The wind whipped past at insane speeds, causing Cadance’s hair to blow backwards with such force she had to fight to keep her head from doing the same. Luckily her pegasus morphology allowed her to at least see and breathe in these conditions, albeit with watery eyes and cheeks flapping in the wind. Similar to before, the worm simply continued flying, the fast paced rocking of its body forcing her to hold on for dear life with only the tips of her hooves as it swam through the air. Any attempt to gain more traction was quickly lost due to the extreme speeds they were travelling at.

This continued for several moments, Cadance holding on by only a sliver, and the worm flying in whatever direction it chose.

“Stop!” She shouted out,

It appeared to be lost to the wind.

“Please!” She tried again.

The worm turned particularly hard, causing Cadance to jerk to the side, losing grip with one of her hooves. Anything more like that would certainly cause her to fly off, and while she wasn’t worried about staying in the air, it was keeping up with the worm that really worried her.

She sucked in a large breath, then shouted with as much might as she could muster.

“SLOW DOWN!”

The worm heeded the command in an instant, and reduced its speed by such a degree that it sent Cadance flying forwards. Thankfully it didn’t come to a complete stop, or else she wouldn’t have been able to hold on. Cadance practically flipped over on top of the worm and landed on her back with a whumph. She laid there for a moment, processing everything while looking up at the clear sky.

She shook her head, and stood up on the now much slower worm as it gently weaved from side to side. It wasn’t enough to knock her off balance, but enough to make her plant all four hooves on it to keep steady. Then for the first time since they started flying, which Cadance had no idea how long it had been, though it could really have only been a couple minutes at least, she looked around at where they were.

“Oh… Wow…” She trailed off, looking down towards the ground.

From her high vantage point, she could see they were no longer anywhere near the Crystal Empire. This was made evident by the vastly different environment that laid below them. In only the supposed few minutes they had flown, the worm had managed to make it far enough to leave the arctic circle entirely, as a large expanse of taiga stretched out underneath. The countless evergreens that made up the forest below akin to the size of grass from their view.

Cadance looked back, and was just able to see the peaks of the mountains that surrounded the empire, though the empire itself was no longer visible. If it only took a few minutes to get this far, then it should only take a few minutes to get back.

Although…

Cadance bit her lip, and looked forwards, where an almost endless expanse of blue sky laid before the two of them, only the occasional rogue cloud dotted the sky, and by now the sun was just beginning to descend from its apex. If it only took a few minutes to travel here, then it would only take a few minutes to travel anywhere, within reason of course.

Today had been exceptionally slow as well, enough for Cadance to even be out here in the first place, and while she was looking forward to training with her husband, there were other things she wanted to do as well. Specifically right now. Besides, she deserved some time off, especially after all that had happened, even if things had calmed down recently.

With that, she tapped the worm twice.

“Okay, let’s go somewhere,” She said, gazing out across the horizon, where in the distance she could see something she recognized.

Sitting far above the ground, was the distant silhouette of Cloudsdale. Cadance didn’t visit the city often, once a year at most, but she knew where it was, and while the city moved from time to time, it generally kept its position the same, close to Canterlot.

“You see that cloud over there?” Cadance asked,

The worm chirped in response.

“Go to it,” Cadance commanded as she reaffirmed her grip on the worm. “Slowly!” She added on at the last second.

With a click, the worm started to accelerate, albeit at a much slower pace this time. Cadance was able to actually stay upright as they travelled. Though after a few moments of this, one thing became apparent.

Tapping the worm again, Cadance leaned down to speak.

“Um, you can go a bit faster, just not as fast as before please.” She said,

One annoyed chitter later, they began to pick up speed, and Cadance leaned forward to keep her position. She watched as the ground below them passed by faster and faster until they were at a decently fast speed. It was far from comfortable, but she wasn’t at any risk of falling off, and it was certainly much faster than she could fly.

In only about fifteen or so minutes, the pair managed to cross quite the distance, as the once far away cloud city was now directly in front of them, which is when Cadance realized something, something bad. She looked down at the massive worm she was riding, the one that not only had a frightening appearance, but also once terrorized Pegasi for nearly three years straight in the past, not to mention based on what she had seen, the worm could probably destroy the entire city in mere moments. To simply show up and expect nothing to happen would be foolish.

Cadance grimaced, and tapped the worm on its head.

“Could you go around the city please?”

It huffed, and turned sharply to the right, almost knocking her off while giving the delicate city a wide berth as they passed it, revealing a whole new sight.

Canterlot, in all its glory, sat upon the same mountainside it always did. The pearly white spires extending a fair bit outwards and upwards, held aloft by the massive marble platform beneath. It truly was a marvel of architecture, considering it was constructed well over a few centuries ago. It was still quite the distance away, but at the worm’s speed, it would really only take a few moments to get there.

“Let’s go.” Cadance commanded.

By now the worm recognized where they were, and without any further direction, it began to fly in the direction of Equestria’s capitol. In only a minute, the pair were upon the city, flying high above it. This time Cadance wasn’t too worried about the worm’s appearance, while it had been months since they had been there, the general populous had more than enough time to get used to it, though the physical city was a bit less accommodating.

As the worm circled in the sky, Cadance stood up on its back, lifting off a moment later.

"Alright," She began, "I'm going to head down for…” She paused to think, “A bit. If you could stay up here that would be great, but if you need me then… Well I guess just come down, but if you do please try to do it quietly, we don’t need to cause another commotion, like last time.”

The worm just chirped in understanding, and with that, Cadance flipped into a dive, and began heading towards Canterlot proper.

The city approached rapidly, and soon went from a small part of her vision to nearly taking up all of it. Once she was close enough, Cadance banked to the right, and started gliding towards the largest structure in the city, Canterlot Castle. Winding around the tallest spire, she made her way towards one of the many balconies that dotted the castle. Cadance hadn’t flown around Canterlot often, but she did it enough to at least know which balconies led where.

As she came in for a landing, she got some strange looks from some of the guards atop the walls, but none of them actually went to stop or confront her, either due to her previous status or her current one. Still, no move was made against Cadance as she landed, galloping slightly as she lost speed. When it was done she stood proudly at the small feat, then looked up, where she saw the worm still circling high in the sky.

Nodding, she turned towards the glass doors that led into the castle, and she went to open them, only to catch a glimpse of her reflection. Eyes wide in surprise, she quickly combed her hooves through her wind whipped mane in an attempt to fix it, or at least make it look semi-presentable, then she went through a similar process with her tail. It was far from perfect, but it was good enough for Cadance, who then proceeded to open the doors without a second thought

Before she could walk in though, a group of passersby cut her off. A majority of them were actually griffons, but there was a pony among them, specifically one very important pony, as Princess Celestia herself walked past, leading the rest of the group down the corridor. She glanced at Cadance as she passed by, and gave her a small nod before continuing on. She just watched as the rest of the group followed for a few seconds before stopping abruptly. Then they all looked on in confusion as Princess Celestia walked backwards the entire length she had already travelled until she was face to face with Cadance.

“Cadance?” She asked, thoroughly confused,

“Hi Celestia,” She responded.

“...Good afternoon…” Princess Celestia said slowly.

There was a moment of silence as everyone there stared silently at each other.

“Uh Princess? Who is this?” One of the griffons eventually asked,

That jolted her out of her trance, and Princess Celestia quickly shook her head before answering. “Ahem. This is Princess Cadance, the new ruler of the Crystal Empire.”

“The Crystal Empire?” Several of the griffons asked at once, all of them staring at Cadance.

She gave a small wave.

Princess Celestia nudged her in the side a bit.

“Oh! Right!” Cadance realized, she then turned back to the griffons, clearing her throat, “Greetings. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, of the Crystal Empire.” She said much more formally, “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.” One of the griffons responded.

Another moment of awkward silence followed, until Princess Celestia decided to break it.

“I was not informed of your visit.” She began, “Perhaps the message was lost?”

“Actually, this was supposed to be more of an… um… surprise,” Cadance answered, “So uh… Surprise…” She said, the enthusiasm quickly leaving her voice. “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“Yes, you are.” Princess Celestia said, “I’m currently entertaining these emissaries from Griffonstone.” She gestured to the several griffons beside her.

“Oh,” Cadance said, looking down slightly.

Princess Celestia gave a small sigh before turning back to the griffons. “Would it be of any issue if Princess Cadance were to join us for the rest of your visit?”

The griffons huddled together and started whispering, giving the two alicorns a moment to glance at each other. When a decision appeared to have been made, they broke apart and the lead griffon stepped forward.

“There is no problem,” He spoke, “Though we would like to hear more about this… Crystal Empire.”

Cadance immediately looked towards Princess Celestia, who just shrugged and said, “Let us continue then shall we?”

Gulping, Cadance followed the group as they resumed making their way through the castle. Thankfully she did at least some research into her own country, and was able to accurately answer most of the questions the griffons had, all the while dutifully dodging ones she didn’t know the answer to, or ones that were too intrusive for her liking. By the end of it she was pretty proud of herself, and by the looks of it so was Princess Celestia.

It wasn’t until they were in the castle gardens that she asked Cadance her own question.

“I have been meaning to ask. How did you get here? Surely a surprise visit such as this one isn’t worth over a day’s worth of train travel is it?”

“Yeah, that doesn’t seem very logical.” One of the griffons piped up.

“You’re right,” Cadance answered, “I actually got here thanks to the worm.”

A very confused moment of silence followed.

“The worm?” Another griffon asked,

“It’s here?” Princess Celestia asked, slightly more wide eyed than usual.

“Yeah, he’s just up there.” Cadance said, pointing upwards.

They all looked up, where the distant purple form of the worm could be seen circling the sky above the city, a few clouds seemed to have gathered passively in the time they spent, and while it was nowhere near precipitating, it certainly looked odd. All of the griffons looked at it with varying levels of confusion, with some not caring while one particular one looked like he had just seen a ghost.

They huddled together again, and spent a much longer time discussing something before coming to a decision. The lead griffon stepped forward once more, but this time looking a slight bit frazzled.

“We thank you for your time,” He said quickly, “But it appears that we are done here.”

“Ah.” Princess Celestia responded, “Well should you want to stay a bit longer we could-”

“It is fine.” The griffon interrupted, “We will see ourselves out.”

And with that, the entire group of griffons quickly left the gardens, leaving both princesses in a state of confusion.

“Oh no…” Cadance was the first to speak, “I didn’t mess up did I?” She asked worriedly,

“No, you did exceptionally well actually. It’s just…” Princess Celestia sighed, her forced smile dropping, “What are the chances?”

“Chances of what?”

“Of you coming on the same day as the griffons.” Another sigh, “I fear that our relations with them have just soured.”

“How?”

“Come now, do I really have to answer that?” Princess Celestia asked, gesturing upwards.

Cadance looked at her, then up at the worm, then back at her. “You might have to yeah.”

With one last sigh, Princess Celestia began to explain. “A thousand years ago the worm didn’t just terrorize Pegasi, it was a menace to all flight capable species. There’s no doubt that includes the griffons. Here is the thing though, Pegasi make up only a third of all ponies, so the scars of the past can only go so deep. The griffons though, their entire population is flight capable.”

Cadance’s face dropped, but Princess Celestia continued.

“And what do you think might happen when they find out we have control over something that threatens their entire way of life?” She finished by asking.

“Oh,” Was all Cadance responded with, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,”

“Why?”

“Because this incident is entirely blameless,” Princess Celestia said, chuckling dryly, “Which is what makes it so infuriating. There is nothing to blame except chance, and that never goes well.”

“So what do we do?” Cadance asked,

“For now…” Princess Celestia said, “I am going to finish the day, then I am going to try and find out just how much damage was dealt.”

“Okay, but what should I do?”

“Hmm, I recommend you actually plan out visits, because while surprises can be nice, they can lead to things like this.”

“Oh.”

“It’s nice to see you by the way,” Princess Celestia said, dropping her regal tone.

“It’s nice to see you too.” Cadance replied,

They hugged for a moment.

“I don’t suppose you have time to talk do you?” Cadance asked,

“Not really no, I have quite the schedule today, and even with the previous meeting cut short, it doesn’t add much, but we can walk and talk for a bit, unless of course it’s something important.” Princess Celestia said as she began to walk.

Cadance quickly trotted up to her and matched her speed, “No it’s nothing important, I just thought it was a good idea to stop by and talk, and maybe do some other things while I’m here.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow, “I’m surprised you have time for a trip like this. I hardly get an hour of free time on a good day.”

“Well the Crystal Empire is a lot smaller than Equestria,” Cadance said, chuckling a bit, “That and I got here pretty fast.”

“You said you came here on the worm right? How long did it take you two?”

Cadance furrowed her brow, counting up the time that was spent travelling.

“About twenty minutes. At least.” She answered,

Princess Celestia slowed to a near stop as they re-entered the castle, “You’re kidding.”

“No, and the worm could probably do it even faster.”

“Really?”

“If I wasn’t with him…” Cadance paused to think again, “Then he could probably make the trip in only five minutes.”

“Cadance,” Princess Celestia began, “That’s faster than several forms of teleportation.”

“You’re joking,” This time Cadance was at a loss.

“Sigil based teleports take time to activate, ranging from an hour to about a minute at least.” Princess Celestia explained, “How does it not break the sound barrier every time it flies?”

“I think he does,” Cadance answered, “He just doesn't produce enough sound to… you know. Have you noticed how quietly he can fly?”

“Hardly,” Princess Celestia said, laughing at her own joke a bit, “If it weren’t for its size, I wouldn’t have had a problem with it living in the castle,”

“He can change his size you know,”

“I doubt it would want to stay that way for long though.”

Cadance nodded, but otherwise stayed silent as they continued down one of the many corridors in the castle. The conversation lulled a bit, and a few moments were spent in silent thought.

“How is Shining Armor?” Princess Celestia asked, “You know I have been having trouble finding a replacement for him.”

Cadance laughed, “He is one of a kind isn’t he? But he’s fine, at least I hope so, adjusting to life in the empire isn’t easy for either of us. I think we both miss our old lives here.”

Princess Celestia smirked, “Well if you have the time and transport…”

“I don’t think he’s going to ride the worm anytime soon,” Cadance said with a smile, “But he’s warming up to him, though it is taking a while.”

“Mmm, well I don’t blame him, first impressions are worth a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

Princess Celestia gave a dry chuckle, “My first impression of the worm was as a means to my end, but yours was as a savior, and as such our views on it are very different. I’m sure you remember Shining Armor’s first impression of the worm…”

Cadance shuddered, recalling what happened “I see.”

“But that will all change in due time. I know I’ve changed a lot already.”

“Yeah…”

They turned a corner, and by now Cadance recognized where they were headed, which meant they really only had a few minutes left to talk.

“So what else have you been doing as of late?” Princess Celestia asked first, “I trust that the monotonous work of running a country hasn’t turned you into somepony like me yet has it?”

“No, not yet.” Cadance said with a laugh, “But other than researching the Crystal Empire and its culture there hasn’t been much to do…” She paused for a moment, “Oh! I started training with Shining Armor.”

“Training?” Princess Celestia asked, slowing a bit.

“Yeah, we’ve been going over magic combat and combat magic.” Cadance said, frowning slightly at the accidental palindrome.

“Combat magic?” Princess Celestia stopped in the middle of the hallway, prompting Cadance to do the same. “I can’t say that I disapprove, but do you really believe it is necessary?”

“Definitely,” Cadance answered, “After what happened with the changelings, and then that encounter with Sombra, I figured I should at least know how to defend myself. I don’t want to be the damsel in distress anymore.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “But if you aren’t the damsel in distress, then what of your knight in shining armor?” She asked with a smirk.

Cadance snorted with laughter, “I already have him, and the ring to prove it. Besides, I don’t see why we both can’t be fighters.”

Smiling, Princess Celestia began walking again, “So tell me, what part of magic combat are you most fond of?”

“Oh…” Cadance said, picking up her pace to keep up with Princess Celestia, “We were going to go over our first combat spell today, but I’m not very good with most spells. Pure magic fighting is fun, but I’ve really been enjoying our sparring matches with swords.”

“Sword fighting huh?” Princess Celestia said, putting a hoof to her chin, “I could see that,” She nodded.

They both stopped, as the corridor ended in a pair of double doors, ones that led to the throne room, where the afternoon day court would be held.

“Well, it was good to talk with you, Cadance, and I’m sorry that it had to be so short. You should definitely visit again sometime, though some forewarning would be nice.”

“For sure.” She responded,

“Now, before I go, tell me, what are you going to do next?” Princess Celestia asked,

“Oooh…” Cadance began, thinking hard, she gazed around the corridor for a moment, “I… am going to get a donut.” She finished.

“Excellent choice,” Princess Celestia said with a smile, “Goodbye Cadance,”

“Goodbye Celestia,”

And with that, she passed through the doors into the throne room, presumably to begin court, leaving Cadance to her own devices. She took another quick look around the hallway, reminiscing about all the time she had lived here before letting out a sigh. She could really go for that donut about now.

Thankfully that was already the plan, and all Cadance needed to do was leave the castle and go get it. The quickest way to do so was actually going out through the throne room, but she decided against it, mainly due to the fact that it would be awkward to see Princess Celestia again right after they said their goodbyes. So Cadance turned around, more in favor of taking the long way out, besides, it gave her more time to take in the sights of her old home.

Unsurprisingly, the streets of Canterlot remained the same as the last time, after all it wasn’t like anything major could change in only a few months. Cadance had spent a lot of time pony watching back when she lived here, and as such she could recognize several recurring bystanders as she walked past. She paid them little mind however, which could not be said on the opposite end.

A lot of ponies ended up staring at Cadance, probably for the same reason the guards from earlier were looking at her the way they were. News spread fast, and it made her feel more like a stranger than anything else, especially since only a short time ago she would’ve easily been recognized as their princess, if not just another citizen.

Cadance tried to put that in the back of her mind though, ignoring the looks she was getting, and focusing more on the task ahead of her. At least until a shadow fell over her, prompting nearly everypony around to stare. Looking up as well, she was only met with a mass of purple.

“Oh! It’s you,” She greeted the worm,

It chirped back to her.

Looking around at all the onlookers, Cadance turned back up towards the worm.

“Come down here, and…” She lowered her voice a bit as the worm descended, “Transform please.”

It clicked once, and then burst into flames, causing quite a few of their viewers to step back. A moment later the worm landed heavily on the cobblestone road, its hooves clacking loudly. The entire display probably caused a lot more ponies to stare, but an odd looking pony was much less eye-catching than a gigantic floating worm, at least when they started moving again.

“Okay,” Cadance continued, “Why did you come down?” She asked,

“Hungry,” Was all the worm responded with,

“Ah,” Cadance nodded, “Well so am I. Come, let’s eat together.” She said, walking forward again, it wasn’t like she was going to just feed the worm in the middle of public, even if it only looked like an overly long hug.

The worm huffed slightly, but eventually began following, quickly catching up to Cadance before walking alongside her. Together they made it the rest of the way to the donut shop without much issue, though some staring persisted. Cadance was ready to put it all behind her, both figuratively and literally as they entered Donut Joe’s, it was a place that she frequented a lot back when she lived here.

That meant it wasn’t much of a surprise when she was recognized.

“Cadance!?” Donut Joe asked, obviously surprised, causing quite a few other patrons to turn and look.

“Uh… Hey.” She responded, giving a small wave.

Donut Joe quickly shook his head, “Um, long time no see. How have you been? What's going on? Who is…" He trailed off as the worm entered the establishment.

Cadance looked towards the worm as well, and started to regret her decision to bring it in with her.

"This is…" She thought on how to answer for a moment, "My companion. Don't worry about him."

"Him?" Donut Joe asked, looking confused.

“...Yes,” Cadance answered, tilting her head, she then looked at the worm, and noticed that despite the several ‘additions’, it had a rather feminine figure in that form. “...Him.” She affirmed.

“Well… Alright then.” Donut Joe didn’t press any further, “So what’ll you have? The usual?”

“Oh a pink frosted sprinkled donut? Yes please.” Cadance readily answered, “Though, do you have anything new?”

“As a matter of fact we do. A couple new flavours of jelly have been added to our collection of jelly donuts, including an apple jelly straight from Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. And of course your choice of frosting, glaze, and sprinkles.”

Cadance’s face twitched slightly at the mention of Ponyville, but she didn’t dwell on it for long.

“Uh, sure I’ll try the apple jelly with a cinnamon glaze, and could I get a cream filled donut with a chocolate glaze? And no sprinkles on either please.”

“Absolutely,” Donut Joe said with a smile as he began moving behind the counter, “Coming right up,”

It was then that the worm nudged Cadance, almost causing her to fall over. It trilled slightly.

“Actually,” Cadance began after regaining her footing, and a miffed look towards the worm, “Could I get two of each?”

Donut Joe paused for a moment, “Sure, do you want them in a box then?” He asked as he doubled back to collect a few more pastries.

“Yes please.”

“That’ll be just a moment then.”

Cadance moved off to the side as she watched him work, with the worm soon following. With practiced efficiency Donut Joe made quick work of the order, managing to finish it in only a few moments. From filling each donut to glazing them, then finally boxing them up and setting them on the counter.

“That’ll be twelve bits.”

“Oh!” Cadance realized, and she gave a sheepish grin as she bit her lip slightly. “I uh… forgot to bring money.”

Donut Joe gave her a long look before sighing, he put his hoof to his face. “Ughhh…, come on Cadance. Fine, it’s on the house, but only because it’s been a while, and it’s not like I can just unmake these donuts.” He slid the box forward.

“Oh!” Cadance repeated herself, “Thank you!”

“Just enjoy them before I change my mind, and please try not to make a habit of it.”

Cadance quickly grabbed the half dozen donuts, and with another ‘thank you’, she was on her way to one of the many booths in the shop, with the worm following closely behind. She ended up choosing one of the more secluded booths on the opposite side of the room, though it was still up next to a window. Cadance set the box on the table and sat down, then gestured for the worm to do the same.

“Sit,” She commanded,

The worm sat.

Cadance rolled her eyes, “In the booth silly,”

With a huff, the worm stood up and began awkwardly trying to slide into the booth.

“Wait.” Cadance said, “No spines, we don’t want to have to owe Joe much more do we?”

The worm gave her a long look, before stepping back out of the booth to transform.

“And try not to make it too flashy please, I don’t want to attract any more attention.” Cadance added on, looking past the worm, where they were already getting looks from half the restaurant.

It sighed, then stood up straight supposedly to concentrate, and eventually the spines running along its body started to fizzle and smoke, then slowly evaporate away, leaving only a smooth carapace behind, which was hardly distinguishable from a normal coat, save for a slight sheen.

Cadance smiled, and gestured for the worm to sit down again, “There we go, now we don’t have to worry about where you sit.”

“Hungry,” Was all the worm said as it shuffled into the booth, its large tail drooping over the side of the seat.

“Yes I know, but that’s why we came here, now here.” Cadance said, opening up the box and passing over one of the donuts. “Try one of these.”

The worm just stared at the donut on the table, while Cadance grabbed one of her own. She took a small bite as she watched the worm lean down to try and pick up its own, with its mouth.

“With your-” Cadance stopped to cover her mouth so she didn’t spray crumbs everywhere, and the message didn’t appear to make it through either.

Rather gingerly, the worm picked up the donut in its mandibles, then leaned back to try and eat it. It went about as well as you would expect, considering the donut was a lot more fragile than what the worm normally ate. A shower of crumbs and chunks fell to the table and floor below, causing Cadance to cringe slightly, more at the loss of the confection rather than the mess.

She quickly finished chewing and swallowed, “Well… Better a mess than property damage I guess.”

She looked back up to the worm and watched as it licked what little was left of the donut from its lips. It was hard to imagine that any of it got into its mouth, but apparently some did.

“Hungry.” It said once more.

Cadance grimaced, she didn’t want another donut to go to waste, but she did get six of them for a reason.

“Here.” She said, setting another donut on the table, an apple cinnamon one. “But eat it with your hooves this time, like this,” Cadance demonstrated by clearly picking up her donut again and slowly bringing it to her mouth, where she took another bite.

The worm tilted its head, but nonetheless brought one of its hooves up over the table. It moved it up and down as a test, then set it over the donut, pressing into it slightly. Cadance giggled as the worm lifted up the donut, only for the glaze to give way, causing it to fall back onto the table. The worm just stared at its now glaze covered hoof for a moment, before giving it a lick.

“Hold your hoof out,” Cadance said with a smile.

The worm did so, and Cadance tilted its hoof upwards, where she then set the slightly smooshed donut onto it so that the worm could actually hold it.

“There.” She concluded, satisfied with her work.

The worm stared at the donut in its hoof for a moment, then slowly brought it up to its mouth, where it promptly shoved the whole thing into. There weren’t as many crumbs this time, though it was still pretty messy. A lot more of the donut was actually consumed this time, and it appeared that the worm liked it, though it was hard for Cadance to tell exactly.

It spent a few moments licking its chops to get all of the residual glaze, then the worm looked at Cadance.

“Hungry,”

Her smile dropped a bit, though she knew there was no way that two donuts could feed such a massive creature, Cadance hoped it would at least tide it over for a little bit.

“Okay fine,” She relented, “Come here.”

They both stepped out of the booth, and quickly met in the middle, where they promptly hugged. Cadance grimaced, normally she wasn’t one to forgo public affection, in fact she encouraged it sometimes, but this time felt a little more awkward considering how it looked versus what was actually going on.

Cue more odd looks from the other patrons.

Cadance quickly brushed them to the side again, then she pulled away from the worm as she felt it finish.

“Alright, let’s get going.” She said,

Collecting the rest of the donuts in the box, Cadance made sure to wipe the pile of crumbs off the table and into a napkin to throw away, though a small pile on the floor would remain. She then placed the donut box on her back, and began walking out of the restaurant, giving a quick wave goodbye to Joe on the way out.

The worm just followed her every move, and as they both exited the restaurant Cadance looked up towards the sky and sighed. This trip was becoming less and less like she imagined by the second. She then turned to the worm.

“I don’t suppose there’s anywhere you would want to go while we’re out here is there?” She asked,

The worm tilted its head.

“You know, someplace you’ve been before, a home?” Cadance reiterated.

Pausing, the worm sat there for a moment in thought, then it chirped loudly.

“Follow.” It spoke, and it jumped into the air.

“Oh!” Cadance said, she grabbed the box from her back and flared her wings, lifting off a few moments later.

Rising steadily, she looked at the worm as it flew above her, which was certainly a strange sight. Considering it didn’t have any wings, it quite literally stepped through the air, though the action was more akin to a combination of both trotting and swimming. Together the two rose out of the city and into the sky, but not before Cadance grabbed another donut to munch on.

It was only when they were level with the clouds that the worm transformed, in a flash of purple flame, it was back to its signature massive form. Quickly finishing off the rest of the donut, Cadance landed on the worm’s back.

“Okay,” She began, mouth half full, she took a moment to swallow. “Where are we going?”

The worm chirped and clicked, then spoke.

“Home.”

Cadance tilted her head in confusion for a moment.

“The Crystal Empire?” She wondered,

Instead of answering, the worm just jerked forward, knocking her off balance and causing her to drop the donut box. Reacting quickly, Cadance was able to catch it before they lost the donuts forever.

“Ooph-Hey!” She said, irritated.

The worm didn’t respond, so Cadance just rolled her eyes and held on tighter. They began to bob up and down, picking up speed, and soon enough the pair were out of Canterlot airspace, heading in the opposite direction of the Crystal Empire.

By the time the sun was about half way down from the sky, Cadance could see that they had reached their destination. There, standing tall among the clouds, completely alone and desolate, was a single mountain. Only the tips of its craggy peaks had snow, and several long dead trees dotted its face. The entire place just screamed foreboding, but considering who inhabited it long ago, it made sense.

“It looks um… Nice?” Cadance said as they circled the mountain a few times. She gazed across the landscape surrounding it, which was blanketed with fog. “The view is certainly… something.”

The worm just grunted, and banked inwards, heading towards the mountain. Cadance held on, but she couldn’t shake her sense of unease, they probably weren’t even in Equestria anymore. As they neared the tallest peak, the mouth of a cave came into view, which the worm soon turned towards.

There weren’t any places to land outside, seeing as the cave was literally on the side of the mountain, which meant it was a long and bumpy way down. Cadance gulped at the sight, and flexed her wings a few times just in case. They slowed down near the entrance, and the worm carefully threaded its head into and slithered the rest of the way in. Cadance had to duck in order to avoid the jagged ceiling, but once that was cleared she was able to stand up fully on the worm’s back.

They came to a stop, and she jumped to the cave floor.

“So this is where you lived?” Cadance asked, barely noticing her breath in the darkness.

The worm clicked,

“It’s fitting…” Cadance continued, squinting in the darkness, she then lit up her horn to see better.

She could hear the worm shifting around behind her, and a bit more light soon entered the cave as the entrance was unblocked. A few small snow drifts were dusted around the immediate area of the entrance, and a slight breeze shifted them as it passed over. Cadance shivered as it did the same to her, it was cold here, empire cold, but in the cave there was no sun nor heart to warm them up.

“I don’t suppose there’s anything specific you want to show me?” She asked, her breath nearly opaque in the light.

The worm just clicked again, and Cadance saw its eyes flash in the dark, but then it turned away, and began slithering even deeper into the cave. Grimacing, she followed alongside the part of the worm she could see. It started to get tighter, and as the walls constricted she was barely able to walk without touching either the wall or the worm, Cadance chose the worm, considering it was a whole lot warmer than the wall. That allowed her to notice the scratches in the stone.

What were once probably smooth cave walls were now marred and scored with countless lines, most likely created by the repeated movements of the worm so long ago. Cadance was just glad the worm could sheath its spines now, though they’ve had to repair parts of the castle a few times now due to some incidents. Luckily none of them were very major, which could not be said about the cave, Cadance almost tripped a few times due to the sheer unevenness of the floor, and she had to walk carefully to avoid stepping on anything particularly jagged or sharp.

Thankfully the cave began to open up again, which meant that the severe damage to the floor began to lessen, allowing Cadance to focus on what she could see, or more accurately what she couldn’t see. Increasing the intensity of her light, more and more of the cave became visible, the rough grey stone expanding further outwards, with stalactites and stalagmites barely visible on the ceiling and outskirts of the light respectively, but other than that it was rather empty. Turning around, Cadance was able to see the mass of purple that was the worm as it fully entered the room, its dimly lit eyes revealing where its head was as it coiled up in the cavern.

“Homey,” She described, giving another quick glance at all that was visible, “I guess you don’t have much use for most things do you?”

The worm chirped in response.

Cadance gave it a nod, then she turned back around to inspect the cave further. Following the more ‘trafficked’ areas of the cave, she noted that some of the walls were untouched, while others were cleared away, made evident by the remaining rubble of stalactites and stalagmites. Several frozen streams lined the walls, most of which appeared to have formed after the worm had left, seeing as how they followed the scratches. Speaking of the scratches, near one of the walls the ones on the floor just stopped, yet the wall itself was heavily scratched.

Tilting her head, Cadance took a step back, making sure to get the entire wall in the light, which only served to confuse her further. The lines weren’t just horizontal, like the ones on almost every other wall that was marred. There were definite shapes and designs etched into the wall. Cadance’s eyes widened as she looked at the entirety of the crudely carved mural.

It was hard to make out, but right in the center of the wall was a figure, it had four legs, what looked like wings on its back, along with a horn on its head, and what was maybe a flowing mane. Cadance squinted, there weren’t any finer details, but it looked like the whole figure was radiating… something, as a multitude of lines emanated out from it.

“Did you make this?” Cadance asked, not looking away from the carving.

She heard the worm shift a bit, before letting out a long trill.

“Someone you knew?”

Another trill, pitched a bit higher.

Cadance took another step back and increased her light even further, however any further inspection of the wall was interrupted as something glinted off to the side, catching her attention. Moving over to the other side of the cave, a lot more glints flashed in the light, and as Cadance moved towards them, an absolutely massive pile of gold coins came into view.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, gazing over the immense wealth in front of her, “I didn’t take you for a collector of uh… gold.”

The worm let out a puzzled chirp, causing Cadance to become confused as well.

That statement didn’t make much sense, in all their time together the worm never collected anything, much less gold. Frowning, Cadance looked down at the floor, and noticed more scratches, only these ones were different.

“You haven’t been here in over a thousand years right?” She asked,

The worm gave a chirp of affirmation.

“And in that time,” She continued, staring at the scratches on the floor, which were too short and uniform to be the worm’s. “Do you think anything else could have lived here?”

The worm remained silent, while Cadance glanced up and around the cave once more, among the countless pieces of evidence of the worm there were some ‘newer’ things. Things such as pools of partially frozen water, inaccurate scratch marks, and a slight smoke residue on the ceiling. A sense of unease descended upon her, and she turned around to look at the gold pile again.

A breeze flowed throughout the cavern, causing every hair on Cadance’s body to stand up, not because it was cold, but because it was warm. The worm went rigid, and on the edge of her vision Cadance could see its spines begin to stick out. They both slowly turned towards the entrance to the cave, and waited.

Another wave of warm air blew through, and it smelled acidic, or smokey.

“Oh I hope that’s not what I think it is…” Cadance said quietly, then she dimmed the light from her horn, causing most of the cave to fall into darkness.

The worm clicked a few times, then shifted slightly in the dark.

Again, hot air was forced through the room, and Cadance felt her eyes begin to tear up because of it. Blinking them away, she lowered her stance and got ready to move.

It was getting hotter, not enough to be uncomfortable, but it was a stark difference from the freezing cold they were just in.

A breathe in, a breathe out.

Cadance heard small drops of water fall around her, and soon enough she felt a couple land on her.

A breathe in, a breathe out.

She found herself alternating against whatever was approaching, it would inhale, and Cadance would hold her breath, then it would exhale, and she would inhale. The cycle continued all the while the temperature was increasing. The worm made no noise, seeming to not even breathe as it remained absolutely still.

A breathe in, a breathe out.

Orange light flickered at the entrance of the cavern, before disappearing from sight.

A breathe in, a breathe out.

Again, brighter, closer.

A breathe in, a breathe out.

Cadance held her breath as the light danced ever closer.

Then it stopped, just like that. Leaving them both waiting anxiously. Cadance squinted in the darkness, staring at the cave entrance, until she heard a clicking, which did not come from the worm. Eyes wide, she quickly extinguished what little light was coming from her horn, leaving them in complete darkness, save for the slight glow from the worm’s eyes. It then squinted, leaving only two small slits in the dark.

Only the rapid drops of water filled the cave, and they both stayed alert for any difference.

A step, and a series of taps, Cadance’s ears flicked towards the noise. Another step, along with the same set of taps, then the sound of something sliding across stone. The water droplets began to soak several parts of her, but Cadance didn’t dare move or make a sound. There was another step, which was accompanied by the taps once more, they almost sounded like claws against stone.

It shifted once more, the noise coming eerily close to the entrance. It stepped two more times, then stopped, just like the light, and there was no more noise aside from the cacophony of water dripping.

A few seconds passed, then an orange light illuminated the cavern. Cadance flinched slightly at the sudden change, then she looked for the source. Her eyes travelled up, and up, and up, until they reached the ceiling of the cave, where the flame filled mouth of the fully grown black dragon that had entered the cave stood.

Before Cadance could even react, the worm let out a screech and lunged towards the dragon. It let out a roar, a large bout of flame immediately melting any nearby ice. Undeterred, the worm flew through the fire, slamming into the dragon and crashing into the wall. The entire room shook, and several stalactites came loose, shattering on the floor around Cadance. This jolted her into action.

“Wait!” She shouted in vain, then she moved over to the side to try and get out of the way.

The dragon shook its head from the impact, then it hissed and went to grab the worm’s mandibles around its neck. It couldn’t pry them apart, so instead the dragon twisted around and slammed the worm into the floor, stepping on it to get better leverage. The worm growled, its tail lashing across the floor before whipping forward, striking the dragon in the back. It howled, flames washing across the ceiling before it raked its claws against the worm’s head, which only served to mark its chitinous armor.

Still, the worm let go and tried to squirm out from underneath the dragon, though it had other plans. It reached down and grabbed the worm’s mandibles, then with one swift motion, it turned and threw the worm across the cave. Cadance ducked as it smashed into the wall with the carving, causing the entire cave to shake once more and a large crack to form across the wall.

“No!” She exclaimed, before quickly moving out of the way of a few more falling stalactites. “Stop!”

The worm slowly got up, shaking its head to rid itself of any disorientation. From the other side of the cave the dragon puffed a few times, the orange light casting long shadows all around them. Then the worm lit itself up in a blaze, completely eliminating them as it charged forwards once more. The dragon moved to react, but the worm was faster, it swung to the side, flying around the dragon as it wrapped its body around it like a snake. The dragon tried to roar, but it was cut short as the worm began to constrict, its flaming spikes clearly grinding into the dragon’s scales.

Unaffected by the fire, the dragon brought its head down and bit into the worm’s neck as hard as it could, desperately trying to free itself. Together they thrashed around, before falling to the floor, sending another small quake throughout the room, though nothing else immediately broke. Cadance frantically looked around as the fight was quickly coming to a close, she was not expecting their visit to the cave to turn into such a violent battle. In only a few short moments, what was once a relatively clean cave was now littered with rubble and puddles, with the mural ruined and the gold pile scattered. Eventually she looked towards the two fighters, and watched as the worm squeezed the struggling dragon even tighter.

She drew in a breath, then shouted.

"STOP!"

The yell echoed throughout the cave, and a final stalactite smashed down next to Cadance, but she didn’t care. At her command the worm stopped, and surprisingly so did the dragon, both of them lay still as their flames began to flicker out, but before darkness could fall Cadance lit her horn again. She stared at the two, as they did her, the worm still coiled around the dragon’s body. Then the dragon reared back with what little breath it could, and tried to spew fire at Cadance.

“Ah!” She yelped, flinching, but only a wave of hot air passed over her.

Opening her eyes, Cadance was met with the sight of the worm constricting the dragon even tighter, it remained there, open-mouthed, struggling just to breathe. Cadance quickly summoned a shield around her, then spoke again.

“Let him breathe.” She commanded,

The worm relented ever slightly, allowing the dragon to suck in a breath. It then responded by blowing fire all around Cadance, which was thankfully blocked by the shield. Steam rose from the puddles surrounding her, and she tried her best to look calm and unaffected.

“Well?” She asked,

“It’s her thank you very much,” The dragon retorted, struggling against the worm again, but it held strong.

Cadance paused for a moment, then responded, “Sorry.”

“Grah!” The dragon exclaimed as she twisted around unsuccessfully, her tail lashing around behind them. “Release me!” She demanded.

“Are you going to attack us again?” Cadance asked, an eyebrow raised.

The dragon remained silent.

“Speaking of…” Cadance continued, “Why did you attack us in the first place?”

“You’re in my cave!” The dragon grunted, “What did you expect?”

“Well sorry.” Cadance responded, exasperated, “We didn’t mean to intrude.”

“That’s what they all say!” The dragon said, jerking back and forth, “But I know you’re really here to take my hoard. Now let me go!”

“No really. We’re only here because this is where he lived a long time ago.” Cadance gestured to the worm, “We didn’t even know this place was occupied until we saw your hoard. Even then we weren’t going to take anything.”

The dragon calmed slightly at the explanation, but she still resisted, “Well who am I to interrupt your little homecoming?” She said sarcastically.

Cadance rolled her eyes. “In fact, the only thing worth taking for us was the carving on the wall, but…” She turned to look at it, right as it lost all structural integrity, causing it to collapse into a pile of rubble. “Now it’s ruined.”

“I always wondered what that was.” The dragon murmured, also looking at where the mural once was, then she snapped back to Cadance, “Well it’s gone now, so will you please get out of my cave?”

She sighed, disheartened, “Alright, okay. Release her please.” She said, looking at the floor.

The worm chittered, then slowly relaxed, its body unwinding from the dragon. She shoved one of the curls off of her, then got up. Cadance was then able to see the injuries that both of them had sustained during the fight. Both had scars marking their natural armor, and while none of them appeared too bad, there were some other notable injuries. Several gashes ran across the worm’s head, which had thankfully missed its eyes, but they still bled slightly. Blood openly flowed from its neck where the dragon had bitten it, however Cadance wasn’t too worried about the sight, seeing as the worm had recovered from a lot worse before.

The dragon, though, seemed to have gotten the shorter end of the stick. Scratches lined her black scales nearly from head to tail, some of which actively bled. As she stood up fully though, two large marks became visible on each side of her neck, every scale in the area was crushed, and blood seeped from the wounds. Cadance watched as the dragon rubbed the area with her claws, then she stopped and grabbed her shoulder, nursing her arm as she walked passed. Cadance’s eyes lingered on the dragon, and she spied a large puncture wound on her back, along with the fact that her wing membrane was shredded.

“Sorry for…” Cadance grimaced, “You know… attacking you.”

The dragon turned her head, growling, “Just leave.” She snarled.

Cadance didn’t respond, but she did turn to the worm, “Come on,” She whispered before moving towards the exit.

The worm gave a soft chirp, then it gave one last look at the dragon before following Cadance out of the cavern. Together they made their way back through the tight corridor, before exiting the cave entirely. Apparently a lot of heat had escaped before them, as the entire entrance was slick with runoff, though Cadance paid little mind to that. She flared her wings and took off, with the worm lifting off right behind her.

“What do you say we head home? Our current home.” She clarified.

The worm just chittered.

“You’re right,” Cadance replied, carefully setting down on the worm’s back, making sure to avoid its wounds. “We have been away a while.”

Before they could begin moving again, a rumbling sound came from behind them. Confused, they both turned to see the cave entrance shaking, or more the entire mountain top shaking. A cascade of loose stones flowed in between the indents of the mountain face, and pretty soon larger rocks and boulders began to break loose. Apparently the fight caused more damage than they thought, as the entire cave collapsed behind them, a massive rockslide following in its wake.

A muffled roar was heard.

“Time to go!” Cadance said quickly.

The worm agreed, seeing as it sped off without a moment’s notice.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

I'm back baby! Again!
Sorry for the long wait, I just was not expecting the "Summer Stagnation". But now that it's fall again, the school year has started, and here I am saying hello from University! How exciting is that?

Anyway.

It occurred to me while writing this chapter that not much is known about Cadance's history. Other than literally a few sentences in an obscure chapter-book, there wasn't much to go on. The only reason I'm saying this is because a large part of this chapter was actually cut out, and replaced with the dragon fight. Originally I had them go to Cadance's home, and meet her parents, but I had issues with fitting it into the narrative, and it's not like it's very important to the narrative either, so there. I'm going to try and keep up a schedule now, considering I'm back in my "element", meaning I can write uninterrupted.

Expect more chapters, but I wouldn't exactly say soon.