Daughter of the Moon

by CartoonNerd12

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Alternate Universe, Romance, Princess Luna, Comedy, Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 53132

The sequel to The Midnight Dance and Sweet Pea. The sisters set out to break their cousin, Cadence's curse.

The third installment to The Midnight Dance and Sweet Pea. Based on the fairy-tale: Thumbelina. When Princess Luna's long-lost daughter Princess Cadence had been cursed a long time ago, it is up to Cadence's cousins to help break the spell along with an old sweetheart of Cadence's...

Published 2015-04-07 22:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-07 19:33:33 UTC

Chapter 1

In the enchanted land of the Breezies, a young pink Breezie mare with tri-color flowing hair was going about her garden when another Breezie came up to her.

"Oh, good morning, Sea Breeze!" she greeted him.

Sea Breeze replied, "And to you, Cadence."

"How are your wife and the little one doing?"

"They are fine. How about you?"

"I'm fine too, Sea Breeze, since I have you to thank for taking me in when I first came here."

"Of course, it was my sworn duty to watch you during our time with us."

"I'm sure my mother will commemorate you for doing such a good job. That is… if I ever see her again…" she gave a sad sigh.

Her mother was Princess Luna, raiser of the moon and defender of the night… Cadence wasn't always a Breezie; she could remember a time she was an alicorn like her mother and her aunt Celestia. She remembered growing up with her cousins, Fluttershy and Rarity, and when she old enough, she was able to look after the rest of her cousins. She grew particularly close to her youngest cousin, Twilight Sparkle.

There were days she missed being the normal height of ponies compared to being the small size of a Breezie. It was hard for her to adjust with her new form and size when she was cursed. All she could remember about being cursed was a pair of glowing eyes… Once she was hexed, her mother sent her to live with the other Breezies for her own safety and protection. She was wise to do so, since living life as a Breezie in Equestria would have been far too dangerous for her.

It pained both mother and daughter to be separated from each other, but they knew it was for the best…

Sea Breeze snapped her out of her thoughts when he said, "I am sure you will be reunited with your mother soon enough…"

Cadence gave a small smile, "Nothing would make me happier…" She then wondered of how her mother was doing without her…

Princess Luna watched from the castle windows of Canterlot as her nieces, who were living in the Everfree Forest, were with their husbands and playing with their children in the gardens. Fluttershy and Discord, with Applejack and Spike, were playing peek-a-boo with their baby girls, Screw Ball and Apple Jewel. Rainbow Dash and Soarin' were playing with Whirl Wind in the clouds. Rarity and Fancy Pants were giving their son, Dignity, some etiquette lessons. Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich were playing hide-and-seek with their daughter, Cotton Candy. For Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry and their son, Fire Spark, they weren't there with the other parents and children.

Twilight had to give a report to her father, King Sombra, while Flash was entertaining Fire Spark in the library, which was the family's favorite place to be. Luna kept watching the parents having fun with their children and it made her think of old memories of her and her own daughter, Cadence, playing.

"Luna?" asked a gentle voice.

She turned to see her older sister, "Oh, Celestia…"

"Are you alright?"

"Just… thinking… old dreams…"

"Luna… It really is unfair…"

"Celestia…"

"No, it really is. Here I am with my husband, my children, and even my grandchildren… and there you are still waiting for the day for your daughter to return…"

"Sister, you know the pain I am feeling… I am not asking for things to turn my way… You had your heartbreaks: your husband being cursed, your elder daughters being taken, and your youngest daughters nearly dying… Believe me when I say that you've had it far worse than I have… My daughter is safe and shall remain so until I find a way for her to return…"

Celestia sighed, "That is true… Still, it must be hard to never see her…"

"It is… but I remember the happy days of when she was here…"

Celestia solemnly nodded.

Suddenly, trumpets blared, announcing some pony's arrival.

A guard came in and bowed before the royal sisters, "Your Highnesses."

"Yes?" they both said.

"Captain Shining Armor has returned."

"Very good," said Celestia. "Send him in."

"At once." The guard trotted out.

Moments later, a white unicorn stallion, with a blue mane and eyes while wearing purple armor, walked in with five other guards behind him. He bowed his head to the Queen and Princess.

"Shining Armor," said Luna, "What news of Equestria do you bring?"

He spoke, "All is well, Your Highnesses. We have discovered much during our absence from Canterlot."

"What was it like?" questioned Celestia.

"Well…"

Behind him, the guards started singing, "Oh, oh… Fortune favors the brave! Oh, oh… Fortune favors the brave!"

Shining Armor sang, "We have swept to glory, Equestria's mastery expands from the Nile's northern delta, to the dry, dry southern sands! The more we find, the more we see, the more we come to learn! The more that we explore, the more we shall return!"

"Oh, oh… Fortune favors the brave!"

"It's all worked out, my road is clear… The lines of latitude extend way beyond my wildest dreams… Toward some great triumphant end… We seize the day, we turned the tide, we touched the stars, we mocked the grave, we moved into uncharted lands!"

"Fortune favors the brave!"

"The more we find, the more we see, the more we come to learn, the more that we explore, the more we shall return! Nothing is an accident… We are free to have it all… We are what we want to be… It's in ourselves to rise or fall… This is easy to believe when distant places call to me, it's harder from the palace yard… Fortune favors the free!"

"Oh, oh…"

"Fortune favors the young!"

"Oh, oh…"

"Fortune favors the brave!"

"My goodness. You certainly had quite the adventure." said Celestia.

Luna said, "I'm sure your wife or marefriend is impressed by your explorations."

"That might be true, if I was married or dating someone."

"Impossible," pointed Luna. "A brave and good-looking stallion such as yourself is not with a special some pony?"

Shining rubbed his neck, "Yeah, it may be hard to believe… but there is someone I would like to be my very special some pony…" He could see her in the royal garden, admiring the roses. At that time, he was a young colt watching the royal guard because it was always his dream to be a guard for the royal family, but that fateful day, he met the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria… Her lavender eyes, her smooth pink coat, her tri-color hair… He was mesmerized with all of it…

Princess Cadence was sniffing the flowers, unaware of the colt staring at her.

A purple unicorn filly came bouncing towards her then, shouting, "Cadence! Cadence!"

The young alicorn turned towards her and giggled.

"Do the rhyme! Do the rhyme!"

She giggled again, "Okay."

They started the chant, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They laughed.

Shining couldn't help but admire the scene, not only was the mare a beauty, but she also had a kind and loving heart. The filly was a cutie.

"Will you come play with me?" the filly begged.

"Of course."

"Yay!" she bounced again, "We can play dolls and go on the playground, read stories…" She kept listing off the things to do as she bounced back to the castle.

Cadence was about to follow when she spotted a unicorn colt hiding behind a tree. Shining Armor panicked and ducked, hoping she didn't see him, but that didn't work when the mare he had been watching came up to him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Seeing her up this close made him tongue-tied and he sputtered, "I'm… I'm, uh…"

"You don't have a name?"

That snapped him out of it, "I have a name!"

She giggled, "Then what is it, pray tell?"

"I'm…" he blushed, "I'm Shining Armor…"

"Shining Armor…" she softly said and she extended her hoof, "I'm Cadence."

"Cadence…" he took her hoof and kissed it. It caused her to blush.

They ended up staring at each other until they heard a tiny giggle. They looked down to see Twilight staring up at them.

In a loud squeal, Twilight bounced and shouted out, "Cadence has a boyfriend! Cadence has a boyfriend!"

"WHAT?!" Cadence blushed furiously and Shining Armor was beet red, too.

Twilight giggled and ran off.

Cadence faced Shining, "I… I, uh… I have to go!" She ran to catch the young filly and he heard her shouting, "Twilight, you get back here!"

Shining was staring off into space and remembering that wonderful moment until he heard the Princess of the Night clear her throat. He stood back into attention and saluted, "With your permission, Your Highnesses, I would like to stay in Canterlot for a while, since it's been so long since I've left."

"I think that's a reasonable request. Wouldn't you agree, Luna?"

"Quite so." Luna nodded.

"Very well, Captain. You may resume your duties tomorrow. For now, take this day to relax and catch up on what you have missed here."

He saluted again, "I look forward to it!"

Celestia and Luna smiled as he gave a final bow before turning to go.

Shining Armor was walking down the hallways, seeing if the places he was once posted on guard duty were still the same. He turned the corner when he suddenly bumped into some pony. He started, "Oh, pardon me…"

The mare said, "No, no, it was my fault."

Once they got a better look at each other, Shining gasped, "Twilight?"

Twilight also gasped, "Shining Armor?! Wow! When did you get back?" she smiled.

"Just today, and- what are those?!" pointing to her back.

"What? You mean these?" she opened her wings and blushed, "I've had them for quite some time now…"

"Something tells me I've missed a lot…"

She giggled, "More than you'll ever know…"

They kept conversing as an orange, blue-haired pegasus saw them and watched with worry.

Shining and Twilight walked up the stairs as he said, "So it's true, then? You're actually married? I mean, I heard about the wedding, but I guess I had to see for myself…"

"I wanted to send you an invitation, but Mother told me you were somewhere near the boarders of Equestria, so you wouldn't have been able to make it."

"It's true. So, tell me more about the other husbands. Did Fluttershy seriously marry Discord?"

"She did. But he's not the same creature you met before you left. Discord has done many good things for the kingdom ever since his marriage to Fluttershy and they have a child now."

"Wow… Never thought the spirit of chaos would actually settle down to raise a family."

She giggled, "Neither did Discord…"

"And Spike? Did he get to marry Rarity like he always wanted?"

"Surprisingly, no. He ended up marrying Applejack."

"Seriously?! Wow, I really have missed a lot… And… what about your husband? What's his name?"

"Oh, it's-"

"Flash Sentry."

They turned to see Flash.

"Flash, how's Fire?" Twilight questioned.

"He's fine, honey," he slightly chuckled. "He curdled up to a good book when I left him. Like mother, like son…" he beamed.

Twilight amusingly shook her head, "Honey, I want you to meet Shining Armor."

Flash stiffened, "Not Shining Armor! Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor?"

Shining slowly said, "Yeah… why would that…"

"Oh, Flash was a new member of the royal guard when I met him."

"Sir!" Flash saluted, "I've heard so much about you during my training. You are a legend."

Shining chuckled, "I'm sure whatever you heard was all exaggerated. I haven't done that much."

Twilight pointed, "You mean besides graduating at the top of your class and becoming the youngest captain in Royal Guard history?"

"Okay, other than that… I really haven't done anything else." He saw Flash was still saluting, "You can stop saluting now, Sir Sentry, or is it 'Prince Flash Sentry' I should call you?"

"Oh…" Flash went pink, "Um… Just Flash is fine."

"Flash doesn't use his royal title that much," explained Twilight, "nor do any of the other guys, except Discord."

Flash snickered, "Yeah, he uses his princely status whenever he can."

They laughed until Twilight said to Shining, "You know the other girls will want to see you, so why don't you join us for dinner?"

"Dinner?" Flash said in concern.

Shining thought about it and nodded, "I would be honored, Your Highness." he bowed.

Twilight rolled her eyes and playfully nudged him, "Cut with the 'Highness' stuff already. When we first met, you didn't know I was the princess."

"He didn't?!" Flash gestured with wide eyes.

Twilight nodded, "Yes. Very much like you, you had no idea who I was because I covered the fact that I was royalty. Shiny here, however, didn't know at all until later."

Shiny? Flash thought with worry.

Twilight pointed, "Why don't you go get Fire and get ready for dinner while I take Shining Armor to see the rest of the family."

"Uh…"

Twilight kissed his cheek, "Thanks, honey… I'll see you later." She led Shining Armor while Flash looked on with unease.

Cadence the Breezie was still talking with Sea Breeze when he said, "The reason I came to see you was not just to see how you were, but to tell you that the time to gather more pollen has come. I was wondering if you would like to join us this year."

Cadence gasped and was overjoyed with the fact she may see her home again, even if it was for a short while. She replied, "Oh, yes! Yes! I would like that very much! Thank you!" She hugged Sea Breeze, who gave out a gawk.

"Then you must prepare yourself, for we leave tomorrow."

"I will! Thank you!"

He smiled at her before he went.

Author's Note

The song featured was Fortune Favors the Brave from Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida. Updates will be slower in this one then the last two stories for the following reasons: One, I'm entering my last month of school so things might get hectic later on. Two, same can be said for my editor who has to focus on their studies this time around, so if anyone is interested taking on the job as editor for this story, please PM me. And finally, with Season Five being out, I would like to see how things change and see if new ideas come up. Hopefully I'll be able to release the next chapter soon enough.

Chapter 2

"Tell us some of your adventures, Shining Armor!" Rainbow Dash said at the dinner table, where the whole family was seated except for the youngest princesses, who were currently living with their husbands in Marendelle. The children were at a separate dinner table while the grown-ups sat at the big table.

"Actually, I want to know what's been going on here."

"Oh, nothing much, darling. Just that we started our own kingdom and began to have families." said Rarity.

Pinkie piped up, "But before that, we were forced to get married to princes and we were really sad about that! We were already dating our special some ponies until we were taken by an evil queen who struck a deal with our cousin to have one of us as his wife! Then there was this giant battle where Spike almost died! Then our dad shows up all shadowy and we broke the curse by declaring true love! Twilight got her wings, we all got married, and now we're all living happily ever after!" she grinned.

Shining was stunned and finally said, "Uh… Wha… What?" he looked to Twilight for help.

She groaned and held her head, "It's a very long story…"

"Mm-hmm." the rest of the sisters and their husbands agreed.

Shining looked around the table. He could see King Sombra and Queen Celestia looking happy, just as Fluttershy and Discord were happy. Rarity and Fancy Pants were as well, then Applejack and Spike, Rainbow and Soarin', Pinkie and Cheese, and finally Twilight and Flash. He realized Princess Luna wasn't there, but that was probably because she was about to go on her nightly duties for Equestria.

Back when he was a colt, he didn't see much of the princesses until he was older when he became a royal guard. Twilight was the exception since he met her as a filly. He realized then that someone wasn't there and turned to Twilight, whispering in her ear.

"Hey, Twilight… Where's Cadence?"

Twilight's eyes widened and she dropped her fork, causing a huge clang.

They all turned to her with confusion.

Celestia asked, "Are you alright, my darling?"

"Fine! Don't worry about me…" she lowered her head, "But… Mother… I have to know something… I've wanted to know for a long time now, but when everything started happening, I couldn't find the right time to ask you."

"Yes?"

She took a deep breath, "Where is Cadence?"

The other girls stopped eating right then and there, giving off sad looks and faced their mother, wanting to know the same answer. The boys gave each other puzzling glances, not sure what was going on here.

Celestia and Sombra exchanged surprised looks, but slowly gave solemn expressions. The queen looked over to where the children were and said, "Children?"

The kids turned towards their grandmother.

"If you're done eating, why don't you head up to your rooms? Grandmama and Grandpapa will make sure you get dessert in bed."

"Mom!" the girls shouted.

There was a cheer as the kids left the room. Celestia did a small smile before turning back to serious.

"Um? Am I missing something here?" Discord scratched his head.

Flash questioned, "Who's Cadence?"

Celestia gave a sigh as Sombra nodded his head, and she began explaining, "Princess Cadence was Luna's daughter and the girls' cousin…"

The guys had wide eyes, surprised by this development.

Spike asked his wife, "Why didn't you tell me this?"

Applejack lowered her head in shame.

Celestia continued to explain, "Cadence was with the girls long before you came to us, Spike. Before Discord was released from stone, before Fancy Pants took over as Head Butler, before Soarin' became a Wonderbolt, before Cheese Sandwich set up shop, and before Flash Sentry became a royal guard… Princess Cadence was my sister's daughter and played with my daughters Fluttershy and Rarity at the same time…"

Discord and Fancy looked over to their wives, who had saddened expressions on their faces.

"When my daughters Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were born, Cadence would look after them when the rest of us were busy…"

Spike, Soarin', and Cheese saw their beloveds looking upset, obviously remembering a time that Cadence did something with them.

"When Twilight was born, Cadence was watching her constantly. As my youngest grew, she and Cadence did just about everything together. Didn't you, my darling?"

Twilight nodded her head, trying so hard to hold back tears. When she couldn't, she cried into her husband's shoulder. He gave her a sympathetic look and embraced her. He noticed Shining Armor was giving off a miserable look as well. He couldn't figure out if was for Twilight's expense or not.

When Twilight stopped crying, she wiped away tears to face her sad parents. "So… do you know where she is? You told us a long time ago that she went somewhere and wouldn't be back until the time was right…"

Celestia lowered her head, "I do not… I was just as upset at Cadence's disappearance as all of you were… It was Luna who announced her daughter's departure… All she told me was that Cadence was safe and fine. I never questioned what had happened because I saw the pain in my sister's eyes… The same pain I felt when I lost Sombra…" She held her husband's hoof and he grasped it, "When I nearly lost you, my darlings… And when I thought Sweetie Belle was lost to us…"

"So… only Aunt Luna knows?" asked Twilight.

"Yes…" her mother replied, "but it's a tough subject for her. It'd be best not to mention anything unless she says something first…"

The girls nodded in agreement.

Twilight said, "Yes, Mother, and thank you…" she turned towards Shining Armor, but saw he wasn't there anymore.

Shining Armor ran outside. He heard enough of what happened to Cadence. At first, he thought he could return to Canterlot to see if he could see her. All that time ago, Cadence was busy learning to be a princess just as he was starting his commission with the royal guard. When he returned to Canterlot to see her, he learned that she had suddenly disappeared! He made it to the gardens where they had first met and had met there ever since… He found the tree where she had found him. He saw it still had their nicknames 'Shiny + Cady' in a heart. He slumped by it in despair, wondering if he would ever see his sweetheart again…

Cadence was preparing for the trip that was first thing in the morning. She knew that the Breezies had to get an early start when the portal opened up and that they had to catch a breeze to activate their magic to help them get across Equestria.

"I can't wait to see how things have changed since I've gone…" she climbed in a large walnut-shaped bed. "I wonder how the girls have grown… I wonder if they found special some ponies to be in love with…" Then, she thought of another pony, one who was very dear to her heart… "I wonder how Shining Armor is…" She closed her eyes and memories of meeting Shining Armor in the Canterlot gardens came to her.

She waved him over, "Shiny!"

He rushed over with a wide grin on his face.

They soon talked about how their days were and enjoyed each other's company. When it was almost time for her to go, he quickly used his magic to crave into the tree where they first met. She saw him writing their nicknames and drew a heart around it. She was so touched by the gesture that she gave him a kiss on the cheek, which made him go red all over.

She found herself crying, "Oh, Shiny… How things could have been different…" She cried herself to sleep.

The next morning had arrived as the large group of Breezies was ready to venture out into the world on their quest for pollen. Sea Breeze was in the front of the pack with Cadence right behind him. He shouted a command in the Breezie language and they all went through the portal.

Cadence felt her heart fluttering. She was finally on her way back home. She was excited, but scared at the same time. To calm herself, she started singing, "Heart, don't fail me now… Courage, don't desert me… Don't turn back, now that we're here… Ponies always say life is full of choices… No one ever mentions fear… Or how the world came seem so vast, on a journey… To the past! Somewhere down this road, I know someone's waiting, years of dreams just can't be wrong! Arms will open wide; I'll be safe and wanted, finally home where I belong! Well, starting now I'm learning fast… On this journey… To the past! Home, love, family… There was once a time I must have had them too… Home, love, family… I will never be complete until I find you! One step at a time, one hope then another, who knows where this road may go! Back to who I was… On to find my future… Things my heart still needs to know… Yes, let this be a sign… Let this road be mine! Let it lead me to my past… And bring me home… At last!"

At the castle, it was morning chaos, literally…

Screw Ball was crying and Fluttershy tried to comfort her daughter.

"Oh, what is it, baby? Are you hungry? Do you need to release gas? You want to play with your blocks?" Then, in one sniff, she knew what it was, "Oh… Discord!"

He popped up to her, "Yeah, honey?"

"Can you change Screwy while I finish packing for home?"

"Sure!" he teleported Screwy in his arms and he smelled the stink, "Woo-wee! That's a stinker!" He told his daughter at eye level and said in baby-talk, "Probably because you are one, aren't you, my little atrocity…?" The stink grew stronger. He had a clothes' pin on his nose and took his daughter in the next room.

Fluttershy was getting a bag ready when she suddenly heard shouts.

"Hold still! Ow!" There was a tinkle sound, "Hey! Give me that water squirter! Don't make this any-" There was a clang and a bang.

That made Fluttershy shout out, "Is everything okay in there?!"

"Fine! Just fine! No need to- Ah! Get down from there!" He stuck his head out, "No need to be concern!" he went back.

"Oh, my…"

In their guest room, Applejack was trying to feed Apple Jewel some ground-up gems.

"Come on now, Jewel. Have a bite for Mama?"

She fussed in her high chair.

"Now how can you not like it if you never tried it?"

And still she fussed.

"You know it would be easier if Daddy helps out!"

"Hey!" Spike called from the bed, "I had to stay up all night with her! Now it's your turn!" he flopped the pillow on his face.

"But you know she never eats a new gem combo without her daddy taste-testing it first! I would eat it except… Ponies don't eat gems…"

He groaned and sulked out of bed. He took the spoon from Applejack, "Watch Daddy, Jewel." He took a bite and swallowed it. "See? It's good, now you try."

Apple Jewel opened her mouth widely and Spike fed her until it was all gone. Spike wiped his claws, "And that's how it's done."

Jewel had a funny look on her face and suddenly, she let out a burp that spouted out green fire, which charcoaled Spike's face. Applejack tried to contain her laughter and giggled out, "That's how it's done, alright…"

In the next room over, Rainbow shouted out, "Whirl Wind!"

The young colt flew in, "Yeah, Mom?"

"Where did you put my timer?"

"Oh… um…" he gulped.

Her eyes slit at him, "What happen?"

Sweat rolled down his face until he blurted out, "We were using it to time us to see who can fly faster!"

"Who's 'we'?"

"Me and Dad! I was sure I could beat him at his own pace!"

This actually intrigued her and smirked, asking, "And… did you?"

He smiled and nodded.

She wrapped her wing around her son, "Did he take it hard?"

"Nah… In fact, he's pretty proud of me, but he also claimed that he's getting older and that's why I was able to beat him so easily."

Rainbow gave a smug look and thought, Sure, you keep telling yourself that, Soar… We both know that I was always faster than you, so it's obvious that Whirl's inherited that…

"Aren't you going to ask me for what happened to the timer?" her son questioned.

"Uh? Oh, yeah! So what exactly happened to it and where's your lazy father?"

"Well… you see, when we were getting back to the castle, I… accidently dropped it…"

She sighed.

"I'm really sorry, Mom…"

"Oh, well. It wasn't that great a timer." she rubbed his head. "I can always get a new one."

"As for Dad, he went to see Aunt Spitfire and Aunt Fleetfoot before we left today."

She nodded in understanding. She knew her husband was still a Wonderbolt, even if he wasn't doing very many performances lately. When he married her and became a prince, he had to give up most of his performing times. Soarin' tried to hide it, but Dash knew better. Her husband missed performing for the adoring crowds. If she was in his position, she would feel the same way…

Across the hallway, Cotton Candy was bounced back and forth between her parents.

"Is it time to go yet?" she asked her mother.

"Not yet." Pinkie replied.

"Is it time to go yet?" she asked her father.

"Not yet." replied Cheese.

She kept repeating the question until her parents had to shout, "No!"

Pinkie gave a sigh and said, "Why don't you see Grandma and Grandpa quick before we leave?"

"Okay!" she bounced out of the room.

Both husband and wife sighed in relief and had their backs against each other.

Rarity was packing things up when she felt a kick and she called for her son, "Dignity, sweetheart, could you help Mummy pack? I need to eat something for your baby brother or sister."

"Yes, Mother!" he came to take over.

Fancy Pants already had a glass of orange juice waiting for her.

She magically took it to drink, "Thank you, dearest."

"It's my pleasure."

"I'm so excited. Finally, just one more month to go! We're going to have to narrow down that list of baby names when we get home."

"But of course."

They were about to lean in for a kiss when they heard a grunt and a yelp. They turned back to see their son on the floor with an overloaded suitcase that popped back open.

Rarity sighed as Fancy went over, "I'll get it. You just take it easy now."

"Thank you…"

Twilight was hard at work as usual, trying to make sure everything was in place. "Let's see… books, check… toys, check… quills, check… parchment, check…"

"Honey, I think that's everything." pointed Flash.

"Hold on. I'm going to double-check the check list to make sure we didn't miss a thing!"

"But didn't you just…" Fire started, but his dad stopped him.

"Your mother likes to be very thorough, so no use fighting it…" After six and a half years of being married to Twilight, Flash got use to her antics of keeping everything in order. As the next queen of Equestria, it was important for Twilight to have everything under control.

There was a knock at the door and Shining Armor came in.

"Hey, just thought I would give you a hoof with any luggage you have ready?"

Twilight beamed and started to say, "That would be-"

But Flash quickly said, "That won't be necessary! I got it!" He started carrying out the bags around his body.

Shining asked, "Sure you don't need help there?"

"No, no! I can…" he struggled, "…do this!" He slowly got out of the door. Fire Spark followed after him.

Twilight looked on with confusion and addressed Shining, "Sorry about that… Usually, Flash lets any pony help out. I don't know why he wants to do things by himself suddenly…"

"It's okay. No big deal. You got an amazing husband there."

"He is pretty special, just like you."

"Is that why you fell in love with him? Because he reminded you of me?"

"Sort of, but there were also many other reasons why I love Flash…"

"Just like when I loved Cadence…" he sighed.

She grasped his shoulder in comfort, "Shining Armor, I'm sorry… I had no idea that Cadence's disappearance was a secret kept by my aunt. Like you, I thought she was sent to learn about being a princess. I thought she would be back before my sisters and I got married, but it's been so long now that I'm starting to think there's more than what my aunt's letting on…"

"Is there any way for you find out the truth?"

"Maybe, but Aunt Luna keeps things to herself a lot. It'll be hard to reach out to her about her missing daughter, especially if she doesn't want about talk it. As my mother said, she would have to talk first…"

Shining Armor pondered on this. She was right: Princess Luna was mysterious and any information he could get about Cadence could be lost if he provoked the princess. No matter how desperately he wanted to find her, he would have to be patient and let Twilight handle this.

He nodded his head in agreement.

Chapter 3

Author's Note

Luna's lullaby is from Lady and the Tramp. Now here's where things pick up a bit.

Chapter 3

Luna pulled the drapes in as her sister's sun shone right through the window. She did this every day as soon as she had lowered the moon and Celestia raised the sun. She set up her bed, knowing she would need her rest for tonight's activities. She did not want to see Celestia's grandchildren off, for it would only remind her of what could have been… At this point of time, she too could've had grandchildren of her own had her daughter been there.

Cadence… Our time together may have been cut short, but I will always treasure the time we have spent since your birth…

Raising a daughter of the night was fairly easier than most ponies would think. Cadence cried awake every night and because Luna's duties happened at night, it was simple to satisfy her child's needs so quickly. Another reason was that mother and daughter both slept throughout most of the day, making it more stress-free. The crib was right by Luna's bed, making it comfortable for Luna to reach for her daughter if anything went wrong.

She could remember one tranquil night when Cadence was having trouble going back to sleep, so Luna rocked her while sitting in a rocking chair and sang to her.

"La-la-lu… La-la-lu… Oh, my little star sweeper… I'll sweep the stardust for you… La-la-lu… La-la-lu… Little soft, fluffy sleeper… Here comes a pink cloud just for you… La-la-lu… La-la-lu… Little wandering angel… Fold up your wings… Close your eyes… La-la-lu… La-la-lu… And may love be your keeper… La-la-lu… La-la-lu…"

And just like that, she went to sleep peacefully. Luna gently set her baby girl back in her crib, looking on with pride.

As time went on, Cadence started to get up more in the daytime, so Luna arranged with Celestia that her daughter played with her sister's daughters while Luna slept. There were days that Luna could play with Cadence as long as it was early in the morning and that every night as Luna went to go perform her duties, she would tell Cadence fascinating tales before she went to bed. Even though she was supposed to visit her subjects' dreams, she went into Cadence's dreams often so they could spend more time together.

Luna actually named her daughter Mi Amora Cadenza when she was born, but later on, she just named her Cadence for short. Cadence's full name was rarely used around her family. All her cousins called her Cadence and so did her Aunt Celestia and Uncle Sombra.

As Cadence continued to grow, Luna still saw her daughter every morning and every night. She would tell her mother all about her day. Whenever it was time spent with her aunt or uncle or her cousins, it made Luna feel happy knowing her daughter was content in her life. Everything was going so well for the two of them until… that day…

Luna pulled the covers up as she tried to get comfortable. But thinking about Cadence had made it hard to do so. Someday, my daughter… someday, we'll be together again…

Celestia hugged each of her daughters and grandchildren while kissing the babies. Sombra shook his son-in-laws' hooves or claws.

Celestia said, "Goodbye, my darlings…"

The girls did random goodbyes to their parents as Twilight said, "We'll be back in time for the Grand Galloping Gala."

Rarity pointed out, "But with our wedding anniversary coming up, we'll be quite busy in the meantime."

A couple of groans came from the guys and Spike whispered to Soarin', "Like did she had to remind us of that?"

Cheese whispered in, "Don't worry, I got it all planned out."

Soarin' mentioned, "That is if the girls don't think of something first… For the last six years, they've always managed to get the better surprise for us."

Discord popped into between them, getting into a small huddle, "Not this year! We'll beat them at their own game!"

"How?" questioned Spike.

"It's simple…" He whispered the rest of the plan.

Meanwhile, most of the sisters were in a huddle, too, thinking over a surprise for their anniversary.

"That reminds me," said Rainbow, "What are we going to do for an anniversary surprise this year?"

"Yeah," agreed Applejack, "every year, they get the better surprise for us."

Fluttershy went, "Mm-hmm…"

Pinkie notioned, "Don't you worry, ladies. I got a surefire way to make this the best anniversary surprise ever!"

"We're all ears." said AJ.

Pinkie whispered the plan.

On their way to the train station, and while being in the back of the group, Twilight noticed Flash had a stone expression as he watched Shining Armor escorting them. This concerned her as she had noticed Flash's strange behavior toward Shining Armor since they met.

Maybe it's just his need to impress the captain of the royal guard…? she thought, Flash was after all a guard before he married me to be a prince. Perhaps it's his way of showing how capable he was during his training and that marrying me has nothing to do with wanting to earn a higher status… I know Flash didn't want to marry me because I was a princess. It's mainly because he was interested in me before I told him I was one…

In Flash's head, he was thinking the exact opposite, Why does he keep looking this way towards Twilight…? I know they have history and he is my captain or… was my captain… In our kingdom of the Everfree Forest, I get to be charge of training recruits that are enlisted to us, but that's about it. Other times, I'm at Twilight's side for support knowing fully well that her sisters and she have a kingdom to run every single day. I don't know why I'm feeling this way. It's obvious he knows we're married and Twilight is by my side most of the time, but when I see them together like that… It upsets me…

Shining Armor was in his own thoughts as he admired how Twilight and her husband, Flash, were walking side-by-side. It reminded him of Cadence and him taking walks around Canterlot. He couldn't help but smirk at how Twilight had grown over the years. She used to be that cute, playful filly and now was this strong and resourceful young mare. He never once doubted that she would turn out that way. She was, after all, the next queen… He would serve her for the rest of his days.

Suddenly, he saw Flash give him a hard glance that was almost as if he was being threatened… Shining furrowed his brow in confusion as to why Flash would give him such a look. As everyone else boarded the train, Twilight said to him, "It was so good to see you again. I hope we see each other soon…"

Shiny smiled, "Me, too…" He saluted to Flash, "Flash."

He saluted back, giving off an emotionless face, "Sir…" He quickly boarded the train.

Twilight turned back to Shining Armor with an apologetic look, "I'm really sorry about Flash. He doesn't normally act this way…"

"It's fine. I'm sure he has a good reason."

"I hope so…" Then with a determined look, she said, "We will find Cadence… I promise you that…"

"I will wait for as long as it takes. Cadence means everything to me…"

The train whistled and the conductor shouted out, "All aboard!"

"You better go." he said.

She nodded as she gave him a hug, which Flash had regrettably seen through the car window, causing a pang in his heart.

She let go and ran to the door as it shut behind her and the train pulled away.

Some minutes later, as Twilight and Flash sat, she noticed him being quiet and giving her concerned looks when he thought she wasn't looking.

She was about to ask what was wrong until Fluttershy addressed them all.

"Oh! I almost forgot! It is time for the Breezies to come gather their pollen in Equestria! We'll have to create a breeze for them when they pass through Ponyville!"

Twilight gasped, "That's right! Thank you for reminding me!" She quickly scribbled something on a long list of parchment.

Aside from the duties they did at their castle, the sisters had personal assignments to take care of. Fluttershy, for example, was in charge of knowing all living creatures, magical or not, and how important they were to Equestria. Rainbow Dash would check local weather teams to make sure that the weather was right on schedule. Applejack supervised the food supply in towns surrounding the Everfree Forest. Rarity managed charity organizations. Pinkie would spread joy to keep ponies' spirits high, even if things seemed tough.

"When do you think they'll arrive?" Rarity asked.

Fluttershy replied, "I'm not sure, but it'll be pretty soon. Of that I am certain."

The train kept chugging on.

Cadence looked around her surroundings while moving with the breeze.

Oh, Equestria is so lovely… I've never went beyond Canterlot when I was younger. That is, until I was sent to live with the other Breezies… I do hope we pass Canterlot, even if I won't see my mother with it being the daytime. But seeing Aunt Celestia and Uncle Sombra and the girls would be just as wonderful.

She smiled as she recalled the times she spent with her cousins.

A picnic blanket was set up on the grass of the gardens. Cadence brought over a basket and set it down on the blanket. Six fillies shortly joined her as they sat down.

Pinkie bounced in excitement and so did Twilight as Pinkie asked, "Did you make the cookies?! Did you? Did you?!"

Cadence giggled and she replied, "Yes, I did, and they're your favorite: chocolate chip."

"Yay!" both Twilight and Pinkie cheered.

Cadence started going through the basket, "Now let's see if I brought everyone's favorites… A garden salad for Fluttershy…"

"Oh, thank you…" said the shy princess.

"…tiny hoof sandwiches for Rarity…"

"Wonderful!" exclaimed the pampered filly.

"…apple fritters for Applejack…"

"Yee-haw!" Young Applejack shouted out in joy.

"…oats for Rainbow Dash…"

"Alright!" the speedy filly cheered.

"…cupcakes with pink frosting for Pinkie Pie…"

"Yum!" the little energetic filly took a bite.

"…and a daisy sandwich for Twilight…" She magically handed it to the young unicorn.

"I'm so lucky to have you as my cousin!"

"I'm the one who's lucky, Twilight… You girls are the best friends I could ask for…I can count on you if I'm ever in trouble…"

"We can count on you too, Cadence!" said Fluttershy.

"That's right! You covered for us when we tried to get to the cookie jar in the kitchen!" gestured Pinkie.

"And we would have been so in trouble if Applejack had opened her mouth while Mom tried to find out the truth!" pointed Rainbow. "She was totally cracking under the pressure!"

"I couldn't help it! It was the first time we did something behind her back and I didn't want to lie to her!"

Rarity said, "But thankfully, you came to our rescue and took the blame. We owe you one."

"Don't worry about it. I know how hard it is to want some sweets before a meal." she winked. "Come on, let's enjoy this delicious looking picnic, then we'll go play. How's that?"

Some of them nodded their heads while the others did random cheers and began to eat.

Cadence smiled at her memory, I know they couldn't do anything to stop my curse from happening. I may not remember much about it… but I do know that it makes me glad that they weren't there when it had happened… They could've shared the same fate as me… I remember Aunt Celestia wanted Uncle Sombra and her to take the girls to their home in the Everfree Forest while my mother would look after Canterlot. I in meantime stayed by her side as I saw her handle the jobs that were needed to be taken care of. She started off great in the morning. It wasn't till the afternoon that I noticed she was growing tired, obviously deprived of the sleep she needed during the day to perform her duties at night. I managed to help her to get through the rest. The day was almost done as we decided to take a break in the gardens… But then it gets fuzzy for me… A pair of glowing of eyes watching us… A burst of magic overpowering me… I'm suddenly a Breezie and my mother was crying…

She looked over to Sea Breeze and she remembered first meeting him.

Mother had taken me to where she knew the Breezies would be pollinating at the time. She showed me to them and they welcomed me with open arms. It was then that Sea Breeze showed a practical side to him and Mother asked him to help look after me. He accepted the responsibility, though as time went on, he thought I did alright on my own… Of course… I never did get the chance to say goodbye to my family and… Shining Armor… She sighed, We sure had some fun times even if some of those fun times led us into trouble…

Cadence and Shining were running around in the gardens. Cadence was in the lead and she taunted him, "Come on, slowpoke!" She giggled while using her wings.

He panted, "Well, I'd be going faster if you weren't cheating!"

"I said let's have a race. I didn't say how we could race, so anything goes." she smirked.

He groaned, "Cadence, I swear, if I didn't lov-" Suddenly, the ground underneath him gave way and he began falling and yelling.

Cadence gasped when she saw that and went to the hole. She called out, "Shiny! Are you alright?!"

Shining gave out a cough and he looked around to see crystals shining in the light made by the hole. He called up to his best friend, "I'm okay! But I don't know where I am!"

"I think you're in the caves beneath Canterlot!"

"Well, how do I get out?"

"Can you try teleporting?"

"Teleportation spells aren't really my thing! I can only do shield spells!"

"Hold on, I'll come down to you!" she flapped down and saw the crystals gleaming, "Whoa…"

"Yeah, if not for me being trapped here, this place wouldn't be half bad."

"I'll try lifting you up." she went above him and wrapped her hooves around him. She flapped her wings hard and sweat rolled down her face. Finally, she gave up trying. "Did you gain weight this summer?"

"Hey! My weight's been constant!"

"Well, lucky for you, Mister-Constant-Weight…"

He slumped, "So now what do we do?"

"Hmm… I may not be able to lift you on my own… But if I get some vines, they should help… I'll be back." she flew up to the hole.

He shouted out, "Take your time!"

She rolled her eyes and yelled back, "Very funny!"

Minutes later, a long vine rope came down to him and Cadence told him, "Grab on!"

Using his magic, he did as he was told and wrapped his hooves around the vine as well. Cadence positioned herself next to a tree while holding on the vine rope. Using her magic, she began to pull him up with all of her might. In a few minutes, he came out. Once he came onto the ground, she let go of the rope and she rushed to embrace him. He returned it.

He said, "Let's get this hole covered up so no pony goes through what I had to go through."

She nodded and they quickly found a couple of big rocks to cover up the large hole. "That should do it…" she said.

"I owe you for this…"

"It was nothing. You would have done the same for me…"

"You bet I would have…" He wrapped his hoof around her.

She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek, which made him go pink. Then, using her magic, she untied her blue hair ribbon. To Shiny, she looked more beautiful than she had ever been before. Then, she tied her ribbon around his neck, making him confused.

She explained, "I want you to keep this ribbon as a way to remember me if I'm not here…"

"Oh, I could never forget you…"

"You're so sweet…" they stared into each other's eyes until a loud booming voice came from the castle.

"MI AMORA CANDENZA! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Cadence then realized that the moon had risen and that her mother was looking for her now. "Uh-oh… I have to go!" She took for the castle and she shouted back to Shiny, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

He hollered back, "I'll be here! I'll always be here for you!"

She smiled at the thought and flew off…

Shining Armor opened the door to his quarters of the castle. He slowly made it to his desk, where he had to do paperwork for security measures, draftees, and a list of names of the Royal Guard. He wasn't getting into the work right away as he opened a drawer from the desk and took out a small box. He opened it and it revealed some of his personal items from his younger days of being in the Royal Guard and a drawing Twilight made when she was a filly, which was of him, her, and Cadence. Then, at the bottom of the box was a blue ribbon, which Cadence wore before she gave it to him as a remembrance of her. Even without the ribbon, Shining never forgot the mare of his dreams, no matter how long it had been…

"As I told you… I never forgot you… No pony could ever take your place… I love you, Cadence… I wish I had told you that before it was too late… but I love you… From the moment I find you again, I will tell you that… I promise…" he stuffed the ribbon into his uniform and went to work.

Chapter 4

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 5

"Break a curse?" Discord questioned while rattling a rattle at Screw Ball on a blanket. "I may have extraordinary powers, but I am not a miracle worker." he baby-talked to his daughter, "Isn't that right, Screwy?" He gave her a tickle and she giggled.

"Are you serious? With all that mumbo-jumbo you have there, you can't break a single spell?!" yelled AJ.

"For starters, Honest Applejack, magic has rules even mine, not to mention that magic always comes with a price. For example, I was imprisoned in stone for a very long time for the use of my chaos magic. And let's not forget your daddy's curse. There was no way I would've been able to break that much darkness surrounding him. In fact, I think my powers cause curses instead of breaking them."

"So there really isn't anything you can do?" questioned Twilight.

"What I know is that a curse can only be undone by the person that cast the curse in the first place, or that the spell can be reversed through a powerful alternative."

"You mean like our act of true love to our father?" asked Twilight.

"Precisely."

"So now what do we do?" Applejack questioned as they walked down the hallway after leaving Discord.

"Well…" Twilight thought it over, "…Cadence will be living with us for a while, so we best find a safe place for her to sleep until I can find a way to break her spell. Each of us will take a turn watching her."

"I reckon Fluttershy should be the first since she knows all about Breezies and with Cadence being one…"

"Actually, I was hoping I would get first watch, mainly so I can study her cursed form and find anything to help us out." Another reason that she wanted to watch Cadence was because she wanted to talk to her about Shining Armor and how he'd been looking for her ever since he came home. Twilight was the only one who knew about their relationship growing over the years and that she was Pinkie promised by Cadence not to tell the other girls or their parents about Shining Armor sneaking in to see Cadence.

"Whatever you think is best. You are, after all, the next queen." AJ winked.

Twilight shook her head, "I may be queen after Mother and Father have gone, but I couldn't rule the kingdom without all of you. But I tell you, sometimes I wonder if they made the right choice…"

"How so?"

"By birthright, Fluttershy and Rarity are the eldest, so the crown should have gone to them instead."

"Maybe, but Fluttershy would have gotten stressed from the constant attention, and Rarity, as organized as she is, would get stressed, too, if the demands were too much for her. As for me, I can keep a level head, but sitting around when things can get done already, I don't have the patience for that, you know that. Same can said for Rainbow, not to mention she's got a short fuse, and Pinkie… need I say more…?"

Twilight giggled.

"What I'm saying, sugar cube, is I can speak for the rest of us that we're glad that Mom and Dad chose you to take over for them… You may be our little sister, but you're what keeps us together and knows what to do if things take a turn for the worst. We need you."

Twilight was touched and wrapped her hoof around her older sis. "Thanks Applejack. That means a lot to me."

"Aw, shucks, twas nothing. Now, I believe we got a cousin that needs your help more than anything at this point."

Twilight nodded her head in determination.

Once she told the plan to the rest of her sisters, they agreed and Fluttershy quickly thought of using a birdhouse as Cadence's sleeping quarters. Cadence went into the house as Twilight took her back to her apartment. She showed her cousin where she and Flash slept and where their son slept. She also showed the kitchen and small dining area. Twilight then set the birdhouse on top of a small bookcase.

"This is such a nice place you have, Twilight."

"Thank you, but I have some great news to tell you!"

"Really?! What is it? Did you find a way to break the spell?!" she said with hopeful eyes.

"Uh, no, but it's just as great!" she smiled, "Shining Armor has returned!"

"Shiny?! My Shiny?! Here?"

"Well, he's back in Canterlot, but he's been wondering where you are and wants to find to you!"

"Oh…" tears started welling in her eyes, "Oh, my Shiny… I thought… he's forgotten all about me…"

"Are you kidding?! He couldn't stop thinking about you! It was always, 'Where's Cadence?' or 'How can I find her?'. It was enough to make your heart ache for the guy!"

At that point, Flash was about to go into the room when he overheard Twilight's voice.

"That Shining Armor… He always was a goofball, but for him to show pure devotion like that… I can't help but admire him…"

Flash stiffened.

"…Who knew he had such passion that makes your heart melt…?"

That did it for him as he slowly stepped away from the door and ran off.

Twilight pointed, "It's quite obvious how he feels for you…"

Cadence couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was amazing that her Shiny would care that much for her. She felt so much joy overwhelming her.

In a tree-hut of the Everfree Forest close to the castle, a pegasus was feeling dread.

A zebra watched him pace back and forth, telling her of his worries.

Zecora proclaimed, "Your tale of woe upsets me so. No wonder you are down. A new stallion has come to town."

"What am I going to do, Zecora? I'm going to lose her!"

"Not so, my worried friend. This relationship you can mend."

"How so? I'm really on edge here."

"Your wife has a past with this stallion. Of his intentions, it is uncertain. If he is a flirtatious sir, watch how he functions around her… At the first sign of trouble, be there on the double."

"You bet I will!"

"But you must have faith in your beloved miss. Trust is essential to marital bliss. If she truly loves you, nothing will come to pass. She'll never give up her marriage for something crass."

Flash gulped. It's not that he didn't trust Twilight. He trusted her for all their years of being married, but when he heard what she said about Shining Armor, it made him questioned her fidelity. But on the other hoof, Shining Armor was always the one who would come and talk to her. Perhaps he was the one who could not be trusted and cast a spell on his wife to make her think about those things towards Shining. Zecora had said to keep a close eye on him, but how could he do that? Unless he made himself invisible then- It hit him! He had almost forgotten all about the invisibility cloak that Zecora gave him seven years ago! It was the perfect way to keep an eye on the captain and Twilight if they went off somewhere together.

A smirk spread across his face, which Zecora gave a confused look to.

He said as he was backing towards the door, "Thanks for everything, Zecora, but I have to get back now."

"It was good to see you again, my heroic friend."

"And I can't thank you enough for the cloak. I really am grateful you gave it to me when you did. Well, see ya!" He bumped against the wall before running out the door.

Zecora had a concerned look on her face as she started mixing herbs in her cauldron, "One can hope that he will not make any mistakes or his heart won't be the only one that breaks…"

While Twilight was still busy with Cadence, the other girls were in the throne room busy planning to figure what the best anniversary surprise could be this year.

"They always give the better presents!" said Rainbow, "Soarin' gave me an exercise machine a couple of years ago to help me with my wing-ups, and all I gave him was a ribbon that said 'Best Wonderbolt' on it…" she slumped.

"I know," gestured Rarity. "Last year, I gave Fancy a new suit and he gave me this gorgeous diamond necklace and matching bracelet! I felt so ashamed for giving him something so little…"

"Oh… Discord gives me such lovely presents for me and the animals while I just let him use his chaotic powers because I don't know what else to give him…" Fluttershy gave a sad face.

"For our first anniversary, Spike went on a dangerous quest for me just to pick a golden apple he knew I would love and all I got for him were gems… It makes me feel rotten that he went through all the trouble for me and all I had to offer was something for him that he eats all the time…" Applejack sighed.

"Yeah! And Cheesy gives me a super-duper party while all I give him is treats! But not this year! I'm going to give him something extra special and as we all will!"

"Let's get right to it! As long as Cadence is taken care of, we can quickly figure out a surprise that will blow their horseshoes off!" exclaimed Rainbow.

The girls huddled as they put their heads together.

The boys, except Flash, were in Spike and Applejack's apartment. Screw Ball and Apple Jewel were in their cribs taking a nap while the guys were at the dining table playing cards.

"So, any ideas on what to get the girls?" asked Soarin', "Because I'm running out of ideas for what to get Rainbow for exercise equipment. She always gives me medals and ribbons, telling me I'm the best Wonderbolt or I'm the best husband or dad. I can't compete with that!"

"I hear you," said Spike, "AJ always gives me a bag full of gems or more. She always knows I need those gems and all I can get is gifts that aren't useful to her…"

"Rarity makes me things from her heart while I try endless to find a present to match her generous heart. I'm afraid I'll slip up someday." pointed Fancy.

"And Pinkie makes such yummy desserts that my parties aren't as good compared to her delicious goodies…"

"Fluttershy lets me use my chaotic powers to liven the day. No doubt she can't think of anything else to give me. That's not her fault; after all, I can summon anything I want with the snap of my fingers. But she allows me to be freer than the days after I was released from stone. All I can do is give her things she can use and for her pets, but I feel she deserves more than that…" Discord set the cards down and clapped his hands, "So boys, if you have any ideas, let's hear them!"

"Well, it seems that the girls give us gifts from the heart while we buy and get them things." said Spike.

"So, we need to give them something from our hearts!" said Cheese.

"The question is what?" pointed Fancy.

"Hmm…" they all pondered.

Discord then realized that some pony was missing, "Hey, where's Sentry? He usually has some good ideas."

"Don't know." Spike shrugged.

Soarin' said, "I went to go get him before meeting, but Twilight said he wasn't there."

Discord stroked his beard in thought, "Well then, we'll just have to bring him here…" he tapped his fingers and gave a mischievous grin.

Flash knew the cloak had to be kept safe from those who might use it for their own purposes like pranking, which Rainbow and Pinkie do, or if his son and his cousins got their hooves on it, then they could get in or cause trouble with it. Twilight and he kept it hidden in the castle where no one would find it. He went to the library and pulled back the chair, revealing the secret passage. He was about go in when he was suddenly poofed away and found himself in the presence of his brothers-in-law.

He glared at Discord, yelling, "You know you're not supposed to teleport any pony without permission!"

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, Flashy. We need your help in figuring out an anniversary surprise for the girls."

"Every year, the girls give us gifts that they give from the heart. We're trying to figure out how to do the same." explained Spike.

Flash thought how this was true, since Twilight always gave him a book that interested him while all he could give her was flowers… except this year, things may turn out differently if he didn't do something soon and that's why he had to get back to the library to get what he needed. He turned to the guys.

"Look, I would like to help out, really, but I got my own problems to deal with…"

"Like what?" Cheese asked.

"Let's just say…" he went to the door, "…that there might not be an anniversary for me to celebrate if I don't fix something…" He left, leaving the others confused.

Spike spoke, "What was that all about?"

Discord thought out loud, "Hmm, if I didn't know better, I would say that our next king and queen are having marital problems…"

The rest of the guys blinked before going, "Nah…"

Flash got back to where he started and looked around the secret room. Sometimes to hide something is to hide it in plain sight… Then, he bumped into the chair that was covered by the invisibility cloak. He took it off, revealing the chair, and he wrapped the cloak around himself, making him invisible. He took it off and sighed in relief, "It still works…"

Now all he had to do was wait for Shining Armor and Twilight to meet again and he would follow them, which may come sooner then he thought…

Chapter 7

Author's Note

Bear with me on this one, I was trying to stay close to the original fairy-tale as much as possible, with a slight twist...

Chapter 7

Luna grumbled as she headed towards the throne room that afternoon. She was summoned from her bed because Celestia requested her presence. She got there and glared at her sister.

"This had better be important, Tia…"

"Luna, I just received a letter from Twilight that she and the girls are coming back to Canterlot and that she needs to talk to you about something. What I want to know is do you know what that could be?"

Luna shook her head, "Afraid not. I'm not sure what my niece wishes to discuss with me."

"Alright, I just thought I'd give you the heads-up."

"Thank you for that, though you could have waited until tonight to tell me this, you know…" she glared at her again.

Celestia smirked, "I know…"

She grunted while turning back towards the door and slammed it behind her. Sombra turned to his queen.

"You could have waited until tonight…"

"And let my sister have it easy? Not a chance!"

He shook his head and then he said, "So, do you think the thing that Twilight wants to talk to her aunt about is Cadence?"

Celestia sighed, "I told her to let Luna make the first move… Oh, Twilight… I really hope it's something else entirely…"

"And… if it isn't?"

"Expect the royal Canterlot voice filling the entire castle…"

He shuddered.

The end of week came faster than any pony expected as the princesses and their husbands were on the train heading for Canterlot. Cadence was in her birdhouse as Fluttershy held on to it. Their children did not accompany them this time due to it being more of a business trip than a visit to Grandma's castle.

Twilight occasionally looked at her husband, wondering what could have gone wrong all of sudden. Then she remembered that he wanted to talk to her about something, but then they had to prepare for the Breezies' arrival, only to find Cadence and began a mission to break her curse. They hadn't had a chance to sit down and just talk.

"Flash…"

"Yeah, Twi?" He turned to her.

"Um, wasn't there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh. Well, you see…" he rubbed his neck, "It's about-" He was interrupted by the train screeching to a halt and the train whistle signaling the stop.

The conductor shouted, "Canterlot! Any pony getting off?"

The royal family went out in single file onto the station and the train whistled again and chugged away.

Fluttershy handed Cadence over to Twilight as the alicorn addressed her sisters and in-laws, "Alright, we're heading to the castle. We'll see you guys later." She and Flash headed off as the others waved and wished them good luck.

Once they were gone, Rarity turned to the group, "The girls and I would like to head to the spa. You boys can do whatever in the meantime. Come on, girls!"

The girls pecked their husbands' cheeks and headed off. The boys quickly got into a huddle.

"Perfect!" said Discord. "While they have their little get-together, we can put Operation Find the Best Anniversary Present to action!" They put their hooves-or claws-together before splitting up.

The girls were already down the main street and passed the spa. Then, they came across a large department store.

Rarity declared, "Time to put Operation Find the Right Anniversary Gift into play!"

The sisters nodded in determination as they entered the store.

Twilight and Flash entered the throne room and there stood Celestia, Sombra, and Luna.

Luna went to her niece, "Twilight Sparkle, what is it you need of me?"

"Well… it's a long story, but to make it short…" She slowly turned the birdhouse around to show Cadence popping out.

Luna gasped and tears began welling in her eyes, "Cad… Cadence…?"

Cadence released a few tears, "Mother…"

"My darling!" she held her hooves out as Cadence fluttered to her mother's chest plate and Luna gently held her, "My darling… it has been so long…"

"I know…" Cadence replied, "Too long…"

Celestia, Sombra, Twilight, and Flash exchanged happy glances.

"But…" Luna frowned as she had Cadence face her, "…what are you doing here? You know it's too dangerous!"

Cadence sighed, "I knew you were going to say that…"

"Well, I am upset that you would leave the safety of a land of those in the form you are in!"

"But I couldn't take it anymore! This is my home! I am a pony like you and everyone else in this room! When I found my cousins, they took me in and wanted to help me!"

"How long?" Luna scowled.

"A week." answered Cadence.

"Aunt Luna, please. Don't be upset with Cadence because she wanted to stay with us instead of going back with the Breezies…" Twilight said.

"I am not upset about that. I am more upset that I was not informed of my daughter's return sooner."

"Mom, I'm sorry, but I knew you would be disappointed in me for not staying where I should have…"

"Cadence… I am not disappointed."

"You're not?"

"No, I can't blame you for wanting to come back to the place you were born in. As you said, this is your home. In truth, I am most happy to see you again, but I do worry for the state you're in. It is why I sent you away in the first place, you know that."

She nodded, "Yes. But I couldn't help it, Mother… I couldn't…" She landed back on the chest plate and Luna carefully wrapped her hooves around her and gently rocked her. She had done this before when Cadence was an infant.

Twilight spoke up again, "Aunt Luna… I've been looking through any books there are to break spells and curses, but I am having trouble finding the right one because I don't know how Cadence got cursed in the first place… and since Cadence's doesn't remember, that leaves only you to tell us how… Please, won't you tell us?" she begged.

Luna glanced at her niece, "My dear Twilight, I have tried endlessly to break my daughter's curse. I, too, have searched for the solution to break the spell, but it's impossible…"

"No! That can't be!" Twilight pointed to her father, "Dad thought his curse was impossible to break, but looked what happened! We declared true love for him and now he's himself again!"

"Luna, she's right," said Sombra. "I could not find the solution in any book either, but because the hope and love my daughters gave me, I was suddenly free… We thought this was a powerful curse that could never be broken, but that was not so…"

Celestia touched her younger sister's chin, "The same can happen for Cadence… but we have to know what caused the curse to begin with… So, won't you let us know?"

Luna lowered her head, "For so long, I felt it was my burden to bear, for I felt responsible for what happened to my daughter…" she released a single tear.

"But why?" Twilight questioned.

"Yes, why, Mother?" Cadence looked at the alicorn, who raised her with big eyes.

"You see, my daughter, to understand how the curse came to be, you have to understand how you came to be…" Then she looked at her sister and brother-in-law. "And it all started just as Celestia was expecting her first child…"

Luna had finished setting the moon as her sister began raising the sun.

"We should do this more often, sister." Luna said.

Celestia chuckled, "We would except for the fact we're already doing it every day and night."

"You know what I mean… We don't have fun anymore like we used to…"

"Oh, Luna…"

"I know, I know… As Sombra's queen, you have other duties to take care of… Not to mention that you will have a child soon…"

"Just because I'm starting a family doesn't mean I'll forget all about you… You're my sister. You'll always be my first family…"

"As you are mine… I'm sorry, Tia, it's just… we don't seem to hang out as we usually do."

"I understand. I miss those days, too. But I promise: we will hang out when we have the chance…" The sisters touched horns.

But that chance never came when Celestia's first daughter was born. Sombra and his love were overjoyed over their baby girl. Fluttershy was so adorable and sweet. She hardly put up a fuss and didn't cry that often. Luna watched as her sister played with her niece. While Celestia didn't shun her sister, she had Luna watch her precious daughter if a certain business needed to be taken care.

Luna actually liked looking over her little niece. It made her think that maybe she should have a child of her own, but set the idea aside. But then came the day that Celestia was expecting again. While happy for her sister and her sister's husband, Luna knew it was only make her sister busier between running a kingdom, raising a daughter, and getting ready for another child. Soon, she wouldn't have any time for her sister anymore…

The Princess of the Night knew then what she had to do… She began research about how to earn a child of her own, as silly as that was. But unlike her sister, Luna was never interested in love. She was proud of being single and didn't want any stallion to tie her down. Then, she heard of a good zebra that had strange powers and potions. She visited the zebra and made her request. The zebra told her she had no such power to give her a child, but if she were to visit the Nether Lands, she would find what she seeked.

Luna took the zebra's advice, went to the Nether Lands, and found a cave that had large gargoyle creature in it. She told the gargoyle what she told the zebra.

"So, do you have anything that can help me?" the princess asked.

The gargoyle, who was named Scorpan, pondered about this and looked around the cave, which had magical potions and bags. He reached for one of the bags that glowed purple and instructed, "In this bag is a single seed. Plant the seed in a flower pot and watch it grow into a flower."

"Let me guess: I must kiss its petals?"

"No, you must eat the flower."

"Oh."

"Once you've eaten it, its magic will flow through you and give you what you desire."

"Thank you… I am most grateful for your help." she took the bag and flew off, unaware that Scorpan gave a cringing look.

Luna did as Scorpan told her to do. She planted the seed in a pot by her bedside. Sleep soon overpowered her and the plant slowly began to grow. By the time, Luna woke up she saw a glowing pink and purple flower.

"Huzzah!" Luna cheered and started eating the flower. She chewed on it to get the flavor, "Mmm, tastes sweet and tangy…" Once she consumed the whole flower, she felt a magical surge going through her. When it stopped, she thought, "Hmm, I guess we'll see in time if it worked…"

When a few weeks passed by, Luna felt sick and her sister took this to notice. Worried about her, Celestia had the doctors check her over. Once she received the results, Celestia bellowed out.

"PREGNANT?! HOW CAN YOU BE PREGNANT?!"

"Sister, calm yourself! I can explain!"

"YOU HAD BETTER!"

"Well, you see…" She told her tale about how she was feeling left out of her big sis having children and wanted to have one, too.

Celestia gestured, "Luna! How could you been so reckless! Does he at least know?"

"What? Oh, sweet Celestia, if you just let me finish, then you'll know I wasn't being reckless at all!" She finished telling the rest of her tale and saw her sister shaking her head and sighing.

"Really, don't ever scare me like that again. But, sister, how do you know this will actually work?"

"I don't. But so far, everything has been what the gargoyle said it was. I am with child just as you are."

Celestia shook her head again.

"You are not happy?"

"Honestly, I'm more shocked then happy. But I am filled with joy for you, and I know you will make a wonderful mother…" she nuzzled her chin.

"You're not so bad yourself."

The two sisters laughed.

During their pregnancies, the sisters relied on each other about knowing what the other was going through.

Celestia had her child first and then Luna. Rarity was born and a few weeks later, Cadence was born. Luna was surprised by her daughter's appearance, but was happy nevertheless.

Things were going so well for the royal family: Celestia and Sombra had more daughters with each passing year and Cadence grew attached to all of them. The cousins were inseparable, especially with the youngest one.

Then came the day that Luna was in charge of Canterlot while her sister, brother-in-law, and nieces were gone. Cadence and her mother did the royal duties together and finally took a break by going into the gardens.

"At last! I thought we would never have a moment's peace!"

Cadence giggled, "Oh, Mother…"

"You would not be laughing, my daughter, if it was you being forced to stay awake during the day when you have duties to do at night."

"I know… but at least we got through it together."

"Indeed, I would have not been able to finish everything were it not for you, my darling…" she nuzzled her head.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, my sweet…" they touched horns.

Suddenly, there was an evil chuckle that filled the air. They turned in fear to see glowing eyes looking at them. Then, the eyes came forward, revealing a cloaked figure.

"Who are you?!" Luna demanded.

The figure chuckled, "I am Lord Tirek, and I am here to reclaim what is rightfully mine…"

"What is rightfully yours?" Luna questioned.

"Yes… You've stolen it from me a long time ago…"

"How dare you! I haven't stolen anything from you!"

"Didn't you? Well… I have someone who says otherwise since he was the one foolish enough to give it to you in the first place…"

"Wait… you can't mean…?"

"My traitorous brother… He thought he was being so helpful towards a poor princess who wanted so badly to have a child of her own…"

Cadence's eyes widened, "Mother… what does he mean?"

Luna scowled towards the feeble Tirek, "You have no claim here! It's too late! The seed had been planted and the flower grew! Cadence is my child and there is nothing you can do!"

"Nothing? Well, that's where you are wrong…" Magic accumulated between his tiny horns and shot towards Cadence. In a flash, the magic swallowed her and she slowly shrank down and spouted wings and an antenna.

Once the magic spell was done, Luna cried out, "NO! CANDENCE!"

Cadence lifted herself up only to realize that everything around her was so huge and big and that she was so tiny. She looked up to her mother, who was crying.

"Now, hand her over to me!" Tirek demanded.

"Never!" Luna scooped up her daughter and flew her away.

Tirek cried out as Luna was flying away with her daughter in her hooves, "May there be misfortune upon the rest of your family! Let them suffer just I have!"

Luna didn't take his words to heart, but she should have, because shortly after Cadence was cursed, the Nightmares and Chrysalis attacked the sisters' old castle. Sombra was cursed, forcing Luna's sister to be alone. Then years later, her nieces were forced to be in an arranged marriage and were kidnapped by the Changeling Queen. Sometime later when everything else was thought to be fine, the younger daughters of the king and queen of Canterlot were nearly killed while being away and almost lost the ones they loved.

When Luna had found the Breezies, she saw that her daughter was shaking from the whole ordeal. She decided to ease her daughter's pain by altering her memories to make her only remember that she got cursed, but not who caused it. It was heartbreaking to see her only child go, but she knew it was for the best. She would be in a place that helped her small size, where she would be safe from Tirek from ever finding her…

Luna kept her head down when she finished her story. The entire room was quiet until Celestia said, "Oh, Luna… Why didn't you tell me…?"

"I didn't know how… And mainly because it was my fault that it was I who needed to correct the wrongs that have been done by me…"

"Luna, you haven't done anything wrong…"

"But I caused the unhappiness that has been placed on all of us…"

"Stop blaming yourself for something you had no control over!" Cadence yelled, "You did the right thing when you kept me away from him! I am proud to call you my mother! Without you, I never would have existed, and I can't thank you enough for that…"

"And I'm grateful, too," said Twilight. "We all are…"

"Yes, little sister…" Celestia had Luna face her, "Your daughter was meant to live with you and us… How she came to be will never change that… Tirek had no right to take away what you had officially give birth to…"

"So… you're not upset and angry?"

"I'm not angry, but I am upset that you didn't tell me this, then we could have found a way to break Cadence's spell much sooner…"

Luna sighed, "I'm sorry…"

"What matters is finding a way now."

"Yes…" she turned to Twilight. "Niece, I have tried using every spell I know of, but I'm not quite gifted in magic such as you. Perhaps it shall be you who breaks my daughter's curse."

"I will try, and I have been, but now that I know the whole story, it gives me a better idea of what to look for. So I thank you for that."

"You're quite welcome. Now if you'll excuse us, my daughter and I have some catching up to do." she smiled down at the Breezie as she returned it.

Once mother and daughter left the room, Celestia looked to her own daughter.

"I cannot express how happy I am to see my sister smiling like that again… I was afraid at first that the thing you wanted to talk about was just about Cadence. I didn't expect you to actually show Cadence."

"Believe me, I was very nervous about telling her."

Flash chuckled, "Yeah, her knees were buckling all week long."

She playfully nudged him, "Yeah, right."

"So where are the rest of your sisters?" Sombra asked.

"Going around Canterlot. They may be having some anniversary gift issues…"

"Ah…" Sombra nodded in understanding.

"I take it you two already have your gifts for each other?" Celestia questioned.

"Um…" both exchanged cringed glances.

"I might have been slightly busy with duties and helping Cadence…" said Twilight, giving a half smile.

"Right! And I've been pretty busy, too!" said Flash, giving off a nervous look.

"Well, there's still time before the big day, so now would be a good time as any…" pointed Celestia.

"Of course!" said Twilight as she was turning to the door. "Planning ahead, that's what helps! Well, see you tonight!" She ran out the door.

"Totally!" He bowed to his in-laws and ran out as well.

Sombra and Celestia gave each other concerned looks.

"It seems that things have been tense for the two of them…" said Sombra.

"The question is: will things get better for them…?" she asked.

"One can hope so… one can hope so…" he wrapped his hoof around his beloved wife, who looked on with worry.

Chapter 8

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 9

"I'm sorry, Twilight… It's my fault for not telling you sooner…"

"It was my fault, too… I knew something was wrong, but I didn't make it my top priority to figure it out…"

They embraced until they heard a chuckle. They turned to face Shining Armor, who was sitting at the dining table with them.

"I just can't believe you would be jealous of me! Sure, Twilight's a great mare and all, but honestly, she's like the little sister I couldn't have…"

Twilight giggled, "It's true, and he was like the big brother the girls and I didn't have…"

"Wow…" Flash hoof-palmed, "I really was being an idiot…"

"But you're right: I should have told you about Shining Armor before, then this all could have been easily avoided. I guess the reason I never said anything about him was mainly because there was nothing to tell. Since he was never around, I didn't have to explain." Then she smirked, "You know… despite the spying… I am quite flattered that you would be jealous over a stallion that you thought was an old flame…"

He blushed, "Well, um… it was more like there was someone before me who held your heart first… I had hoped it was me who you loved first…"

"Oh, Flash…" she nuzzled him, "Of course you were… And you had obviously forgotten that we are true loves, destined to be forever…"

"Forever and ever!" pointed Pinkie across the table.

"By the way…" he said to the guys, "Thanks for the help back there… This wouldn't have been possible without you…"

"Hey, we husbands got to stick together." said Discord, "If one of us makes a mistake, we all do."

"How noble of you!" said Rarity.

"Yeah… just don't expect it to happen all the time…" Soarin' pointed.

The group laughed.

Upstairs, Luna and Cadence had finished telling each other all that had happened while Cadence was away.

Luna took out a photo out that had her, Celestia, and her nieces in it, without Cadence and Sombra. She said, "Things certainly weren't the same without you and your uncle…"

"Oh…"

"But I kept every item you owned by my side, so I would always remember you, my darling daughter… like this precious item…" She took out a drawing and showed it to Cadence.

She giggled, "I remember, but I also remember the comment Twilight made about it. She said how it looked like a pig riding a donkey… I was upset at her for a whole week, mainly because… she was right…"

Luna chuckled, "It truly is wonderful to have you here again… I've missed your presence, my darling…"

"I missed you too, Mother… Now that I'm back, nothing can ever separate us again."

"I believe you are right…" she smiled down at her Breezie daughter, unaware that they were being watched.

A weak Tirek looked through his magic mist, which created an image of both mother and daughter reuniting after all these years.

"So they think…" Then he turned to a portrait of him and his brother Scorpan, "You really shouldn't have given away the last magic seed…This is your fault that things came to be… They wouldn't have to suffer so much had you not interfered…" He started throwing darts at his brother's side of the portrait. "Oh, how you begged and pleaded with me how you were helping a poor princess who wasn't able to have children of her own… But you betrayed me… You knew I needed those seeds to keep myself strong. I can only do so much to drain a pony's magic to keep myself alive… Now the girl is the only thing that has the power of the seed to give me what I need…"

He looked around his underground lair, "Once I have her, I can rise to power just as I have long ago… And nothing will stand in my way!"

"Uh, Master?" said a voice.

"What?!" he yelled, looking at the three earth ponies, who had just arrived and cringed when they heard his tone. They were the same ponies that were selling merchandise on the streets of Canterlot. It was the grey pony named Silver Shill who had spoken.

"Um… We couldn't find anything that you requested… sir…"

"It doesn't matter. Just keep an eye out for anything that might hail my interest…"

"Like a bunch of princesses that were out shopping?" Suri Polomare pointed out.

"The daughters of Celestia and Sombra?" Tirek questioned.

"That's them. Apparently, they were shopping for gifts for their husbands."

"Hm, no doubt they are all useless colts…"

"Some of them are, but would it interest you if one of them married a dragon and the other a weird creature?"

"Weird? How weird?"

"He has the body of all kinds of different animals and the power to shift-shape, because he was a pony at first before I saw him turning into that thing."

"Interesting… What you have described is a creature I once thought was beaten and imprisoned… He could be quite useful in the near future…"

"But isn't he going to be working for the other side?" Silver Shill asked.

"Oh, I'm sure with a little persuasion… he'll come immediately to our side…" Tirek calculated, "And this could work very well with our plans…" He thought, Though it's really my plan… These ponies serve a purpose for now, but once I've gained back my full power, I will have no use for them anymore… He mentally chuckled to himself.

His first minion, Suri Polomare, sought him out to get on top and she was willing to hurt anyone who stood in the way. The second minion, Coco Pommel, was Suri's assistant. She had a bad life and Tirek promised to make that life better for her. And the third, Silver Shill, came to him by accident and he tried to trick Tirek, but couldn't get away with it. Now he had to offer servitude to repay for what he had done. The three of them were his eyes and ears in the above world and would perform errands at Tirek's bidding.

"What should we do now, Master?" questioned Suri.

"Wait. Wait and see what happens next. Then report to me what you've discovered."

The trio nodded and said, "Yes, Master…" They turned to go, leaving Tirek to watch the Princess of the Night and her cursed daughter.

Luna said, "I have something for you…" She went to go retrieve a box and opened it, revealing a small golden crown with a purple jewel in the middle. Cadence gasped at the sight of it as Luna explained, "It was supposed to be a present for your sixteenth birthday… but because of, well… I couldn't give it to you. But maybe now, with your cousin figuring a way to break the spell, you can finally be able to wear it, as it is your birthright…"

"Oh, Mother… it's beautiful…"

"It is. I can't wait for the day I'll be able to place it upon your head."

She smiled as they kept talking.

The sisters and their husbands were making their way to their rooms just as they were walking up the steps.

Pinkie asked Twilight, "Well, what we do now for our anniversary?"

"Um… I'm not sure, since gift exchange doesn't work anymore."

They slowly passed the girls' old room. Rarity noticed and pointed out, "You know, being in our old room bought back such wonderful memories… My favorite is finding the underground kingdom…"

"Hey, mine, too." said Rainbow.

"I'll be, so do I." said Applejack.

"Me, too! Me, too!" bounced Pinkie.

"My goodness," said Fluttershy. "That goes for me, too."

Twilight smiled, "It's my favorite, as well…" She opened the doors. They stepped into the room and went towards the cutie mark tiles.

"Do you think it still works?" questioned Rainbow.

"We'll soon see…" Twilight then stepped on Fluttershy's tile and a glow happened, causing the group to smile. She then stepped on the others and more glows happen. When she stepped on her tile, the portal opened up and the stairs appeared.

They exchanged glances and nodded. Twilight led the way and the rest followed.

Everything was just as they had left it seven years ago. The boat was still there, the gold and silver castle was there, the gold flowers were there, and the golden ballroom was still shining and pristine as ever.

Rarity gleamed at the sight and squealed, "Oh, it's still gorgeous!"

"Just like you…" Fancy whispered in her ear, causing her face to light up and gave him a big wet kiss.

The couples looked around as they remembered that special night together.

Spike and Applejack went to the front steps. Spike pointed, "As I recall, I was asking you why you wanted me here with you while your sisters had dates…"

She blushed.

"And that we almost had our first kiss…" he smirked.

"Darn tootin'! I still wish we had it right then and there…" she winked.

"Well, then…" he took her hoof, "would you like a do-over?"

"You betcha I would!" She leaned closer to him and puckered her lips.

He puckered his as well and they kissed.

Rainbow went to Twilight, "You know, Twi, being down here again has brought back that old-time romance we haven't felt in a very long time."

"It certainly has…" agreed Fluttershy.

The other sisters, including their husbands, randomly agreed.

"I know what you mean…" Twilight looked around. "The same thing happened when we came down here for the very first time because we forgot about all about our troubles from above."

"Too bad we can't spend our anniversary here. We could have recreated our first date!" said Pinkie, but as soon as she said that, she realized as they all did that it was a great idea!

The sisters gathered around their hyper sister, thanked her for the idea, and started making plans right away.

Shining Armor walked onto a balcony attached to his quarters and looked up to Princess Luna's moon. It seemed to shine brighter that night. He was unaware that the Princess of the Night was above him on another balcony and holding her Breezie daughter in her hoof as they watched the moon.

Cadence smiled at her mother's moon. When she was living with the other Breezies, she couldn't bear to look at the moon because it reminded her of her mother and all she had to leave behind. But now that she was back and by her mother's side, she could enjoy it again. She then looked down and had to hold her breath. He was there… Her tiny heart pounded furiously. She could see he was so handsome now and was no longer the skinny colt she once knew, but because of years in training, he had become more robust and gained more muscle.

Cadence felt like she was going to swoon, but remembering her mother was still there, she managed to keep her cool. Instead, she requested to her mother.

"Why don't you go back inside and check to make the night stays peaceful?"

"As much as I rather stay with you, you are right. I must attend to my duties… Stay here until I get back."

"I will."

Once Luna was gone, Cadence landed on the balcony rail to get a closer look and overheard her childhood sweetheart.

"Twilight sure is lucky… Having a husband that cares that much about her… Had that been me, I would have done the same… I won't give up, Cadence… No other mare has ever caught my eye like you have… We've been through everything together and I hope we do more together in the future… That is… if we ever see each other again…" He took out a ribbon.

She gasped, recognizing it was hers, You… You kept it…? All this time?

"I know I should probably move on… but the thing is… I can't… When I see your face before going to sleep, I just know that somehow… somewhere… we will meet again and we'll know right there and then that we're meant to be…"

Tears dripped down her eyes, Oh, Shiny… I feel the same way…

"Wherever you are… I'm going to find you…" He started singing, "Because I love her… I need her like Equestria needs the sun… I need the one l love… To keep my hope bright… My head right… My heart fighting on… Until I am back in her arms… Because I love her, I need her like summer needs rain to grow and sustain each day… I hear her singing and bringing her strength to my soul… Until I am back in her arms! Miles apart yet still my heart can hear her melody… I'm more than sure that I can't endure without her love for me… Because l love her and need her like I need to breathe! Did Sombra need Celestia like this? Now I see clearly… I nearly gave up all I had… So whatever our repentances were… I'll bid them goodbye, I'll give love a try and all because I love her!"

He turned and walked back inside as a cursed Breezie was crying.

Author's Note

Because I Love Her. This is by far the most beautiful song in the Swan Princess movies next to Far Longer than Forever. It's from the third movie, The Swan Princess and the Enchanted Treasure.

Chapter 10

Twilight combed through the Star Swirl the Bearded category in the Canterlot library. So far, she couldn't find anything because it was mostly the same stuff she found at the Everfree Castle. But when she looked down in his old athenaeum in the mountains of Canterlot…

Every pony was relaxing around the castle; Luna and Cadence were sleeping and Celestia and Sombra were attending their duties. Then, a great cry shouted out, startling them all.

"EEEUREKA!"

Twilight came rushing towards them as the family gathered around to know what was going on.

"I did it! I found a way to temporarily reverse Cadence's spell!" she held out a scroll.

"YOU DID?!" they all said.

"Uh-huh. This spell doesn't completely get rid of the curse, but there is a way to get around it…"

"Really? How so?" Cadence's eyes gleamed in hope.

"This spells works at night, when the moon's bright glow touches a body of water. By the moon's reflection in the water, the cursed being can be transformed back to their true self."

"Can it be…?" Rarity remarked in disbelief.

"Tell me, dear niece, how have you come across this miraculous spell? I have searched endlessly to find something like this."

"So have I." said Sombra.

"It was down in Star Swirl's old library."

"Ah, that explains it. I could never understand all those words on the signs and to where everything was."

"The point is Cadence can finally have the enjoyment of being a pony again!"

"Except where exactly are we going to find this body of water to help with the transformation?" questioned Applejack.

"Duh!" said Pinkie. "In our very own backyard, of course!"

Twilight gasped, "The lake! Of course! Pinkie, you are a complete genius!"

Rainbow whispered in her ear, "Let's not overdo it…"

Hours later, they were back in the Everfree Kingdom. They went to the lake as they waited for sunset. Luna waited anxiously for her sister to lower the sun so she could raise the moon at her daughter's expense. Cadence found a lily pad in the middle of the lake as Twilight readied herself on the shore to perform the spell. In the distance, the sun began to lower and Luna took that as her cue and raised the moon. The moon's reflection landed on the water as it went towards Cadence. Twilight's horn glowed and touched the water. The glow spread to where the moon's reflection was, which was underneath Cadence.

Every pony had a nervous look: Pinkie and Cheese were biting their hooves, Applejack and Spike held on tight to each other, and Fluttershy and Discord did the same thing. Flash kept to Twilight's side as he noticed the sweat rolled down her face. No doubt she was hoping she got the spell right and that she didn't let down her cousin, who was counting on her.

The glow and the reflection met. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then… All of the sudden, the glow grew bigger as it surrounded Cadence and the water began to rise all around her and went up. The water descended and there stood an alicorn.

The group cheered on. Luna had tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe she was seeing her little girl in her proper form again. Cadence looked around to see everything fairly smaller than what she saw from a Breezie's view. She rushed over to hug her cousin, who was bit shorter than she was now. The rest of cousins joined in the hug until Twilight broke it and gave a frown.

"You do realize though… once the sun rises tomorrow…"

Cadence gave a small smile and hugged her again, reassuring her that she did understand.

"Cadence…" said Luna.

She turned to her mother and opened her arms. The two hugged each other tightly.

The boys ended up gawking at the pink alicorn. The girls saw this and gave them either glares or small slaps.

"Look at you… You look so grown up…" her mother had to shed a tear.

"Let us not dwell in the past, Mother… but enjoy this special moment…" She said before they embraced again.

"If I could, my darling, I would make the night last forever so that you may stay as this."

"That may sound nice, but I won't have any pony suffer at my inconvenience."

Luna then had the box that held the crown inside materialize in front of her and took out the crown. Cadence kneeled before her mother as she placed it on her head.

"I must go now, my darling, but knowing that you're in excellent hooves and being able to be a pony for a short while makes me feel at ease…"

They hugged again, unaware that someone was watching them.

"So… they found a way around my curse, have they…?" Tirek sneered at the image in the mist and then turned the image to Twilight, "That meddlesome little princess… She should know better than to tamper with a powerful curse…"

His eyes glowed menacingly.

Cotton Candy pouted in her bed, "Aw, why can't we hang out with Aunt Cadence more now that's she back to being a pony?"

"Because you have to go to sleep now." said Cheese while tucking his daughter in.

"But…" she yawned, "I'm not sleepy…" her eyes began to droop.

"Yes, you are."

"No… I'm not…" she fell asleep and snored.

Cheese smiled, shook his head, and went out to the living room, where his wife was sitting on the couch.

"How is she?" she asked.

"Just went to sleep…" he fell to the sofa. "Whew, is it always this hard to raise kids or are we doing something wrong?"

"I don't know." Pinkie shrugged and they cuddled in comfort.

Meanwhile, Twilight was reading Fire Spark his bedtime story as Flash listened by the bedroom door, smiling at the sight. Their son finally went off to sleep and Twilight kissed his forehead and put away the book. She went to her husband and they gently shut the door behind them. Cadence smiled as she met them by the apartment's entrance.

"He's a wonderful boy…"

Twilight grinned, "Thank you…"

Flash put a hoof around his wife, "Don't know where we would be without him…"

"Are you planning to have more?"

They blushed and Twilight replied, "Well… we have been thinking about it…"

"But we're not sure…"

"Actually, Flash… I do want another child…"

"You do?"

"But only if you're willing, and that we can find the right time."

"Twi… Are you positive you want this?"

She nodded, "Fire is growing up so fast. I need another baby to fill the void."

He stunned to hear this, "Um… Alright, but as you said, we'll need to find the right time for this."

"Between running the kingdom and taking care of Fire, it's hard to do so." she hung her head.

Cadence felt sympathetic towards the couple. She thought of Shining Armor and how she dreamt of starting a family with him back when they were young. Of course, she never said that to him since she didn't want to scare him off. They were still kids at the time. Now that she knew how he felt about her, she was more than determined to have him for her husband if the curse ever got broken completely.

She told them, "Don't worry. I'm sure the opportunity will present itself. All you two have to do is take it…"

They smiled at her words and knew she was right.

Eventually, the family met up in the throne room where Cadence was trying to get used to her old wings. It was hard for her at first, but she got back into the swing of things.

"Not bad for someone who hasn't practiced in awhile." she told herself.

"You sure did better than when Twilight tried out her wings for the first time!" Rainbow pointed. "It took Flash and me a whole week to get her to avoid hitting trees!"

"Ugh… Like you had to tell her that! I was a beginner! I wasn't born to have the wings right away!"

Cadence patted her back.

Suddenly, Spike gave out a yawn and started to droop over. His wife noticed and said, "Not that this hasn't been fun, but Spike and I need to get our rest, since it's likely that Jewel will wake up for the two o'clock feeding."

Fluttershy gestured, "So will Screwy."

Discord nodded and stretched, "Well, nighty-night." He teleported his wife and himself to their room.

The others said their good nights and all who were left were Twilight, Flash, and Cadence.

Cadence pointed, "You should get some rest, too."

"You sure you're going to be alright?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. As the Princess of the Night's daughter, I am able to stay up as long as I want."

"Okay, then…" she gave her cuz a quick hug, "Good night, we'll see you in the morning."

She nodded as she waved them off. Once they gone out of her sight, she went to a mirror and looked at her reflection. It's been a long time since I had an actual muzzle… or magic from my horn… She flicked her horn to see a blue glow, It'll be awhile before I can use it again.

Twilight's pet owl came up to her, "Oh, hello, Owliociolus. I had almost forgotten owls are nocturnal."

Owliciolus hooted.

"Well, at least I have you for company while everyone else sleeps." she smiled and petted him as he hooted again.

Tirek grunted as he turned off the mist. He had seen enough cuteness for one night.

Suri came up to him then, "Master?"

"What is it?!" he asked impatiently.

"We searched everywhere, but the item you seek is nowhere to be found."

"Useless! You keep looking until you find something! I need it now more than ever since my curse has been altered…" he commanded, "Go! And don't come back until you have something useful for me!"

"Yes, Master." She went up a flight of stairs leading to a cave where Silver Shill and Coco Pummel were around a fire. She shouted at Coco, "Next time don't suggest we report to the boss!"

Coco quaked, "I'm… I'm sorry… I thought he want to know we came back empty-handed…"

"Well, he didn't! Now we are not to disturb him until we have something for him! Now get me some water! I'm dying of thirst here!"

Coco gulped and got up. "Right… away…" she stammered as she went out to a well outside and shed some tears as she was reaching for the bucket. Suddenly, a voice startled her by saying.

"Why do you let her do that?"

She dropped the bucket and turned to Sliver Shill.

"Sorry…" he said. He began reaching the bucket for her and said again, "Why do you let her order you like that? She's not the boss. Tirek is."

Coco sighed sadly, "Suri was the one who took me in when I was having a tough time trying to be a fashion designer… Without her, I would have been living on the streets."

"Still, she treats you no better even if you were living on the streets… I should know…"

"Really?"

"I had to move from place to place keeping myself alive. It's hard, but I get through it… Same can be said here. Once I've done my service to Tirek, I'll be on my way again."

"Hopefully, things will get better for the both of us once we fulfilled our assistance to him…"

"Does that mean you'll leave Suri when that happens?"

"I… don't know…"

"That's a shame. If I was you, I would leave the first chance I get…" he turned back towards the cave.

Coco stood there in bewilderment, but then took a cup and filled it with water. She stared at her reflection in the well and imagined herself being free and happy, and with him by her side… She shook her head and went back inside. She handed the cup over to Suri.

Suri humphed, "It's about time." She yanked the cup away and gulped the drink down.

Coco didn't see it, but Silver glared at Suri and then glanced at her. He didn't see it before, but in the light of the fire, he could see how enticing she really was- those cute blue eyes, her creamed colored coat, and her mane, so soft and smooth. Every bit of her made him want to help her out of her terrible situation. She obviously felt that she had an obligation to Suri and felt she had to live up to it. He swore to himself that once the Tirek business was over with, he would take her far away from here.

Cadence looked at the lake and then the moon. She knew her mother would soon be lowering it, but she was sure that didn't stop her from begging with Aunt Celestia to stall the sunrise just a little longer. While Cadence was grateful for the extra time, she knew that the day must come for those who need the sunlight, especially for her cousins and Shining Armor. Shining had to get up to take his place to protect the castle and Canterlot.

She felt guilty the other day for hearing how Shiny had been missing her and had been in love with her all this time. He can't last another day… He wants to see me… and I want to see him… He's heartbroken… I have to mend it… but he can't know about my curse, because knowing him, he'll stop at no means to try to break it… But if there's another way for him to see me but not knowing the curse within me… She looked down at the lake and at her reflection, If he comes here seeing me as this… It could work… She smiled at the thought, but once she saw her mother's moon lowering, her smile turned upside down and the sun began to rise. Slowly, she began to transform and shrank back the size of her Breezie self.

She sighed, and then with a look of determination, she went back inside to go find Twilight and tell her plan. Tonight, Shining Armor… We'll finally be reunited…

Chapter 11

"Let me get this straight…" Twilight said to the tiny Breezie who was in her birdhouse as the alicorn addressed her alone in the room. "You want me to bring Shining Armor here so he can see you again?"

"That's right." Cadence nodded.

"But I thought you didn't want him to see you like this?"

"Not like this, but once the moon on the lake transforms me…"

"But you're still not going to tell him about your curse?"

"Right, and neither can you or the others."

"Okay… but I really think you should tell him…"

"Twilight, you know him as well as I do. He'll just think that he could more to break the curse when you're already doing all you can with that."

"Is it because of that or are you still worried that he won't love you the way you are now?"

"Both…" she confessed.

"You don't have anything to worry about… but I will agree with you about him trying too hard to break the curse… Alright. Today, I'll send him a letter requesting his services. While the message gets sent, I'll tell everyone else the plan and make sure that the curse isn't brought up around Shining."

"Thank you… this means so much to me… and Shiny…" she smiled brightly.

Twilight grinned in return, "You're welcome. Now get some rest and leave everything to me." She left as Cadence started to fall asleep.

"You mean…? Cadence and Shining were…?" Flash slapped his face.

Twilight shook her head as she took his hoof, "Yeah… Another reason I didn't say anything about Shining Armor, because I Pinkie Promised Cadence I wouldn't say anything about their relationship."

"And you can't ever break a Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie pointed.

"So you told me…" Flash said.

"I do feel bad, though… What happened between us could have been easily avoided had you known about Shining Armor's feelings for Cadence…"

"It's okay… I was acting out of hoof, and you did make a promise that could not be broken at any cost…" They ended up giving each other loving glances.

Rainbow Dash had to fake cough to bring them back and asked, "So… how exactly are we going to get them together?"

"Oh… I have a few ideas…" She showed them her long list.

Shining Armor was patrolling when a guard ran up to him, "A message from Princess Twilight Sparkle from the Everfree Kingdom!" He saluted, "Said it was urgent, Sir!"

Shining immediately opened the letter and read out loud, "'Shining Armor, we need your help. Lately, the Timberwolves of the Everfree Forest have been nearing the edge of the castle's borders, and we could use your protection spell to keep them out. Come at sunset and you'll see what we mean… Signed, Twilight'."

Sunset? He wondered. If it was so urgent, why did he have to come at sunset? He decided not to think too much of it as he got ready to catch the next train out.

Celestia was lowering the sun as Twilight waited by the castle entrance. Shining Armor then came into her view as he neared the rope bridge. She waved him over.

He said as they met up, "I came as you asked. So where do the Timberwolves go near the castle?"

"This way…" she led him to the back of the castle. The others were hiding in bushes or behind trees, anxiously waiting how Shining would react to their surprise.

"There, by the lake." she pointed out.

Shining nodded and went forward as she gave a smirk and winked to those she saw in their hiding place. They winked in return.

Shining looked around the gardens, but was cautious in Discord's outlandish parts. The moon began to rise and he thought, At this rate, I won't be able to see anything… Suddenly, there was a strange glow at the lake and he turned to see… No… It's not… it can't be… He was breathing heavily.

She smiled up at him and said in a voice he heard so long ago, "Hello… Shining…"

His jaw dropped as he began rushing to her and she held her arms out as he lifted her up and twirled her around in joy. When he stopped, he looked deep into her violet eyes.

"I just… I can't believe…"

She shushed him, "I know… it's been so long…" They touched horns.

Back on the shore, tears were shed at the happy reunion.

They came into the gardens as Shining said, "But how is this possible…?"

"Let us not think about that and focus only that we're together again."

He looked at the onlookers, "How long did you know?"

Twilight answered for them, "Only for a little while… Cadence just showed up all of a sudden, surprising us all…" she told the truth.

"In the meantime," Cadence took Shining's hoof, "tell me everything that's been happening with you…"

"Uh, alright…" they started going around the lake as he told her.

The family quickly went to work setting up a romantic setting. Discord grew a table from a tiny mushroom into a giant one. Twilight had candles floating around and on the table. Fluttershy and Applejack set up the food full of creations with nuts and berries inside, and Pinkie and Rarity, with their husbands, set up decorations of a nature theme. Spike set up a record player while Flash found the right music to play, which was soft and beautiful. Rainbow and Soarin' made sure the skies stayed clear for a starry night.

Shining and Cadence came back and were surprised by the setting. He gestured for her to take a seat. She did a curtsy and did so. He sat down, but both Pinkie and Cheese went up to them, causing them to scoot closer together and the two party ponies backed off. Once the others went to leave the two alone, the couple got lost into each other's eyes and after they ate, he sat up and gestured for her to dance. She accepted and they danced close to the lake.

This lasted throughout most of the night. Then when they stopped, they sat by the lake's shore, seeing the moon's reflection gleaming in the water. In that special beautiful moment, Cadence had forgotten her troubles of being cursed and thought only of her brave and handsome Shining Armor.

"This has to be a dream…" he said.

She giggled, "A dream that's come true…"

He smiled, but then frowned, "But I still don't understand something… If you weren't away training to be a princess, then… where were you?"

She bit her lip. She had hoped that by distracting him, he wouldn't ask that question. He can't know… He just can't…

"Cadence… please…" he said as if he read her mind, "I thought you were safe before, but when I found out that you had gone missing all those years… it makes me think that something happened to you… What was it?"

You always were too smart for your own good… She sighed, "I want to tell you, but I know you'll overreact…"

"So I was right. What happened?" he questioned in concern.

"I'll tell you. Better yet, I'll show you, but you must Pinkie Promise me that you will not overstress the situation. Twilight and I are already trying to take care of it…"

"So… she knew… all this time…" he had a hint of sadness caught in his throat.

"No," she reassured him, "she told you the truth. Even I did not know that I would see her again… Fate brought us together… And so far, she has helped me greatly. All of my cousins have…"

"Then why? Why were you gone for so long?" his gorgeous blue eyes stared at her.

"I had no choice… Where I was, I could not leave…"

"You were a prisoner?!"

"No… It wasn't like that… It was actually a safe haven for my own protection."

"Protection?"

"It's like I said: you can't overstress this. What's done has been done. Twilight is already working hard as it is and I don't want you doing the same… I just want you there for support for me and for her… I love you…"

His eyes widened, whispering, "What…?"

She smiled, "You heard me, I love you… I have now for a long time…"

"Cadence, I-" but he was stopped by her hoof.

She smirked, "I know. I heard your whole confession on the balcony…"

He gaped, "What?! How could you have heard me?!"

"I was there…"

"What?!"

"On my mother's balcony, which was above yours."

"You… heard the… whole thing…?" he was still surprised.

"Uh-huh…" she nuzzled his chin, "and I was elated that you kept my ribbon this whole time…"

He blushed, "Well… it was the only thing I had of you…"

"That is so sweet…"

"But the question is: how? How did you overhear me without me being able to see you?"

"You'll find out once you make that Pinkie Promise…"

"I don't know if I can…"

"If you really want to know what happened to me, then you have to try…"

"But-"

"Please, Shiny, for me?" she pleaded and batted her eyes.

He groaned. He knew he couldn't resist that pouty face of hers. "How's this: I'll promise if you promise to let me help you when you feel you need me to?"

She gave a smile and said, "Fine." She did the promise gesture and then saw the moon lowering and quickly said, "Remember, no overstressing."

"Right." he mirrored the gesture she did.

Here goes nothing… I hope Twilight was right…

"So what-" but he stopped short when he saw Cadence transforming before his eyes.

She looked up at him with sad eyes and explained, "This is why I didn't tell you at first… Why I didn't reveal myself when I heard your confession…"

"But I don't understand… If you were like this when you heard me, how did I see you as your regular self?"

"This is what I mean by Twilight working hard already to lift the spell. She found a way to reverse it, even if it's for a short time."

He shook his head, "And to think she used to be a filly that had untapped talent. Now, she can do the impossible…"

"And also, the reason I didn't want you seeing me like this was that I didn't want to get your hopes up in case the curse couldn't be removed completely… because look at me. What kind of future could we possibly have?"

Shining didn't say anything.

"Exactly. It always works best if two ponies are about the same size…"

"The same size, huh?" he rubbed his chin in thought and then looked up at the castle, and then turned back to his beloved, "Listen, stay right here. I'll be back."

"Of course…? But what are you…?"

"Trust me, everything will be fine." He made a dash.

Shining met Twilight in the library, who screamed out, "YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?!"

"Change me to a Breezie…" Shining simply repeated.

"But-but-but… Are you sure?!"

"Twilight, I've never been more serious… I would think you of all ponies would understand what I am requesting…"

"I do… it's just… to make such a sacrifice for the one you love is so amazing…"

"Who says I'm making a sacrifice? The way I see it, if Cadence and I cannot be together as ponies, then we might as well be together as Breezies…"

Twilight touched her heart in awe, "That… is… so… beautiful!"

"All I need is Cadence. I don't need anything else… Because without her, my life… would remain empty…"

Twilight slowly nodded.

Cadence waited on a flower for Shining's return. Suddenly, she felt the other side of the flower shifting. She figured a ladybug must've landed next to her, but then she heard a voice and froze.

"Mind if I have a seat?"

She turned in shock to see Shining Armor as a Breezie like her!

"Shiny?! What? Why did you…?!"

He took her tiny hoof into his tiny hoof, "If you are doomed to be cursed forever, than so am I. I can't live without you, Cadence, and don't say otherwise, because you are worth it… I love you…"

Cadence was speechless, with tears were running down her eyes. He was willing to give up the life he knew before and all for her… Finally, she blurted out, "Oh, Shiny!" They moved in for a long, sweet hug.

Twilight and Flash watched the charming scene. He whispered in her ear, "For the record, I would have done the same…"

She just smiled and nuzzled under his chin. But their moment was short-lived when a blue blur tackled Twilight. She saw Rainbow giving her a look of panic, "Twilight, quick! Rarity is about to have her baby!"

Chapter 12

Fancy Pants paced back and forth in the parlor while the rest of the husbands sitting in chairs or couches looked at him.

Discord pointed, "What are you so nervous about? This is your second kid!"

"That doesn't stop me from worrying…"

"No kidding…" said Soarin'. "I remember the day Whirl Wind was born. When I heard Dash's screams, I blamed myself for what was happening…"

The others gave solemn nods.

Cheese said, "On the day Cotton was born, Pinkie was in labor for nearly a whole day."

"I was really worried for Twilight… Fire was taking longer than expected, but it worked out in the end when I saw that little bundle in her arms…" that made Flash shed some liquid pride.

Spike gestured to Discord, "It wasn't that long ago that our girls told us they were about to have the babies."

"Yeah. That was scary."

"We were both panicking because we didn't know if everything was going to be alright."

"But looking into Screwy's swirly eyes… I was entranced by that little cutie…" Discord smiled at the memory.

Spike smiled and said, "And Jewel sneezing fire at me… I was proud to be a dad right then and there."

Fancy grinned, "And that's the reason we gave our son the name 'Dignity', because Rarity and I were proud to be parents and we wanted our son to feel proud for being born…"

Cheese asked, "What are you going to name this one?"

"We're not sure, but once we know it's a boy or girl, we'll think of something."

Suddenly, they heard Rarity's screams, causing them to wince and Fancy to muster every fiber of his being to run to his poor wife's side. Then there was nothing but peaceful silence. Twilight came to them while smiling and shedding tears of joy.

"Congratulations, you have a daughter…"

Fancy gaped while his brothers-in-law gave him hearty congratulations.

"This is cause for celebration! Who wants lollypops?!" Discord conjured up a box filled of the sweet candies.

"I do!" Cheese, Soarin', and Spike raised their arms.

Discord handed them over while he sucked on a pink and white swirly lolly.

Fancy asked Twilight, "May I see her?"

"Certainly, she's waiting along with your wife…"

Fancy rushed over to his and Rarity's apartment, where he was greeted by a warm sight. His wife looked tired and her hair was a mess, but he didn't care. To him, she was the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria. Then he saw the bundle wrapped in a pink blanket in her arms. He slowly approached it and saw a little white unicorn with a bit of blue mane showing. He smiled at his little girl and then his wife, who smiled at him in return.

"She's wonderful… You're wonderful…" he nuzzled his beloved's head.

"Oh, darling…" she giggled, "Nevertheless, she is gorgeous, isn't she?"

"Very, just like her lovely mother."

"And her handsome father…"

A knock came at their door, and Cheerilee brought in Dignity. Once he was inside, Cheerilee smiled at the happy couple and left, closing the door behind her.

Dignity was confused and Rarity motioned him forward, "Come here, sweetheart, and meet your new baby sister.

"Sister?" he questioned as he came towards the bundle and looked at the baby unicorn.

"Well, what do you think?" his dad asked him.

"She's… cute, I guess."

Both his parents chuckled and Rarity said, "Don't worry. You'll get used to her in time."

Just then, the baby opened her eyes, which were like her mother's. Dignity was surprised that the baby started to babble at him.

"Aw, I think she wants you to hold her…" Rarity gushed.

"Are… are you sure? What if I drop her?" Dignity voiced in concern.

His father instructed, "Just sit down and relax, and hold your hooves out."

Dignity did as he said, and his mother carefully placed the baby in his arms. He felt like a nervous wreck at first, but the minute those baby blue eyes stared at him, he felt at ease. This little unicorn was counting on him. She needed to rely on him. He knew then he had a sense of duty to watch over his little sister.

"Don't worry," he told her. "I promise to be the best big brother there ever was…"

"Dignity…" said his mother, "would you like to name her?"

"Me?"

His father nodded, "Go ahead."

"Well… um…" he looked down at his sister and proclaimed, "Gemstone. Her name should be Gemstone. But for short, we'll call her Gem."

The baby babbled as if she agreed with him.

Their parents glanced at each other in pride. Suddenly, they heard sniffling and saw their family looking in by the doorway. All looked happy and were crying.

Two Breezies watched the scene from a table because Twilight and Flash were kind enough to bring them inside. They admired the heartwarming moment.

Once the event was settled by nightfall, Cadence and Shining Armor were back to being ponies and were talking to Rarity as she laid Gemstone in the crib.

"You are very lucky to be blessed with two children…" Cadence grinned.

"Thank you…" Rarity smiled.

"I hope someday, the same can be said for us." said Shining as he wrapped his hoof around his love.

"Oh, it's bound to!" said Rarity. "Any day now, Twilight will find a way to break the curse and you two can live happily ever after!"

"I hope so… I really hope so…" said Cadence.

"And even if there isn't… we will still have each other no matter what…" Shining pecked her cheek, causing Cadence to blush.

Twilight was reading Fire's bedtime story when Fire suddenly asked, "Mommy? Think maybe I could have a sister like Dignity has?"

Twilight was taken aback by this and was amazed that Flash's prediction was correct after all. She had to answer without hesitation, "Well, yes, your father and I are hoping to have another little one soon. So chances are you'll get a little sister or brother."

"Really?!" his eyes gleamed in hope.

"Yes." she chuckled. "But it's going to take some time, okay?"

"But why?"

"Uh…" she thought miserably, Good one, Sparkle. You were supposed to wait until he was older to tell him that… "Um… We're just too busy at the moment, alright?" she forced a grin.

"Mom, I know where babies come from. You showed me when Aunt Applejack and Aunt Fluttershy were going to have babies."

"Yes, yes, I did. But let's just say your mother's isn't going to be that way for a while. You got that?"

"Oh, okay…"

She kissed his forehead and said 'good night'. He said 'good night', too, and she closed the door behind her. She sighed in relief and turned to the living room, where she saw her husband giving off a smug grin.

"Okay, okay," she said. "You were right about Fire wanting a sibling, too…" She went towards him, "But least I was prepared to tell him that he might get one pretty soon." She sat next to him as he wrapped his wings around her.

"Now we'll have to try even harder to find the right time."

"Exactly, but with Shining Armor willing to be a Breezie now, I'm working harder to find a counterspell more than ever…"

Flash thought this out loud, "Maybe… we haven't been looking in the right places… I mean books can only tell you so much… but what if we sought the help of some pony or zebra that has ways in magic that we know so little about…?"

"And you couldn't have told me this earlier?" she glared.

He gave a cheesy grin, "It must have slipped my mind when I was giving in to my petty jealously..."

She sighed.

Moments later, they arrived at Zecora's hut with Shining Armor and Cadence with them.

Zecora examined the both of them. She had Shining stick his tongue out. The couple gave each other a confused look while Zecora chatted in unfamiliar dialect.

Finally, she spoke up for them to understand, "Dark and light magic are both at conflict…Every day, you are small, but every night, you are tall."

"Do you know a way to get rid of this curse?" Twilight asked. "Because all the books I have don't seem to know."

"To break this strange and dark enchantment, you must find a book that deals with that predicament… This book holds many an ancient secret that no magical being has or will ever get. But be warned: it must stay away from any evil that may lay… But for now, it shall serve you well and help you break this wicked spell."

"And where is this book?" Cadence asked.

"In a place where ocean meets sky… an island not far from the naked eye…" Then, she went to a box and took out the Alicorn Amulet. "A place, if I am not mistaken, where a journey had been taken…"

Twilight and Flash gasped, "Marendelle!"

Cadence and Shining both said to them, "What?"

Meanwhile, someone had been listening in on them with his magic mist and gave out a chuckle, "So that's where it is…" He shouted out, "Servants! Come at once!"

The three minions scurried down and bowed before him. He said, "While you have failed to bring me what I need, I fortunately have managed to locate its whereabouts… The ancient spell book that shall increase my powers tenfold… Now, I want you to follow this pathetic group of royals to where they are going. Once they find the spell book, bring it to me…"

"Yes, Master." they replied.

"Now, go!" he ordered.

They scurried on out and went to do his bidding.

The next morning, Twilight and Flash were in Discord and Fluttershy's apartment. Cadence and Shining Armor, in Breezie form, dangled from a birdhouse that Flash carried in his mouth.

"Just so I get straight: I need to use the magic mirror to call up the girls in Marendelle about a magic book that can break the spell on Cadence?" Discord deduced.

"Yes." replied Twilight.

"Alrighty, then…" he took out the small hand mirror and said to it, "Breaker, breaker. This is Jumble 1000, requesting Red Bow, Daredevil, Little Diva, to pick up. Repeat, pick up!"

"What in the hay are you talking about?!" Apple Bloom's face appeared.

Discord laughed, "And hello to you, my wayward friend! How are things down under?"

"For your information, everything's going great! Pip and I are in charge of the archives here in the castle! I got my own workshop full of clay and paints!"

"Great! And what of Scootaloo and our beloved next queen?"

"Scootaloo, she's doing okay, but her mood swings range from happy to anger to sadness and back to happy. It's a mess of emotions."

He chuckled, "Don't I know it…" He looked at his wife and she glared at him.

"And Sweetie Belle is still taking queen lessons from Button. They're preparing themselves until the day the king and queen retire."

"Which will be when?"

AB shrugged, "Who knows? It's really all up to the king and queen to decide when they're ready to step down and for Button and Sweetie to take up the crown."

"Ah, I see."

Then Twilight cleared her throat.

"Oh, right! Apple Bloom, your sister, Twilight, needs to tell you something…" He handed over the mirror.

Twilight took it and says, "Apple Bloom, sweetie, you better get the rest of your sisters, cause it's going to be a long story…"

Author's Note

Next up, we get see our favorite Crusaders back on Marendelle and how they're doing in their life! As for Gemstone, it was the only name I could think of, so I wasn't trying to copy off of DF's character in CMC: The Next Generation.

Chapter 13

Button stirred out of his sleep and saw the lovely sight next to him. Every day since their marriage, it made him happy seeing her there sleeping next to him. Before, this was a moment he always dreaded, had it been another princess he was forced to marry, especially since he came that close to marrying Diamond Tiara. He shuddered at the memory and instead replaced it with the happy memories he had of courting Sweetie Belle, proposing to her, and reuniting with her when he thought she was gone forever. Up till now, he was officially married to her.

He finally had his princess, his wife… Soon, she would be his queen and they would rule the kingdom with the lessons they were taught during the princesses' tests.

He leaned his muzzle forward and kissed her in the cheek. That got a giggle out of her and she slowly woke to face him.

"Hi…" he smiled.

"Hi…" she smiled back.

He touched her cheek, "I still can't believe it's really you… What have I done in my life to deserve such happiness?"

"Oh, Button… You always deserved it… You have a good heart that will help you rule a kingdom… I'm the one who's lucky to be your wife… because I was just a girl with no parents and had to serve the royal family, but that all changed the day I got adopted and later met you… You took me a chance on me and loved me… just as I loved you… It should be me questioning how I deserved all this…"

He shook his head, brought her closer to him, and stroked her hair.

"I say we're both lucky enough to have each other…"

"You're right…" then with a mischievous grin, she used her hooves to start tickling him.

"Hey!" he started laughing, "Cut that out!" he kept laughing.

Then, she quickly jumped off the bed and made for the door.

"Oh, no you don't!" he yelled and quickly went after her.

She giggled as he chased her and they dodged the servants that were doing their morning routine. They passed the other bedroom doors, and once they went past, Scootaloo opened the door, looking cranky.

"Hey! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" she huffed, went back to her bed, and groaned.

"Just calm down…" Rumble soothed her and started rubbing her back.

"Ugh…" she shifted her heavy weight, "I feel like a hippo…"

"No way, you're much more beautiful than a hippo…" he kissed her forehead.

"Will this never end?! I've been lying around the castle for over six months now! And when my due date does come, I'll still be pregnant!" she gave out an frustrated sob.

"Honey, you're overreacting again…"

"Well, I have a right to be!" fury filled her eyes as she added, "You did this to me!" she sobbed again.

Rumble cringed. As much as he blamed himself for putting her through this emotional turmoil, he knew he had to wait it out and hope that she'd start acting happy again. He also hoped that when their baby did get born, Scootaloo would be herself again before this all started.

Thankfully, he heard her say in a cheerful tone, "Oh, but I'm so glad you did anyway! I can't wait to see what our baby looks like!"

Then she put her hooves to her eyes, "What's happening to me…?"

He wrapped his wings around her in comfort, "It's alright… Everything is alright… We just need to get through the next few more months and everything will turn out alright in the end…"

"I really hope I can make it…" she laid her head on his chest.

Me, too… he thought grimly.

Apple Bloom and Pip were in her workshop. AB had a lump of clay out that she was shaping while Pip had to pose in a toga and was holding a pitcher.

"Uh, Bloom? Do I have to stand this all day?" he asked.

"No, just until my sisters and their husbands arrive."

"Uh… and how long will that be?"

"Not long, I'm sure."

"Remind me again why they have to come to Marendelle if it's not to see you or your sisters?"

"They're trying to find an ancient spell book that can break my cousin Cadence's curse!"

"I didn't know you guys had a cousin."

She shrugged, "Neither did I, but Twilight told us all about how Cadence grew up with them before our adoption into the royal family. Then she also explained how Cadence got cursed and the only way to break it is through a magic spell book that resides here in Marendelle."

"Think they'll find it?"

"I don't know. That's why they're coming here first to see if they can find a clue that will lead them to it. Now keep still. I'm almost done with your legs."

He groaned as he retook his position.

Button finally managed to corner Sweetie in the castle library. She squealed when she got caught and he kissed her and she returned it.

"See? You can't run from the king…"

She rolled her eyes and booped his nose, "You're not king yet, bud."

"But I am the future king."

"That still doesn't count."

He shook his head and asked, "So, what is it your sisters back on the mainland are looking for again?"

"A way to reverse my cousin Cadence's curse."

"You have a cousin?"

"Yeah, who knew?" she shrugged it off. "Anyway, apparently there's this ancient book of spells that can do that, but the thing is it actually lives here on Marendelle! So… I've got to know: do you know anything about it?"

"Hmm…" he pondered on this. "That actually sounds very familiar… 'An ancient book of spells'… Do they actually mean 'The Ancient Book of Secrets'?"

"Ancient Book of Secrets? Is that what it is?"

"Maybe, but it's just an old legend."

"Was 'The Lost Treasure of Marendelle' just a legend? That seemed pretty real to Apple Bloom and Pip."

"Touché. The thing is, though, there are so many myths that surround this part of the ocean… be it the treasure that Pip and Bloom found and the mermares you encountered in the sea… But there are so many others, you can't tell what is real and what is not. There are stories about zombies and skeleton ponies that I rather avoid. Those stories gave me nightmares that made me feel like I was actually encountering them…" he shuddered.

"Aw…" she rubbed his head, "you poor baby. I wish I could have been in those nightmares of yours."

He chuckled, "If you would have been there, I would make sure you were protected. I'd rather get hurt by the zombies than you…" he nuzzled her head.

"You're so sweet…" they hugged.

Once they let go, he said, "Well, I guess we better go prepare for your family's arrival."

"Our family." she reminded him.

"Of course, our family…" they went out.

Pinkie and Cheese were on top of the ship and both shouted out, "Land ho!"

The rest of the ponies gathered in front of the ship, where Twilight had a telescope out, "We're almost there." She looked down at the Breezies in their birdhouse.

Cadence fluttered up to Twilight's mane and looked through the telescope, "I just hope it has what we need…"

Twilight nodded in agreement as she looked at the rest of the passengers, mainly her sisters and brothers-in-law. They knew it was best to leave the kids at home since the parents didn't know what was going to happen when they were looking for the book.

Rarity slightly whimpered as she told her husband, "Oh, do you think little Gemstone is going to be all right without her mummy?"

"Yes, my darling. I'm sure she'll be alright. As long as she has Dignity looking after her, she'll be fine." he assured her.

"Oh, I do hope so… At least I'll get to see Sweetie Belle again, and then I can tell her all about Gemstone."

Twilight had the telescope to her eye again, saying, "Speaking of Sweetie Belle, there she is!"

"What?!" Rarity took the telescope and saw through the lens two ponies waving at them from a dock. "Aw, she's meeting us at the docks."

The ship got closer and soon docked into the harbor. The plank lowered as the group got off and Sweetie rushed to hug Rarity and then the rest of her sisters. The guys shook Button's hoof.

"It's great to see all of you, but where's this Cadence I've heard about?"

Twilight levitated the birdhouse in front of her, "Right here."

Cadence came out, faced Sweetie at eye level, and greeted sweetly, "Hello."

"Hi!"

"You're Sweetie Belle?"

"Uh-huh."

"I was under the impression I had two more cousins."

"Oh, you'll meet them when we get to the castle. Apple Bloom is working on an art project with her husband, Pip. Scootaloo is taking it easy with her being pregnant and all." Then she turned to Button, "By the way, this is my husband, Prince Button." He gave a bow.

Cadence tipped her head, "Your Highness…" Then she addressed the both of them, "This is Shining Armor, my very special some pony."

Shining smiled and made a bow.

Sweetie looked at Twilight in confusion, "But I thought you said only Cadence was cursed?"

Twilight sighed, "It's another long story…"

Button gestured, "Let's get back to the castle and we'll do what we can to figure out where the Ancient Book of Secrets is."

"Huh?!" they all said.

Sweetie blushed, "Long story…"

When they got to the castle, Apple Bloom ran up to hug Applejack and the others and was pleased to meet Cadence and Shining Armor.

Rainbow asked, "So, AB, where's the squirt?"

"She's… in the parlor, but I don't think you'll want to go in there just now…"

"Why not?" Soarin' questioned.

Sweetie answered, "She's having one of those days of fretting over not being able to give birth yet…"

"Oh…" they all said.

Suddenly, they heard a crash and Scootaloo shouting, "Three months, 13 weeks, 91 days?! I'll never make it!"

Rumble shouted, "I told you looking at a calendar wasn't a good idea!"

Rainbow Dash knew then she had to rush in to help out her little sis. She got into the room, seeing a broken tea cup and Scootaloo crying on the couch.

"Scoots…" she said.

She looked up and gasped, "Rainbow Dash!" A smile spread across her face.

Rainbow looked at Rumble, who was looking frazzled, as he mouthed a silent 'thank you' to her. She winked back at him, approached Scoots, and gave her a hug, despite the latter's large size.

"I hear you're having trouble with this pregnancy…"

"I can't do it, Dash! I can't do it!"

"Yes… you can." she lifted her chin, "That little colt or filly in there is counting on their mother to get them by until it is time for them to be born into this world… I had the same problem when I was pregnant with Whirl Wind. It feels like you can't do anything you want to do, right?"

"Yeah! How did you do it?"

"Well… I simply distracted myself. I kept to my duties, hanged out with my sisters, read a couple of Daring Do books… The key here is just to do other things you love that don't require physical labor or reckless stunts. Think you can do that?"

Scootaloo nodded, "Mm-hmm."

"Atta girl," she hugged her again. "Remember, he or she is counting on you. Don't disappoint them."

"I won't. Thanks, Dash… I really needed that…"

"Anytime, squirt."

Twilight walked in, "Well, I'm glad to see that's settled, but we have another issue to address…"

Shortly after all of the girls were introduced to Cadence and Shining Armor, the family met in the banquet hall, talking over things that been going on. Rarity shared baby pictures of Gemstone, to which the trio gushed, and it made Scootaloo even more thrilled that she was having her own baby.

When news on both sides was exchanged, Twilight asked Button, "Now, about this Ancient Book of Secrets?"

Button nodded and sighed, "It's a book that is told to have the most ancient spells in it. It is guarded by creatures that live underground, for their passion is for the stones that are there."

"Diamond Dogs." a voice spoke.

They turned around to see the queen of Marendelle walking in.

"The book is guarded by Diamond Dogs." Queen Love Tap said.

"Mom?"

"Button, you should know this story. I told you all of Marendelle's tales when you were a colt."

"Guess I wasn't paying that much attention…" he blushed.

She sighed and questioned, "I must know: why do you wish to know about the Ancient Book of Secrets?"

Cadence went on top of Twilight's mane and Twilight said while taking Cadence in her hoof to show the queen, "It's like this…" She relayed the whole story once more.

When it was done, the queen merely said, "I see…" She smiled, "Well, then, looks like all I need to do is give you the map…"

They gawked at her.

When they all rendezvoused in the library, Button cried at his mom, "You mean they're real?! Actually real?!"

"Yes, sweetheart." she said as she was looking through the shelves.

"What's next? Zombies and skeleton ponies?!"

"Zombies?!" Spike clung onto his wife in fear.

The queen started to say, "Well…"

Button stopped her, "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Ah! Here we go!" she took out a book, and when she opened it, a map dropped out.

Twilight picked it up with her magic and the group surrounded her to get a closer look. She then addressed the queen, "Thank you so much, Your Majesty…"

"You're quite welcome." she smiled.

Button went up to her, "I'm still confused, though. How did you know about where the Diamond Dogs were anyway?"

"Your grandfather, when he was still king, gave me the map and told me how the Ancient Book of Secrets must remain hidden here on the isle. It was brought to Marendelle for a reason and our ancestors have kept it safe and secure ever since. One day, I took the map to find the book and met the Diamond Dogs. I used the royal pendant to prove that I was the current ruler of the kingdom and got to see the book of secrets. It's actually because of a spell in there that I was able to enchant the pea for the final test…"

Twilight pointed, "But wait, you're not… I mean…"

The queen nodded in understanding, "Yes, I am an Earth pony, so I have no magic whatsoever, but that book… It is so powerful that you don't need to be a magic user to use the spells. You simply chant the spell and the book does the rest."

Flash whispered in Twilight's ear, "No wonder Zecora warned us that the book couldn't fall into the wrong hooves…"

"Yes… it's too dangerous for anyone to use… It's a good thing that it is safely hidden on this island."

Love Tap advised, "It'll be important that Button goes with you. They only let the rulers and those with them see the book. You cannot take the book with you, for it must remain where it's at."

Twilight nodded, "Understood."

The queen then took off her pendant and gave it to her son. "Do not lose this. It has been in the family for generations."

"Got it." he said.

"Looks like we'll be ready as ever." said Twilight.

"Awesome!" said Scootaloo, "Finally, an adventure!" She started going out the door, but Rainbow stopped her.

"Whoa! Whoa! You are not going anywhere in your condition, young lady!"

"Aw, but Dash!"

She shook her head, "Nope, nah-uh, not a chance! I'll be sticking around to make sure of that!"

Scoots sighed, "Oh, all right…" Then she turned to Rumble, "Babe, make sure you bring back a souvenir."

"Wait… you want you to…"

"I'm giving you a free pass for the day. Just because I have to stay here doesn't mean you have to."

"But-"

"No! I won't hear any more of it. Just go!"

He kissed her cheek as he went out the door with everyone else. Soarin' looked at his wife and asked.

"You sure you're going to be okay here?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine. Besides, the squirt and I have catching up to do."

He nodded and went to catch up with everyone else.

Chapter 14

"Never thought we'd be back here again…" Pip said as the large group walked in the jungle terrain.

"No kidding…" said Apple Bloom. "I hope we don't run into those wild hamsters again…"

Button pointed out, "I'm starting to think that every single myth surrounding Marendelle is real…"

Twilight said, "Well, most legends do contain a seed of truth."

"It's true!" said Discord. "Why, when I was still a statue in the Canterlot gardens, oh, there were many versions of me being stone. How I was this horrible, ugly, powerful creature that once terrorized Equestria! Of course, as the years passed by, I was a just an old legend and no one thought I was actually in stone, but just a statue to represent the myth. Oh, how very wrong they were…" he smirked.

At the back of the pack, Rumble kept looking behind him and Soarin' noticed.

"Something wrong?"

"I just feel guilty about leaving her… Ever since she told me that she was pregnant, I made sure to keep being at her side, giving her support and anything she needed. But for her to give me a day off… I don't know… It feels like I'm abandoning her…"

Soarin' chuckled, "I know exactly what you mean… When Rainbow was still pregnant, I was needed to fill in for one of my teammates who got sick and I didn't want to leave my wife and unborn child alone. Spitfire and Fleetfoot practically had to drag me away after Rainbow gave me assurance that she'd be all right."

"Wow…" Rumble looked back again and could have sworn he saw rustling. He thought nothing of it when he realized that he must've been overreacting by worrying about his pregnant wife so much. He faced Soarin' again.

It turned out that Rumble wasn't losing it and three ponies had to keep ducking into bushes whenever he looked back.

Suri Polomare grunted under her breath, "Stop looking back here!"

"Are… are you sure it was a good idea to have all three of us follow them?" questioned Silver Shill.

"The master ordered us to follow them, so we best do as he says." answered Suri.

Silver gulped, "Good point."

"Oh… I hated how we had to sneak on their ship and waited until they came out of the castle…" said Coco Pummel.

Suri scoffed, "If we had followed them on a separate ship, they would have gotten suspicious!"

Coco hung her head, "I guess so…"

Silver still didn't like how poor Coco was treated by Suri. He himself didn't like how they had to sneak on board just before the royals did. They stole away to the brig where they wouldn't be found for the entire voyage. Once the ship had docked and the royals left, they quickly followed them to the castle, where they had wait until they came out and started going to the jungle. Now they were trying their best to stay hidden from sight.

"Finally!" Suri had said when she noticed that the young grey Pegasus had stopped looking back and kept talking to the stallion next to him. She went on ahead, but Coco looked sad and Silver went to console her.

"Don't worry. I didn't like what we had to do, too…"

She looked at him in surprise, "You didn't?"

"No, because it's bad enough we have to do Tirek's bidding and we end up hurting others along the way…"

She nodded in agreement.

"But the sooner we get this out of the way, the faster we can to get on with our lives."

Coco thought grimly, What life? I'll be Suri's assistant for the rest of my days… She keeps reminding me how I owe her for taking me in and how I have to repay the favor… I try my hardest to do just that, but it seems whatever I do for her, it's not enough to please her… I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I feel she uses me and I want to get away from that…

"You okay?" he asked.

She snapped out of it and faced him. Today, he was wearing his glasses. There were a few occasions that Coco caught him without his glasses, and to her, he was actually pretty cute. She replied, "Um… Yeah… I'm… fine…" she gave an unsure look.

"You're sure about?" he raised his brow.

She sighs, "The truth is… I'm…"

"What are you two doing?!" Suri startled them and harshly whispered to them, "Come on! We're going to lose them!" She stomped off as they quickly went after her in fear.

For the remainder of the walk, Coco and Silver stole glances of each other, but stayed silent with Suri being in front of them.

Twilight looked at the map, "We're almost there." They kept walking.

Sweetie looked at Apple Bloom and Pip, "Where did you guys say that you found the temple?"

"It was behind a waterfall." said AB.

"But it's gone now. It sunk into the ground the minute that Flim or Flam touched a part of the treasure."

"Ah!" Button felt and saw bugs swarming him. He tried swatting them away, "You could have warned us about the bugs!" He yelped, "I think a mosquito just bit my flank!"

Soon, everyone else was having a bug problem and began swatting while yelping to the pain from being bit. Discord couldn't take it anymore and summoned up a can of bug spray.

"Back! Back, you bloodthirsty parasites!" he sprayed away.

They sighed in relief as the bugs began to drop off.

"Whew! Thanks, Discord." said Twilight.

"Never leave home without Discord's Spray-Away bug spray!" he wore a suit and had a poster with a picture of the bug spray and a pointer pointing at the picture, "Available in a store near you!"

"Ooh!" Pinkie's eyes widened and turned to Cheese, "Remind me to buy one when we get home!"

This caused a group laugh as Discord poofed away the items.

Then, Twilight looked down at Cadence and Shining Armor sleeping in the birdhouse. Obviously, they were up all night. She cleared her throat, reminding the others of the seriousness of their mission.

Fluttershy took the little house and admired the scene. She whispered loud enough for the rest to hear, "Aw, they are so cute like that…"

Pinkie came over and tried to contain her excitement, softly saying, "So stinkin' cute!"

Rarity made a point, "They are adorable, just adorable…"

Twilight smiled back at the pair and her sisters gawking them, unaware that three figures with paws who were watching the group approach in the bushes.

A small Diamond Dog by the name of Spot said, "Ah, excellent… More slaves to help mine our diamonds…" He noticed the purple alicorn leading them, "We shall take the leader, for the rest will surley follow…"

"The leader…" the two other Diamond Dogs said, and they moved away to wait for the right moment.

Twilight took a few steps ahead of the group and examined the map, saying, "According to the map, we should be right on top of where the Diamond Dogs reside."

"So, what now?" asked Applejack. "Just call them out?"

"I don't know, but we'll have to just-" Suddenly, three pairs of paws grabbed for Twilight, causing her to shout out and disappear!

"TWILIGHT!" they all screamed.

Flash stiffened as he had a backlash of horrible memories that came back to him, No… No… It's happening all over again… I… lost her… He cried out, "NOOO!"

That shout woke up Cadence and Shining Armor. Cadence saw the worry etched of everyone's face as they were rushing.

"What's going on?!" she questioned.

Fluttershy answered, "Oh, Twilight just got taken!"

"No!" Shining yelled.

They got to the place where Twilight disappeared. It turned out there was a hole beneath covered by a bush. Flash was about to make the jump, but Discord held him back with his magic.

"Let me go!" he demanded.

"Now hold on right here. Since when do you usually rush in somewhere without a plan?"

"Where my wife is concerned, I don't need one!"

"Flash," Soarin' came up, "you can't just expect to fly down there and get her back just like that."

Cheese examined the hole, "This has 'trap' written all over it."

"Why are you guys holding me back?! You know exactly what I'm feeling! We've been through this before! You know what I'm talking about: the day the girls got kidnapped by the Changeling Queen!" his nostrils flared.

The boys cringed as they remembered that day like it was yesterday and the heartbreak of seeing their beloveds gone…

Spike sighed, "Look, we understand. We really do, but how can we help Twilight if we end up getting captured ourselves?"

Fancy nodded, "I must concur."

"Then you'll just have to send in someone that won't get noticed." spoke Shining Armor and fluttered up to Flash, who was still struggling to break free from Discord's magical grip. "I know the pain of not being able to help the one you love… Let me go to see what can be done to free Twilight…"

"We both will." Cadence said as she came up to her coltfriend.

Flash faced the two Breezies. He pondered on this until he finally calmed down and said in a low voice, "Go…"

Shining and Cadence nodded and headed for the hole. As they descended deeper into the ground, their antennae began to light up, helping them see better on where they were going.

Twilight scowled at her captors from behind bars as they talked among themselves.

"Soon, we will have more prisoners and our diamonds shall be mined at our expense." Rover said.

"Yes… but we must wait until they come for their leader." pointed Spot.

Twilight then spoke, "You are the guardians of the Ancient Book of Secrets, are you not?"

The trio turned their heads toward her.

"Who wants to know?" Rover gestured.

"I request the book for a friend of mine. She has been under an enchantment, and only the book can tell us how we can lift it."

"Um. Maybe we have it, maybe we don't. What's it in for us?" Spot pointed.

"Ooh, maybe they can be our slaves for the rest of their lives!"

"They're already going to be, you knucklehead!"

The Dogs bickered back and forth as Twilight rolled her eyes. Then, she drew her attention to the strange runes on the walls surrounding her and the Diamond Dogs.

She thought, What do they mean, and what language are they in? Old Equestrian, or something much older from even before Equestria was founded by the three tribes? Could we have just discovered an ancient civilization long forgotten? Her eyes gleamed at the possibility, How exciting! But when she remembered the situation she was in, she knew that she would have to research such a find later. Right now, her cousin needed the ancient spell book more and by golly, she was going to get it to her! That was mainly the reason why Twilight didn't teleport out of her cage. She wanted to stay on the Diamond Dogs' good side, knowing they were in charge of guarding the book. So she was biding her time and learning anything that might be useful later.

I hope everyone else doing okay… I know they must be worried about me… Especially Flash… And hopefully, Cadence and Shining Armor are still being watched over…

Her cousin and her boyfriend, however, were amazed by all the tunnels and the gems stuck on its walls, along with runes etched in. Cadence was fascinated by the odd markings, knowing if Twilight was there right now, she would want to study every single one.

"Which way should we go now?" Shining said as he saw the three tunnels up ahead.

"Hmm…" Cadence contemplated. "We should go back and get the others. That way, we can each take a separate tunnel."

Shining nodded to that plan.

A few moments later, once everyone was at the different tunnels, they glanced at each other until Flash spoke.

"Discord, you, Fluttershy, Pip, Apple Bloom, Spike, and Applejack go down the left tunnel. Cheese, Pinkie, Fancy, Rarity, Rumble, and Soarin' go into the middle. Shining Armor, Cadence, and I, with Sweetie Belle and Button, will down the last one."

"Right!" they all said.

"We'll meet back here in an hour to see if we found Twilight or the book." He started going off with his team into the tunnel. The rest of the teams did the same.

Just shortly after they went into the tunnels, three ponies came at the cross roads and each took a separate tunnel, following after the groups.

Pinkie and Cheese led the pack while the flyers were in the back. Rarity noticed how dirty her hooves were getting.

"Ugh! All this dirt is ruining my hooficure!"

"Once we're out of this place, I shall personally shine your hooves, my dearest." said Fancy.

Feeling touched, she replied, "Oh, thank you, sweetheart. You always know what to say to me…"

"Anything for the mother of my two wonderful children…" he winked.

She pecked his cheek.

From seeing the mush-fest, Rumble made a note to himself to shine Scootaloo's hooves when they got back. It was the least he could do since she was carrying his child.

Pinkie and Cheese were chatting when suddenly, Pinkie slipped and Cheese had to grab her before she fell into a chasm.

"Goodness!" Rarity exclaimed after seeing her sister nearly fall, "Are you all right?"

"Don't worry, I'm good!"

"Whoa…" said Soarin'.

The group looked down at the wide space between them and the other side of the abyss.

Rumble looked down and stated, "Gee, I wonder how far it goes?"

Pinkie gestured, "Only one way to find out!" She was gathering up spit, nearly grossing those around her.

Her sister scolded, "Princess Pinkemena Diane Pie! That is unsanitary and very unlady-like!"

She gulped and gave a cheesy grin.

Cheese pointed out, "So how do you think we can get across?"

The group gave unsure looks.

Discord had to get down on all fours to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. He grunted, "That book better be worth it if we have to go down these tight spaces! I'm getting a crimp in my neck just by keeping my head down!"

"You could always shrink down," pointed AJ, "so quit your whining! We've got to find Twilight and that book!"

The spirit of chaos mocked her, "'You could always shrink down!'"

"Hey! I do not sound like that!"

"Actually…" started AB, "You kind of do…"

Fluttershy slowly nodded her head.

Discord had a smug look, "Ha! See?"

"I don't believe this! My own sisters! At least my husband doesn't think so…" she smirked at Spike, "Right?"

Sweat started rolling down his brow, "Uh… Well…" he gulped.

"Gosh darn it! Seriously?!" she grunted and moved forward.

Spike glared back at the spirit, "Thanks a lot!"

"Hey, you weren't the one who didn't lie or butter her up! You could have said 'You have a beautiful voice, honey!' or 'Your voice is so unique, others can't help but imitate it because they wish they could have a voice just like it!'"

Fluttershy frowned at this bit of advice, "Oh… so you're saying whenever I have a beautiful voice, you're trying to stay on my good side?!"

Discord froze, slowly lowered his head to face his wife's eyes, and gave off a forced grin, "Darling! Of course not! You have a very beautiful voice!"

"But suppose I didn't… Would you lie to my face and claim otherwise when it's not true at all?"

He gulped and nervously chuckled, "Of… of course not! I would just hide the truth!" Realizing what he said, he covered his mouth, "Uh, I mean…"

But Fluttershy heard enough and moved up to where her sister was.

Discord sighed, "Looks like we're both in the dog house now…"

Spike nodded, "First Flash, now us. What is it about now that's forcing us to drift away from the girls?"

Pip looked at the disputing couples and looked at his wife, asking, "You think that'll be us someday?"

She shook her head, "Nah…" But she thought, At least, I hope not… She said, "Applejack and Fluttershy just need to cool down and the guys need to think more before they speak…"

Fluttershy wrapped her wing around her younger sister, "I'm sorry if we offended you and hurt your feelings…"

"It's fine…" AJ gave a small smile. "It'll take more than that to break me down."

"Spike meant well… He just didn't know what to say…"

"Oh, I know that… But as much I like honest answers, I wouldn't mind a white lie once and awhile… The truth is I was hoping Spike would have said something to contradict what you were all saying… As strange as it sounds, but I like the fact that Spike comes to my rescue, mainly because he came to my rescue before and nearly lost his life. It shows he really cares about me…"

Fluttershy sighed, "I know Discord can't help but be a little manipulative. It's in his nature, after all… But how do I know that he's being sincere to me and not covering anything up?"

"I can usually tell when someone is lying, and whenever I see you two together, I know it's real. Discord doesn't have to pretend with you. He can be himself because he knows you love him for who he is."

"I do! I really do!"

"Then there you go!" Suddenly, a bright light shone on her, "What in the…?" They quickly moved towards it.

Cadence and Shining were on top of Sweetie and Button's heads while Flash was up ahead, focused on his goal of finding his wife. They noticed his somber mood and Button whispered.

"Can't say that I blame him… After all, I know how it feels to lose the one I love…" He looked at Sweetie Belle.

"You and me both…" Cadence and Shining unknowingly said together. They looked at each other in surprise and then shared a smile.

"I still can't believe you were willing to turn yourself into a Breezie…" Cadence said.

"I couldn't help it. I'm destined to be with you, Cady…" he grinned.

Sweetie exclaimed, "Just like me and Button! And Twilight and Flash!" But she quickly quieted down for fear of Flash hearing her and reminding him he was without his true love at the moment. But Flash didn't seem to take notice.

Cadence nodded, "Exactly."

Then, there was muffled yelling up ahead.

Flash heard this and quickly shushed to his companions, "I hear something…" They went after the noise as it got louder.

Chapter 15

The group kept looking at the wide chasm.

"Anybody got any bright ideas about how we get across?" Fancy questioned.

"Hmmmm…" the party couple pondered for a long time as the others watched on.

Cheese then said, "I got nothing."

"Me neither." she rubbed her temple, "It feels my brain exploded!"

Rarity shook her head.

Soarin' then looked back and realized, "Hey, wait a second!" He opened his wings, "I got wings!"

Rumble exclaimed and opened his wings as well, "Hey, me too!"

"It's simple: all me and Rumble have to do is fly across and see if we can find Twilight or the book."

The wingless ponies nodded and Rarity said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it!"

Soarin' and Rumble braced themselves for take-off and flew right over the chasm. They landed on the other side and Soarin' turned back to the group, "We'll be back!"

Pinkie waved at them, "Take your time!"

"As in…" started Rarity, "Hurry back!"

The pegasi nodded and continued down the tunnel.

Cheese suggested once they were out of sight, "Might as well get comfortable." He took a pack of cards out of his curly hair and the four ponies gathered around for the game.

Just as Rarity sat down, she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye and once she looked behind her, the shadow was gone. She was confused at first, but when she started playing the game, she thought nothing of it. Little did she realize that it was Coco's shadow she saw and Coco was watching them carefully behind a cave wall.

The light got brighter as Applejack led the group. Once they made it to where the light ended, they gasped. They found themselves in a huge cavern filled with piles of gems and jewels of all sorts.

The group stood gawking and Spike's eyes gleamed.

"It's a jewel paradise!" he exclaimed, and finally he couldn't take it and jumped into a nearby pile and feasted on the stones.

His wife was laughing and shaking her head.

He stopped and turned towards her with a guilty look, "Listen… I'm really sorry that I didn't say anything about…"

"Forget it."

"I just… didn't know if you wanted the truth or not. I know how you hate to lie or how others lie…"

She nodded, "That I do… But… I don't mind a white lie every now and then… Knowing that you care about my feelings when others make fun… it's… nice… I appreciate that you support my belief for the honest truth, but how about we'd be honest with each other while still being complimentary?"

He smiled and took her hoof to kiss, "That is something I can do…"

She grabbed him and kissed him on the lips.

Discord and Fluttershy saw the sweet scene and slowly turn towards each other.

Discord rubbed his neck, "Sweetheart, about…"

But she shushed him by placing her hoof over her mouth, "What I want to know is… do you love me for who I am?"

He smiled widely and said while wrapping his tail around her, "Yes! Yes, of course I do!"

"Even when I have flaws?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that…"

She raised her brow.

"To me, you have hardly any flaws. Because to a spirit of chaos, flaws just make you more attractive…"

She gasped, feeling touched.

"I just make sure your feelings don't get hurt…"

She shook her head, "Oh, Discord. You can't stop feelings from getting hurt…"

"Well, I can try."

She giggled, "Knowing that you look out for me is very sweet and caring, and it lets me know I can always rely on you to make it easier to deal with hurt feelings…" She wrapped her arms around him and they gazed into each other's eyes before kissing.

Apple Bloom and Pip knew then that they should give the couples some privacy, and they began to move past the piles of gems. When they saw what was beyond the gems, they gave out a scream.

The others came running over to them.

"What's wrong?!" AJ asked.

"That!" they both pointed.

They turned to the direction of their point and saw a huge golden temple. The words on the double doors were, 'Beware, take what you need but not out of greed… Take a peek of what treasure you seek… For those who stay cannot get away…'

Pip shouted, "I thought we would never see this thing again!"

"Yeah! It sunk into the ground!" AB yelled.

Discord cleared his throat and gave out a small chuckle, "Well, I don't know if you noticed, but we are underground!"

Bloom grumbled, "I'm aware…"

"So, this is the big bad temple you two told us about?" Applejack said.

"It wasn't so bad until Flim and Flam took matters into their own hooves…" Pip mentioned.

"This thing's nothin' but trouble! So I'm warning all of you now: stay away from it!" AB panted.

Applejack went up to her little sis, who she had known for so long and wrapped her hoof around her neck, "Easy there, tiger… Don't worry, we'll make sure to avoid it at all costs…" She turned to a certain being, "Ain't that right, Discord?" She eyed him.

"What?! I would never…" he batted innocent eyes, "…go near something so dangerous…" he made a halo appear on top of his head.

The others just sighed in exasperation. AJ started to turn her head away and for a brief second, she saw a shadow. She quickly turned around, but the shadow was gone.

Fluttershy asked in concern, "What is it, Applejack?"

"I thought I saw… Uh, never mind, it was nothing." she turned back to the group.

But she didn't realize that Silver Shill was watching them from the cavern's entrance.

The group finally got to where the noise was the loudest and found an iron gate. Flash quietly opened it and peeked his head in. He saw a room with cages and three Diamonds Dogs fighting, one of them being in a headlock. There was also one alicorn princess who was watching the skirmish with annoyance.

His heart pounded in joy when he saw his wife was unharmed and without a single scratch on her. He turned back to his group, consisting of two ponies and two Breezies. "She's in there."

"Great!" Shining cheered.

"She's in a cage guarded by three Diamond Dogs. Luckily, they're busy at the moment…"

"Well, if we found the Diamond Dogs, then it should be easy to talk to them once I show them this." Button held out the royal pendant.

"But we don't know that if these are the Diamond Dogs we're supposed to meet…" said Flash, "They did, after all, kidnap Twilight…" he gritted his teeth.

Sweetie nodded and took her husband's hoof, "He's right. How do we know if they'll listen to us…?"

Cadence flittered up to Flash, "Flash, if I get to Twilight, and ask her what she knows…"

He smiled, "Would you?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, and ask her if she's alright, too."

She smirked, "I was going to ask her that first."

Shining went up to her, "Just… be careful…"

She pecked her lover's cheek before Flash took her in his hoof and got her through the gate. She fluttered past the bickering Diamond Dogs and got into Twilight's cage. She went up to her cousin's face and said "Psst!"

Twilight looked around before she saw, "Cadence!" she softly whispered.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Where's Flash?"

She giggled, "You two are so alike…" She pointed towards the entrance of the room, "Why don't you see for yourself…?"

Twilight saw the orange pegasus with the blue eyes and had a Breezie on top of his head looking into the room. He smiled at her and she returned the smile.

"What is going on over there?" Cadence asked when seeing the dogs still duking it out.

Twilight sighed, "They're 'negotiating' how we can trade for the Ancient Book of Secrets, but since they think we're going to be slaves anyway for mining their diamonds already, they can't think of the proper thing for trade."

"But… Button has the royal pendant. He should be able to command them to give us the book…"

"Is he here?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, here," she put Cadence behind her mane, "I need to ask something…" she started yelling to the dogs, "Hey! Stop your fighting for one second and answer me this!"

They did stop and faced her. Spot said, "You do not command us, pony!"

"Oh, really? Then who does?"

"Only the one who holds the Great Diamond…the rulers of the island."

Back outside the room, Button heard that and examined the pendent, which held a diamond in the middle. He whispered out loud, "So, it wasn't so much as proving that I was Marendelle's rightful ruler, but that the Diamond Dogs respect a pony that had a large diamond in their grasp…"

The others around him nodded in agreement.

Twilight said, "I see… Well, what were to happen if I was a guest of the pony that held the Great Diamond?"

"Then you'd be let go immediately! But since no pony has it now, then you are to be our slave!" he gave out a laugh.

"She will not!" shouted a voice.

They turned around to see a pony holding a pendant out, "I am Prince Button Mash of Marendelle, your next king!"

The trio quivered and quickly bowed down, "Your Highness! We are at your service!"

"Good. First off, I want you to release Princess Twilight Sparkle, and second, you are to give her anything she asks for. Got it?!"

Still quivering, they said, "Ye-Yes, Your Highness!"

Once Twilight was set free, she rushed into her husband's awaiting arms and they embraced for a long time.

Rumble questioned as he and Soarin' went down the long tunnel, "How long do you suppose we've been walking down this same tunnel?"

"Too long…" But suddenly, he saw a light up ahead, "Say… what's that?"

They quickly went towards it and found a large cavern full of jewels!

"Whoa…" they both said.

"Hey, how did you two get here?" said a voice and they turned to see Pip.

Rumble explained, "We just came from the other tunnel."

The others came over to them and Discord said, "Fascinating. These caves seem to connect."

"Where's the rest of your group?" Applejack asked.

"They're stuck on the other side of a huge gap!" pointed Soarin'. "We managed to get pass because of these." He opened his wings.

"Well, land sakes! Let's go to them!" AJ exclaimed.

"Follow me!" Soarin' started back for the tunnel and the others began following except for Rumble, who noticed the golden temple.

He slowly approached it and said, "Hey… isn't this…?"

"NO!" both AB and Pip tackled him.

"Don't open it!" screamed Apple Bloom.

"But-"

"NO!" they repeated in his face, began dragging him off, and followed after the group.

The Diamond Dogs led them down a long passageway. The Dogs had to take turns using the gems on their collars to open hidden passages.

Spot said, "We're here." He opened a stone door that slid off to the side.

They looked in to see an empty room, and in the middle of the room was a pedestal where a large red book sat on top. Twilight slowly approached the book and saw an emblem of a star that she recognized on Star Swirl the Bearded's cloak and hat.

She thought, Could it be that he had a hoof in this magical book? Using her magic, she began flipping pages and she was amazed by the many spells that she thought were impossible to cast! She said out loud, "Divination, slowing the aging process, telling a baby's gender ahead of time! This is amazing!"

Shining Armor floated up to her mane, "If it can do all that, then it's bound to tell us how to break Cadence's curse!"

"I know. I'm trying to find that right now." she kept flipping through the pages and came across a particular spell. "Here's the spell the queen used to enchant the pea." She kept on flipping.

The group anxiously awaited as Twilight was trying to find the answer. Finally, she shouted out, "Ah-ha! Curses!" She read out, "To whosoever has been transformed through powerful means, the cursed being must kiss the one they love and in turn, the one they kiss must make a vow of everlasting love…"

"Really?!" all the ponies and Breezies said.

Shining smiled, "Well, that should be easy!" He turned towards Cadence, "Pucker up, sweetie!" He pressed his lips together.

"Shiny!" she giggled and slightly pushed him away, "I would like to kiss you in our proper forms."

He sighed and smiled, "Oh, alright."

"But there's a catch," pointed Twilight as she was still reading from the book, "You make a vow of everlasting love, but you must prove it to the world…"

Shining suddenly stiffened, "The… The world?! How?!"

Twilight shook her head, "I'm not sure, but we'll think of something now that we finally know how to break the spell."

"That's right." Flash went up, wrapped his hoof around her, and looked back to the Breezies, "We'll stop at nothing until you are free."

The Dogs watched them from the entrance until they heard a psst sound. They turned to see a pony waving them over.

"Who are you?" Spot demanded.

"Ah, this one can be our slave!" said Rover, about to grab the pony.

But Suri Polomare took a step back and said innocently, "Gosh, I would love to be your slave, but… I was going to offer you something much better than servitude. Ah, well, your loss."

Fido asked, "What's better?"

"Well… You don't have to follow orders anymore from the ponies that rule this land if you had, say… the Great Diamond?"

Their eyes filled with images of the large diamond as they grinned.

Spot then said, "So you can get us the diamond?"

"Yes. But I want an exchange in return. The diamond for the book… 'Kay?"

Rover exclaimed, "You got it!"

They went back just as she gave off a malicious grin.

Twilight closed the book and held Cadence in her hoof as she moved with the group to the entrance. They didn't realize that Spot moved to the pedestal to grab the book.

"So here's what we have to do: we go back to Canterlot, meet with Mother, Father, and Aunt Luna, tell them what we know, and hopefully they'll give us some ideas about how Shining Armor can make a vow of everlasting love while proving it to the world."

They nodded and Flash smiled. He turned his head back, but frowned when he saw Spot grabbing for the Ancient Book of Secrets. He called out, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Spot stammered, "Well… Well, I was…" He nervously chuckled until he grabbed for the book and shouted out, "Catch!" He threw the book to Rover, who caught it.

Twilight shouted, "What are you doing?! That book is too dangerous to leave this place!"

"Too bad!" Rover laughed and ran off. The group tried to go after him, but was detained by the other two.

Rover reached Suri and handed the book over, "Now give us the Great Diamond."

"Sorry, doggie, but I never make a deal I can't fulfill, 'kay? So… bye!" she put the book in her saddle bag and ran down the tunnels.

"He-Hey!" Rover quickly blew a whistle and the others came rushing in.

"What happened?!" Spot demanded.

"That pony double-crossed us!"

"What pony?" Sweetie questioned.

Spot explained, "The one who was going to give us the Great Diamond in exchange for the book!"

Button took out the pendant and stipulated, "This diamond has been in my family for generations and my mother said I wasn't supposed to lose it… Now you three listen to me… when we get the book back, you are to keep guard of it always… I am willing to forget this mistake, but you must help us retrieve the book back. Got it?" he eyed them.

They gulped.

The group found the other group on the other side of the chasm. Discord snapped his fingers and made a rope bridge appear. Applejack led her group to Rarity's group. Once they exchanged reports about not finding Twilight or the book, they started back for the start of tunnel and Coco knew she had to get going.

Rarity could have sworn she saw a shadow ahead of them. Applejack noticed her confusion and whispered, "You okay?"

"Well… I know this is going to sound crazy, but I could have sworn I saw a shadow watching me…"

"I know what you mean… The same thing happened to me…"

"How strange…" Rarity rubbed her chin in thought.

"Course, it could be our minds playing tricks on us."

"While I don't like the idea of losing it, it could be true… what with worrying about Twilight and breaking Cadence's curse and not to mention wondering how Gemstone is doing without her mother…"

AJ nodded.

Coco ran with all her might and was running out of breath. The group behind her was catching up with her.

"Over here!" said a voice.

She turned to see Silver Shill waving her over to a gap in the cave wall. She quickly went into it, leaving her and Silver with limited space. It made her blush since she was leaning so close onto his shoulder. Luckily, with it being dark, he couldn't see it.

"I thought you were following the other group?" she quietly asked him.

"I was, but once I realized the tunnels connected and they were going to meet the others, I knew it was best to get to you and warn you."

She arched her brow, "Why?"

"Uh…" Now it was his turn to blush. The real truth that he was coming to warn her was because he was worried she was going to get caught. That was the last thing he wanted for her.

"Silver?" she suddenly said.

"Yes?"

"Look, we've been through a lot together and I…"

"Uh-huh?" he gave off a hopeful glance.

"Well, I just wanted to say…" she took a pause and sighed, "…thank you… I guess… for helping me get through this…" She gave a small smile, since that wasn't what she wanted to tell him. While she truly was grateful for his help when dealing with Suri and Tirek, she wanted to express her true feelings at that point…

"Oh…" he had a disappointed look, but masked it with a smile on his face, "You're welcome…" Inside his mind, he was scolding himself for not saying how he truly felt for the lovely mare pressed against his shoulder. He liked how she was close to him this way.

Then, he heard rustling hoofsteps coming closer. He whispered, "Don't make a sound and wait until they pass…"

"Right…" she nodded.

The hoofsteps came closer and closer until suddenly, Suri's face popped up to them, giving them a fright. She harshly whispered to them, "What in Equestria are you two doing?! I'm doing all the work and you're just sitting there!"

Silver retorted, "For your information, we were making sure we didn't get caught by them!"

She scoffed, "Whatever. Now come on! I got the book! The Master will be so pleased with me! I bet he'll reward me for my good work! Let's go!" she started scamping off.

They quickly followed after her and made it to the hole where the trio followed after the royal group. They had a rope at the ready from which they made their way down. They started climbing the rope.

All three groups managed to bump into each other. The sisters were relieved to see Twilight was all right, but once she explained what happened to the Ancient Book of Secrets, they quickly made it for the above world, to which Discord helped teleport them out.

Pinkie found tracks heading for outside of the jungle. She shouted out, "Stop thief! Or… Thieves!"

The three earth ponies ran with all their might, but when Coco tripped over a log, Silver stopped while Suri kept on running.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern as he helped her up.

"Yeah… I think so…"

"Can you keep on running?"

"My hoof hurts a little, but… yeah."

Silver thought furiously as he saw Suri was still running, not once bothering to see if Coco was all right. Some boss you are… can't even see if your own assistant was keeping up… Then, he looked back to see the giant group still following them and how the pink pony and the orange stallion next to her were acting like bloodhounds. Well, there is no way I'm not going to let you get away with pleasing the master if you're willing to let the pony you took in get hurt… He quickly grabbed a pebble, which was a cut stone emerald and threw it at Suri's saddle bag. It unattached the latch and the book flew out. Suri didn't even noticed because she was still running like the wind.

Silver and Coco reached the book. Silver picked up the emerald and offered it to her as he blushed, "For you."

She blushed and accepted the stone, "I… I don't know what to say…"

"You don't have to say anything…" He looked at the book, "Really…"

"Oh… she's not going to like this and neither will the master…"

"I know, but at least we can both claim that Suri lost it and we won't be facing the boss's wrath."

She nodded.

"Come on. Let's hurry before Suri takes off without us…"

"I certainly wouldn't put it past her…"

"After what happened to you, she most definitely thinks about herself…" he scowled.

But not you… Coco thought with a smile. And as they ran, her fantasies of him and her together came back, plus a few more.

Once the large faction, consisting of ponies, a dragon, a draconequus, and Breezies, found the book, they got back to the castle and put it on the dining table of the banquet hall. Twilight and Button both agreed that placing it back into its original hiding spot wasn't such a good idea, what with its location being compromised and its former guardians being corrupted.

Twilight turned to the queen, "Your Highness, with your permission, I would like to bring the book back with me to Canterlot. I'm sure my parents can figure out another safe hiding place."

Queen Love Tap nodded and said, "Yes, I agree. Now that I know the Diamond Dogs are untrustworthy… it must be taken away from here… In the meantime, you must all be tired from the excitement that's happened today. Please, I shall have guards escort you all to your rooms for the night."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," spoke Twilight as she looked out the window to see her mother's sun setting. She noticed Cadence and Shining Armor doing the same thing, "But there's something we must do first…"

Sweetie said, "Oh! Is this the transformation you told us about?"

"Uh-huh." Rarity answered.

"Now that's something I want to see!" said Scootaloo.

Rainbow rubbed her head, "It'll be hard to miss, squirt… It'll be hard to miss…"

Every pony started laughing.

Chapter 16

The moon began rising over the ocean water. Cadence set herself on the edge of the shore. The moon's reflection touched her and the glow surrounded her. The water rose up all around her and in a second, she was transformed into an alicorn once more.

The younger princesses and their husbands gaped and uttered a "Whoa…"

The elder princesses and their husbands just smiled and Rainbow said, "Never gets old…"

Shining Armor was a stallion again thanks to Twilight, who was able to change him back at will. Of course, it was his request that he was transformed during the day, just like his cursed beloved.

"Wow…" Sweetie Belle admired her cousin's true form. "You were pretty before, but you're prettier now. I mean…"

Cadence chuckled, "It's all right. You three are the most delightful cousins I ever had the pleasure of meeting. Auntie Celestia and Uncle Sombra knew what they were doing when they took you in…"

The trio beamed at her and she held her arms out so they could have a group hug. Then, Scootaloo gave a yawn.

"Sorry to cut this sappy moment short, but I am exhausted!"

Rainbow protested, "Hey, if anyone's tired, it's for playing ten rounds of checkers with you all day!"

Applejack bonked her sister, "If anyone's tired, it's the ponies that had to go underground to save their sister and get a book back from bandits!"

"I quite agree!" Rarity flipped her mane, "Now if you all excuse us, but my husband and I need our beauty sleep!" She and Fancy took their leave back for the castle.

The others also thought it was a good idea, so they slowly said their good nights and departed. All who were left were Flash, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence.

Flash pointed out while having bags under his eyes, "We should probably get some sleep too, Twi. We have to leave first thing in the morning."

"You're right. You go ahead. I'll be there shortly with you…" she smiled.

He returned the smile and turned towards the couple, "Good night, captain, princess…" he saluted.

Cadence shook her head as Shining playfully saluted back, "Good night to you, Sir Sentry, but you don't have to get formal with me. You are, after all, a prince."

"It's my way of righting a great wrong against you…"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Oh, for… Flash, it's over. There's nothing to feel sorry for."

"I know… but it's only fair."

"You're a good colt, Flash. Twilight made the right choice when choosing a lover…"

Cadence wrapped her wing around her special some pony, "Just like I did…" she giggled.

He turned back to her with love shining in his eyes. Twilight knew then it was best that her husband and she get going to leave the two lovebirds alone.

Flash made a point when they went past the gates, "It's too bad they can't enjoy their love in the sunshine…"

"True… but… I seem to recall having to enjoy our love at night in an underground kingdom…" she smirked.

He smirked back and wrapped a wing around her, "So true, my dear, so true…" They went into the castle.

Cadence and Shining watched the moon and stars from the beach where they sat side-by-side. She sighed, nuzzled her head on his shoulder, and rested it there.

"Cadence?" his soft voice said to her.

"Hm?" she merely said while staying where she was.

"Do you really think I can prove to the whole world I can make a vow of everlasting love?"

"Well…" she slowly lifted her head up to face him, with her sweet lavender meeting his cool blue eyes, "…knowing you, once you set your mind to something, you fulfill it."

"I do! I really do! It's just… I never… spoke to a whole room full of ponies, let alone the world! I mean it's one thing to give commands to the guards, but to confess my love for some pony I love for every pony to hear… Are you sure I'm even worthy of breaking your curse? Maybe there's someone else better off who can confess their-" But he was cut off by the lock of her lips to his.

Once she broke it, she stated, "There. Now you'll have no choice but to make the vow…" she smirked.

He gaped, "Cad-Cadence! You can't just make a choice just by kissing me!"

"I just did." she winked.

He was at loss for words as he was trying to figure out what just happened.

"You're just nervous, Shiny… Who wouldn't be?"

"Twilight." he stated while crossing his arms.

"Okay, other than Twilight… Lots of ponies would be nervous."

"But… what can I say? What should I say?"

"Don't worry… You'll figure it out… You have love by your side, I have love by my side, we both have love at our side to help us out…" Then she started singing, "Love… It seems like only yesterday, you were a child at play… Now you're all grown up inside of me… Oh, how fast those moments flee… Once we watched a lazy world go by… Now the days seem to fly… Life is brief, but when it's gone, love goes on and on… Love will live… Love will last… Love goes on and on and on… Once we watched a lazy world go by… Now the days seem to fly… Life is brief… but when it's gone, love goes on and on…"

They slowly moved in for another kiss.

"You really think I can do this?" he asked.

"I know so…" she smiled. "After the way you turned yourself into a Breezie, you can face just about anything."

He took her hoof, "As long as I have you, I can…"

They touched horns.

They did not see the face in the moon looking at them and just like that, it was gone, since the Princess of Night had to return to Canterlot. She felt confusion as to how her daughter could have fallen in love with the captain so quickly. Now she knew how Sombra felt when he saw his daughters all grown up before his eyes. The same could be said for her, realizing her daughter wasn't the little foal she carried around in her arms, but this young mare ready to take her place in the world. When Cadence would return to the mainland, there were certainly going to be lots of questions that would need answering…

The next morning arrived and Cadence was immediately turned back into a Breezie. She fluttered into her lover's hoof and he carried her back to the castle, where the others were starting to eat breakfast. When Cadence was in the comfort of the birdhouse, Twilight turned Shining back into a Breezie as well.

When they were done eating, Sweetie said, "So, you're really going?"

"I'm afraid so, darling. We must get back as soon as possible." said Rarity.

Twilight nodded, "Yes, we must get back to get the Ancient Book of Secrets to a new hiding place and we have to help Shining Armor make a vow of everlasting love to prove to the world."

Rarity pointed, "Not to mention we have to get back in time to celebrate our wedding anniversary."

"That's coming up?!" Scootaloo gestured.

"Shoot! And I don't have a present made for you!" said Apple Bloom. "It's the first year I haven't been thinking of making anything for my family because I've been too busy living on Marendelle."

"Yeah… Same goes for me…" said Scoots.

"Me too…" Sweetie dejectedly said.

Twilight spoke, "Girls, it's okay…"

"Right!" said Discord when popped between the three of them. "Besides, we all agreed to lay off the gift exchange this year."

"Why?" the trio questioned.

Rainbow answered, "Long story. We don't want to bore you with details."

"So instead," said Fluttershy, "we're going to recreate our first date."

"Awww!" the three princesses gushed.

Suddenly, Scootaloo felt a kick that made her wince. "Putting up quite a fight, aren't you, baby?" she rubbed her stomach.

"I bet you'll have a boy." Sweetie touched her sister's tummy, "Hey… Twilight, didn't you say there was a spell in the book that could tell what a baby's gender was before they're born?!"

"Why, yes!" the alicorn said, "If Scootaloo and Rumble are willing, I could cast the spell to find out."

"Would you?!" the expecting parents said.

"All right, then, are you ready?"

"Ready!" Scoots declared.

Twilight looked through the book, found the spell, and began to chant the words as her horn glowed. Then, a ray landed on Scootaloo's stomach and she started giggling.

"Hey! That tickles!" she kept laughing until the glow faded away.

"Oh, my!" Twilight gasped.

"What is it, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy. "Anything wrong with the baby?"

"Actually, I think you mean babies…"

"WHAT?!" the whole room gaped.

"What do you mean babies?!" Rumble shouted.

"That's just it. You're having twins…" she beamed at the shocked parents, "A boy and a girl…"

The parents were still in shock mode while their relatives were congratulating them left and right.

"Dude, I didn't know you had it in you! Way to go!" Pip slapped Rumble's back, causing him to cringe.

Apple Bloom got in her sister's face, "Just think, Scoots! Now you have twice the joy, twice the love, and twice everything else!"

Spike whispered to his wife, "Not to mention twice the diapers, twice the feedings, and twice everything else…"

"Are you excited?!" Pinkie bounced around them, "Cause I know I am!"

But sweat was flowing down their brows.

"Yeah…" Scoots said in an unenthusiastic tone, "Whoo…"

Rumble said nervously, "We couldn't be happier…"

"What's wrong?" Sweetie asked in concern when she noticed the worry right away.

"Well… it's just…" Scootaloo started. "We were going to be in charge of taking care of one life form, now only to discover we're going to take care of two?! I'm… I'm not sure if we're up to it…"

Rumble nodded in agreement.

"I am happy about having another baby, but what if we do a terrible job taking care of two babies? Then we're not fit to be parents!"

"What she said." Rumble gestured.

"Oh now, sugar cube, every new mother and father feels this way before their child is born." AJ looked around the table, seeing everyone else who had been through it before nodded.

"Yes, but how many of them are going to have twins?" Scootaloo questioned.

"Point taken," said Flash. "Since none of us have had twins before, we can't tell you how to raise two kids at once."

"Unfortunately, it's true," said Twilight. "You'll be on your own there, but you won't have to face it alone…"

"That's right." Button went to his friends. "I promise that you and your children will be well-taken care of in the palace…"

"And we'll come visit our little niece and nephew at any chance we get." said Sweetie Belle.

"And offer babysitting service…" AB smiled.

"You… You would do that?" Scootaloo asked.

"Of course! We're your sisters and those two peas in a pod's aunts!" Sweetie motioned.

Scoots had to wipe away a piece of liquid pride before hugging the sisters she had known since they were kids. Shortly after, their older sisters joined in.

Pinkie had to ask, "So, what are you going to name them?"

"It might be a bit early for names," said Rumble, "since we don't know what they look like."

Scoots felt a kick again, "Well, one thing's for sure, one of them is going to be name Kicks, because he or she keeps kicking around in me!"

The room burst into laughter.

Moments later, the young princesses and their husbands waved off their relatives from the dock as they waved back on the ship and headed out to sea.

Scootaloo turned to her husband, "Looks like we got work to do into redoing the nursery…" she sighed.

He sighed also, "No kidding…"

Apple Bloom smiled, "Don't worry. We'll help out."

They grinned at the assistance.

The entire underground lair shook when a power-hungry centaur yelled, "You dare to come back empty-handed?! You were given a simple task for your simple minds, and you came back without the item I need!"

"Master, I swear, I had it with me the whole time!" Suri crouched in fear.

"But obviously you lost it or else, you would still have it!" pointed Silver Shill.

Suri grit her teeth, "Listen, you-"

"Enough!" Tirek commanded. "Now… we shall see if it's in the hooves of that meddlesome princess who altered my curse…" He summoned his magic mist and an image of Twilight appeared with her carrying the book. "There… just as I thought. She would never in her right mind let something so powerful escape her grasp… She's just like that aunt of her's, always taking things that don't belong to them… Must run in the family…" he sneered.

"Master, I beg of you, let me have a second chance to retrieve the book." Suri pleaded.

Tirek gave this thought and finally said, "And how do I know you will not fail me again?"

"Because I know how they are going to break your spell on that princess…"

He frowned, "Go on…"

"In order for the spell to be broken, the princess's love must make a vow of everlasting love to her and prove it to the world."

"I see… Then we must be certain that he doesn't fulfill the vow… Watch them, and from the moment that the book is within your sights, take it!"

"Yes, Master!" Suri bowed and Silver and Coco reluctantly did as well.

"And be sure you do not disappoint me again… Understand?" his eyes glowed menacingly.

They gulped and nodded their heads and quickly set off.

Tirek went back to the mist, watching the princess on the ship talking to her sisters and in-laws, one of those in-laws being a powerful draconequus who started to do a juggling act to entertain them with a chain saw, sword, and mace.

"Look at that… How the mighty have fallen… Pathetic… Being nothing more than a circus act to a bunch of strict royals… Fortunately, I got the remedy to that. Once I have the book of ancient secrets in my hands, I shall make him an offer he will not refuse…" he gave out an evil chuckle.

Chapter 17

They finally made it back to Canterlot, where they all met in the throne room. Twilight had finishing telling the story to their parents and presented them with the large red book. "And now we have to find a way for Shining Armor to make a vow of everlasting love while proving it to the world, as well as finding a new hiding place for this thing."

Celestia's yellow aura surrounded the book, taking it while she told her daughters, "Do not worry, just leave it to your father and me. We will find the proper place for this important item…"

Sombra nodded, "Yes, you can be sure of that."

"You can focus on breaking Cadence's spell by helping Shining Armor make his vow of everlasting love…" she smiled down at the Breezies, causing them to blush, and then she turned back to her daughters, "But for tonight, isn't there something you're supposed to be celebrating?" she winked.

Rarity piped up, "Quite right!" She started using her magic to grab a few of her sisters, being Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow, who was glaring at her. "We must go get ready!"

Once Twilight had reverted Shining to his true form, she looked at her cousin, "But wait! What about Cadence?! It's almost sunset and I don't know where to find a large body of water to transform her!"

Rarity stopped dragging the sisters with her and dropped them, "Oh, dear… That is problematic…"

"Think every pony! Where in Canterlot has a large body of water?" Twilight questioned.

Pinkie came up to her, "Gosh, Twilight. All I can think about is the lake in the underground kingdom…"

She gasped, "That's it!" She started running for the door and using the same spell Rarity used, started dragging all of her sisters out. She shouted back, "We'll see you later!"

Flash called out, "We'll be there!"

Celestia gave her husband the book and she started heading out the door, "And now it is time for me to lower the sun to make way for my sister's moon…"

In minutes, the sun was down and the moon was rising high into the sky. In the magical underground kingdom, the moon's glow touched Cadence and she was transformed. She was astonished by the gold and silver castle and its surroundings.

"And you say my mother made all this?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm." Twilight nodded.

"Oh, I can't blame you for not wanting to leave during the times you came here…"

"Yeah… Well, I have to get back upstairs to get ready, but you're welcome to stick around."

"I would like that… Thank you…" she nuzzled her little cousin's head, which got a giggle out of her.

Twilight turned to go and walked up the cutie mark tile steps. When she reached the top, she had to duck to avoid getting hit by a dress and saw that Rarity was frantically searching for something.

"Oh, where is it…? Where is it?! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst!"

"What's wrong?" Twilight went over to her.

"Someone took my makeup kit!"

"Now why in tarnation would someone want that big kit of yours?"

"I don't know… but some pony is going to pay for stealing my stuff! Line up, all of you!"

"WHAT?!" the five yelled out and each started protesting.

"The only one who could have taken my makeup had to be someone in this room! Now line up so I can inspect!"

They grumbled as they went in a straight line and she went down to check them all.

"You're just wasting your time, you know that?" AJ pointed.

"Quiet! I must have absolute concentration…" she eyed each of her sister's face until she got to Rainbow Dash and notice a smudge of red on her lips! "Ah-ha! Red lipstick! What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?!"

"What?! That's crazy! I don't even like rouge!"

"Oh…?" Rarity went near Rainbow Dash's bed, "Then how do you explain… this?!" She magically lifted up a large kit.

The girls gasped in shock while Rainbow's face was full of sweat until she blurted out, "Okay! I admit it! I was using your makeup kit!"

The girls gasped again and Pinkie said, "Wow! I never took you for the girly type, Dashie!"

"I'm not! I was just using to kit to make myself look good for tonight. Is that too much to ask?!"

"Awww…" the girls gushed.

"Why did you not say so?! If it's for hubby, I could easily help you out!" said Rarity. "But next time, make sure you ask, got it?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry, Rare. I will ask next time."

"Good! Now hold still!" she magically had eye-liner at the ready.

Twilight went up to Rarity's ear and whispered, "Hey, when you're done with Dash, think you can do me next?"

"Oh? And why's that?"

"I feel that tonight, I should be extra… you know…" she blushed.

"Ah… Gotcha…" she winked. "Of course, once I finish up here, you'll be next."

"Thanks." Twilight smiled.

While the girls were prepping up, the guys were making sure to look good, too, as Shining Armor watched them.

"You know, you've been standing there for a while," Discord turned to him, "Something troubling you, my boy?"

"No… Not really… Maybe… Yes…?" Shining shrugged.

"Then why don't you tell us?" Fancy asked.

"Well… it's this making a vow of everlasting love…"

Discord stopped him by putting a finger to his mouth, "Ah, don't say another word." The next thing Shining knew, he was on a psychiatrist's couch while Discord acted like a psychologist, wearing glasses and having a note pad out. "Now then, what sort of doubts are you experiencing?"

"It's just… I'm questioning myself if I'm even worthy to say such a vow to a princess who deserves better… Cadence says I'm worthy and believes in me, but I'm afraid I'll fail her in the end…"

"Dude," Soarin' shook his head, "you're not the only one who's felt this way…"

"It's true," said Cheese. "When we were courting our girls, we weren't sure if we were worthy of them because they had to marry some rich count or other."

"But when they took us down to underground kingdom, they proved to us that we were worthy of them and that they wanted to love us without the feeling of hiding from anything." said Spike.

"And when they got kidnapped, we were more afraid of failing when trying to get them back." said Flash.

"I'm not going to lie," said Discord when taking off the glasses. "I don't envy that you have to confess your love for the whole world to hear."

"How is that helping?" Fancy glared.

"Yeah, don't make the poor guy more nervous than he already is!" Spike gestured.

"You didn't let me finish. I do not like the idea of proving my love to the whole world, but if it was for Fluttershy, I would do it in a heartbeat."

"Whoa…" gaped Flash.

"Yeah, 'whoa'. I know the rest of you are thinking, too, that as long as it's for the one you love, you'll do just about anything, like Spike nearly dying to save his girl or how Shiny turned himself into a Breezie. At this point, Shining Armor, you have two choices: remain as a Breezie or you can take the plunge and make that vow of everlasting love… So, what's it going to be?"

Shining sighed and stood up, "While it's easier to turn yourself into a Breezie than it is to confess your love out loud… but… it's more important to your love to make a vow that will give her true happiness…" he made a smile.

Discord smacked his back, causing him to fall over, "Atta boy!"

"So, do you need any help when making this vow of everlasting love?" Soarin' asked.

"That would be most appreciated…" Shiny said as he got back on his feet. "I could use all the help I can I get…"

"Hey," Flash took his hoof and shook it. "We're there for you."

Shining returned the shake until they heard an ahem and turned to see Princess Luna at the door.

"Lulu!" said Discord. "Don't you know you're supposed to knock before entering a stallion's dressing room?!"

Luna just rolled her eyes, as did so many of the other guys, before she addressed them, "Pardon my intrusion, but I request the captain."

Shining arched a brow, but gave a bow and said, "Of course, Your Majesty." He started leaving the room and turned back to the guys, saying, "Have a good time." He left, following after the princess.

They went to Princess Luna's chambers and Shining was surprised, for he was never invited into one of the higher members of the royal family's rooms before.

"You are probably wondering why I called you here." said Luna as she faced away from him.

This worried him a little and spoke, "If I had offended you in some way, Your Highness…"

"You have not offended me… yet. No, I just want to know where you stand… Shining Armor…" she faced him this time.

"Stand? I am not a traitor, if that's what you're asking!"

"I am not talking about being a traitor to your country, but rather being a traitor to the heart…"

"The… heart?"

"When you came back from your adventures across Equestria, I asked you if you had a marefriend or wife. You answered 'no', but there was someone you wanted for your special some pony. It was my daughter you were thinking about, wasn't it?"

Shining froze as to how the Princess of the Night managed to figure that out. He tried to read her face, but she wasn't giving off any hint of pleasure or displeasure. He took a breath and said firmly, "Yes." He braced himself for what would happen.

"How did you two meet?"

He kept a straight face when answering, "When we were young, we met in the gardens. I was watching the royal guard when I came across her. We became friends from that day forward."

Luna said nothing as she moved around him as if inspecting him. Shining didn't move a muscle and he didn't let the fear he was feeling inside come to the surface. Finally, she spoke, "I understand from my sister that you have been willing to turn into a Breezie for Cadence's sake and that only a vow of everlasting love can break my daughter's curse… You are the one chosen to make such a vow…"

"Your Majesty…" Shining quickly bowed, "…if you believe I am unworthy to make a vow like that to your daughter, then say the word. I shall not go against it…" Luna was about to say something when he kept speaking, "But I made a promise to her and myself that I will make the vow of everlasting love… And I that is something I intend to keep…"

He looked up and was surprised to see Luna smiling, "You almost had me fooled there, Captain… For a minute there, I thought I was going to be disappointed in you, but when you proclaimed about making the vow of everlasting love no matter what, it shows me how truly loyal you are to my daughter…"

He gaped at this statement.

She giggled, "Don't look so surprised, for this was a test to prove your reliability. One I am pleased to say you passed with flying colors."

He found himself beaming.

"But don't think this doesn't mean I'll stop worrying about my darling having heartbreak."

He shook his head, "No, madam. Every parent feels that way."

"But so far, you have provided the happiness my daughter has hadn't had in a long time. Therefore, you have my respect."

"I am honored…" he bowed his head.

She smiled, then cleared her throat, showing off her serious face. Shining stood in attention, both returning to their professional roles, "Thank you, Captain. You may retire to your quarters. It'd be best if you do, for Princess Cadence will be with me for the rest of the night. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly, Your Highness."

"Then you may go." he started to turn when Luna said, "Oh, and once this curse business is over, I expect to see a ring on my daughter's horn…"

He turned back to her in shock and saw her winking. He gave a quick nod and rushed out, not noticing the princess's stifling laughter.

The golden ballroom shimmered as the couples danced on its floor. The girls wore the same dresses they wore the night they showed the guys their special magical world.

Rarity had her hooves around her lover's neck, "This brings back memories…"

"It most certainly does…" Fancy agreed and they kept twirling.

Flash was amazed how stunning his wife was looking, "I still can't get over the fact about how incredible you look…"

"You can thank Rarity for that… and you don't look so bad yourself…" she batted her eyes.

He gulped.

"You know, Flash… as long as everyone is busy dancing, we could sneak away…" she gave a flirtatious smile.

He stared into her violet eyes and immediately felt entranced. She had him.

He did a small nod and she led him out.

When the music came to a stop and everyone clapped, Pinkie jumped up, declaring, "Best anniversary ever!"

They gave out a great cheer until Rainbow realized, "Uh… Any pony seen Twilight?"

"Come to think of it… Where's Sentry?" Discord pointed.

Everyone just shrugged and gave unsure looks.

Cadence had been on the rooftop of the castle when she had seen Twilight and Flash leaving on the boat and going in the cave. All she could do was smile and think, Told ya you would find the right time… Now she was at the pavilion feeling her mother's magic all around her. It reminded her of her mother's warm embrace when she was very little.

"Do you like it?" a gentle voice said.

She turned around to see her mother coming down to her.

Cadence beamed and replied, "I love it. It warms my heart that you did this for them when they were about face a difficult choice…"

"Well, only at your aunt's request, but I was happy to offer my services."

Cadence sighed, "I wish I had been there to help them… Maybe I could have saved them from be taken…"

Luna wrapped her wing around her daughter, "Who knows for certain? Had you been here… Had I warned Celestia sooner…"

"We shall never know. The best thing we can do is keep moving forward…"

Luna chuckled, "You always were wise beyond your years, my darling…"

Cadence smiled, "Because of you…"

"Perhaps, but it makes me glad you were bright enough to choose a stallion that knew how to commit."

"Aw, Mom… Wait…" her eyes widened, "How did you…?"

"That the Captain of the Royal Guard is your very special some pony? I saw you two last night on Marendelle's beaches…"

"Oh, Mother…" she hung her head, "I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how you would have reacted."

"I suppose in truth, I would have overprotective, but since you two were friends first before falling in love, I am glad."

"Yes, it wasn't until recently I learned he loved me and I loved him."

"He does love you very much…"

"How… How would you know that?"

"I… may have had a chat with him before coming to see you…"

"Oh, Mother… please tell me you didn't…"

"If you're worried I scared him away, fret not. He put up a brave front and stood his ground like the good soldier that he is."

"He… He did…?"

"Yes, you would have been very proud. I only wanted to make sure that his heart to you was true."

"Oh, Mom, I could have I told you that."

"Nevertheless, I just wanted to be sure. The last thing I want is your unhappiness, since you've already been through so much…"

Cadence went in for a hug and Luna embraced it.

"He's a good stallion that one. Wouldn't surprise me if he presents you with a diamond ring after the spell has been broken."

Cadence blushed bright red, "M-Mother!"

"Well, that's what you want, isn't it?"

"Well, yes… but I can't force him!"

Luna smirked, "Which is why I took the liberty to 'hint' at him for a proposal soon."

"You didn't!" she groaned, "You did… Mom, why did you do that?!"

"Is it too much to say I want grandchildren?" Luna said innocently.

Cadence look at her in annoyance, "Must you have everything Auntie Celestia has?"

"But of course!"

Cadence could only shake her head.

"Now, let's figure out how your captain can make this vow of everlasting love to you."

"Oh, Mother, he has to prove it to the world! How can he do that?"

"Hmm… an interesting problem to be sure… What you need is a large gathering of sorts…"

"A large gathering?"

"A gathering of ponies that come far and wide from different parts of Equestria."

"But what could…" Suddenly, she realized, "The Grand Galloping Gala! Of course! It's a huge gathering and an important one at that! Oh, Mother, thank you!" she kissed her cheek.

Luna chuckled, "You're quite welcome, my darling."

"I have to tell Shiny and Twilight!"

"You can do all that tomorrow. Right now, let us enjoy our time together while there is still time."

"Aw, Mother, just because I love Shining Armor doesn't mean I love you any less…"

"I know… but it's feels I am about to lose you forever this time…" she said with a near tear in her eye.

"Never…" she wrapped her wing around her. "You will always be my mother."

"And you will always be my daughter, despite what others may think…"

"I may have been born differently from most ponies, but as long as I had some pony to take of care of me and love me, that's all that really counts."

Mother and daughter had another embrace.

Chapter 18

At breakfast the next morning, the couples except Twilight and Flash were chatting and eating away, but when the missing couple walked through the doors, all heads turned towards them.

"Good morning!" Twilight cheerfully said as Flash pulled out a seat for her and she sat down.

"Uh, mornin'…?" said Applejack.

"Where were you guys last night?" questioned Rainbow.

They started blushing as Twilight stammered, "Oh, we were… um…" She quickly asked her husband, "Flash, can you pass me the pancakes?"

"Right away, sweetie!" he grabbed a stack full with maple syrup.

"Thank you, dear." she gave a cheesy grin as the others gave her exasperated looks.

"You know, you could have said, 'none of your business…' Yeesh." Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"So we're to assume then your relationship is all repaired now?" Discord gestured.

Flash pointed out, "It was repaired long before."

Twilight wrapped her hoof around his arm, "But we couldn't be happier…"

The pair smiled at each other lovingly.

Celestia and Sombra walked in then, and the family bowed their heads in respect. Once they had sat down in their seats, Celestia spoke.

"Good news, my darlings. The Ancient Book of Secrets has been safely locked away in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing."

"And we have extra guards posted there to make sure it stays that way." said Sombra.

"And as for how Shining Armor will prove to the world his vow of everlasting love, Cadence and Luna figured out the answer."

"They did?!" Twilight's eyes gleamed.

"Yes, I agree with them that the Grand Galloping Gala is the perfect place to make a vow of everlasting love…"

"The… Grand Galloping Gala?" Rarity said until she squealed. "How wonderful and so romantic!"

"Sure, for the girl, but for the poor guy who has to speak up in front of an entire audience…?" shudder Spike.

"But we'll help him." said Twilight. "We'll prepare him for when he has to speak."

"And when you say, 'we', you actually mean 'you', don't you?" questioned Flash.

She shrugged, "More or less."

In his quarters, Shining was at his desk, making notes on what he would say in his vow of everlasting love. He was up half the night trying to figure it all out. Magically writing with a quill, he said, "Cadence, how fair is thee…" he grunted as he crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash with the other crumpled papers. He began to write again, saying, "What light from yonder window breaks? It is the east and Cadence is the sun…" he groaned and crumpled-up the parchment.

"This is getting me nowhere!" he slumped his head down.

A knock came at his door and Twilight came in.

"Hey." she greeted, "Just wanted to know if you wanted to change back into a Breezie today?"

"Thanks, but Cadence is with her mother and I'm trying to write out what a vow of everlasting love should say."

"That reminds me, we know how you can prove to it the world."

"Really? How?"

"By presenting your vow at the Grand Galloping Gala."

He stiffened and finally stammered out, "The… Grand…Galloping… Gala?"

"I know… it's a bit much, but it's the only way we can think of…"

He shook out of it, "Well, if you think it's the only way…"

"It is. So, how are you coming on the vow?"

He pointed to the garbage bin, "See for yourself."

She magically lifted the bin and looked over the crumpled papers. With each one she read, she winced.

"That bad, huh?"

"No! They're… uh… a start!" she wore a cheesy grin.

"Face it, Twilight! I'll never be able to prove to the world how much I love Cadence mainly because I don't know how to say it!"

"That's not true! From what Cadence told me, you were able to express your feelings beautifully!"

"Yeah… when no one's around and it's just me and her! But to admit your love to the entire world… it's intimidating!"

Twi gave a sympathetic look, "You're right… It's going to be difficult to practically shout out to the world your love for Cadence, but you still love her enough to be willing to go through it, don't you?"

"I do… but I really need help on what to say."

"And I'm just the princess who can do that!" she got out a notepad and quill. "Now I want you to give me a list of what you find about Cadence that's so attractive and why you fell in love with her."

"Oh, wow…" he rubbed his neck. "Where to start…? She's got those eyes, wow… And her smile…" he sighed lovingly.

"Okay, focus, lover boy," she started scribbling down. "Eyes… Smile… What else?"

"Her mane. I always did like how soft and silky it was…"

"Mane, check. Anything else?"

"Well, her laugh. I love hearing her laugh and how happy she looks when she does."

"Excellent. Now why did you fall in love with her?"

He was quick to answer, "For her kind nature. How she helps others out and cares for those other than herself."

"Good. Very good." Twilight beamed.

"What? You thought I fell in love with her just because of her beauty?"

She giggled, "No, but you can't deny that Cadence is quite gorgeous."

"She is at that…" he sighed. "But Twi, I couldn't love anyone on looks alone anymore than you could."

"You're right. While I found Flash to be very handsome, I didn't start loving him until I got to know more about him and he got to know me for who I was."

He asked, "When's the Gala?"

"Not for a couple of more weeks. That should give us enough time to figure out your vow of everlasting love."

"Will you be going back to your castle in the Everfree Forest soon?"

"For a little bit, just to check up on the kids and then we'll be coming back to help our parents prepare for the Gala. The Grand Galloping Gala is particularly a special time for our family, since it's how our parents fell in love."

"If I recall correctly, the last time I saw you, you were still too young to attend the Gala."

"My sisters and I started attending the Gala when you left, and it was because Mother felt lonely and sad since she always had fond memories of Father and her having fun at the Gala. But after he got the curse, the Gala became drab and boring for her, but when Father came back, it was lively again."

"Is that why you were there? To liven things up for her?"

"Pretty much. At my first Gala, Mother had me by her side while she was greeting guests. I never saw her so happy… Well," she set her notebook in front of him, "I have to go pack for the train ride home. Just look at that list and I'm sure something will pop into your head."

"Thanks, Twilight. You're the best…" he smiled.

"It's nothing. Anything for Cadence."

He nodded.

"We'll be back before you know it."

"I'll be waiting, and hopefully I'll have something ready by the time you get back."

"I'll be looking forward to it." She took her leave.

Shining stared at the list Twilight wrote about the things he said about Cadence. He thought, There's got to be something here I can use to make a vow of everlasting love…

When they had made it back to the Everfree castle, the kids were disappointed they couldn't attend the Gala.

"Awww! Why can't I go?!" Cotton Candy whined at her parents' hooves in their apartment.

"Because, sweetheart…" Cheese lifted her up to have her face him at eye level, "you're still too little and this is a grown-up party."

"But I love parties, and I can be grown-up!"

Pinkie said, "We know you're a big girl, but others may not see it that way."

"Plus, the Gala will go past your bedtime. You'll be too tired to party all night."

Cotton pouted, "But I really wanted to go…"

"I know, sweetie…" Pinkie wrapped her hoof around her daughter, "but when you're old enough, we promise you can attend with us."

Cotton eyed them and started making the pinkie-promise, "Pinkie-promise?"

Her parents smiled and both did the gesture, "Pinkie-promise."

That caused the family to laugh and form a family sandwich.

The kids gathered in the garden later and were going over the fact they couldn't go with their families to the Gala. Cheerilee was nearby watching them while watching the three babies.

Whirl Wind said, "This stinks! My Dad is going to perform with the rest of the Wonderbolts and I won't be there to cheer him on!"

Dignity nodded, "And I wanted to be with my parents to see how posh the Gala was."

Fire Spark stated, "While I could care less about the dance, I wanted to sneak away to the library to finish those books I found the last time we were at Grandmama and Grandpapa's palace."

Cotton's eyes suddenly lit up, "Hey… I got an idea! Why don't we have our own Grand Galloping Gala?!"

"Huh?!" they all said.

"Come on, it'll be fun! Whirl Wind can pretend he's a Wonderbolt, Dignity can talk about fancy stuff, Fire can go to the library, and me and the babies can provide the music and partay!" she wore a wide grin, hoping that her cousins would agree with her plan.

"You know…" Whirl thought out loud. "That… is… awesome! I like it!"

"Me, too!" said Dignity.

"Me, three!" Fire beamed.

Apple Jewel, Screw Ball, and Gemstone were clapping and giggling as if agreeing as well.

"Hey! If the babies think it's a great idea, then it must be!" Cotton bounced for joy.

"It's settled, then. While our parents go to the Gala, we'll be here having the best night ever!" Fire motioned.

"Yeah!" the others cheered and did high-hooves.

Once the parents left the Everfree Kingdom again and back to Canterlot a week later, Gala preparations were underway.

Twilight looked around the ballroom and she knew everything had to be perfect for this important night. Not only was it the biggest event in Canterlot-not to mention Equestria-but because Shining Armor would have to present his vow of everlasting love to Cadence so that her spell would finally be broken.

"It has to have the right atmosphere…" she told her sisters.

"Absolutely!" pointed Rarity. "It must be romantic enough for Shining Armor to declare his true love! We should put hearts all over and the colors should be red and pink!" she squealed.

"More like blech!" Rainbow proclaimed, "We're trying to make this event cool, not mushy!"

"Dash is right. That kind of stuff is better for Hearts and Hooves Day, not the Gala!" Applejack said.

"Humph! Well, this is going to be no ordinary Grand Galloping Gala! We are helping our cousin's true love make a vow of everlasting love so that he can set her free! That poor boy has to make a speech in front of an entire crowd! The least we can do to help is to give off a sweet and romantic mood!"

"Ooh! I know how we can do that!" Pinkie pipe up and started moving at super speed. The next thing they knew, the ballroom was decorated to look like a lagoon, "Ta-da!"

"Uh…" her sisters were a loss for words.

"Very… interesting, Pinkie… but somehow, I don't think our guests are going to appreciate a tank of water in the middle of the room…" Twilight gently pointed out.

"No, they wouldn't…" chuckled a deep voice.

They turned to see their father walking in. They each greeted him.

Then, Rarity said, "Father, could you please tell my dear sisters," pointing to RD and AJ, "that we need a romantic setting for this year's Grand Galloping Gala?!"

"And Pop, could you tell our prissy sister here that having hearts with the colors red and pink are too frilly for a Gala?!"

The two started to quarrel until a gold aura came between them.

Sombra spoke, "Do we need to settle things like back when you were little fillies?"

The sisters gulped and shook their heads.

"All right, here's what I think: what Rarity says make sense…"

Rarity lifted her head high up with a smug look.

"…but what Rainbow says also makes sense."

Rarity grimaced while Rainbow gave her a 'told-you-so' look.

"Then… who's right?" Applejack questioned.

"Both of them are."

"Huh?!" his daughters gave him confused glances.

"Let me explain: Rarity is correct that this year's Gala needs to show affection, but how it should be set up is not right."

"Then how should it be set up?" Twilight asks.

"Oh, I have a few ideas…"

Moments later, floating candles were above them and roses were decorated on the walls with white ribbons. The dance floor was sparkling clean and so was the stage. Everything looked perfect, just like Twilight wanted. She sighed in relief and thought, Now it all comes down to you, Shining Armor…

Chapter 19

That night, Celestia was observing the finishing touches on the Gala decorations and was quite surprised and impressed. She turned to her husband, who was smirking.

"And you say it was you who thought of all this?"

"Well, our daughters gave me the theme, but yes, the rest of it was me."

She shook her head, "I always knew you were an old sentimental fool…"

"Old?! I'm not old!"

"Give or take a hundred…" she muttered and smirked.

"You do realize by insulting me, you're insulting yourself since we are the same age, my dear lady…"

"Touché, my love… Touché… But tell me… what made you think of this décor?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's to represent our first Grand Galloping Gala together… The candles symbolize the candlelit dinner we had before our first dance. The roses stand for the walk we took in the garden and had our first kiss…"

"And… the ribbons?" she questioned, even though she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"The ribbons were from what you had on your dress and had one in your mane. You gave me that one after the Gala was over so I could remember you always…" he smiled and stared into the beautiful violet eyes he loved since their first meeting.

She beamed at him in return and stared into his emerald eyes. She was grateful that at least one of her children inherited those dazzling eyes.

They leaned forward to have a kiss.

The girls were standing still as Rarity took their measurements. They were once again in their old room.

"What do you have planned for our dresses to look like?" Twilight asked.

"It's a surprise. Once I finish up here, I'm going to start on the fabric."

"Are you sure you want to make my dress?" questioned Cadence, who was in her true form. "You already have to make dresses for your sisters including yourself. I don't want your hooves full…"

"Don't be silly! I want to design your gorgeous outfit for when Shining Armor makes his vow of everlasting love to you! Besides, I may be a princess, but making gowns makes me feel useful around here."

"Well… all right. Thank you, Rarity."

"You're quite welcome! Now hold still. I have to get your exact size or else the dress is going to look awful!"

When measurements were over, they retired to their quarters, where their husbands were.

Fluttershy fluttered in seeing Discord at the mirror. Through the reflection, he saw her coming in. He turned to her and beamed.

"Ah, darling. You're just in time!"

"In time for what?"

"Helping me decide on a tux for the Gala, of course!"

"Oh, alright." she sat down, facing him.

"What do you think of this one?" he popped on a white tuxedo.

"That looks nice." she replied.

He turned back to the mirror to look and frowned, "Hmm… It's too simple. It is the 'Grand' Galloping Gala after all, so it must be grand!" He snapped and replaced the white tux with a black one and had a top hat. "How about this one?"

"Oh, that's really nice."

"Sweetheart, how do I make sure I have the right tux if you keep saying it's nice?"

"I can't help it. You look handsome no matter what you wear."

"Aw…" Then he chuckled and floated to her, stroking her mane. "You always did know what to say to me…"

"Well, I am your wife, aren't I? I should be able to know what makes you happy."

"So true, my dear. So true. And I, your loving husband, should know what makes you happy…"

She smirked, "Oh? How so?"

He snatched her up and kissed her full on the lips.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a centaur, who stated, "How sweet, yet so sickly… It's not like I don't know what you're up to, Discord… The only reason you courted a princess was that so you get closer to power… But clearly, you had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces… You play with the pretty princess's heartstrings just to make her think you actually love her when really… you don't."

He turned back to the mist and saw the two of them giggling and getting into a tickle fight.

Fluttershy couldn't take it anymore and laughed, "Okay! Okay! I give up!"

"Ha! I am still the tickle champion!" He had medals around his neck and held out a trophy saying '# 1' on it.

She shook her head, "One of these days…"

"Aw, is my wife a sore loser? Funny, I never took you to be as competitive as your sisters."

"Well, maybe it's time I start. For so long, I always lost at all the games my sisters and I played when we were little. It hurts that I have to lose to my husband too…" she looked up at him with big eyes.

He got rid of the medals and trophy, "Sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, you didn't know. It never bothered me up until now, realizing I never won at anything before…"

"Well, that's not true."

"Really? Why do you say that?"

"You won me over, didn't you?" he twitched his brow.

She giggled, "I guess you could say that…"

"Exactly! No other pony would have offered their friendship to me like you did! My dear, you had single-handedly wrangled in the Lord of Chaos to do your bidding!"

A medal came around her neck that said 'Best Chaos Tamer'.

He smiled, "Still think you haven't won anything?"

She beamed at him in return, "No." She wrapped her hooves around his neck. "I love you…"

"I love you, too…" They embraced happily.

Tirek said, "I have to give him credit, he's quite a player." He kept watching.

Discord pointed out, "So… At the Gala, Shining will have to give his speech of everlasting love… Whew, sure am glad I'm not in his horseshoes right now."

"I do feel bad that he has to speak in front of a large crowd, but the Ancient Book of Secrets did say it was the only way…"

"Say, I don't suppose I could look at a few pages in it, could I?" he pleaded at her with puppy eyes.

She firmly answered, "No, honey. It has to remain in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. You know it's too powerful for anyone to look at…"

He sighed, "All right, then let's back to the business at hoof." He started snapping different tuxedos on.

Tirek was rubbing his hands and chuckling. He turned off the mist and proclaimed, "Thank you so much for that tidbit of information…" He called out, "Minions! Come at once!"

The trio obeyed as they rushed in and bowed before him. Suri declared, "You summoned us, Master?"

"Listen carefully: the royals' Gala starts in a few days. It'll be your job to get in and steal the book that you failed to get the first time… You'll find it in a place of the palace called the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Once you have the book, I need you to grab this creature's attention…" he summoned an image of Discord. "Have him follow you to the labyrinth. I'll be there waiting… Now go!"

The trio nodded their heads and went back to their cave. Suri addressed Coco.

"Make sure you make my dress sparkle!"

"But wait!" said Silver. "How are we going to get into the Gala without a ticket?"

"Well, you better think of something, cause I'll be too busy making our attire for when we get there!"

He furiously thought, You mean Coco's going to be working on the attire… Then he sighed and set out, since it was going to be up to him to figure out how they were going to get into the palace on the biggest night in Equestria.

The moon shone brightly as Cadence and Shining Armor walked through the gardens.

"This certainly brings back memories…" Cadence said when they stopped at their tree.

"It does…" Shining smiled, and then he frowned.

"Are you nervous?"

"A little…" he admitted, "mainly because I don't know what to say… I've written out what I should say, but it doesn't feel right…"

"Just speak from the heart."

"You really think that'll work?"

"Shiny, this is your vow of everlasting love. What you say cannot be written. Instead, you must use your heart to do the talking…"

"But what if it's not enough?"

She used her wing to touch his cheek, "It will be…"

"I just… don't want to fail you…"

"And you won't. I just want you to try, but I won't care if we'll be ponies or Breezies. The important thing is that we have each other."

They stared into each other's eyes and leaned forward to touch horns and kiss.

The six princesses and their husbands were at Donut Joe's donut shop having their traditional get-together before the Grand Galloping Gala. This tradition started after their first Gala together before their wedding. The girls also reminisced how their first Gala went without their future husbands and how they made a mess of things.

Fluttershy wanted to bring her animal friends to the party, but they were to too shy and Fluttershy nearly lost it. This was, in fact, at this Gala that Prince Blueblood came and Rarity was trying to see if he was the one, since she did have a crush on him when they were little. Of course, that was then he revealed his true colors and Rarity had despised him ever since, especially when he tried to be a suitor for her and her sisters.

Applejack wanted to try to sell some apple creations she and Apple Bloom made in the kitchen, but hardly got any sales and the only one she did have was from Soarin' with an apple pie. Rainbow, in the meanwhile, saved Soarin's pie. Spitfire thought it would be cool if they hung out more, to Rainbow's delight, but that went so well with everyone else wanting the Wonderbolts' attention. Pinkie wanted to have a bigger party for the Gala, but the audience wasn't very pleased.

After a while, things just seemed to get out of control and the Gala ended disastrously. The girls decided to retreat to Donut Joe's shop to eat some donuts to get over what happened. They made sure to stay as long as they could, knowing that their mother would be disappointed in them for ruining the Gala. But when Celestia caught up to them, she surprised them by telling them it was the best Grand Galloping Gala she had been to in so long. She admitted to them that the last few Galas she had attended were dull and sad. When their father was there with her, the Gala was always bright and happy, but when he had gone, it became lonely, so when her daughters took matters into their own hooves, the Gala was just wonderful.

Ever since then, the Grand Galloping Gala had been nothing but pure joy.

Twilight raised her mug of hot chocolate and announced, "To another joyful Grand Galloping Gala and may Shining Armor's vow of everlasting love break Cadence's spell at last!"

"Hear-hear!" exclaimed Rarity and raised her mug with everyone else.

They tapped their glasses together, not realizing that this year's Gala was going to be anything but joyful…

Chapter 20

Luna stared at her sister while Celestia was looking in the mirror admiring the pink-red dress she was going to be wearing to the Gala that night.

"You look beautiful, Sister."

Celestia chuckled, "Thank you. I wish you could stay for the Gala."

"Alas, I must attend to my duties."

"Yes. I will tell you everything that happens with your daughter and Shining Armor."

"Please do."

There was a knock and Sombra came into the room, "I believe I must escort a lovely queen to the Gala?" He smiled at the sight before him.

Celestia rolled her eyes and pecked her sister's cheek before taking her husband's arm.

The husbands of the six princesses, plus Shining Armor, were waiting at the bottom of the stairway. All of them wore tuxes except Discord's was bright orange with a matching top hat and had a cane. Flash and Shining had formal uniforms on, with Shining's being red with a blue sash and Flash's was blue with a red sash.

Shining was getting a bit antsy as to why the girls weren't here yet and asked, "Does it always take them this long?"

The guys did random agreements.

"Don't worry. They'll be here soon enough." said Spike.

"Sooner than you think…" Cheese pointed up.

They turned to see the princesses posing on top of the stairs and slowly, they each came down. Fluttershy was first with her green peacock design dress, then Rarity with her dark purple gown, Applejack in her light green garb, Rainbow in a purple-blue outfit, Pinkie in a yellow-purple dress, and Twilight in a light blue gown with daisies at the bottom and neckline.

Their husbands ended up gawking and were speechless at how amazing their wives looked. Shining was impressed, too, but he wondered where Cadence was. Then he looked up and saw her on top of the stairs looking beautiful and regal in her light blue dress like Twilight's.

When she reached him at the bottom, she slightly blushed and said, "You look handsome…"

He took her chin and said, "And you look beautiful…" They smiled at each other.

There was a clearing of the throat and they all turned to see the king and queen standing. He spoke, "Well, if we are all ready, then we best get in there."

Everyone else nodded as they took positions.

The herald blew his horn and declared to the ponies gathering for the Gala, "Announcing Their Royal Highnesses, King Sombra and Queen Celestia!"

The doors went wide open and the parents stepped into the ballroom with ponies applauding.

The herald then spoke out, "Princess Fluttershy and Prince Discord!" The couple made their entrance, though Discord hammed it up a bit.

The herald kept on listing names of the royal family as they made their entrances, "Princess Rarity and Prince Fancy Pants! Princess Applejack and Prince Spike! Princess Rainbow Dash and Prince Soarin'! Princess Pinkie Pie and Prince Cheese Sandwich!"

Shining Armor was looking nervous, but he felt a wing touch him and saw Cadence giving a reassuring smile. He gave a small one in return.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Flash Sentry!" The couple ahead of them went in.

"We're next…" Cadence whispered.

The herald proclaimed, "Princess Mi Amora Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor!"

Applause and mutters went around the room, as guests were surprised to see the return of their long-lost princess, who was with the captain of the royal guard, no less. Three of the guests were in the middle of the crowd, as the leader gestured.

"There. He's the one we have to bring to the boss." Suri said pointing to Discord.

"Oh, I hope we don't get in trouble for having fake tickets…" Coco whimpered.

"Not if you don't keep quiet… Now, you two go find the Star Swirl the Bearded wing while I keep a close eye on our target…"

Silver Shill and Coco exchanged worried glances before going out.

The band started playing, signaling for the dance to begin. The girls took to the dance floor with their guys and Cadence and Shining Armor ended up in the middle with Twilight and Flash. Then, there was a brief partner exchange.

Twilight said to Shiny, "Before the night is up, I'll go up to the stage to announce you. From there, you can make your vow."

"Thanks, Twilight…"

"Are you prepared?"

"Yes, I believe so…" He looked at Cadence and Flash dancing.

Flash was telling Cadence, "It must be exciting to finally have your curse removed."

"It is." she smiled and looked at Shining.

Once they returned to their rightful partners, the couples were lost in each other's eyes.

Coco and Silver nervously went about the empty hallways of the castle, and then Silver stopped and said, "It should be right about here…"

Coco saw the gate next to them, "This must be it, but it's locked…"

"Hmm…" Silver thought and took out a paperclip, straightening it and used it to pick the lock.

Coco then heard hoofsteps and she whispered in panic, "Hurry! The guards are coming!"

Sweat went down his brow and finally, the gate opened. They went in just as a guard went down the corridor.

They were amazed by the many scrolls and books all stacked up and piled in the room.

Silver pointed, "You go that way while I go this way."

She nodded, "Right." They began their search.

The Gala was still in full swing as guests and royalty mingled, laughed at a couple of jokes, and danced.

Cadence and Shining took a break at a table, knowing it would be almost time for him to make a vow of everlasting love in front of a whole Gala.

"I can do this… I can do this…" Shining kept telling himself.

"Just remember what I told you: speak from the heart…"

"I will, I promise." He made the Pinkie-Promise gesture.

She giggled and suggested, "How about another dance?"

He beamed and bowed, "Of course, milady." They headed to the middle of floor.

Suri was thinking as she watched the doors, What's taking them so long?! They should have been able to find it by now! The boss is waiting!

She soon got her wish when she saw her co-workers coming in with a bulky, square shape in Silver Shill's tux. She smirked and went to a punch bowl where Discord was with his wife and Pinkie and Cheese were laughing away. She made a hard bump on Discord's leg and quickly went to her associates.

"Watch it!" Discord yelled and saw the pony who bumped him. He was intrigued at what the three were up to. He turned to his wife and said, "I'll be back, darling. Save a dance for me." he blew an actual kiss and it caused Fluttershy to giggle when it pecked her.

He popped out of his Gala attire and found the three ponies outside. He saw them going towards the gardens and into the maze. To him, the maze was just a painful reminder of when he was stone, but considering there were three suspicious ponies that were up to something, he followed them. No sooner had he enter the labyrinth was the entrance shut off.

"Hey! Only I can intimidate ponies!" he waved his fist in the air. "Now who did that?!"

There was an evil chuckle and glowing eyes.

"Wait a minute…those eyes…" Discord thought out loud.

Then Tirek stepped out of the shadows, revealing his weak self and giving off a menacing smile.

Discord gasped, "Tirek!"

"Ah, Discord, look what a thousand years has done to us. You, a master of deception, and me… a feeble old centaur!"

"Look, if you're still mad about me ditching you while the gargoyles came to arrest you, hey, I did try to warn you, after all!" Discord nervously chuckled.

"I am not talking about that… In fact, I knew from the beginning you had a heart of stone. Your time in stone certainly proved that."

Discord rubbed his neck, "No kidding…"

"But since you are obviously free now and have made your way into the royal family, I commend you on such an elaborate plan… Pretending to be good just so you can marry a princess is sheer genius."

"What? You actually think…" he started laughing uncontrollably and fell over. "Oh, that is a good one!" he kept on laughing and started to wheeze a little.

Tirek had an expressionless face on and stated, "I fail to see the amusement in all this…"

Discord wiped a tear away and got up, "The fact that you believe there's a plot behind my marriage to Fluttershy is hilarious!"

"You mean to say… that you don't pretend…? You actually have feelings for this pony?"

"You better believe it…" Discord smirked. Suddenly, he heard Tirek chuckling evilly. He furrowed his brow, "What is so funny?!"

"You! That you are willing to give up everything you have just for this princess who imprisons you on daily basis!"

"How dare you! I'll have you know that Fluttershy doesn't do that to me at all!" He conjured up a lightning storm as lightning was about to hit Tirek, only for him to rebound the bolt. It hit Discord instead, causing him to fall on his back.

"Are you that blind? Clearly, this pony just cares about what she wants since you don't have all of Equestria obeying your every whim! Why follow the rules when you can make your own? You have the power! You can do that!"

"You're wrong! If I had used my powers to make Equestria my own, then I never would have found the one thing I was missing!"

"Oh, what would that be? Your restraint?!"

With his teeth baring, Discord summoned a three-headed chimera to attack, "No, friendship!" But Tirek countered it by turning the chimera into a white fluffy cat with a blue bow.

Tirek sighed in vexation, "I was so sure you would have joined me to take this world. It seemed so obvious that the master of chaos had a plan in that brilliant mind of his. Imagine my surprise to learn that the master's gone soft…"

"Soft?!" Fire blazed in his eyes, "SOFT?! YOU DARE TO CALL THE LORD OF CHAOS SOFT?! I'LL SHOW YOU SOFT!" He pulled out all the stops of what his powers could do.

Tirek, however, thwarted them all.

Discord was on the ground panting and looked up to the centaur, who seemed to have gotten bigger, "How… How…?"

"Isn't it quite clear, you fool? I've been draining your magic!" his voice sounded deeper than before, "Now that you had so foolishly given up on yourself, you are a threat to my cause!"

"If you hurt my family… so help me… I will fight you to my last breath…"

Tirek's eyes glowed again and he grabbed him by the neck, "That could easily be arranged…"

Chapter 21

The Grand Galloping Gala was full of happy ponies but one pony, particularly a princess was starting to fret. Her husband had been gone longer than he should have and it was upsetting her that he wasn't back yet.

Fluttershy started asking her sisters if they had seen Discord, but they could only answer 'no'.

Twilight encouraged her by saying, "Just keep looking. He has to be around here somewhere."

"Okay…" Fluttershy felt unsure and kept on searching.

"In the meantime…" Twilight went to Shining Armor, "..it is time."

Shining looked at Cadence and nodded.

Twilight then went up to the stage and had to stop her sister with the pink poofy mane from singing anymore. "Thank you, Pinkie!" She took the mike and cleared her throat, "Good evening, ladies and gentlecolts! Have you all been enjoying yourselves so far?"

There were applause and cheers.

"Good, because we have a very special speech for all of you to hear from our very own captain of the royal guard, Shining Armor!"

There was applause and Cheese nudged Shiny, "Go get them, slugger!"

Shining took a deep breath, looked at his beloved, and asked, "Would you like to come up with me?"

Cadence smiled and replied, "Of course I would…"

That made him smile and they both headed up to the stage. Shining Armor faced the massive crowd and it made him tense up at first, but with Cadence by his side, he knew he could get through this.

He spoke up loudly for all to hear, "Um, hello! First off, I would like to say 'thank you' all for coming this evening. It really means a lot for me and for the love of my life… Princess Cadence…" There were a few murmurs, but he just kept on going, "I have known Cadence for a long time and I can't see my life without her… She's everything I could want and more… which is why it is very important that I make this vow to her… A vow that is stronger than all the powers of Equestria… Before you and before the whole world… I make a vow of everlasting love to-"

But he was cut off when the lights went black. Everyone gasped and started panicking.

"What's going on?!" Rarity screeched.

Suddenly, the lights came back on and there stood a ten-foot tall Tirek.

More gasps from the crowd and the king and queen scowled.

Cadence screamed, "Tirek!"

Shining Armor went into protective mode and braced himself in front of his love, shielding her.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Princess?" Tirek said to her.

Suddenly, in a flash of blue glow, Luna appeared using the royal Canterlot voice, "Tirek! Your battle is with me, not my daughter!"

"You want a fight? Very well…"

Luna blasted from her horn, but Tirek swallowed up the magic and Luna fell to the ground weak.

"MOTHER!" Cadence rushed to her side.

"You'll pay for that!" Celestia shouted and she and her husband started to attack, but the result was the same as they were drained of their magic just like Luna.

"MOM! DAD!" the six princesses screamed and went to their parents' aid, realizing that their cutie marks were gone…

By absorbing their magic, Tirek got bigger.

Fluttershy frantically searched the room as ponies were screaming and running away. "Discord! Discord! Where are you?!"

Tirek merely stated, "Your pathetic master of chaos is unable to come at the moment…"

With fury and tears in her eyes, she screamed at the towering centuar, "What did you do to him?!"

"I put him back right where you found him…"

Tears ran down and she screeched, "NO! NO! YOU'RE LYING!"

"See for yourself…" With a whoosh of the doors to the gardens opening, there stood a creature of different animal parts giving off a terrified expression in solid stone…

"DISCORD! NO! NO!" Fluttershy wailed as she flew to his statue.

The others looked on in horror.

"It can't be…" Applejack said under her breath.

"No…" Twilight whispered.

Fluttershy caressed her husband's stone cheek, "Discord… Oh, my darling…" she wrapped her hooves around his stiff neck, weeping into it.

Rainbow couldn't take the pain her sister was feeling and demanded to Tirek, "Change him back… NOW!"

"I would… if…"

"If what?" Twilight questioned.

He looked at Cadence, "If the princess would be so kind as to come along with me…"

"NEVER!" Shining Armor blasted from his horn, but like the rest, Tirek took that magic blast, rolled into a ball, and snacked on it.

"I would be careful if I were you. You don't want me to take away all your magic, do you?" his eyes glowed.

Shining was about to blast again, but was stopped by Cadence's hoof. She stepped forward to face the centaur.

"If I go with you, will you promise to not harm my family anymore, and that Discord would be returned to normal?"

"Just as long as you keep your end of the bargain by serving me for the rest of your days…"

"NO!" Twilight and Shining Armor yelled.

"Don't do it, Cadence!" Luna begged with pleading eyes.

Cadence saw everyone else giving worried glances, but she knew what must be done and lowered her head, "Deal…"

Tirek gave an evil grin and in a flash of red and orange, the centaur and the alicorn disappeared into thin air.

In mere minutes, Discord's statue started cracking and he popped out, landing on the hard ground.

"Oh, Discord!" his wife embraced him.

He found himself shaking and Fluttershy had to stroke his fur to calm him down.

"I thought… I thought… I would never see you again…" he stuttered.

"So did I…" she released a few tears.

He looked over the sad scene. Even if he was turned to stone, he still heard every word. Cadence had just sacrificed herself for her family to be Tirek's slave for who knows what…

"I just can't believe… she's gone again…" Twilight slightly wept and Flash had her leaning on his shoulder for comfort.

Shining rose his head in determination and touched Twilight's shoulder, "No… Not this time… I lost her once. I am not losing her again…"

"But how are you going to find her? Who knows where Tirek took her?!"

"I don't know, but I can't sit around and do nothing anymore. Cadence needs me…she needs all of us!"

"You're darn right she does!" Rainbow flew up.

"I must agree that we must come to her rescue, but how can we find her?" questioned Rarity.

"Maybe those three ponies know something…" Discord thought out loud.

Everyone turned to his direction in confusion.

"What three ponies?" Twilight asked.

"The ones I followed out to the maze where I encountered Tirek."

"What did they look like?" Applejack asked.

"Oh… they look like three earth ponies. One was rude and mean and the other two seem nicer than her."

"Would you be able to recognize them?" Twilight asked.

"I should."

"Great. I'll have all the guards be on the lookout for them and if they find them, they'll be brought to the castle." said Shining Armor.

"While we do that…" Twilight went to her parents and aunt, "we should take you to your rooms to rest…"

"That would be a good idea, my darling…" said Celestia.

"Tirek has left us too weak to do anything…" said Sombra.

Luna beckoned Shining Armor and said to him, "Bring back my daughter…"

"I will." he promised. "I won't rest until she's back here safe and sound."

"You're a good stallion, Shining Armor… or should I say, 'son'?" she gave a small smirk.

He nodded his head as he had the guards help the king, queen, and the princess of night out of the room.

The girls and their husbands huddled together. If they were going to go rescue Cadence, they were going to need to work together.

"The way I see it, we're not going to go anywhere without those three ponies that Discord saw. They must be somehow connected to Tirek. Discord, you and Fluttershy with Applejack, Spike, Rarity, Fancy, and Rainbow and Soarin' go look for them."

Discord saluted, "Right. Follow me, troops!"

Rainbow scowled, "You're going to enjoy bossing us around, aren't you?"

"You know it." he grinned and they took off.

Flash asked his wife, "What do we do in the meantime?" He pointed to the remaining ponies still there.

"We get ready until our other group comes back with those ponies. Pinkie, Cheese, you better pack some provisions. The rest of us will go get the Ancient Book of Secrets."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Twi? Remember, the book is too powerful for anyone to use…" cautioned Flash.

"Cadence is in danger. I'm willing to take that risk…"

"I agree." said Shining.

"There is no time to lose." She rushed out with her husband and the captain right behind her.

Once they made it to the wing where the book was kept, she was shocked to realize… "It's gone!"

Flash and Shining exchanged alarmed looks.

The search party was down on Canterlot's main street, passing stores and cafes that were closed for the night.

"Oh, dear… do you think we'll ever find them and get Cadence back?" Rarity questioned in concern.

"Sure, we will. We just have to-" But AJ stopped short when she saw a silhouette that looked like the shadow she saw back in the underground tunnels of Marendelle.

"Applejack, what is-" But she was hushed by her sister's hoof.

She gestured for them to remain quiet as she tip-toed to the alley where the silhouette was. Up ahead, she saw a figure talking to two other figures. She got closer when she heard one of the figures yelling.

"We were supposed to bring the book to the master! Instead, you ran off in this direction! Do you realize how furious he's going to be at us when he finds out how long we have taken?!"

"I don't care!" said the figure that had a stallion's voice. "We should have never stolen this in the first place, not when it was so heavily guarded at the castle!"

"Ugh! Just give me the book! I don't want to have to face the master's wrath!"

"And drag Coco into it? Not a chance!"

"You have no say as to what I have my assistant do!"

"No, because it's her choice what should she do!"

"Hey! She owes me! Therefore, she has to do what I say!"

"NO! I don't…" spoke another voice that was angry but sweet at the same time, "Silver's right… he was always right…"

"What?" the figure that was yelling at first fumed.

"I am grateful that you helped me out of a tough spot… But sometimes, I wonder if I was better off there than I am now… You don't treat me like other ponies do. Instead, all you do is boss me around to do your bidding, and I just can't take that anymore!"

"Fine, then! Leave! Starve out there! But don't come crawling back to me if you fail…"

"Believe me, I don't intend to…"

"Argh!" The next thing that AJ knew, the frustrated figure pushed the figure that had the stallion's voice and ran towards the opening. However, Applejack was right there and went in front of them.

"And just where do you think you're going, partner?"

But the figure pushed her away as well, and AJ yelled to her relatives, "Stop that pony!"

Rainbow, who was flapping above, said, "On it!" She and Soarin' headed towards the running figure and managed to tackle her. The others caught up to them and Discord wrapped his tail around the pony who was on the run.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Rarity gasped, "I know you! You were that rude pony with the dress stand and had that poor girl under your hoof!"

"The name is Suri Polomare. Get used to it."

Back in the alley, Spike was afraid his wife got hurt, but he saw that she was as tough as ever.

"Are you all right?" came a sweet voice, and they turned to see a stallion and a mare looking on in concern.

"I'm fine," said Applejack, "but are you two all right? Once I saw that mare make a getaway, I figured she must have hurt you."

"She did, but not in the way you're thinking of…" the mare hung her head.

The stallion wrapped his hoof around her in comfort, telling her, "It's all right now. It's over. She can't do anything to you now."

She gave a small smile to him, "I know she won't, but what about…" she went silent, aware of the present company.

"…about Tirek?" Spike questioned.

Silver and Coco exchanged glances and gulped.

"I think you better come back to the castle with us…" Applejack motioned.

They both hung their heads.

Chapter 22

Twilight magically held the Ancient Book of Secrets once it was given to her by Silver Shill when they were all in the throne room. Rarity had Suri arrested and the latter was now in the dungeon. Coco Pommel and Silver were willing to tell everything about how they were the ones who followed them down to the tunnels in Marendelle and that Suri was the one who stole the book in the first place.

"So that was your shadow I saw…" Applejack told Silver.

"And that was your shadow I saw as well." Rarity said to Coco.

They both nodded.

Discord pointed, "So what exactly are you two? A couple?"

Both blushed at the thought.

"Um… no, not really…" Silver rubbed his neck.

"Not that it wouldn't be nice…" Coco blushed pink.

He faced her with hopeful eyes, "You think so?"

"I… I wouldn't mind…" she smiled at him.

Twilight felt happy for the young couple that was blossoming into love, but when she looked over to Shining Armor, she frowned at the sad face he had on. No doubt he was feeling pain of not having his beloved right next to him at that moment. She used her wing to reassure him that everything's going to turn out all right in the end. He gave her a small smile telling her he was fine, but it still hurt. She turned back to the couple and said.

"Listen, I know that you risked everything to reveal what you know, but we need to find our cousin, who was taken by your former master. We don't know where he is or where we can find our cousin… Please, I am begging that you will help us… I can promise you that if you take us to them that no charges will be pressed against you and that you'll be free to go your own way…"

They exchanged glances and Silver questioned, "If that's true, no one will follow us on where we go?"

"No one," said Applejack. "I heard you two in the alley, and trust me when I say I know honesty when I hear it. You two have nothing to worry about and you'll be free to do whatever it is you please."

Coco nodded her head and Silver spoke, "We'll take you there."

Cadence didn't know if it was morning or not cause when she woke up, she was in an underground prison. She was confined in a force field that let her see and hear what was going on outside. Then she looked at herself and saw her hooves from her true self instead of her Breezie self. Tirek suddenly appeared as if reading her mind.

"The force field allows you remain what you are. If you step out, you'll turn back into a puny bug…"

"I take that it's morning then?"

"Not that it's important, you'll never see the sun again or the moon for that matter."

She kept a straight face, not daring to show the tears that were threatening to escape from inside her. Then he moved on to go about his own business and she turned to face the wall in despair. She thought of all who she had to leave behind again. Her mother, her family, her Shining Armor… Just when she was free only for everything to be taken away again… Now she only had her memories for comfort. Even though it was nighttime when Cadence transformed back, when Shining was with her, it felt like daytime and he was her sun…

She softly began to sing, "Once there was the sun… Bright and warm and wonderful… Shining like the love within my heart… Now there's no more sun… Winter has killed everything and although it's dark December… Forever… I'll remember sun…" She sighed as she kept staring at the wall and made little hearts just like the heart that Shining engraved on the tree in the Canterlot gardens. It was supposed to cheer her up, but instead it just made her feel sadder than she already was.

The large group sat around a campfire at night. They had left the castle early that day, but they stopped in the afternoon when Silver Shill told them.

"It's just beyond that ridge."

Twilight knew then it was best to stop so they could come up with a plan when confronting with Tirek. Shining Armor, of course, wanted to keep going. He also wanted to bring an army of guards with him before they went on their mission, but Twilight convinced him that the group was big enough for a frontal assault and that an army could give them away.

Shining slumped while watching the fire crackle. Spike and the guys were talking amongst themselves when Spike noticed Shining's mood and he told the others.

"Poor guy… I know how he feels…"

"Indeed, I recall a situation much like this one." pointed Fancy.

Cheese nodded, "That was when we were all camping out knowing we were that close to rescuing the girls from the Changeling Queen."

"You know, if I had my magic, I would pop out some s'mores for old time sakes…" Discord heaved a sigh.

"Surley, he didn't steal all your powers, did he?" Flash questioned.

"He did… I tried battling him, but apparently, he was absorbing what magic I was doing. Then he once he absorbed it all, he turned me to stone." he shuddered.

"Is it really that awful?" Soarin' asked.

"Let's just hope that none of you have to find out…"

Twilight's voice suddenly carried around the camp, "Gather around!" They did as she said and she addressed them, "I've been looking through the Ancient Book of Secrets, and I think I found a spell that can work on getting Cadence back." She turned to Silver and Coco, "Now, Tirek is expecting his servants to give him this book, right?"

"Uh-huh," nodded Coco. "But without Suri, he'll know something is wrong."

"No problem. With this spell I'm about to cast, I can make a Suri as well."

"Huh?!" the group was perplexed.

She turned back to face her relatives and had the book opened to a page, "This spell can project images, making them seem real. Now if I cast this spell, I make a Coco Pommel, Silver Shill, and Suri Polomare! Observe." She recited the chant from the book and her horn glowed. Then with a burst of light, three ponies appeared, looking exactly like Coco, Silver, and Suri.

"Wow!" they exclaimed.

Silver and Coco looked over their doubles that were just standing there. Silver extended his hoof out to touch his doppelganger, but instead, it went through him.

"There's nothing there!" he proclaimed.

"Precisely. Tirek will be none of the wiser." Twilight stated. "Now to make a double of the book…" She cast another spell that was a duplication spell, and in a burst of light, a double of the book appeared. When she opened its pages, they was blank. "Just as I thought. The book is so powerful that no pony can make a carbon copy of it. But luckily, Tirek won't know that. He'll just take one look at the cover and assume it's the real one."

"So while you send these holograms in with the book to distract Tirek, how are you going to find Cadence?" Shining questioned.

"Simple, I'll be wearing Flash's invisibility cloak that he brought with him and follow after them."

"Oh no, you don't," objected Flash. "Who knows what sort of dangers await and I know how to use the cloak more than you do. I'll go see if I can find Cadence."

"No, I will." Shining stepped in. "I am tied to Cadence because she chose me to make the vow of everlasting love, so it has to be me…"

Twilight and Flash exchanged glances and slowly, they nodded.

Coco shuddered, "If we keep him waiting any longer… Who knows what he'll do…?"

Silver agreed, "She's right. The master is not patient…"

Twilight declared, "Then we move forward, tonight…"

Moments later, Flash draped the cloak over Shining Armor's shoulders and Shining placed the hood over his head.

"You're all set. Just make sure you pull the hood over your face when you reach the cave."

"I will. Thank you for your help, even if we did get off on the wrong hoof…"

"I am still sorry about that, but I understand how it feels when the love of your life is being held captive against her will…" he looked at Twilight, who was talking to Silver and Coco with her sisters.

"I won't stop until Cadence is free from that monster…"

"Glad to hear it…" Flash smiled and patted Shining's back.

Shiny gave a small smile in return when Twilight came over.

"If you're ready, we can start."

Shining proclaimed, "I was ready from when she was taken…"

Twilight nodded her head and used her horn to command the holograms to move with the fake Ancient Book of Secrets. They stepped into the cave just as Shining pulled the hood down to make him completely invisible and followed after them.

"Just what do you hope to accomplish with me here?" Cadence was asking Tirek when she saw him sitting on a throne fit for him. "I know the story of my mother taking a magical seed to grow a flower that allowed me to exist, so surely its magic is gone now and that I'm useless to you."

"That's where you are wrong, princess… The magic from the flower created you, so therefore, the magic is inside you."

She gapped, "In… Inside me?"

"My traitorous brother…" he begrudgingly looked over to the portrait of him and Scorpan together when they were young, "…gave your mother the last seed of magic flowers that kept my strength going, but of course, after your mother ate the flower, I slowly began to weaken!" He slammed his fist on the arm of the throne, causing it to break. "But when you were born, I knew I had found my new magic flower…" he grinned evilly.

Cadence scowled and asked, "Then why change me into a Breezie?"

"Because your mother had refused to hand you over willingly, so I had no choice but to punish her and you…"

"But if you have me now, why hasn't the curse been lifted?"

"This way, you have the incentive to stay put and not try to escape."

"And why should that matter? You know I won't escape because I gave myself up just so you wouldn't hurt my family!"

"As touching as that is… but if you have your mother's strong will, then chances are you will try to escape."

Cadence couldn't argue there. She was her mother's daughter, after all.

"Now that I have you and once I have the Ancient Book of Secrets, I shall be unstoppable and rule all of Equestria!"

"You'll never get it! It's hidden in a place where you cannot find it!"

"If you are talking about Marendelle, my minions managed to get it from your cousins once, but failed in the end…"

"Wait… you mean…"

He grinned maliciously, "Yes, I sent my servants to retrieve it while your puny stallion was going to make his so-called vow of everlasting love to you… So they shall be here with it…that is, if I don't punish them for being so late!" But just as he said that, the three ponies he was talking about came in and bowed.

Shining Armor hid under the cloak as he managed to sneak past the centaur's gaze and he saw ahead of him a force field, and in that force field was…

"Cadence!" he said under his breath, and quickly went towards the field just as Tirek was talking to the holograms.

"You disappoint me for keeping me waiting, but since you brought the book to me and your silence to this disappointment is well-received, I shall let this tardiness pass." He took the book from them.

The figures bowed again.

"Good idea. I could use a snack…" He opened his mouth wide to suck in the strength of the ponies, but once he did, he could feel nothing. "What?" his brow raised and he tried it again, but nothing happened. "This can't be right! I'm supposed to be able to…" He stopped when he put a hand on one of the ponies, but it just went through, "A trick!" He turned to see the imprisoned Cadence in the force field.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" he demanded to her.

"Where's who?" she questioned, feeling genuinely confused.

"Your little rescue party! No doubt those cousins of yours and their weak husbands have come to rescue you!"

"Even if I did know, I certainly wouldn't tell you!"

"Then I'm afraid I have no choice but to destroy them…" his eyes glowed and he took his leave out of the lair.

Once he was gone, Shining Armor took off the cloak before Cadence's eyes. She was shocked, but overjoyed to see him, "Shin-" She started, but he hushed her.

"I have to hurry and get you out of there, but if he goes and hurts Twilight and the others…"

"You mean…? They all came to rescue me…?" tears were forming in her eyes.

He smiled, "Of course… You would do the same for us."

She beamed.

"Now stand back. I'm going to use all of my power to get you out of there!" he readied himself with his horn and started blasting away.

Chapter 23

Twilight and everyone else was waiting at the campsite for Shining Armor's return with Cadence so they could get out of here. Flash started handing her a glass of water and Twilight magically took it, but when she was about to sip it, the water inside started to ripple and the ground started to shake violently.

The ground shook more as the source drew near. The next thing they knew, Tirek was right in front of them.

Every pony braced themselves as Tirek spoke, "Give… me… the book…" he threatened.

"NEVER!" Twilight yelled.

"Yeah! You have to go through us first!" Rainbow shouted and she and Soarin' began to charge and flew around Tirek.

But when Tirek opened his mouth, the magic of their flight was sucked out of them and they landed on the ground hardly.

"Dashie!" Pinkie rushed to her sister and glared up to Tirek, "You're going to pay for that!" She was about to pounce, but Tirek did the same thing to her that he did to her sister, only he was sucking out Earth pony strength.

Pinkie fell down weak and Cheese and the others started to charge, but he just sucked out their magic as well. Discord was about to attack when Tirek blasted him and knocked him out.

"Who's next?" Then he spotted the ponies that had served him, "You! You traitors!"

Coco whimpered as she hid behind Silver, who was keeping her protected and faced Tirek in defiance.

Tirek blasted away, but Twilight came to their rescue by putting up a protective barrier. Flash saw that Tirek kept blasting and Twilight was losing her grip on the spell. He quickly flew up to distract the centaur, but once he got too close, Tirek blasted him and Flash fell, battered and bruised.

Twilight saw all of this in horror and screamed, "FLASH! NO!" Tears ran down her cheeks.

"Give me the book and I shall spare his worthless life…" Tirek commanded.

Twilight looked at her beaten husband and then her sisters, who were drained. She lowered her head and took out the book. She knew she shouldn't, but what choice did she have at this point…? She magically threw the book and he caught it.

"Yes…" he felt the energy of the book running though him and he grew larger by the second, "The power… The absolute power!"

Twilight went to her husband's side and she could barely feel his heart beating. His eyes were half-open as he looked up to her, asking weakly, "Twilight… what have you done?"

"I was thinking of you and everyone else… I didn't know what else to do…" she sobbed.

Tirek started rampaging with his new power when a voice cried out.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Tirek turned to see Shining Armor, "Oh, it's only you… No matter…" He started widening his mouth when he felt a blast. He turned around to see that the princess he had imprisoned was free. "You! How did you escape?!"

Cadence smirked towards Shining Armor, who replied, "Shield spells are my specialty!"

"Not for long!" He blasted away and Shining did all he could to keep his shield up.

"I won't be able to hold it for much longer…" he told his beloved.

"Then tell me what you were going to say at the Gala…"

"Now?!"

"Yes, now! If you finish your vow of everlasting love, then my curse will be broken…"

"And his power would diminish! Brilliant, Cady!"

"I'll hold him off while you say your vow!" She flew up and started blasting, giving Shining Armor the chance to speak.

"I make a vow of everlasting love to Cadance! Because to me, she is not just a beauty with appearances, but because she is beautiful at heart! Her kindness, her courage, I have always loved her for that! And I will never stop loving her even until the day she dies because I will love her for much longer than that! That is my vow!" he smiled up to her and she looked like she was going to cry.

Suddenly, his horn and Cadence's began to glow and Tirek's eyes widened at the sight, "What have you done?!"

Cadence simply stated, "Ending your curse…" Her horn glowed brighter just as she landed next to her love, and then they combined horns, making the glow even more bright and intense.

"NO! NO!" Tirek screamed as the bright rays touched him, causing him to lose power.

The others suddenly felt strong again, feeling their magic coming back to them and looked up to see the centaur getting smaller by the second. Discord had woken up in time to see this happening and felt his powers being restored.

Once Tirek lost his power, Cadence and Shining Armor's glow from their horns stopped and they stared at each other lovingly. She asked him, "Did you really mean all those things you said?"

"Of course I did. You told me to speak from the heart, didn't you? It's exactly how I feel about you every single day…"

She had him lean closer and kissed him before Pinkie came between and shouted out, "That was incredible! The way Shining Armor declared his true love for you and then you both glowing…it was amazing!" She took out a jar, "The best part is I got something new for my bug collection!" It showed a tiny Tirek in the jar and he pounded his fists against the glass.

"I got a much better place for this tick…" Discord took the jar, put on a baseball uniform, and held out a bat, "Ten thousand years in Tartarus oughta chill him out!" He threw the jar in the air and used the bat to hit it at the speed of light, "And it's out of there! The crowd is going wild!" He had a stadium full of his clones cheering him on. He sighed and relaxed, "It's great to have chaotic magic back. I missed it so much…"

Rainbow flapped her wings to take off, "No kidding! I don't want to go through that again!"

They all agreed and started celebrating when Coco noticed Twilight crying to a dying Flash, "Oh, no…"

Everyone turned their heads and noticed the same thing and quickly went over hearing Twilight pleading with her lover.

"No… Please… you can't leave me…"

Flash moved his hoof to her face, "I will always love you…"

"No…" she blubbered onto his orange coat when he closed his eyes.

The couples hung their heads and released tears. They were going to miss Flash dearly.

Shining and Cadence exchanged sad glances. He said, "I wish… it didn't have to end this way…"

Cadence lowered her head in sadness until suddenly, she had an epiphany about what Tirek said about the magic within her. She and Shining had the magic of everlasting love in them, and if Flash and Twilight loved each other just as much as she and Shining did, then there was still hope…

Cadence placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, saying, "Twilight, I need you to say or sing something to Flash that professes your love to each other…"

"But why?" Twilight questioned in confusion.

"Just trust me…" She had Shining on one side of Flash while she was on the other side. She had their horns touching and they lowered them to Flash's head. "Okay, Twilight, go."

Twilight was still confused as to what Cadence was doing, but she did what she was told and starting singing a song that Flash sang to her on their first date, "You will be my wings… You will be my only love… You will take me far beyond the stars…" She didn't take notice of Cadence and Shining Armor's horns glowing with the same magic they used to defeat Tirek. She kept on singing, "You will lift me high above… Everything we're dreaming of will soon be ours! Anything that we desire… Anything at all… Everyday you'll take me higher…" She found herself choking back tears.

Everyone was crying as well until suddenly, they heard a familiar voice, "…And I'll never let you fall!"

Twilight gasped and saw her beloved husband awake! "Flash!" she was crying tears of joy as she embraced him.

Cadence and Shining's glow died down and Twilight faced them, whispering, "Thank you…"

They smiled in return.

Then everyone got into a group hug, and Discord pointed out when the hug was broken up, "Geez, give us a heart attack, why don't you?"

Everyone just laughed.

When they were making their way back to the castle as the sun was rising, there was no doubt it was a sign that their parents and Aunt Luna had regained their magic. Celestia could raise the sun again, so when the sun had risen, Cadence was so happy to see that she was officially back to being her true self for good.

Twilight told Flash, "I was so afraid that I lost you… I thought I was going to have to raise the children myself…"

"Yeah… I couldn't imagine them being fatherless…" he stopped, realizing, "Wait, did you just say 'children'?"

She smirked.

"Does this mean you're…"

She nodded excitedly.

"How…? When…?"

"Before the Gala started, I felt woozy, so I called for the doctor and… well…"

"When were you going to tell me?"

"After the Gala was over and that we knew Cadence's spell had been lifted, but when everything else happened…"

"Well, I'm glad I know now and cannot wait to see the look on Fire Spark's face when we tell him."

She smiled and pulled him in for a kiss.

When they reunited with their parents in the throne room, Luna was especially overjoyed to see her daughter was no longer a Breezie in the daylight. When the girls left their cousin, they traveled back home to the Everfree Kingdom, where they were happy to see their children. Their children were happy to see them and told them all about their own Grand Galloping Gala while their parents attended theirs. The parents agreed that their kids' Gala went far better than their Gala did.

Later, Applejack and Rarity met with Silver Shill and Coco Pommel and asked them what they're going to do now that Tirek was out of the picture. Silver explained that they were heading to Manehatten together to start a costume business. The girls wished them the best of luck.

Twilight and Flash told their son the news about having a possible brother or sister and he was ecstatic! And finally, the biggest news of all came when Shining Armor and Cadence announced their upcoming wedding…

*Three months later*

The crowd went wild as the royal newlyweds stepped out onto the balcony and waved down to the ponies below. It was a beautiful wedding with Luna presiding and the kids got to be part of the wedding party. Twilight was even Shining Armor's Best Mare. Everyone of the royal family had been there, including Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, their husbands, and Scootaloo and Rumble's twins, who had been born a few weeks earlier.

The reception in the garden went on as the new married couple, plus the old married couples, danced while the kids stood by with the babies in the playpen. Finally, it was time for the couple to get going on their honeymoon. A chariot awaited them, so they said goodbyes to their loved ones. Cadence got a long hug from her mother, who told her she wished she didn't have to go so soon, but she gave in when Cadence reassured her that she would be back. Cadance also said that Luna could visit them in the Crystal Empire, since that would be where she and her husband were going to be living as a wedding gift from her aunt and uncle.

Shining and Cadence got into the flying chariot and waved farewell. Cadence threw her bouquet and who should catch it but Coco Pommel and standing right next to her was Silver Shill. They glanced at each other, smiled, and waved back to the happy couple.

Cadence and Shining faced each other and leaned in to kiss with the moon shining bright on them…

Author's Note

You know, this would have been the end of the series weren't not for the fact that I have a fourth one planned… *Sighs*… Well, here it is: it'll be based off of Rapunzel starring Sunset Shimmer. This will be my first time writing her and honestly, I'm a little excited. I also have to write characters that I think you're going to be surprised about. This one is called The Phoenix Tear. New surprises lay in store and destiny awaits for one…or is it two?

Chapter 6

Shining Armor walked down the corridors of the castle, inspecting the guards as he passed them. He could see they were doing a decent job keeping at their posts. He himself kept a straight face to do his own job. But as professional as he might've been, he was hurting deep down. It had been a week since he last saw Twilight and the promise she made to him about finding Cadence. He said he would wait as long as he could, but now he was finding it hard to do so.

At first, when he thought that she went off to learn to be a princess, he felt sad, but happy knowing that his beloved deserved to be the princess she was meant to be. He was thankful that he had his training to keep from thinking about her. Then, when he was sent away to explore more of Equestria, he was kept busy and hardly thought of Cadence because he knew she was in a position that suited her well, not realizing that she wouldn't be there at all… Now that he knew the truth, he was worried and felt helpless about not knowing where the mare he once knew long ago could be.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could take.

"Are you really a pony?" Cotton Candy asked Cadence when it was Pinkie's turn to watch over her.

"I am. Well, I may not be one right now, but hopefully, I'll get to be one again soon."

"And you're really our cousin, not our aunt?" questioned Fire Spark as he, Whirl Wind, and Dignity were there, too, observing the enchanted Breezie who their parents were making a fuss over lately.

"You can call me Aunt Cadence. I don't mind. In fact, I think of your mothers as my sisters anyway, so it's fine."

"Aw!" Pinkie came over with brownies for the kids, "We like to think of you as our sister, too!"

Cadence giggled, "You certainly haven't changed, Pinkie. All of you haven't, except maybe Twilight. She used to be so playful, now she's so serious sometimes…"

"My mom used to be playful?" Fire found it hard to believe.

Cadence giggled again, "Why, yes, and I can see from here that you're a lot like her when she was your age."

"Wow…"

"What about me?" pointed Cotton Candy, "Aren't I like Mommy?" she bounced, "Aren't I?! Aren't I?!"

"Very much so." Cadence replied with a smile.

"Yay!" she kept on bouncing all over the place.

"Now Cotton, be care-" Pinkie tried to say, but things already got knocked over as if it was a game of dominoes. A book flew across the room and was about to squish Cadence! Luckily, Fire swooped her up and held her in his arms as the book landed where Cadence could have been.

Pinkie cried, "Cadence! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine! Thanks to Fire…" she smiled up at him as he returned it.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Then, she turned to her daughter and gave a look of disappointment, "See what happens when you're not too careful? Some pony or some Breezie could get squished!"

Cotton's eyes were filling with tears, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean…" She sobbed and ran out the room.

Pinkie had instant guilt across her face, "Cotton, wait! I wasn't…" She started going after her daughter and called back, "You boys, watch Cadence!" She ran to catch up with Cotton.

Whirl saluted, "On it!"

"So… what do we do?" asked Dignity.

Fire looked at Cadence in his hoof, "Aunt Cadence, what do we do?"

"Hmm…" then she fluttered on top of his head. "You could show me where the gardens are."

"Gardens? Right this way!" Whirl took the lead as they followed behind him.

The gardens were in the back of castle. It was mixture of vegetation and beautiful flowers of all kinds. Some of the ground was also checkerboard and had some strange plants on it. No doubt that was some of Discord's handiwork. Just a few feet away was a large lake.

Fire said to her, "Uncle Discord wanted to turn it into a chocolate lake, but Aunt Fluttershy insisted that the animals of forest needed it for drinking water."

Cadence nodded to that logic.

"I always did like Uncle Discord's part of the garden!" Whirl Wind went up to a cornstalk popping out popcorn and took some.

Dignity went over, but then a plant nearly snapped at him, "Of course, you can't be too careful in this place…"

"You know, I'm curious, but what is it you kids like to dream about the most?" Cadence asked.

"Oh, that's easy!" Cotton Candy popped from the flower bed, "I want to make ponies smile like my mommy and daddy!"

"Cotton! Weren't you with Aunt Pinkie?" Fire questioned.

"I was! Mommy and I had a talk and then we made up! Then she sent me back to you guys until I saw you weren't there, so I had to sniff you out and found you out in the garden!"

"Cuz, why do you have to be so random?" Whirl Wind gestured.

"Because it's fun! Now what about the rest of you answering Aunt Cadence's question?"

"Well, for me, I want to be a Wonderbolt like my dad!"

"I'm not quite sure what I want to be…" said Dignity, "…but I do like helping my parents and other ponies out. Maybe I'll be a butler like my dad was before he married Mum."

"And you, Fire?" Cadence looked down.

"Me? Well… I don't have much of a choice of what I want to be… My mom is supposed to be queen someday, so once she's gone, I have to be king…"

"You don't seem happy about that…" She gave a sad look.

"Being king doesn't sound all that interesting to me. I'd rather be in the library reading science books all day long…"

She made small pats in his hair.

"What about you, Cadence?" Cotton asked.

"Oh, well…" she shook her head, "it's not important…"

"Aw, come on, please?" The little filly batted her eyes.

"We told you ours. Might as well tell yours." pointed Dignity.

She chuckled, "So you did. Alright. What I want more than anything… is a kiss from my true love…"

"Aww!" Cotton gushed.

Whirl makes a gagging noise.

"Yes, it may not seem like a cool dream, but it's something I hold very dear to my heart…" she started singing, "When you meet the someone who was meant for you… Before two can become one there is something you must do…"

Whirl pointed, "Do you pull each other's tails?"

Dignity said, "Do you sip each other's tea?"

"No. There is something sweeter everybody needs… I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss… And a prince I'm hoping comes with this… That's what brings everaftering so happy… And that's the reason we need lips so much… For lips are the only things that touch… So to spend a life of endless bliss… Just find who you love through true love's kiss… aaah… aaah… aaaah…"

The kids sang, "Aaah… aaah… aaaah… She's been dreaming of a true love's kiss and a prince she's hoping comes with this! That's what brings everaftering so happy… so happy… And that's the reason we need lips so much for lips are the only things that touch…"

Cadence sang, "So to spend a life of endless bliss… Just find who you love through…"

They all sang, "True love's kiss…"

Cotton sighed, "That is so romantic!"

"I guess," Whirl shrugged, "if you like mushy stuff."

Cadence giggled, "Well, believe it or not, but someday, you're going to like the mushy stuff…"

"Blech! No way!"

"Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, when you come across a pretty face… Your wings will stop working and you'll fall head over hooves…"

"Oh! Then you'll be twitter-pated!" Cotton bounced, "Mom told me that!"

"Sorry, but that is so not happening to me! I won't fall in love and that's final!"

Cadence just smiled, she knew better. I seem to recall Rainbow Dash saying something like a long time ago… The rest of us were interested in boys, but she believed she was never going to fall in love. Obviously, that's changed, since she married Soarin'. From what she's told me when she had to watch me a couple days ago, when they first met, she was very interested… So if Whirl is anything like his mother, no doubt it'll happen sooner then he thinks…

She looked to the other kids, Dignity is a young gentlecolt. Any girl he comes across will fall for him in a second, and whoever he chooses will be a lucky mare indeed… Cotton is excited and hyper, but shows a sensitive side. She'll have a chance at true love when the time is right… And Fire, since he takes after his mother, he'll want some pony to support his ideas and appreciate all he has to offer. The mare he takes as a wife will be most fortunate…

She and the kids kept talking to each other at the same time as Twilight was inside the castle in the library, looking over books with Spike helping her as his daughter was to next to him on the table. He was putting the books he finished in a pile until Apple Jewel grabbed one and started chewing on it.

Spike noticed this and started to reach for the book, "No, Jewel! Books are for reading, not eating!" He struggled to get it loose from her mouth, "That's quite a grip you got there. Obviously, you inherited that from your mother…" He finally got the book free, but he fell back and crashed into a shelf, which made books topple over him. Jewel giggled and clapped.

"Oh, Spike! Are you okay?" Twilight helped him out.

He groaned, "I'm fine, but I think I got some bruised scales."

"Why don't you go ahead and take it easy…? And Apple Jewel, too. I'll stay here and keep looking."

"You sure?"

She nodded, "Yes, I'm sure. Just go."

"Okay… if you say so," He picked up the half-dragon, half-pony baby, "Come on, Jewel. Daddy's going to take a nap and so are you." Then they left.

Twilight used her magic to sort through all the books that involved charms, transformations, or curses. After a while, she declared, "Nothing! Absolutely nothing here about Breezie curses or how to reverse them! There is a spell involving turning into other creatures, but I'm not sure what good it could do for Cadence!" she grunted. "If only I knew how she got cursed in the first place… But Cadence can't remember it so much and Aunt Luna is the only other pony that knows about the curse… But Cadence doesn't want her mother knowing she's here, since she knows how Aunt Luna made her go live with the Breezies to begin with for her protection… But I just don't see any other way… I need to know how the curse was placed or else, there's no hope of Cadence returning to her normal form…"

Just then, Rarity walked in, "Darling?"

Twilight turned back toward her sister.

"No luck, I presume?"

She sighed, "It's really hard finding a solution if there's no way of knowing what caused it in the first place… I need to speak with Aunt Luna. She's the only one that was there when the curse took place. The answers lie with her."

Rarity gulped, "Well, I certainly wish you good luck with that. Auntie Luna is not one for being open."

"I know… but I'm going to try, even if it means bringing Cadence along. I think then she'd be more willing to talk if she saw her daughter again and that we're doing all we can to break the spell."

"I hope you're right. That actually brings up what I want to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"The rest of the girls and I want to go to Canterlot this weekend to do some gift shopping for our anniversary."

"Oh, no! I almost completely forgot! Between keeping track of running the Everfree Kingdom and helping Cadence, I don't know what to give Flash for a present!"

"But don't you always give him a book?"

"I do, but I don't know what kind of book he would like this year. I haven't paying attention that much!"

"Oh, dear… I was starting to wonder…"

"Wondering what?" Panic started rising in her voice, "Rarity, wondering what?!"

"Well, it's just… you and Flash have been fairly distant lately…Fancy mentioned the strangest thing that Flash told him. Flash said he might not celebrate the anniversary if he doesn't fix something… So… is there anything wrong?"

"There shouldn't be! But are you saying there could be?!"

"I really don't know, darling… This is your marriage, not mine."

Twilight then calmed herself with her calming method that Cadence taught her a long time ago, "You're right… If something is wrong, I'll get to the bottom of it, just as soon as Cadence's spell has been lifted."

"But in the meantime… Does this mean we are heading to Canterlot for the weekend?"

"Yes, we are most definitely heading back to Canterlot."

"Excellent! I'll go tell the others right away!" She trotted off.

That night, Twilight had a talk with Cadence about going to Canterlot to meet with Luna to learn more about the curse.

"I know you didn't want her to know, but it's our one shot of getting you back to being you…"

Cadence solemnly agreed, "You're right…" she gave a small smile, "Besides, it'll be wonderful to finally see her again, even if she'll be disappointed in me for not staying where I was most safe."

Twilight chuckled, "Believe me, we know how that feels…" Then, she gasped, "You can finally see Shining Armor again!"

The Breezie's smile widened, "That's right! And we can-" Then, she frowned, looking at her small body, "No… he can't see me like this…"

"Cadence…"

"He won't love me!"

"That's not true! Shining Armor doesn't care what you look like!"

Tears were coming down her cute face, "What happens if we can't break the spell? Then what? How can we be together if I'm stuck like this forever?!"

"We'll see what happens first! Chances are we will break the spell! Then Shining Armor and you will finally get the happy ending you deserve!"

"You really think so?"

"Yes… Cadence, I almost couldn't have a happy ending because of my father's curse for fear that the same thing could've happened to me and my sisters… But because our love for him, we broke it and got the husbands we truly love. I know the same could happen for you. You will be an alicorn princess again and marry Shining Armor. I can feel it."

"Oh, Twilight… Thank you…"

"Just brace yourself for a major lecture from your mother this coming weekend."

She giggled, "Oh, I will."

"And… if it makes you feel any better, I'll distract Shining Armor from knowing you're there."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

She nodded, knowing that the trip back to Canterlot wasn't going to pleasant…