Princess Cadance started when the letter appeared next to her. She was always happy to see another letter from her sister-in-law, but they had a habit of appearing at odd, seemingly random times. Like right now, for example, it was going on three in the morning. She sighed and rolled over in bed, trying not to wake her husband, and took the letter in her magical grasp as she walked out of the room. Settling down in a chair she kept just outside the door for this exact purpose, the pink alicorn clicked on a lamp and began to read.
Dear Princess Cadance,
I know it's been a while so it's kind of rude for me to spring this question on you like this, especially at this time of night. That said, this has been bothering me for weeks now and I need your help. I think I'm starting to develop... uh... feelings, for somepony, and I'm not really sure what to do about that. I tried talking to Spike but that quickly turned into him talking about Rarity, which really didn't help the situation at all. If it's not too much trouble, could I come visit you sometime soon to talk about this? I figure with you being the Princess of Love and all, if anyone can help me deal with this, it's you.
With love,
Twilight Sparkle
Cadance beamed. She'd waited so long for this moment. Never one to waste time (or paper), she flipped the note around, dabbed her quill in the inkwell, and began to pen her reply.
–––
Twilight was sitting upright in her bed, sweating. She'd sent it. The first pony she'd talked to about these feelings was the one pony possibly least likely to understand them. Or she'd completely understand them, it was Princess Cadance after all. Princess of Love. She could handle this. She could handle anything. Twilight wasn't sure if she was talking about herself or Cadance, but she also didn't think that really mattered. Perhaps a glass of water would help. Yes, that would be nice. She swung her rear legs over the edge and gently slid off her bed, setting all four hooves quietly on the floor. A letter appeared beside her and she yelped, leaping straight up in the air not unlike a startled cat. Her wings beat frantically for a couple flaps, flinging her backwards and back onto her bed. She thought she was getting better at flying and controlling her wings, but every now and then they still acted like they had a mind of their own. It could be embarrassing. Times like right now would have been awful if anypony had been watching-
“Twilight? Are you alright?” A sleepy Spike groaned, rubbing one eye as he opened the door.
“Y-yes,” Twilight stuttered, laughing nervously, grasping the letter in her magic, “You can go back to bed, Spike. Thank you for being so concerned for me.”
“Uh, yeah, g'night Twi.”
“Good night, Spike.”
As Spike shuffled from the room, Twilight unrolled the letter, smiling a little as she realized – as usual – it was written on the back of the piece of parchment she had sent.
Dear Twilight,
I am so glad to hear you've finally found someone! Even if it's just the beginnings of feelings, this is the most I've sensed from you in years. I can feel the love emanating from this letter, you must have fallen pretty hard if it's affecting your magic this much. I was planning on coming out to visit you in the next week or so, but seeing as you need my help, I'd be glad to bump that trip up a few days. I could be there as early as tomorrow – or, well, later this morning at this point – if you really need me now. If not... how does Thursday sound?
With love,
Cadance
Twilight's smile slowly changed from nervous to genuine. Thursday was only three days from now. She'd been sitting on this for so long now, she could handle a few more days.
–––
When Thursday arrived, Twilight had discovered she really couldn't handle a few more days. She had barely slept, and paced frantically around the room. Cadance wasn't supposed to arrive until two in the afternoon, yet Twilight had been awake since just after five. Spike was spending the day with Fluttershy, helping her with some animal thing. Twilight hadn't been paying too much attention – she'd just wanted to make sure Spike wouldn't be interrupting anything.
A knock at the door brought her racing mind to bear.
“Twilight? Are you home?” Cadance's high, clear voice was muffled slightly by the crystal door. Too late to turn back now. Cadance was here, and she was going to find out about Twilight's feelings. It was why Twilight had called her here in the first place, of course that's what was going to happen.
“Twilight?” Cadance called again, drawing out the syllables.
“Coming!” Twilight answered, blinking to the door, covering the distance in time that would have made Rainbow Dash jealous. Opening the door, a positively glowing Cadance smiled at her.
“Who is it?”
“Eh heh...” Twilight rubbed a hoof behind her head. “Let's go sit down somewhere. I think both of us are going to want to be sitting down.”
Cadance raised an eyebrow and cast a wry smile at Twilight, but nodded and followed her down a high-ceilinged hallway.
“Reminds me of home, kind of,” the pink mare commented, smiling up at the vaulted crystal architecture. “Quite a lot more colorful, though,” it will be great for foals, she added mentally, smile broadening.
Twilight made some sort of affirmation grunt, clearly too nervous to properly respond. She strode into a sitting room – one of many, she presumed. Cadance obediently followed, pausing for a moment when Twilight sat on a couch. The purple mare paused for a moment, shoulders rising and falling in time with a sigh, and motioning for Cadance to take a seat next to her.
“So,” Cadance exhaled as she settled onto the couch, taking Twilight's hooves in her own, “tell me about this somepony who's caught your eye.”
Cadance watched with glee as a smile spread on Twilight's face and a light blush came to her cheeks. The younger purple mare was in deep.
“She's just so-” Twilight began.
“She?” Cadance asked with a waggle of an eyebrow and a trace of a smile.
“Homosexuality is a common practice in Equestria, it should hardly matter,” Twilight explained, looking down.
“Oh no, that's not what I was questioning at all, dear,” Cadance said, putting a hoof around Twilight. “I just wanted to make sure I heard you right, because I just won a bet I made with your mother fifteen years ago.”
“... you bet on me being a lesbian?”
“Princess of Love, darling, it's easy money.”
Twilight huffed and rolled her eyes. “Well, you're not entirely right, anyways.”
“Oh?”
“I'm pretty sure I'm bisexual,” she muttered, blushing a little, “but that's beside the point. That's not what we're talking about. I've got a pretty good handle on my sexuality, it's handling it that's the problem.”
“Sorry,” Cadance apologized, giving Twilight a reassuring squeeze. “Alright. Let's start again.”
“Yeah. Let's,” Twilight repeated, “she's just so... I know so many words, and I don't even know where to begin with her.”
“Well, since you seem to be making a point out of not telling me her name just yet, why don't you start with telling me about her. Do I know her?”
“Yes, I'd... I'd certainly hope you'd know her,” Twilight said, without making eye contact. “You know her.”
“Alright, keep going, you did call me here to talk, after all.”
Twilight chuckled, a choked, nervous noise, but there was a hint of real mirth behind it.
“Her voice is...” Twilight started, but quickly trailed off. “I know so many words,” she picked up again after a moment of silence, “but none of them come close to describing her voice. Ethereal, otherworldly... I'd almost call it alien, but those just aren't right. It's beautiful. Just... one of the many things about her are. Even though I've only heard it once, hearing her sing was just... enrapturing. I don't know. That sounds so cheesy.” Twilight blushed and covered her face with her hooves.
Well that hardly narrows it down, all of her friends can sing like no tomorrow... but all of her friends also sing quite often. Perhaps somepony she met on the other side of the mirror? Cadance coughed.
“Right, sorry. She has these gorgeous wings,” Twilight started.
Unless I missed something, not from the mirror then. A pegasus, Cadance observed, I know her, Twilight seems the kind to form emotional relationships with her close friends, so... Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash. Oh, she'd make a cute couple with Rainbow Dash, they'd have a wonderful yin-yang thing going on.
“She just floats through the air with such... grace. It's so fluid, she looks so natural,”
Fluttershy then.
“But at the same time she's so quick and agile. Flitting back and forth.”
… not Fluttershy then.
Twilight sighed. “Maybe she could teach me how to fly like that one day, but with these,” she ruffled her wings dejectedly, “These are made for elegance, for looking pretty. Not for speed, or agility. I honestly don't think that I could ever flap fast enough, even if I trained for years.”
“Well,” Cadance offered, “Flying isn't everything for her, is it?”
“No, it isn't, that's true.”
So not Rainbow Dash either. Hmmm...
There was a pause as Cadance continued to ponder who the mystery pony might be, then she caught Twilight's smile growing again out of the corner of her eye, and turned her attention back to the purple mare.
“And don't get me started on her horn-”
“Wait, her horn?” Cadance pulled a hoof to her mouth, as though covering it could take back having spoken aloud.
Twilight, too, covered her mouth.
Well, I guess that narrows down the pool of possible ponies a bit.
“So... I'd be a liar if I tried to say Princess Celestia was not a beautiful pony, but... even as a Princess yourself, Twilight...” Cadance knew she should have suspected this, but at the same time...
“What? No, it's not the Princess,” Twilight said, “Though... never mind. It's not the Princess.”
“Well, Twilight,” Cadance put on a faux-pouty face and smiled coyly at Twilight, “wings and a horn leave about two choices, unless you've done something horrible with magic again or I missed an important memo on your friend through the mirror. Sunset Shimmer, was it? She hasn't ascended, has she?”
“No,” Twilight answered hastily, “Not yet at least. Maybe. I don't know. There's a lot of strange things involving the magic of that world, and she hasn't come back through the mirror yet. Anyways, no, I haven't been experimenting with cloning again. I... learned my lesson after the Mirror Pool incident.”
“So that narrows it down to Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna. If it's not Princess Celestia...” Cadance trailed off, leaving the implication hanging, triumphantly. I knew she'd tell me, even if she didn't give me a na-
“It's not Princess Luna either,” Twilight stated softly, eyes to the ground. She'd been foolish to let slip that the pony in question had wings and a horn – Cadance had a point that that really cut down the pool of possible ponies.
Princess Cadance's smile disappeared. “It's... not Princess Luna, and not Princess Celestia? That leaves...” the Princess of Love sighed heavily. She should have seen this coming. After all, an affinity for the arcane, an at least partial attraction to mares, and being somewhat of an introvert... everything else ran in the family. “Twilight, I know... I...”
“What? No, Cadance, I-” Twilight blushed furiously holding up her hooves as though warding off an attack. “You hold a very special place in my heart and I love you dearly, and I always will, but this... no, this isn't you. Cadance, even if it was, I would never tell you. I wouldn't want to put that on you. I don't want anything to come between you and Shining Armor, most of all myself.”
Cadance paused again. That had been a... bit of a jump to conclusions. But still, if it's not one of the Princesses, not a clone Twilight, and Sunset Shimmer has yet to ascend, who in Equestria has both wings and a horn? Discord? Discord is a boy, though, and besides, he's not in love with anyone at the moment. Who else could-
“Twilight, no,” Cadance said aloud as she realized there was only one other pony her sister-in-law could be talking about.
“This is why I waited so long to talk to you about it... I wasn't sure if you would understand,” Twilight explained, “I... didn't think you would approve.”
“To say I don't approve is a bit of a misnomer. It's less that I disapprove and more that I'm extremely skeptical.”
“Cadance-”
“But I am the Princess of Love, so who am I to stand in the way of it?” Cadance's smile returned. “Plus, you have a pretty good track record with things like this. Do you know where she is right now?”
“No, but I know where to look.”
“Then go, Twilight.”
“You're saying I should tell her how I feel?”
“I'm saying sitting on it like this is going to be the death of you, and there are a few... choice words I'd like to share with her,” Cadance answered with a smile and a reassuring pat of Twilight's hooves.
“Oh Cadance,” Twilight brought her hooves out of the pink alicorn's grasp and put them around her shoulders. “Thank you so much. I just... I needed to talk to somepony about this and I knew you'd either be the best or worst pony for the job given... you know.”
“I do. All too well,” Cadance said with a laugh that gave an air of lightness to the situation. “I wish you the best, Twilight. Though,” Cadance glanced at a clock on the wall, “has it really been that long already? My train back leaves in only a few minutes,” she explained, tone changing drastically. “I'm sorry for this being so sudden but I really must go, Twilight.”
“No, no, that's fine, Cadance, thank you,” Twilight said in a rush, “It's kind of a cliché but it does feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I have some arrangements to make as well. Thank you Cadance!”
“Any time, Twilight,” the pink mare answered, pulling her sister-in-law in for one more hug, then disappearing with a bright pink flash and a pop.
–––
Cadance sighed as she took her seat on the train.
So much for the five bits Twilight Velvet owes me. I should have known better than to bet against Twilight falling in love with something that's not exactly a pony.
