Cadenza

by SingMeloetta

Chapter 7

As he walked down the hallway of their own private section of the Canterlot Castle, Shining Armor was amazed out how well he could still make out Cadance’s part of their conversation. “No, no, I don’t really mind if the napkins are eggshell or ivory. It’s fine, Cadence, it’s your call. Yes, I’m sure, I promise it’s not that big of a deal to me. I know how much this wedding means to you, but I think that maybe you’re stressing yourself out a little too much. How about we go on a walk?”

Cadence sighed, allowing herself to relax slightly. “Honestly? That’s probably the best suggestion I’ve heard all day.”

The two fiances walked down to the castle’s private gardens, letting the mid-spring breeze and the fresh aromas of the blooming flowers relax their spirits. “To be perfectly honest, I can’t wait to get this over with.”

Shining Armor smiled, acting as though he were in shock. “Oh? Talk like this coming from the princess of love herself? Blasphemy! Or maybe we really have figured out the mysterious threat after all! You must be an imposter!”

Cadence chuckled. “Well, I was there at the three hour long meeting about how long the train of the dress should be, if that gives you any hints. It’s just that with the wedding coming up so soon and your patrol around Canterlot with the threat coming in, it’s just been so much that sometimes I just want to skip this whole thing and get to the part where we can live in peace.”

“As much peace as you could possibly get, being a princess of Equestria and all.”

Cadence rolled her eyes. “Oh, pfft. I don’t have a kingdom, any living relatives, and was born as a completely normal pegasus pony who was raised in the middle of nowhere. The only reason anypony would ever consider me a princess is because-”

“You were made an alicorn by Celestia herself who then took you in and raised you in Canterlot to become the princess of love?”

“Well, yeah, but in the eyes of the media I probably don’t even exist.”

“You know what the best part about that is, though?”

“What?”

“It gives us more time to be alone. Just the two of us; And with a mare like you, that’s the best thing I could ever ask for.” Just as they had leaned in to nuzzle one another, a black shadow sped from tree to tree. Shining Armor ignored it at first, dismissing it as the shadows playing a trick on his eyes.

A faint buzzing noise grew clearer with every second, until Shining Armor decided that he couldn’t ignore it anymore, letting go of his wife’s embrace to investigate. A magenta light radiated the ground. “Stay here.” He followed the buzzing noise deeper and deeper into the brush of the garden, until he was completely out of sight.

Within seconds, a large pony-like had appeared right in front of Cadence's eyes grinning maliciously at her. She could recognize it as a changeling from her studies, but from what she’d learned, changelings only lived in the far west badlands. What was one doing all the way out here?
The changeling spoke as her spell of green flames encircled Cadance and quickly overwhelmed her. “Don’t worry, princess. You’ll be helping the hive out immensely with all the love you must have in that heart of yours.”

Cadence--the real Cadance-- was never quite sure of how long she had been trapped down there. Had it been days or weeks?

Either way, it was difficult to tell when all that she had down there to keep her company was her own reflection, which grew more and more unkempt by the day. All that the princess had was her mussed up reflection and her fear, which seemed to bounce off the crystal walls of the cavern and reflect right back into her heart.

So, by the time her favorite foalhoad friend found her, she was terrified enough to believe that Twilight would beat her up, or perhaps stoop so low as to do something even worse than that. Cadance’s mind had been fogged up from the time she'd been forced to spend in isolation, but there were still some things she could remember as clearly as her auntie’s day.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake,

Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

The wedding was planned to be on that very day, Twilight had told her. This was supposed to be the most perfect day of her life, a day which she had been taught to wait for and wish for ever since she was a young filly sitting and waiting and praying in silence in Altomarete’s churchhouse.

While she waited for her wedding day, Cadance also liked to let her mind wander; She dreamed of the friends she would have in the future, when she wasn’t the only filly her age that she knew. She dreamed of her luxurious wedding cake, which would please everypony. She dreamed of the day she would finally hear the sound of church bells echoing out over the entire village just for her.

Despite her fear and all the doubt in her mind that she would ever reach her groom in time to save him from her doppelganger. Knowing what changelings could do, she had probably placed a spell on him to drain his love. After she had stolen all of the love from his heart, nobody knew exactly what was going to happen, though perhaps she would let him live as a servant, if the changeling queen was feeling particularly kind today.

No matter what could happen to Shining Armor, Cadance needed to make sure that nothing happened to him. She refused to give up the wedding day of her dreams so easily, to give up the stallion of her dreams so easily.

It was down there in the caverns that she learned that broken hopes could take form in the most unusual of ways. A mine cart that hadn’t been touched in 50 years was one of them. When she had gotten that sparkle in her eye, when she had gotten the small hint that there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel, she had carried Twilight on her back and had glided the two of them all the way to the ledge.

That was all there had been: A ledge. A dead end, caused by a trick of the light. She had come up with the idea of tossing the bouquet to distract her duplicate’s brainwashed bridesmaids, bringing her that much closer to being reunited with her hopefully soon-to-be-husband.

The moment that they had spotted the exit was one of, if not the, happiest moments of Cadance’s life. Cadance’s legs ached and burned with the pain of Celestia’s sun, but she still sprinted; After all, her life really did depend on getting to the wedding hall as fast as she could.

They were halfway to the door when Cadance’s legs finally stopped moving. “Twilight, please I need you to-”

Without Cadence even having to finish her sentence, Twilight had already charged into the next room, the other Cadance crying crocodile tears about how Twilight had ruined her special day. It was at that moment when Cadance got back up on her hooves, having regained the strength to walk again.

“It’s not your special day, it’s mine! The other Cadance is a changeling. She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off of your love for them!”

The buglike witch cackled at Cadance’s explanation before taking Shining Armor by the head and making him nod as if though he was a puppet on strings. That was the last straw for Cadance, the pastel pink alicorn wanting so badly to charge at the changeling queen, and yet her hooves were somehow stuck to the ground in fear.

Chrysalis chided her. “Don’t want to get sent back down to the caves now, do you?”

Before she could blink, Her aunt was sprawled out on the floor in pain, Shining’s shield spell had been compromised, and the element bearers had been captured by another swarm of changelings while trying to retrieve the elements. Cadance was at a loss for words until Twilight whispered in her ear, “Go to him while you still can.” She melted the changeling goo off of her front legs, Cadance discreetly trotting over to her groom-to-be.

Like she had expected, Her magic had grown weaker after being trapped in the caves for so long, but the love she had for Shining Armor was stronger. A pink heart formed at the tip of her horn and floated over to Shining Armor’s own, freeing him of Chrysalis’s brainwashing. For the first time that day, Cadance smiled, though her happiness wasn’t long lasting; She hated seeing Shining Armor like this, hurt dazed and confused.

“What happened...Is the wedding over?”
“It’s all over!” Chrysalis cackled as she walked over to the window and looked down at the sights she had caused. Ponies were screaming from the streets and fleeing for their lives from her army of changelings, with an unlucky few having already been trapped.in their green slime.

“No...how did I let this happen, the shield should’ve kept the threat out.Mhm...but why do I feel so light headed...”

Cadance leaned in closer to Shining, both to help him regain his balance and to nuzzle him slightly. “My love will give you strength.” The huddled closer to one another, not even noticing the white glow that was stating to surrounded them. Both of them began to smile as a force pushed them upwards. Soon, that white glow turned a bright pink, and a large heart shape pushed outwards,repelling Queen Chrysalis and her army far away from Canterlot.

Cadance could’ve sworn she heard the changeling queen scream out in anger, but that didn’t matter to her. After all, although it was going to have to be postponed, she still had her wedding day to look forward to. And her wedding day was going to be perfect.

Comments

[Zapper Frost]

Yep, sounds like a good recap of cadence's view of the wedding

[SingMeloetta]

9013600
Thanks! For things like this, where there really wasn't much to go off of in terms of actual canon material, I just do my best to fill in the gaps, and I'm really glad this was accurate!

[HB_DS2013]

Not everyday I get to see Cadence’s POV.