Alone, Together
Why can’t I stop watching that grandfather clock?
It’s not like I’ve never noticed it before. In fact, I think it was among the first things I ever noticed when we started having these meetings so long ago. It really is a beautiful clock: the ebony casing, the Everfree trim, the silver hands, the sparkling crescent-moon pendulum. It matches the rest of the room so well that I could swear it grew from the shadows themselves.
How long have I been watching it? Long enough for the sun to have risen, if the light from that balcony is any indication. I can’t help it; the sway of that pendulum is hypnotic. And the fact that its ticks and tocks are the only sounds I can hear right now probably helps. It’s almost like the heartbeat of the room.
I wonder if Luna knows how beautiful it is. She’s had it for such a long time, the luster has probably worn off by now. Her birthday’s coming up soon, isn’t it? Maybe I could get her a new one! And who knows? I could ask to take this one back home with me. It wouldn’t match the decor nearly as well, but it doesn’t matter. It would make the room around it beautiful, no matter what.
I could watch this clock forever.
“Apologies, Cadance.” Finally time to look away from it. Oh, she brought tea! How wonderful. “Night court ran longer than expected,” she says as she sits down opposite me. “There were some… difficult ponies.”
I know that look on her face. I get it on my face from time to time, too. “Nothing too annoying, I hope.”
“Nothing the guillotine couldn’t solve,” she says, not an ounce of sarcasm in her voice. Our eyes meet as she pours the tea, and we break out into little fits of giggles. I love moments like this. Personal moments I can share with ponies who understand what princesses go through.
It’s a shame those moments are so rare.
“Thanks for making the time to see me, Luna. I know we usually only have these appointments once a month, so—”
“Think nothing of it, Cadance,” she says, waving a hoof dismissively. “Your letter seemed very urgent, and your welfare is of great importance to me. I would make these appointments once every day if it was necessary.”
Despite myself, I smile. I really can’t help it. Luna’s become such a good friend since this whole… situation began. “Thank you, Luna. I really appreciate that.”
We both take a moment to sip our tea. I prolong it as long as possible, because I know what comes next. Our meetings always go like this. They start as a friendly get-together where we talk about whatever, but as soon as we sip our tea, things always get too serious too quick. I know it’s necessary—that’s why I’m here in the first place—but sometimes I just wish Luna and I could talk without it being about my stupid problems.
One day I’ll invite her to the Empire, just to spend time together.
I can’t push the silence any longer without making it awkward, so I finally set my cup down. Like clockwork, she starts talking as soon as the cup clinks against the saucer. “So, you’ve had another nightmare?”
That wipes my smile away. I nod. “Yes. It was one of the worst I’ve had in a long time. Maybe even worse than the first one.”
She lifts her eyebrow. “Truly?”
I hate it when she’s surprised at me. It makes me feel like I did something wrong. “Yeah. It was so bad that I woke up Shining Armor and several of the guards with my… screams.” A shudder runs down my spine. Last night was so awful. “I… I don’t know why it happened…”
“That’s what we’re here to discern. I must admit, though, I’m quite stunned by this. You were making such rapid progress. What has changed, Cadance?”
I honestly can’t answer that question, so I just shake my head. The silence feels like a death sentence.
Luna nods slowly. “Let’s begin, shall we? How much of the nightmare can you remember.”
“Everything.” My answer is instant. I so wish I could just forget it all, just stop worrying and make it go away. It feels more like a memory than a dream.
“Very well. Please, start from the beginning and recount every detail you can.”
I nod and close my eyes. I don’t want to see her face as she hears about this. “It all started off so wonderfully. So perfectly. I suppose that should’ve been my first hint that something was wrong…”
***
“Shining, it’s so beautiful!”
Side by side we trot along the crystal bridge which cuts the lake in two. The grass is greener than I’ve ever seen it, and the trees are all dancing in perfect harmony. I can hear so many songbirds, a rarity in and of itself in the Crystal Empire! They’re all in perfect tune, singing a song that only they know. It’s so warm, too. There isn’t a single cloud in the sky, and the sun is directly above us. It’s the definition of beauty itself.
And the water…
There isn’t a single ripple along the entire surface. It’s like a mirror; a pristine, blue mirror. It catches the sunlight just perfectly, making a sheen more picturesque than I thought possible. Little rainbows dart beneath the bridge, making it look like we’re walking on light itself. It’s a scene no artist could ever replicate.
My attention is pulled back by a soft chuckle from my side. “I know, right? We could never have asked for a more perfect day.” He pulls me close to him as we reach the center of the bridge. “Happy anniversary, Cadance.” He leans in.
My eyes instinctively snap shut. I can feel fireworks pulsing through my veins as our lips connect. Bright, powerful memories flash through my mind, reminding me of everything we’ve been through together. The warmth and beauty that I know surrounds us makes it that much more magical. I breathe in deeply, and he becomes my world. This is it, I can sense it. This is the most perfect moment in my entire life.
We pull away from each other, and I open my eyes knowing the smile on my face is beyond ridiculous.
The smile instantly falls away. Shining Armor isn’t there anymore. In fact, nothing’s there except for the bridge and the lake, both of which extend into pure darkness.
“Shining Armor?” I call out. My voice echoes even though I know it shouldn’t. Something’s very wrong, but I need to stay calm. “Where are you? What happened?”
“Cadance!” I jolt backwards as the bridge beneath my hooves quakes. I look down, and I instantly regret it.
Something’s pounding the bridge from within the water, something I desperately want to see as Shining Armor but can’t. It’s some sort of demented husk of him. I can see the skin peeling from his bones in some places and huge bulges and boils growing out of him in others. It’s nightmarish, and I have to forcibly push the taste of bile back down my throat.
“Shining Armor! Hold on! I’ll save you!” My mind is running at a mile a minute, trying desperately to make some sense of what’s happening. My wings burst open and I dive over the edge of the bridge.
Or I would’ve dived over the edge, but I slammed into an invisible barrier before breaching the railing. Sharp pain jolts through my muzzle, and I shriek as I thud harshly back against the crystal of the bridge. I chance a look down at Shining Armor just in time to see dozens of rotting, decayed hooves grab at him from beneath the water’s surface.
My horn goes ablaze and I fire a bolt of pure wrath into the bridge itself, shattering it into millions of shards. I pull in a deep breath as I prepare for the water to overcome me.
The feeling never comes. I look down and realize that I’m standing on a thin sheet of something like glass mere millimeters above the water’s surface. I notice something even before that, though.
Shining Armor is nowhere to be seen.
“Shi—” A bell tolls somewhere in the darkness, but it’s so loud that I feel like it’s inside my head. The sound resonates in the nothingness, and my ears are forced flat against my head. At the same time, a chill races through my whole body, and the water changes.
It churns and bubbles all around me. Small waves start clashing against the invisible box surrounding me, and they steadily grow in power. Massive eddies mar the surface, and from them I can hear hundreds—if not thousands—of shrieks. It makes me want to run, but these wicked barriers meet me in every direction.
I start pounding and screaming against the barriers. I slam into them so forcefully that I feel bones snap, but I keep pounding through the pain. The raging storm around me has grown violent. Tidal waves strike my prison from every direction, the whirring of typhoons around me joins the cacophony of screams, the bell is still tolling inside my mind, and yet I remain perfectly protected from harm.
I want out. I want to help those screaming ponies. I want to stop the evil and torment around me. If nothing else, I want to join in the suffering instead of being a helpless spectator. But I can’t get out. I’m alone.
A titanic splash of crimson startles me backwards, and I collapse against the floor. It’s then that I notice the entire body of water has turned dark red, and the screams have died down. A moment later, the entire sea goes calm and still as if nothing had ever happened. All I can hear is my own heavy panting as I lie impossibly close to an ocean of blood.
I slump against the invisible wall nearest me and look out into the nothingness. Warmth courses down my face, both from the blood of my broken muzzle and the streams pouring from my eyes. I sob against the landscape, and again it’s the only sound I can hear. I’m completely alone.
There’s a light in the distance. It’s like a glowing purple star, and it’s becoming brighter. It’s a beacon of colour that I recognize in an instant.
“Twilight?” My voice feels like sandpaper scraping against my mouth. I don’t even know if the sound escaped my mouth. Regardless, Twilight Sparkle comes into view not a second later. Her horn is tipped with a little ball of lavender light, and she’s using her wings to hover inches above the scarlet ocean. As she gets closer, I can see her frown.
She stops just a little ways away from me, looking at me. There’s sadness in her eyes; desperation, even. We lock stares for a long while. The only sound anymore is her wings billowing the air.
“Cadance,” she says, eventually. Her upper lip trembles, and a tear rolls down her cheek.
“Twilight?” I try to say, but this time I know only dry air sputters from my mouth.
The tear reaches her chin, and it falls from her face the moment she whispers, “Help.” The tear falls in silence, making a tiny ripple in the liquid’s surface.
A massive wave crashes down on her, knocking her out of sight. “Twilight!” I shriek, and the bell begins tolling again as the storm returns around me. I lift my hooves to begin pounding against the barrier, but my body goes numb when I look at my limbs.
They’re small. Too small. I look myself over and realize that I’m a filly again. A helpless filly, alone in a red storm. I can feel that my horn is gone, too.
Something catches my eye as I’m looking myself over. Floating above me, in the dead center of the invisible box, is the Crystal Heart—it looks more pristine than I’ve ever seen it. It pulses over and over again, ringing out like a brass bell every time it lets off a pulse of light.
Another wave crashes against the barriers, dyeing the world completely red. Typhoons and whirlpools moan louder and louder around me, and the screams are back. As the Crystal Heart bears down on me, I curl up into a ball, squeeze my eyes shut, and start screaming.
I don’t know how long I screamed, but I could’ve screamed forever.
***
“That’s when Shining Armor woke me up.” I hang my head. I have to suppress the urge to cry. “Guards were already in the room.”
I don’t dare to open my eyes. The silence is bad enough. I can’t possibly bear her look of silent damnation on top of that. I just reach out with my magic and pull my teacup to my lips for something to do. It trembles in my hold, and the tea has gone icy.
After too long, she says something. “Cadance, do you recall what took place last month?”
I can’t help but look up at her. Her face is perfectly straight, as though we were having a normal conversation. “What?”
“Last month, Cadance. Do you recall what took place in Canterlot last month?”
It takes a second or two to push through my muddied thoughts, but I eventually find the obvious answer. “Of course. Twilight was coronated last month. I won’t ever forget that.”
“Indeed, it was a wonderful day.” Luna sips her tea. “However, not all has been well with Twilight Sparkle since.”
I lift an eyebrow. Twilight didn’t tell me anything was wrong. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m afraid not. She has informed me that she is having recurring nightmares. Every night she dreams of the same thing, and I believe your most recent nightmare may be connected to her situation.”
“Do you think she’s going through the same thing I went through when I took control of the Crystal Empire?”
Luna nods. “It is not impossible. Becoming a princess is a stressful matter, to be sure. You have had far more time to adjust to it than she, yet even you still feel terror at the prospect. I believe Twilight Sparkle’s coronation itself may be a factor in this most recent nightmare.”
I fall silent. There’s really nothing I can think to say to that, except, “So, what now?”
Luna turns her head to regard the grandfather clock. “I am meeting with Twilight Sparkle next week in regards to this matter. Perhaps you would like to join us. I believe it would be beneficial to the both of you.”
I follow her gaze to the grandfather clock. My mind is still reeling from having recounted the dream, but something about that pendulum eases it a little. “Yeah, I think that would be good.”
“Very well.” Luna stands and smiles at me. “I shall see you next week. Until then, remain well, Cadance.”
The clopping of her hooves against stone joins the ticking clock as she makes towards the door. Just as I stand to leave too, a thought pops into my head. “Luna, one more thing.”
She turns back to me, still smiling warmly. “Yes?”
“Did anything like this ever happen to you or Celestia? Back when you first became princesses, I mean.”
Her mouth falls into a flat line, and I suddenly feel like I’ve accidentally broken an ancient relic. “Oh… I’m sorry, Luna, I—”
“Consider the last thousand years, Cadance,” Luna says, her tone like winter. “And then answer that question for yourself.”
Without another word she turns and leaves, closing the door behind her.