Chapter Two:
Princess Training

There was firelight in front of Twilight Sparkle. The glowing orange was visible through the dark fabric of her blindfold. It was this dancing light that nudged the young mare back into full consciousness. Her mind was fuzzy at first. She was having trouble remembering why she had fallen asleep or why she couldn't see–

Everything rushed back at once. The letter informing her she would have to deal with some sort of Princess training. The home invasion. Her being swept away by the ponies who had blindfolded her and forced her to drink some strange drug that had put her to sleep. At the center of all this confusion was one mare she thought she had known. The cruelty in her voice still made Twilight shiver.

“Princess Celestia,” she murmured.

“Wrong one, silly filly,” a gentle voice said from beside her.

Unable to see, Twilight jumped and tensed visibly. “Who's there?”

“It's me. You know me. Think for a moment.”

The voice was kind, one of the kindest Twilight had ever heard. Her foal sitter. The wife of her big brother best friend forever.

“Cadence?”

“Yes, but hush, Twilight. In this chamber, you must not address me so casually.”

Chamber? Twilight realized that they were no longer in the carriage she had been swept away in. The ground beneath her hooves felt solid. She stood up from the position she had been lying in, stretching her legs out. Aside from the light from the orange flame, Twilight could see nothing else around her. It was dark and quiet in this room, aside from her fellow Princess's soft voice.

“Where are we?”

“I can remove your blindfold, but you must stay still. Do not run. Do not do move at all. Understand?”

Twilight nodded. She heard the soft hoof steps of Cadence moving around her, then felt a warm body against her own. The knot binding the blindfold around her head was undone, then the cloth was pulled away from her face.

Cadence stood next to her, in the strangest apparel Twilight Sparkle had ever seen. The pink princess of love wore four leather boots that stretched from the bottom of her hooves almost to her body. Glimmering silver horseshoes tipped the bottom of the boots, raising her height up. Her body had no leather wrapped around it, except for at the neck, where a leather collar prominently stood out, a metal ring dangling from the front. The ring tinkled gently as it hit the metal that bound it to the collar. Cadence's beautiful eyes were ringed with dark eyeliner and her mane was swept back into a single ponytail, pushed out of the way.

“What are you wearing?” Twilight asked her. “What's going on here?”

“Hush, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Cadence instructed. “You did receive a letter about Princess training, did you not?”

The letter had absolutely nothing to do with what Cadence was wearing. The confusion grew. “Well, yes, but–”

“When I say hush, you will do just that,” Cadence her cut off, her voice as cold as Celestia's had been. When Twilight visibly flinched, she softened a little. “There is an old tradition in Canterlot. Princess Training. Every crowned Princess under Celestia's rule had to go through it in order to maintain a position of power. You have earned your rank as Princess, yes. You have not earned your right to rule, yet. Through this training, you will earn your rank among the rest of us Princesses. Where you stand right now, you are only a Princess in title, not in truth.”

Despite how Cadence had just ordered her to be silent, Twilight still blurted, “Meaning?”

Fire blazed in her fellow Princess's eyes at the disobedience. Still, Cadence closed her eyes and replied, “When you are in a position of power, you control a great deal of what other ponies can do. Carelessness can hurt those around you. In the old days of Equestria, before any of us were ever born, there was tradition to rule. The royalty before us went through extensive ritual and training to prove their right to rule. We as rulers are first made to understand what power is by becoming powerless ourselves. We must never rule by a cruel hand, but one that has understanding behind it. Once we are made powerless, we are to overcome it and never let that feeling rule us ever again. What we do may confuse you, but it is tradition and tradition must be upheld. You may, of course, choose to decline this training and you must say so now. If you do, you will return to Ponyville as a Princess, yes, but one with...lesser power, than what you may be deemed of holding in the future. The choice is yours. This training is meant to destroy and rebuild. It will wear you down. It may break you.”

This speech hit home hard. There were tiers to ruling? What would happen if she turned this down? She wouldn't be equal to Cadence, or even to Luna or Celestia. Did that mean she would never have the same rules and responsibilities as the others? What exactly was a Princess with no responsibility?

Cadence still had that fire in her eyes when she spoke. “You must decide, Princess Twilight Sparkle. If you depart now, nothing will happen. If you decide to stay, everything you know will change.”

Twilight closed her eyes and pictured her friends for a moment. They never backed down from a challenge. She didn't want to let them down by saying no and having to return to Ponyville, knowing that she had never even tried. She had earned her crown by hard work. She wasn't going to turn her back on that principal now.

“I'll do it.”

Cadence nodded, and came up to nuzzle at her cheek for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was loud and full of ceremony. She was back in her role of the tradition that brought them together like this. “In order to rule, you must first learn how to submit. In this space, I am no longer your foal sitter. I am no longer your friend. You will not address me as such. In fact, you will not address me at all, unless spoken to. If you must speak, you will only address me as Mistress Cadence. Understand?”

There was a certain power in her words that made Twilight's heart beat faster. The way Cadence was dressed, what she spoke of...it pointed Twilight to a realm that made the young mare fearful to go in. This training, whatever it was, was not going to be like her other studies. This was far outside her realm of familiar, or comfortable.

“Understand?” Cadence asked again. The riding crop rose again, nudging under Twilight's chin, forcing her head up. “When I ask you a question, you answer it. Yes, Mistress Cadence. Say it.”

“Yes, Mistress Cadence,” Twilight chirped quickly.

“You obey quickly now,” the princess of love mused. She grinned and the expression was cold, positively cruel.“I wonder how long that obedience will last once the real training starts.”

Her words sent a shiver throughout Twilight Sparkle's body. She hoped Cadence didn't see it. She was already vulnerable; she didn't want to seem weak.

“Complete obedience is needed from you, Twilight,” Cadence said, her voice still tinged with some of the cruelty it held before. “Nod your head if you understand.”

Twilight Sparkle was quick to nod her head, mostly out of fear of what would happen if she didn't follow Cadence's instructions.

“This training may seem harsh, but understand that we do it out of love. All of us. I am the last Princess to be crowned before you, thus, I must be the first to introduce you to this method of training. Princess Luna and Queen Celestia aren't as kind as I am.” Cadence paused, seeing Twilight's surprise at Celestia's title. “Yes, Queen. In this chamber, she rules not as a fellow Princess, but Queen. She has dominion over us all. You must remember that, Twilight. She may have been your teacher before, but in this chamber, she will be your Queen and your Mistress. Disobeying her is not the same as disobeying me.”

Twilight was itching to ask about it, but kept her mouth shut until Cadence added, “Yes, you may speak now.”

“What are you going to do to me? What am I supposed to do? I'm not prepared for any of this. I didn't know what to study–”

Cadence laughed. “Silly Twilight, you can't study for what we're going to teach you. You can read all the books you like about discipline but nothing will teach you better than experience.”

“Discipline?”

Cadence nodded and the humor faded from her expression once more. She looked intimidating once more in her dark eyeliner and leather boots. Formal once more, she said, “Yes. Discipline. Absolute obedience. If I tell you to hush, you will be silent. If I tell you to jump, you jump. No questions. Fail to obey me and you will feel the crack of my beloved riding crop. If I whip you, it's not because I'm trying to be cruel. I am trying to teach. Understand? Nod your head.”

Twilight nodded.

“Raise your hoof if you would like to speak, but do not speak unless I give you permission.”

Twilight raised her hoof, feeling as though this were some dark parody of the education she had received as a filly.

“Yes, you may speak.”

“What are you going to teach?”

The pink alicorn before her turned away from her again, the riding crop still tapping gently at her back. “That, my Princess, is why you're here. Like I said, you can study the theory of discipline all you want, but you have to learn by example. There is one more thing I expect you to follow, and I expect you to follow it, like the rest, flawlessly. Ready? Nod your head if you're ready.”

Heart beating faster, Twilight Sparkle nodded.

Cadence approached again, her riding crop smacking the stone ground for emphasis. “Like I said, you will not speak unless spoken to. I am allowing you to speak right now by raising your hoof. When we start, that will be no more. You are to follow my orders perfectly the first time around or face being whipped. I've said that before. You will address me as Mistress Cadence. Say, yes, Mistress Cadence if you understand.”

“Yes, Mistress Cadence.”

Amusement danced in Cadence's gaze as she circled Twilight around. “Now for the other rules. I will restrain you and bind you at my will. I will do things that make you uncomfortable and I will order you to do things that are uncomfortable. I'll understand if this is overwhelming at first so I'm offering you a...safety word, if you will. Queen Celestia has trained me to use banana, so that is the word I'm giving you. If, for whatever reason, you need a moment to stop and collect yourself, say the word banana. However, don't use it just because you chickened out or got scared. It is a word that tells me to stop, not one that I want to hear because you pussied out.”

That one word shouldn't have tripped Twilight up, but it sounded so strange coming out of the gentle Cadence's mouth. She might as well have cursed up a storm.

“I don't hear you saying anything,” Cadence growled. The riding crop tapped on the stone floor faster, louder, as a point of emphasis.

“Yes, Mistress Cadence,” Twilight said, her words tumbling fast out of her mouth.

“That's a good girl. In addition, you will wear similar attire as to what I'm wearing. It may look strange, but you will wear it without question. The collar you have on will remain on. It is enchanted by Queen Celestia herself. It will keep your magic deactivated while we are training. I don't want any accidents caused by instinctual magic looking to protect you and I certainly don't want to be overpowered. For the moment, you have as much magic as a pegasus. Wings, but no magic. That collar will be removed if and when myself or one of the others deem that you will not be a danger with it.”

Twilight had known that her powers had been restricted. She could feel it. Yet, hearing the confirmation of the loss of powers from Cadence made the loss really hit home. What was she without her magic? Her magic was everything. She was defenseless and without her friends. There would be no one to stand up for her or defend her.

She was truly alone, here.

Cadence must have seen the panic on her face because she set the riding crop down and approached her. Her own wings stretched out and brushed over Twilight's face. “Don't fret, my dear Princess. I had to go through the same exact training. Mistress Luna is much more demanding than I am. As your introduction to Princess Training, I should be much easier.”

That wasn't any comfort to Twilight Sparkle, but she nodded anyway.

“I will introduce you to the concepts of control, obedience...and discipline. When I feel that you have had enough, you will go and visit Princess Luna, who will put you to the test. Lastly, when you pass her examinations, Queen Celestia will test you. I do not know what either of them plan on doing. However, as Mistress and your teacher, your failure is my failure.”

With that, Cadence fixed Twilight with a stern glare. “I don't fail, Twilight. Do you understand?”

Twilight nodded once more, feeling like a puppet rather than a pony.

Cadence smirked again. The ponytail made her look sweet but her eyeliner added a hint of the danger to come. Her horn glowed once more as she retrieved her riding crop and again used it to lift Twilight's chin. “Why don't we get started, then?”

Before Twilight could nod, Cadence pressed forward. There was confusion for a moment, before Twilight realized that Cadence was kissing her. Bewilderment lit up throughout Twilight's body, but if she was supposed to obey, she wasn't supposed fight back.

What kind of Princess Training had Twilight gotten herself into?

Author's Note

Special thanks to Thaumologist and Jake The Army Guy for pointing out some rather obvious holes within the first version of this chapter I posted (and on the plot as a whole). Thaumologist's comment appeared in Cadence's speech, albeit with some edits. Much appreciated <3