The Marriage of Princess Cadance to House Sparkle

Chapters

The Oath
The Hardest Part
"Your special project"
The Song of Warding Glow
Strange Fruit
"Sunshine, Sunshine,"
Bridges
Reunion
The Bond
Blessing
Descent
Strings
Tangles
Cuts
To the Last Horizon.
Until the Sun No Longer Burns
Ascent
The Warning

The Oath

I do solemnly swear to serve and protect my nation and my subjects, and to faithfully uphold and execute the laws of Equestria.

My Domain is Love. I am her servant and her shepherd. I will preserve and honor my Domain, for it has been entrusted to me.

I swear to be a guide to my people, a servant to their needs, a shield against their enemies.

A sworn ally to my sister Princesses, I shall respect their Domain as they respect mine.

I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

I am Love.

The Hardest Part

The hardest part came far too soon.

This should have been a private affair. It should have been only a few of his closest gathered together to bare our grief to each other, to try to find strength to go on without him. Instead it was a colossal arrangement, bigger than the Equestria Games, all of it standing in the way, standing between me and him, lying there in that open coffin that I just wanted to climb inside and pull shut above us.

I wanted to break down, like Mama Twily, who clung to Night Light as she blurted out loud, heaving sobs of broken motherhood. Night Light held her tightly in his arms, stroking a hoof through her mane, whispering to her that she was doing well, that she could make it through the ceremony, that it would be one day at a time but that they had each other.

I picked him well, I think for an idle second before tearing myself back to the moment. I take hold of my grief like a torch and stab it into my chest to feel its full strength for as long as it can last, to make sure I remember what matters, to blind myself to the huge procession of dignitaries walking past, diplomats, officials, soldiers, and the full population of the Crystal Empire come to mourn the passing of their beloved Prince Shining Armor.

It was a political funeral, Celestia had said. It had to be public. It couldn't be just him and me, and his parents and his siblings sitting alone in a quiet parlor, weeping and hugging and telling stories about the greatest stallion in the world, that only we were blessed enough to have known and recognized. Instead we had this, this choreographed absurdity covering the Empire, so similar to the sporting event we'd recently hosted in its logistics and management.

I should not have to think of my husband's funeral in terms of logistics. But thanks to Aunt Celestia I now did, and I hated her for that.

A sniffle just to my right made me turn and see Twilight, trying and failing to keep herself under control. Spike stood beside her, awkward and uncomfortable in a black suit: ever the faithful assistant, he wanted to comfort her but didn't know how. Nor did he understand his own feelings about the loss of a brother he knew he should love, but never really knew.

Twilight had to wear a dress and her royal regalia, as she was technically here as an emissary from the Principality of Ponyville, and her head was hanging low and her legs shaking as she struggled to stay still. Her tears were pouring out and leaving dark streaks on her muzzle. She raised her head and our eyes met, and I could see she was thinking the same thing as me:

Nopony else can possibly know what I'm feeling except you.

And then we were clutching each other tightly as the dam burst and we both let out our pain in hulks and sobs and screams of hurt that only heartbroken mares can make.

“I,” Twilight tried to say between sobs, her voice cracked and broken and weak, “I miss him so much...”

I held her tighter in response, letting my hooves speak for me. I closed my eyes, unable, in any case, to see through my tears, and took solace in our closeness, in the feel of Twily's coat against my legs.

I was covered in black, only my fetlocks exposed, and she wore a dress along with all her royal regalia. Perhaps, if we were not covered in empty symbols of state and station, if we were not separated by sheets of fabric that kept our coats from touching, we would feel better. Another detail I could blame on Aunt Celestia.

I could not speak. Celestia had wanted me to, but it was simply not going to happen, and she had yielded. She stood now before the crowd, below the massive crystal casket upon its bier beneath the Crystal Heart and told them all about Shining Armor, guardian, caretaker, judge and peacemaker; beloved husband, brother, and son; and loving father to his adopted nation.

Her speech was exactly what the occasion called for, perfect in every way, and captured everything we all loved about him. Everything except for the things I alone knew, things I could never share with another living soul, things I would carry with me in my heart to the end of immortality.

Celestia spoke to me as she walked past afterward, in soft words that only I could hear:

“You have to tell Twilight, Cadance. Bring it out in the open. You know you do.”

With those words, my thoughts began to fly.

"Your special project"

“I need to talk to you,” Celestia had said. “About your... special project.”

I was surprised at this, and for all my skill at hiding my feelings I don't doubt that Celestia saw right through me as she always does. I thought we'd finished that particular discussion many generations ago. She disapproved, and tried her best to persuade me to abandon the plan, but wouldn't forbid me outright. So the plan went on, and since it didn't seem to be driving me mad or destroying my subjects, Celestia eventually let it lie. Oh, I knew she wasn't happy about it, but my aunt takes the Princess's Oath seriously, and she couldn't forbid another Princess from acting within her own domain.

So yes, I was surprised. It had been many years since Celestia last even hinted at my 'special project' in conversation with me, so for her to broach it so directly immediately raised my suspicions. Was she going to stop me at last? Why now?

“No, I'm not going to try to stop you,” she said, already knowing what I was thinking as she always did. “Actually I want to ask you a favor. I need to, shall we say, borrow one of your subjects. You heard about the School for Gifted Unicorns entrance exam?”

Of course I'd heard. My little Twily had only destroyed the old records for the intensity of a magic surge, she had transformed Mama Twily and Night Light into potted plants, and had blown a hole in the testing hall ceiling via dragon. It practically gave me a heart attack when I heard, and I'd raced down in a show of speed entirely undignified for a Princess to check that they were all okay.

Then, once the adrenaline had worn off and I'd chased away the fears that my beautiful little Twily had been hurt, I'd joined in the celebration for her incredible achievement. The glow of happiness on her face was so wonderful it even made up for the fact that it wasn't me who'd been responsible for it.

Barely.

No, that's unfair. She wanted nothing more than to share her triumph with me, her best friend in the world beside Shiny, and listening to her tell the story was entrancing. Seriously, that filly was the most adorable thing in the world. I wondered how Mama Twily and Night Light ever got anything done when they could spend time playing with her and losing themselves in her eyes instead.

I remember thinking that finding a stallion who could deserve her down the line was going to be tough, but hoo-boy, he would be the luckiest colt in the world.

“You want to borrow Twily?”

“She's special,” Celestia said. You have no idea, aunty. “She could be a great magician on par with Star Swirl the Bearded. I'd like to take her on as my own personal student, to help her reach her full potential. But since she's one of yours, I want to ask for your blessing.”

I wasn't sure what to make of that. She knew it, and gently put me at my ease. “I know we've had our disagreements about your special project in the past.”

“I know you've sworn not to interfere with another Princess's domain,” I reminded her.

She nodded. “That hasn't changed. But little Twilight... I'm not sure you quite realize what you've created.” Oh, I do. “She's very special. I think... I hope that she might be the pony I need for a special project of my own.”

Auntie never ceased to amaze me. As the Princess of Love, I could read anypony I pleased like an open book, except for Auntie Celestia. Even after all this time, I never knew everything she was thinking. I had no idea what project she meant. She'd kept it secret from everypony, even me, her only companion for centuries except her phoenix. I suppose she knew even then, but I took her on her word.

“I don't know,” I said, frowning. “Twilight is... sensitive. She will need help to bring her out of her shell.”

“It's true, she would need to spend a lot of time studying with me for many years,” Celestia said. “But think of it this way. I'm offering her a unique opportunity for an exceptional career path. And once her studies with me are over, she'll be all yours again. You can stand to spare her for a while, don't you think? And besides,” she smirked at me, knowingly, playfully, as though we were teenagers trading gossip, “I think you already have your sights set on her brother, Shining? He's a dishy one, isn't he?”

I sighed heavily as Shining's smile filled my mind. His smile and his... other attributes.

That's a gift of being the Princess of Romantic Love. Eternally young. I don't just mean my appearance either, but all the passions of youth are ever-fresh, every experience I feel as strongly as if it were the first time. On the one hoof I would never be as big as Celestia, or as calm, or as wise. On the other hoof, I get to keep enjoying my body in ways she hasn't done since she was in her first lifetime. I blushed like the teenage filly I still resembled as Shining Armor came suddenly into my thoughts and took over, I imagined lying beneath him, his strong hooves roving down my side and stroking my flank...

I was brought out of my reverie by Celestia chuckling, a light and musical sound. “That's what I thought. I can't blame you, I've stolen a peek myself here and there, and I hear he's already making quite an impression at the Academy. So, how about this, my niece. You take Shining Armor, and do every wicked little thing you can think of with him, and in the meantime you let me borrow his little sister for a while, and I won't bother you about your special project again for the next two hundred years. How does that sound?”

I grunted in annoyance and forced myself calm again. Celestia usually got her way from me, to be honest, but I wasn't going to just give away Twily just because I was suddenly distracted by thoughts of Shining Armor and wanted to go polish the royal rubies.

“If you can promise me that she'll be safe,” I said, “and that you'll give her back when you're done with her.”

“She will be as safe as Equestria itself,” Celestia said, “and I will adhere to the Princess's Oath.”

Between us Alicorns, there is no greater vow than that. I nodded. “In that case... all right.”

Author's Note

Next time: "The Song of Warding Glow."

The Song of Warding Glow

Warding Glow was the greatest stallion in the world.

I know, that's a bit blunt, but listen. I'm the Princess of Love, and I'm not sure I have words to describe him. So let's start with blunt.

He was tall, handsome, and strong. He was smart, perceptive, and funny. He was good, and kind.

He was patient and wise and forceful and gentle. He was both plain and complex, simple yet impossible to predict, the greatest among warriors and among peacemakers. He commanded Celestia's legions as easily as he commanded my heart.

His eyes were oceans, both the most peaceful and the most stormy of places, and in either case you could drown in them. His smile was a balm, a drug, that took away every ache and hurt when he wanted it to, or turned you into a mindless animal that could only think of getting to see it again when he wanted that. His touch was fire. His laugh was triumph, it was peace and war and justice and warmth.

Sometimes I think he could have made himself king of all the world just by laughing. He could have, but did not, because being beside me was better. Because the king of all the world could only envy him for standing at my side.

That is how he made me feel when he looked at me. Such was his power.

He had everything, but he didn't need any of it to be great – he just was. Even were he stripped of his rank and title, if he lost his voice and his strength and his bearing, were he reduced to begging in the street or wandering the wastes as a madman, the greatness of his spirit would not be quenched but all the world would come around, as inevitable as the motion of the continents, to kneel in reverence before him.

He knew none of this himself, obvious though it was to everypony around him.

He was the Captain of Celestia's Royal Guard when I was truly young, and he was my husband. We met when I was just eighteen, and all the world was fresh and full of wonder. He was just a few years older than me, a junior officer rising rapidly through the ranks. We saw each other one day in the palace garden.

When he would tell this story, he said he was awestruck and lost his voice at the sight of me. To this day I refuse to believe it, because never while he lived did he ever miss the words to make my heart do exactly what he wanted. He would say he decided then his life could never be complete in my absence, and set out to win my love and my aunt's blessing. I will say that from the first moment I heard him speak I wanted him, and would never permit anything to stand between us.

Somehow it still took three years before we wed. I have never understood that.

In all the many years we lived together I was the happiest mare in the world, and I spread my gifts far and wide, seeding love in every corner of Equestria. Every day my smile greeted the ponies of Canterlot, so that poets fought to decide which was more generous, my smile or my aunt's sunrise. She and I both laughed at that. And every night, Warding Glow made me melt to his touch.

A legend from that time held that whenever I scream in pleasure, a pony is conceived. In our first ten years of marriage, the population of Equestria doubled.

In truth, if anything that legend underestimated my husband. Quite often I couldn't scream, since my mouth was otherwise occupied.

But inevitably, after many years, Warding Glow died.

That was when I discovered what true pain felt like, and it has come back every time since.

Aunt Celestia declared a moon of mourning, in which all of Equestria spent its days in silence and duty, bereft of mirth, beneath a sky of shiftless clouds. I wish they hadn't. It made no difference to me, for whom it was all supposed to be set, and only added to the misery of Equestria. The Princess of Love forsook her work, and I knew for absolute certain that no new flowers would bloom ever again.

– – –

There was a knocking on my door. I ignored it. The door opened anyway, casting a harsh light into my dark chambers.

I turned away from the light, lying curled up tight on the bed I had shared with him, and pulled the sheets closer. “Go away...” I croaked.

Heavy hoofsteps drew closer. “Mother...?”

Bright Eye's voice was only slightly more composed than my own, and my maternal instincts got the better of my grief. I turned, and rose up on my forehooves to see my beautiful colt standing unsteadily beside my bed. He was still in his ceremonial armor's chest plate, but his helmet was gone. His mane was a ragged mess, his eyes were lined with dark rings, and the smell of liquor lingered on him.

“Mother,” he tried again, his voice heavy and haunted. “Please talk to me.”

I looked down at my ragged coat emerging from the bunched-up sheets I had thrown about me, stained and crusted with my tears. “Don't... please go,” I said. “I don't want you to see me like this.”

He came closer, his steps slow and unsteady. “You should let the maids in. This room is... filthy.”

“I won't,” I said, and I meant it. I had chased away my regular maid, a meek young thing, several times already. In the end she had given up, and her attempts had been taken over by the iron-nosed head maid. I had chased her away several times as well. I assumed she would come back later and I would chase her away again.

“You need to come out of here, mother. You can't keep living like this.”

“Tough,” I spat. “The world has stolen everything of him from me. This is all I have left. I will not let them set one hoof inside my door, lest they steal away his air.” I raised my head and turned my bloodshot and puffy eyes on him, and felt shame on top of my grief. “Don't look at me. Go away, and close the door behind you.”

Bright sighed and tried again, his voice flat and unconvincing. “You need to come out, mother. Princess Celestia wants—”

“I don't care what she wants!” I wailed. “I don't care what she thinks of me, or what Equestria thinks of me!” I curled up tight again, my chest aching as I gasped for breath. “I'm a Princess of Love with a dead heart. I'm nothing without him. It would be better if I joined him...”

The sheets were ripped from me and I found myself being held. I shouted and struggled to hold the sheets close. “No more of this!” my son yelled at me. “Mother, look at me. Look at me!”

He held me up, as I feebly pressed the sheets against my chest. I tried to turn my head, to hide behind the frail sheets, so my son wouldn't see the miserable broken mess I had become, how pitiful I finally was, but he put a hoof to my chin and turned me to face him.

“I've already lost my father,” he said. “I can't lose you too. I won't leave you here alone, mother!” His voice cracked, his teeth clenched together. “I love you too much, mother. I'm not a special pony like you or father, but I'm not leaving you. Not here, not like this.”

All my thoughts were of my husband. I heard his voice in my mind, felt him hold me, his touch soothing and smoldering all at once.

I almost fell, but he grabbed me and held me up in his strong arms.

“I'm not going to let you give up, mother. You're going to get through this.”

His strong arms. His voice, his words... “Warding...” I whimpered as new tears clouded my sight.

“I won't let you go,” he said, as he took a stronger hold around my back, leaving me resting against his body.

“Equestria needs its Princess of Love,” he said. “I need you.”

I raised my head and looked at the pony holding me, and saw my husband.

Without thought, I bent forward and gently touched my lips to his for a second, before pulling back.

Time froze as we looked at each other.

I bent forward again and kissed my son's lips, and both of us suddenly grabbed each other and pressed our bodies against each other. He kissed me back with a ravenous hunger, his lips mashing against mine clumsily, pulling back then lunging forward again and again. I ran my tongue against his lips, hoping to draw his tongue out to meet it. He did, and they met in a primal, sloppy struggle. I threw my forelegs around his neck and pulled him towards me as I drew my tongue back. He followed it back inside my mouth, as if to lay a claim upon it, just as I wanted.

I felt his hot breath on my muzzle, the sound of his breathing and his hungry, wanting moans as I leaned back over the bed and pulled him down on top of me. “Get out of that armor,” I said, tearing myself away from his mouth. He unfastened it awkwardly and dropped it to the floor, even as I clung to his neck, and as soon as he was out of it I pulled him down on top of me, my legs spread wide so I could feel his body and his pride rubbing against me as much as possible. We kissed again, and I reached down to stroke him, and my lips curled up at the corners when he moaned into my mouth.

“I need you,” I whispered as I stroked down his length. “Do it... Drive everything but this out of my mind. Please—mmm!” Here he attacked my tongue again, and with my head now flat against the bed I couldn't pull back but had to wait until he withdrew. “Make the Princess of Love feel herself again.”

– – –

“I shouldn't have done that,” I whispered. “I used you for my own desire, my own son. It was wrong, and I'm sorry.”

“You needed it,” he said. “I'm not a foal, mother. I'm a grown stallion. I made my own decision last night, and if it helped you then I don't regret it.”

A thousand reasons he was wrong ran through my mind, but I listened to his voice. He was my son, and I could tell if he was lying before he got a word out. He was not.

“Don't feel ashamed because of me,” he said. “Tell me honestly, because this is what matters: did it help you?”

I thought back to my pain of the night before, and the weeks before that. It was still there, not gone, not dead. But the blade had dulled. I had been brought out of myself in the oldest way. “Yes,” I whispered. “It helped me.”

I bowed down and kissed the tip of his muzzle lightly. “Thank you.”

He rose up and kissed me back. I didn't stop him. A grin grew on my face. “Ohh... is that how it is?” I asked playfully. I rolled over and pressed my back into him, pulled his arms around me. “How long had you been dreaming about this?”

“...Ever since I first began to look at mares,” he admitted, his voice low and shameful. “You're the Princess of Love, mother.”

I cooed him as I had when he'd hurt himself in play. “I doubt colts have changed since I was a filly. When you were at school, I don't doubt that all the colts would talk about whose mother they'd like to rut. That must have been awkward for you.”

He snorted with laughter. “Every pony in the school wanted to rut you, mother. Not only the colts, and for that matter, not only the foals.”

“And you too?” I asked, moving his arms to press his hooves against my teats. “Do you still want me?”

My son grunted in affirmation as he gently began to stroke and knead my sensitive mounds. “Can anypony not desire you?”

“I've never met anypony who didn't,” I said, then moaned for him to continue playing with my nipples. After a few minutes I placed my hoof on his and guiding it down between my legs to my red and dripping marehood. I gasped and let out a soft moan of appreciation as he began to stroke my lips.

There is a magic that is passed down from parent to child. In my son, I saw everything I loved in my husband reborn.

That was when I first decided upon my special project.

“You're going to fall in love with a wonderful mare,” I whispered. “Who will make you happy in every way, and you'll have lots of beautiful foals. They will grow up strong and beautiful like you, and have children of their own. Our family will never die.”

“You sound very sure,” he said.

“I'm the Princess of Love,” I said. “And more importantly, I'm your mother. Listen to what your mother says.” I gasped again as he rubbed a slow circular motion just above my clit. “Right now your mother says to rut her.”

My son growled then, like a hungry wolf. “As my Princess of Love commands.”

Author's Note

Next time: Strange Fruit.

Strange Fruit

Bright Eye continued to help me through the hardest part, but it was not long before I wept again, tears of joy at his wedding to a lovely mare, one worthy of my wonderful stallion. Less than a year after the wedding I had my first grandfoal, and delighted in watching the promise of new life unfold. And so time passed

I have taken other lovers at different times, across the ages. Even other life-mates. But I never strayed far from where my heart had been buried, in that royal garden where Warding Glow and I had first met.

There I planted a tree, and I let that tree grow for a full century before I first tasted its fruit. But I could not keep it secret from everypony.

“Do you think she'll say yes?” My love asked me. We were standing on the balcony of my private chambers in the royal palace, our hooves linked as we watched the sunrise.

“I think so,” I said, and looked at Shining Spring.

My love was a pale yellow unicorn mare with a long purple mane. It waved softly, and danced slowly in the morning breeze. I wanted to wrap myself in it and sleep in it like a bed, but I restrained myself and merely held her hoof closer instead.

“I hope she does,” Shining Spring said. “I want my wedding day to bring joy to everypony. Dad always said that I would.”

I nodded, a twinge in my heart. “He would be so proud if he could see you now.”

She leaned in and nuzzled me and I sighed softly at her warm touch. I turned my head and our lips met in a soft kiss.

“You're worried,” she said. She could always tell. “You know what to do if you get nervous?”

I nodded, and repeated the trick she had taught me. “Breathe deep, hold my hoof to my heart, and wave my worries away.”

She nodded, smiling, and in the glow of her smile I needed no tricks to calm my nerves.

“It's time,” I said, and pulled myself away from my lover's touch. “I'll be right back once I'm done.”

“I'll be here,” she said.

Minutes later I was knocking on Aunt Celestia's chamber door.

“It's me, Cadance,” I said to the door, knowing she could hear me from within. “I need to speak to you, Auntie.”

It swung open on its own and I stepped into my aunt's living quarters.

For all that Canterlot Castle was a marvel of architecture and filled with beautiful art, Celestia's chambers were sparse and humble, modestly furnished only for her needs and a few indulgences which had more sentimental value for her than artistic value. She sat behind her desk with a pot of tea to the side as she read the morning paper, but put it aside as I entered. “Good morning, Cadance, have a seat. What can I help you with? You know my door is always open for you.”

I nodded and smiled. She gestured with a glance that I could make myself at home on one of the large sitting cushions nearby but I stayed on my hooves. “I have big news,” I said with a smile. “I mean to marry, and I want your blessing.”

She gasped, and before I knew it she had swept me up in a joyous embrace. “That's marvelous news!” she cried. “I had almost given up hope that you would ever enter a romance again! So who is the lucky stallion? Or is it a mare?”

“It is a mare,” I said. “She's the most wonderful pony I know. She's still young, but she has a thirst for life and a loving heart.” I felt the warmth rise in me when I thought of her, and I'm sure my pink cheeks grew red as I talked. Celestia gave me the smile very few ponies ever see, the almost taunting playful smirk of sharing in fillyhood gossip. “She's full of joy and laughter and it makes me happy just to be near her. I've been spending every moment I can spare of my days and nights with her for the past few months, and... we want to be together for life, Auntie!”

“She sounds wonderful,” Celestia said. “I can't wait to meet her. But – this is just a formality, I have to ask – is there anything about this match that would cause political problems? If there is we will resolve it and you will be together, just be honest.”

“There shouldn't be,” I could say quite honestly because I knew she hadn't asked the right question. “But we wanted to ask for your personal blessing.”

“Oh? Well, who is it?”

“Shining Spring.”

Celestia thought for a second.“Shining Spring? I'm not sure I've met her.” She chuckled. “Not unless you're talking about...”

She fell silent, and the mirth dropped from her face. “Oh, Cadance...”

“Auntie...”

“Your own grand-daughter?”

“It has been a century, Auntie,” I said. “Nopony remembers or cares that I was once married to a captain of the guard, or that her great-great-grandfather was one. I've never been a princess for the spotlight, and I still won't be. This needn't be important.”

“I cannot believe I am hearing this,” Celestia said, pushing away from me. “You are right, my niece, this is not about the politics, this is about your health. Cadance, this is the greatest taboo of equine society you're flaunting! I cannot believe that you've suddenly—” She cut off, gasped, and raised a hoof to her mouth. “This did not come suddenly,” she whispered. “Cadance, my niece, what have you done? How long have you been planning this?”

“Since Warding Glow died,” I admitted. “Celestia, I know the ways of love and fate. Not one in a thousand ponies gets a chance at true love without my intervention. I had my chance, and I took it. Should I alone render myself loveless for eternity, when the seed is there to be planted?”

“No, Cadance, this is... This is sick.” Celestia whispered, and I grew angry.

“There is no pollution in my blood, or hers,” I answered sharply. “We won't have children, auntie. We're both mares. Nor will I have any in the future. I am going to protect the bloodline, not corrupt it.”

“The sickness is not in the blood, my niece,” Celestia answered, shaking her head. “It is in your mind. Cadance, this is not healthy. You cannot remove yourself from time and fate and cling to a long-gone phantom!”

“I am immortal, Auntie,” I hissed back. “As are you. We already are removed from time. Everything I loved in Warding Glow is carried to his children, I love Shining Spring as I loved him. I don't intend to spend eternity remembering true love, not so long as I can have it in life. I won't let you pull us apart, Auntie.” My voice was the low growl of an animal protecting her young. “If you want to rip your kingdom apart over this then go right ahead.”

Our eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. I thought I won when Celestia shrank back and averted her sight. “You are the Princess of Love, my niece. It's not my place to meddle in your domain, and I can't forbid you from doing this. But though I love you dearly, I cannot bless this union.”

I lowered my head. “My bride will be very sad to hear that. She reveres you, auntie.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “For that I am sorry.”

I bit my tongue and took a deep breath to calm myself. “The wedding will be this summer,” I said. “I hope we'll see you there. It would mean a lot to Shining Spring.”

I turned to leave. As I closed the door to her chambers behind me I heard her parting words: “I only want you to be happy.”

Our wedding was as enormous as befits a princess, and all of Equestria took part in the celebrations. My bride was every bit as radiant as I'd dreamed, and our wedding kiss filled the world will love.

Celestia was there, though she did not herself perform the ceremony as she sometimes did for those closest to her. Even that was enough to spur some rumors, though nowhere near as much as if she'd shunned the wedding entirely. She toasted us and wished us well, and if there was any hint of doubt or worry hidden behind her smile then nopony but me could glimpse it.

Author's Note

Next time: Until the Sun no longer burns.

"Sunshine, Sunshine,"

I knocked. Candle Wick opened the door. “Your highness, please come in,” he said, and waved me inside. “So good to see you again!”

“Please, mister Wick, just call me Cadance,” I said, as always, with a smile on my face. “Is little Dawn ready?”

As though summoned from across the house by mention of her name, the little filly exploded into the room with a high-pitched squeal of joy and up to grab me in a hug. “Cady!”

Dawn Song, daughter of Twilight Silk, daughter of Shimmer Song, son of Dusk Gleam, son of Starlight Lens, brother of Shining Spring held tightly around my neck and squealed. Candle Wick only smiled as Mama Silky came running after their daughter. “Looks like everything's ready here, dear,” he said. “Remember, sweetest, listen to your foalsitter and do what she tells you!”

But little Dawn was already too wrapped up in telling me about her day at magic kindergarten to listen, as she dragged me upstairs to the living room.

“—and then Miss Singer came running and she said 'take that slug outside' and all the other foals fell over laughing and oh oh I learned a new song today we have to sing it together!”

“Oh yeah? Well why don't you teach it to me then?”

“Yes! I wanna! Okay, okay, it goes like this. Oh, and there's a dance, I gotta do the dance.” Dawn sat down on her rump and clapped her forehooves together. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake...”

– – –

“Tonight,” Dawn Song said, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, critically eying the dress, the makeup, the jewelry, her mane, fearing that none of it was good enough for the task at hand. “I'm going to ask tonight.”

Her breath quickened at the thought, her heart racing, but she forced herself to calm down. “I'm not going to chicken out. I'm going to do it.” The very idea was insane, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. It had been growing on her for years, and now, as she was on the cusp of adulthood, she couldn't escape it or put it off any longer. The thought burned inside her, wouldn't let go. Even if the answer was no, she had to know.

“I'm going to ask Cadance to be my very special somepony.”

She had tried to reason herself out of her feelings, but she couldn't deny herself. Age? Nothing. That they were both mares? Irrelevant. The fact that Cadance was a princess, eternally seated at Celestia's right hoof while Dawn was just a young unicorn in the lesser nobility? Unimportant.

They knew each other, had known each other for Dawn's entire life. Cadance was closer to her than anypony else, and for years the image of beautiful Cadance had been taking root in her mind. Now Dawn knew she had to take the next step. She would never be able to forgive herself if she didn't.

“Hi, Mama Silky,” I said, practically squealing with anticipation for what the night would bring. “Is Dawn here?”

“Hello, Cadance dear,” Mama Silky said as she leaned in for a hug which I immediately lunged at. “Oh my, you seem even more cheerful than usual! Did something happen?”

“I just feel very upbeat tonight for some reason,” I said, giggling.

“Well, we're so glad you could come over while we're in Manehattan. Hopefully you can spread some of that good cheer to Dawn,” Mama Silky said, and let me inside. “The poor filly has been pacing up a storm all day for some reason. Of course we can't very well ask you to foalsit for an eighteen-year old mare, but she's so very fond of you, you know.”

“It's my pleasure,” I said, smiling.

“Well, we're ever so grateful you could come stay here with her while we're in Manehattan for the weekend,” Mama Silky said, and I remembered when she was young and her mother too was scared to let her out of her sight.

I pat her shoulder reassuringly. “We'll be fine. You go and have fun, and don't worry, okay?”

She nodded, and called inside, “Dawn, Cadance is here! Candle Wick, Beacon, are you ready? The cart is waiting.”

“Coming,” Candle Wick's voice called out from inside, and shortly after two sets of hoofsteps came tromping down the stairs: Candle Wick and their son, young Beacon. The colt's eyes lit up when he saw me, and I smiled at him, and hugged him when he drew near.

“Hey buddy, you have fun at Bridleway, okay?”

“I will!” he proclaimed as he passed by, and the three of them left, leaving me alone in the house but for one more.

I stepped through the entry hall and saw her standing at the top of the stairs, and lost my breath. Just as I expected, she's all dressed up for me, trying to look her very best, and the result is stunning.

It was quite unnecessary, of course. Dawn is always beautiful just the way she is. But even so, she was stunning.

“Hi Cady,” she said, shuffling nervously, a blush apparent on her cheek. “Um. Wanna come on up?”

I nod and skip up the steps alongside her. “You look great tonight,” I say, and we both sit down on the couch. This is it. She's been waiting for tonight for a long time, and though she doesn't know it, so have I. We're together, we're alone, and she's decided she's ready to take that final step into adulthood with me.

Or so I thought, but she was hesitating. While we sat idly chatting she'd look away, draw a breath, and I'd think this is it, and she'd look at me with hope in her eyes... but then falter. She was afraid.

I learned how to make her relax long ago.

“Hey, Dawn...” I stepped off the couch and grinned at her. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake...”

At the end of the dance we laughed as we had done when she was just a filly, and when the laughter ended she took hold of me and we shared our first kiss.

– – –

I woke up one summer morning when the sunlight peeked in through the cracks between the curtains. I stretched and yawned and lay there peacefully for a minute before finally opening my eyes, and rolling over to spoon my wife, our hooves interlocking as I listened to her soft whistling breath. I rested my muzzle in her mane and breathed deeply. After fifty years of marriage, my little Dawn was still every bit as beautiful as when I first saw her.

Her breathing changed, the first sign that she was waking up, and then with a grunt of familiar pain she stretched out her creaking limbs before turning around to face me with her warm smile that I could never see enough.

I helped her out of bed and into her chair and pushed her out into the living room of my wing in a distant corner towards the back of Canterlot Castle, where we could sit and enjoy the morning chill over breakfast.

“Sunshine, sunshine,” she began. The dance had sadly been left behind years before, a casualty of arthritis, but her singing voice had only grown richer. I dropped my fork and listened with closed eyes. All the room was quiet besides, and only her voice called up a timeless world of foalhood pleasures that old age could not conquer.

“Beautiful,” I said, my voice quiet in an attempt not to disrupt the peace of the room. She looked me a question, and I repeated myself slightly louder so she could hear. “What are you going to do today?” I asked. Of course I knew, but I always wanted her to tell me.

“I finished reading the briefs from the Griffon Embassy last night, so my day is quite open and I thought I'd work on my knitting,” she said between sips of tea. “I'm almost done with the sweaters for Shimmer Song and little Twilight Ward. I expect they'll be ready for you to give to them when you're foalsitting this Friday.”

“That's wonderful,” I said, with utmost sincerity. “They'll love them. Oh...” I leaned in and nuzzled her. “I was thinking, about your song.”

“Hmm?” She mumbled through a mouth of soft oats in milk.

“I was just thinking, wouldn't it be fun if I taught the song and dance to the kids?”

“Hm,” Dawn chewed slowly. “You think they'd like that? That dance is kinda old-fashioned now.”

“They will if I teach it properly,” I said with a smirk. “I think after all these years I've gotten pretty good at it. Not as good as you, obviously, but then nopony ever could.”

She snorted, almost choked on her oats, and cast me a mock-angry but amused glance. “And don't you forget it, missy!”

We laughed together, the laughter we have shared for a lifetime under the sunrise.

We had another seven years of sunrises until the morning she did not wake up.

Author's Note

Next time: Bridges.

Bridges

One day, when I was little more than a filly, the mysteries of love revealed themselves to me. I looked up into the sky and I saw strands of light reaching across the world, linking ponies together. They were beautiful, but it was not the strong lights that drew my attention, but the weak: feeble, struggling lights that I could barely see, and to think of them made my heart ache.

So I flap my wings and I set out to help them.

In Canterlot, I gave a colt the strength to tell his intended how he felt.

In Fillydelphia there was a mare who longed to leave her husband and pursue her foalhood sweetheart, and with my help she did.

In Baltimare I mended the pain in an old stallion's broken heart in time for him to visit his old flame in the hospital and make amends before it was too late.

In Manehattan I left a lone rose lying at a certain table at a certain time, not knowing why.

The lights do not always appear to me. Over time, they have tended to come less and less.

Every action casts ripples across time and space, moving at the speed of beating hearts. Unbidden, my mind's eye shows me some of where it will lead. I do not control them. I let them carry me where they will.

One by one the lights grow stronger.

At some point I look back and I see my cutie mark for the first time.

I think of that day as I put Dawn in the ground. I wonder if it would ever get any easier, whether the pain would diminish or if I would grow stronger, and if so how long and how many times it would take.

“How are you feeling?” Auntie Celestia asked me in my chambers after the ceremony.

“As well as can be expected,” I said, my voice still weak.

“She was a wonderful mare,” Celestia said, and I nod.

Celestia stays with me and comforts me as best as she is able. She offers to bring ice cream. I laugh softly at the unexpected offer, but decline.

Eventually, after many courtesies and pleasantries and condolences, she works her way around to the real reason she is here.

“That's the second time,” she begins, and I wince.

“Auntie...”

“Do you mean to continue doing this, Cadenza?”

I turned my face away, and that was all the answer she needed. She sighs. “This is not healthy, my niece. I need you for the good of the realm. Equestria needs her Princess of Love whole and sane.”

“My entire family is of excellent health,” I tell her, “in both mind and body.”

She looks at me in silence, her face inscrutable. “I cannot persuade you to abandon this scheme? You mean to continue with your 'special project'? You still aren't ready to let go?”

I then thought to myself that my aunt, for all her many fine qualities, knows nothing of love.

“I love them, auntie,” I whispered. “I can't just throw them away. I wish you'd understand that.”

“So be it then.” She sighed. “I am sorry, my niece. I cannot support you in this.”

And then she left.

– – –

Beacon had married a lovely mare from Trottingham and had a great family with many foals. Even when they were too old to need a foalsitter I continued to follow their lives with great interest. In time I saw each of them bonded to good ponies, and they had many foals of their own for me to sit for.

Beacon's youngest grandson was named Shimmer Song, and he studied music at the Canterlot Royal Conservatory. While he was there he met a young unicorn dancer named Light Step. Light Step was from Los Pegasus, but she had come to Canterlot when she won a scholarship at the Conservatory.

An accident of scheduling had placed Light Step in Shimmer Song's classes even though they were above her level at the time, and she was in danger of flunking out. Shimmer was always a kind and giving colt: he did his best to help her out, and they became the best of friends.

So it was that when Shimmer's not-so-special somepony left him for a stallion with a bigger horn, Light Step was there to mend his broken heart.

The bile still rises in my throat at the thought of it all these years later. How in Equestria that floozy ever thought she was worthy of a pony as amazing as my Shimmer I will never understand. I knew she was trouble from the moment I laid eyes on her. I could see she didn't appreciate him, and as soon as she caught sight of a piece of dumb girth she threw him aside without a moment's hesitation, that vicious heartless flank-stabbing feather-biting nag.

Deep breaths, Cadance. Deep breaths.

The thought still terrifies me even now, how a simple mistake could have destroyed everything forever. Had Pokey the Long-Horned Stallion not been there, she would have married Shimmer for a life of comfort, using his heart for her own vanity and greed until he was all used up, fit to never love again. Had Light Step not been there to show him what real affection is like he would have chased after her, fought for her, and either won her or been broken in the attempt.

It was pure luck that I found Light Step in Los Pegasus while working on an assignment for Celestia, and that I was able to get her into the Conservatory in Shimmer's classes. A month later she would have been working in the Los Pegasus Ballet as a fresh cadet, and Shimmer would have lived a life without love.

So often ponies just don't know what's good for them.

It was a lesson I took with me for the future.

– – –

Shimmer Song and Light Step went on to have a happy marriage until time and nature tore them apart. They had just one foal together, a lovely little filly they named Sunbeam, who used to love exploring the gardens of Canterlot with me and playing hide and seek.

She met her soul-mate at a conference in Canterlot at the museum where was working: a mare from Manehattan. They fell in love, had a whirlwind romance, they travelled across Equestria together, and then they settled down.

I had gone to Celestia ten years earlier with my proposal for a magical research program concerning fertility, aimed at permitting two mares, or two stallions, to conceive foals. Celestia had approved the plan, and had given me a budget of two million bits. I'd searched all of Equestria for the greatest midwives and OBGYNs, spoken to the leaders in physiological arcane studies, and had finally gotten a use for my long-neglected academic training as I began to write my own scholarly work, simply titled On Love.

So it was that after several years of marriage, when Sunbeam and her mate had burned up much of their youthful energy and began to feel the need for something more to fill their lives, I could offer them the possibility of bearing their own foals, without the need to find a stallion donor.

And so it came to be that Sunbeam had three little fillies, and life went on for another generation.

– – –

I have my own royal duties in Equestria. They are not like my auntie's. There is no Court of Love where I sit in judgment while petitioners come before me to press their claims.

Even so, I have my own offices in Canterlot's crowded governmental buildings, where my employees do the bureaucratic paperwork of love.

Marriage certificates and birth records fall under my domain, as do much of the florist, chocolate, and greeting card industries.

As an inescapable consequence, my domain also includes mortality records, funeral arrangements, divorce proceedings, and the machinery of protecting foals, when it is necessary, from the very ones who should hold them dearest.

The wheel turns, and all things have their time.

– – –

Moonbeam, Sunbeam's eldest, had two sons. The eldest was a soldier. His brother was a scholar.

It was hard to choose between them, I'll admit. Sadly I didn't think I could get them to work together: they were always rivals, those two, in everything they did, and I was no exception.

“Are you going to go down this road again, Cadenza?”

“I know what I'm doing.”

“So you always say.”

I took the scholar, Dewdrop Prism, under my wing, and then under my sheets. His older brother became a decorated colonel of the EUP, fell in love with a guardspony mare who could match his every move, and had two lovely foals.

After Dewdrop died, I spent a month in my chambers. Celestia came to me again, with a giant bowl of ice cream and two spoons.

– – –

What had begun with my simple volume On Love had grown into a thriving field of study before splitting apart into smaller disciplines, which over time had been folded into various branches of medical-magical studies. I had withdrawn from active research, but continued to write my own thoughts and discoveries in private volumes that nopony has ever read but me.

One branch of Equestria's government that Celestia has placed in my care interested me greatly however: the Equestrian Genealogical Society.

It's mostly just me and some elderly archivists, and nothing very exciting usually happens there. But it does give me a lot of control over Equestria's genealogical scholarship, which has allowed me to cover my tracks and ensure that my special project isn't discovered. I place little smudges at strategic locations, and make sure that only the most proficiently unreadable of academics are entrusted with studying certain lineages, to ensure proper commitment to rigor.

It's also allowed me to effectively search all of Equestria for suitable prospects for my darlings.

– – –

It is a summer day in Canterlot, and I am lying on a parapet in the sun by myself. To anypony watching, Equestria's younger princess is just peacefully enjoying some free time in the lovely day her aunt has brought forth.

I am on the rooftop above the entrance hall of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, waiting and watching. Beneath me unicorns of all ages are enjoying the beautiful day in the few minutes they have to spare before it's time to run off to the next class.

One of the unicorns is a scrawny colt, carrying a pack overloaded with books, his eyes focused on the cobblestones beneath his hooves.

On the other side of the square is a young mare, barely more than a filly, in gold armor. Her eyes are focused, even more intently, on a particular spot of the horizon directly in front of her.

As the colt passes he notices her, looks up, smiles nervously. For a split-second she breaks instructions and smiles back. I take note of this, and unlike her I do not let it show on my face but only enjoy the warmth of the sun. Inwardly I am grinning at the satisfaction of a job well done: I moved her cadet deployment to the School. I gave him the scholarship he needed to attend. Now they have met.

Her name is Twilight Watch, my grandfoal, who has the steel will of the royal guard running strongly in her blood. His name is Velvet Heart, a colt with a warm and loving spirit.

Ten years from that day they have a filly together.

When that filly grows up I introduce her to a young stallion who works in the publishing industry: he's clever, handsome, witty, and caring, and she falls in love on their second date.

– – –

I look back at centuries of waiting and watching, while my children die one by one. No matter how much I try to keep them safe, I can't. In my dreams I see my darlings shifting over the ages, taking on new bodies, shifting in the brief flashes of light before they are gone again. I see sunsets, funerals, last goodbyes and long waits, I hear music in the distance that plays for only a short while and then falls silent before the song is over.

I wonder how many times it will take before I grow strong enough to bear it. I do not truly believe I ever will. I plot and scheme through the ages. Auntie sees the world in terms of decades and centuries. Her schemes move slower than glaciers, and are much harder to stop. It is a skill I have tried to acquire.

I bring together lovers who would not otherwise meet, and drive apart ponies who bring each other pain. I move ponies like playing pieces, and sometimes I think I am forgetting that is not what they are. Sometimes I think I am forgetting myself.

One day I am not sure I can possibly go on like this for much longer. Then the word comes: my Twily has given birth. I rush to the hospital to see her. She glows with love, Night Light at her side, and they smile at me as I enter. That's when I see him for the first time, and all my troubles are banished.

There in Twily's arms is a newborn unicorn colt. He is white with a blue mane and blue eyes, and he is perfect and he is beautiful and the moment I see him I fall in love all over again.

Author's Note

Next time: Reunion.

Reunion

It's a warm summer night not very many years ago. Night Light and Mama Twily have left Canterlot for the weekend to visit Night Light's cousin, taking little Twily with them, and young Shining Armor has just become a stallion.

I'm laying on top of him, reveling in the feel of his body against mine, the steel of his guardpony-cadet muscles under the velvet softness of his coat. I'm listening to his panting breath and low moans, breathing in the primal scent of a rutting stallion's sweat, watching his beautiful young face scrunch up in unbearable pleasure while I slowly, softly move back and forth, back and forth on his rock-hard stallionhood, making sure that he can feel every single fraction of an inch moving inside me, and out, and in again...

I've been waiting for this night for so long. Shining feels so incredibly good inside my hungry marehood and I want nothing more than to let loose and just pound him with all my strength until I collapse. I've been keeping both of us dancing on the edge for twenty minutes now, and I'm not going to stop for a while yet.

I whisper naughty little nothings in Shining's ear, and hear him beg me to let him cum in return. Poor Shining is completely immobilized: I've made sure of it. If I weren't holding him down with my magic he would immediately grab me with those powerful arms, flip us over to trap me underneath him, and rut me like a wild beast. He wants to do it so badly, he's straining against my magic with all his strength, and even though it would be deliciously fun, it would be over so quickly. I can't have that.

Not tonight.

Not for my Shining's first time.

I'm going to make sure tonight is special.

And when I'm done, he'll never look at another mare in his life.

Besides, he's young, and strong, and we have all night long... Later on, I think to myself, I'm going to let him decide: I'm going to let him do whatever he wants to me. I wonder if he'll just take what he wants, grab me by my mane and force my mouth down on his stallionhood, or if he'll be nervous and ask, hesitantly, with that adorable blush he gets... Either way, I can't wait to taste him. I sigh blissfully. Just thinking about it sends a shiver running from my horn through my body down to my clit, and I tighten around him and he gasps my name.

I immediately stop moving completely to stop him going over the edge, and his moan has an edge of desperation. My pussy isn't very happy with me either right now, but I force myself to ignore it. Instead I focus on the feeling of control. I look down at the pleading face of the Royal Guard's most promising cadet, his eyes consumed with lust for me. I feel like a cat with a mouse between its paws: it's cruel, but I'm just having so much fun...

The tips of my wings are gently pressing against two points on his sides: two nerve endings he didn't even know he had. A little pressure on either one of them would do nothing, but both together set his muscles buzzing, like a little internal massage that sends pulsing waves of pleasure through his body. He has no words to describe it, but I know how it feels. I have so many little tricks that I can use to make him feel pleasure unlike anything he could get from any other mare.

Eventually my own resolve begins to wear thin, in the face of the dual protests of my lover and my marehood, both begging for release. I decide I've tortured him with pleasure enough for one night, and speed up my movements, watching him intently as I do so: I want to see his face as his mind goes blank. I speed up my movements, raising myself up and tilting his head so we're looking into each other's eyes. His eyes are closed: that won't do at all. “Have you ever seen a mare cumming before?” I pant. Not really a question: I know he hasn't. “Look at me, Shining.”

He pins his eyes open, eager for the sight. I grin, licking my lips. At the same time I gently begin to massage my clit with my magic: I'm seconds away, and if I've timed it right, he will just have time to see my face as I cum before his own orgasm hits.

“Ah!” I let out my first high-pitched squeal as I cum, a shockwave of intense pleasure shooting through my body and driving every thought from my mind. All I can do is hold on to my lover, looking up at me in amazement as he gets his first ever up-close look at a mare caught in the throes of ecstasy: my mouth hangs open as I tighten around him, my tongue sticking out and my eyes are rolled back in my head as I moan dirty and delicious things at him. He gasps and moans as I tighten and writhe on his stallionhood, my muscles squeezing him with incredible force. It only lasts a few seconds before his face suddenly contorts, as the sensations overwhelm him and his much-delayed climax finally releases.

I grin as his head slams back into the pillow. His eyes have lost all focus. He kicks his hindlegs for purchase and thrusts his hips instinctively, sending fresh waves of pleasure through me as I push myself down, seeking to fill myself with as much of him as possible. Inside me, our juices mingle as he shoots jet after jet of his seed at my womb.

We lay like that, riding out our pleasure until both our bodies are at peace again, listening to each other's heavy breathing, breathing in the smell of sweat and love. I stroke his mane and plant little kisses up and down his muzzle.

“If you're good,” I whisper into his ear in a sultry voice, “I'll make you feel this way every night.”

He murmurs his assent and I roll us over so we're lying side by side, cuddling while we wait to recover our strength for another round. In the meantime I let my pleasure-dazed mind drift, and I catch myself thinking of dear Twilight in two distinct ways.

The part of me that's still resting on lovemaking wonders if I could bed her along with Shining when she's older... sister and brother, sharing me. The thought sends a shiver up and down my spine. The only thing that could be better would be twins.

I have always wanted to try twins. In a locked drawer of my desk, back home in the palace, I have a notebook. It's filled with experiments and recipes for fertility treatments, every possibility I've dreamt up or uncovered to increase the chance of getting twins. None of them have ever worked.

Fortuna, just once I wish I could get a pair of twins. Stallions, mares, one of each, doesn't matter. I could do amazing things with them either way.

The other part of my mind, the one that always looks ahead, is reminding me of Celestia. I wonder what her plan is for Twilight, and how long it will take. I need to find her a mate, and that poor, wonderful filly is so shy and reluctant to open up to new ponies that the sooner I can start the better.

But that thought can wait for another time: Shining's hoof is down between my legs, touching and teasing and exploring. He's very enthusiastic but needs guidance, and I gently lead him to my favorite spots as I nestle my head in the crook of his neck...

Author's Note

Next time: The Bond.

The Bond

Sometimes our lives are suddenly changed by circumstances beyond our control. But when the situation changes, we work it into our plans.

An earth pony guard burst into the throne room and galloped towards the throne, yelling as he went: “News from Northern Equestria, your highness!”

“Yes?”

The guard bowed before her with his helmet in his arm. “I am simply to tell you that... it has returned.”

Celestia gasped, her eyes wide. She turned to the pegasus guards at the side of her throne. “Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor!”

Not ten minutes later we were there. We'd been ponynapped from the Canterlot airship harbor where we were waiting to board a luxury cruise for a relaxing week to ourselves, and for a moment I thought the Royal Guard was attempting a coup.

Instead we found ourselves brought to the throne room, where both my aunts were locked in a heated discussion that ended the moment they saw us enter. An unspoken message passed between them, and Luna trotted out of the hall, leaving us to speak with Celestia in private.

She nodded at us as we approached. “My niece, Captain. I apologize for bringing you here so dramatically.”

Shining opened his mouth to speak but Celestia cut him off with a hoof. “Please allow me to go straight to the point. Cadenza, Shining Armor, I have a mission for you. Something astonishing has happened. It is no exaggeration to call it a titanic development. It will require you to scrap all your plans for the near future.”

“Your highness, what's the matter?” Shining Armor asked.

“The Crystal Empire has returned to Equestria,” Celestia said, and then her voice turned low. “As has its ruler.”

Shining Armor didn't know. It had been wiped from history, because frankly some things are so dark and evil they should never even be remembered. Even I did not know all the details: Auntie Celestia had only told me hints, fragments, across the centuries, as if to say any more would loose the tyrant again upon the world. But I knew enough to know what this meant.

I listened quietly while Celestia told us the full story of the fall of a once-glorious nation. Shining was shaken to the core at the story of the forgotten king's cruelty. How he ground the hopes and dreams of his subjects to dust to feed his mad desires for power. How he tortured them to the point where the torture became its own end.

The beast had returned, but he was weakened. He was not our mission, though I had to restrain my husband for the lust for justice flamed within him and I could tell that already he was planning ways to hunt the monster down and destroy him for ever. Our mission was of love, not war.

The Crystal Ponies had suffered slavery and torture under the lord of cruelty himself. Now they were a broken tribe of ponies who knew only fear and despair.

The Princess of Love would protect them, nurture them, and make them whole again. With my husband by my side.

We would be the leaders and guardians of our own kingdom. That is what Celestia told us.

I looked back at my cutie mark, that elaborate jeweled heart. It was unique in all my experience: never had I seen another pony with anything like it.

In my thoughts I recited the words of the Princess's Oath: I swear to be a guide to my people, a servant to their needs, a shield against their enemies.

The Princess of the Crystal Heart was going to rule the Crystal Empire. This wasn't just a mission. It was my destiny.

I heard the voice in the back of my head warning me, as Celestia spoke, of what this would mean for my special project. I had always willingly stayed in Auntie's shadow, and counted on my relative obscurity and the short memories of ponies to conceal the lineage of my life-mates. As the ruler of a nation I would no longer have that advantage.

But there would be time to find a solution to that. First, there was a tribe of ponies in a far away land, enslaved, tortured, broken in the most intimate and terrible of ways, who needed my love to heal them. I was not going to let them down.

Author's Note

Next time: Blessing.

Blessing

It was a short week since the Crystal Heart had been restored. King Sombra, may he burn in Tartarus until the end of time, was dead. The Crystal Empire was freed forever from his grasp, and Princess Celestia had announced its return to the world, as a protectorate of Equestria. We held a great ball in the Crystal Palace, as ambassadors from all across the world came to introduce themselves to the new nation and its rulers. Official duties or not, I was still reveling in the happiness we had brought to the Empire, and my plans to heal and nurture my new subjects. For the time being I knew not a care in the world.

It was difficult for Shining Armor to keep his smile straight as I was taking the opportunity to have some special fun with him. A symphony of discreet touches and glances and gentle magic strokes played across his most sensitive parts so I could be sure that, even as he spoke with an elderly Baroness about prosaic matters, his thoughts never strayed far from the image of me swallowing his stallionhood whole and filling my stomach with his seed.

I watched his struggles with glee I could scarcely be bothered to disguise. We both knew that tonight there would be no limits: under Celestia's watchful eyes, none of the ambassadors would dare question any outburst, not if they hoped to secure favorable trade agreements with the new state. Nor would Celestia deign to restrain me in my hour of celebration, which meant there was nothing stopping me from making Shining Armor explode in pleasure mid-sentence, perhaps shedding his load all over the dinner feast.

I like to let my mind run free sometimes.

I was brought back to the present by the sight of the Zebrican ambassador trotting towards us, her tail lightly swaying with each smooth step: she was drop-dead beautiful, and easily stood out in the crowd of elderly diplomats that filled the crystal hall. We chatted for a few minutes, the customary pleasantries, and exchanged some small talk and a few jokes.

“I love her accent,” I whispered to Shining Armor as she trotted away after our chat. “And oh, that plot is gorgeous... let's invite her for a night cap later on, I want to watch you fuck her. I always wanted to hear what a zebra sounds like when she comes... I bet her tongue knows its way around a mare too.”

“Anything my Princess desires,” Shining Armor answered. I could hear in his voice that he didn't think I was serious, but I could tell he liked the idea. Well, if he thought I was joking I was happy to oblige.

There is a magic spell I have mastered which lets me speak and be heard clearly by somepony nearby, while nopony else hears a word. It was created centuries ago by an old battle-mage to coordinate ambushes and give orders unnoticed.

I mostly use it to tease my husband in public.

An elderly duke came up to us to pay his respects, and we exchanged some courtesies. Once he left, I cast my eyes around the hall for some more fun. It wasn't long before I saw a pleasing subject, and as the next diplomat approached I activated the spell. “See that stallion speaking to the griffon ambassador?” I nodded discreetly in his direction, and Shining Armor turned to see. “I'd like to fuck him while you watch. Would you like that? Watching your wife take another stallion's dick while you sit and stroke your meat?”

I grinned and fluttered my eyelids at him while he tried to act casual. “Or would that make you jealous? You could always join in. I'd be lying there, telling him how good he feels inside me, and you'd grab my horn and slide inside my open mouth, and I'd come with my husband's taste on my tongue. You don't have to be gentle about it. Princess or no, naughty wifey who cheats on her husband needs to be punished, don't you think?”

“And oh you see the stallion in the dress uniform, the really tall one? I want to watch him fuck you. You'd look so hot with him on your back, pounding your hard army plot until you can't think straight. Oh, don't give me that look, I'll make you love it. You know what you signed up for when you married me. I'll have you begging for more.”

It was a special blessing that Shining Armor's coat was a pristine white that made it impossible to hide his blush. A blessing for me, that is. I imagine that Shining Armor could well have done without it just then.

The ball continued late into the night, diplomatic overtures were made, and my husband performed very admirably at keeping a straight face, even though his entire coat had turned a light shade of pink as the night went on. At the end, as a reward for both of us, I brought my fantasy to life, and invited the Zebrican ambassador to our private chambers for a night cap.

I'd let my hair down and made myself comfortable, invited her to do the same. I'd suggested that she must be tense after a night of diplomatic etiquette, and that after these kinds of meetings nothing could make me relax like one of my husband's massages, and that she seemed like she could use one. She took a little coaxing before she agreed to go under his hooves, but quickly warmed up once he started.

Things quickly escalated after that.

“Well, madam ambassador? Isn't this nicer than the reception?”

She wasn't able to answer me, but that was alright. The look on her face said it all: lost in ecstasy, her mouth hanging open and her tongue laying slack as she moaned, her eyes half-lidded and dull. Shining Armor lay on her back, his hooves holding her plot firmly as he pumped rhythmically in and out of her marehood. His face was a battlefield as he struggled to control himself, and not give in to the incredible pleasure the ambassador's unexplored body was giving him.

“Oh Shining, I just adore her!" I squeed. "Can we keep her? I could watch you two like this every night.”

Shining squeezed her flanks, making her moan louder, and bent forward so he could suck and nibble her ear. She turned her head to give him greater access, and I saw her eyes roll back in bliss.

“Mm... yes please,” Shining said in a lusty growl. “She feels amazing... She's starved for it.”

“Anything, highness” she panted, her face a portrait of ravenous desire. “Your husband is... Aaahh...! Please, more...!”

“Now now, ambassador, there's no need for decorum here,” I teased. “Tell us exactly what you want. The more crude and demanding, the better.”

“Rut me!” she groaned. “Fuck me harder, Prince! I want you to pound me until you empty inside me!”

“Well, Shining, you heard the ambassador,” I said in my sultry bedroom voice. Shining nodded, and I heard the slap of flesh smacking together as he sped up, biting his lip to hold back his impending orgasm. “But one good turn deserves another, madam ambassador... I want a few things from you.”

“I'll do anything,” she panted breathlessly as she neared her peak. “Just don't stop!”

“First of all, don't hold back,” I said, gripping her forehooves and pulling them towards me. “I want to hear you scream. And then I want to feel your tongue in my pussy because the sight of you squirming on my husband's cock is driving me wild and I have a fucking waterfall under my tail right now. Is that acceptable, ambassador?”

“Yes your highness! Yessss...!” Her eyes clenched shut and her breath fell shallow as she reached her peak. It started low, a soft moan that only grew in strength as the seconds drew out. I cast a quick look to Shiny to make sure he didn't let loose until she was finished. Her scream rose and fell like music with each thrust of my husband's cock inside her. I held her hooves tight, feeling her kick and writhe as she lost all control of her body, the orgasm tossing her around like a hurricane. Ragged and raw now, I was amazed she still had breath left in her lungs to scream as her voice hit a plateau. From the look on Shiny's face I could tell her insides must have been squeezing him real good, and his final pounding thrusts were shallow, fast, and relentless, as he poured the last of his strength into her before he too screamed and came. She came down from her high to the feeling of my husband's seed spurting inside her, and with each burst her voice jumped: “aaaAHh-aaaAhhaaaAhh....”

And then they were both finished, and Shiny held her in a tender embrace as they smiled and caught their breath, and the air was thick with the scent of their lovemaking.

“That... was amazing, your highness,” the ambassador murmured, her voice exhausted, contented, yet still seductive and hungry, “but I believe it is your turn.”

With a sultry smile I turned around and flipped over on my back, legs spread, tail lying prone, presenting myself like a feast to be devoured.

She made an approving sound, and scooched forward. “You honor me, your highness, with your generosity. Allow me to repay you in kind.”

I shivered in delight as her warm tongue kissed my hungry lips, and slipped inside me.

In the end, after many rounds of play and long into the night, all three of us were completely spent. We lay together in our giant heart-shaped bed, I lying face to face with the ambassador and Shining Armor behind her, spooning her. She was out like a light and I watched her sleeping expression. She wore the contented smile of a well-pleasured mare, but in her sleep her tension had returned. Twitches ran across her face, and her legs would spasm and twitch briefly every few minutes.

“Her muscles keep wanting to tense,” I said to my husband through the spell. “I don't think she gets to relax very often, the poor thing.”

“We can always keep her here,” Shining Armor whispered back quietly. “Throw a little concession their way and set her up as permanent ambassador with an official residence near the Crystal Palace. A few more nights like this and she'll be the most carefree mare in the Empire.”

“Tempting.... but that wouldn't be fair,” I said, and stretched a wing forward to wrap around our guest. “She deserves somepony all to herself... and you and me are going to share our love with everypony.” Shining looked at me with hurt eyes and I couldn't stop myself from giggling. “Jealous, Shiny? You don't have to feel threatened. I married you, and you'll always be my husband. Plus you'll get to play with lots of beautiful mares.”

“That can be fun,” he whispered back. “But you're the only mare I need.”

“I know. But I want you to. I'm the Princess of Love, and you're my stallion. Both of us are going to play with lots of mares, and lots of stallions. It's part of the job, and I love my job almost as much as I love you.”

Shining Armor held back a snort, but I ignored him. I was watching the ambassador's sleeping face closely, and gently ran a hoof over her brow. “You need a stallion who will help you leave your work behind each day... who will wait for you when you're away, and make you feel complete when you're home... somepony with strong but gentle hooves, who'll love to give you massages.” I raised my head and shot Shining Armor a smirk. “You should have seen her face when you massaged her, Shiny. This one's a real slut for a good massage.”

“I do give some pretty amazing massages,” he chuckled.

“Well, anypony who rubs her the right way is going to be a very happy stallion.” I shifted, closing the little distance between our bodies so my muzzle was just short of touching hers. “You're going to find your love,” I whispered to her. “And wherever your job takes you, he'll always welcome you home. That is my blessing for you, from the Princess of Love.”

My horn glowed softly as I kissed her forehead.

Her shifting stopped immediately, the tension in her muscles melted away, and she let out a deep sigh in her sleep, and smiled.

I reached out my hoof and linked my ankle around Shining's fetlock so we lay holding our newest friend between us, and before long we were all asleep.

Author's Note

Next time: Ascent.

Descent

Months after the funeral, all my days are still dark.

I woke up yesterday morning and stretched out my arm to hold my husband. I found only empty space in my bed beside me, and for a minute I thought he was just in the bathroom and waited for him to return. I kept repeating that in my head even as I started to cry, and buried myself in my sheets. I didn't want to know that he wasn't coming back.

I didn't go to work that day.

Today I sit alone in my bed, watching the rain pour down over the crystal buildings of the Empire, thinking about him.

Thinking about Twilight.

After seven centuries of planning, I cannot help but consider the next part of the plan. It comes unbidden into my mind. Even in the midst of my grief over Shining, the thought worms its way in and I cannot but listen.

So I think about Twilight.

I would never have to go through another life-mate's death.

She would have a partner who loves and understands every part of her as if I'd built her myself.

All it would take is a few months of gently leading her along and she'd see me in a whole new light. She'd be unable to stop thinking of me. She'd wonder how she could possibly have missed what was right in front of her eyes all this time.

She'd decide it was because of her love for her brother, that she'd never want to steal me from him. Then she'd decide that, now that he's gone, keeping the love between us all alive would only be honoring his memory. Any doubts she'd have, I could easily smooth away.

I know all your buttons, Twilight. I can press them whenever I want to. I could make you love me, I could spin your head around so many times you wouldn't know up from down, and you'd never know I'd done it. You'd be happy. All's fair in love and war, right?

It goes against the Oath. Even Celestia wouldn't meddle with another princess's affairs. Yet here I am, pondering how easily I would make Twilight love me.

When does just being nice cross the line into emotional blackmail and manipulation? Can the game possibly be fair when I know all the tricks? Do I turn off even common courtesy just so I'm not feeling manipulative when I ask her to spend time with me?

I could be horrible and drive her away, just so I know I'm not cheating. That would hardly be any more honest, and it would drive a wedge between us for no good reason.

Why can't I just seduce her, like I've done so many others? Because she's a princess? Does that mean I look down on everypony else, treat them like something less than myself?

I loved all my husbands and my wives.

They never stood a chance.

I made them happy.

They had no choice.

Of course they had a choice. I never used magic to warp their minds.

I didn't need to. I got the same results with regular old-fashioned seduction.

Ponies are like machines. If you know how they work, you can make them do what you want just by pressing the right buttons.

I don't want to think of Twilight like that.

I am not sure I can stop myself.

“Dear Twilight,” I wrote. “I want to invite you to come for a visit to the Crystal Empire...”

Author's Note

The final act begins.

Next time: The Warning.

Strings

Tonight we ate dinner together.

Crystal Cuisine is unique, very different from Equestrian cooking, and I'll admit it can be hard to get used to.

One of the first things I did as ruler here was to begin introducing modern amenities to the Empire on a steady timetable, to acclimatize my subjects to the present. I chose those things I thought were most important for the first round: modern medicine, indoor plumbing, economics and infrastructure. Things to improve the quality of life and safety of my subjects.

Shining, meanwhile, only insisted on bringing in pizza and hayburgers immediately.

His sister was grateful for that as we ate dinner together in the palace: while Auntie would be proud of how delicately I ate my delightful crystal salad, Twilight was scarfing down her hayburger and fries so hungrily that she splattered BBQ sauce all over her muzzle.

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight, and she smiled sheepishly. “Is it that bad?”

“Mm-hmm,” I nodded, smirking. “Sit still.” I picked up a napkin and began to wipe her face clean.

Immediately her cheeks turned red, but she didn't object. She sat quietly while I gently stroked, careful not to rub the sauce deeper into her coat.

Before long her breathing deepened, and though she tried not to make a sound I could see her ribcage going in, out, in, out. Her eyelids fell, her gaze reluctantly turned away even as she leaned, ever so slightly, into my hoof.

“There,” I said, withdrawing my hoof. “All clean.”

She made a soft sound that might have been a grunted 'yes', or might have been an expression of regret at the end of the cleaning.

We spent the rest of the evening listening to music on a magical gramophone and talking quietly about nothing in particular until she could no longer conceal her yawns, and I suggested we call it a night.

She nodded, and we each retired to our rooms alone. I sat up in my huge and mostly empty bed, thinking about her, hoping she was alright.

Maybe together we can both smile again.

I heard a knock on the door, and the voice of the crystal guard: “Your Highness, Princess Twilight requests entry to your chambers.”

I opened the door, and as he said Twilight was there, her eyes red and tired. She had obviously been crying. “Twilight? What's wrong?” I let her in and close the door behind her.

“I was just thinking about Shining,” Twilight whispered, her voice cracked. “Sometimes I can't stop thinking, and I just lay awake all night. Spike knows it happens but he can't help me. Hours crawl by when I want to sleep but can't. Tonight is going to be like that, I can feel it.” She looked up at me with giant sad puppydog eyes. “I don't want to be alone tonight. ...Can I stay with you? Please?”

Her voice was so pained and uncertain, it made my heart ache for her. “Of course you can, Twilight,” I said, comforting her with a wing-stroke. I pulled open the sheets and lay down. “We can have a girls' night, like when I was your foalsitter.”

She smiled sadly and made herself comfortable beside me. “Thanks, Cadance. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

“Hey,” I said. “You have lots of friends who love you. I'm just glad to be one of them.”

She smiled at me, tears in the corners of her eyes. I opened my mouth to say everything would be okay and then she pushed forward and her lips pressed against mine.

Jackpot.

The world spun as I reconfigured all my plans around this moment.

After just a moment she pulled back, gasping in shock. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—I don't know what happened, I didn't mean to—”

Her horn began to glow and I could see what she was doing: she was about to teleport away, possibly forever. Throwing caution to the wind I did the only thing I could to stop her, and kissed her back.

She froze, tears forming in her eyes as she let me into her mouth. She lay completely stiff, not moving, like a frightened animal. The poor dear was terrified I would reject her.

“Shhh,” I whispered, pulling her into my arms. “Is this how you feel about me, Twilight?” I asked softly, brushing my lips against hers. She nodded. “But you were afraid I wouldn't accept you?” She nodded again, biting her lip. Her eyes were clenched shut.

Oh, Twilight. I'm sorry I pushed you like this, I know you're not good at handling anxiety. It'll all be worth it, I promise.

“Don't be silly,” I said with a giggle. “You're an amazing mare, and we've known each other your whole life. If you want me... I'd love to be your special somepony, Twilight.” I smiled at her as I stroked her mane. “It only makes sense.”

“But... my brother... we're practically sisters, this is so—”

“Shush,” I cut her off with a hoof and looked her right in the eyes. “Twilight, listen to me... I loved Shining Armor with all my heart, and I might never leave him behind entirely. He was an amazing pony, and so are you. You're not in his shadow, and if we're together that doesn't in any way reduce or demean his memory. Understand?”

“You're sure?” she asked hesitantly.

“Completely,” I said, pulling her close until our bodies pressed together. “And besides... he loved us both more than anything, and he'd want us to be happy. The only thing that matters is this.” I looked into her eyes and smiled, already knowing the answer. “Do you want this?”

She swallowed, glanced nervously back and forth before she nodded. “Yes. Yes, please.”

I took hold of her hoof and led it down towards my cutie mark. Twilight needed no further instruction but began to explore my body as I pressed her close and stroked her, cooing softly to encourage her. Her anxiety melted away under my care, and before long we were locked in a lovers' embrace, each of us struggling to touch as much of the other's body as we could, all our senses hungry for more. I seized control and kissed her as I kissed Dawn, gentle at first, growing stronger and deeper with each passing moment until we were practically wrestling, struggling for dominance in a battle of lips and tongues and breath.

Of course Twilight didn't stand a chance of winning. I pressed my advantage until she was lying beneath me, open and unguarded, breathing heavily and blushing as she looked up at me with hungry, pleading eyes. I smiled softly, admiring her form. “You've never done this before, have you?”

She shook her head nervously. “That's fine,” I whispered, leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek. “You just lie back and let me take care of everything.”

I began to kiss my way down her neck, grinning inwardly at her little whimpers of nervous desire as I went: my adorable little Twily, everypony. Life as Celestia's private student, immersed in her studies, desperate above all else for the approval of an ethereal, matronly demigoddess had not prepared her for the pleasures of the flesh.

It was time to fix that.

I could only wonder what kind of fantasies that enormous intellect of hers has dreamt up. In time I will draw them all out. But right now...

Right now it is time I made you mine.

“Roll over,” I said, rising up from her. She looked confused, but obeyed, and let me lay down on her back.

“Alright,” she said uncertainly in what she no doubt felt was a rather awkward position. She would change her mind soon enough. “Now wha-oooh...!”

I had just planted my tongue firmly against the base of her horn and was slowly, slowly but firmly running it up her length, letting out hot, moist puffs of breath against it as I went.

“That...” she panted, her breath coming loudly and rapidly, “that feels niiice...”

The corners of my open mouth turned up in a sloppy smile as I continued treating her horn to my expert tongue's most tender ministrations. I shifted my hooves up and began to gently massage her withers. She moaned happily, and the knots in her muscles began to melt away, leaving her utterly relaxed.

Well, not utterly. Her wings were erect, standing out to either side of me, twitching and flapping in tune with her arousal. I redoubled my efforts on her horn. I closed my mouth around it and sucked it hard, rubbing my tongue and cheeks at it from all sides at once.

The effect was immediate: Twilight began to writhe and squirm underneath me, trapped in magical sexual pleasure she could not control. Her soft moans turned to pleasured yelps and squeals, every exhale an “Ah!” and every inhale a gasp, rising in force as I brought her higher and higher. Her whole body strained underneath me, but I held her in place and gently eased off, only leaving my tongue tending to her horn, keeping her just short of erupting beneath me.

“Ahh... Ca...” She moaned beneath me, her voice thick with desperate desire. I chuckled, and whispered, “not yet.” Then I continued my work.

I dragged it out; a slow, incredible lick, my tongue wrapped around her horn, my tip swishing back and forth, tracing out the spiral along its length, activating every nerve in just the right spots... then back again, and again, and again, listening to her moans to judge how long I could make it last.

The way I learned from Bright Eye, listening to him just as I'm listening to you. Horns run in the family, after all.

Before long I could feel her struggles growing feebler beneath me, her moans quieter, and I knew she had reached her limit and was about to collapse.

While that can be a very nice way to end a night, I was just beginning.

I lovingly kissed the tip of her horn, and stepped back, listened with glee as she whimpered in satisfied relief then drew a deep breath, filling her empty lungs.

All along, I had kept gently kneading her shoulders. Now I moved my hooves down her back to her wings and began to massage them at the base. Twilight murmured happily, melting beneath my touch... at first.

A hornjob is rather like to a sunrise: pleasure grows like the landscape brightens before the sun creeps up above the horizon – and then suddenly it blinds you.

A good wing massage is a fire that grows slowly. As the minutes melted away, Twilight's moans of contentment turned to moans of excited desire. I felt her tail swishing back and forth instinctively, trying to lure her lover down to give her relief. “Shhh,” I whispered, and kissed her cheek. “I'm going to love every... last... part of you, Twilight. Just relax, and enjoy.”

Every squeeze to loosen the tense muscle added another drop of fuel to the flickering blaze. Her wings were twitching, veins engorged with blood, spread out to their full span and I showed them both with little kisses as I brought her fresh pegasus muscles to life. Twilight was taut as a bow, ready to let her arrow fly, and I knew her mind now was caught up in pegasus lovemaking instincts she had never before felt.

I let it grow just short of the limits of what she could stand: there would come a time to push her limits, but tonight I would leave her writhing in the sweet spot. I licked my lips and looked down at my beautiful Twily, blushing and panting, the air thick with the scent of her desire, wanting desperately for me to rut her until she screams.

This must be how I looked to Warding Glow on our wedding night: he had been taught by pegasi concubines of House Hurricane as a surprise gift to me. I all but drowned him in kisses once I was able to move again.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. It was time to move on. I stepped back, enveloped Twilight in my magic, and turned her around so she was lying on her back, making sure to gently lay her wings flat on the bed: her eyes were hazy now, she struggled to focus, and my knees trembled. She is so beautiful and she is here with me and there is no place in the world where I would rather be.

I smiled, looking down at her, wanting this to be the greatest night of her life. She smiled back, and closed her eyes, leaving her body open for me.

I lay down on top of her and kissed her, our lips pressing together in a light, wet smack, before I proceeded to slide down her body, planting kisses in her coast as I went down her body to her beautiful teats, round and full with her desire, her little buds hard and firm and crying out to be played with.

A kiss here, a lick there, a light teasing bite on her nipple, and Shining Spark would kick and squirm and beg me to suck on them.

Twilight's moans were identical to the ones I heard in my head from centuries past as I buried her mounds with kisses and caresses. I held her flanks in my hooves and stroked her cutie marks as I played with her nipples, delighting in the sharp cries she made every time I ran my tongue over them. Her hooves had reached out and taken hold of my head, holding me tightly as I continued to bring her pleasure.

I pulled back my muzzle and let my gaze fall lower, to her hind legs, her tail, and the hidden blossom inbetween.

And I will never have to be alone again.

At long last I turned my full attention to her core. I reached out and gently spread her legs, and nudged away her tail, to see her beautiful virgin marehood in full bloom, wet and ready for a lover's touch. I wet my lips. “Ready, Twily?” I looked up, our eyes meeting. She looked back at me with pleading eyes, her hooves trying to pull me in, but I teased her. “Say please.”

“Please!” She practically screamed, kicking in frustration, her voice desperate. “I can't take anymore, please finish me...!”

I grinned. “As you wish.”

I leaned in and let out a soft, hot breath over her, then ran my tongue over her lips.

Oh how she squealed! Her whole body quaked at the sensation of my tongue. “More! Please...” she panted. I complied, kissing her marehood more forcefully, tasting her as her nectar flowed and coated my muzzle, drawn out by my attentions. After slathering her outside with my tongue, I pressed the tip against her entrance, and pushed inside her.

I loved to do this to Dawn even to the very end. Even when she was a grand old mare, wrinkled and stiff, I would eat her out until her body shook and quaked in pleasure.

Her cries had fallen into a regular rhythm, like music. I kept at it, exploring her insides with my mouth, my hooves playing with her mounds, stroking along her wings with my magic grip. Her walls were warm and wet and delicious, pulsing and pressing around my tongue as I forced myself deep inside.

She whimpered softly underneath me, pleading with me.

She was ready.

I moved to finish her off.

Angling my head, I pressed part of my tongue against her swollen clit and rubbed it back and forth. It only took seconds before she screamed.

“Yes!” She clamped her hind legs around my neck, her forehooves roaming through my mane. “Yes yes yesyesyesyesyes...!” Her words turned into a single high-pitched squeal as she finally reached her peak, shaking like a leaf in the wind. A flood of her nectar burst out as her walls shut tight around me, filling my mouth and spilling out over my muzzle.

Shining Armor's muscles trembled under my hooves when he climaxed, same as hers. She even screams like him. Her voice is higher but the melody is the same.

I held her tight, refusing to let up the pressure, drawing her climax out as long as I could. Finally, after what seemed like several minutes of unbearable ecstacy, she fell silent. Her legs fell limp beside my neck, and her chest rose and fell slowly, her entire body spent and worn.

It's done.

I lay down next to her and pulled her into an embrace.

You'll stay with me.

I raised her head to look into my eyes, and kissed her.

And I'll never lose you again.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“No, thank you,” I answered as I wrapped a wing around her. I sniffed, then sniffed again, and finally noticed the tears crawling down my cheek and the tremble in my legs. “I'm so happy you're here...”

“Me too,” she said with a smile, making herself comfortable against me. “I'm just lucky Celestia came here to give me advice. I probably wouldn't have dared, otherwise.”

My eyes flew open.

...What?

“Auntie Celestia... came here?”

Twilight nodded. “Earlier, when I was thinking about you, and about Shining, and trying to decide what to do, she came to me in my room. I asked her what I should do, and she told me to follow my heart. She said she'd known us both as long as we've been alive, and that we could be perfect together.” Her voice was drowsy as she drifted off. “Something she said confused me though. As I left she said it had to be my choice, not yours. Which is silly. Of course it was my choice. I'm not sure what that even means.”

I lay silent as thoughts raced through my mind.

“Twilight...?” I stroked her gently, and removed myself from her arms. She whined sadly at the loss of contact. “I'll be back in just a few minutes, okay? I just need to check something.”

“Okay...” Twilight mumbled, already half-asleep as I quietly left my chambers, fire already rising inside me.

As I expected Celestia stood in the guest room, waiting for me. “Auntie,” I said.

“Cadance,” Celestia said calmly, as she sent a letter with her magic. “We need to talk.”

Author's Note

Next time: Tangles.

Tangles

We faced each other from across the room as my mind raced.

“You saw this coming, then,” I said.

Celestia nodded. “You may be adept at hiding your tracks from everypony else, my niece, but not from me.”

“So,” I said, warily glancing around the room, almost expecting to be ambushed by hidden guards and dragged away. “Now what?”

Celestia only looked at me with sad eyes. “You've disappointed me, Cadance. I had dared to hope it wouldn't come to this. I'd hoped you would be true to your duties as a princess of Equestria, and respect the Princess's Oath. But I suppose in my heart I knew it would end this way...” She shook her head. “How far you have fallen, my niece.”

My teeth grit together in anger. “What do you want?” I growl.

“Straight to the point then,” Celestia said. “I'm not going to let you have Twilight, Cadance. Not like this, not like the others, not as your plaything. Your special project must end. Now.”

I swallowed, heavily and painfully as I imagined letting go of Twilight. “I can't.”

“I am not offering you a choice,” she said, stepping towards me like a warrior entering a duel, watchfully and deliberately. “Not this time. I have been patient with you, Cadance. I have gone against my better judgment in permitting you to continue for this long. But it ends now. Twilight is not going to be your next conquest, and she is not going to be just a vehicle to bring forth your next generation of life-mates.”

“That's not true!” I screamed at her. “It was nothing like that! I loved them! I love them all and I love Twilight! I won't let you take her from me!”

Celestia only stared at me coldly. “Twilight does not belong to you, Cadance. She is a Princess of Equestria, with all the rights and powers due to her station. She, and through her all of her living relatives, are no longer under your control. I need Twilight like I need you and my sister: whole, sane, and fit to govern. I will not have an outside force entangling her mind. Not even you.”

“You can't do this!” I screamed. “I'm the Princess of Love! They're mine! You swore you'd never meddle with my domain! You have no right!”

“This must stop, Cadance!” She shouted back at me. “I gave you countless chances to pull back, I tried to persuade you, but you would not listen!” She sounded like a parent disciplining an unruly foal, her patience stretched to the breaking point. “From Shining Spring until Twilight Sparkle. This is how long I gave you, Cadance. This is how patient I was. I set the clock counting long ago, and now it's run down. Your time is up.”

The full meaning of her words took a second to penetrate, for me to realize and see what had happened. When I did, my breath froze in my lungs and my eyes shrank to pinpricks. “Oh no... Auntie... You didn't?” I asked her, barely able to speak the words. “You were planning this all along?”

She met my pleading stare and nodded. “Since the day you asked me to bless your marriage to Shining Spring.”

My strength failed me, and I fell to my knees, my legs weak and wobbly. I turned my head away, my breath a whimper as all my plans collapsed before me.

At long last I realized how powerless I was, and how elegantly I had been played.

“I never commanded you,” Celestia said, stepping closer to me, while I sat and stared at the wall. “I never meddled in your domain. Once you touched somepony, I let them be. I merely... decorated your path. I placed you in charge of the census and of genealogy, and I moved the ponies I needed into your purview.”

She reached out a hoof and turned my head to look at her. Her sad eyes glistened in the moonlight. “Every time I hoped you would let them be. You always had the choice to stop. But, blinded by your desires and your plan, you took them without hesitation, and I knew I had to continue. I found ponies with a strong potential for magic in their blood. You made them part of your project, a bloodline strong and true in magic, until finally it gave birth to the one pony that would force an end to it, the one pony you could not be permitted to control.”

“Twilight,” I whispered. “You asked me – you wanted her for your project. You said you would give her back to me. You looked me in the eyes and lied to me.” I stared at her through my tears. “Why? Why are you doing this to me, auntie?”

She looked back at me with sorrowful and severe eyes. “You cannot see what your precious scheme has done to you, my niece. It has changed you. Sometimes I think I can hardly even recognize you. In the end, if it continues, it will destroy you. I can't allow that to happen. I need you. Equestria needs you. I had no choice but to do whatever was necessary to stop it.”

A thunder in the distance shakes the earth. A great beast, lumbering through the mountains, smashing walls of ice with its mighty paws. A roar that could be heard on the wind a dozen miles away. Fangs and claws to rend and tear. Hungry for blood it drew near and they ran forth to meet it, ready to give their lives in defense of their home.

I stood frozen in shock as the image tore across my mind. When I spoke, my voice sounded heavy and distant, devoid of life. “Whatever was necessary? You... you made it happen? Did you make everything happen?”

Celestia watched me silently. I screamed. “Shining Armor! Was it your fault?!”

She gasped, her eyes wide. “How can you possibly suggest... I did not kill Shining Armor! How can you even think such a thing?!”

“Why should I believe you now?” I spat, stomping closer until I was screaming in her face. “You lied to me about everything! You lied to Twilight! You stood there at the funeral and sang his praises just as everything was going according to your plan!”

Her hoof rose up and struck me across the face.

I looked at her in disbelief and stunned silence, my hoof stroking my stinging cheek. Never in seven hundred years had I seen Auntie lash out in anger. Never, even in the direst of circumstances, had I known her to be anything less than untouchable and controlled.

Now before my eyes she recoiled in horror at her own action, trembling, her mouth hanging open but not speaking. Tears fell from her eyes, and I knew how deeply I had hurt her.

“It doesn't matter,” she said, her voice weak and soft, barely more than a whimper. “It's already done. By now she will have read the letter, and cast the magic inside.” I stared, not understanding, but fearing something terrible. Celestia turned away from me, her head held low. “Twilight knows everything now. You should go speak to her.”

I turned and ran.

Author's Note

Next time: Cuts.

Cuts

I ran through the Crystal Palace at a mad gallop.

There is a magic that is passed down from parent to child. It linked my darlings to Warding Glow across the centuries, and through it, my love for him, for all of them, was reborn again and again. It formed an unbroken chain that now held me and Twilight at either end, and it held within it every link that had passed between us. All my darlings. All their memories. Every trick I had used.

All my crimes.

The halls were empty outside my private chambers: my guards were nowhere to be seen, ordered away, I assumed, by Celestia. I threw open the wide doors, only to see my worst fears realized. The thought stamped itself inescapably on my mind:

I'm too late.

“Twilight!”

There were winds, powerful winds, gusting in my bedroom. The furniture was tossed aside, every small and light thing smashed against the walls or swirling in the winds. At the center stood Twilight, locked in a magical surge such as she had not had since she was a filly.

She turned to face me with eyes of white light that saw right through me.

It's over.

“Cadance,” she said, her voice a chorus of many voices. “I opened the magic and saw... everything.” She blinked, and it was Twilight who looked at me with sad eyes. “Oh Cadance... Is it really true? For all this time?”

I kept you chained to me for seven hundred years.

“I watched you foal-sit all my ancestors for centuries, planning out our lives for your own purposes. I saw how you taught us everything we know, and how you made sure you were our closest friend and confidante. You made us all trust you and love you. You used everything you knew about us to make sure we would never question you, that we would always go to you for answers... and your answers were always meant to keep us close to you.” She shuddered. “There's a sickness inside you, Cadance.”

Her words cut like a knife through my heart. I fell to my knees, my tears flowing uncontrollably as I was made to see myself, and how far I had fallen, while she only walked, slowly, purposefully, towards me. “So many secrets, so many lies... so much darkness. Even when you were with my brother, you were planning how best you could use me as well.”

She's going to leave me. She's going to leave me and she's going to make sure I never see her or her family again and I'll have nothing and nopony.

My throat hurt: an enormous lump choked me, and I could hardly breathe. “Please don't... I can't... I couldn't let you go... I can't bear to go on alone again...”

She looked at me sadly, shaking her head. “I never would would have suspected this from you. Not from Cadance, the Princess of Love, who brings joy and warmth to ponies. That your grief had so poisoned your mind that you would conspire for centuries to keep my relatives at your side in secret, in the name of love.”

Twilight stood above me now as I saw the collapse of everything I had worked for, of my entire life's work and happiness slipping away. “We knew you from our cradles to our graves. You bound us to you and never let us go. So many lies... Incest. Slavery. You knew that on a mortal ethical scale these transgressions are unforgivable. You knew it was forbidden, so you kept all your thoughts and plans secret, because you feared what would happen if anypony ever found out. But now we know. It's all over now. The evidence has been presented, and as a Princess of Equestria I am ready to place my judgment on you.”

My head fell to the floor as I prepared to lose everything.

Twilight bent down and planted the softest, kindest kiss on my brow. “I'm sorry that you were in so much pain,” she whispered. “And I forgive you.”

I looked up. “What...?” My voice was cracked and weak.

“We know you, Cadance,” she said, and her voice was somber and serious, but also compassionate. “We know you better than anypony. You know that none of us would ever want to see you hurt.”

“But... I used you. I manipulated you. I lied to you. I broke the Princess's Oath!” My head fell down low again as I cried. “I betrayed my domain... I betrayed you, my peer... I don't deserve to be a Princess...”

Twilight frowned, and nodded. “It's true. You failed to understand the Oath, Cadance. You thought you were a tyrant of love, and that you could command it as you pleased. But you're wrong. Your domain was entrusted to you, and you are its shepherd. But you are also its servant.” She looked at me thoughtfully. “You were never the tyrant. You are the slave of love, Cadance. You, more than any other pony, could not control how it led your life. Warding Glow knew that right from the start.” She took hold of me with her magic and brought me to stand. I tottered, unsteadily, as her grip left me. “We were always there to help you, Cadance. We still are.”

I shook my head. “It's all lies,” I whispered again. “Everything you're feeling is false. I made you dance like puppets.”

“That is what you thought you were doing,” she nodded. “Intention counts for something, and you're going to have to make amends for that somehow. But you're wrong. You don't understand ponies like you think, and you don't understand yourself. We're not puppets, Cadance. Our feelings weren't false just because you inspired them. If you made us dance, it was only because you made such beautiful music.”

She stroked my mane gently with her hoof, her face kind and gentle, and not afraid or angry. “All of them are here now, inside my head. Even long after they passed on and you could no longer see them, when all your little tricks fell away, their love still burns like the sun.” Twilight smiled, her eyes still softly glowing. “They have something to tell you.”

She stepped forward and kissed me, and in her kiss I felt all of them at once.

It was a kiss of aeons. Twilight Sparkle, who had never kissed a pony before tonight, subdued my tongue as though it were her own, with all the passion and confidence and kindness, all the skill and experience of all her forebears in one. And I felt young again, and I heard the song I had been singing when I first spied Warding Glow in the royal gardens, when all the world was fresh and full of wonder.

Twilight released me from the kiss and smiled, looking into my eyes. “They want me to tell you,” she whispered, “that it's time for you to stop living in hiding and fear. They want you to be happy. And if you still want to... I would like you to be happy with me.”

She placed a hoof gently on my shoulder. “It's time to tear it down, Cadance. Let go of it, and live.”

The dam burst inside of me then. Every memory I had clung to for all those years replayed in my mind, every joy, every ache, every argument, every kiss, every smile, every tear, every death, every birth, all of it burned in my mind for a fraction of a thought, and then left.

And at long last Cadance remembered herself again, and was whole.

Twilight was there for me throughout the entire ordeal, and in her eyes I saw them all looking back at me from a fountain of love that could never run dry.

One by one I bid them farewell, and they were at rest.

“There,” Twilight whispered after it was over, as I lay motionless on the bed save for the slow rise and fall of my ribcage as I breathed. The magic surge was gone, the room was quiet again, and Twilight was looking down at me with a tender smile. “That was pretty weird. I'm not used to having many different ponies talking in my head all at once.”

Twilight bent down and kissed me, and I felt all the wonder, all the giddy, nervous tension and sweetness of a little filly kissing her first crush, warm and pure and fresh.

She chuckled, her laugh playful and kind. “I know all your tricks now. I know all your weak spots too, as well as you know mine.” She looked into my eyes, brooking no disagreement. “If we're going to be together, Cadance, we're going to be equals.”

Just one night earlier that thought would have terrified me. Instead, I felt close to crying with happiness. “I can't think of anything I'd want more.”

“Good, because if you try to push any of my buttons, I'm going to push yours right back,” she chuckled, stroking a hoof idly down my side. “Personally, I think I'd prefer just being comfortable together, doing what comes naturally... But I'm sure you'll make me more adventurous over time.”

I pulled her close to me, holding her tight in my arms, finally free of fears of death. “We can take it slow,” I said. “We have all the time in the world.”

She nodded, smiling, and closed her eyes.

We held each other close and slept like foals through the night.

To the Last Horizon.

The next morning, I was roused from sleep by my magical alarm clock ringing a bell only I could hear. Twilight lay pressed up against me, warm and peaceful, her arms holding me close in her sleep.

I lay there like that while the fog of sleep slowly lifted from my mind, enjoying the sight of her sleeping face. Her mouth slightly open, the gentle sound of her breathing.

The world is full of love. And I am the most blessed creature alive.

In the end, I pulled myself carefully out of her arms. With a kiss to her cheek I left her to her rest, and went to open the door to my chamber. Outside I found Auntie Celestia pacing back and forth, flanked awkwardly by two crystal guards. She fell still when she saw me.

We looked at each other in silence for a brief moment before her nerves got the better of her. “Well?”

I nodded at the guards to leave us, and they withdrew. “Twilight cast your spell last night.”

“And?”

“She can't actually move here, what with her duties in Ponyville. But she's going to work on setting up a magic mirror portal between the Castle of Friendship and the Crystal Palace. So really we're still going to be living together.”

Celestia let out a sigh of relief seven hundred years in the making. “So it's over at last,” she said. “All the secrets have been revealed. The special project is finished.”

“Not all the secrets,” I said, watching her every move carefully. “Last night you told her how to unlock my magic. You broke the Princess's Oath. Don't pretend you didn't.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, and when she spoke her voice was heavy and full of regret. “I broke the Oath in spirit long before that, my niece. The moment you told me about Shining Spring, I knew that if you would not end your plan yourself, I would have to force you. Even if I had to break my own teachings in order to do so.”

I listened to her finally admit her own final burden after all these years. “All that time I had to watch as you tore yourself apart, and put yourself back together, over and over again,” my Auntie said. “It hurt me to see it, Cadance. Every time you lost your love, I watched you die inside. Every time struck you harder, and when you finally came back you were always hurting. You may not have noticed, but you have changed. Sooner or later, it would kill you. This... all of this was my way of trying to help you come back.”

I closed the distance between us and hugged her close, as a sister would. She froze to my touch, locked in her regal formality, then relaxed and leant into it, holding me tight.

“Thank you for caring about me, Auntie,” I said.

“That is what aunts are for,” she replied, and her voice was warm and kind as a summer day. Inside my chambers, Twilight turned in my bed, and let out a sigh.

“I hope you'll be very happy together,” Auntie said.

“I think we will,” I said softly, and smiled. “Even though getting here was a mess.”

“We play the cards we are dealt,” Celestia said. “Perhaps this was not the ideal solution for any of us. But we must choose how to meet our fate.” She looked into my eyes. “You can be happy together, if you choose to be. But you will have to earn it, my niece. No more tricks.”

I chuckled, and smiled. “Love is never earned, Auntie. It's unconditional. Nopony can demand it, or negotiate with it. I remember that now.”

We both looked through the open door into my bedchamber, where Twilight lay peacefully sleeping with a smile on her face. Above the bed, the window looked out to the growing sunrise. “That's why the world is so very generous to give it to us.”

The End.

Author's Note

Some time after I wrote this story its prereader Naughty_Ranko created Princess Oaths for all the other Princesses, and made wallpapers out of them. Go check them out: they're really cool.

Until the Sun No Longer Burns

I had picked Shining Armor to be by my side, and in my bed, until Grandmother Death claimed him. Twilight, meanwhile, would carry on the bloodline. I was going to find her a wonderful stallion or mare, somepony guaranteed to set Twily's heart aflame. I would place them in each other's path, and watch as the sparks ignited. I would make sure they had children, and the bloodline would be secure for another generation. It was going to be completely straight-forward, just as I'd done it many times before.

Instead, Shining is gone and Twilight is a Princess.

Huh.

“I just need to borrow her for a while” my flank.

Twilight could still bear foals. Twilight, the poor dear, is an amazing mare but she is as clueless in love as she was in friendship. Maybe she'd come to me for advice. She trusts me, after all, and she is right to trust me. I only ever want what's best for her. Then I could lead her down the path I know would make her happy, and would keep her bloodline strong.

I could put her on that path even if she doesn't ask for advice, of course. But that would be interfering with another Princess. The Princess's Oath forbids such a thing. Auntie Celestia wouldn't allow it.

But it might not come to that.

Mama Twily isn't that old.

What would you think of that, Twilight? If I wanted it, then in just a few nights your parents will decide that they want to experience the bliss of siring again. Your mother is in pain, the hole left behind by a lost child will be with her for the rest of her life.

It wouldn't take much to plant the idea that maybe another child would help fill that hole.

They'll ask Princess Celestia for her blessing, and all the magics of Equestria will aid them in getting your mother pregnant, and helping her to carry to term. You'll have a baby brother or sister, Twilight, and it will be the most beautiful thing you've ever laid eyes on. And I'll keep a close eye on him, or her, as I have on all of you, and the bloodline will live on.

...If Twilight knew I was thinking this she would think I was some kind of cradle-robbing monster. If I tell her everything, as Auntie said? She'll be horrified, poor thing. She'll refuse to ever see me again. I couldn't stand that.

But there is another option.

Twilight, wonderful Twilight, is a Princess now.

She will never grow old, she will never die.

We could watch a thousand thousand thousand sunrises together.

Author's Note

Next time: "Sunshine, Sunshine".

Ascent

Shining Armor smiles weakly as he sees me, not rousing from his bed. “You came,” he says softly.

My husband is lying in a hospital bed. The sheet covering him looks like a tent, resting on some sort of frame to avoid disturbing the wounds beneath.

I run to his side. “Of course I came,” I say, nuzzling him. “I'm going to stay right here until you're ready to go home.”

Shining Armor winces, and the look of pain breaks my heart. “Doctor, anesthetic for my husband, immediately!”

“Your highness, the prince has already been sedated as much as possible, but he insisted he remain awake for you,” the doctor says, his voice low and somber.

“I don't have much time,” Shining Armor says, his breath heavy and pained. “I wanted to see you... one last time...”

“Don't be silly,” I whisper, stroking his brow. “You're going to be just fine, the doctors are going to patch you up and you'll be home with me in no time.” I turn to the doctor and dare him with my glare to say or do anything different. He shifts nervously, but shakes his head.

“Your highness... I'm sorry. His wounds are too grave. There is nothing we can do for him.”

“They drove it off,” my husband says, “after it got me. It won't be back. Cadance, I need to tell you... I love you so much. Always remember that. No matter what happens... I'll always love you.”

“You can't die,” I tell him. “We have so much to do. I have a plan. We're going to see the world.”

“Plans change,” he says weakly, his hoof cradling mine. I think the simple touch gives him some comfort.

“You can't die!” I scream, the first tears forming in my eyes. “I won't let you! You're going to stay with me! You're going to grow old... I love you...!”

“I love you,” he says back, and then he is no longer looking at me.

I sit in shock, my mind empty of all conscious thoughts. Shaking, I stroke his face. I rub away a spot of dirt from his cheek, I gently ease his mane into order, and close his eyes for the last time.

I plant a kiss on his muzzle, feeling his warmth. He does not respond.

Slowly, I turn and step towards the door. The doctor stands back, bows his head as I walk past. I leave the hospital and I flap my wings and I rise.

I fly up to the highest point of the city, the spire of the crystal palace, and I continue rising. I fly up until I am at the level of the highest mountain peak of the frozen north, and I continue rising. I fly until the daytime sky falls below me, until there is nothing above but the sun and the moon and the cold and distant stars, until the air is too thin to support my flight, and I scream.

And I scream.

Author's Note

Next time: Descent.

The Warning

At the edge of the Empire the Crystal Express came to rest at the train station and let loose its passengers, including Princess Twilight. Mere minutes later she arrived at the palace where I was ready to greet her.

“Twilight!” I yelled, and leapt off my throne to embrace her. She ran up to meet me, her eyes lighting up at the sight of me.

In the past few months we had taken to spending more time together. I'd invite her to spend some time in the Crystal Empire here and there; we'd eat together and talk about recent events in our lives. We'd reminisce about old times, and laugh... and then the mood would turn somber as, one way or another, Shining would intrude in our memories.

We'd talk about how we were both holding on and taking each day at a time. She'd share some memories about her brother from when she was just a little filly, of his dreams and ambitions, of how he'd gained them all so very quickly, and how he'd lost it all too soon. She'd work through her grief and then, because she is full of love and self-sacrifice, she'd apologize and say that it must be so much worse for me, who'd lost a life-partner who stood every day by my side. As though being my husband made him any less her brother.

I would thank her for that, but tell her never to feel that way. I know how much she loved him, and if my pride ever tells me it wasn't as much as I did then you can take my crown and my horn away.

After a while we would leave the palace and go to the Crystal Chapel park, and visit Shining where he lay buried beside the greatest rulers from before the fall. We'd buy a bouquet of crystal flowers from a merchant on the way, and place them on his grave, knowing as we did that the flowers would have meant nothing to him, but that he would smile to know his two favorite mares were placing them together.

Then we'd return to the palace, trotting so closely that our wings would brush against each other. The first few times, Twilight shifted uncertainly at the touch and had closed them tightly around her barrel. Later, she let it happen, even smiling softly when it did.

That was always the first day. Then, we'd spend the next few days enjoying each other's company, playing games, seeing sights, flying. But at some point, Celestia's words would always force their way into my mind.

“Tell Twilight. Bring it out in the open.”

Tell Twilight? I thought to myself. What exactly does Auntie want me to tell her? That I'm her grandmother more than twenty generations distant? That I have kept her family alive with my constant care and devotion for seven hundred years?

That I want her to take her brother's place in my life?

Author's Note

Next time: Strings.