Author's Note
Plan on this being three parts, hopefully have it out in the next few days unless college throws me a curve ball.
Cadance
It had begun as a simple surprise visit. It had been nearly ten years after Twilight’s coronation, and the political chaos that could be expected from such an event had finally begun die down.
Princess Twilight, eager to catch up with her family, had planned this few day visit, this little vacation, to the Crystal Empire as a chance to relax and do that catching up.
And so, Spike, Royal Advisor of Equestria, found himself at a table drinking tea and munching on a variety of small gemstones. Across from him was Princess Cadance, who sipped at her own tea. Twilight had started with them, but Princess Flurry Heart had, without much effort, convinced her to come play with her; leaving Spike and Cadance to chat.
They had both changed over the ten years, in fact they all had rather drastically. Spike was much larger than he had been, his size seeming to increase daily after his molt. Unfortunately it didn’t come equally and at times his body felt oddly proportional, but he hoped that would even out eventually.
The three Alicorn’s on the other hand, had changed far more consistently. Twilight almost rivaled Princess Celestia in height, and while Cadance’s growth had always been the slowest of them, she was as tall as Luna had been ten years ago. Flurry had been the oddest, going years without change and then randomly growing entire feet overnight.
Spike had always felt… uncomfortable around his sister-in-law. His status as Shining and Twilight’s brother had always been odd, and that bled into his relationship with Cadance. She treated him like an overbearing aunt, which would have been fine were she not so… much.
Coughing as a somewhat awkward silence threatened to descend, Spike as slowly. “So, where’s Shining? I’d have figured he’d be here, or did something come up?”
Cadance’s good cheer fell off Canterlot Mountain. She sighed softly, wincing. “He’s here, and will probably join us tomorrow. This was… not the best days for a surprise visit.”
Spike frowned, “It isn’t? Why? Did something happen?”
“Not recently, no. This is an anniversary… for the death of somepony he had been close to.”
Spike’s eyes widened. “What! When did this happen?”
“Before you were hatched, Spike.” Cadance said awkwardly looking away.
“But I’ve never heard of this before! Why hasn’t Twilight told me? I would have suggested this be a few days later if-”
“Twilight doesn’t know either, Spike. Shining’s insisted on keeping it a secret from you two. You were too young before, and he’s never had the courage to after.” Cadance said.
“Well I’m not ‘too young’, now!” Spike growled, somewhat irritated now. “What happened?”
Cadance sighed. “So much for a simple get together. Alright, I’ll tell you. But first, how much do you know about how Shining’s career that put him on the path to become the Captain of the Royal Guard started.”
Spike frowned. “Not much. He never talks about it, with Twilight or me.”
Cadance sighed, “He doesn’t talk with much about anypony, not even me. But there’s a good reason he never talked about it with you two, but that’s a bit later.”
She leaned back, closing her eyes and thinking. “Where to start… It was Junior year of school when he finally halved his time there and started working as a rookie soldier. It was simple things: learning the ropes, practice exercises, stuff like that. He made a few friends, one in particular.”
Cadance opened her eyes, and seemed to be staring through time as she relived those days. “While he had a crush on me since we first met, he never thought I’d reciprocate his affection. So, he tried to look elsewhere to get his mind off me. Her name was Gilded Lily, a pretty pegasus mare one year his junior with a white coat and mane that looked like spun gold. She fell for him hard, as hard as I did...”
A much younger me walked through the street, cheerfully humming to myself without a care in the world.
Then, I heard a mare giggling, and I stopped humming.
“Shiny, stop!~” The giggling intensified. “We-we’re supposed to be on duty!”
“No,” a familiar voice said, “we are going to go be on patrol duty, Lily. We aren’t on duty until we leave the gates.”
Sure enough, they came around the corner, both in their simple iron recruit uniforms, Shining with a pair of sheathed blades and Gilded with a crossbow and quiver bag full of bolts.
They stopped when they noticed me, Gilded quickly dislodged herself from Shining and both tried to act like her ear wasn’t slightly damp.
“Princess Cadance!” The saluted, and then we all burst out laughing.
“You will never be able to do that,” I said, trying to ignore the soft pain in my chest at seeing Shining and Gilded, just as I new Gilded was trying to ignore the pangs of jealousy in hers.
We both loved him, and Gilded knew Shining loved us both as well, but loved me more. Shining was just too dense to see that and I was too nervous, too prideful to spell it out for him.
Despite that drama, the three of us had managed to make our friendship work. Well, we mostly made it work.
“And where are you two heading?” I asked, surprised to see them with real weapons and armored up fully outside the training grounds.
Shining and Gilded exchanges grins of excitement, with Gilded speaking quickly enough that I actually had to struggle to understand what she was saying, “We got picked by the Battlemaster himselfwho said since we areso awesome that he’sletting us patrol!”
Shining nodded, though somewhat more subdued than her. “Yeah, said we were prodigies in the making. Getting trusted with stuff like this, and doing well, looks real nice on our career records.”
I nodded, unsurprised but impressed nonetheless. I knew the two were naturals and the top of their classes, Gilded being the best pegasi of their generation and a skilled marksman and Shining slated for his power output and skills. It was the reason the two were able to work together despite their less professional relationship, the Battlemaster had enough trust in them that he knew they wouldn’t let it interfere.
And yet, I couldn’t help but worry. “Where is he sending you, though? Nowhere dangerous, I hope?”
Gilded snorted, “Of course not. Just the forest, the most dangerous thing we could run across is a pack of Timberwolves. This is meant to make us look good and little else.”
Shining nodded, “Though, don’t worry, we will take it seriously.”
“Naturally, though maybe not on the way there-” Gilded slammed her teeth together, hard, and nearly bit her tongue. “Never mind.”
She looked away in shame, and Shining turned to regard her in confusion. I sighed, trying to ignore the growing pain and pangs of envy in my chest, and quickly let them be on their way; trying to not finish that sentence with whatever innuendo Gilded had planned on before thinking better of it.
Spike winced. “That must have been hard… Where is Gilded now though? Did everything turn out-”
He froze, and stared at Cadance as a tear slowly ran down her cheek.
“Yes… This is the anniversary of her death, Spike,” Cadance muttered, her voice hollow. “That was the last time I ever saw her.”
“So, they found something on the patrol?” Spike slowly asked after a few moments.
“Yes… It isn’t known, even now, how one got so close to Canterlot and into a place that should have been a low-danger zone; but one of the forty-seven Atrocities found and attacked them,” Cadance said, her voice becoming raw, “It killed Gilded, and left Shining badly injured and on death’s door by the time somepony found them.”
“The forty-seven Atrocities? What are those?” Spike asked, trying to think if he’d ever heard the name before and was fairly certain he hadn’t.
Cadance looked at him with sorrowful eyes. “We are now at the main reason Shining wanted this kept a secret from you and Twilight. I will warn you, the details aren’t pretty and can’t be sugar coated.”
“I don’t mind,” Spike said, wondering what exactly was so bad that they kept it from him.
“To begin with, what you don’t know and what even Twilight has kept from you for your own sake was that roughly twenty years before Shining was born, Equestria was at war with the Dragons.”
Spike’s eyes widened, “What?!”
Cadance sighed, “It was a petty war, all things considered. A product of tempers boiling over. But it was a bloody one and one that went on for three years. Night Light’s brother fought in that war, and he spoke of it often to Shining. It was those tales that inspired him to be who is today.”
Cadance looked at Spike sadly, “And now what not even Twilight knows and what was rarely spoken of for good reason throughout Equestria. During that war, there were certain… instances.”
“Instances?” Spike muttered, a sick feeling growing in his stomach. He didn’t think he was going to like where this was going.
“Instances of a crime most vile,” Cadance said, looking disgusted. “Of dragons doing certain… things, during raids on villages or to prisoners. Things to mares.”
“Oh Celestia…” Spike looked ill. “And the other dragons… allowed this?”
Cadance shook her head. “No, of course not, but it happened anyway. And in forty-seven of those instances, children were the result.”
“So the forty-seven Atrocities are…”
“Those hybrid children, yes. Kirin, Longma, Dragon Ponies” Cadance grimaced. “As they grew, one way or another, they became monsters and criminals. Some were driven insane by their conflicting instincts, one of the greatest dangers of hybrid children, others became bitter at their lives and turned to crime. Either way, they were considered a menace and one of the greatest dangers in Equestria. Before…”
“Before?” Spike asked. They clearly weren’t around anymore if it had been so easy for him to never hear of them, but how had they been killed?
“Before Shining,” Cadance said, smiling sadly, “When he was well, he left the hospital with a hollow, possessed look; deader than even when he was mind controlled at our wedding. He dropped off the map for two years, two full years and nearly half of a third, before he returned.”
A bit of pride entered her smile. “He had two necklaces, both with forty-seven scales. Forty seven from the hybrids, and forty seven from the vile bastards whose cruelty sired them.”
Spike’s eyes widened. “He killed them all!? By himself!? How!”
“I don’t know. Only Princess Celestia and he do, and neither would ever tell me. It was hard on him, however, and when he returned, he was a broken stallion. Princess Celestia had him become a royal guard partly because of his strength, and partly so he could recover somewhere there wouldn’t be much incident.” Sadness entered Cadance’s features again. “It was hard. I was with him, helping him pick up the peace, but he was shattered. He admitted he loved me later and we started dating, which made distracting him from it easier, but it’s always been a shadow over his heart.”
Spike stared off into the distance, shocked. “Wow. I mean, I knew my big brother was badass, Mare’s Moon I had nightmares about him after I met him and saw what he could do, but to think-”
“Nightmares?” Cadance asked, staring at Spike, who waved a claw at her.
“Oh, I had these nightmares when I was younger about meeting him and him blasting me through a wall. Of course, I know that’s ridiculous-”
This time it was not Cadance that interrupted, but of her tea cup shattering. Spike turned to look at her, and was surprised to see her staring at him in horror with a hoof over her mouth.
“You… You remember that?” Cadance whispered softly. “But… it was the day you had hatched…”
Spike stared at her incredulously, “Wait, that wasn’t a nightmare? That actually happened?”
Cadance spoke slowly. “Yes, it did. Twilight, poor Twilight, wanted to surprise him when you hatched. I… we all made a mistake when we failed to realize what sort of surprise she intended...”
“Ready Spike?” Twilight giggled as she held the newly born baby dragon in front of her face.
“Gra!” Spike nodded happily, always seeming so in tune with Twilight.
“Great! I can’t wait for brother to meet you!”
I watched he conversation with a smile, and winced softly. I hoped this went well. It should have been fine, though, Shining had been home for nearly four years and had gotten a lot better. As long as Spike was careful-
My eyes widened slightly, just as the door knob began turning. “Wait, Twily sweetie, what are you getting Spike ready for-”
“So, I heard the craziest rumor that my sister managed to get herself accepted as Princess Celestia’s-” Shining said as he stepped through the door.
BeforeI , or Twilight’s parents who had also realized too late what their ignorant daughter’s plan was, could stop her; Twilight raced and shoved Spike in Shining’s face.
“GRA!!!” Spike said as intimidatingly as he could and breathed fire in Shining’s face, obscuring his vision and making it impossible for him to tell who or what was in front of him beyond a dragon.
Twilight opened her mouth to squeal with glee and introduce the newest member of their family, but she never got the chance.
Shining exploded with magical energy as a massive beam directly into Spike. The backlash of her telekinesis being overcharged detonated Twilight’s horn like a fragment bomb, and the shockwave it creates slammed Twilight into the ground with enough force to break half the bones in her body. The beam sent Spike flying through the walls of the house, and the next four houses behind them.
For a moment, no pony moved, all the still conscious ponies frozen with looks of horror. Finally, they all bolted, I for you Spike, while Night Light and Twilight Velvet ran for Twilight.
Cadance grimaced as she finished recounting the morbid tale. “You were both in the hospital for a full month. A team of unicorns had to maintain a healing field around you for that entire time, and it took Celestia herself three full days to piece Twilight’s skull and horn back together.”
Cadance looked to the door where Twilight and Flurry had gone. “Twilight remembers flashes of it, but never speaks of it. I had thought you didn’t.”
Spike opened his mouth, and closed it. What was he supposed to say to that?
Before he could say anything, he heard a door open and they both stared.
Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire had changed in his years. He was still handsome and looked far more youthful than he should of, to the jealousy and many stallions, but age’s effect on a mortal was showing. His hair had dulled with the blues all now possessing a grey tint, and a slight cataract looked to be building in his right eye.
“Shiny! I didn’t think you would be out today!” Cadance said in surprise.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Shining admitted, before looking at Spike. “But I heard you telling Spike stories, and realized this would be the best time for me to speak with him of things I should have long ago.”
Shining opened the door, “Please, little brother, come with me. I have something I need to tell you.”
Cadance seemed to understand Shining wanted to speak with Spike alone, and without a word got up, kissed her husband softly, and went to find Flurry and Twilight.
Spike hesitated, but followed Shining, wondering just how much he was about to find out about his brother today.
