Love and War
Princess Cadence sipped her tea out of a white and pink teacup. It was warm, steamy, with two sugars and a "splash" of milk, like she always desired.
Shining Armor walked into the room and sat alongside her, his - well - shining armor damp with sweat along with his coat. He grabbed the carton of milk Cadence had poured into her drink and opened the lid, gulping down the milk.
"Must you drink out of the carton?" Cadence asked, disgusted by his act. He looked at her with one blue eye, as he took the carton away from his lips and wiped his chin.
"Is it a big deal? I just worked all day, I'm tired, I want a drink, and I don't want to walk into the kitchen to get a glass." Shining heaved a sigh, as he slouched lower into the lazy chair, designed with hearts and pink swirls, courtesy of his wife.
"Well you can go ahead and finish it. Now that you've shared your DNA all over it," Cadence mumbled. She set her tea down from her magic on the end table that stood between the two chairs.
"I hate work sometimes," Shining said.
"I thought you loved work." Leave it to the princess of love to say the word "love" in almost everything.
"Nopony loves work," her husband corrected. "I used to tolerate it. But now it's just so unbearable. Leader Gleaming is so brutal. She makes us run one-thousand laps around the castle every morning, and to top it off, we have to do one-thousand more in the evening. I mean, I know I have to keep up my reputation as one of the toughest stallions around, but my hooves ache like hell, and I'm pretty sure my heart is pumping twenty times more than normal."
"Two-thousand laps everyday seems so.. Well, absurd. Gleaming Shield shouldn't make you do that," Cadence offered, completely forgetting the milk incident. "Maybe you should talk to her."
"And get fired off the Royal Guard? No thanks. I need to support this family.. With the next filly coming and all."
"Sweetie, I'm a princess, and the daughter of Princess Celestia and Luna themselves. We have enough bits in Equestria to feed our family and millions of more," Cadence reminded.
"It's not supporting you guys financially . It's supporting this family in pride. I mean, I'm only a short distance away from being captain of the Royal Guard. I can't give up now. What would you tell your marefriends if I lost the job? 'Oh yeah, my husband is such a failure because he lost the job as a Royal Guard member and now he can't ever support the family. I have to do all the work myself. Ha hah!'
"I would never talk that way to anypony about your or anypony else." Cadence gave her husband an encouraging kiss. "And I don't want you to lead a job you don't love."
"I can't let you work alone. My confidence would be crushed."
"Honey, I'm sorry, but it isn't about your confidence. It's about your safety. Are you going to survive the rest of your life running two-thousand laps each day? It'll only be a matter of time before you drop dead of exhaustion. You have to quit. And if that doesn't work on, I'll come along with you on the runs and help you."
Shining shook his head, his eyes bagging. "You can't do that."
"Why not?"
"They don't have the physical ability."
Cadence raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Don't take offense to it," Shining semi-apologized. "But a mare - a pregnant mare, especially - doesn't have the physical strength to run two-thousand laps."
"Well what if I wasn't pregnant?"
"You have a kingdom to run."
"A kingdom that doesn't do crap!" Cadence was infuriated. She never thought her husband was sexist. "Besides, your captain is a mare!"
"A trained one! Cadence, you're four months pregnant! Your stomach would practically scrape against the ground and you would kill the filly inside. You can't. You don't even know about war. You're the princess of love."
"It doesn't take much to know about guts and guns!" Cadence shot.
"There is more to war than guts and guns!" Shining pressed his muzzle hard against hers. "I don't even think you know how hard I worked everyday during the Changling invasion!"
"Not very hard if you couldn't hold them back for a full three days!"
"That's it!" Shining looked like he wanted to say something else, but only stormed away in his bedroom with a slam of the door.
Cadence sat back down, her eyes starting to fill with tears. She felt her tummy. "What kind of example am I setting for you, Skyla? Fighting in front of you like this.. I'm sorry, Sweetie." The mare picked up her lukewarm tea with her magic and sipped it quietly, finding it hard to bring down the beverage with her tear-swollen tonsils.
***
Cadence plopped herself in her bedroom, lying on her back. She was half-balancing a medium-sized textbook called "The Art of War" on her swollen stomach. The other half-balance was with her magic, which was actually holding it up the most.
"Chapter one.." she began. Her eyes ran lazily over every word, not caring much what she was reading.
This is so boring! she thought to herself. How do you ponies actually take an interest in this?
Chapter after chapter ran by, and slowly her eyes gouged out of her sockets.
"MURDER? DECEPTION? BETRAYAL? WHO WROTE THIS?" She threw the book on the floor, looking at it with wide, violet eyes. "What kind of sick mind would write such a thing?" Cautiously, she slid off her bed and picked the book up with her magic. She held it ten feet in front of her and focused her gaze on the lower half of the book.
"Sun Tzu.. Who in the hay is that?" She had made it a custom to talking to herself recently. "Well whoever he is, he is a very bad stallion. A stallion murders his ally, tricks his other allies into murdering innocent ponies, and said stallion betrays his clan by running away. This is just awful!" Cadence dropped the book again, not caring that the pages were getting crinkled. She picked it up - once again - slammed it shut, and returned it to Shining Armor's "stack" of books in his bedroom, which was a miniature pile of "The Art of War" and "The Royal Guard's Seal and Guidelines."
Cadence climbed back on her bed and rubbed her belly. "I can't believe somepony could be so violent. I was pretty much right, though. That book was nothing but guts and guns. Gosh, I hate guts and guns." She flopped onto her tummy gently, as not to hurt the baby inside. Her face was burning with semi-fear and aggravation. "I gotta stop this somehow."
Quickly, her ears perked up.
"That's it Skyla!" Cadence rolled back onto her back to see her stomach. "I'll stop war!"
Her tummy groaned as to say "That has to be the stupidest idea of all time. And stop talking to your body parts. Ponies are going to think you're weird."
Cadence seemed to understand what her gut was telling her. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's worth a shot." She stood up with her chest pointed out like her husband. "I'm going to stop war!"
If her stomach had eyes, it would have rolled them.
"But how?" She sat back down and tapped her chin. Again, she was in her stage of aggravation/fear. Except without the fear. Ultimately, she was aggravated, and her brain was running two miles a minute trying to ponder ideas. "Maybe I have to join the.. Royal Guard! I have to join the Royal Guard!" Cadence said. "I can go ask Gleaming right now. Or now, I'm going to have to call her 'Sir'. That's odd. Oh well." She skipped down the stairs of her crystal castle and past her sleeping husband's room. She stopped herself, looked back in, and with soft eyes, walked quietly into the room. She knelt down beside his futon, the one he had from when he camped out in Saddle Arabia, and the one he also used when the two were fighting. Giving a long kiss to his forehead, she stroked his sweat-dampened mane.
"Don't worry, Shiny," she comforted the sleeping stallion. "I'm gonna put an end to this fighting. You're not going to have hoof-aches anymore, and you're not gonna be mad, and there will be a safe environment for little Skyla to live in." She gave another kiss and stood back up. Grabbing a sticky note and a pen from the kitchen with her magic, she scribbled something onto the paper and stuck it to his wall. She hopped out the room merrily and walked down a few more flights of transparent stairs.
She walked out into the fresh, sun-setting air, glad not to have a paparazzi following her like they did in the mornings. She scurried quickly to the train station, feeling exhaustion work over her hooves from the weight she was carrying and the speed she was taking.
Heaving, she got to the platform of the train station. She sat down on a bench and waited for a train to come by.
Fortunately enough, a pink and purple freight trudged through the tracks and stopped with a phewwww at the platform. A conductor pony stepped out of the train and gasped.
"Princess Cadence! Your highness!" The conductor dropped to his knees quickly.
"Hello Thomas," Cadence smiled.
He stumbled to his hooves again. "So what brings you here to my lil' old train station?"
"I need to get to Canterlot, preferably by morning," Cadence explained. "But I don't have a ticket.."
"That's fine Princess! Yup, yup! You don't ever have to have a ticket! Come right on board." Thomas gestured for her to come inside the cart.
The cart was clean and it smelled of perfume from all the female Crystal Ponies that came in. Cadence seated herself on a wooden bench that had pink and purple toss pillows covered on it, making it actually quite comfortable. She rested her hooves on her belly and waited for the train to start again.
Thomas walked in after he called "All aboard!" like he traditionally did and stopped at Cadence's bench.
"Would you like any more toss pillows for the bench?" he offered. "I'm sure they're not as comfortable as your leather furniture back at the castle.."
"It's fine Thomas." Cadence ruffled his mane gently, and he blushed. "These pillows are quite comfortable, actually. Besides, leather gets so hot in the summers."
"That sure is true," Thomas agreed. "So.. Do you like Jell-O? We have a few meals on this train, but since it's only sunset, dinner hasn't been served yet and lunch has. So the Jell-O is just a snack. If you want a full meal, I could tell the food director."
"Jell-O sounds great."
"Okay." Thomas awkwardly shuffled away into the next cart.
Cadence looked out the window as the train chugged away from her castle. Slowly her eyes closed, as she rested on her back to fall asleep.
***
"Your highness?"
No reply.
"Your highness?"
Cadence's eyes fluttered open, flinging crust of her eyelids. She got up, hunched her back, and looked wearily at Thomas.
"So sorry your highness, but you're here."
Cadence looked outside. The sky was dotted with sparkling stars, fading pink clouds, and a quarter moon for the centerpiece.
"Oh, and your Jell-O is here," Thomas added.
"Thank you." Cadence took the tiny container of jiggling, red liquid with her magic and walked out into the starry night. There was a breeze that whipped through her hooves and her mane.
Thomas bowed again and stepped inside the cart, speeding away back to the Crystal Empire.
The pink mare stood in front of the most massive castle in all of Equestria: The Canterlot Castle. She took a slurp of her jelly and crumbled the cheap, plastic container and disposed of it. She came in contact with two guards.
"Hello Princess Cadence," one of them recognized. "What brings you here this evening?"
"Night, actually," she corrected in a humorous manner. Unfortunately, the guards remained stiff and serious. "I am here to see Princess Celestia.. If that is not too much trouble."
"Princess Celestia should still be awake and doing some work on Twilight's daily friendship lesson and some other things. You may go in and see her." The royal guard walked her in, while the other one stay glued to the front door.
The two walked into the throne room of Celestia and Luna's castle.
"Princess Celestia. Is this a good time?" he asked.
"Of course it is, Viking Wing," a regal voice replied. "Come right in."
Viking Wing and Cadence walked into the room.
Princess Celestia turned around and smiled.
"Princess Cadence! My niece. How lovely it is to see you!" The two embraced for a hug. "What brings you all the way from the Crystal Empire to our humble town of Canterlot?"
"Auntie Celestia, I'm going to tell you something. But you have to promise that you will not tell anypony."
Celestia glared at Viking with a chuckle. "You are dismissed, Viking," she said.
Cadence nodded as the stallion walked out. "You see Auntie, I read a tiny bit of "The Art of War" and I hated it!"
"I imagine the princess of love wouldn't enjoy that stuff."
"You imagine clearly. Anyway I want to stop war by joining the Royal Guard."
The alicorn raised an eyebrow. "How exactly will that help you end war?"
"I'll try to persuade Gleaming Shield to stop the Royal Guard while I am there."
"Okay.. One: The Royal Guard serves as protecting Equestria from dangers like the Changling invasion. Two: You cannot join because you're very much pregnant. Three: Why did you come to me? Shouldn't you have gone to Gleaming Shield?"
"Well I don't know where Gleaming Shield lives. I only know where the trainings take place, and I expected to be here much earlier. I was wondering if I could stay in the castle for the morning."
"You're always welcome to stay here. But you still can't join the Royal Guard. You'll damage your foal."
Cadence looked down at her belly. "I'll take it easy with the laps and I'll be extra cautious to stay out of the way when the unicorns are shooting the targets and pegasi are practicing their aerial attacks."
"I don't think that is a-"
"Auntie, if we just find a way to coexist with these attackers, we'll have more allies than enemies and Equestria will be much more harmonized, in a sense."
"I suppose you do make a valid point. But what if said attackers don't agree to cooperate?"
"That's when we will take action. The Royal Guards will still train.. Just not everyday. Maybe once a week. We will still be prepared, but violence will be decreased so that practices are not everyday and we can work more on how we're going to deal on the attackers peacefully when and if they do come. So is it alright if I stay here and leave for the Royal Guard in the morning?"
Celestia breathed a sigh. "Of course, Cadence. Luna does not sleep during the night, so you can stay in her bed until morning." Celestia nodded toward it and her niece followed orders.
She pushed the door open, flopped on the bed, rolled herself in the plush, dark blankets, and fell asleep, moonlight shining through the giant window that covered half of one wall.
***
"Why is thee sleeping in our bed?"
Cadence's eyes shot open to reveal a navy blue princess hunching over her, bags under her eyes, and her mane slowly flowing.
"So sorry Auntie Luna!" she quickly jumped out of bed. "I was just sleeping there for the night. How long have you been up?"
"We have been up since 1:00 in the morning waiting for thee to get up." Luna wiped her eyes and yawned, diving into her bed. "No need for thee to apologize. It is quite alright."
Cadence watched her tired aunt curl into a ball of blankets and quickly fall asleep.
"Do us a favor and close the drapes please," she silently requested.
Cadence did as told and shut the blinds.
"Oh crap! I think I'm late!" The mare rushed out of the room and downstairs.
"Wouldn't you like some breakfast, Cadence? I have plenty of bananas for Peanut Butter Sandwiches!" Celestia called.
"No thanks, Auntie Celestia! I have to get to Royal Guard duties."
"Oh, but please don't run too fast. You'll hurt the baby!"
Cadence heeded her warning, but still strutted quickly down the stairs and out the door. She ran to the back of the castle, where the Royal Guard meets took place.
"FEAR STRIKE!"
"HERE SIR!"
"STROKED HEART!"
"HERE SIR!"
"SHINING- Princess Cadence?" Gleaming stopped yelling for a minute and stared up at the princess.
Shining Armor's eyes nearly popped out. She actually came here?!
"Your highness." Gleaming bowed quickly. "Why are you here?"
"I am here in fact to join the Royal Guard," Cadence greeted. "I've read through the rule books and regulations and I think I understand what the expectations are for this establishment."
Gleaming Shield looked baffled. "Aren't you pregnant?"
"I can take it easy when I'm running."
"I don't think you fully understand the Royal Guard.. It's more than just running."
"I am aware. And I still want to join."
"Glad to finally have some mares on this team!" somepony yelled.
"Shut up Swooner!" The general turned back, her nostrils flaring. "You do NOT talk without being spoken to!" She faced back to Cadence. "I suppose you could join.. But you'll be restricted against a lot of things."
"I want no restriction."
"But princess.. The bab-"
"The baby will be fine, I assure you," Cadence firmly said. "May I make an announcement?"
"I suppose," Gleaming said.
The princess turned to face the crowd of stallions dressed in armor. "As you know, you stallions practice every single day for the Royal Guard. But if you listen to me, you won't have to."
"What?" Gleaming asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Please General Shield. Let me finish. The Royal Guard is a great thing, sure, but we don't need to practice everyday. We don't need to do two-thousand laps everyday. We just need to practice once a week, and practice peace offerings the other days. We can make peace with our enemies and we can gain more allies than ever so that when a real threat comes, we'll have the strength and the teamwork to defeat them."
There was a silence, and Cadence was pleased with herself for the brief speech she had just gave.
"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" somepony yelled.
The rest of the crowd followed with jeers.
"I have to have this job to support my family!"
"You would still be able to support them when you get paid once a week," Cadence desperately implied.
"Once a week isn't enough!" somepony else added to her statement.
"Dumb bimbo!"
"Idiot!"
"EVERYPONY SHUT THE HELL UP!" Gleaming yelled to them. Instantly, the stallions stopped shouting and stood perfectly still. She turned to Cadence. "I am so sorry your highness. You have every right to cut their dicks off and kill 'em if you want. They shouldn't be talking to a princess like that."
"I don't think I am going to cut.. Er hem.. Anypony's 'dick' off," she said quietly. "And I most certainly am not going to kill them. This is what I am trying to go up against. I don't want war and murders to take place. I want a wholesome environment for ponies to live in."
"I know your heart is in the right place, princess, but it just doesn't work that way. You can't just walk into here, tell ponies to stop the war just like that and they'll listen. It takes years to stop war, and eventually it will just start back up. But I am glad to take your suggestion. There hasn't been a major threat in Canterlot or Equestria since Lord Tirek came, and that was almost ten years ago, so we could only work once a week. We'll practice peace once a week, too. Oh, and since the stallions are already here, is it alright if we have that 'one a week war practice' today?"
"Of course." Cadence nodded. "Is it okay if I join in?"
"Most certainly princess!" Gleaming dragged a barrel of old helmets and armor over. "You can pick any of these armor pieces you like. We don't use these kind anymore because Celestia insisted that we have the Canterlotian colors for the armor."
Cadence picked out a chest piece, hoof braces, a helmet, and a tail trapper. They were all designed in black and silver with traces of white. She clipped the trapper onto her long tail, which shortened it off the ground by a few inches. She fitted the helmet onto her head, which spiked up the top of her hair into a pink, purple, and yellow tuft. The hoof braces covered her gradient pink legs and the chest plate wrapped around her chest and back.
Gleaming smiled and directed the princess to the line. She wasn't supposed to have special treatment, but when you have somepony so fragile and delicate and able to get you killed in ten seconds, you have to be a little gentler around her.
"LISTEN UP LADIES! SINCE WE HAVE A NEW RECRUIT JOINING US TODAY WE ARE GOING TO REPEAT THE SAME EXERCISES AS WE DID ON THE FIRST DAY. WE WILL START OFF WITH THE HORNS/WINGSMAN CREED."
"This is my horn," the unicorns said. "There are many like it but this one is mine. Without me, my horn is useless. Without my horn, I am useless."
"These are my wings," the pegasi copied. "There are many like them but these are mine. Without me, my wings are useless. Without my wings, I am useless."
Shining Armor silently scooted over to Cadence, hoping not to be seen by Gleaming.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he whispered while Gleaming was talking about Equestria War I. "Are you crazy?!"
"I did what I set out for," Cadence explained. "I wanted no violence, but at least now there will be less violence. Aren't you happy for me?"
"I can't be! You're going to get killed out here. Gleaming isn't any pansy mare. She'll work you harder than you've ever worked in your life. Especially because you requested no restrictions on yourself!"
"Even me requesting that won't stop her from going easier on me than the rest of you. She knows that I'm a princess and I'm pregnant. She's not going to make me take a horn blast like you did that one time because you were talkin-"
"SHINING ARMOR!"
"SIR YES SIR?" The white stallion stood up straight.
"WHY WERE YOU TALKING?" Gleaming didn't even wait for a response. "HEART STRIKE!"
A brown unicorn with white hair in a tuft walked out into the open field. "SIR YES SIR?"
"You know what to do when somepony is talking!"
Heart Strike nodded and walked over to a trembling but brave Shining Armor. With the rev of his horn, he blasted his fellow stallion in the leg, making him fall over with pain.
"I've told you again and again not to talk while the general is speaking. Do I make myself clear maggot?!"
Shining really wanted to explain that his wife was talking, but he didn't want her to get hurt. "SIR YES SIR."
"Now get up."
Cadence watched in horror as her companion struggled to stand on his burnt front leg. He walked back into line and stood next to his wife, who healed his burn with her magic.
"Now everypony. One-thousand laps around the castle. Go!"
A hustle of stallion raced around the building. Shining Armor and Cadence ran alongside each other in a gentle pace.
"Are you two going to lollygag back here all day? Get moving!" Gleaming yelled.
"I'm pregnant!" Cadence huffed.
"Well Shining ain't!" Gleaming nudged him ahead.
The stallion let out a grunt and dashed after Viking Wing, who was in last place next to Shining and Cadence.
When he was out of sight, Cadence looked at Gleaming. "Why are you being so tough of him? He's not doing anything wrong!"
"The guard is tough, Princess Cadence. And he is well aware that if you talk while the general is talking, there'll be consequences."
"Shooting him in the leg with one of your highest-ranked unicorns? That's just cruel! Ponies can die from being shot in the leg!"
"Good thing he didn't then."
Cadence halted to a stop. "You are the rudest mare I know. Why are you such a bitch?"
"Excuse me? I am a general! I have to be tough of these numb-skulls. They're idiots! Now I suggest that you step off that track before you get your ass trampled and you walk right back home to your Crystal Castle so you can have a tea party."
"I am a full grown mare!"
"The way you're arguing doesn't seem so full-grown. Now get off the track!"
"Ponies like you rot in hell. And you know what? That's what you're gonna do. You're gonna rot in hell and nopony will give a f-"
***
"It's okay to let go Cadence.. Don't worry about me.. I-I'll be fine.."
Cadence's eyes were narrow, purple slits. She couldn't hold them all the way open for some reason. The only blurry image she saw was Shining Armor standing over her, dropping tears onto her face, which hurt severely.
"Don't struggle to keep yourself alive. It will be better if you just let go."
She noticed his hoof was grasping tightly onto hers, which was connected to a machine with a wire.
"S-Shining?" she asked, her voice muffled for another reason unknown. "What happened? Why can't I open my eyes?"
"You got trampled by the stallions," he explained. "You're eyes are swollen along with your lips, you're bruised all over, and you broke one of your ribs."
"W-What about the baby?!" Cadence began to fret.
"They had to take it out because of the severe damage," Shining said. "She's very premature, but the doctors are taking care of her and they said she'll live."
The alicorn relaxed, happy that her baby was safe. Slowly, her eyes began to fill with tears. She forced them shut, because they were stinging her eyes. "I'm sorry Shiny."
"It's okay Cadence. Don't cry," he comforted.
"I just didn't want ponies to fight anymore," she sniffled.
"I know what you wanted. And maybe you didn't get that goal. But that doesn't mean you're not still the princess of love. You're able to spread love wherever you go, so there's no reason to argue with that stupid general over it."
Cadence opened back up her eyes, and Shining kissed her. She blushed.
"I quit the job," he said slowly.
"Shiny, you did?"
"Traveling to Canterlot everyday is a hassle. And since Skyla is born now, I want to be around my daughter."
Princess Cadence smiled.
Dear Auntie Celestia,
I decided to try to write to you like my sister in law Twilight does. Well, over the course of two days, I learned that being in the Royal Guard is not just about guts and guns like I said. I saw how hard the stallions worked, and what they went through. I know not to judge ponies by their titles now. And what did Shining Armor learn? He learned that - Well he was kinda right! I'm not the mare for the role of being in the army! Anyway, I am happy to report that little Princess Skyla is at the hospital. She's five months premature but miraculously living. I thank the heavens everyday now.
Your faithful niece
Cadence.