My life sucks. The 300 year anniversary of the Great Changeling War is coming up in a week and I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I wasn't ready for the 200 year anniversary. I wasn't ready for the 100 year anniversary. I wasn't ready for the signing of the treaty. Signing the treaty meant peace. I don't want peace. Not after what they did to Equestria. Not after what they did to me. Not after what they did to him. Shining Armour died during that war. I haven't been the same since.
I hear a knock at the door.
"Your highness?" asks one of my numerous servants.
"Yes?" I answer.
"A...letter. From Equestria." she replied timidly.
Letters are important. Since the war, I have banned all contact from my empire to Equestria. I haven't spoken to Equestrians in many years. My curiosity got the best of me. I got up from my bed and opened one of the large double doors. The maid looked quite pale and scarred. I took the letter from her, and then closed the door without another word. I heard her run away down the hall.
I walked to my bed and flopped down onto the dark purple blankets. I was wondering if I should open it. It could change everything or it could be a pointless update. I used to get a few everyday after the Crystal Empire separated from Equestria. One from Celestia saying she was sorry, one from Luna telling me to come home and that I'd regret this, one from Twilight begging for forgiveness. It was pathetic. I never responded to any of them. Then they tried to visit. I had my guards kick them out. That happened numerous times.
I tore open the envelope. It contained three notes.
Dearest Cadance,
We need to talk. If you don't let us in, this time we won't let your guards stop us.
Love as always,
Princess Celestia
Cadance.
Thou have made a grave mistake. We are coming to sort out thy problems.
-Princess Luna
Cadance,
I regret to inform you that I can't come with Celestia and Luna this weekend due to prior...engagements.
Hope to see you soon!
Princess Twilight
So they are coming? That's fine. They can come but I wont be here. I quickly packed up some essentials into my saddle bags and summoned my personal guards.
"I'm leaving. The Equestrian Royalty are coming. Act as though I am here." I said to them briskly.
"Your highness, we need to know where you-" began one of the guards.
"No." I said. "You don't. I'll be off now." I said as I stepped towards one of my large windows, using my magic to open it.
"But we can't let you go!" shouted the other guard.
"This is an order; do not follow me." I said as I jumped out of my window. My day is always better when I get to screw with my guards.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!" screamed one of the buffoons.
I was going to a place I seldom visit. It is quite far from the castle, but still in the Crystal Empire. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who knows about it. For a regular pegasus, it's a seven hour flight. For me, it's a two hour flight.
I love to fly. As a filly and young adult, it was never something I enjoyed but now I feel like its the best thing in the world. Two thirds of my population can't fly, and the other third can't keep up. Basically, its my haven from reality.
As it started to get dark, I subconsciously thought of the short letters. Celestia most likely told them to be formal, Twilight probably told them to be friendly and Luna...I don't know what Luna would have said. I never knew about her growing up, and when she came back from Nightonto, her kingdom, I rarely ever saw her. I think she is stupid for forgiving Celestia. Celestia deserves to rot in Tartarus.
I wonder if Luna still has any urge to destroy Celestia? If so, as a team we could succeed. But, how could I ask her safely? If she was pro Celestia, that could end horribly.
I saw the mountain appear through the mist. It was called Mount Armour. I named it, many years ago. I continued flying to the top where a small memorial had been created. I started to descend towards the tomb. I landed gracefully beside the small arrangement of stones. The stones had words in an ancient Crystal dialect. It seemed like only yesterday when I had carved those messages...
Then, I noticed something was wrong. A bouquet of flowers was placed by the biggest stone. No one should know about this tomb. I started to panic. The flowers were new. The snow around the site had fresh prints in it. I looked closer and I noticed they were not pony prints. These were dragon marks. Which meant...
"Hullo, your majesty." came a deep voice from behind me.
I spun around shocked to see a large, purple and green dragon. It was Spike. Spike started to corner me.
"I'm sorry your highness," he started to close in on me.
I started to fight. He started to laugh. The last thing I remember was being crushed by a large claw.
*******
When I awoke, I was scarred. I haven't been scarred in a long time. In fact, its been about 300 years. I was blind folded and tied up. My mouth was tied shut. My horn had been tampered with and my wings were tied shut against my sides. I could hear voices, speaking in hushed tones around me.
"This is worse than I thought."
"We should we do?"
"Kill her?"
"Can she die?"
"No she can't, and I don't want to."
"But we have no way to fix her. The last time this happened, we had the elements"
"This isn't as bad as last time."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"So what do we do?"
Someone started to cry.
"I don't know." They said through sobs.
I didn't like where this was going. They want to kill me. They can't but...they could do something worse. They could chop off my wings. They could break my horn. They could kill my spirit. They could take the Empire.That could be worse than death.
"I think...she's awake."
"What makes you think that?"
"She's shaking."
The sobbing stopped.
"Let's take her to the cell before she figures out what we are planning."
"I'll do it." Came the sad-sounding voice.
"No. I'll have Spike do it."
"Spike? No I can-"
"SISTER! You said you would be smart about this!"
"Fine, have Spike do it."
I know who the voices are now. Its been such a long time that I almost forgot what they sounded like. I'm not going to lie, I find it hard to hate someone who cares about you but...after what she did...
The door opened.
"Spike, take her to the cell. You know the...special one?"
"Yes ma'am" he said. I could hear him coming toward me. He picked me up off of the table. At least, I think it was a table. I was still shivering. I wish I wasn't. It made me look weak.
"She's cold."
"Then give her a blanket."
He exited the room. As the door close behind us, he pulled me close to him. I felt a tear fall onto me. Nobody has held me like that in a long time. After what felt like a very long time, he moved me into one arm, like a child. He opened a door with what sounded like a key. He then walked inside the cell and gently placed me on a hard piece of wood.
"I'll be right back, your highness." he said as he locked the cell.
I was alone. I was scarred. I was helpless. I wanted to go home. I stiffeld a cry. My tears started to soak my blind fold. Years of sadness started to pour through my blind eyes. I didn't hear Spike enter.
"Stop." He said, not unkindly.
He wrapped me in a blanket, and then removed the blindfold.
I stared at him. He looked... different. The last time I saw him, it was during the war. He had been a brave warrior. I think he was knighted after the war...
His deep green eyes were watery. He looked older, wiser and there was something else, but I couldn't put my hoof on it.
"Stop crying. I...won't let them hurt you." he said as he sat down opposite me.
He reached across and wiped the tears from my face.
"I'm going to remove the gag. Can you promise not to scream?"
I nodded. What choice did I have.
"Good" he said as he untied the gag. It fell to the floor.
We sat in silence starring at each other.
"I'm sorry." he said. "I really am."
I had one thing that I was burning to get off my chest.
"How did you know about the tomb?"
He smiled at little. "You didn't think you were the only one who new where he was buried did you?"
"Celestia?" I asked.
"Celestia." he answered.
I looked toward the floor. I should have known. I had been naive.
"You knew I was going to the grave then? How?"
"Easy. Where else where you to go? You stay away from other kingdoms because you think they are corrupted by Celestia. That's no secret to anyone. The only option was to go to the outskirts of your own."
"But...there's no way you new I was going to be there of all places, did you?"
"We didn't. Celestia positioned guards all around your boarder."
"But your're not a guard! Why are you even involved in this?"
He looked suddenly tired. "I'm the head guard." he said.
I was shocked. I guess it made sense though. They had to get someone to replace him.
"Why have you done this to your self?" he asked. He sounded disappointed.
"I haven't done anything." I said. I was starting to get annoyed.
"Don't lie to yourself!" he was also starting to get annoyed.
"I'm not!"
"Fine." he started to get up."I'll be back later with food and water."
And with that, he exited and locked the door behind him. I regretted snapping at him. I hadn't gotten all the information I needed. I wasn't lying to myself. If anything, he was the one who wasn't being true to themselves.
Spike's wife Rarity had passed away many years ago, leaving him with their three kids. After her funeral, he barley mentioned her again. It was sad to watch. His kids couldn't even talk to him about their mum. I think his whole family drifted apart after her death.
I had changed, I guess. I had gotten a bit taller and my hair was dark wavy purple with streaks of dark pink. My wings were more purple than pink and my body was a lot paler then before. My eyes were heavily lidded and my crown was and silver with one large purple gem in the centre.
Hours passed, and I had fallen asleep when I heard the cell door open. I opened my eyes and watched as a large purple and green blur place a glass and bowl on the ground. I started to wake up. Spike started to leave.
"Wait." I said, my voice sounded rough.
He turned around.
"What?" he sounded annoyed.
"I'm...sorry." I didn't know I still knew those words.
His expression changed slightly.
"Good."
Good? What dose that even mean! I was too weak to crawl over to the water and food, mainly due to the fact that I was still tied up. Spike started to leave again. He looked over his shoulder to see me attempting to reach the glass. He let out a sigh.
"Here." He said as he took the ropes off of my legs and handed me the glass. I took it from him quickly, almost spilling it.
"Drink it slowly." He said. I did as I was told. As I drunk the water, I realized I was very thirsty.
"How long have I been here?" I asked after I finished the drink.
"A little under a week." he said.
I felt my stomach drop. A little under a week?! My kingdom...they would be wondering where I was right? Would they be in war? Had Equestria taken over? Oh God this was not what I wanted.
Spike seemed to read my thoughts.
"The Empire is fine. They know we have you, and they...are trying to force there way in now. Twilight has gone to go take over."
I started to cry. "No. She. Can't. Do. That."
He hugged me. I don't know why he did, but I was thankful for it. I don't care that he was the one who brought me to this horrible prison, I just needed someone right now. I don't know how long we sat like that, or how long we could have continued, but it all ended as soon as Luna and Celestia showed up.
"Princess Cadance-" said Luna.
"Queen." I said. I was a Queen now. I am Queen.
"Fine. Queen. We need to discuss some things. The sooner the better." said Luna. Celestia was awfully quite.
"Are you up for it now? Or shall we come back tomorrow?" asked Luna.
I looked over towards Spike. He nodded. I know he's the enemy but, I couldn't help but trust him.
"Now." I said sounding braver than I felt.
Luna began to call for a couple of high security guards but Spike stopped her.
"I can handle her." he said.
"Come on, your highness." he said to me offering me a claw.
I placed my hoof in it and started to stand up. My legs were shaky, Spike had to support me. As we made our way out of my cell, I became suddenly nervous. I knew that they wanted me gone. They could keep me here forever. We walked through long hallways. I was quite surprised they didn't put the blindfold back on. When we reached our destination, Luna order Spike to tie me down to what looked like an old chair with metal cuffs.
"No. If anything happens, I think we can manage. She is really weak anyway." he said. Luna looked mad.
"Did you say no to me?" she asked suddenly angry. Even I knew a guard should never say 'no' to his employers.
"Yes." he said. This was bad.
"You are no longer to be the guard of Princess Cadance. Your job as head guard is going to be rethought." said Celestia. She sounded cold and mean.
"Fine." said Spike, as he got up and left, only stopping to look back at me as two other guards cuffed me onto the chair.
"Queen." he said.
"What?" said Celestia, obviously annoyed.
"It's Queen Cadance."
And with that, he left. And I was alone, facing the glare of the sun and the moon.
