The Best Intentions

by SpearmintSonnet

A Night on the Town

Chapter 5: A Night on the Town:

The night was cool and clear, and the twinkling of a million stars greeted Princess Cadence as she stepped out of the Crystal Castle and into the moonless night. She glanced around looking for the guard captain. He'd left a note on her nightstand that told her to meet him outside the castle so he could take her to see Sharp Retort. As she looked around, taking in the beautiful evening, Cadence heard the soft clop of hoof steps behind her. Turning, the princess smiled to Iron Point. “I thought we were going to see the apothecary. Isn't her office below the castle?”

“Yes,” Iron Point acknowledged as he began walking towards the edge of town.

Hurrying to catch up with the larger stallion, Cadence asked, “then why are we out here?”

“Because Sharp Retort isn't in her office at the moment. She's collecting some late winter herbs outside the city.”

“This late at night?”

The captain shrugged, “Apparently this is the best time to collect them.”

“That's quite... odd.” Cadence said at last as the pair passed outside the city and into the dark of the surrounding land.

“Not nearly so odd as a Princess who wants to see me close to midnight. Can't you think of a better time to need a potion?” The voice came from a stocky mare with a short black mane and bright blue coat. She carried a pair of baskets slung over her flanks like saddlebags that were filled with all sorts of herbs and grasses. Giving the princess a once over with her midnight blue eyes, the apothecary added, “it's most inconvenient for me.”

“I'm sorry this isn't the most convenient of time for you, Retort,” Iron Point said as Cadence opened her mouth to say something very unladylike back to the outspoken alchemist. “It is, however, the most convenient time for the Princess, as she is... occupied during the day.”

“Oh yes, I had forgotten. Isn't that what you wanted to speak to me about?”

Leaning over to Cadence, the captain murmured, “Don't let Retort's jibes get to you, Princess. It's just her way.”

Cadence took a long steadying breath, pushing her right hoof along the ground, towards her as she breathed in and away as she exhaled, before turning and smiling wanly at Sharp Retort. “It is, actually. You see, recently I've discovered that...” she paused, trying to think of the most delicate way to put her situation, “that while I am alert and able to go about regular business at night, during the day I seem to be... unable to.”

“So you're lunar? You know I can't help with that, right?”

Flinching, Cadence nodded, “Yes, but... no. I am acting lunar, but it's not something I've suffered from before. I think it's a spell.”

“So... what do you want me to do about it? How can I help you, if you already know it's a spell? Do you need me to break it? I can't do that without the original spell or we could be at it for months.”

Cadence sighed, “I don't know that it's a spell, though I believe it is. Do you know of a way to... to test if there's a spell on me or not?”

The alchemist looked off in the distance for a moment, lost in thought before she shook her head, “there's not method that I know of that I can perform. All of them require a unicorn's magic to work. Perhaps the Prince would be of more assistance to you than me.”

“We believe that Prince Silver Scales is under a similar spell, Retort.” Iron Point admitted.

“Well then that is trouble, isn't it?” The earth pony mare tapped her hoof rhythmically on the hard earth as she was again lost in thought. After a span of several minutes, the mare admitted, “while I can't come up with a way to see if there is a spell on you, you can find out if a potion's been used.”

“How?” Cadence asked, “What do I have to do?”

“You need to watch what you eat and drink,” the apothecary said simply, “All potions need to be renewed after a span of time or they lose their potency. The stronger the affects, generally the more frequent the dose is- not always, of course, but usually. And if we consider how long you've been under this spell...” Sharp Retort paused and gave Cadence a piercing stare. “How long have you been affected, Princess?”

Cadence swallowed and muttered something under her breath, too low for either of her companions to hear her.

Retort sighed and tapped her hoof impatiently, “Princess, I do not have all evening.”

“It's been almost a year...” The princess admitted, still very quietly.

Sharp Retort couldn't keep a look of surprise from crossing her features for a long moment before she regained her natural air of sarcasm. “Well then... It has to be a potion.”

“How can you be so sure?” Iron Point asked, his attention riveted on the younger mare.

“Easy- no spell could last that long with such potency. Especially if there isn't an enchanted item around.” Tuning back to the princess, Retort asked pointedly, “There isn't an item is there? Something you received around the same time as you... fell out of reality?”

The princess shook her head slowly, “Only the gold wedding band I received at the wedding...”

“I'll need to see it, Princess.” Sharp Retort interrupted.

“But I don't wear it all the time,” Cadence finished.

“Then that can't be it. It'd have to be on you at all times for the spell to be effective.” The apothecary sighed and rubbed a hoof over her forehead, brushing a strand of her jet black mane out of her face. “So we're dealing with a potion... That makes things slightly easier- for me at least. I can make an antidote for any potion, given that I have the original recipe for the potion.”

“But I don't know what kind of potion I've been given!” Cadence reminded the alchemist, her usually calm voice almost frantic now. “I don't have any idea in the slightest!”

“Then you'll have to find it,” Retort said simply. “The library in the palace is the most extensive in the Empire, I'm sure if the potion is to be found, you'll find it there.”

“How-?”

Sharp Retort cut off the princess as she continued, “You read the potion's affects, Princess, and if they match you can bring the potion recipe to me and I can contrive the antidote. Don't worry,” she continued with a roll of her eyes, “no antidote is a poison. If it doesn't work to revert the spell on you, it will not do anything. You might feel dizzy or lightheaded depending on the strength of the antidote in question, but those should be the worst of the effects.”

Cadence nodded slowly, “but the Crystal Fair is in less than a month, and I need to be... well by then. If... if I'm not...” the princess shuddered. “No one else can activate the Crystal Heart and without it...”

“We're defenseless,” Sharp finished, looking completely serious for the first time all evening because despite her antagonistic and sarcastic airs, the alchemist deeply cared about the country she called home.

The princess and her captain nodded in agreement.

“Well, I can't help you with the searching,” Sharp Retort said finally, breaking the silence that had pervaded the air around them since she'd last spoken. “I have far too much to do with my regular duties. My apologies, Princess.”

“It's quite alright,” Cadence's words came out on reflex. In reality, the Crystal Princess was in no way looking forward to searching the whole of the Royal Library for one spell in particular. Research was something she did not take great enjoyment in, unlike scholarly ponies. In fact, if she was being completely honest with herself, Cadence didn't even like doing the required day-to-day work of running the kingdom, either. It was boring and routine where as the princess loved things to be slightly less predictable and not at all tedious. “I suppose we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming weeks.”

“Indeed,” Sharp Retort gave a sort of half-bow to the princess, the lowest she could without spilling the herbs on her back, and began walking back towards the castle.

The princess and her guard captain stood out in the frigid landscape that separated the capital city from the rest of the Crystal Kingdom. After a few minutes, Iron Point broke the silence. “You know I won't be able to help you either, My Lady.”

“W-what?” Cadence turned to her trusted adviser and gave him a pleading look. “But... but I... I can't search the whole library all by myself! Not in less than a month!”

“Princess,” the captain's voice was calm and level as he placed a hoof on Cadence's shoulder, turning her gently back towards town. “I have my own duties to attend to during the day and I simply cannot shirk those duties by staying up at all hours to help you search the library.”

Cadence was silent as they walked back into town, but finally sighed, “I know... but... I can't do everything by myself. It's... impossible.”

Iron Point turned his eyes to the princess as he walked and looked her over, gauging her emotions and desire in one sweep of his eyes. “Maybe there is somepony who can help you.”

“Who? Who can I trust enough to tell them about this, other than Sharp Retort and yourself! I can't just ask anypony...”

“Perhaps you shouldn't ask a pony to help. Perhaps you should ask... a dragon.”

Though his words were quiet and not forceful in the least, Cadence felt as if the captain had just punched her, knocking all the wind out of her. Taking a moment to recover from the momentary tunnel-vision, the princess felt her cheeks grow hot with anger, “You mean ask Claudia.” Her voice was tense and clipped, a tone most ponies knew meant that the princess was dangerously close to losing the great deal of patience she had.

“Yes,” the captain's voice stayed level and calm as he spoke. “I'm sure if you... rectified things with Claudia, she would be more than willing to help you with this endeavor.”

“You're so sure of that?” Cadence could hear that her voice was tense and sharp, a tone she wasn't used to using, but she was angry and could not see an easy way to quell the fire that burned behind her eyes. “You're so sure that... that she'll just help me when all I've been doing is hurting her... you're sure of that?”

“No,” the captain started, but his words were cut off by Cadence.

“Of course not. You just thought you'd say something falsely helpful to try and give me hope in an obviously hopeless situation. It was a pointless gesture, Captain, and it's quite unlike you...”

“Princess.” The one word cut though Cadence's tirade, pulling her up short and causing her to turn and look at Iron Point. The captain stood in the street, his body tense as he watched the princess with his piercing silver eyes. Feeling suddenly like a small filly caught stealing cookies from the kitchen, Cadence shrank back from the older stallion. He watched her for a long moment before saying calmly, “I do not think that Claudia will want to help you right away- there is even the possibility that she will not be willing to help at all- but I believe that if you talk to her and make her see that you are trying to make things better, that she will want to help. Your friendship is strong and one argument is not going to end it so easily.”

With a sigh, Cadence nodded, “you're right, Captain... and I'm sorry... for what I said just now... it was wrong and it was never my intention to accuse you of being shallow.”

Iron Point smiled. Many times over the past years since Cadence had assumed her parents' throne the captain had viewed Cadence as he would his own daughters, and this was one of those times. He took a few steps forward to close the distance between them before gently wrapping the young mare in a hug. “It's quite alright, Princess. But try not to lose your temper with Claudia? Heavens know she as enough of a temper for the both of you.”

Giggling, Cadence nodded, “that she does...” Gently she extricated herself from Iron Point's hooves and stepped back. “I... may go looking for her tonight... but if I don't, and you see her tomorrow, can you tell her that I want to see her? After dark, of course.”

“Of course,” the captain agreed.

~~~

After saying good night to the captain, Cadence decided to head up to the library and try and get a jump-start on finding the spell. No better time than the present, as Mother used to say. With a shudder and a sigh, the princess pushed open the large double doors to the library and used the flint and steel hanging near the door to light a candle. Lifting the holder with her wing and holding it steady, Cadence walked into the dim room and began searching the shelves for spell books.

When she'd found several decent books, as many as she could carry between her wings, the princess stacked them on one end of a small table and sat down next to them, the candle places off to the side so that it spread its light across the table without putting the candle in danger of being knocked over. Gently, Cadence pulled down the top book and opened it. As she started skimming the table of contents, the princess couldn't keep her heart from sinking in her chest, this is going to be a long night...

Valiantly, Cadence forged her way through the first three books, but found absolutely nothing. Any potions that sounded even half way plausible at first glance didn't exhibit all of the symptoms that Cadence herself had. She quickly became discouraged knowing that she still had the whole library to search, with most of her nights being spent in a seemingly fruitless search for one particular potion.

Sighing to herself, the princess closed the fourth book and set it atop its fellows, running a hoof through her mane as she thought, not for the first time that evening, how much more enjoyable, or at least bearable, the experience would be with Claudia around. The dragon, despite her temper, was usually a very happy and fun-loving dragon with a wonderful sense of humor who could keep Cadence's mood up even while performing the most tedious of tasks. Standing up from her desk, the pegasus mare finally decided it was time for bed, as the sky was beginning to brighten with the barest hints of predawn.

Yawning broadly, Cadence made her way by wing to the balcony outside her room, blowing out the candle and leaving a note for the librarian not to disturb her books. She pushed open the glass french doors and slipped into her room quietly, careful not to disturb Silver Scales who was sprawled out on the bed they shared. The princess smiled as she moved across the room to gently push her lover aside and crawl into bed.

~~~

The next morning dawned bright and early for the guard captain Iron Point. The last night had lasted longer than he'd intended and his sleep only afforded him a couple hours of rest. He yawned as he sent his contingent of soldiers on duty around the palace and town as the Royal Guard acted both as peacekeepers in the city and defenders of the castle. One of the younger soldiers paused a moment, breaking step as he passed the commander.

“Feeling alright this morning, Captain? You look tired.” The young soldier was a pale yellow stallion with a bright orange mane. He was fairly new to the guard and it took a moment for Iron Point to remember his name.

“I'm doing just fine, Private Lance. Get to your post.” Iron Point spoke firmly and even a little harshly to the young soldier, but it was no harsher or firmer than he would have to any other solider insinuating that he was unable to perform his duties at the castle.

“Yessir!” Shattered Lance jumped forward and hurried at a trot to his station high on the castle walls. “My apologies, sir!”

The captain sighed as the courtyard before him stood empty again and his shoulders slumped forward. He was exhausted, and not just from his lack of sleep, but he would retire before he would tell anypony that. Not even Cadence herself could get him to admit aloud that he was getting old, even though his bones ached on rainy days and creaked on all the others. I should think about retiring, Iron Point thought to himself with a sigh, but not until this crisis is over. Let it never be said that Captain Iron Point abandoned his Princess or his post. And with those silent words to himself the captain stood tall again and began his own rounds through the castle.

The captain didn't follow any particular path through the palace, he simply went where his hooves took him, which was more often than not right to where there was trouble. Today was no different. Before noon the captain had settled several petty arguments among the castle staff, berated one of his own soldiers for hassling a young maid, and traversed more than half the castle doing so. Soon after noon, the captain found himself in the scribes wing of the palace. He rarely came here ever as the scribes were generally solitary ponies and there was little need for him to patrol this area of the castle, however his hooves remembered his promise to the Princess even if his conscious mind had forgotten.

He passed an open door just as Claudia stepped out. “Good afternoon, Captain,” the young dragon muttered halfheartedly. “You looking forward to the Crystal Fair this year?”

The captain glanced sidelong at the young dragon who'd fallen into step with him. “I have not been especially looking forward to it this year, if that's what you mean. I do enjoy the festival, but as a guard I have not gone to the fair for the express purpose of my own enjoyment in years.”

The dragon sighed, “well... I hope I don't disappoint you horribly when I say there may not be a festival this year.”

Iron Point sighed, “are you still worried about Cadence...”

“It's not even Cadence at this point, Captain,” Claudia spoke over Iron Point harshly, “I simply can't get everything together in the time I have left! We could move the festival back a week or three, but then the farmers will be knee deep in planting and, if we hope to have a full harvest come winter, we can't take a whole week for a celebration of spring! But if we don't... well, I'd harp about tradition, but if we push the celebration back we'll be breaking every tradition this country's held dear for generations beyond count.” Claudia sighed, her left claw rubbing the ridge over her eyes. “I just... don't see how I can make it work... and then there's Cadence...” The dragon's voice darkened, “it seems to me that there is no way to bring Cadence back to the way she used to be, which means that there is no way to reactivate the Crystal Heart even if the celebration did take place on time.”

Iron Point nodded slowly then paused as a memory trickled back into his mind- “I... may go looking for her tonight... but if I don't, and you see her tomorrow, can you tell her that I want to see her? After dark, of course.” He glanced at Claudia, opening his mouth to ask if Cadence had gone looking for her the night before, but her tonality towards the Princess had been too angry for her to have been given an apology in the recent past. So instead he passed on Cadence's message. “Claudia... Cadence has asked that I tell you that she wishes to talk to you tonight. She is under a spell and requires your help breaking it.”

Claudia snorted, “A likely story. Cadence has changed and I just have to accept it.” The dragon sighed as they left the scribe's wing and she stopped in the crossways. “Look, it was good talking to you, Captain. There isn't anypony else I can talk to about my worries now... but I don't believe for a second that Cadence is under a spell. She's chosen to completely forget her duties to her country... and now I have to take up those duties myself. If this country's going to fall into ruin, I'm not going to go quietly.”

Iron Point huffed, “You're just as stubborn as ever. Do you really believe that Cadence, who lived only for her kingdom for so many years, would forget that duty as soon as she fell in love?”

“Well what else am I supposed to believe!” The dragon all but shouted, her voice echoing eerily in the crystal halls. “How else can you explain... everything?”

“Magic.” The captain said with finality as he turned to continue his rounds of the castle. “Just because this is an Earth Pony kingdom does not mean magic does not exist. Remember that in the future, Claudia.”

~~~

The dragon stood alone in the halls, thinking about what the guard captain had said for many minutes before she shook her head and moved back to the room where she'd been working the past few days and nights. This room was a little bigger than the one Cadence had found her in before; there were two decent sized desks, several chairs, and two windows, and everything, save for one chair, was covered in thick stacks of paper and parchment. Claudia sighed as she sat down in the chair and began her work again.

She wanted to believe the Captain, and his insistence that it was magic controlling Cadence made sense, but then why was it only during the day? Why did Cadence seem totally normal at night, but completely looney during the day? Looney... Claudia shook her head again, the princess wasn't lunar either.

Carefully, Claudia began signing paperwork. She tried to keep her mind on the task at hand and not let her mind wander- it was when her mind wandered that she made mistakes. Mistakes that took several days to rectify because new documents couldn't just be drawn up over night. Mistakes that sent the potential of the Crystal Fair happening at all spiraling down to nothing.

Finally the dragon couldn't stand it anymore, she tossed the quill back into the inkwell and stood up. “I need some air,” she muttered to herself. “Sitting alone in this stuffy room can't be good for me.” Locking the door to her office behind her, Claudia walked down to the city. Even with a thin coating of snow still covering the valley, there was a distinct air of springtime floating around. Everypony in town seemed in higher spirits now that winter was losing it's hold on the country and everypony was looking forward to the Crystal Fair. It was an event that was as natural as the sun rising in the east or snow fall on Hearths Warming Eve.

The Crystal Fair began the day after Winter Wrap-up and lasted exactly a week. This allowed the land to thaw after an extra long winter before planting began. Claudia flinched inwardly as she knew this Crystal Fair would more than likely not happen as everypony was accustomed to. Even if the festivities occurred on time, if the Princess wasn't able to light the Crystal Heart, the protection spells on the country would dwindle and the happy, joyous feelings that the kingdom reflected across the rest of the world would slowly fade. The rest of the world wouldn't suffer, but the Crystal Kingdom would begin to fade away.

Trying to pull herself away from these thoughts, Claudia's mind went to Cadence. What if the Princess really did need her help to find a cure for the spell encapsulating her? The purple dragon sighed and rubbed her eyes. If the Princess really needs my help she can come find me.

Comments

[Bigby Wolf]

I am seriously ticked at that piece of trash Silver Scales. It's his fault and I hope karma comes back to harm him in a really bad way.

Please tell me that Cadance finds out what he did and completely tears him a new one for it.

[SpearmintSonnet]

2664432

Well, I won't say you're wrong

[Bigby Wolf]

2664543 I'm really looking forward to it.