Nightmare Free Equestria

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza sat in the royal car of the train coming from the Crystal Empire. She watched as they traveled, feeling a mix of emotions as they made their way to Canterlot. She was excited to be coming back to see her friends and family again. There was also a feeling of sadness as with her return to the capital came the memories of the stallion she had lost. There was also a feeling of dread. After all, it was also the city that she had been trapped under for not even Celestia's knows how long. Although she had missed Canterlot, she also had an urge to flee from it.

As they reached the station, Cadence closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out. She kept her eyes closed, feeling the vibrations of the train a it slowed and finally came to a stop. After waiting a moment longer, she got up and began to disembark.

As expected, a carriage was waiting for her at the platform, with several guards standing about it. With the help of one of them, she climbed up and took her seat. She braced herself as the carriage began to move, then watched the city pass by.

It was so strange. Everything felt familiar, like it was the way it always had been, as she always remembered it. At the same thing, it was like a whole other city. After the reconstruction had started, so much of the city's layout and the building's designs had changed. Upside is there would be plenty to explore. Downside was that she could get lost like when she was first in Canterlot. Fortunately, the castle was exactly the same as it was before, and could still be seen through out most the streets.

At the moment, the castle was not her destination. Instead, she was headed to the new and improved Pony Joe's Do-Nut Shop. The shop was bigger, with more than just doughnuts now served, and there were a lot more ponies working there, but Joe had managed to expand and rebuild while keeping the doughnuts and delicious as ever. The letters Cadance received said they were still the best in all of Equestria. It was nice to see the place again.

"Thank you," she said to the guard assisting her out of the carriage. "I won't be needing your services again for several hours, so you free to go." She smiled. "Or you can stay and enjoy some of the doughnuts yourself." She walked past the guards and headed for the doors.

The bell rang above the door as she stepped in. Several ponies raised their heads from their tables to look, including a familiar form she was looking for. The two walked toward each other before finally stopping.

"Princess," Cadence said, bowing.

"Princess," Twilight repeated, mirroring the bow. The two grinned at each other before they started to do their dance.

Sunshine, sunshine,
ladybugs awake.
Clap your hooves
and do a little shake!

The two laughed as they shook their rumps at each other. Once finished they straightened, both giving their wings a little flutter as they did.

"It's good to see you again, Cadance," Twilight said turning to head back toward the table.

"You too," Cadance responded before stopping. "Although," she placed a hoof to her chin. "Something about you looks different."

"It's... probably because I have company," Twilight replied, patting at her stomach.

"Com..." Cadance's eyes went wide as the words sank in. "You mean...?"

"Yeah," Twilight confirmed with a nod. "Second one is on the way."

"Congratulations," Cadance nearly shouted, grinning. "You and Time must be so excited. Any idea what you're going to name it?"

"Not yet." Twilight moved to sit down, giving her stomach a gentle stroke. "We were thinking of something to do with light, but we haven't actually come up with anything that sounds quite right."

"Page must be excited."

"Right now she's more excited about Shadow Night." Twilight rolled her eyes and gave her head a shake. "She just can't wait to dress up, get candy, and be chased by a pony made to look like a black alicorn."

"It seems we have arrived at an interesting time," a voice said as two figures approached the table.

Trixie took off her hat as she approached, setting it down beside her. The jeweled ring around the base of her horn glimmered as she moved her head. Beside her, Daring Do approached. Unlike Trixie, Daring opted to keep her head gear on, showing off the newest set of scratches and dings. One of her wings was wrapped in fresh white bandages.

"So glad you could make it," Twilight said with a smile.

"Well I needed to talk to my publisher anyways," Daring said as she took a seat.

"Plus we have some new information to share with the princesses," Trixie added.

"So you two really have been adventuring together?" Cadance asked.

"Yes," Daring replied. "It seems it has been quite useful to have a powerful mage traveling with you."

Trixie's eyes narrowed and she gave a smirk.

"Although it seems that somepony would do better to have a trained nurse with her to patch her up instead of a magician. Seems like every time she goes out on an adventure something happens. Injured wing, twisted ankle, couple burns." Trixie started to laugh. "I remember this one time when these plants bit her right on the-"

"So what were you two talking about?" Daring asked after placing a hoof over Trixie's mouth to stop her from talking.

"We were just talking about Shadow Night," Cadence responded. "I still can't believe they created a holiday based off that whole thing."

"It's more than that," Twilight added. "You should see story about it in the books. You wouldn't think it was only five years ago that it happened."

"What's it say?" Daring asked.

"Basically? When Equestria was at its darkest hour, a shadow escaped from the moon to free the princesses and bring hope to the ponies."

"Well I don't think she was an actual shadow from the moon," Cadence said, "but she did bring hope and defeat the Changeling queen."

Trixie pushed Daring's hoof away from her mouth.

"Speaking of Changelings, we've got you beat. Daring, tell her what we found in the hive."

"Hive?" Twilight and Cadence both asked.

"Yes," Daring said with a nod. "We found some scrolls that said there was a crown that went along with the Alicorn Amulet, so Trixie wanted to find it so it could be locked away as well."

Trixie shifted but said nothing. The Alicorn Amulet was not something she really wished to talk about. It was just fortunate that Luna was able to talk some enough sense into the unicorn to get her to take it off.

"Anyway," Daring continued, "the clues ended up leading us to what turned out to be a changeling hive, and it was ruled by Queen Chrysalis no less."

The three other ponies watched the pegasus intently and listened to the story.

"We didn't find the crown, but we did find something far more interesting." She leaned forward and grinned. "Culture."

"Culture?" Twilight repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean by culture?"

"Well nothing too impressive," Daring Do said before adding "yet. Not any sort of sculpture or music." She lifted a hoof, "But!... they have a legend. An oral story they tell each other."

"You mean the queen tells her hive a story?" Twilight asked.

"No." Daring gave a shake of her head. "The drones have a story they tell each other about the queen." She turned to look at Cadence. "You should find this very interesting, princess, because -- in a way -- you're the hero."

"Me?" Cadence's eyes went wide.

"Well... sort of."

"How can someone 'sort of' be the hero of the story?"

Daring Do, Twilight, Trixie, and Cadence all turned to look at the white unicorn that was munching on a doughnut. The unicorn grinned, her rose tinted sunglasses reflecting the surprised faces staring at her.

"Vinyl," Twilight finally said, "when did you get here?"

"Not too long ago," Vinyl replied, "around 'culture.'" She took another bite. "By the way, Octavia's not going to be able to make it. She has to make sure the troops are ready for inspection in the morning due to a visit to Canterlot from two princesses -- one of which is a former student of Princess Celestia -- and a famous, powerful mage that is the former student of Princess Luna."

"Does she like being captain of the guard?" Cadence asked.

"Not really." Vinyl gave a shake of her head. "I mean she won't admit it, but I know my Tavi. She would rather be practicing her cello instead of combat maneuvers. But this getting off topic." She turned back to Daring Do. "I want to hear about this story the changelings have. Especially how Cadence here can be 'sort of' the hero."

"Well," Daring said as she leaned toward the others again, "It starts with the queen finding a great source of love to feed her hive and taking over a kingdom in turmoil to bring rule and order. So the hive is able to feed and prosper for a great many days.

"Then, one night, a vicious demon comes riding in on a storm. With a ferocious roar, it smashed its way into the castle, took out the queen's royal guards, destroyed the throne room, and made its way to kill the queen."

All of the other ponies at the table leaned in close, watching Daring Do as they listened to the story.

"Just before the demon could land the killing blow, a beam of pure moonlight pierced the room and a melodious voice shouted 'stop.' From that beam of light, a goddess descended. She was so beautiful that the very storm dared not touch her."

Cadence looked away, feeling her cheeks heat up as she blushed.

"And her love was so great, that every changeling in the room was instantly healed of its injuries."

"Cool," Vinyl said with a grin.

"With a single touch," Daring continued, "she calmed the demon and stayed it from slaying the noble queen. The demon then gave a warning to the changelings: they were to leave the kingdom and never return. For if they did, the demon would also return to finish what it had started, and no goddess would be able to stop the creature's wrath again."

"Wow," Twilight said before turning to Cadence. "So what you and Moon Shadow did had such an impact, that you might actually have become the first story the changelings have created."

"I bet Octavia will be glad to hear that they are afraid to come back," Vinyl said with a grin. "Having the changeling regroup and try again has been a debate since she was given her rank."

"Now that the story is over, and since you brought up Octavia," Cadence said, turning Vinyl, "When are you going to make an honest mare out of her?"

Vinyl lifted her glasses and looked at Cadence. She then slowly let her gaze slide from one pony to the other.

"Can you ponies keep a secret?" she finally asked, getting nods all around. "I already got the ring. I was actually going to propose to her the day after Shadow Night since... well... it's kind of the anniversary of when we became an official couple."

"That's wonderful," Trixie exclaimed. "I'm sure you two will be very happy together."

"As much fun as this has been," Twilight said, "I think we should get going to the castle. The princesses are probably waiting for us, and I really want to see Celestia again."

"I would like to see Luna as well," Trixie added, "Plus, we have some artifacts we need to drop off for study at the royal archives."

"But first," Vinyl said, "we should take a moment." She took a hold of one of the coffee cups and lifted it up.

"To friends that are no longer here."

"To friends!" the others agreed, raising their cups.