The Ruler of Ponies and Men

by Boopy Doopy

(12-1) Sisters

Cadance braced herself for a magical attack, but to her surprise, she didn’t receive one, instead being tackled by the mare, slamming her into the ground. Her main thought was to protect the bell, and teleported it away before Twilight could try to grab it. As she did, Twilight made sure she was firmly pinned under her, glaring angrily at her, probably as angry as she’d looked in her whole life.

“Do you really not care at all?” Twilight yelled, the hurt very clear in her voice. “Do you really not care about what happens to you after this? Or how it looks when I vouch for you or try to paint your actions in a better light? Or how much it hurts to be lied to again?”

Cadance tried to teleport away, but before she could, Twilight attached her magic to her, being pulled wherever she went.

“You’re supposed to be my sister!” she continued, the two standing now in a large, green field under the sun. “Do you know how much I’ve been wavering and wanting to believe in you only for you to pull this again?”

“Stay out of it, Twilight,” Cadance threatened as she sent her an angry look of her own. “This isn’t about you.”

“Why do you care so much?” the mare asked, now looking more sad. “Being a ruler doesn’t mean anything! If you would’ve asked me before this whole mess got started, I would’ve given it to you! You know I never even wanted it!”

“You shouldn’t- argh!” Cadance closed her eyes and took a breath before opening them again and saying, “I shouldn’t have to ask for what was promised to me! I shouldn’t be pushed aside when she finds the next new pony she wants to tutor! Shining Armor shouldn’t choose being choosing you over his wife and the mother to his foal!”

She was seething, her eyes filled with hate and anger. It was a look that made Twilight want to flinch back, but she stood her ground, taking a step forward and furrowing her brow again.

“You have to let it go,” Twilight said forcefully. “You can’t hold on to this. It doesn’t matter.”

“I can’t,” she said flatly. “I can’t let it go. I’ve been working my whole life for this only for it to be yanked away from me. I’m not giving up on what should be mine.”

“What about Flurry Heart?” the purple alicorn asked. “What is she going to think hearing about you if you fail? What about me? We’re supposed to be sisters! Doesn’t that matter to you at all?”

“It’s not about you, Twilight,” Cadance said lowly, grinding her teeth. “Nothing you did started this, and nothing you can do will stop this. But if you try to get in the way, you will get hurt. This is your one warning.”

“You don’t have to do this. You can still end this. There are other ways to-” Twilight tried to continue, but was cut off. She suddenly had a blast of magic sent her way, one that she had to create a forcefield to deflect. A second later, Cadance started to disappear, Twilight attaching herself to her spell at the last moment.

“Can’t let her get away,” she thought. “She has Grogar’s Bewitching Bell. I can’t get caught up in that either. If she steals my magic, it’s over. I have to stay on the attack until Sombra and Starlight and Princess Luna get here. How naive can I possibly be?”

The second the two of them reappeared, Twilight sent an attack of her own, although it didn’t do much more than push her as Cadance deflected it.

“Stop following me!” the pink pony yelled angrily, sending out another blast of magic. It was a single, concentrated beam, one that she let continue on for more than a few seconds. It wasn’t something difficult to defend against, but after several seconds of it’s continuation, Twilight realized what she was doing. She did her best to cast her protection spell so she could run up and tackle her again, realizing she was pushing her farther away so she wouldn’t be able to follow her. Before she could make it to her though, she was already gone, leaving the mare standing alone.

She only took a second to catch her breath before making her way back to Alex and Starlight, who were in the middle of a conversation and explained to them what happened.

“I tried to stop her, but it’s hard having to play defensive like that when she has the bell.”

“This is bad…” Alex trailed off before turning to Brimstone. “Is there any way to counteract that bell?” he asked.

“I- I don’t know. I only wanted to see about how to get it to work. I didn’t think all of this would happen, honestly.”

“Of course you didn’t,” the stallion rolled his eyes. “Where do you think she’s gonna go?”

“I don’t know, but Twilight, like I was telling Alex, we need to get the city locked down. We can’t have her stealing ponies magic like Tirek did. If it gets to that, it’s gonna be bad. Maybe we can let you hold our magic like you said you did with the other alicorns against him, but other than that, I don’t know.”

“I’m not going to let it get that far,” Alex thought to himself. “If it gets to that point, I’m just going to use the spell. It will not get to that point.”

“I think you should get started on that, Starlight,” Twilight instructed. “What is Princess Luna doing?”

“I don’t know, but hopefully something,” Alex told her. “She’s still around here somewhere.”

“Well, I’ll go get my friends so we can use the Elements of Harmony and you can-”

“Actually, no. I want her to do that. You and I are going to the archives to see what we can do about that bell. I have a feeling Cadance is going to show up there very soon.” He paused for a moment before adding, "When she does show up, I don't want you to try to talk to her. We don't have time for all of that."

"I know, I understand. I won't let her get away again."

Comments

[Clawfoot]

Cadence truly is mad.. Perhaps Tartarus is the only (reasonable) option.

[Jhonn]

11051114
sealed in the crystal heart???
It would be more in line with her kingdom, Celestia the sun, Luna the moon, Cadence in the heart.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

11051130
Might that effect the heart? With Cadence and all the negative emotions she's filled with? To much risk. I think tartarus might be the best, if not only option

[GlitchyFox]

11051130
mabey have her split in two by the elements with the old cadnce and the new becoming diffrent ponys. could be interesting to see what a completly corrupt princess of love would be like as if there is a bit of the original cadence left it likely is stopping her from going full murder rampage

[Clawfoot]

11051233
Reminds me how Luna and the Nightmare(In the comics or Tantabus in the show) are split.

[Thunder Sparks]

I would give it a toss up. Considering the elements bring things back into balance. Maybe have the elements de-age her in back into a filly and raised alongside flurry heart, or maybe something like modify her memory? I don’t think Tartarus is a good option, Cadence could find allies among those who hate harmony and can me back for revenge down the line.

[Kyuubi325]

Mine, Mine, Mine, that’s the take away from this. Cadence is just a spoiled brat who can’t handle that for the first time in her life, things aren’t going her way. She’s willing to lie, manipulate, cheat, and kill to get her way, in a normal adult this is dangerous. But with an Alicorn, even Sans the bell? She can’t be let off easily this time, while stoning might work, I think taking away her last claim to royalty (her alicorn status) might be the only option. Locking her up feels like it’s just putting off the problem, and I don’t think the author is going to use the elements of harmony as a cop out. Personally I think it would be a fitting punishment to teach her that nothing is owed to anybody. Especially if they make her actually support herself as an individual instead of just demanding the world give her what she thinks it should. Imagine her having to work a minimum wage job, get screamed out by the manager and customers , then go to a dingy apartment and sleep because she’s too tired to do much else. Perhaps living the life of the working poor will teach her a lesson that celestia couldn’t.

[Spiritus Arcane]

11051130
Given what the heart does, that would be a bad idea for choice of prison. Or would you want to risk her figuring out a way to manipulate people through it's ability to broadcast emotions throught Equestria?

[Mitril]

11051495
11051130
11051114
What about the same treatment as Princess Amore.
Turn her to crystal but without shattering her.

At least she will be more useful as a decoration.

Also, Well...
They still could shatter her and throw her pieces away but then it's worse because they can't control her location unless they take a different route.

Unless when they will shatter her.
They will put pieces in a couple of magically sealed containers with many security measures,GPS and alarms, like ones that will inform them if containers were touched,moved, or even opened, and put them in Crystal Empire, Canterlot, etc

[Misty Shadow]

How naive can I possibly be?

I don't think you want us to answer that. At least it seems at the end that they all finally understand Cadance can not be reasoned with.

[tsaukpaetra]

Sorry it had to be this way, Twilight...