Alex or Xander

Alex Or...

Alex Pov

I was floating amongst an endless sea of darkness, flashes of…memories, I believe, slowly flying past me, below me, above me, around me.

I couldn't hear much, only glimpses of what was.

"And a one, and a two, and a three, four, five! Oh yeah! Cadance remains the grand champion of EVERYTHING to do with arcade!"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I swear I've played this before…hmm, let's try Pac-Mare over there."

"Alllllrighty! But I'm gonna whoop your flank at that too!"

"You take this stuff way too seriously."

"And you don't. Lighten up a little, we've only got a little while before Aunty steals you for an afternoon cuddle."

"Shut up Cadey."

"Beat me at this and maybe I will."

I can see that memory, see how young we looked, how happy and…not together, not yet, not then.

But that grin on her muzzle…ahh that grin. So cheeky, so confident and cocky. There was the Cadance that I love…came to love.

Another memory flashes right in front of me, steadying, slowing as I look at it and see…

Griffonia…this is just before I was about to die. Mom…she…

I feel the memory surround myself, the past me, the young, fifteen year old Alex merging with me. I can feel words escaping my mouth, words I'd already spoken, words that I…

"I d-don't feel well…"I whimpered, a sharp, ragged cough ripping through my throat, blood splattering over the table as I fall to the floor and begin to convulse.

"Alex!" Celestia cried, rushing over and cradling my shaking form to her barrel, uncaring of the blood now beginning to coat it. "GUARDS, GUARDS!"

No one came; no one headed the calls of a desperate mare…a desperate mother. And through my blurred, tear filled eyes; I could see that desperation twisting into something…dark.

"No one is coming, Princess," came a silky, smug voice from behind her, causing Celestia's head to turn sharply, myself still cradled in her hooves, heaving, gasping for breath.

A few moments pass us by, during which I could practically see the gears turning inside her head.

"You did this," she said, voice quiet and calm…a deadly calm.

"I did," chuckled the griffon, his feathers ruffling in amusement as Celestia put me down and rose swiftly. "Ah, ah, ah! You attack me and the treaty will break. And you don't want something so…drastic to happen now do you?"

Celestia was silent, completely. As for me, I could feel my life fading away…slowly.

"You can cure him?" she asked suddenly.

"I can," he drawled slyly. "But…first I would have something of yours. Two things really, small things."

"Such as?"

Dying though I was, I could hear the perverse nature in his tone…It made me feel sick, ironically.

"First, I would have your complete support with the upcoming election," he explained mirthfully. "And second, well. I would be a fool to deny your beauty. So perchance a night with you…or several."

A gargle of unintelligible words attempt to leave my lips, drawing Celestia's eyes back onto me.

Oh those eyes…so warm, yet cold. Flickering a demonic green, black smoke barely escaping the edges.

"You know the cure?" she asked once more.

The griffon sighed dramatically and growled in apparent frustration.

"Yes I know the cure, but you're not obtaining it unless you do what I-HCK!"

I watched through unfocused eyes as the mare that comforted me at night, who lulled me back to sleep with her warmth, yank the griffon towards her harshly, choking him in mid-air.

"You were a fool to think you could get away with this," Celestia hissed, her voice completely unnatural, demonic. "To think that you could play with my baby's life, to think that your treaty meant more to me than my SON'S LIFE! I'LL BURN YOU FROM THE INSIDE OUT AND PROLONG YOUR SCREAMS-"

"LIES! SHE NEVER CARED FOR YOU! SHE HATED YOU, SHE HATED US!"

I blinked…and found the memory I'd been reliving gone. Once more I was surrounded by other memories and darkness, but along with it were a pair of massive turquoise orbs, gazing down at me with as much anger as there was love.

The fear I'd known so well through the past two years quickly began to overwhelm me, my breath becoming short and shallow, every thought demanding that I run, that I get away from she who tortured me.

"Sister never loved us, she hated our love!" she yelled furiously. "She couldn't stand to see her baby sister defiled by an UNWORTHY being, so she sent you away and banished me in my grief."

A tight hold, a loving hold, a…warm hold enveloped me, those eyes shrinking, a body, her body forming around it in but a few moments.

And there she stood before me, wings around me, her eyes sad, muzzle contorted in a unhappy grimace as I tried and failed to move away, to run and escape the mad…thing that loved me.

"Oh…my love," she crooned, eyes lidding as she continued to gaze softly into my own. "There's nothing to fear anymore. No more pain, no more of me left to meld into your soul. Now…it is time for us to leave."

"I'm n-not leaving C-Cadance," I stammered, shaking terribly as she pressed us closer together, eyes changing not a bit from their warm…loving…

"You don't need her anymore beloved," Luna cooed tenderly. "It is I who will comfort you, who will protect you, who will teach you, show you everything wonderful with the world…not Cadance."

She moved her muzzle close to my mouth and nuzzled it soothingly, a smile of my own all but forcing its way onto my face.

Oh I was terrified…and yet being with her made me feel…so happy.

"Sister was correct about one thing though," she sighed sadly…before perking up just as quickly, a half insane grin on her muzzle. "I am only a remnant of what Luna truly is, but now I have the means to make us whole again. I can…no, I will become one with her, and together…we will be mated for life once again."

No hesitation, no warning as she pressed her lips to mine, ignoring the way I tried…I tried to try…and…

"There will be no royalty, no duties, no responsibility besides caring for each other," her words were slow, deep and sultry. I felt my body relax against my will…and buried my face in her neck. "We will be beautiful and we will have such a beautiful life. Just you and I Xander…just you and I forever…and no other mare than myself to love you."

A speck of golden light materialized behind Luna, growing steadily…but she didn't seem to notice. No, for as her lips touched the side of my neck, the world warped and fluctuated around me, gold unseen grew as darkness fought against it.

I knew who it was.

"Mom…"

…

Cadance Pov

I'd woken up alone…again. I suppose I should have been at least a little bit used to it by then. I'd been without my little snuggle honey for well over a week after all.

Showering without him next to me wasn't any less difficult. I admit that I'd come to rely on his constant comfort…his constant love to keep me strong, to keep the world bright.

Without him in it, it all just looked so…bleak.

Come on Cadance, grow up! I silently chastised myself. You're feeling sorry for yourself when your mate is strapped to a stone bed…alone, and with that…that THING inside his head.

No, it was time to grow up and stop with the self-pity. My beloved needed his mate by his side, and I was never going to deny him.

Once I was thoroughly clean and ready, I left my chambers and all but stormed down to the bizarre chamber in which Alex was held. Celestia wouldn't tell me what it was for or why Alex had to be in it, but I knew my Aunty well enough to understand that this was something I wasn't ready for yet.

Maybe one day, but not any day soon.

The door was guarded by a pair of the usual guard, not a single difference in eithers' appearance. They took a look at me as I was to enter, a look, their emotions…all of that which all but screamed at me to stop, to go away and leave Alex to the devices of whoever was inside.

They were loyal, but so was I. And my loyalty to my mate outshone whatever pathetic dregs of devotion they carried!

…Relax Cadance…they're just doing their job.

With nought but a cautionary glare at the two, I ignored them and entered the chambers confidently.

My baby was still strapped down to the stone, symbol engraved bed. But this time he was also connected up to a heart monitor…and something else I didn't recognize. Medical subjects were definitely not my area.

The monitor beeped steadily, strongly. Each one made me feel…relief.

Celestia was inside, her horn alight as wave after wave of magic I knew not swam throughout the room. I could feel it enter me, effortlessly brushing aside whatever defences I subconsciously held with but a warm, gentle push.

It felt…lovely, like the soothing kiss a mother gave to a skinned hoof.

The soft eyes and gentle expression upon her face as she gazed down at my dozing lover all but accentuated this…and confirmed what was but a lingering doubt in my mind.

Celestia really thinks herself your mother my love…I can feel it, feel her. Ohh…and she loves you with all her heart and soul.

"Can I…help?"

She shook her head almost instantly, the familiar 'You're not ready' look already on her face.

I just want to make my mate better…I just want to…

"The magic I'm using is too much for you to handle right now," she explained softly, not once looking at me as her eyes remained locked on my beloved. "Pure solar magic is the lightest of all magic's, but it's very dangerous in the wrong hooves. Thankfully I know how to use it quite well, and I could find no cure better than a constant stream…it is the only remedy to such dark magic, and dark spirits."

"It's a spirit?" I asked.

"Somewhat. Perhaps the better term would be a dark echo, a pale reflection of the being it used to be." she clarified, her eyes hardening slightly as she continued. "Unfortunately nothing about my sister was ever weak. This echo is powerful, powerful enough to give Alex magic as potent as any an alicorn."

Yes…I forgot about that. His immunity was gone now, replaced by the magic it once repelled. A good…and bad thing.

"How can Alex be this…Xander?" I asked, confused and upset all at once. "Alex is Alex, how can this thing mistake that?"

Celestia smiled sadly and for the first time in a long while, shrugged.

"Insanity can twist any mind given enough of a reason," she sighed. "Maybe it believes Alex to be him because they are perchance the same type of being. Or perhaps the alternative is simply too unbearable to think about."

She turned to me and gave me a look…I'll never forget. One of utmost sadness…and understanding.

"Love can make a pony do terrible things, Cadance," she said, her tone dangerously low. "Ponies have died for reasons so simple as trying to impress the one they desired, even knowing that they would never return their feelings. I knew that once…I knew ponies who believed they loved me, and used it to further my own selfish needs."

"When you were younger?" I inquired, frowning sadly at auntie's steadily depressing emotions.

"When I was unable to see past my own reflection, yes," she muttered, shaking her head slowly. "It was right you know…when it said that. I was cruel as a young mare, arrogant in my power and the way my subjects adored it. They didn't even know who I was."

"You were…" I couldn't bear to finish.

"Oh, I've taken lives before Cadance," she said darkly. "Poison in a drink for a foreign king, a dagger in the back to those who saw the truth...families butchered in their homes by those who thought I'd reward them for it."

I didn't like the self-hating smirk on her muzzle…not one bit.

"But then as the years flew by…I got worse, I got cunning, clever," she chuckled dryly, glancing back at Alex briefly. "It was easy, manipulating others into taking their own lives in my name. Saying that I loved them, that their pain inflicted because of me only made me love them ever more…and then watching on, laughing silently as they did so with the belief that I felt anything resembling pride and love to their sacrifice."

The solar magic flickered around us briefly, but she didn't seem to notice, her eyes closed…a tear down her face.

"Sometimes I think an Alicorn lives too long."

Aunty…

I always knew she regretted her past, I could feel disgust whenever she mentioned herself in it. But to still think that way about herself today…

I refused to let do it.

…

"You're wrong Aunty," I spoke quietly, drawing her nigh defeated face to my own. "Maybe you were like that once…a long time ago. But ponies change…everyone changes as time goes on. I remember being shy and naïve before I met Alex. I remember only having wings before I turned thirteen, living on the streets with nothing before you found me…and guided me to understand love."

Confidence flooding through me, I strode over to my adorably confused Aunty and nuzzled her neck lovingly.

"But look at what you did," I cooed happily, waving my right hoof around the room dramatically…to make her smile if nothing else. "You took me as your niece and raised me from then on, you found and soothed a scared child not from our world…and welcomed him into your heart with open hooves."

I stepped back slightly and smiled affectionately, said smile getting steadily wider as did her own.

"And you gave me the confidence to tell Alex I love him," I exclaimed cheerfully, the solar magic brightening ever more with every second. "Celestia, you are a wonderful pony and so much more than just an aunt to me."

Her head titled slightly as tears welled up in her eyes, a truly beautiful smile adorning her muzzle as her horn SHONE!

"You're a mother to both of us, aunty," I giggled, choking on emotion. "The past doesn't define who you are. What you do now and who you are today does! And right now…Alex needs his mother as much as he needs me. So…let us heal him together, and drive out this parasite."

I held out my hoof and laughed as she took it, allowing herself to be pulled to her hooves. This unfortunately left myself open to be pulled in return…and pull she did as I quickly found my face buried in her chest.

She nuzzled and kissed the top of my head lovingly, laughing so beautifully all the while.

"You'll be a fantastic ruler one day, Cadance," she praised happily. "With inspiration like that, I'll soon be left quite behind you in the polls."

"Polls?"

"For best Princess in the world," she exclaimed heartily.

"Oh, shut up," I batted away…or tried too, her nuzzling was really getting ticklish. "I'd never leave you behind, royalty stays strong when united-"

"And not apart," she finished proudly. "But never forget that we are family first-"

"And royalty second," I completed, giggling at the now very ticklish nuzzling.

She pulled herself back and regarded me with such…pride that it made me practically inflate with cheer.

"You are the daughter I have always wanted," she crooned. "And if you will it…I shall with no hesitation take up the responsibility of a mother for you."

"You've always been a mother to me," I replied, lips trembling with emotion. "A title just makes it official."

Oh…the love…

Without any doubt, without any second thoughts…we crossed our horns and united our magic. Her solar melded with my love, pure gold mixing with amorous pink.

The feeling I was flooded with was indescribable. A mother's love, a mate's love…flowing throughout the room for but a few moments…before we both forced it into Alex's very soul.

The mixture of color seemed to slowly encase his sleeping body, his breathing becoming ragged with every second as if…as if in pain.

His eyes…no, those terrible slitted eyes opened sharply, a horrible, rasping breath escaping his shuddering form as he…as IT looked right at me and-

"N-NO! I WON'T…LET HIM…GO…AGAIN!"

An almighty explosion of raw, terrified magic overpowered us. A familiar instinct within forcing me to grit my teeth and growl at it sensed another…and another.

I could just about see the demonic, shadowy orbs to my left.

…

…

…

"Cadance…" whispered a tiny voice, a weak, so, so weak voice.

I felt my instinct vanish as quickly as it came.

"Alex!" I cried, running over to my beloved, my right wing instinctively reaching out and touching-

"Foal…"

Another impressive explosion of magic forced me to cover my eyes, shielding them until the light vanished and…

"Impossible," Celestia whispered. "His magic was drained to a minuscule amount…how?"

"I touched him," I whispered, shame flooding away any of my previous cheer. "I didn't think, I didn't…I just wanted to…"

I released that thing into the world…oh what have I done!

…

Alex Pov

I blinked blearily as I opened my eyes, limbs struggling and straining with bizarre fatigue as I just about managed to lay back against a…wall?

"Where am I?" I muttered feebly, attempting to stand and failing instantly as my legs collapsed. "Ugh! Why do I feel so…tired?"

For a reason I couldn't quite…understand, I looked up out of the cave and to the bright moon. Upon it was the face I knew too well, the face of the mare in the moon.

The one that…hadn't tortured me…or maybe had…

I didn't know…I didn't want to think about it.

All of a sudden, a horrible, retching sensation forced me to cough violently. To my further horror however, whatever did so refused to let my sight leave the moon…I…I couldn't move at all!

"W-What's…going…OOAHHHHH!"

A toxic, smoky looking substance all but erupted from my mouth and eyes. My body wouldn't move, my thoughts were paralyzed…I couldn't think.

Together...

That voice.

Another bout of horrible torment escaped me, causing my body to shake wildly as I screamed in agony.

When…

The pain was unbearable.

I…

I wanted to throw up.

Find…

On and on, so much like so recent hurt.

You…

The moon flashed, the face upon it melting away.

Again…

The face was no more…the moon was bare early.

My beloved Xander…

And as the darkness took me…the visage of a demon flew towards me at speeds unknown to this world.

My eyes closed…with nought but a toothy smile, a true, sane, loving smile filling up what was left of my vision.

"My beloved Xander," crooned a deep…yet lovely voice. "You've waited so long…and I have returned to you. Your true and only mate is here."

Comfortable, warm…enveloped my body…and I…

"And she will take care of you."