but then the shriek slowly became a pleasured moan.

“Ok, that was good,” she admitted, pulling her leg back down. “Do that again.”

Gentle Touch exhaled, relieved, and slid over to the other side to do it again. Once more, he pushed as hard as he could; and once more, that painful crack and Mi Amore Cadenza’s howl rang through his office.

“Mm. Again.”

Gentle Touch winced. He’d started something he wasn’t sure he’d be able to finish. It was quite the workout for him, earth pony strenght notwithstanding, and it was a great relief when she relieved him with a wave of her hoof.

“So, you…”

Gentle Touch counted this form of address as a marked improvement. “Yes, Princess?”

“What do ponies want you to do? Give them power? Money? Fame?”

Gentle Touch hummed. “I think ponies want to feel good,” he suggested. “That's one of the reasons I love my job. I help ponies feel good.”

“Huh. Feel good.” Mi Amore Cadenza closed her eyes and rested her head against the table. “I'm going to have to think about that.”

Gentle Touch paused. “Uh… that's a good idea, but maybe you could go do that somewhere else?”

Mi Amore Cadenza shook her head. “I think I'm just going to lay here for a while, do you mind?”

Gentle Touch scratched behind his neck. “Actually, I do; I have other clients, and so-”

Mi Amore Cadenza lit her horn, picked him up off the ground, and quite literally threw him out of the parlor before slamming the door shut and pulling up a crystal barrier from the ground, sealing herself inside.

Gentle Touch grimaced as he slowly lifted his head and came eye-to-eye with a rather poky-looking crystal. “Or… I could take the rest of the day off?” he offered shakily.

* * *

Mi Amore Cadenza pranced along through the gardens. Celestia and her stuffy court could go choke on a salt crystal. She was on a mission. She was going to be nice. And she would gain more power than Celestia had ever dreamed possible and dethrone her in front of everypony. ‘Queen Mi Amore Cadenza’ had a nice ring to it.

The filly trotted out and abruptly came to a quick stop. There, stretching out, was a small group of guard recruits, apparently doing a little unsanctioned extra training in their fancy uniforms.

And in this group was a white unicorn colt with a two-toned blue mane.

A slow smile spread across Mi Amore Cadenza's face. Time for a little experiment in being nice.

She strutted in front of them and was pleased to note that their attention shifted to her almost instantly. She suppressed a grin, and turned back towards them. “Hey, you guards in training!”

They looked at her with guarded curiosity. They were at the age where a filly is both a desirable thing and a confusing (and slightly scary) thing at the same time. They were hesitant, staring, awkward.

That wouldn't do. They needed to show a little respect. “Attention!” she barked.

They reacted instantly. Recognizing the authority in her voice, they lined up, facing forward, standing staunchly at attention.

Mi Amore Cadenza began to pace. “Alright, you worthless slackers,” she growled. “You’re supposed to be the pride of the Empire, or princessdom, or whatever Celestia calls this shardpile, so let’s find out how true that is. We’re going to have ourselves a little competition.” She stopped and pointed with her hoof. “You'll start here,” she said, lighting her horn. A narrow, flat strip of crystal formed in front of the cadets, an off-white pearl for a starting line. She looked back over to the other side of the field. “And you'll go to there.” She pulled up a small strand of black crystals for a finish line, smooth but noticeable against the ground. She flapped her wings to get into the air and pointed. “First one to cross the finish line wins.”

At the notion of a competition, the colts lined up eagerly; but Mi Amore Cadenza wasn't done. She dropped to the ground in front of Shining Armor. “I think you're handsome. If you win, I'll give you a kiss.”

His ears pinned and his jaw dropped. He looked around frantically as the colts around him giggled. Mi Amore Cadenza grinned. Clearly, he'd been flattered into submission! It was working!

An orange pegasus raised a hoof. “Does that go for everypony, ma’am?”

Mi Amore Cadenza laughed. She stepped up close and stared him in the eyes, grinning maliciously when he flinched ever so slightly. “If you win, I’ll kiss you twice.”

He blinked dumbly, and then grinned and narrowed his eyes in determination.

Huh. He did have a bit of a spark in him. Maybe there was some hope for him after all.

Shining Armor scowled at him. He looked forward and pawed at the ground, suddenly much more focused on the competition.

Mi Amore Cadenza flew up and raised her hooves. “On your mark! Get set! Go!”

They took off, hooves pounding and sparking against the rocky ground, their fancy clothing fluttering in the wind. Mi Amore Cadenza giggled, reveling in her power.

She flew overhead, wordlessly egging them on. Shining Armor pulled forward, but the orange pegasus was not to be ignored. These two in particular pulled ahead of the pack, and Mi Amore Cadenza was moderately surprised.

And then about fifty paces from the finish line, Shining Armor smirked. He ducked his head and sprinted. He had been holding back. The orange pegasus could only stare dumbstruck as Shining effortlessly increased the distance between them, easily outpacing his competitor.

Mi Amore Cadenza grinned. She did know how to pick them.

Now with a clear margin of victory, Shining Armor burst across the finish line a good twenty paces ahead of the next pony. He looked up and cantered triumphantly, even though his shirt was now tinged with sweat and looked much more wrinkled than before.

Mi Amore Cadenza landed. She trotted up to Shining Armor. “Congratulations,” she said, licking her lips. “To the victor go the spoils.”

It was obvious that Shining hadn't planned this out much further out than just winning the race. His ears pinned, and he took the tiniest of steps back as the consequences of his winning actions became frighteningly clear.

But Mi Amore Cadenza was not a pony that backed off when something she wanted was in sight. She strode forward, and when Shining retracted his head slightly she lit her horn and pulled it back forward.

And she pressed their lips together.

Shining Armor froze. He had never felt anything like this before.

Incidentally, neither had Mi Amore Cadenza. But she wasn't about to let that stop her. She pulled back slightly only to press down again.

Something was wrong, though.

Oh. That's right. She needed to breathe.

She pulled back again, their lips making a strange smacking sound as they separated, inhaling sharply. Shining Armor did, too, both the exertion from the race and the shock of the kiss leaving him gasping for breath.

But his mouth was open. And Mi Amore Cadenza got an idea.

She darted close again, bumping muzzles on accident, and as Shining opened his mouth further to protest, she slid her tongue inside.

She wasn't sure why she'd done this. But she wasn't exactly complaining. It was wet and tasted slightly of mint, but at the same time it felt strangely intimate, and she wanted mo-

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!”

Mi Amore Cadenza spun around, nearly letting Shining Armor drop to the ground. She recognized the armor of someone rather high in rank, and the angry look in his eyes seemed terribly familiar. “Celestia told me to!” she defended herself.

Comments

[Son of Sanguinius]

Well that was hilarious. I wonder how Shiny's taking all these revelations about his wife. The look on his face must be priceless. Both at the time and in the present.