39. Two Princesses, One Lord, One Demon
Two Princesses, One Lord, One Demon
Cadance
Here I was within my crystal castle that had resided within my dreams for as long as I could remember. Yet this time within its crystalline halls was not one pony named Mi Amore Cadenza. No, there were now two ponies who shared my name. One who had previously perished and one who still survived all the attempts on my still mortal life. Two ponies who could have potentially been the same. Now however the differences were all too clear.
My duplicate had chosen to love the many. While I had chosen to love the few. I hoped that her decision hadn’t been as forced as mine had been at the claws of Discord, but from what I had seen in her Love she had enough to share. The countless ponies that she held within her heart flowed after one another, a near-endless tide that I doubted my own could contain. Yet even beyond the deluge of those that she held dear, two were highlighted as the ones she held most dear.
Her child and husband. An unnamed foal that had managed to ascend in its infancy and impossibly enough a pony that I had met if only shortly. In another life those two ponies had been mine, they had been the ones that my Love had been centered upon. Even now as I stared down my elder self such thoughts refused to dissipate.
“Another difference, you are taking this far better than I would have even years later.” Cadenza began, not bothering to confirm the truth of the accusation that I had made. She didn’t need to, she was me after all. For all the wretched differences between the two of us, we were the same.
I had seen into her heart and amongst the great many ponies that were held within its endless bounds, one pony in particular had not been found within. One who she had earlier declared as a demon, one who she had nearly used me to kill. One who had barely stayed her wing at my mental pleadings. To save the one that I called my partner, and who she no doubt referred to as her murderer. The one who she was now no doubt going to warn me against.
“I’m sure you had your own difficulties that you had to deal with.” I neutrally responded. She held all the initiative yet she refused to use it to dictate the terms of this… whatever this was. She had saved me from the void and then Umbrum’s mind when I had nearly drowned within its darkened depths. Yet despite her declaration of preventing what had happened to her, what had likely happened to her family, she didn’t continue.
No, instead she was still watching over me as were I but a filly not yet out of a danger that only she could see. She had saved me for a purpose, one which likely had to do with the pony that had saved me numerous times over the short span I had known her. Even if she had threatened my life at times. Yet now she could not save me, nor could she have saved me earlier. Not from the void, darkness, or even myself. I would have to take the step forth and not require a savior once more.
“Indeed I did. Now however I can’t help but think that had some of those difficulties been harsher, things would have changed in the end.” Cadenza, her words wistful and holding far more within them than I could hope to understand. She took a breath and I could see the way that her eyes hardened. “It is pointless to ponder what could have been, we must instead focus on what happened and what we can learn from past mistakes.” Her purple eyes flashed with a clear mix of power and intent. “So that they are not repeated in the future.”
Finally, it seemed that we were getting to the true purpose of her having saved me. “Well then Cadance I shall dispense with any further pleasantries.” Pleasantries? Has the conversation so far been pleasant in comparison to what she had intended to speak of? Sweet Celestia, what could that even entail? What horrors had Cadenza seen before her death? A glittering light began to spread throughout my crystalline castle as she paused and no doubt collected her fragmented thoughts.
Unbeholden to the current disposition of my thoughts, Cadenza continued forth undaunted. “The Demon who won was not satisfied by the victory it had achieved, within all that it had burned was but the remnants of blasted and blackened ash. No doubt it had found in the end that within the realms it had reduced, it couldn’t achieve its goal. So it was left with but one choice to-. You can’t possibly be waking up!” My elder self declared with such a forced calm, that Cadenza’s words lingered with a honed edge of annoyance that would have cut through reality if they were released beyond my dreams. Yet it was as she claimed, the lights within my castle were growing in intensity and splendor. Signifying that my time within my dreams was quickly coming to an end.
No matter what I nor my fully ascended self could do, at best it could only be delayed before I was brought back into the realm of Equus. I had likely been trapped within Umbrum’s mind for far longer than I had realized. I couldn’t even pull open my mouth to ask one of the countless questions that was rampaging through my mind. There was so much more I needed to know. A near-infinite amount of curiosities remained unasked. Of an altered era that Cadenza had lived through, of how she still existed before me as something less than whole, and of what this meant for me.
Forcefully tugging at the very foundations of my dreams in a desperate attempt to slow my awakening, I could only despair as I felt that my realm of dreams refused to be molded in my desperation. Not even as I strived to touch upon what lay beyond my hooves once more. The power that was promised to me should I complete my ascension. This time I could find no purchase upon that power that existed just beyond my current existence. So close was it to my very touch, yet too far beyond as it danced just a hair before my hoof.
No matter my strengths, in this dreaming empire of mine I did not hold dominion over this realm. I was its ruler and it was my domain, but until I took that final step through the final threshold my will was second to the will of my very dreams. Thankfully even as I turned to but mere motes of phantasmal light Cadenza continued forth with her words. Even as the crystal castle around her disintegrated as I once more woke. “There is no Sunset Shimmer, there is only the Demon that remains.” Those ominous final words were my parting gift before the blinding light was replaced with faded dark purple. The confirmation that had been before my eyes since the beginning. That Sunset Shimmer, my partner, my mare friend, my friend, was nothing more than a demon that was wearing the skin of a pony.
Mechanically blinking my eyes, wringing the final remnants of my sleep from them. All the while attempting to slow the rapid palpitations of my heart, the attempt was futile as my heart continued to beat ever faster. Momentarily struggling against the bindings that I had been caught within before I ripped through them. Finally, I was able to save myself from something that had managed to entrap me. Finally, I was enough to save myself.
Prismia’s taunts turned into pained moans as she transformed before my eyes. Turning from a mere misguided pony who had chosen the wrong path to travel, to an unrepentant monster that had eaten my parents whole. One moment she had accepted my offered hoof for a new beginning, and the next she had shattered my wing and had monstrously ascended herself. Its new form was bulbous and bloated beyond what the flesh my parents could have given to it after being consumed within its unhinged maw that voraciously sought out ever further sustenance.
The creature that existed within the realm that Celestia had found me within after my initial ascension. A swirling storm of ever-shifting energies that took the form of a pony. One that sought nothing more to capture me within its formless flesh. No doubt to sap my newfound divinity from my form, uncaring what the consequences were upon me. Chased away with the dawning of a new Sun within that secretive realm where I had been found by Celestia. The monster that faded into the now-lit horizon.
An amber Unicorn who held two sets of eyes that were trapped forever in conflict between cyan and emerald. Shielded by an endless inferno of flames and hatred from both the darkness and light that entreated her. Entrapped within her dreams, she could never truly rest from the monsters that lay within. A fearsome enemy first, next an indispensable ally against the world, and currently against all odds my mare friend. How long would she last before she shattered from the confliction of the one she wished to call her mother, my encompassing desires, and the infernal madness that blazed within her blood?
A Griffon whose claws were coated in a viscous metal that sparked through the endless darkened halls. Maddened cackling permeated from the crazed creature as it sought to snuff my life within its talons. My same wing rendered useless flesh and feathers once more as it tore into me. A zeal that it sought to share before it plucked my still-beating heart from my bloodied body. Even as I was now ascended I could not stand against a creature that lived and breathed war.
A crazed god equal to a fully ascended Alicorn. One that was lost to the delight and discord of chaos. Seeking to share with all the turmoil it saw yet unshed, altering this era of peace to better fit one such as it. One who saw fit to force me into an impossible decision. To allow a preventable death to happen before me, due to the actions that had been taken to protect me once more. One who had protected me against herself and those that sought my head, or to protect my ponies in the future from the calamity that my savior would become. Gifting presents and tragedies as if they were the same. Promising to return anew and sow ever more of its boundless joy.
A saint who had performed countless miracles. A sinner who had slaughtered entire bloodlines. A newborn foal barely able to stumble beyond its crib. An elderly waste that shambled forth uncontrollably. A pony that I could barely even comprehend at the moment, much less remember afterward. One which had decried prophecies with such unbending convictions. Where there was but one way forward and all others that dare seek another shall be cut down with prejudice. Just as this pony had cut down my partner as she attempted to protect me once again, at the cost of her life. Bearing a tolling bell and the powers to rend time asunder.
A shadow of my ancestor who resided within my dreams. One who had offered tutelage and a guiding hoof down a path that he had no doubt carefully constructed. One who held knowledge far beyond what he should have known from within his confines within my mind. One who had revealed that he was indeed using me to his ends despite the shared blood that flowed between us and having saved me from an early death himself. Holding an ever-blacker shadow within the deepest recesses of his existence.
The demon that had been prophesied, with wings of tattered blood and flame, a wicked horn crowning its head. One which had performed such horrific actions upon existence itself that it had irrevocably altered reality beyond recognition. Casting a blinding veil upon all of Equus, that almost none could pierce. A being which had been promised to appear in the future, and yet had already made its manipulations in the past. A being bearing pitch black eyes that I had nearly awakened from its slumber within my partner… or if there even was a difference between the demon and my partner.
While my mind whirled, Sunset didn’t stay still within my grasp. Even having been awakened from her ritualistic torments, she now was once more seeking to ensure that I was fine. So easily could she forget her plights in favor of focussing upon my own. Her spells sought out the facts of my health, no doubt missing the fracturing of my mind.
How could she have known who I had just met? What I had just learned? How could her spells inform her of such things? Eventually, the magic petered out, and considering the fact that we were not protectively sealed by her flames, I had passed the cursory inspection that she had performed. It seems that she would not touch upon my mind and see the truth that lies stored within.
“I swear you must be cursed, as this is the second time you have managed to break through my charms.” Sunset paused at this point as a fragment of humor slipped into her tone. “Well, and the bed sheet this time.” How could she be making jests after having just woken up from her torture? How could she be focusing on me? How could she still be…
My internal tirade finally ran its course and I felt Sunset shift under my feathers. “Cadance?” She questioned giving me the choice to reveal what I had gone through in my dreams. What Cadenza had revealed. What Sunset had done. What she had become. What she had always been.
Who was I even kidding anymore? Myself? It was only willful ignorance that I hadn’t thought of Sunset Shimmer as a demon. Even our first real time talking to one another she had referred to herself as a demon. Adopting the cruel moniker that countless ponies branded her with, as her shield against the world that had scorned her.
To become the monster that they decried her as, so they wouldn’t take notice of the pony who was suffering beneath. That beneath the flames was a pony who could impossibly still care. A chance encounter led to me realizing that there was more to the pony Sunset Shimmer than what had initially attempted to kill me. There was more than the demon that she was considered, there was a pony beyond the shielding flames. A shield that protected the remnants of a pony from the world that had seen her unfit to coexist within.
There was more than the demon, there had to be more than the demon. Sunset Shimmer, despite all that she had done, was a pony. She couldn’t kill a fully ascended Alicorn, such an idea was little more than an impossibility. She held a warmth within her heart that was beyond the inferno of scorching flames, a warmth within her heart that had once only held the pony she called her mother in a way far removed from the concept of daughterly. “Cadance?” She questioned once more, the proof that she was more than the demon is evident in the concern she held for me.
She was mine, she had to be mine. She was a pony that I had sworn to protect, I had saved her. She was my partner whose interests I would support until I could fully ascend and become a true guardian of hers. She was my first marefriend and if I had my way, my only. She was mine for as long as I was hers. She would be mine, just as I was hers.
Pony or not.
Demon or not.
Otherwise, what was my Love worth?
What was I worth?
“I’m fine Sunset, just some trouble in my dreams.” I once more lied as easily as I breathed, finally parting my wings to allow me to see the vivid concern dancing within Sunset’s cyan eyes. It didn’t fade even as I formed a small smile upon my muzzle, if anything the depth of the concern deepened. It was tempting to allow myself to be pulled within the gaze of my partner. To wash away the woes that had been recently afflicted.
Yet much like her very blood that still burned upon me, I could not wash myself of my sins that easily. Having a repeat of yesterday, no matter how pleasurable, would be unwise for both of us. Especially after what Umbrum had implied should happen once that final threshold had been crossed, a pleasurable ecstasy I had sought to bind us in. Had I succeeded, I would have bound her far more deeply than I could have ever hoped to realize. “I don’t suppose we should get going then?” We had after all not yet found the castle of the Alicorn Sisters, she was still mortal. She had yet to even begin her ascension. Even after she had cut away at her life and was still set to perish, just as she previously had.
Sunset didn’t immediately respond, her now emerald eyes were unmoving specters that bore into my soul. Second after second passed in near silence, the only noise that existed within this now-warded room was the beating of our two hearts in a conjoined rhythm. Whatever Sunset had been debating had been decided as she opened her mouth, the brief peace of silence once more shattered.
“You're going to be the one who repairs that blanket.” Sunset chirped out with impish amusement overpowering the concern that had previously been held. Ensuring I didn’t let out the breath I had been holding at the fact I had managed to deceive Sunset, I simply rolled my eyes and allowed her to escape from my hold. I had expected her to fall from the once cold bed, now warmed, that we had shared, but no. Sunset Shimmer once more proved that she could not be anticipated, as she surged forth and claimed my lips with her own.
The flavor of ash upon her lips was far more bitter than they had previously tasted, yet the smoke that clung to them was unmistakably my partner’s taste. What had inspired my partner to perform such an action? What sort of fresh madness were her impossible insights revealing to her? This time I wasn’t complaining. Of course, I wouldn’t. Who in their right mind would complain that their mare friend was kissing them? Especially with the fervor that Sunset had adopted as she did her best to claim me as her own. As long as it currently stayed at kissing I had no complaints, I could have no complaints.
I allowed the current thoughts that had been troubling me to melt away at my partner's touch, falling ever further into her. Allowing her warmth to encapsulate me in its protective embrace. Were my wings not pinned beneath my body, as she rolled me over without any assistance from her magic, I would have returned the favor and once more claimed hold of my mare friend. Yet it was not to be, for as soon as it began it just as swiftly ended.
I could only dumbly stare at my partner who pulled away and swiftly retreated from me. “I didn’t even need to use magic this time.” Sunset teased out as she watched from a safe distance just beyond my wingspan, had she been any closer I would have attempted to do something. Whether that would be to pull her back so that we could continue or something far more unkind to my partner who teased me so I didn't know, yet such an action wouldn’t be performed as she was beyond my reach.
I could only glare at my partner as her eyes lit once more with the perceived victory over an Alicorn. Over me, who had taken the first steps into a fully ascended Alicorn. Over her mare friend.
What was I worrying about again? So what if she was a demon? Celestia, for all her many failures and refusal to claim her as her own, had raised Sunset Shimmer as her very own daughter. It was Celestia who had sought the two of us together in the beginning after our introduction of flame and ice. Even if she was a demon as Cadenza claimed she had been raised as a pony.
It was as Sunset had once decried, Celestia wouldn’t risk a new alicorn with something claimed to be a demon. Ignoring the silver brooch that still was hidden within my mane. It hadn’t worked no matter what my ancestor had once claimed, so that meant that its potential protections were unneeded in Celestia’s ancient eyes. Perhaps I could once more fool myself with such thoughts.
Unpinning my wings as I rolled off the bed, a simple spell already upon my lips to mend the tear within the bedsheet I had created within my waking moments where I had allowed fear to reign over me. With the blanket reknit I turned my attention back to Sunset who had remained silent as I mended my most recent mistake, if only all the others had been so easily fixed. Turning back to Sunset, I enquired about the plan for the day.
“Where to first?” My words all but shook her from her thoughts with such force that the emerald coloration of her eyes bled cyan for a single moment before the hate reclaimed its place within her eyes.
“Are you certain that you are alright Cadance?” Once more she asked if I was fine. If I was the one who was hurt. If I was the one that once more needed to be saved. Her blood upon my flesh and feathers burned anew at her words. My heart was pierced with the reminder of what I had nearly done to her. “We can take the day slow if you need to-.” That was all I allowed her to say before I cut off my partner who thought I was still so weak that I needed to recover while she pushed forth on her lonesome.
“I am perfectly fine Sunset. Now where will we be searching first?” My words held no room for argument as I stepped forward, my gaze never leaving Sunset’s. Making clear to her that I wouldn’t back down. Not when I had a chance to make up for what she had sacrificed. When I had a chance to save her.
Demon or not, the pony that was Sunset Shimmer was silenced by my words. Her emerald eyes narrowed but she didn’t argue with my reasonable demands. Instead, she slowly nodded in agreement with my words. Not choosing to fight that she would lose in the end.
“Shall we then?” Sunset asked her words, holding none of the defeat that I would have expected them to have held. No, instead they were controlled things that gave off nothing of what she was truly thinking. For a pony such as Sunset Shimmer who was all but ruled by her emotions, it was wrong.
It took me a moment as I moved by her side, throughout the hallway that led to the den of villainy that we had rested within, to realize what pony she was reminding me of. She once more was taking after the pony that was her mother in every way that mattered. Even as I caught her emerald eyes at times, they held none of their ever-present hatred.
No, instead they were absent of any form of foreseeable anger that clung to my partner as if it was a second coat. The absence of such hatred and anger within her eyes would have once inspired joy… Yet the lack of what made Sunset, Sunset was chilling. No, there was instead a void of apathy that was far too unsettling upon her normally vibrant eyes.
We exited into the general area of the inn as the denizens of Shattershield parted as if we were Celestia herself. No doubt recalling all too well what Sunset had done to the pony that had gotten too close last night. Making our way towards the mule that was already peddling drinks from behind the bar. “We will be renting the room for the next four days,” Sunset announces cutting off an earth pony who had been ordering herself a drink at this early hour. She almost responded to Sunset’s rudeness but she fell silent as she recognized Sunset’s disguise.
“We sell rooms by the night.” The mule responded as he finished filling a flagon with a sweet swill that was quickly slid over towards the largest figure within the entire establishment. One who was cloaked just as a great many of the ponies, yet even so I could swear that the cloaked figure was watching both Sunset and I. “It will cost you a premium to rent the same room for several days in a row.” It seems that greed has finally won over self-preservation.
“And that cost would be?” Sunset questioned, her tone flat as she stared down the mule.
“350 bits would be…” The mule began only to swiftly fall silent as Sunset pulled out a large swathe of coins from her sack and deposited them in three stacks upon the bar. Many eyes that had been watching the two of us had no doubt lost their fear and gained greed just as the bartenders had. The bartender allowed the shock to hold him for but a single moment before his hoofs lunged forward and scooped at the coins that Sunset had deposited.
“Anything else?” I asked as the bartender was still counting the coins while doing his best to have them hidden under his body. Considering that a number of the denizens had meandered their way over towards the bar at the sight of the coins it was likely a prudent action to protect his loot. Seeing that he wasn’t going to respond I considered warning away from coming towards the room that Sunset had warded… I only considered it, these ponies were here in this place for a reason.
They knew the risks and they still chose to exist within this darkness. Had they any desire to escape from it they wouldn’t be in a place like this. They hadn’t however, that meant that their desires or decisions had these ponies hiding from the light that Celestia gave off.
Seeing that the bartender wasn’t planning to respond, far too busy with ensuring that none of his coins would escape from where he had managed to wrangle them all. I all but sighed at the sight but it should have been expected. I began to turn so that we could make our way out of the inn and back into Hollow Shades. Yet before I could fully turn away from the display of pure avarice the cloaked pony that had been watching both Sunset and myself brought the drink to its lips and noisily gulped down the drink.
“I don’t suppose the two of you would mind having a chat?” The cloaked figure croaked out, his offer punctuated as he slammed down his now empty drink upon the counter. Causing the bits that the barkeep had been so dutifully protecting to spill, allowing the ponies that had been leering at them a chance to snatch at the tumbling coins.
Sunset tilts her head to gaze straight at the cloaked figure, her emerald eyes narrowed in anticipation for violence to erupt. No doubt prepared to incinerate the pony should he try anything. “No? Mmmh. Mayhaps another time then. I can remain a little longer.” The cloaked pony continued as though my partner's clear refusal was nothing he didn’t expect. No, if anything he was anticipating it.
Something was wrong here, not that I knew what it was. Glancing at Sunset who was still staring at the cloaked pony, unmoving as her eyes pierced into the darkness under the cloak. The temperature around us began to increase as the very air dried and was filled with magic. Every Pony within the building turned towards Sunset and then retreated. Even as my partner began to put off an oppressive heat once again, I knew I had nothing to fear.
Whoever this cloaked pony was however was a different story, he had managed to infuriate my partner, and considering that he had been watching us I would assume there to be a good reason. “Oh?” The cracking voice filled with something I could only assume to be amusement. “Again? With so many ponies around?” No anticipation would be a better term. The cloaked figure grew further in size as it chuckled out.
“Dawn, do you think that you are going to introduce me to your friend here?” I all but interjected into the one-sided conversation. My horn lighting with a flaming spark of my own, I may not have been nearly as proficient as Sunset had been in any matter of pyromancy but I could still throw a flame around. She had ensured that my skills amounted to at least that in her preferred field of magic.
“Ah yes, do introduce me, Dawn... It wouldn’t be fair for your friend there to be left out of this proposition.” The cloaked pony continued, his voice somehow cracking even more frequently and now these final words were but wheezed out. Sunset looked towards me, her emerald eyes flashing cyan as they held an unfamiliar tension within them. I wasn’t sure what answer she was looking for in my eyes, but she found it nonetheless.
A familiar spell was enforced into reality, one in which we had spent so much time, yet this time there was another within this private realm that Sunset had conjured. A pony still cloaked, and yet he was almost comparable in size to Celestia herself. The inferno Sunset had summoned forth into the air had joined us in this realm, awaiting her command to ignite the newest pony that had earned my partner's ire. She placed a hoof forwards as she finally introduced this pony to me, and after hearing the name that she uttered I would have rathered she did not.
“Tirek.” What? What in Celestia’s sweet summer Sun was Sunset going on about? This had to be a prank. An utterly inappropriate one that my partner and her acquaintance were performing. Yet with the vitriol that clung to my partner's words that held enough heat to have smoke curl off her lips, I doubted that this was a mere prank. The faint possibility that it was indeed a mere jest was eliminated as the cloak was slowly removed by the now-named Tirek.
“It is Lord Tirek but considering I no doubt stand before a fellow member of royalty I do believe that I can afford to have my title forgotten for the moment.” The gaunt creature that I could have almost believed was a pony if I was to only look at his bottom half. Yet the moment my eyes found the upper portion of his body it was confirmed that he was indeed Tirek.
A centaur older than Celestia herself, who had been imprisoned within Tartarus itself for so long that he was suspected to be the first inmate. He was here before me, in the flesh… what little flesh that remained upon his gaunt form. I could see his very ribs through his skin, and I could easily trace the veins in his arms. For an entity that was described as a monstrous hulk of muscles, the truth was disappointing.
Yet as my gaze continued to move upwards towards his head my breath caught in my throat and my stomach all but flipped. There was a glowing brand in the shape of a crescent burned across his face. It had been burned upon his flesh directly over his right eye, which was no longer there. No doubt removed after it had been caught within the branding that he had received. The eye socket was filled with a green puss that was slowly flowing from it, yet it was his remaining eye that managed to regain my attention.
His yellow pupil was filled with such utter loathing if it weren’t for the coloration I would have expected it to belong to Sunset. “I have come to request your… help.” Wounded, branded, defeated, and yet still alive, Tirek croaked out his words expressing his desperation yet still filled with hatred for the one who had done this to him.
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