Three.
Eight Years
“I go through the trouble,” Jakob began as his imposing form lumbered towards the table, “of telling my daughter you can be trusted. Yet here you are, Mi Amore Cadenza, sticking your nose where it does not belong.” It was difficult to tell if he was upset or teasing the alicorn. His face was stone, and he moved like some great prowling cat.
Unruffled, Cadence sized him up, her wings shifted and rose as she sat tall and proud. “I’m not the one keeping his heir ignorant of a part of her future that her mother worked very hard to set up for her.”
“I never asked for the responsibility,” Jakob told her in even tones. The chair in front of him was far too small for his lanky frame. He moved it aside, glancing at his daughter with a single shake of his head and sat on the floor. “Kaga always told me there were certain expectations she had for me. I could never tell her no. You knew that then, you know it now.”
The alicorn sniffed, “It still does not explain why you couldn’t at least introduce your child to the horrors of being a part of the nobility.” She arched a brow and peered down her muzzle at the human. “It’s as though you cannot bear the thought of shackling her with such idiocy.”
There was an uneasy moment of silence between the two. June found she was holding her breath, as though the air itself was quickly glowing and crackling with pent-up energy. Her eyes darted between man and pony as the two sat boring their eyes into each other in some colossal battle of wills. Her body tensed, her eyes went round.
Jakob raised an arm, stretched it out, extended his index finger and touched the tip of the alicorn’s snout. She followed the approaching digit with her eyes, both held still as a statue, until the tip of his finger made contact. Her eyes crossed comically. She blinked and withdrew her head.
Suddenly, she was stricken with a fit of giggles.
The man presented a small yet victorious smile. It soon faded like a distant memory. “It is good to see you again, Cadence,” he rumbled in greeting.
His grumpy mask resumed with his usual glare.
June let out an explosive breath and deflated in her chair. “What is wrong with you two?” she huffed while eyeing them with suspicion.
Cadence giggled, then herself became serious. “Well,” she began, shifting her attention to the girl, “your mother wanted you educated in the ways of dealing with the nobility. Like it or not, one of these days you will have to put up with ponies who have a legacy of thinking themselves better than others dating back to beyond the founding of Equestria. Not all of them are bad, mind you, but By My Aunt’s Eternal Patience, they can and will push hard against you to get what they want.”
Jakob grunted and shook his head. “I do not deal with them. They have no reason to deal with me.”
Cadence stared at him, an eye twitching. “Jakob, I love you like a brother, but this is probably the one thing you are the absolute worst at. It’s not about you, you big dummy, but the land and how it is valued in the eyes of others who would love nothing more than to squeeze all the profit out for themselves! The nobility is more or less terrified of you. You have a few allies among them, but you’ve had little to no contact with them over the past eight years. Eight! You’ve isolated yourself from a social class filled with snooty opportunists. They’re waiting on you to make a mistake, Jakob. If you don’t, then they’ll wait until your unprepared daughter takes over and then make their move. How does that sound? Hmm?”
“More tea?” Mama Swayback asked from over June’s shoulder.
“Yes, please,” Cadence replied with a warm smile. There was an awkward silence as the old mare refilled her teacup and set a large frothing mug of ale in front of Jakob.
“Are you mad at Father?” June asked as she stared at the alicorn.
“June,” Cadence said, then sipped her tea, “dogs get mad. I am angry. Angry and disappointed. Your father is supposed to be protecting you, the land his wife —your mother— was gifted, and the ponies who live on it. On top of all this, he fails to keep in touch with me… Oh, and by the way, June, I’m your godmother,” she seethed. Her sidelong glance tore into Jakob.
The big man had the good sense to at least look abashed. “You have an empire to run.”
“Jakob, we’re family,” she nearly shouted, her wings half flared. “I get you are a private individual and that you were the product of two hermits getting together for five seconds on top of the same mountain peak, but this does not work when you have a child and a thousand other responsibilities to take care of!”
The sour man’s face became even more so.
“Had this comin’,” muttered the old mare as she puttered back into the kitchen.
June, by this time, was staring at Cadence. She had never seen anypony challenge Father like this. Her wide eyes blinked once, then twice, rapidly. Godmother?
“I have a godmother?” she questioned. “Father, is Princess Cadence really my godmother?”
Father mumbled something under his breath in his own language, his hand on the table balling up into a clenching fist. “I heard reporters,” he managed when he did look back up. “Let us talk about them. Why?”
“The plan,” Cadence said with a huff, “was to bring you back into high society—” she held up a hoof as his features darkened “—because you have been out of the public eye for so long that questions were being asked. Celestia and Luna are reluctant, yet willing to let you do things the way you want, as they cannot be seen meddling. However, they are worried, perhaps even more so than I am, about the future of your barony and June. I can meddle because the nobility recognizes me as family, because I adopted Kaga officially into my family.” Cadence stabbed a hoof at him, rolling it in the air, “As well as you, for some inexplicable reason.”
The pink mare appeared worn. “Jakob,” she begged, “you need allies. You need the right ponies who will look after your interests and help you with securing June’s future. You might not want the politics, but the politics want you.”
“I gave her the presents you sent her,” Jakob managed, his beard bristling. “Told her it was from a friend of the family.” The man aged right before his daughter’s eyes. “Never wanted to expose her to those… ponies.” His eyes became flinty, “Cadence, I am a warrior. Born, raised, and blooded. I was never taught how to play the game of kings and queens. My specialty was war. My comfort is on the battlefield. This,” his arm swept over the room, “I was never prepared for any of this!”
“Yet this has become one of the most prosperous baronies in recent Equestrian history.” The princess gave him a look. “Everything around here was built up in the last eight years because of you. I don’t buy the ‘I’m just a warrior’ excuse from you, Jakob. You adapt. You overcome. You do better. This village is a perfect example of what you can do when you set your mind to it. That’s why I wanted to bring the reporters in, to show that you have not been negligent in your duties concerning the welfare of your ponies,” she sighed, “I had no idea they were planning on going off on their own to get their own interview. I... apologize for that.”
“I am... sorry.” Jakob scratched at his beard, not at all comfortable.
The princess flicked her ears, one, then the other, “It’s not entirely your fault. You heard about the Storm King’s invasion? You can’t be that backwater to know nothing of it.”
“The incident three years ago?” A shaggy black brow rose.
“Incident,” she growled with a roll of her eyes. The mare suddenly turned to June, “Incident, he says! Canterlot was invaded.”
“Again?” he offered, looking oddly surprised.
“Never mind that! Not the point!” she growled as her hackles came up. “It only lasted a couple of weeks before everything was settled. But I would like to stress it made things easier for you because of the administrative disaster that happened in the aftermath of the invasion.”
“Who is this Storm King?” Jakob asked.
“He’s dead now,” Cadence wore a look of distaste. “You can’t make him any deader.”
“Ah,” came the reply.
“You sound disappointed,” Cadence deadpanned.
“Maybe. A little?” he admitted with a shrug. “Haven’t had a good fight in a while. How, and why, was I not notified?”
“It happened too fast for anypony to get a distress call out,” she told him with a shake of her head, “and it was over in less than two weeks. He was defeated, my aunts were put back in power, and Twilight had to relearn some lessons of friendship. Honestly, I worry about that mare.” She shook her head. “In any case, communications were down. Magic was non-existent.”
“Again?” Jakob parroted.
Cadence gave him a flinty stare, sipping her tea. “You’re lucky I love you. So uncivilized.”
“Father?” June piped up, having watched the conversation with rapt attention.
“Hmm?” he turned to her.
“Is Cadence my godmother?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I do not know.”
“You don’t know?” Cadence and June asked in perfect sync.
“How is Shining Armor?” Jakob deflected.
“He’s fine. He would have been here, but Flurry Heart has a cold.” Cadence pursed her lips, then added, “Don’t evade the question. Did you think I was going to take June away from you?”
“What? No.”
“Are you going senile?”
“Possibly.”
“I—” the alicorn paused, staring at the big man, “You know, I would not be surprised. Flurry Heart is five, by the way, and thank you for the card two years after the fact.”
Jakob just shrugged and took his first drink from his mug.
“June,” Cadence began as she rubbed her temple with a hoof, “Sometimes I can’t tell if your father is messing with my head or if he’s really the way he’s putting himself out to be.”
"Father is a hopeless lump," the girl stated, took a pull from her glass, then glared at Jakob while sporting a milk mustache.
"And a deceptive one at that," agreed the mare.
Jakob grumbled to himself. He found solace in his tankard. As he did so, Mama Swayback emerged from the kitchen with a large tray of food on her back. “Soup’s on!” she told the table. “Vegetable soup, fresh picked this mornin’. Fresh bread, butter, honey... all the fixins’ ya’ll want.” The cheerful mare greeted each of those seated at the table as she set bowls and spoons in front of them. When she served Jakob last, she grinned, “Ain’t the princess a hoot?”
“Something like that,” he conceded before grabbing his own bowl. After a few spoonfuls, he nodded in approval. “It is good. Thank you.”
Cadence, with her spoon held in the grip of her magic, wagged it at the big man. “I’ve seen planks of wood with more personality than you,” she said with a straight face.
He grunted.
“Let him eat, princess,” Mama Swayback told the alicorn. “You don’ tore into him pretty good. He deserves a break before you start wailing on him again. Try the soup. Papa spent all mornin’ gettin’ it ready. As a matter of fact, all you need to just eat. Save the talkin’ for after the eatin’.”
“Thank you, Mama,” June chirped, her legs swinging beneath her. She licked her lips before shoveling soup into her mouth with gusto.
While the two brutalized their food with veracity that could be considered a war crime, Cadence watched with horrified fascination. Father and daughter mimicked each other; slurping loudly, their heads hovering over their bowls, their spoons stabbing at the soup with the fury of a bayonet charge.
She took a polite sip of her soup. She found it delectable. Why did some of the tiniest villages have some of the best-tasting food?
“It’s lovely,” Cadence complimented Mama, but her eyes did not meet the old mare. Instead, the alicorn found she could not tear her eyes from the horror of what could only be described as ‘an unbridled assault upon even the most basic levels of dinner table etiquette’. It was such an amazing display of paganistic culinary worship. It was not impossible to picture a ritualistic sacrifice might happen at any given moment—
Jakob tore off a chunk of bread from the loaf and savagely drowned it in his bowl. He pulled it up from its unceremonious dunking before cramming it into his mouth.
—aaand there it was!
June followed suit. A little savage, wolfing down her meal, mimicking her father in the most absurd ways.
Cadence took another dainty spoonful of her own meal, aware that June was staring back at her. The girl paused in her meal, blinked, then turned her head to her father. He on the other hand, continued to eat, fully ignoring the alicorn. June caught his attention and she tilted her head towards the princess. The girl was conscious of the muted expression of awe and horror and again turned to her father. Her face questioned.
“When you are done eating,” he told her, one cheek still bulging, as though imitating a demented squirrel, “Marely needs to get your measurements and you need to pick out your clothes. Once you do that, you may play with your friends.” For a moment, his eyes roamed until they fell on Cadence, seeing the same, unchanged expression his daughter had witnessed before focusing back on his soup. More bread was torn from the loaf.
There was another baptism.
Sharks have better table manners, Cadence thought. Oddly enough, she did not lose her appetite. Having foalsat who was now the newest member to the ranks of alicorns, she had witnessed what fate befell any hayburger to come before the former student of Princess Celestia. In a sense, she was numb to the barbarity happening in front of her eyes now.
Despite the appearance of a chaotic dining experience, the pair were not sloppy eaters. Everything, save for some crumbs, stayed in their bowls. Father and daughter ate fast, chewed loud, and swallowed as though speed was of the essence. There was little small talk. There was only food. There was hope for some semblance of manners when June sawed off a hunk of bread from the violated loaf and applied butter and honey to it with precise swipes of a butter knife.
“Sergeant Sentry,” she called out. Jakob flicked his eyes up at her, noticed she was not paying attention, and picked up his bowl. He drained its contents into his mouth, his beard now sporting bits of bread.
A yellow pegasus with blue hair appeared, poking his head through the front door. “Ma’am?”
“Be a dear and find those two reporters, Picture Perfect and Truth Written, please.” Cadence smiled at him, “We would like to have a word with them. They have stepped beyond their bounds and they need to be reminded as to why they were asked to come with Us at Our request.”
“Yes, ma’am!” he saluted, before darting off.
Flash Sentry was a dependable stallion.
“You do not normally use the royal ‘we’,” Jakob noted as he wiped his beard with a napkin.
He’s using a napkin! There is hope yet!
Cadence shrugged, “I do dust it off from time to time. It does have its uses, but I really hate to unless I think the situation merits.” Her tail flicked as she shifted in her seat.
“Did Rainbow Dash have children?” he then asked. This caught Cadence off guard. “One of those reporters, Picture Perfect, I think, said so. Is it true?”
“If you had bothered to keep in touch,” Cadence singsonged, tilting her head from one side to the other as she did, “then you would know she is currently married, has twin foals, both fillies, and has not been removed from the Wonderbolt roster. Why are you curious?”
Folding his arms over his chest, he snorted, “She was the first pony I drank with. She was the only pony who would drink with me. She is a friend. Is she well?”
“She is happy, from last time I spoke to her.”
“Good,” he grunted. His attention went to June. “Are you finished?” Jakob asked. The girl nodded, pushing her bowl away from her. “Go see Marely, then you can go play with your friends.”
“Thank you, Father,” June beamed at him. She hopped out of her chair and was already running out the door, and calling out, “Nice meeting you, Princess Cadence!”
“She is adorable, yet tough,” she observed.
“She reminds me of her mother and more so every day,” Jakob’s tone had a hint of sadness.
“It must be difficult, being a single father.”
The man blew air through his nose. “It is not easy.”
“How was the diaper stage for you?” she gave him a cheeky grin.
“Not so bad once you got past the smell,” his brows furrowed. “However, cleaning them was not pleasant.”
“How did you feed her?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I’m curious! We have eight years of catching up to do. I’m her godmother, Jakob!”
The big man sighed and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on top of the table. “Marely offered to be her wet nurse. I accepted and rendered payment for her services until June was weaned. I watched a feeding once. Marely had privacy after that.”
“Did you ever think of finding another mare?” Cadence asked, genuinely curious. “Even just for companionship?” She held up her hooves defensively when his face darkened at the questions. “I ask because I care! Please don’t get upset! I know how much Kaga meant to you! Believe me, I of all ponies know!” Her horn lit up and a barrier appeared around the table.
Jakob stared at the alicorn, his face unreadable.
“Do you trust me, Jakob? Do you trust me with your thoughts and your fears? Do you trust me with your concerns and all the things that bother you? Are you truly happy, Jakob? Do you think Kaga would want to see you not sharing your life with another? Eight years, Jakob. Eight years and not a peep from you and how June was doing. We gave you that time because we knew you were mourning. We all mourned for Kaga. But eight damned years! Eight!” Tears had formed, streamed, and fell as she poured out her heart, “We’re family you big doofus! Family is so important to us ponies. It’s important to me! It was important to Kaga!”
The man looked away and let out a slow, deliberate breath. “I am sorry, Cadence.”
The princess rose from her seat and went to him. She placed a hoof on his forearm as she sat. “Today would have been her birthday.”
She was surprised when a big hand covered her hoof. “Yes,” he rumbled in a voice muted by a tremble of emotion. The fingers squeezed gently and were removed.
“I would like to go with you, and say hello to her, if I may.”
“You are welcome to come. You are welcome to stay the night if you wish. There is much to discuss,” Jakob said softly as he regarded her.
“We could have imposed on you,” Cadence sighed. “I could have made time to visit, or Luna or Celestia could have. Twilight could have made a Friendship Visit, if anything. But, everything was in shambles and things beyond our control kept on happening. I have regrets, Jakob. I just think we are as much at fault as you are.”
“Our responsibilities are necessary burdens,” Jakob countered, his features having softened. “We lose track of time. We focus on what is before us, and not what lies beyond the horizon. We avoid the past. Of all the pony princesses, you were the one I missed the most.”
Cadence smiled at him, “I think you’re just saying that because you know you’re guilty.”
“No, I am saying that because you are here.”
“Oh, and what if it was Celestia or Luna or Twilight instead of me?”
The man chuckled and fished into his pockets. He threw a few bits on the table. “What do you think?”
Cadence gave it a thought, then puffed her cheeks as she found herself glaring at the man. “You’re an impossible brute, you know that?”
He responded by reaching over and scratching the princess between the ears. “But you love me anyway,” Jakob told her. With a thumb, he wiped a tear from her cheek. “Drop the barrier and let us see what June picked out for clothing. We can talk more while she plays with her friends. Marely should have the wagon loaded by then. Then, we will go home.”
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Woof.
Now see, this happens in real life, but I'm going to reword it so ye of small brain, like myself, can understand the questions being asked :
"Do you trust me with all of your secrets and have absolute trust in me?"
"Would your dead wife be happy knowing you aren't actively trying to replace her with another woman?"
"I was a friend of your wife and I was also hurt by her passing, and since i couldn't visit, I was hurt more than you, her husband, therefore you should listen to me"
"Your dead wife would've sucked it up and consoled US if you died, why didn't you do the same?"
It's all reading between the lines, lil passive ticks and fancy words that give what a person truely thinks.
Their real statement often needs a bit of decoding to understand it.
I like this. A fresh take on the human in Equestria. I cannot wait for more!
Like I said before. Present. With multiple layers. I usually get bored at descriptions and such but this fic makes me want to read them.
Is anyone reminded of Kratos from God Of War? Anyone?