Rise of the Alicorn Prince

After Solaris's little fainting spell, waking up hours later, everypony was in the dining hall for dinner, eating some of the meals crafted with the empire's famed crystal berries, which actually aren't made of real crystal. Solaris was too excited to eat, wanting to ask Cadence and Shining Armor hundreds of questions, but he was too nervous to utter a single word. Trill was the only one aside from Solaris who didn't eat any of the different dishes, not really fond of the fruity scents wafting around the long table.

While eating their meals, Cadence noticed Solaris had kept eyeing them and wanting to say something, but always turning back to his plate. "Solaris, you don't have to be shy around us. And eat! I'm sure you must be starving!"

"...I-I don't even know what to say," he said. "I don't even know where to begin."

"Well, I'm sure you all can spare a few days to rest. You must be pretty tired from traveling half of Equestria already." Cadence took a sip of tea from her crystal china, realizing that there were a some ponies and a certain dragon missing. "So, where are the others? Did you guys get lost and they had to get on a different train?"

The whole room was silent, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Solaris immediately felt depressed. "...Lucifer got them..." Rainbow said. "He found Solaris, killed Spike, then Rarity when she tried to get revenge for Spike's death, and Applejack got crushed in the temple back in Saddle Arabia..."

Cadence gasped, completely shocked at the terrible news. "Oh gosh...I am so sorry."

Shining Armor grit his teeth, seething with anger as the name of the tyrant was mentioned. "Lucifer..." The stallion took a large swig of his glass, filled with hard cider, lowering the alcoholic beverage back down before he decided to smash it against the table in rage. "Ever since he came around and killed my sister and the princesses, he's caused nothing but trouble. His soldiers have no discipline, looting and pillaging whatever they can with no consequence. Because of that and fear of ever crossing paths with him, many families had fled here to the Crystal Empire for protection. There's barely enough room to accept anymore, and if this keeps up, we'll have to turn others around to seek shelter elsewhere!"

"The Crystal Heart's power can only protect the kingdom, and the barrier's radius doesn't reach any further than what I can ask it to," Cadence said, gently rubbing her husband's shoulder to try and calm him down. "The crystal ponies are doing whatever they can to help. As long as the barrier stays up, Lucifer can never get in."

"And he's waiting for one of us to slip up and leave the empire," Shining growled. "He'll take advantage and us one of us as a shield, a bargaining chip that he'll easily discard once he lures us out. His tyranny is stressing me out, and nopony can even so much as scratch him without getting killed..."

"Which is why I'm the only one who can do it," said Solaris. "If I can pass my tests mom had set up for me, then I can face him. I'll kill him and make sure Equestria is back to the way it used to be."

"...I know, Solaris..." Shining slowly got up from his seat, making his way out of the dining hall. "I'm going to get some sleep. I've been so exhausted with everything that's been going on." As he passed Trill, he noticed that she didn't eat anything yet. As soon as their eyes met, the prince somehow found her emerald irises to be somewhat familiar. "...I didn't realize you were actually with my nephew...Who are you?"

"My name's Evergreen Forrest," Trill responded.

"...I see..." After staring at the teen for a while, he finally left the dining hall and began heading for his bedroom. He began to grow suspicious from her lack of appetite and emerald eyes. "Those eyes...I've seen those same green eyes before..."

After spending the rest of the evening resting in their rooms in the castle, everypony went about their business around the empire. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy decided to spend some time at the spa to truly relax, while Solaris wanted to spend his time getting to know more about his new aunt and uncle. Trill tagged along, having no clue what to do and followed the alicorns.

"Where's Uncle Shining?" Solaris asked as they walked through the streets, the crystal ponies bowing before their princess as they passed.

"He's still pretty tired. Shining works really hard to keep things organized with me, though he is pushing himself more and more." They soon entered the nearby park, where there weren't many ponies who would interrupt them. "I know you want the both of us close-by so you could know us better, but I'll answer any of his questions to the best of my ability."

"Ok. I understand," Solaris said, mulling over the many questions he felt bold enough to finally ask. "So, you're an alicorn too. I actually thought it was just me now."

"Yes, but I'm not a naturally born alicorn. I used to be a pegasus before Aunt Celestia ascended me to an alicorn," Cadence said with pride, surprising both Trill and Solaris. "And before you ask if I could have stopped Lucifer, I can't. I'm more of a lover, not a fighter."

"You mean you can't fight?" he asked.

"I can, but I'm not really good at it, magically or physically," Cadence said. "My specialty is actually love. I always adored romance, no matter what kind it may be. Tragic love stories, love at first sight, schoolpony crushes. Nopony should ever break up those truly in love with one another."

"Bleh," Solaris groaned in digust. "You mean you like those dumb romance novels with horribly written dialogue that sounded like a five-year-old thought of?"

"There are some good love stories out there, Solaris. You just gotta look past the words and imagine the experience." Cadence lead Trill and Solaris to a gazebo, where they could see the park in its clean and lustrous landscape. "Shining and I were the kind of couple who ended up dating back when we were teens. He was smitten by my looks the instant he laid eyes on me." She began giggling, remembering a funny point in their life. "You should have seen how he reacted when he found out I would be foalsitting your mother when she was a filly."

"You foalsat my mom?" Solaris asked. "...How old are you?"

"Forty-five, yet I still look like I'm in my early twenties, don't I?" Cadence answered, not insulted by her nephew's question on her age.

"Yeah. I though it was weird how you and Uncle Shining seemed different age-wise..." Solaris felt a little awkward asking his aunt's age, something he had learned never to do from Rarity if he ever met another filly. "Why is that?"

"Alicorns age differently compared to normal ponies. Celestia and Luna were over a thousand years old, and they were still around after all that time..." Cadence frowned, remembering the unfortunate news when Lucifer had attacked her aunts and sister-in-law. "We may seem immortal, but only by age. We can still be killed..."

"Right..." Solaris looked at his wings, knowing true immortality is nothing but fantasy. But growing older, year after year, watching the ones you knew and loved die, it would be worse than being tortured to near death. "In stories, immortality is known as a blessing, where the villain would live forever, unable to be killed and free to do whatever they want. For the heroes, or us...It's almost like a curse."

"Exactly..." As they grew silent, Trill could feel their sadness. Losing Twilight and the princesses were really hard on the both of them. Cadence pulled her nephew close into a tight embrace and he hugged her back. "I know this is all rough on you, Solaris. Know that your mother always loved you, and she would do anything for you."

"I know..." Solaris said.

As the two alicorns hugged, Cadence suddenly felt something really odd in their presence. Her first instinct was looking at Trill, feeling something strangely familiar about her that she didn't realize until now. When the disguised changeling wasn't looking, Cadence gave Solaris a small kiss on the forehead, noticing a slight reaction to the mare's horn. It was faint, but it glowed green. She eyed the young mare, gently pulling away from her nephew.

"I know our meeting was a bit swift, but who are you again?" Cadence questioned. "Evergreen, was it?"

"Uhh, y-yes ma'am..." Trill said nervously.

"I also noticed you didn't eat anything last night..." Her suspicions began to grow as she noticed the changeling's hints of nervousness. "Were you not hungry? Or sick perhaps?"

"I-I wasn't hungry. I uhh...had a big lunch yesterday! Yeah!" Trill chuckled, growing more suspicious as her lies didn't faze Cadence.

"But we didn't have lunch. At least none on the train before we disembarked," Solaris said, making Trill sweat as the alicorn was the one who was going to ruin her lies.

"Hmmm..." Cadence approached the mare, looking around to make sure no other ponies were around. Her horn began glowing, casting a blue aura, making a heart appear in front of her. At the sight of the magical heart, Trill's eyes were automatically entranced to the spell, her mouth salivating at the energy it produced. Cadence had found her out. "I knew it."

Cadence tackled the dazed changeling to the ground, surprising Solaris. She then dispelled Trill's disguise, revealing her true self. As the young princess looked up, she knew she was in trouble.

"Uh oh," Trill gulped, scared out of her mind.

"I knew you weren't an ordinary pony," Cadence said, her horn glowing as she prepared to fight back. "What's a changeling doing here in my empire!?"

"Wait, Aunt Cadence!" Solaris quickly pulled her aunt away, shocking her as he defended Trill. "I can explain!"

"You mean you knew she was a changeling!?" Cadence asked. "Do you have any idea what they almost did to mine and Shining's wedding!?"

"Well, I wasn't told what a changeling was until-" Solaris paused, thinking over what Cadence had just said. "Wait...Your wedding?"

"Yes! And by the look of her, she must obviously be Chrysalis's heir, not like her drones," Cadence said. "I knew Shining Armor thought it was strange how her eyes looked, because they're exactly like hers, the same thing that tried to take my husband away from me and use him!"

"What?" Solaris looked back at Trill, who was just as shocked as he was, then turned back to Cadence. "Trill told me her mom tried to take over a royal wedding between a princess and a royal guard captain in Canterlot...You mean...she was talking about you and Uncle Shining?"

"Yes!" Cadence stomped her hoof, ready to end the young changeling's life. "Now move aside! I don't want any one of these things anywhere near you!"

"Wait! I had no idea mom was talking about you!" Trill said in a panic. "I wasn't even born when the invasion happened!"

"She's right," Solaris said. "Aunt Cadence, Trill actually helped me when I first left my home near Ponyville...I was by myself and lost, and I bumped into her. She's my friend."

Cadence didn't want to believe what Solaris was saying was the truth, but she froze when she felt something else about them. It was the same feeling of emotion that she can feel and aid for couples that are lacking in it: love. She stared at the cowering changeling, unable to believe that something like her could actually be in love with her nephew, and it was legitimate too. There was no deceit, no lies, nothing entirely wrong. It felt right for them, and it baffled her.

The princess lowered her guard, trying to figure out if this was supposed to be some kind of trick, but it wasn't. "...Are you sure? She isn't...manipulating you or anything, is she?"

"No," Solaris said as Trill shook her head, staying silent to avoid angering the princess. "Even if you think she is, I'm not going to let you hurt her. I don't want to lose her."

That had shocked Cadence. She could feel the same emotion from Solaris as he said he didn't want to lose Trill. He cared about her, and in return, she cared about him. As much as she wanted to deny this, she couldn't help herself with always liking any form of romance, especially one where two species who were enemies toward one another could end up being together. Sighing in defeat, she sat down, rubbing her forehead as she wracked her brain around her likes favoring over her dislikes.

"...Alright then," she said. "If you can trust her...then I won't do anything." Solaris and Trill both breathed a sigh of relief. "But, she's going to have to reveal herself to the others today."

"What!?" Solaris exclaimed as Trill's jaw dropped in fear. "B-But Aunt Cadence-"

"No buts, Solaris!" Cadence scolded, Solaris protest immediately silenced. "If she's going to be traveling with you, then she's going to need everypony's one hundred percent trust. That means no disguises around other family members." The teen's ears drooped, growing worried about Trill's safety. "I'm sorry, Solaris, but after the invasion, changelings can't really be trusted. They almost took over Canterlot and crashed our wedding. Maybe they might not be all bad as you think, but not a lot of ponies can look past events that have occurred years ago."

"But isn't Equestria supposed to be a kingdom where everypony is equal?" Solaris asked. "Changelings are technically ponies, just slightly different. Wouldn't things have worked out differently if both our kinds met and arranged some kind of compromise?"

Cadence was about to argue, but she realized that he was kind of right. Sure, they knew nothing about the changelings until they showed themselves at her wedding, but they tried to invade Equestria. Chrysalis nearly won, but maybe she did all this out of desperation for her subjects' survival. There were a lot of options that could have been done, and prejudice against the changelings would only be known because of the invasion without knowing their real reason behind it all.

"...I guess..." Cadence was rendered speechless. Just from looking at Trill, who had no knowledge of who her mother had actually impersonated as and tried to crash their wedding, all she did judge her by was her body. She was innocent in all of this, not part of the invasion and only treated badly by her holed legs, insect wings, crooked horn, and fangs. "...Maybe I was a bit...brash. I just didn't want another invasion to happen."

"We can't do much of anything since Lucifer came into power," Trill said, though still hiding behind Solaris. "We can't feed off love if it can't be given when ponies are always afraid."

"Then I guess we do have something in common after all: wanting Lucifer to step down from Equestria's throne." Cadence held out her hoof to the changeling. "Forgive me for attacking you?"

"...Yeah." Trill bumped her hoof against Cadence's, though she was still confused by her change of mind, along with Solaris. "Why don't you want to get rid of me anymore?"

"Solaris seems to make a good politician for being a teenager," Cadence lied, even if it was partially true. She didn't want to admit that the real reason why was because she wanted to see what these two would be like as a couple. "Now, let's see if we can gather the others back at the castle to show who you really are. I'm sure my nephew would fight just about anypony if they tried to hurt you, even if they're family."

Cadence saw Trill blush, purely obvious that she does indeed have a crush on Solaris.

A while later, Cadence had gathered the others into the throne room, dismissing her guards as they decided to reveal Trill's identity to Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Shining Armor. As soon as the changeling dropped her disguise, it was obvious they didn't approve of her deceiving them. But after explaining that Trill wasn't as bad as the changelings from the invasion, her helping him from his panic attack in the Everfree Forest, and being called Solaris's friend, it was difficult for them to accept her into the group.

Rainbow Dash didn't seem to trust her all that much, Fluttershy was indecisive, Pinkie was mixed between wanting to throw a party for her or throw her out with her party cannon, and Shining Armor really didn't like the idea. It was bad enough to know that Trill was the spitting image of the succubus who brainwashed him, disguised as his wife, but to know that she helped his nephew when he was hurting only confused him.

At least Trill was considered part of the group, she just needed to prove she wasn't going to deceive them and trick them in any way. After her reveal, Shining immediately excused himself, still pretty upset knowing a changeling was among them, despite being told she wasn't that bad. Cadence followed after him, where he headed for their chambers. She could tell he still didn't want to approve Trill being friends with their nephew.

"Shining, can we talk?" she asked.

"Cadence, she can't stay with him," Shining said, laying down on the bed as he rubbed the sides of his head. "After what those giant roaches tried to do on our wedding day, what that heartless thing did to us-"

"I know. I don't like it as much as you, but there's something different about Trill I didn't really expect." Shining looked up, Cadence sitting next to the bed. "...I think...they really like each other."

"What?" Shining questioned.

"I think you know what I mean," Cadence said. "I could practically feel it coming from the both of them."

The stallion's eyes widened, sitting up on the bed as he looked at his wife. "Oh no...There is no way that's possible."

"But it is." Cadence climbed up on the comfortable mattress, crawling up to Shining. "Trill is infatuated with Solaris, and I think our nephew likes her back, but he seems too afraid to show it."

Shining groaned as he laid back down. "Cadence, don't use your magic on them. I am not letting my sister's son fall for anything that isn't a normal pony! Who knows if she might be making some kind of ploy or using him to get to us for Chrysalis?"

"Yes, Shiny, I know, but I wasn't planning on using magic to give them that nudge. It would be too wrong." Cadence crawled up over Shining until she straddled his waist. "I'm gonna give them a little push with a little plan." She gave him a smirk, a devious little plan building in the romantic side of her brain. "A day where the two of them spend time together, romantic settings all laid out for them, and the love will blossom until they finally admit their feelings for each other!"

Shining stared blankly at his wife, not liking her little scheme at all. "...Cadence, whenever anything involving romance comes along, it always blows up when you try to control it."

"Oh please. When has it ever backfired?" Cadence asked.

"Well there was that one time you 'helped' an arguing couple in Canterlot on one of our dates, but realized too late that the two were actually siblings, making their next day awkward after they ended up making out with each other that night."

Cadence blushed in embarrasment. "I didn't know they were brother and sister! I didn't even mean to put too much power in that spell as well..."

Shining sighed, pulling Cadence closer to him, letting her head rest on his chest. "I love you Cadence, but you can be a little too wild with love sometimes."

"Oh, like our Sunday Fundays?" Cadence asked, giving the stallion a lustful gaze. "We never do those anymore. And tonight is Sunday. Let's do some role-playing!"

"Sorry, hon." He rolled over, making the alicorn yelp as she slid off his chest. "I can't truly relax until all of this madness is over." Cadence pouted and crossed her forelegs like a spoiled child not getting what she wanted. She felt Shining wrap his forelegs around her, pulling her into a soft and passionate kiss, making her melt under his touch. He knew just how to make her tick, her grumpiness immediately disappearing no matter what he did. "I'll make up all our missed private moments when Lucifer's finally beaten."

"You promise?" Cadence asked, fluttering her eyes.

"I promise." He gave his wife another kiss, cuddling closer to her as he closed his eyes. "If you really think they're really made for each other, which I doubt, don't go overboard with your schemes."

"Ok, I won't go too far this time." Cadence sighed, burying her face in the ex-captain's muscular chest. "Have some faith in me, Shiny. I know it'll work."