Tired, violet eyes slowly opened and looked around at the disgustingly familiar surroundings. A space filled with nothing but darkness, rock, and crystal in every direction. Fizzling slightly, a small spark of light burst from a long horn, illuminating the dark cavern. Turning to look at a nearby crystal, a pink head and observed the pony staring back.
Pink fur was matted and scuffed, hiding various bruises. A tri-colored mane of fuchsia rose, royal purple, and brushed gold hung in a disheveled manner, carelessly framing a soft pink face. A matching tail curled limply around a malnourished body. Purple tipped wings stretched in an effort to push back a desire to fly, flinching as the broken feathers clung painfully to the wing.
Cadance groaned as needles of pain suddenly shot throughout her body. Jumping up, she shook her head violently in effort to remove the sliver of pain traveling to her horn. She pressed her head forcefully against the closest wall as the pain moved faster. A yell echoed throughout the enclosed cavern as the spark on her horn fluctuated, leaving the area in complete darkness before becoming blinding. With a final cry of anguish, the tendrils of pain gripped her mind as she felt herself growing weaker, her strength being sapped into the tendrils before sickly green wisps of smoke escaped from her horn. As the smoke dissolved into the stony ceiling above, Cadance collapsed on the hard floor, horn glowing faintly.
Her breathing was labored as she dragged herself to a wall farther off to her left, too tired to stand up. Once she reached the wall, she lifted a hoof and used the worn, golden shoe resting on it to carve a small line next to a pair of two others. Setting her hoof down, she looked up at the wall, eyeing the various groups of five scattered about.
Another day has gone by. What does this make? Let’s see… Five… Ten… Eighteen. I’ve been down here for eighteen days. How much longer will this take? Surely somepony has noticed that I’ve been replaced by now. Oh, I hope that demon doesn’t have everypony under her control…
~~~
“You see my little Princess, with you out of the picture, I’ll be able to use your beloved fiancé to fulfill my needs.”
Cadance glared at the changeling before her.
“What exactly do you need him for?”
The tall changeling smirked down at the fallen alicorn.
“I need him for food of course. If I can drain him of his love, I’ll be powerful enough to enact my grand scheme. And since you’ve been away for days in a foreign country trying to form a fruitless peace treaty, you’re too tired to stop me.”
She was right. Cadance had been flying nonstop for days in an effort to leave the foreign lands. She was granted a grace period. No one would disturb her on the condition that she leave immediately. The unruly country was vast, and it had taken her several days to cross and reach neutral territory, using her magic to keep her from growing tired until she could rest. A tactic that would have worked if the delayed protests of her body weren’t keeping her grounded for the time being, leaving her magic hard at work to keep her from collapsing in exhaustion.
She tried to move, but it was in vain.
“Do you really think it will be that easy? Somepony will recognize you and realize that you aren’t me! How long do you think you can keep up such an act?”
Green eyes shown with glee.
“Such a naïve little pony. I don’t need to keep the façade for a long time, just until your wedding day. Since they all know of your engagement, every pony you know will be too busy making preparations for it and be too busy to notice anything amiss. I might even throw in a twist to keep everyone on their hooves. Maybe a threat. We’ll see how they focused they are with that.”
“That’s months away! You expect to keep up this charade for months without failing? Who do you think you are!”
A fanged mouth curled into a malicious grin.
“Why, I’m the Queen of course. And to make sure all goes according to plan, you’ll be my own private little reserve, hidden away while I take your power to fuel my own. But don’t worry, I’ll be generous and keep you alive with my magic day by day until I find a better source to drain extra power from. I can’t promise to be gentle, my dear. That is something you will just have to live with.”
The Queen’s bluish-green hair hung limply as she menacingly stalked towards to powerless princess, torn wings fluttering in anticipation.
Cadance’s eyes widened as the Queen began to glow a sickly green, covering her large form. Mustering up whatever magical reserves she still had, she gathered it all into her horn and shot a blue beam at the her opponent. She watched, horrified, as the beam was absorbed into the green silhouette, doing absolutely no damage, and a maniacal laughter reached her ears. The sight that greeted her was not a pleasant one.
The green light had faded, and where the Changeling Queen had stood, was a perfect copy of herself. She watched as the imposter tossed her fake hair before turning to face her, giving her a giddy grin that had no place on her face.
“Did you really think that your magic had any effect on me? Your magic is fueled by love. You just gave me a dose of concentrated food. You seem to forget that changelings feed on that particular emotion. Now be a dear and stand still.”
Cadance backed away from her copy. It was wrong, all wrong. Her face was not supposed to look cruel. Her horn was not supposed to glow green. It was wrong. It was all wrong!
Her back hit something hard, but she was growing too tired to see what she crashed into. Her vision growing dark, she barely saw violet eyes flash green as they happily approached her before everything turned black.
~~~
Another carved line joined its brethren.
That makes twenty-five. How many more days will go by?
Cadence sighed as she stretched her sore body. Pacing around the space secure space, she tried her hardest to not scream in anger.
It didn’t work.
After a particularly loud yell of frustration, she dropped to the ground with a thud. Laying her head on a hoof, she proceeded to carve a crude drawing of a smiling unicorn with a little heart above its head on the dirt floor.
“Well aren’t you a handsome little thing. You’re no Shining Armor, but you’re pretty handsome yourself. I’m Cadance by the way. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
The doodle didn’t make a sound.
“You know it’s rude to not give someone your name after they introduce themselves. I’m talking to a dirt drawing. Cadance, you have officially lost your mind…”
She angrily dragged her hoof over the drawing, revealing the hard crystal underneath. Glaring at the reflective rock, she furiously shot a blue bolt of magic at it, forgetting momentarily that her magic was useless on her prison.
Her eyes widened as she saw the bolt bounce off the walls surrounding her, narrowly missing her on multiple occasions as she scrambled to her hooves. Quickly losing sight of the fast traveling magic, she turned to keep up with it, only for her chest to meet it in an unwelcoming fashion.
While relatively weak, the magic was still stronger than her drained body, as it had sent her crashing into the crystal wall behind her. Falling to the floor, she desperately tried to catch her breath as the pain began to subside and the smell of burnt fur reached her nose.
~~~
Cadance groaned before her eyes shot open. Jumping to her hooves, her eyes scanned her surroundings, only to be met with a sea of black. Sending power to her horn, a bright blue light illuminated the area, allowing her to see. There was nothing but reflecting crystal and rock in every direction. Pacing along the sides of the nearest wall, she saw that the area was shut off. She couldn’t find any entrances or exits anywhere.
“Where am I…” she whispered to herself. Stopping to inspect a particularly large crystal, she jumped back when her reflection moved of its own accord. Her ears pricked forward as her reflection began to talk.
“Well, it seems my little Princess has finally awoken. Was it restful? I hope it was, you’ll be needing the energy.”
Confusion was evident on Cadance’s face. The reflection took note as a grin formed on its face.
“My, my… You don’t remember? Allow me to jog your memory. Last time we met, I was going to steal your fiancé and feed on your power. It’s going quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Shining Armor is busy I’m afraid. I can’t really introduce you as my prisoner if you’re both so busy. Maybe one da-”
The smug voice was interrupted as a powerful bolt of blue magic struck its smooth surface. The beam bounced off and traveled the expanse of the room, rebounding off of every surface coming in contact with it.
Cadance’s fury was masked with concern as she watched it fly, mindful of its path. Dodging at every opportunity, she was blown back as the bolt struck her side, sending her careening into the hard rock. Her groans of pain filled the silence as the pain rapidly traveled from her burnt and stinging flesh, to the expanse of her body.
“Oh! I forgot to mention that your magic is useless here. I had this particular underground cave reinforced with a special protection spell that recognizes your energy signature. This little prison is alive in a way. Attack it, and it’ll attack you back. There’s no need to worry about dying here either. Don’t forget that I’ll check up on my little prisoner every day to make sure she hasn’t injured or killed herself in a crazy shenanigan while trying to escape. It won’t be pleasant, but I find it to be the best way to go about this.”
Cadance glared at her traitorous, grinning reflection. Her mouth opened to retaliate, but a pain-filled grunt escaped her throat instead.
“Now, I’d love to stay and chat, but my fiancé is going to be here in a few minutes, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go. I’ll see you tomorrow Princess.”
As the reflection swirled out of view, she watched it to be sure that it was gone before nursing her injury, all while trying to push back images of a changeling running amok through Canterlot, and the danger that she posed to her family, friends, the citizens, and her Shining Armor.
~~~
Ignoring the aching in her horn, Cadance scratched another tally to the wall.
Thirty-seven.
She sighed before making her way to a corner. Lying down, she stared at the marks on the wall before succumbing to her body’s need for rest, her horn losing its glow and giving way to the darkness.
~~~
Cadance screamed.
Pain had begun its slow crawl throughout her tired body.
There was something different about this pain. It was stronger, more intense…deliberate.
She tossed her head violently as the pain only intensified. It seemed that with every passing second, her body lost control of itself.
With as much intensity of the pain inside her, she threw her body against the stony wall in an attempt to drown out the inner fire. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks as her body collided with another wall, the side of her head harshly hitting impenetrable crystal. A lone, jagged edge sliced along her coat, staining the pink with a dark red.
Not once did she notice.
She began to thrash about furiously as the pain in her hooves turned white hot, metal shoes ringing loudly as they met rock and stone. Multiple times did she rear up and wildly flail her legs, as well as raising her hind legs to buck anything close enough to be caught in their range.
Her throat was raw with the sheer volume of her agonized yells, leaving her screams raspy and hoarse.
Eventually, her wild thrashing had come to a stop as the pain began to subside. Leaning against a wall for support, her eyes glossed over as she welcomed the soft ache of her horn, meaning the ordeal had reached its end.
Feeling the tendrils travel to her horn, her breathing hitched as the stopped at the base of her skull. It pulsed once…twice…three times… The fourth pulse gathered every bit of the previous experience, and set it free in a concentrated explosion within her mind.
Feeling the pain return and increase ten-fold, Cadance seemingly lost control of her body as she bashed her head repeatedly against hard minerals. With a final, torturous cry, she rammed her head once more against the wall, forcing her eyes to close and her body to fall limp.
Small wisps of green magic escaped her horn, softly illuminating the cavern and revealing the smeared blood where the rock cut her side and where her head met the wall before disappearing into the rock above with an echoed laughter.
Falling on her side with a resounding thud, she tried to breathe as her chest rose erratically. Sweat glistened on her matted pelt as it mixed with dried and fresh blood. Bruises adorned her body as trails of red streaked her face.
A soft, blue glow carved a line onto a nearby wall.
A hoarse whisper echoed in the cavern as violet eyes closed and her damaged body and mind fell into unconsciousness.
“Fourty-nine…”
~~~
A shaky hoof gingerly made another tally on the wall.
Mindful of her injuries, she carefully lied down and let sleep take her.
Fifty-four…
~~~
Staring at the multitude of lines before her, she placed a hoof on the wall, bowed her head and sighed.
Sixty-one days have passed… How much longer? Will I be trapped forever? I hope that monster hasn’t done anything to Shining Armor…
Why has no one noticed that I’ve disappeared?
Why…
Her hoof dropped to her side as she lowered her body to the floor. Curling up into a ball, she quietly sobbed into her mane, letting her sadness fill her prison.
~~~
Loud clopping of hooves resounded throughout the cave, betraying the owner’s own restlessness.
Sixty-eight days. Sixty-eight days! There is absolutely no way that she has fooled them this long! Not one soul has bothered to come looking for me! Not a single one! They have to be under some sort of spell. They just have to be! Someone would have noticed that the imposter isn’t me, but why haven’t they?
Her inner rant temporarily forgotten, she stopped to stare at her reflection, scowling at her unkempt appearance. Scars and scrapes were scattered about a matted and dirty pelt. Her hair was in even bigger disarray than before, and her golden shoes and necklace had become dull from lack of proper maintenance. Bags rested under bloodshot eyes.
Her body swiveled as the sound of shifting magic sounded behind her. A whirlpool of green had formed on one of the crystals. As it swirled, Cadance stood to attention, prepared for any onslaught aimed towards her.
She was not, however, expecting the small slip of paper that appeared out of the green magic. Maintaining her gaze, she waited until the swirling emerald had disappeared before cautiously moving closer towards the paper.
Once her horn illuminated it, she gasped as her legs gave out and fell to the floor with tears cascading from her eyes. Any lingering anger was forgotten as her mind was taken over with distress as it processed the various words and decorations on the card.
You are cordially invited to the union of
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor.
The ceremony will be held on the evening of April 21 in Canterlot castle.
The reception will promptly begin afterwards in the Royal Gardens.
~~~
Cadance paced impatiently as she tried to ignore the invitation sitting on the floor.
Three days have passed since the invitation arrived. That means I’ve been here for seventy-one days. That means it’s been over two months since I’ve been imprisoned in this forsaken hole.
Let’s see… judging by when I arrived on neutral territory…
April 21st is…
Cadance’s eyes widened at the realization.
April 21st is four days away!
She groaned as her hoof rose to meet her face.
~~~
I’ve been trapped here for seventy-five days, and my fiancé is going to marry an imposter. Today is not a happy day.
The pink alicorn sat with her back to a wall as images of her love marrying the Changeling Queen consumed her thoughts. This was supposed to be her perfect day, and it was ripped out of her hooves instead. She had been looking forward to it for months, and now it was gone, forever out of her reach.
She sat for what felt like hours.
It wasn’t until she was suddenly thrust forward onto the ground that she snapped out of her thoughts. Sitting up, she saw the wall she was sitting against had been blown to pieces, debris littering the ground around her and dust clouding her vision.
Her pupils dilated at the sudden source of light, illuminating her pitch-black cave. Looking into the cloud of dust, she could barely discern a dark purple, horned shadow leaping towards her with the horn glowing a bright magenta, reminiscent of a white unicorn that she dreamt about marrying.
