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When Words Fail, Music Speaks
3. Starships (cover) – Megan Nicole and Lindsey Stirling
Starships (cover) – Megan Nicole and Lindsey Stirling
He met her out on her balcony. She wasn’t expecting it. She had thought she was going to see him the next day. Tired, rumpled and still in her travelling clothes, she slumped on the balustrade and closed her eyes.
“Hey.”
Her eyes snapped open and she nearly tumbled on her butt. “Sh-Shining?”
He hovered in front of her. In the empty air in front of her. Six feet on the wrong side of the balustrade. “You look surprised.”
“Shining … you have wings!”
“Like them?” He fluttered the elaborate butterfly wings he most definitely had not had before she left. “I found the spell for them in a book in the library.” He grinned. “Apparently Twiley’s study habits are genetic. Want to take them for a spin?”
“I … I …” Cadence looked around. “I … just got back …” Her hoofmaidens would be along soon to unpack her bags, take her clothes away for cleaning and the dozens of other things they did for her as a princess. She was supposed to go to bed, to be fresh and ready for her interview with Celestia in the morning. She was supposed to –
Shining dipped, as if he wasn’t quite used to his wings, but worked hard to cover it. His dashing smile became fractionally more strained as her silence prolonged.
Screw what she was supposed to do.
Using her telekinesis, she unzipped the dress she was wearing and stepped out of it. After a moment of reflection she kicked off all four of her shoes and jumped up onto the balustrade. Shining’s smile infused with renewed delight.
“Think you can keep up, flyboy?” she asked coyly.
“Oh, I think so. I’ve been practising?” He turned an awkward circle to prove it.
Cadence flared her wings and leaped off the balcony. He caught her hoof and kept up with her as she soared upward, out of Canterlot, into a sky empty of anything except stars, the moon and two laughing ponies.
When Words Fail, Music Speaks
4. Not Of This Earth - Robbie Williams
4. Not Of This Earth -- Robbie Williams
Shining looked down at Cadence’s sleeping face and wondered how the hell he ever got so lucky. The cloud beneath them was soft and pliant, though thankfully they didn’t fall through it. He had to remember to thank Twiley for the spell later. Her letter, delivered via Dragon Express and Very Amused Sun Princess, had made him blush when he collected it, but its contents were worth it.
The sky lightened to dawn colours around them. His wings would last a few more hours, he reckoned, but right now he didn’t care whether they evaporated and he was stranded up here, as long as he was stranded with Cadence.
She shifted slighty and murmured something inaudible into his stomach. He was apparently a comfortable pillow, since she had fallen asleep easily after their flight. His aching shoulder were nothing compared with the sense of supreme contentment that kept him awake. He could watch her sleep for hours.
He frowned. Creepy thought. Stop having thoughts that make you sound like a stalker, idiot.
What the heck did a pony like Caadence see in a schmuck like him? His pedigree wasn’t exactly stellar and his career prospects, while good, weren’t exactly princess-worthy. She had seen him as a tongue-tied colt with a wobbly, still-breaking voice, for Celestia’s sake!
Cadence smiled in her sleep. “Shi … ning …” she murmured.
His heart swelled. Whatever she saw, he was glad she, at least, saw it.
When Words Fail, Music Speaks
5. Innocent – Our Lady Peace
5. Innocent – Our Lady Peace
Celestia watched Cadence greet ponies filing past. The younger alicorn was polite, refine and very clearly bored out of her skull.
Celestia could relate. She disliked these sorts of function and had long since worked out small games to play so she could alleviate her own boredom. Tonight, however, she was more taken with the way Cadence and the white guard on duty to their left kept sneaking looks at each other. They couldn’t have signposted their burgeoning romance more if they had written it on a big sign and walked around with bullhorns.
Cadence nodded at the ambassador from the Dazzle Islands, eyes flicking left again. When she met the gaze of the guard, whose identity Celestia knew very well, she looked down and a faint blush made her cheeks a shade darker.
Celestia stepped closer and leaned in a little. “Go on.”
“Excuse me?” Cadence looked at her in surprise.
“I can take care of this. I’ve had enough practise.” A few dozen centuries’ worth, but who was counting? “Go on. Have a dance with him.”
Cadnece’s eyes widened. “But he’s …” she trailed off.
Celestia raised en eyebrow. “Just a guard?” she chuckled. “Cadence, do you really think that matters?”
“But I’m a princess.”
“Of love.” Celestia smiled kindly. “You’re the princess of love. So go and dance with the pony who has been making googly eyes at you all evening.” Celestia signalled to the Captain of the Guard, a blustery old stallion whose retirement rolled steadily towards him with every passing day. “I’ll reassign him for the evening. As if right now, his duties include dancing, drinking punch and making Princess Cadence smile and fall a little more in love with him.”
Cadence flushed scarlet. “Thank you, Celestia.”
“Think nothing of it, my dear. The world always needs more love. Go on now. Enjoy yourself and stop worrying about what other ponies think.”
Cadence trotted away and Celestia smiled at the innocence of the young – which, when you were over a thousand years old, was pretty much everypony.
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When Words Fail, Music Speaks
7. If You’re Not the One - Daniel Bedingfield
If You’re Not the One -- Daniel Bedingfield
The gardens of Canterlot castle were beautiful at night. Cadence had always liked walking in them in the day, when bees and birdsong provided a nice background noise to help clear her head, but under the moonlight it took on an ethereal quality that suited her mood.
She was a little frightened, actually. The strength of her feelings was not something she had anticipated when she first spotted the brother fo the filly she used to foalsit in the hall all those months ago. It had been a passing notion to day hello, nothing more. Now she wanted to be with him all the time. He occupied her waking thoughts, even when she was supposed to be concentrating on something else. She couldn’t wait to see him whenever their free time intersected – which happened so often that she suspected Celestia’s hoof in proceedings.
“Hey, uh, Cadence?”
“Yes, Shining?” She leaned against him, stopping when he stopped. He was tense, she realised. Very, very tesne. “Shining? Is something wrong?”
He swallowed compulsively. “Uh, I ... I have something to ask you.”
“What?”
She watched in growing shock as he knelt. His horm glowed, fetching a small velveteen box from his saddlebag. He oepend it and the moonlight glimmered off a ring topped by with a perfect, heart-shaped diamond.
When Words Fail, Music Speaks
8. Move Along - The All-American Rejects
Move Along - The All-American Rejects
The battle was over. The day was saved. The Changelings had been defeated. It should have been a time for great rejoicing. Everypony should have been pverflowing with happiness.
Shining wouldn’t look at her. Not once.
Cadence bit her lip. “Sweetheart? What … what’s wrong?” she asked, frightened of the answer she might get.
They had been separated for weeks and she had returned to find him so firmly in the grip of Chrysalis that she worried the mind control had left lasting damage. What if driving away the Changeling queen had sucked out all the love Shining had for her? What if being around her now reminded him too much of his ordeal? What if -?
“I’m sorry,” Shining whispered.
Cadence blinked in surprise. “Sorry? Ponyfeather, what do you have to be sorry for? I’m the one who should be sorry.”
He hung his head, still not looking at her. “I didn’t … I didnb’t realise,” he said, so softly she could bearely hear him. “That she wasn’t you. You’re … I love you, Cadence, and I didn’t realise you’d been replaced with some magic-sucking bug.” He closed his eyes in shame. “I so, so sorry.”
Cadence looked at him. Her fiancé. The stallion she loved with all her heart. She moved to his side and nuzzled his neck. He reacted with astonishment, rearing back and away from her.
“Chrysalis was stalking us for months, love. She told me when she imprisoned me. She and her changelings had us followed everywhere. She was planning this for longer than anypony knew – she set out to learn everything about me in order to mimic me so nopony would know. Not even Celestia realised it was her, and she practically raised me.”
“Twiley realised,” said Shining.
“Yes, and for that I’m forever grateful.” Cadence stepped to him and nuzzled his neck again. This time he didn’t pull back. “If it hadn’t been for her, I would have lost you. I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost you, Shining. I … I’m sorry too.”
“What? Why?”
“For nearly giving up. When I was in the caves, I didn’t think I’d be able to get out and save you. I tried so hard to escape, but I couldn’t, so I …” She trailed off, unable to put into words the deep despair that had gripped her when she comprehended how thoroughly Chrysalis had imprisoned her. No way to communicate with the outside word, no way to use her magic to break free, no food, no water – by the time Twikight found her she had been half-crazed with dehydration, sleep deprivation and plain old exhaustion from running around in a panic.
Shining hooked his head over hers, pulling her into him. “But you didn’t give up. You loved me enough to keep going.”
“And you loved me enough to defeat the bug who fooled everypony when no-one else could.” Cadence closed her eyes, breathing in the familiar scent of him. He was wearing the cologne she had given him last birthday and the faint aroma of her own magic still clung to his fur like burnt ozone and spices. “I love you, Shining Armour.”
“And I love you too, Mi Amori Cadenza.”
“If you call me that again I may have to hurt you, though.”
He laughed and it was the most wonderful sound se had ever heard.
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When Words Fail, Music Speaks
1. The Hallway (Love Theme from The Prince of Tides) – David Hamilton
1. The Hallway (Love Theme from The Prince of Tides) – David Hamilton
He was a rock. He was stone. He wasn’t going to move a muscle. Not a flicker, not a twitch, not a –
“Shining Armour?”
He nearly fell over. “C-Cadence?” Of all the rotten luck! Given a premium role at the Grand Galloping Gala and he botched it because a ghost from his past found him in the hallway.
A very pretty ghost.
A quite stunning ghost, actually. He remembered braces, a ponytail and the gangly legs of a teenager balanced between filly and mare. The pony that stood smiling at him now was elegant and poised, her long mane swept up into some elaborate up-do that probably had a name, draped in jewellery and a ballgown that made him focus very, very hard on her face in case looking at the way it looked on her flank got him slapped.
“Wow, it’s been … well, years,” she laughed. “You’re a royal guard now? I remember you wanted to be one way back when we were kids.”
He had also spent the whole of her last year in Canterlot trying to figure out ways to tell her he liked her and possibly ask her out on a date. Tried being the important word in that sentence.
Her hoof flew to her mouth. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry! You’re on duty, aren’t you? And I’m totally distracting you. I’ll just go. It was, uh, nice seeing you again.”
He was a rock. He was stone. He wasn’t going to move a muscle. Not a flicker, not a twitch, nothing that would make his superior mad.
He touched her shoulder before she could leave. “Do you, uh, want to go get some doughnuts after the Ball?”
Cadence looked at him – really looked at him. Then she smiled. “I’d love to.”
Author's Note
I originally wrote these first eight vignettes back in 2013 and finally decided to post them and finally finish this project. I like to think I've improved as a writer since then but you may disagree.
When Words Fail, Music Speaks
2. Without You (cover) - Erika David
Without You (cover) - Erika David
“So … you’re going on another tour?”
Cadence nodded. “I have to. It’s … kind of expected.” She had never really minded going before. Touring the countries Equestria as a royal ambassador. She had learned all about hwo to be a proper princess from her experiences abroad. She hadn’t believed Celestia when she first told her that would happen but, as with everything else, it seemed, Celestia had been right.
Except that this time cadence really didn’t want to go.
Really, really didn’t want to go.
She shifted her hooves. Her shoes felt tight and restrictive. They were new and didn’t fit quite right. She dreaded the day she had to move over to the metal shoes Celestia wore. All princesses of the realm were expected to wear them. Some of the officials she interacted with wondered why she didn’t already wear them.
She wondered what they would say about Shining Armour.
Princesses don’t go out with guards, not even Royal Guards. Not even stallions tipped to be the next Captain of the Guard.
Princesses had royal suitors and were courted by nobility. The prince of Gryphona had asked her to dance at the last Griffin Gathering, their equivalent of the Grand Galloping Gala. He wasn’t horrendous, as griffins went. Actually he was quite nice; softly spoken and gentle in a way she hadn’t expected. Yet her hoof hadn’t tingled when he took it and her heart hadn’t soared when she walked with him in the gardens of Stalwart Castle. Not the way it had sitting in diguise, giggling, at a table in a doughnut café with a stallion who looked at her like she was the only mare in the room.
“I’ll write to you,” she said lamely. “Every day.”
Her handler poked his head through the door. “Princess Cadence? Your carriage is waiting, ma’am.”
“All right.” Sighing, she went to leave.
“Cadence?” Shining said suddenly.
She looked over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“I’ll be waiting for you.” He said it like it was some tremendous oath and they were both characters from the epic storybooks she used to read Twilight before bedtime.
Cadence smiled and left with a lighter heart.
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When Words Fail, Music Speaks
6. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera
Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera
Shining’s training had included magic drills, marching, martial arts, spear and sword training and comportment amongst nobility. None of it had included dancing.
His left front hoof shot out at an odd angle. He tried to compensate by flicking his tail jauntily. It didn’t work. His right hind hoof met another pony’s shin.
“Ouch!”
“Whoops! Sorry, sir.”
The stallion moved off, rubbing his injured leg. Shining turned the same shade as a ladybug and ducked his head. Cadence’s giggle brought it back up.
“Soon we’ll have the whole dance floor to ourselves,” she said.
“And the whole room will have my hoofmarks on them.” That would sure make a good impression when it came to selecting the next captain. Not that he cared much about that right now. Cadnece’s laughter did funny things to his insides and even dancing in public didn’t faze him as much as usual. Typically he resisted dancing in public the way an anaemic avoided cheese graters, but tonight was not made for hang-ups and inhibitions.
Cadence danced like she did everything – elegantly. She circled left and he took her lead, circling right. The light reflected off the jewels woven into her mane, playing across her face in dozens of tiny prismatic rainbows. She looked like something out of a dream.
And she was dancing with him, Mr Four Left Hooves.
Valiantly, he tried again, ignoring the way other ponies left the floor before he could get too close.
