A Similar Shine

by Cyndaquil

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Comedy, Romance
Length: 7827

Princess Cadence tries to recapture something special from long ago. She's too slow for Twilight.

In the future, Cadence Arranges the birth of a child, biologically identical to Shining Armour. On his twentieth year she goes to meet him.

Published 2019-08-27 15:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-07-16 17:30:08 UTC

1 The Confession

He leaned against the railing, and looked upon the statue.

It was the statue of himself, which they erected because of his role in the defeat of Sombra.

For a long time Spike recieved a heroes welcome whenever he visited the Crystal Empire. Of course so much time had passed that it was now just a piece of history, overshadowed by other events, including Sombra’s second, third, and fourth defeat. Ponies even stopped caring around the fifth or six. On the seventh ponies were waving hello when Sombra arrived.

It was nice that Cadence kept the statue in such good condition.

He turned to a little filly, who was sucking a popsicle while also looking upon the statue. “That Spike the dragon is pretty cool isn’t he.”

“I guess, I was just watching the birds.”

Spike noticed she had a canary cutie mark, and clearly didn’t recognize him. This was still better then the last time he was here. That time a colt said, “Doesn’t Spike still live with his mom.”

A few guards spotted Spike in the courtyard and offered him a royal escort to the palace. He told them he knew the way and flew off.

Seeing this the little filly looked at the flying dragon, then at the statue, then at the flying dragon, then back to the guards. “Could he have been… some sort of criminal?”

Spike flew through the window of the palace.

The thrust of his large wings scattered a few papers, and photographs, expecting this, Cadence magically gathered them up in less then a moment.

“I’m here,” he announced. “What do I do?”

“Let’s start with tea.” Cadence began pouring a cup.

Spike was a little anxious. He was already visiting the Empire on other business, when Cadence asked him to stop by for a confession.

There is an odd custom among Immortals. If they have to keep secrets for any reason, then they assign those secrets a statute of limitations, and choose another to tell when the time comes. Celestia confessed about stealing Luna’s cake. Luna confessed about putting laxatives in her cake, and Discord confessed that despite decades of happy marriage Fluttershy snored and it really bothered him.

He probably wouldn’t hate the job so much if the secret’s weren’t so lame. The only secrets he did not know were those of Cadence and Twilight. They usually confessed to one another. That meant this was something he would have to choose whether Twilight had the right to know.

Let me begin with something that happened long before any of this. Now this anecdote might be unrelated, or it might give context of the events that transpired. It was long ago, somewhere in the middle of the precious time me and Shining Armour shared together. He had a few grey hairs, and I was doing something with my hairdo to try and look older.

One night we were sitting on the veranda watching the sunset together. I don’t know what brought this on, his shorter lifespan was not really on my mind at that time. I asked him, “Would you find me again in your next life?”

He had this glimmer in his eye, which he would get when reminiscing something from long ago. He said, “How about the life after that?”

Then he told me a story. When Twilight was little, so little that this was cute and not strange, she wanted to marry her brother.

Shining thought it was just a phase, and humoured her for some time. Of course Twilight always had a tendency to take things too far, and when he started seeing plans, and lists, and charts, and a receipt for the chapel she booked, Shining sat her down and explained that in this life they are brother and sister, and brothers and sisters do not marry.

What she said was this, “How about the next life?”

He kissed her forehead, and said, “Yes Twily, in my next life I’ll make you my bride.”

I don’t know why he told me that story, other then to respond to my comment with an awkward joke about how he was already taken.

In the centuries to come, I didn’t forget that story, it was just not something that I factored into my own plans. One time I mentioned it to Twilight, and she didn’t believe that this ever happened.

Temptation is a funny thing with us immortals. Some temptations never go away, and it’s not that they get the better of you, it’s just that you get tired of resisting, and think maybe just this once.

Me and Shining Armour shared a love like none I have experienced since. Every love is unique of course. Still, I believed I knew a way to recapture this feeling, and inevitably I tried to do just that.

I arranged for a colt to be born in far away Canterlot, who was just like Shining Armour. Imagine an identical twin born years apart.

“Hold on,” Spike interrupted. “I feel like you’re skipping something important here. How could you arrange for a child to be born that was just like Shining Armour?”

“Oh, I used my Fertility Ship of course.”

“Your what!” Spike lifted an eyebrow.

“I have a ship, which operates on the principle of magically enhanced unicorn levitation. You see, fertility problems are rare in Equestria, it’s not practical to have In vitro fertilization clinics in remote places. When ponies, yaks, griffins, or hippogriffs are having trouble conceiving, and they usually want discretion in such matters, I just fly over in my ship, pull them up in a tractor beam, and inside is a cutting edge mobile fertilization facility.”

“So roughly how many of the UFO sitings in the past centuries were actually you in your ship.”

Cadence ignored this, and went on with her story. The answer, of course, was all of them.

His parents named him Shiny Horseshoes. A slightly common name, but it would have been odd to call him anything other then Shiny.

I didn’t feel it was appropriate to groom the child. If this was Shining Armour returned to me then fate would do its part, even if I had to give fate a little nudge. All I asked was that the parents send me yearly progress reports, and also mention that a great secret would be revealed to him on his twentieth year, twenty seemed like an appropriate year.

On his twentieth birthday, I at last went to meet him.

In the early morning I ordered the wind to gather rose petals and make a path, leading him towards a lovely spot I picked in the woods around his home. Though it was out of season, I made flowers bloom all throughout the area, and as he looked around in wonder, I appeared before Shiny in a shower of golden light.

“Laying it on a bit thick, weren’t you?”

“First impressions can be very important.”

I told him that I was the princess of love, and I came because our hearts were drawn to one another.

He confessed that he had wished for this, he’d wished it for a long time.

I said so have I.

Then he said…he said…”With your help I know I can make Twilly love me.”

“Twilly, you mean Twilight?”

He was talking about a filly he met at a book fair, a cute unicorn, wearing a star necklace. When he asked her name, she said “Just call me Twily.”

“Oh so it wasn’t Twilight.” By that time Twilight was an Alicorn with a body type more like Cadence’s, if not Celestia’s.

“No, it was Twilight.”

2 The Magic Necklace

Shiny led me into his home, and went to get a scrapbook, where he kept all his information on Twilly. He believed I was there to help with his romantic troubles, and I played along, seriously wanting to understand what was going on.

There were certificates on his walls, showing that he passed a royal guard exam, and games of strategy in the corner, showing he had similar interests to my Shining Armour. He also had a collection of Mystery novels, which was new, and photographs showed that apparently he spent a summer helping with the relief efforts for the hurricane in Klugetown.

Shiny began explaining to me about his search for Twilly.

First he tried to guess her full name. He assumed it was a combination of the first and last name, therefore he visited neighbouring towns to find girls with names like Twinkly Lights, Twisty Liquorish, Tweets Merrily, and Two Blossom Lily.

With no luck there, he considered other search options. He would see her once a year at the Canterlot book fair, so he tried going to other towns book fairs. This led him to the Caterlot Library events newsletter. She showed up at several events on the newsletter, and missed a few advertised by other sources. This was the best breakthrough in his first three years of searching.

He was very ‘enthusiastic.’ I asked him to step back and start from the beginning.

The first time he remembered meeting Twilly, he was seven years old. He saw an adorable unicorn, probably a year younger then himself, trying to load books into a little red wagon. She had so many, and stacked them so awkwardly that a few fell behind her, and he went to pick them up.

When he approached her, he was trying to think of what to say when she said, “It’s you, I hoped you’d be here again.”

“Excuse me,” he said, “I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“I saw you last year,” she said, “we just never got the chance to talk.”

I asked Shiny if he did meet her the year before. He said all he remembered about the last book fair was waiting in line to see Princess Twilight. The place was overcrowded because parents all wanted a picture of their kid with the princess. He saw the princess interact with other foals, she seemed good at breaking the ice with the nervous ones, and always asked every other colt or filly what books they liked. When it was Shiny’s turn they just stared at one another, until the photographer snapped a picture, and they sent in the next ankle biter.

I was surprised Shiny could even remember all that, he was only six at the time.

The year after that, he met Twilly and they spent a fun day together. They had ice cream and just talked about what books they liked.

He asked her what her name was, and she uttered the infamous line, “Just call me Twilly.” He asked where she lived, and the answer was “I move around.” He described her as frustrating, but in a coy and playful way.

After that they became pen pals. They’d only meet once a year, until he found the Canterlot Library newsletter, and was old enough to travel, then he’d see her four or five times a year.

Spike thought about this. “Hold on, you said they were pen pals. That means he had a mailing address.”

“No, she just told him to wait until the weathervane pointed west, think about friendship and throw his letters into the sky.”

Spike nodded as though that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

“Hold on, didn’t that make him suspect that she was Twilight?”

I asked him, “Doesn’t that make you suspect…”

“Twilight Sparkle,” he finished my sentence.

Shiny laughed and said that for a while he figured that must be it. Once at a book fair, he told her he’d figured it out. He announced, probably a little too loudly, “You’re Twilight’s secret daughter!

Twilly was quick to deny it, though the idea made her blush.

Shiny had long since concluded that she was just a Twilight fangirl, who learned an impressive spell for her age. Besides, the only source that ever backed up the secret daughter theory was the Canterlot Enquirer.

After my talk with Shiny, and no, by this point I had not yet told him the secret about his birth, I made my way to Twilight’s castle.

Princess Twilight was known for being friendly, obviously, if you knocked on her castle door she’d usually answer it herself.

This time a guard answered. He told me to state my business.

Shiny was once a Royal Guard, and usually I understand why they try to project an air of stern authority. I admit I was in a bit of a mood, and ended up being short with him. I actually lifted my nose and said, “Do you know who I am?”

Looking back, I feel bad about it. Twilight was in a bubble bath, she actually rushed for me and came out with a towel around her hair. Once she was there, I realized I didn’t even know what to say to her. She didn’t quite pick up on how I was feeling, and decided to start off with our usual greeting.

‘Sunshine, Sunshine;
Ladybugs awake;
Clap your hooves and do a little shake.’

Y’know it’s still harder to synchronize it properly now that Twilights taller than I am.

At the time I thought I would drop a few hints, rather then accuse Twilight of anything directly. I asked her if she remembered that old story, about how once a year Celestia would use a magic necklace to become an ordinary pony and walk unnoticed among her subjects.

“Did something like that happen?” Twilight asked. “The story sounds familiar.”

“I was wondering what you thought of the idea, using some magic item to blend in, pretend you’re not a princess. Perhaps you’ve even done something like that yourself?”

“Nope,” Twilight answered, “can’t say that I have.”

At the time, I was certain she was lying.

Twilight fixed up her wet hair a bit as we continued talking. She said, “It’s an interesting notion. I can picture Applejack complaining that such a spell would be dishonest, though I can definitely see the advantages.”

“I remember ponies made a bit of a fuss when I first became an Alicorn, but now that I’m queen and maybe also because I’m…”

“Three cakes away from looking just like a purple Celestia.”

I realized right away that I’d just made a very catty comment, and I would have apologized it the joke didn’t make Twilight laugh herself. She said: “If only it were that simple. Celestia knew how to pack it in all the right places.”

Spike groaned, sitting so that his head rested on his own knuckles. She really didn’t need to be repeating bad mom jokes in her story.

Twilight then asked what I wanted with a magic necklace. She asked if the pressure of being a princess was getting to me.

I told her that wasn’t why I asked, though by now she was a little infatuated with the idea. I think she was solving equations in her head, discerning how such a magical artifact could actually work.

She suggested making a pair of magic necklaces. Twilight started talking about all the fun places we could go together without drawing attention. Dancing came up. She wanted to go dancing, and maybe be short enough so another pony could lead. There was also a waterslide that she was embarrassingly too big for.

My next suggestion, was that she could transform to be a little bit younger. Twilight still didn’t drop the act. She turned up her nose at the idea, as though it was a gut reaction. All-though she did warm up to the notion, suggesting that the necklace’s could put us in a more innocent mental state when we transform.

“So you were dropping hints that you knew what Twilight was doing.”

“Yes.”

“Did you consider that maybe you jumped to the wrong conclusion. Maybe that’s not what she was doing.”

“No, I’m quite sure. Perhaps I didn’t mention this; Shiny showed me pictures of Twilly. It was the spitting image of young Twilight. There were pictures of her as a filly and pictures taken very recently, and in all of them, she wore the same necklace. The centrepiece of this necklace looked like Twilights cutie mark.”

Actually she’d seen a lot more then that. Along with his scrapbook, he had a little shoe box, under his bed, with pictures, sketches, love poems, and a fimfic he wrote when he was nine, about Twilly being Twilight’s secret love child.

The sketches were actually really good, and the poems could make a mare cry. He was rightly embarrassed by the fimfic.

Twilight was continuing to list places they could go together, with the magic necklaces, when I mentioned book fairs, this launched her into a full blown rant. Twilight told me about how she herself started a yearly book fair in Canterlot, and she couldn’t even attend them herself. The last time she went to a book fair, she got stuck sitting in a tent with a two mile line of colts and filys from five towns over, wanting to have their pictures taken with her like she was the Hearths Warming Mare.

“So Twilight never even picked up on any of your hints.”

“She did.”

I finally told her that I’ve seen pictures of a mare that looked just like she did when she was a filly.

Have you noticed that Twilight’s hair almost seems to have a life of its own. I am not speaking about how there sometimes seems to be a galaxy floating inside it, just like Celestia’s, I mean how you can turn your head for one second, and it’ll be frizzed up if she’s nervous or anxious about something.

“So you’ve seen that girl, huh?”

Twilight nibbled on her left hoof, another nervous habit.

“She always seems to show up at book fairs with a certain white Stallion. What do you know of this Stallion?”

Twilight seemed glad the focus was off the girl. She told me that she never met the Stallion. I almost believed her, until Twilight started dropping hints of her own.

She said, “I heard his mother was in the Canterlot Enquirer once.”

”The Canterlot Enquirer?” Spike questioned.

“There was this grainy photo of her being beamed into a ship. The headline read ‘Abduction From Space.’

“Oh, so what happened next?”

At that point I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream at Twilight. I just wasn’t sure what to say. If I accused her of lying, she’d just throw it in my face that I never told her about Shiny.

I played god and tried to re-create her dead brother, and I didn’t tell her a thing.

Maybe she didn’t know about my part. Maybe she just passed him on the street one day and started believing in reincarnation. I couldn’t blame her for trying to reconnect. All I did was wait for him to grow up, look in a few times without opening the door, like he was a cake in the oven.

At that point I left her castle in a huff. Twilight, actually seemed confused as I went.

When I got to the streets outside, the nearest lamp post had a poster for the next book fair. It was only in a day or two.

I ripped the poster from the lamp post and flew away with it.

“Would you excuse me a moment.”

“Aw come on, it was just getting good.”

“I need a moment.” Cadence wiped a tear from her eye.

There was parchment and quill in Spikes travel bag. When she left the room, Spike wrote a quick note, then sent it off with his fire breath.

Dear Princess Twilight,

Your secret is still technically safe.

Cadence has a few misconceptions about what really happened back then.
I’ll write more soon.

3 Meet Twilly

After Cadence left, something descended through the window.

She moved quietly, not wanting to alarm any pony. Spikes head was turned, so he didn’t see or hear her coming.

When she said, “Hi Spike,” in her unavoidably high pitched voice, it alarmed the dragon quite a bit.

Spike sneezed a little fire. Lucky the tea table was made of dragon glass. Spike didn’t know how he felt about the way ponies prepare for him.

He turned to face the obnoxious squeal of a voice. “Hi, how are you doing Flurry Heart.”

“Very well Cousin, I’ll be on the train with you tonight. I’m going to Canterlot, tonight. Me and Auntie Twilight are going dancing together.”

“Uh huh.” Spike was not looking forward to spending a time on a train with her.

“Anyway, I overheard some of what mom was telling you.”

“Her confession, which only I’m supposed to hear.”

“Yes, that confession, I just heard some of it though. I thought the story might have a little more perspective if I filled in a few details.”

“That’s alright, I was there.”

Of course, Flurry heart decided to talk anyway. The original reason she was named Flurry is long forgotten. Now every pony assumes it’s because of the Flurry of words that will inevitably ramble out of her mouth.

So, it was Shiny’s fourteenth year. I don’t remember what the actual year was, but he was fourteen. I should probably start a little sooner, but this time makes a good framing device to tell the story, and the details will be filled in somewhere in the character dialogue. We we’re taking a break from the book fair and playing hoof ball together. You can’t hoof ball with just two ponies, so it was more like passing the ball back and forth, y’know.

We hear these bells, and saw an ice cream pony. Shiny offered to get me ice cream, and you know I love ice cream, so he went off, and I was alone for a minute. The ball started rolling off on its own. I knew something was up, because it was rolling uphill. Still, I followed that ball uphill, and into some tree cover, and that’s where I saw Auntie Twilight.

I don’t think she meant to tower over me, that is something that can’t always be helped on account of how tall she is.

“Care to explain young one.”

I hate when she calls me ‘young one.’ I even got my mom to stop doing that. So what if she was already an adult when I was just a baby, relative to how long we’ve both lived, we’re practically the same age.

I asked how she knew it was me, and she said she’d been watching Shiny. She saw him before, and wanted to know what the story was, cause he even has Dad’s cutie mark y’know. She was worried the Changellings had turned bad again, like that’d ever happen.

I was a bit nervous. I’d been afraid she’d catch me for a while, though I’d done this so many times that maybe that day I wasn’t afraid, so it caught me by surprise, y’know.

“Why do you look like a young version of me? And why does that colt look like my brother?”

So I told her the whole story. I had to make it quick cause Shiny would come back any moment with my ice cream.

One night, when Shiny would have been a toddler, my mom fell asleep in her study. It was a cold night, so I went to put a blanket over her. That’s when I saw the report. It was one of those yearly reports, the ones Shiny’s parents sent my mom to document his ‘progress.’

That’s how I figured out that mom created a duplicate of Dad.

Apparently mom didn’t want to meet him until he was grown up, maybe cause she knew it would be weird, grooming a colt to grow up and be your husband.

I was mad at first, but I kinda got how she was feeling, I’d have probably been open to the idea if she’d let me in on it. I still miss Dad too, y’know.

Anyway, I just got impatient, I wanted to spend time with him, y’know. At the time he was still just a colt, and I thought it’d be too weird for him if I just showed up and said, you’re a duplicate of my dad.

I have this magic necklace that Auntie Celestia gave me. It can only make me look like real ponies who existed at some time. If I turned into a younger version of myself, then I’d still be an Alicorn and trying to hang out with my Dad would still be, y’know, complicated.

I’ve read a bunch of stories where, family members who’ve never met felt an instant connection with one another, and I was wondering if that would actually work. Also, I saw some pictures of Dad and Auntie Twilight together when they where little, and they were just cute together, y’know. It kinda makes me jealous, that I never had a brother.

Anyway, I told all this to Twilight, I told it to her really quick, cause Shiny was just off getting ice cream. Auntie had questions, she really wanted to know how I transformed, y’know. I promised I would explain later, but begged her to keep my secret. I made my best baby doll expression, and told her I just wanted to spend time with daddy.

“Oh, young one,” she called me that again, “Shining Armour, he could have had a twin brother when he was alive, or maybe Cadance could have made ten of these biological duplicates. You’d still only have one father.”

“Point taken but…” I nervously looked back. “He’s on his way, he’s looking for me, and he’ll see you. We’ll talk more later but can you please….” My hands were pressed together, as though I were praying to her.

“That part about feeling an instant connection, with family members, you have never met. Does that work in real life?”

“It totally did. Shiny’s so nice, and eager to spend time with me, he must think of me just like a sister. It’s neat y’know, cause Dad was always the adult, and I could never get to know him as just a buddy.”

“Alright, I’ll trust you, and keep your secret, Pinkie swear. Just remember, secrets mustn’t go on too long.”

She kissed me on the forehead and flew off. I breathed a sigh of relief as Shiny appeared with my choco cherry.

So that’s what happened.

“I knew all that.”

“What do you mean you knew all that? Auntie Twi promised she would never ever tell. She even Pinkie sweared.”

“I was there. How do you not remember I was there, you even remember what ice cream he bought you! I pinkie sweared just like Twilight.”

“Hold on, I think I hear my mom coming back.”

“One more thing, you said you only overheard part of the confession?”

“Yes. Do you think I was eavesdropping?”

“Probably. Did you overhear the part about...” Spike came in closer and whispered something in her ear.

Flurry turned beat red. Without answering the question, she jumped out the window and flew off.

“Troublemaking Dingbat,” Spike grumbled.

In a moment, Cadence was back.

Now where was I? Oh yes, if what came before didn’t seem needing of a confession, and I’m sure it did, then what comes next is worth my shame.

Confronting Twilight was embarrassing and unproductive. However, I thought I might get the upper hand if instead I confronted Twilly.

Conspiracy Unravelled

“Eventually the time of the book fair came around. Shiny was eager to see Twilly again, and he still believed that I was helping him get together with her.”

Whatever was to come was only the story from Cadance’s perspective. Spike took mental stock of what ponies know, versus what they believe in this convoluted series of events.

Shiny Horseshoes:
Shiny likes a cute bookish filly named Twilly. He thinks: Cadance is helping him with his romance. Shiny desperately needs to know that he’s a biological duplicate of Shining Armour, which Cadance created to be her future husband, who instead became infatuated with his (sorta) biological daughter, who disguises herself as a younger version of his (sorta) biological sister.

Princess Cadance:
Cadance is frustrated because the biological duplicate of her husband is in love with a filly named Twilly. She thinks that Twilly is Twilight Sparkle. She desperately needs to know that Twilly is her own daughter, Flurry Heart, who disguises herself with a magic necklace.

Twilly
Twilly is an alias used by Flurry Heart so that she can spend time with the biological duplicate of her father. She thinks that her and the biological duplicate are just good friends. She desperately needs to [st]know[/st] never find out that her dad’s biological duplicate is in love with her.

Flurry Heart
Flurry is a total dingbat, according to Spike.

The night before the book fair, I met with Shiny, and asked him if he was expecting to see Twilly again. He just said: “Gee, I hope so,” and “she hasn’t missed a fair yet.” It seemed they didn’t even make any set plans.

By some coincidence, Flurry Heart came to Canterlot on the morning of the book fair. I met her at the train station.

I was a bit curt with her that day. She wanted to talk, and I was in a hurry to get to the fair before the event started.

I remember how excited she was to see me, when she got off the train. Kids her age don’t generally get excited about seeing their parents. She rushed up to me, and even presented her muzzle, and closed her eyes, like a filly. I nuzzled her a little bit, though she could tell my heart wasn’t in it.

She asked, “So, how did it go?”

I was a bit confused by the question. She corrected herself, by asking, “How has your trip been?”

Since then, I’ve always wondered if Flurry knew more then I told her about the situation. I hope she’s not disappointed. She’s such a dear child.

Spike sighed.

“You know, I always thought the two of you would make a cute couple.”

Spikes attention shot up, when Cadance said that. He looked around, hoping the dingbat wasn’t still listening in secret somewhere.

I took Flurry to our hotel, then made an excuse and headed off. When I got to the fair, Shiny was wandering the aisles. Apparently, he had not met up with Twilly yet. I considered going to search for Twilight Sparkle instead, when I spotted a little lavender Unicorn just entering the gates.

The unicorn ran up to Shiny. It’s funny, for a moment she kind of reminded me of the way Flurry was when she met with me, back at the train station.

I kept my distance, just watching. They were so happy to see one another. Twilly seemed to be the more energetic one at first. She talked fast, and whatever she was saying made Shiny blush beet red. Shiny did get a few words in, and over time Twilly’s happiness diminished. She seemed mad at him, at first in a playful way, then more seriously. Soon it was the opposite, Shiny was trying to tell her something, and whatever he said made her turn red, and pull back. He grabbed her, and puckered his lips. She pushed him down, and stormed off.

Shiny chased after her.

I flew a little ahead. When she turned a corner, Twilly seemed to be trying to take her necklace off in mid jog. She stopped when Shiny also turned the corner. This confirmed some of my suspicions. At that point Twily broke into a run.

Next I flew over to Shiny, who until then didn’t know I was there.

“What happened I asked.”

“I don’t know what went wrong. She was asking about my twentieth birthday. She asked if I met some special pony. It sounded like she already knew, so I let it slip that I met you, Princess Cadance.”

“Was it then that she became angry.”

“No, at that point she was just really excited. She asked what we talked about, and that’s when I must have said something wrong.”

I flew upward again, looking for Twilly. Twilly was gone, however I did see Twilight. A line of colts and fillies was forming around her, as she tried to browse.

Down toward her I flew. “How dare you!” I yelled, not caring that we were in public.

Twilight leaped in the air, like a cat with her tail stepped on. She turned around and saw me flying above her.

“I know what you’re doing here.”

“Okay, I confess.” Twilight pulled a leather bound tome of ancient magic from her saddle bag. At the time I thought Twilight was going to confess, and reveal the arcane method by which she appeared as a younger version of herself.

“I just paid the sticker price of 3 bits for this book. I never even told the sales pony that I’ve seen it go for 40 bits online.”

Twilight was playing dumb, or trying to make a fool out of me.

I tried to call her out on her lies, when an old sales pony poked her nose from behind another stack of books.

She laughed hardily, then told a long rambling story. “Old books scatter all over the world. If a book is out of publication, it may seem rare in one place, while there are dozens of copies just sitting unloved somewhere else. Some of these online sellers believe they have collectibles, others are just after a quick bit. Honestly, my whole career is books and I wouldn’t charge more than three bits over the digital copy, even though I hate digital, because…

At that point, Shiny caught up with us.

“Did you find her?” He asked.

The book seller seemed a bit miffed at the interruption.

I was in such a bad place back then. I turned my nose to Twilight in a snooty way. “Perhaps Princess Twilight knows where she is. Tell us Twilight, did you see that girl named Twilly?”

Twilight stuttered.

“Please Princess Twilight, I really care about her, in fact I love her.”

That’s what he said, “I love her.”

Cadance dropped her head, and starred into her cup of tea. “I think that’s when I realized…”

Cadance had trouble speaking. She seemed ready to cry. “That’s when I realized it just wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes I comfort myself by thinking that it wasn’t him, he wasn’t really my Shining Armour. Maybe it was though, maybe it was him and he just …” sob, “he just didn’t choose to spend another lifetime with me.”

Spike put an arm on her shoulder. Damn these misunderstandings, the dragon thought. Twilight should have been able to do this hundreds of years ago.

It was about then that things became really weird.

There was a commotion elsewhere in the book fair. All the ponies started ignoring this soap opera between princesses, and went to see what else was going on.

A bunch of fillies where taking turns passing around the magic necklace.

When I arrived there, one filly was saying: “Hey it’s my turn,” to another filly who just looked like Twilight. She took off the necklace, and revealed herself to be a green mare with curly hair and glasses.

A colt took the necklace, and put it on his dog. The hound seemed confused, and chased after its tail, until its master whistled, here girl. It ran up to the colt and started licking him in the face.

Shiny seemed really offended by this. He took the necklace by force. The dog nipped at his paw, and another colt cried, “Hey, my turn was next.”

Twilight intervened. She got the kids to stop fighting, and demanded to know where they got the necklace.

“We just found it in the grass princess.”

“I was going to bring it to the lost and found,” one filly lied.

At this point poor Shiny was just staring at the thing, lost in his thoughts. Part of me still wanted to reach out. Like I said, I realized it just wasn’t meant to be in this life. That’s when I turned to Twilight, and said:

“Please take care of him.”

Then I flew off.

That evening, Spike and Flurry Heart were on the return train to Canterlot.

The had a booth, but rather then sit across from one another, Flurry sat next to Spike, trying to snuggle.

“Hey,” Spike asked, “did you listen to the last half a Cadance’s story.”

“Um… I might have overheard a little bit.”

“Okay, so maybe you can shed some light on what really happened that day.”

Spike knew he was going to regret asking.

Oh, well, it’s actually kinda obvious, what happened.

You see, I’d known for years that mom planned put the moves on Shiny on his twentieth birthday, and I really wanted them to get together. I guess I actually believed it would be just like having dad back, y’know.

That morning, I met mom at the train station, and I tried to get her to spill the details, without letting on that I knew about Shiny. She barely had anything to say. Princess mom’s mood didn’t seem right. Even her hug was a little off. You can really read a person from their hug, y’know.

Flurry wrapped her hooves around Spike, oblivious to how he recoiled away.

Later, I got to the book fair, I met up with Shiny.

Acting all cool like, I gave him a little nudge, and asked: “So how was your twentieth birthday.”

I figured my subtle hint wasn’t clear enough, so I asked a few more questions. I asked, “did you meet any special pony. Was it love at first sight? Which of us is more cute, her or me? Are you engaged yet? Y’know, I always wanted a little brother.”

Shiny just looked at me, all confused like, and said ‘no.’

At that point I must have looked a really dejected, because he changed his story, and said, “I met a princess.”

“Oh wow, you met a princess.” With a coy smile, I asked, “Which princess was it.”

“It was the princess of love. It was Cadance.”

At this point, I was jumping with joy.

He told me about how the wind blew rose petals into a path and he followed the path, and it led to a flower garden that wasn’t there before, and the princess appeared in a magical golden light.

I asked him, “So what did the two of you talk about?”

“Well, what does anyone talk about with the princess of love.”

“Go on.”

“I told her all about the girl I like.”

Spike slapped his head. “So that’s when you got mad at him.”

I called him a doofus.

He was so clueless. My mom is like the pony love goddess, when she puts out signals you have to be a doofus not to get it.

Y’know this is actually something that had been building up for a while. My dad was a smart guy, and Shiny was always a bit of a dope. I know it’s not his fault, it just made me so mad.

I don’t think Shiny even understood why I was mad. He says, “Wait, Twilly,” he always called me Twilly, “It’s you I love.” Then he grabs me, and tries to kiss me.

Anyway, I know I have a daddy complex, but I did not want that. So I pushed him down and left. I figured I’d smooth it out in a letter later, right then, I did not want to even look at him.

Anyway, I turn a corner, and try to slip my magic necklace off so I can lose him. He follows me so I turn another corner and I try again, two corners later.

When I finally get the necklace off, and return to normal, I’m really relieved. I’m so relieved that I just stick the necklace in my saddle bag, and totally fail to realize that it fell right out again.

So, I dropped my necklace, and mom always told me never to lose magical things, so when I realize it’s gone I go back to look for it.

Anyway there’s this big crowd gathering. It’s so big even an alicorn can get lost in it. When I finally manage to push my way far enough to see what all the ponies are looking at, I see Twilly, no me, licking a guys face, while aunt Twilight is watching.

It’s so loud, that I can’t hear what any pony is saying. I know that some dummy put the magic necklace on a dog, and now aunty Twilight is super embarrassed. She didn’t deserve that y’know.

Anyway, my mom whispers something to Twilight, then flies off. She never even knew I was there.

Maybe it’s for the best. I knew Shiny, and he was no replacement for daddy. Of course, who is?

After mom was gone, Twilight approached Shiny Horseshoes. He’s all quiet, like he’s about to cry or something, then he suddenly starts yelling:

“I knew it. It all fits. She was a space pony.”

Aunt Twilight tried to set him straight, Shiny just wouldn’t hear any of it.

“It all fits,” he yelled, “there’s the photo of my mom being taken by a UFO, the promise of a secret that would be revealed to me on my twentieth year, Twilly, just Twilly. She was a space pony. Space ponies are among us, and the princesses are trying to cover it up.”

“We are not!” Twilight insisted.

“As princess Twilight Sparkle is my witness, I will find my love, the space pony, or spend the rest of my life trying.”

Crazy, don’t you think? He even kept my necklace. When auntie Twilight tried to get it back, he said she was covering up evidence, y’know.

“Huh. So what ever happened to Shiny Horseshoes.” Spike asked.

“He spent years of his life chasing conspiracies.”

“Too bad, the poor kid probably alienated everyone who ever loved him and died alone.”

“No, actually, he became rich and famous doing that. He was on reality TV for awhile, and wrote a book. He didn’t just look for aliens though. Shiny actually found some ancient temples, and saved Equestria from some previously unknown race of cryptids”

“Huh,” Spike said again. “I guess he never found his Twilly though.”

Flurry blushed. “Well, I tried writing to him. There was a little back and forth, because he didn’t believe me, at first he thought the ‘evil princesses’ were forcing me to write what they wanted me to write,” Flurry made air quotes when she said evil princesses. “After that, I guess he was more embarrassed then my mom was about the whole thing.”

Flurry took a moment the fumble through her saddle bag, looking for something.

“I invited him to the castle and we were finally going to come clean about everything that really happened. Unfortunately, before he could come, Shiny disappeared on one of his expeditions.”

At last Flurry seemed to find what she was searching for in her saddle bag.

“It was thirty years later, when I recieved this in the mail.”

Spike examined the picture carefully. There was a red sky with three moons, one full and two crescent. The rock was red with a copper like hue. Shiny Horseshoes stood in a triumphant pose, like a conquering hero. He held a great broadsword, and wore strange leather like armour. A great beast lay slain beneath him. On his side, a mare snuggled next to him. She had the likeness of Twilight Sparkle. She looked into the camera, with a come hither expression, uncharacteristic of the Twilight he new. Spike was shocked at first, then noticed the necklace she was wearing. It was the magic necklace, just as described to him. Surrounding them were mighty looking humanoids with green skin, and insectoid mandibles. they seemed to be there to cheer their warrior king. Could the mare who was wearing the magical necklace have originally been on of these fierce creatures?

“It’s probably fake,” said Flurry. “That doofus must have took his bits retired somewhere, then got vain in his old age, and wanted to be remembered on a high note.

“I don’t know, those moons look pretty real to me.”

“You’re so naive Spike.”

“Did you ever have an expert look at this photo?”

“Don’t have to, it’s obviously fake.”

EPILOUGE

Twilight Sparkle took a small jewellery box from her dresser drawer, and examined the contents.

Inside were two necklaces, both fairly nice on their own, even if they had not been magical. Twilight never even had Celestia’s original magic necklace to examine, yet over time she was able to produce items of similar ability.

She was so grateful that Cadance had given her the idea. Finally she could move freely about Equestria, escape being a princess for a time, or just dance and have the other pony lead.

Tonight Flurry Heart was going to join her, and they were going to enjoy the night together.

She draped her necklace around the nape of her neck. In a moment the transformation happened. Now she was just a cute Pegasus, with an orange coat and a purple mane. It was a different, richer purple then her own mane, though it manifested in a tangle of the most magnificent curls. She borrowed traits from some of the finest ponies she’d ever known, mixing and matching them to create a fetching, yet realistic form.

Twilight eyed the other necklace. This one would turn Flurry into a white unicorn with a rainbow mane.

She really wished she had never agreed to keep Flurry Hearts ridiculous secret. Her only consolation, was that the unpleasant business was so far behind them.

Cadance should have known that biological duplication isn’t the same as bringing your friends back. Twilight had learned that lesson when her first Pinkie duplicate grew up to be an accountant. With Cadance’s confession, this nonsense would likely be done and forgotten, and they’d never have to worry about misunderstandings nearly leading to incest again.

Cadance eyed the necklace that Twilight had given her as a friendship gift nearly a century ago. It was quite an amazing thing, it had allowed her to connect with the ponies of Equestria in ways she never could as the princess.

Perhaps, thought she, she would unwind by popping over to Canterlot, and going dancing. Cadance licked her lips. I hope that white unicorn with the rainbow mane is there again.