Parting a warm pink-and-white feathered embrace, Celestia’s furrowed brow clashed with her kind and beatific smile. “I didn’t want to interrupt your vacation with Captain Armor, but I felt it was necessary. Thank you for coming on such short notice, Princess Cadenza.”
“Cadance, Auntie!” giggled the smaller mare. “You know I can’t stand formality around family, even surrogate family.” At a motion from Celestia she stepped back to take a seat at a plain and time-worn table and her smile vanished. “I came as soon as I could, Your message said you had something critical to discuss – something about the future of Equestria? Should we be gathering the Elements?”
“Not at the moment, Cadance. There is indeed a growing threat to Equestria, and though the emergency is still far off, I feel it would be prudent to be prepared.” The alabaster Princess sank to her haunches on a cushion across the table and took in a deep breath as she closed her tired eyes for a long moment. “The problem is your other Aunt, so to speak. I fear the Elements were not entirely successful in exorcising the Nightmare from Princess Luna. If I’m right, the Elements and I will not be able to stop her again. That’s where you come in.”
Eyes wide, Cadance recoiled and gulped visibly. “M… Me? Auntie, you’re kidding, right? If you can’t stand against Nightmare Moon, what makes you think I can?”
Celestia stared down, scratching a hoof across the table and tracing lazy circles as she spoke. “Directly, no, you couldn’t. The first time I banished Nightmare Moon, I did so by wielding all the Elements personally. I was successful, but unfortunately doing so is a one-time affair, and as I expected it broke my connection to the Elements. Luna’s connection was broken when she let Nightmare possess her. That left the Elements unusable by the two of us.”
Cocking her head, Cadance asked, “The Elements found new bearers, so where do I…”
Across the table Celestia and raised a porcelain-white hoof. She gently tapped her horn and with a grin, unfurled and fluttered her great white wings.
“An alicorn?” Cadance shook her head and began to inch away from the table. “You’re joking! I can’t do what you do! I don’t raise the sun or moon – Celestia, I can barely cook! I can’t wield the Elements myself!”
The Sun Princess reached across the table and lay a hoof on the shaking pink pony’s shoulder. “But you can, Cadance! I know you can. I know the Elements better than any pony living and all my research confirms it. Each alicorn has this power, though Luna and I are now exempt, of course. You may be young, as ageless Princesses go, but you’re still one of us and this is something you can certainly do, should it come to that.”
Cadance stared down at her shivering hooves but when she next looked up, her jaw was set and her voice lost its quaver. “I trust you, Princess. and if it comes to that, I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will, Cadance. We must save that plan as our last resort, of course. There is one other option we need to discuss.” Celestia leaned in and placed her hooves on the creaking table. “Every endgame I play out with Nightmare Moon shows the same result: having been defeated by the Elements twice, her first action would be to separate or cripple the Elements or their bearers.”
Something sharp and hard flashed behind Cadance’s violet eyes. “Twilight? You think she’d try to hurt Twilight?”
“Yes,” Celestia whispered harshly, “I believe she would.” Her face was frozen for long seconds before she cleared her throat and continued, “Twilight was largely responsible for her last defeat, so she would be a primary target. All of the Bearers would be in danger, though. Nightmare may try to eliminate one of them as a tactically easier target, which would break the Elements just as effectively.”
“But what can we do? We can’t lock Twilight and her friends away in some armored tower out of fear that Nightmare Moon might go after them, it’s…”
“I know, Cadance,” said Celestia, raising a hoof to her niece, “and I have a plan to ensure it doesn’t come to that. Last Nightmare Night, I advised Luna to put in an appearance in Ponyville. I told her it would be better to start her reintroduction to Equestrian customs in a small town rather than in Manehattan or Trottingham.”
The corners of the pink mare’s mouth curled into the beginnings of a smile. “You sent her to see Twilight.”
“Perceptive, Princess Cadenza! And if you remember your foalsitting days, what was Twilight’s favorite activity outside of reading?”
Cadance’s smile overtook her muzzle. “Stargazing.”
“And what do you think happened between my faithful student and the Moon Princess?”
“Best friends forever, I’d imagine.”
“Precisely.” Celestia’s grin was gently predatory. “Neither of them have any experience whatsoever with affection, close friendship beyond the platonic sort, and certainly not romance. So…”
Raising an eyebrow, Cadance offered, “You’re saying you want me to nudge them together? Auntie, you realize that I can’t create love, right? I can only bring the love that’s already there to the surface, or give existing feelings a second chance. Are you sure this has a chance?”
“Positive, Princess! I know my student and I know my sister. I see the look in Luna’s eyes every night. Cadance, when she’s on her balcony, Luna’s not looking at the stars or moon – she’s looking towards Ponyville. And with a little help from you, I think Luna can have the kind of relationship that would have prevented Nightmare from possessing her in the first place.”
Cadance squinted and paused. “So what happens in sixty or eighty years, Celestia? Twilight’s not immortal.”
Celestia’s eyes twinkled as she grinned. “We’ll handle that later. First things first.”
Oh, Celestia, should've known.
... Also...
Crackfic idea...~~~
Yeah.. I totally have NO IDEA what Celestias plan is.... nope
Well well...
Shoulda seen that coming. Dunno how to feel about it though.
D'aww...
I like this manipulative Celestia! You know that you have to address this:
in your next prompt now, right? 'Twould only be fair
I don't know... It's sweeter to think that Twilight and Luna got together because they wanted it, and no-pony else had anything to do with it.
As much as I love you other (especially Rustic and Romantic), just...no.
I'm beginning to get confused, you're telling the story in reverse order as of late, but at the same time, you couldn't have opened with this chapter. WHAT are you PLANNING?!?
I'd like to see a later chapter where it's revealed that they got together without Cadence's help (as in, she was going to, but then discovered they were already in love)
celestia is best manipulative mastermind...
Does Celestia not know that Luna fell in love three times before? Cause as the next chapter proves, Luna's certainly experienced romance a few times, granted they all ended badly.
I'm hoping that Cadence's help extends only as far as advice. It kinda cheapens the romance if they get together 'cause magic. In the meantime, I"ll be over here. Lurking. Waiting.
Heh, figures. And I second the sidefic of Cadance about her not being able to cook. ;p
Also...
Small correction, your 'r' key probably got on a mini-strike, you wrote 'he' instead of 'her'. Just letting you know.
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... That's what it ALREADY SAYS. Cadence can't create love, she can only reveal it. Luna and Twilight love each other -already-, they just don't realize WHAT they're feeling for each other, particularly. They need a push.
Personally, I kinda wanna see a scene reminiscent of "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid.
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The TMP prompts are decided by someone else. He's taking the prompts, and fitting them to the over-arcing theme, both with this collection and with The Rustic and The Romantic.
It's only now that the site allows re-ordering of chapters, that the overall chronology becomes evident.
I know Cadence can't create nor destroy love, but somehow the notion she kinda nudged them together at the behest of Celesti makes the whole thing seem...off...
Maybe it's just that Celestia was using it to stop Nightmare moon and didn't do it primarily to see her sister happy (well okay stopping Nightmare again would be easy if Luna was happy but that seemed like an afterthought of her's to me)
How to stop Nightmare plan #87:
Get Luna Laid.
//dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/lolface_Celestia.png
I certainly wouldn't put it past my headcanon version of Celestia to do this. What a smart pony.
Well, in all fairness, it's better to nudge them together by giving them a chance at loving each other than to wait and see if Luna/Nightmare will kill everyone just out of spite. No complaints here!
On the other hand, I'm VERY curious as to what Celestia has in mind for the lovely librarian in the grand scheme of things.
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Celestia probably knows both Luna and Twilight pretty well, on account of having both seen grow up (and helped with the latter - who knows how long she's been planning)
Also, previous ones were not immortal and used to the presence of a princess, unlike Twilight.
What I do wonder however, is how this chapter and countdown fit in with "Twilight Hustle" where fluttershy states that they got involved on the (implied first) nightmare night ... though I suppose fluttershy's story might still have been a lie.
I love the "We'll handle that later" bit.
This is very interesting. In fact, this might be the most impressive change to an otherwise complete story arc I've ever read. You might quantify it with "Cadance only brought their love to the surface," but ultimately, what Celestia has done here is order the use of magic to control her sister. In fact, whatever happens from "Plan C" on is entirely an artificial construct of the Sun Princess's meddling.
So, the question is do the Ends Justify the Means? Is something still beautiful (aka Luna and Twilight's relationship) if it exists only because it was created?
I've been sitting thinking about this for a good half an hour, and honestly, I'm torn. That's the sign of an excellent story. I feel like I need to stress that, sometimes, good storytelling isn't appreciated as much as good storywriting or characterisation.
You've pulled the rug out from underneath quite a few of us with this. Excellent change of pace.
The plot thickens! How daring. I thought this was purely between the two lovers (now married couple) but now this opens up to some serious things going down later on. Will it last? Will they find out about this new plan?? Will Spikebelle become a thing?! Find out next time. nice job.
>+>1942570
"Not exactly a choice, not exactly a compulsion. Romantic, in its way."
I do believe "Alicorn Reproduction" nailed it perfectly on the head in a bizarre parallel to this story.
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I pictured Kyle Hebert reading that in his DBZ narrator voice.
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Hey Mr. R just got a little nervous when he saw 'armored' coming up he doesn't get to be in many words twice so it's understandable for him to get stage-fright.
This is confusing going in reverse and such, is thou finally able to go forward after this. I wanna see the results of the trip.
Twilight's not immortal, Cadance... yet.
still cute, though a little annoying with the "now i made a new chapter 1... again!" though i intent to do the same with one of my stories but only once!
Celestia is such a naughty Chessmaster
An fun look into What May Have Happened. You always do a fantastic job with everypony's character – The dialogue is positively exquisite.
Also, something I appreciate:
–Auntie, you realize that I can’t create love, right? I can only bring the love that’s already there to the surface, or give existing feelings a second chance.
It's always driven me up the walls when people say Princess Cadance's special talent/love spell is 'creepy', or 'weird'. Thank you for not doing the same.
Haha found ur story...looks amazing! First chapter was awesome! I shall marathon this ASAP!
So far, so good! MARATHON TIME
Marathon ACTIVATE
Reading this all in one night. Here we go! /)
we will handle that later.... oh you bastard celestia You made twilight princess so she could be the ward against nightmare for all eternity....
hey...I saw this on tumblr yesterday! Only this first chapter though. Looks enjoyable!
Y-y-you know what they s-s-say. S-s-sleep is for the w-w-weak.
best ponies. best shipping.
2888884 What is this 'sleep' you talk of
Oh Celly, Celly... You can't help but meddle, can't you?
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Of course it's neither creepy nor weird. Mind control is a very useful tool in defeating one's enemies humanely. A lesson Twilight no doubt learned from Cadence (see: Parasprites, Tardiness, Vampire Fruit bats and an attempt at Discord he blocked by eating all her books on the subject).
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I agree with you to a point; however, I do see why people think mind-control powers are weird. The thing is, we live in a world where our innermost thoughts are the one place where no one else can tread. Anything that can violate that inner sanctum is both fascinating and scary to people. Plus, we humans really don't like the idea of others controlling us against our will; hell, we have problems with CCTV cameras because of all the Big Brother stuff. That's why so many people don't like Cadance's special talent; they don't see that her power can't create what isn't already there.
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Naughty chessmasters are best chessmasters.
Okay, you caught me. I am hooked, and you reeled me in.
You are aware the elements of harmony are what chooses the bearers right? Only and I mean ONLY are the main 6 able to use the elements of harmony, Cadance wouldn't be able to use the elements of harmony unless the elements allowed Cadance to bare all 6 elements.