i - The Old Library

Cadence stirred in her sleep.

Her eyes adjusted to the refracted crystal sunlight shafting through the windows, and the diminutive traces of dreams still lingered—only for a brief moment on her bewildered mind, before she awoke to reality; the world around her was like a watercolour supernova, the tints and shades painting themselves into kaleidoscope patterns in the light. An immense pressure bore down on her head, and she blearily opened her left eye. Above her was an assortment of various flowers she grew in her room, and they swam into focus, and she was incidentally torn between seeing a spectacular view all morning or having to get up and tend royalty duties.

Being a princess had its advantages. Who would’ve thought? Not only did it instill reverence into its bearer, but it also ensured that Cadence always had something to do—always keeping busy with whatever work had to be done. She liked being a princess; but today was one of those days she didn’t feel inclined to do anything. The thought passed, and the realization set in. Best get to work now. Might as well stick to the schedule.

Cadence switched sides and saw Shining Armor sound asleep. She smiled genuinely for the first time that day—just like she always did waking up—and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before trotting through the door.

A crystal castle was certainly a beautiful place to live in. Rays of blue refracted light pierced through the thin crystal ceiling, and Cadence seemed to be mesmerized as if it were her first time seeing the phenomenon. She smiled with magnanimous familiarity. It never took her long to notice the sentiment of being home, but today was different. Home sweet home. Waking up warmed her heart, and knowing that her life was serene was enough to drive her forward through each day.

Never once did she experience a day of pain in her life, bar the incident with Queen Chrysalis. It’s been five years since that day, and it still felt like it was there, haunting her, albeit it was nothing more than a repressed memory. If she didn’t have Shining Armor, she might have experienced those dark memories over the years, and maybe then she would have ached with every step she took after waking up, her muscles searing at he exhaustion of never being able to rest.

She remember the horrifying, harrowing day when the queen of changelings bore her fangs into her—sending pulses of agony as she vainly screamed for help. If Queen Chrysalis had succeeded in tricking everypony, Cadence’s life would be vastly different.

No longer would she preside her kingdom, for she would be nothing but a distant recollection, a false perception to those around her. No longer would she be the swain to Prince Shining Armor, the love of her life, her everything. And no longer would her ponies, the ones whom she had sworn to protect with her life, living in her domain, respect or believe her for being the real Cadence. She would probably have been thrown in the Crystal Empire’s dungeon’s, left to rot for eons without a single visitor, even Twilight and Shining shunning her. No one to accompany her, no one to give her the shred of hope she so desperately wished to enkindle, but only to find despair clawing its way to her; and no one to tell her she would make her retribution to the one who wronged her and stole her life.

But none of that happened. Cadence was happy it didn’t. She was grateful. Blessed. Content. Nothing could ever take what she had now, and even if that were remotely possible, they’d have to give her one hell of a battle.

Along the way to the bathroom, Cadence thought about everypony she had helped over the years here at the Crystal Empire, and of the ponies who rose and greeted her—expressing words of kindness for being the best possible epitome of love. It made her smile.

About an hour later, a dry, fresh Cadence could be found heading through the crystal corridors of her castle. For some strange reason, she had a scheduled meeting with the librarian who supposedly claimed there being another library beneath the one in the castle, which was strange considering the entire place had been scouted after Sombra’s demise. But it was no matter; for if one of her subjects needed her help with something, she would give it, regardless of how paltry or ludicrous the requests were; and despite her insistence that she had already knew her own castle from the ground up, the ever desperate librarian yearned for Cadence and her guards to look into this second library.

And so she did.

Upon entering the throne room, all of the guards and civilians alike bowed on her arrival. “I have been summoned, yes?” Cadence said, smiling and sounding joyful. She took a seat on her crystal throne. “This is about the library thing, yeah?”

“Yes, your Majesty,” a guard said, unfurling a scroll. “A librarian worker here at the castle says there is another library below our current one, and has requested your help and assistance with scouting it.”

“Sure thing,” Cadence said. “Where is this librarian by the way? Is she here?”

“I am here, Princess Cadence,” said a blue unicorn. She had a wavy white mane, and her cutie mark was a stack of piled books. “I thank you for you time.”

Cadence giggled. “It’s no problem. Could you take me to it? And why do you believe I should see to it?”

“Certainly. And why, you ask? I believe this library that is underneath our current one originates from before the Crystal Empire was even formed. I have been down there myself briefly and it’s very cryptic and catacomb-like. There are probably things in there that could be harmful to us.”

“Oh, interesting,” Cadence said, hoping of her throne. “No worries. I’ll see this place for myself and determine whether or not it needs to be blocked off.”

“Alright. But I stop there. Going to a place like that is something I cannot pull myself to do again.”

The transverse to the crystal library was a short one, through it was insipid as the two said nothing to one another. When they had arrived to the place, it was business as usual: Ponies were sitting at desks, reading and writing their school papers, and others were lounging around casually and talking with their friends. “It’s this way, your Majesty.”

“Oh, my,” Cadence said. “Take me to it.”

They trotted to the left end of the library, where it was nearly vacant. “It’s over here.” The librarian came to a bookshelf and used her magic to expose a faux title in the floor; it didn’t take much effort for it to pop up. Dragging the title aside, the entrance to the supposed ancient and cryptic place was right in front of Cadence’s eyes. It was large enough for her to squeeze through, oddly enough.

“Is this it?” Cadence asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes.”

“And you were down there yourself?”

“Briefly, yes. It’s a scary place, Princess Cadence. Are you sure you want to go alone?”

“I must. It is my sworn duty to scout anything that is potentially harmful or even helpful to my subjects. In the meantime, please deliver this message for me.” Cadence took ahold of a inky quill and parchment on a nearby desk and wrote.

Shining. I have some business I need to take care of. I can’t go into too much detail right now, but when I see you again, I will let you know what is going on. Don’t worry. I’ll be safe, just like I always am.

For the rest of the day, I have given you total command of the Crystal Empire. You are Prince Shining Armor for the day. Do me proud, Shiny.

Love you always,

Cadence.

After she finished writing, she rolled it up and handed it to the librarian. “Please give this to Shining Armor. If not to him, than any Crystal Guard will know where to deliver it.”

The librarian nodded. “He shall get this message. Good luck your, Majesty. Stay safe in there. Who knows what dark things wait below.”

“Thank you. I will see you and my ponies soon.”

And Cadence was alone.

A crippling and throbbing pain jabbed at Cadence as she stood in front of the unknown. Memories of the changeling queen arose in her mind. What if this was Chrysalis’s doing? What if Cadence descended into this place and was trapped by her? No, there’s no possible for that to even be plausible, not in this sense at least; but even if that were the case, Cadence had her Crystal Heart and she could easily channel the magic from it and blast the her to the mountains, leaving her to suffer from a blizzard’s wrath.

With hardened determination, she squeezed through the small dark hole and the only thing she could see was darkness.