“It was just a harmless prank!”
“Yeah, sure Shining. Harmless.”
Sometimes, in the dark corners of doubt everyone’s mind goes to when sleep eludes them, Cadance felt underappreciated.
In the daylight, this thought seemed incredibly silly. She was happy. She had her lovely husband, wings and a horn, and she got to do what she loved most for a living. But unlike raising the sun or the moon, ponies could just fall in love all by themselves. The fear of obsolescence plagued her.
She’d never told Shining Armor this. But he decided, out of all the pranks in the world...
“Cadance?” Shining’s voice snapped the princess out of her internal panic attack.
“What are we going to do, Shining? This is awful.” She said it quietly, lacing guilt into Shining. He took a deep breath.
“Look, Cadance, maybe it’s not that bad. I mean, everypony wants to fall in love, right? We all want happiness, huh?”
Cadance considered this for a moment. He did have a point. There was a good chance almost all conflicts across Equestria had just dissolved.
How bad could it be?
--<3--
“Very, very bad.”
Cadance stood in the middle of Canterlot’s main square. She carefully examined her surroundings with eyes wide with horror.
The orphans had cups overflowing with money. Sixteen ponies shared milkshakes al fresco. Balloon sales seemed to be at an all-time high. Heart-shaped confetti fluttered to the ground from the hooves of Pegasi perched on fluffy clouds. Ten ponies were newly engaged. There were several parties going on simultaneously, and the entire place looked like it could break into song at any moment.
“I may vomit.”
Without any other option, she cast her magic on the square. For a split second, everything was bathed in warm light, then it all went silent. Cadance held her breath, waiting.
All the ponies broke out into song again.
“AHHHHHHHH!” Cadance screamed, as she attempted to run away and cover her ears at the same time.
--<3--
Celestia carefully levitated the teacup to her lips.
“Honestly, Cadance, I thought you’d be happy.”
She was taken aback, and sat there blinking for a couple seconds while she gathered her thoughts. The cup was placed back on the table.
“Well yes, of course Princess, but it’s just a little... overbearing.”
“I’ve gotten no complaints.”
The tea swirled lazily in its cup, the spoon surrounded by a yellow aura.
“Well yes, that’s because everypony is too in love to do any complaining.” Cadance tried her very best to hide her slowly building frustration.
“Calm yourself, Princess. I’m sure everything will be just peachy.”
Apparently, she hadn’t tried hard enough.
Cadance’s tea slowly went cold.
--<3--
As Cadance made the flight to Ponyville, she started thinking. It was preferable to staring at the utopian world below.
This is what I wanted, isn’t it? When I got my cutie mark, I was so happy. That’s all I ever wanted to do, ever since I could remember, at least. To make ponies happy. To make ponies fall in love. And now they have. I’ve completed my job.
A strange, small word crept into her thoughts. A word she didn’t want there, a word she even feared. But it was there all right.
--<3--
It appeared Twilight Sparkle was immune to the curse as well, luckily.
That made four ponies she could tolerate, and one of them was asleep.
Predictably, Twilight’s was dashing between umpteen books, her eyes darting to Cadance in the corner in between skimming lines of text feverously.
“I haven’t found anything yet.”
Cadance sighed and asked how the prank was taking its toll on Ponyville. Twilight took a moment to pause her studies.
“I mean, the shippers are having a field day.” And she continued.
“Shippers?” Cadance repeated, her head cocked to the side.
“It's when you want two ponies to be- wait, I’ve got it!”
Cadance rushed to Twilight’s side, her eyes bright once again.
--<3--
Just, breathe Cadance. You’re a powerful alicorn. You’re a princess. You’re happy. This will be easy. You’ve got this.
Most ponies would find the view from Cadance’s spot overlooking Canterlot astonishing, but the princess was a bit distracted at that moment.
She went over the spell Twilight had taught her one more time. She took a deep breath, and got ready to cast it.
But her mind faltered.
Sure, she was annoyed as a mud-covered Rarity in this rosy world, but she couldn’t forget the previous one. The one filled with petty conflicts and war and hate and crime. The one filled with evil.
It’s not just my wish. Every foal asks Santa Hooves for world peace. Every good one, anyway. This is what everyone wants, right?
A memory was called to her consciousness.
--<3--
“Shining, this is stupid. I exude love. There are side effects sometimes.”
“So this is all fake.”
“What?”
“It’s all fake. You just cast your stupid spell on me because you thought I was hot. I don’t really love you, it’s just dumb magic. Right? Right, Cadance?”
“Shiny, of course not, I-”
“Fake. It’s all fake.”
“No it’s not!”
“That’s all you are. My little phony.”
--<3--
She readied herself for the spell again, tears collecting in the corners of her eyes.
That word crept up again.
No. I don’t create anything fake. This is different. It’s different magic. I refuse to be...
A blinding beam of light exploded from her horn, bathing Equestria in normality.
Useless
It seemed as if the entire world had said it, in a sigh of relief. Every leaf, every inch of Equestria exhaled the word Cadance had feared for so long, yet not admitted.
“I love you, Shining Armor. For real.”
