A few days later

Cadence sighed, massaging the temples of her skull. What was on her to-do list again? She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. Not that it helped, whatever she had to do was gone.

"Oh well, I have to hope it wasn't important." She groaned to herself, shifting in her throne. It was most likely important, but it is what it is. It was time to focus on something else until she remembered. Perhaps this was a good time to help Discord and Sombra! Until now, it was all one-sided, but they helped her so much and so often.

She smiled, teleporting in some paper and a pen.

Dear Sombra and Discord,
I hope this letter finds you well. Please come to see me!
Cadence

In an instant, the letter was sealed and gone. She took a moment to relax, which seemed to get rarer by the second. The cool crystal felt fantastic against her warm hide. It made her sink even deeper against it. She looked up and into the ceiling. The sun, clouds, and trees cast different shades of light into the room. Colors danced through the crystals as if they were alive.

Cadence remembered when she first got here, she thought she would go blind with how bright it was. That never happened, and it was both surprising and unsurprising. With how much light pours in, you would expect eye problems. Then again, none of the crystal ponies had them, but she wasn't one of them, just their ruler. So she still wondered why she wasn't affected.

She wondered who had ruled before her. Cadence wished she knew their names and what they looked like. There wasn't a single picture that she could find, so many books that she went through. All of them she knew of, even ones that were in Celestia's secret library, there was no trace of her. let alone any information about her rule. Not even the crystal ponies seemed to know. Cadence had asked so many questions that numerous interviews were conducted, but no pony remembered her.

Cadence would have expected something. Sombra killed her so brutally that it felt like she did something. Now that he was reformed, Cadence began to see the stallion behind the monster. It was hard not to be suspicious, he was cold, calculating, and did things with purpose. He didn't feel like the sort of stallion to go after someone for kicks, not that it justified his actions. It felt like there was a reason. She wished she could ask, but Cadence knew that he would not speak about it, the elements tried everything, but nothing worked.

"Weeeer'reee heeeerrrreeee!" Discord sang, popping in with the stallion Cadence was talking about.

"Eeep!" Cadence squealed, jumping up. Her fur stood on end, and her wings flared, ready to fight or flight.

"Woopsie." Discord chuckled; a shaky smile crossing his muzzle. He fiddled with his claws before patting down all her fur. "There you go!"

"Oh, dear, I was lost in thought. Hello boys, thank you for coming so soon." She rambled, hoping to move things forward.

"Things will be different today. Today I wanted to thank you for helping me. Perhaps there is something I can do for you?" Cadence knew the love problem wouldn't be that easy. This was the first step to solving that problem, building trust.

Discord and Sombra looked at each other. Both of them shifted in their places. Was this a test?

"Twilight said we shouldn't take things," Sombra said, hoping he would pass. He did not want to do friendship lessons again. It was so awkward and made him feel like a foal and a fool.

"You are not taking it, it's a gift. From me to you." She smiled. "I want to do something for you for all your help."

"Give us a moment," Sombra said as Discord snapped them away.

Cadence tilted her head, she supposed this was random. She fiddled with her hooves and hummed her favorite love song. "Back in my heart, back in my heart. You'll make your way back into my heart. Even when we're lost, we'll find a way back."

With a puff of smoke, the two were back looking a bit paler. Their fur and fluff stood up. Discord rubbed his paw and claw together. Sombra shifted back and forth on his hooves.

Sombra coughed, "I am afraid we can not accept the offer, as per Twilight's lessons. Hopefully, you will report to her that we passed such a test.

Cadence tilted her head, "huh? No, I insist! You've been helping me, and you deserve it." She tried to wrap her head around it, what test? Why would she be testing them? Didn't Twilight say they were done with friendship lessons? At least, she thought they were done.

"We can't take it."

"I insist, and if Twilight were here, she would say it's okay to take my offer. I'm sure of that." Cadence said, trying to put it into terms they understood.

Sombras's eye twitched; she was right. Twilight did say it was rude not to accept the host's rules and offerings. "Fine, then you can tell her we failed. How does this make any sense at all, it's rude to take gifts. It's too rude to not take gifts." Purple began to form around his hooves and eyes as he roared.

"Sombra!" Discord squeaked; he did not want to have to do any more of those stupid lessons. It took time from his day to bother Fluttershy. He didn't care much for things that were the highlights of his day.

"It's true, but how are we supposed to win at this if there is no winning at this? Come on, you know this is a load of bull." Sombra yelled as a small cloud of purple started gathering at his feet.

"Hey!" Cadence yelled, her hooves slamming into the floor, a loud clang echoing off the wall."This is not a test! Didn't you graduate? Why would I be testing you? I wish to help you the same way you helped me."

The silence permeated the room as Sombra tried to calm himself down. He took a couple of deep breaths, but the purple clouds stayed. "Not as officially as Starlight. They still test us from time to time." Sombra responded. If only he could get a read on her, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't read her mind, why? He had no idea, this had never happened before, and it made his chest tight.

"I promise. This isn't a test, I do want to help you. There must be something that I can help with." Cadence's heart hurt; to be on your hooves so often wasn't good. Maybe she'd talk to Twilight because that wasn't how she wanted to live. They should be able to graduate just as Starlight did.

Discord fiddled with his claw and paw. He would have spoken his mind at this moment but feared saying anything. How many times did a creature jump down his throat at his surgeon or make a joke at his expense? It angered him, but what could he do, if he spoke out it would be friendship lessons again.

Sombra's eyes wafted purple smoke, and he ground his teeth together. He was sick of all these unsure areas, he was sick of being tested. He couldn't be sure what this was, so perhaps he should do the testing. "You know what, why don't you help us with Stasis? "I'm sure Mistmane told you about it."

"I have, but I don't know much about it, just know that they have meetings on Wednesdays." Cadence smiled, the first step to earning their trust. The first step to helping them. She was going to have a word with her sister-in-law.

"A group of creatures that were thought to be dead for a period of time."We all have precious items locked behind glass. We want them back as they are ours." Sombra explained.

"I can see what I can do! Perhaps I can be given a list of what you want and see if the empire has it. If it's in our museums then I can hoof it right over!" Cadence smiled, this was perfect, as she could handle it. "Unfortunately, that will take a while, so why don't you come to dinner tomorrow? I insist."

Sombra smiled, "sure." If he heard about this from Twilight, then he knew this would be a trick, and if he didn't, she was up to something else. He looked back at Discord, who was still shifting and looking like a trapped animal. Twilight wasn't the only one who could be put to the test.

Author's Note

grammer checked 11/27, https://quillbot.com/grammar-check