Jumper

by lollipopchica

Chapter 11

‘So you really like this guy, huh?’

Cadence smirked as her manicured fingers swiped across her phone. ‘He’s quite the catch. Better than anything I could’ve done back at the academy.’

‘Better than me?’

‘Especially you!’

At the frowny face sent, Cadence couldn’t help but laugh. Regal was such a dork, she thought.

“Who are you texting?” Twilight asked.

“Just a kid from my old school.” Cadence responded honestly as she tossed her phone down beside her on Twilight’s bed.

Later the two would be going to one of Shining Armor’s games. So far the Baylot Broncos were undefeated. Shining Armor was quite the athlete and Cadence found watching his strong body move was becoming one of her favorite pastimes.

“Can I ask you something?” Twilight scribbled down her last thought.

“Of course!” Cadence rolled over to give her friend her undivided attention.

“We’re friends, right?” The bookworm started unsurely as she looked up from her homework.

“You’re basically like a younger sister to me.”

“It’s funny that you say that...” Twilight swallowed. “As if you don’t already have a sister...” The look on the older girl’s face twisted with bitterness. “Cadence?”

Cadence’s expression melted into something unsure as her face heated in shame. Twilight was too smart to have brought up something that she didn’t have proof of. There was no point in playing dumb, so she didn’t. “How do you...“ The Pie sisters, she recalled mentally berating herself for being so stupid.

“So it’s true.” Twilight sounded dazed as she vocalized her thought. “It’s Chrysalis?” Her friend confirmed with a nod. Cadence genuinely looked ashamed.

Rainbow Dash is going to have a field day, Twilight thought with a groan. ‘Looks like you don’t know everything after all...’ She could hear the teasing already.

“I don’t understand,” Twilight shook her head as she really focused on the suddenly uncomfortable teen. “Why did you pretend not to know her?”

“We’re not really on speaking terms right now.” Cadence sighed as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s the reason my parent’s felt pressured to move here.” Cadence exhaled roughly as she folded her arms across her chest. “It’s complicated.” She fell back on the bed as she glared up at the ceiling.

Moving to sit on her bed, Twilight leaned over her friend and gave her an easy smile. “Cadence, you can trust me.”

Sitting up once again, Cadence slid backwards until her back touched the wall and thought over the best way to tell her story. “Let’s just say after being a manipulative shrew, my sister ran away from home and guilted my parents into interrupting our lives because she couldn’t stand the consequences of her actions.”

“What did she do?” Twilight asked, leaning against the headboard of her bed.

“She slept with this guy I liked at some party.” Cadence muttered with a glare.

“What?!” Indigo eyes widened considerably as she jerked forward. “Did she know?”

“Of course she knew! I asked her to talk to him and she just... whatever they ended up doing.” Cadence’s hand flew around animatedly as she gestured in frustration.

“How did you find out about it?” Twilight asked, genuinely concerned.

“You don’t want to know.” Cadence shuttered before her expression softened, “We used to be best friends! I trusted her with everything and she stabbed me in the back.” She took a deep breath. “It was wrong to lie, but as selfish as it sounds, I don’t want people to think I’m anything like her.”

“That’s terrible, but it’s not a crime to have sex.” Twilight felt empathetic for her friend, but still didn’t understand why Cadence basically denied her sister’s existence and lied about it. While sleeping with your sister’s known crush is despicable, Cadence’s response seemed a bit more antagonistic than necessary.

“No but it is to pretend to be a slighted person after everyone finds out about it. She slept with a few people that night actually.” Cadence’s tone hardened. “Look, her sleeping around is whatever, but now my mom has to jump through hoops to keep her job and spend time with us, my dad had to leave his home that he worked his ass off for, give up his position as an adviser to the king, and I had to give up my life and scholastic plans to start all over here.” Taffy eyes burned with resentment. “All of that cause she enjoyed herself a bit too much at a party and she didn’t want people to know.”

“Oh...”

“She makes me so angry Twilight!” Cadence buried her face in her hands as she took a moment to compose herself. “She pretends to be this victim. But Chyrsalis has never been a soft girl. She’s always been bold and confident- the kickass and take names type. But even still she always cared- at least I thought she did.” Her sadness and anger bled heavily into the other. “Now, we can’t even hold a civil conversation.” Cadence deflated with a pout. “You must think I’m awful.”

“No! Not at all!” Twilight laid a comforting hand on Cadence’s knee. “I can see why you’re so upset...”

“You’ve seen how she talks to people and how mean she can be. It’s not even the guy really... It’s just we’re sisters and I never thought my sister was capable of hurting me. And she did. She’s always had my back- And now... I feel like I don’t even know her.” Cadence’s eyes were glassy as she sniffled. She was furious with her sister’s betrayal, but that didn’t mean she’d forgotten the good times.

Chrysalis had been a mischievous warrior spirit that she’d always adored. Now... not so much.

Reaching forward, Twilight gave her ailing friend a comforting smile before giving her a hug. “It’ll be okay, Cadie! You have me and the girls now, and we’d never hurt you like that.”

Cadence smiled as she wiped at misty eyes.

“Thanks, Twilight.”

*****

“Holy Shit! How are you so good at this?”

“Less complaining and more sprinting.” Celestia panted. Like all the girls in their family, Celestia was as active as anyone else. Gymnastics and rugby had been her sports of choice.

The inclines in Bay City were sobering. While they were fun to look up and down, they weren’t so kind to the body that dared to traverse their gradient slopes.

“Shit!” Chrysalis gasped as she struggled to follow the bouncy ponytail of pastel colors that was her older cousin.

“Now would you look at that?” Celestia breathed, pleased with their rewarding view once they’d zigzagged to the top of the iconic Bombard Street.

Chrysalis stared out into the city and smiled. Colorful houses lined the waves of street that rolled right on out to the bay. The sun cast its golden glow on the city as it was making its descent for the day.

“I guess it’s pretty nice,” Chrysalis conceded grudgingly as she caught her breath.

“You guess?” Celestia smirked with hands on her hip and a tilt of her head.

A trolley pushed itself forward and passed the two resting teens before veering down another street. Its bell dinged as it moved on announcing its presence.

The changeling teen grinned. “Let’s go wait for the next trolley,” She suggested.

“Agreed.” The college aged girl laughed not wanting to slip and tumble into the bay some miles away.

The two girls set off to the next stop.

With her Friday classes cancelled, Celestia decided to surprise her cousins in the beautiful Bay City.

The look on Chrysalis’ face had been heartbreaking in its relief.

Tomorrow she and Chrysalis would return to Canterlot to spend time with Luna. Cadence was busy and was completely unaware of her visit. But the heavenly maned beauty couldn’t wait to change that later.

The dance team would be performing at tonight’s halftime show for the varsity football team. Everyone was excited show their support. Celestia had wanted to take a quick run before going anywhere, so she and Chrysalis found themselves running up the city’s famous Bombard’s crooked street.

Later they’d meet up with her aunt and uncle and go to the game to show their support.

“Things getting better with Cadie?” Celestia studied her cousin out of the corner of her eye.

Chrysalis inhaled cool air and exhaled. “Nope... I’m still a ‘bug’.”

“Your mom hear that shit?”

Eye roll. The two stopped at a crosswalk. “Of course not.”

Once they arrived at the stop, the two facetimed Luna for a few minutes before the trolley came. “I really worry about you, Chryssie. Does she even love you anymore?”

The two managed to squeeze in together on a bench. “Nope. Not anymore. But I can do it fine on my own now, Celie.”
Celestia sighed.

The duo wasted no time showering and changing once they’d arrived back to the house.

“Hurry up, you two!” Justinian had rushed as a giggling blur of black and pale fuchsia raced past him.

“Changeling immigrant involved in gambling sca-“

With a sigh, he turned from the news station as he waited.

The ride to the game was full of familial ribbing and catching up.

“A lawyer?!” Her mother rolled her eyes. “You’re an Alicorn through and through...” Despite the democracy they lived in, an Alicorn had occupied the throne for the last one hundred years.

Justinian smirked, “She certainly is.”

Chrysalis was sad it couldn’t be this way with her own sister. But she could never tell Cadence what really happened, and she was sure her sister would never believe her anyway.

Once the arrived at the game, Celestia immediately went off in search of Cadence while Chrysalis wondered off to the concessions stand.

Adelpha gave her husband a sideways glance and smiled. She watched as he chatted with another parent, enthusing about football and other mundane events.

It felt good to be out with her family instead of dealing with PR nightmares back at the embassy.

She was about to snag his attention, when she felt someone’s focus on her.

She turned to see a pony person glaring at her. Flashing a friendly smile, she hoped the person wasn’t thinking of approaching her. She loved her work, but some people were just unreasonably biased.

Placing a hand on her husband’s arm, she squeezed lightly to grab his attention.

“I hear this Shining Armor is quite the athlete,” Justinian laughed with the man beside him. “Excuse me,” he turned to his wife just in time for her attention to be accosted by the aggravated person.

“Don’t you work for the embassy in Canterlot?” Came a hardened tone. “I’ve seen you on the news before. Lobbying for changelings and shit...”

Adelpha calmly regarded the man who made it a priority to approach her while she was with her family. “Yes, I do. Can I help you?”

“You can send those heathens back where they come from!” He growled. “I had a friend swindled by one of those devils. He lost everything- including his health!”

“Now is not the time or place for this conversation.” She said professionally. “But if you’d like-“

“And you call yourself a pony person...” The man sounded disgusted. “You’re probably one of them!”

“I think what my wife was trying to say is how about you make an appointment with the embassy and someone can look into helping your friend out later, not now. At a highschool football game.”

The man switched his attention to Justinian who looked deceptively composed. In reality, he was one wrong word away from putting the man in his place.

“I-“

Chrysalis showed up with popcorn, “Mom, Dad... Is everything alright?” She glared at the man with all the scorn she could muster. “Is he harassing you?”

“C’mon Coal,” Some other guy called looking on with thinly veil annoyance. “Leave those people alone and let’s enjoy the game.”

Adelpha reached in her purse and handed him a card. “For your friend,” she smiled politely.

The man frowned and snatched the card. “Thanks,” he muttered before stalking away.

Chrysalis hugged her mother as she sunk down beside her. “What was that...?” She breathed.

Justinian frowned and moved to stand. “Just leave it,” Adelpha sighed resting her head atop her daughter’s. “Cadie’s about to go on.”

They could see Celestia waving up at them wildly from a row down front.

Comments

[The Voice in the Water]

I'm hoping that if and when the truth comes out, its going to crush Cadance. Hopefully she doesn't learn by Regal pulling the same thing on her that he did with her sister. Glad to see Chryssalis and Celestia having a little fun. Poor girl needs it.

[Janyo]

Nice and calmed episode, I was waiting to read more about 'the walk' Shining Armor and the real Chrysalis mentioned in the previous chapter, but this one was interesting too. I'm not very pleased happy to see Cadance talking shit about her sister as usual, but I think she also needed to tell another pony about her feeling, and maybe, understand she has been very cruel to her (At least is seems Cadance was more aware than before), and Twilight, as the clever girl she is, could notice some oddities in Cadance's point of view.

Beside Chrysalis have distanced from others, at least she has an awesome bond with her cousin. I hope Celestia can have a more serious chat with Cadance after the game. And poor Cadance and Chrysalis parents, they can't forget a bit about work even in their free time; this grumpy dude and the bigot teacher of the other day probably are the kind of people Adelpha has to deal with all the time.

P.S. I'm a bit lost, and probably I have to read the story from the very beginning but to be clear: Adelpha is a changeling but has been using 'pony person' appearance, alright? Or is she a pony-changeling hybrid like Cadance and her natural appearance is a pony one? I used to think she is a changeling and have the look of one, but the racist guy's reaction let me thinking he probably would have attacked her more personally if she looked like a real changeling. Or am I just overthinking it?

[lollipopchica]

10141672
Oh no! Youre not overthinking. Shes a changeling that uses a pony person disguise. Yea, her parentals are definitely overworked, but they do try even if it's maybe not the best. Cadence is just bratty in this. Shes so nice I feel like it has to come out somewhere. She really does feel like her sister is unstoppable and proud in everything she does so she really cant fathom someone taking advantage of her. Which on one hand is flattering, but on the other is terribly unrealistic.