Princess Cadence Takes One for the Team
Princess Cadence Takes One for the Team
by Present Perfect
Ever since she was a little filly, Cadence wanted to be a princess.
She would turn east to the purple mountain far beyond her village and gaze at the white spires glistening in the sun. Hours would pass as she dreamed of dining in opulent halls, servants at her beck and call; of meeting dignitaries and important nobles; of wearing a tiara everywhere she could. She'd even come up with a fancy name for herself: Mi Amore Cadenza. She'd heard Canterlot nobleponies had those.
This is why, after she had saved her village, been gifted a horn, and been taken to Canterlot by Princess Celestia herself to become her adoptive niece, Cadence heard nothing but the cheering of the crowd. She saw nothing but the waving hooves. She felt nothing but the adulation of ponies welcoming their new princess with unconditional love. She was too caught up in the moment, in the realization of a dream long held, to notice any among the gathered ponies who might look less than happy.
And this again is why, after a few days spent getting to know the palace and Celestia's staff, the newly-crowned Princess Mi Amore Cadenza froze in shock the first time somepony walked past her in the street and muttered, "Whore."
Perhaps it was merely the provinciality of her upbringing, but she had never even heard a pony use that sort of language before, let alone direct it at her. Perhaps she had simply misheard what had been said. The easy lie wormed its way into her consciousness, and she let it take hold. Her wings might have drooped just the tiniest bit for the rest of the day, but the incident was gone from her mind. After all, the culmination of a lifelong dream came with lots of duties, such as being present for photo ops at ribbon cuttings and attending a real high school.
A few days later, the lie shattered when she overheard a mare muttering loudly in a restaurant.
"Ugh, and now it's 'Princess Cadence' this and 'Princess Cadence' that. I swear, Melon, I've had it up to here with princesses! Why, if I could get my hooves on that lazy pink priss, I'd give her a piece of my mind!"
Cadence became very aware that the green mare identified as Melon was staring straight at her, mouth agape and eyes wide. The speaker was unaware of her companion's horrified expression, nattering right on about how expensive tiaras were, even the cheap ones.
That mare's look consumed Cadence's mind. She had to do something, to give herself peace of mind if not to save poor Melon from the embarrassment of her friend. Her chair made far too much noise against the tiled floor as she stood.
"Excuse me," she said, coming up behind the speaking mare, "I heard you mention my name earlier. Is something the matter?"
Melon's mouth slammed shut. Her face grew taut and she gave the tiniest shake of her head. The other mare spun about in her seat, sour expression matching her lemony coat.
"I'll say there is! Do you know how many little fillies's heads you've put dreams of princesshood into?" She rolled her eyes and clucked her tongue. "Just when I'd weaned Gem off dinosaurs, of all things, you had to come along, and now everything's 'Princess, princess, princess', day in and day out! And it's not just me, oh no, I know plenty of mothers who are dreading Nightmare Night this year. It'll be nothing but jeweled tiaras and pink frilly dresses galore, and just where am I supposed to find the bits for that, hmm?"
Cadence didn't have an answer.
"You--" the mare actually prodded her in the chest-- "should be ashamed of yourself, Miss Princess."
"I..."
Her own princess dreams flooded back. How engrossing those had been. She had begged her foster parents for shiny jewelry to play dress-up with, but they had been too poor for anything but base metal.
A pressure welled up inside her.
"She's got no parents! She's got nopony who loves her!"
"What are you gonna do? Gonna cry, crybaby? That's right, you won't do anything, you're too nice!"
"Why don't you fly back to Cloudsdale with those wings?"
The taunting had been short-lived, but in that moment, the memory was a vice squeezing her lungs.
"I'm sorry!" she croaked, and dashed from the diner.
Later, Celestia would send a note of apology and bits to the restaurant, to cover bill and tip. Cadence would beg for and receive an escort when outside the palace. Unfortunately, things would only get worse.
A guard could chase off hecklers, but only after their barbs had been loosed.
"My foals want everything to be pink!"
"My daughter won't stop going on about finding a stallion and getting married! At her age! I raised her to care about more important things!"
"Faust made two alicorns, not three!"
A single guard could not protect her from thrown tomatoes.
Ribbons went uncut. Professors chewed their hooves as they pondered how to approach a princess about her falling grades. Food returned to the kitchens, untouched, feathers grew matted and three teacups met tragic deaths on various parts of the palace floor.
"Cadence," Celestia said after saving the fourth, "you mustn't let them get to you."
"I-I tried." The words balled up in her throat like rubber bands and tears welled in her eyes. "But those horrible things they say..." Her face crumpled like paper. "Why do they hate me?"
The sun's warmth enwrapped her as she cried. Celestia was quiet for a long time, just holding her, stroking her mane, and whispering, "Shh."
When Cadence began to hiccup, Celestia gave her some water and spoke in her softest, most loving tone.
"Ponies fear change, Cadence. I am sorry that the change is centered on you."
"I thought living in the palace would make my life better," Cadence wailed. "My dreams are turning into nightmares!"
Celestia stilled. When next she spoke, her words were shot through with regret.
"Your dreams need not stay that way, my little pony. If you truly dreamt of being a princess once, then you will do yourself no favors by turning away from the duties that come with the dream." She stroked a hoof softly over Cadence's face. "I understand this has been hard on you. You're at such a fragile age."
"I can't face those ponies anymore, Princess Celestia." Cadence squeezed her eyes shut and clung to the other princess's raiment. "I just can't."
Celestia sighed. "If you retreat from the public eye now, you will give those who mistreated you power over you. Remember, Cadence, the ponies who greeted you when you first arrived in Canterlot. The ponies here are good. It is only that the ones who are less accepting are loudest that you focus on them. But not that long ago, a crowd cheered your name."
Taking a deep breath, Cadence calmed her tears. She wiped her cheeks on a napkin, gazing up into Celestia's eyes. Celestia smiled at her.
"There is little I can do to sway the hearts of ponies. But there is something that can be done, and I promise you I will do it, so long as you promise to make up your school work. And to try making some friends as well."
Cadence pouted and lowered her head. "I can make the first promise, I... I think. I was kind of enjoying school. But I'm not so sure about the second."
A hoof lifted her head back up to see Celestia's beatific smile.
"How would you like a job?" Celestia asked. When Cadence frowned, Celestia continued. "One of my night staff has recently changed shifts and is in need of a foalsitter. Her youngest is quite the hoof-ful, from what I hear, and the oldest, well..." She giggled. "He's about your age and not so keen to look after his baby sister all the time."
"Foalsitting?"
Celestia nodded. "I think some time spent away from the crowds will do you good, so long as you do something constructive in the meantime. Does it sound like something that would interest you?"
Cadence responded by hugging her tightly.
The next day, she held back stutters as she introduced herself on a doorstep. Her fears about the arrangement were put to rest the moment Twilight Velvet invited her inside, and were quashed utterly when she realized the mare and her husband were treating her like a normal pony and not a princess. Their daughter was adorable; Cadence took to her at once. And as for their son...
Well, he would grow on her.
All of this is why Cadence cried at Twilight Sparkle's coronation. She was not conscious of the reason at the time, and didn't even notice the tears until Shining pointed them out.
Shouldn't she be happy? She was, absolutely, happy for Twilight, but they had not been joyful tears.
That night, in the Canterlot Palace Ambassadors' Suite, she kept touching her face. She did so long enough for Shining Armor to roll over and nuzzle her neck.
"You all right?" he asked, his voice husky with the first layers of sleep.
Cadence didn't say anything at first. She wasn't sure she could sum up her entire life's purpose in words. When she tried, what came out was, "You know how I've always said... you're my shield?"
"Yeah, Cadey?"
She swallowed. "I think, all this time, I've been Twilight's shield."
He chuckled. "What, I can't be both your shields?"
"It's not that." She turned to look at him, traced the wry smile creasing his mouth. "I never told you what a hard time I had in Canterlot, when I first came here, did I?"
"I heard a little bit about it. High school gossip and all." He paused. "But no, you never did, and I didn't want to pry."
"I think..." Cadence touched her face again, then his. "Ponies fear change. Sometimes they act out of that fear and it turns into anger, or even hatred. That doesn't make them bad ponies, but it still hurts if you're on the receiving end of those emotions and actions."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He wrapped his hooves around her and stroked her mane.
"Imagine," she continued, "if Twilight had been coronated before me. Or before Aunt Luna came back from the moon. Not that it could actually have happened," she added with a chuckle.
His head rustled against the pillow. "Not sure I follow."
"I still remember the things that were said to me, you know. 'Faust made two alicorns, not three,' hurtful things like that. Think what would have happened if Twilight, even as a grown mare, had had ponies saying those things to her."
Shining sucked in a breath through his teeth. "She was always introverted..."
"And I was always more outgoing. And I still broke down crying on more than one occasion."
Cadence saw the threads. This had all been engineered to give Twilight the greatest chance of success after her ascension. Part of her wanted to be angry, but it was hard to be angry at Celestia. Not when Cadence had served such a meaningful role in the upbringing of a pony she loved like a sister.
A more rational part of her mind said that she ought to be angry at Twilight instead, for having the perfect princess life that she never wanted and Cadence did. Cadence shoved that thought into a dungeon and closed the door. Being jealous of Twilight was inconceivable.
"You really are a shield," Shining murmured. He dug his hooves into her mane, pulling her close until there was no air between them. She shivered.
"Thank you," he whispered.
New tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. She let them fall. As she shed them, they took with them a lifetime of pain, of ridicule, of barbed words that had no reason to be spoken to her. All that torment washed out of her as she clung to her husband and wept.
But she was smiling. All she could think of was Princess Twilight Sparkle, smiling and waving to the ponies below the same balcony where she had first greeted them as Princess, where the ponies smiled up at her and waved and cheered, every single one of them.
"It was worth it," she said.
Author's Note
I described this story to Alexstrazsa as "talking out loud through fanfiction."
It shouldn't be any secret anymore how much I loathe Cadence. There are many reasons for this, most of which I included in this piece (you can read an article about one of them here). But one day, I found myself thinking about them and went, "Yeah, but what if Twilight had been an alicorn first?" Of course, at that point I was projecting the fandom's reaction to Twilicorn into the mix as well. The end result is... this. A story I meant to be a shitfic (its Random-tagged origins exist solely in the title) but that became somewhat morose instead.
Ah, who am I kidding, it's still a rushed piece of crap. But it walks through a single idea the way I needed it to, so there you go.
Thanks to Jake the Army Guy, Alexstrazsa, Burraku_Pansa and Cloudhammer for feedback.
