Cadence opened her eyes slowly. She was on a bed. But this wasn't her room. How did she get here?

'Ugh not again' she thought to herself

She waited for her still waking eyes to adjust to the light. Then she took a look around. This definitely was not her room. The room was painted red and had a number of drawings on the walls, seemingly made by a child. There was a shelf with books and multiple small figurines that seemed to be made of some white material, probably bone. A locked book was laying on a table, next to an unlit candle and a pen. There were various musical instruments around and what looked to be a recording device. A closet with mirror doors was facing the bed and there was a beside table with a nightlight and a framed picture on it. Cadence looked closer to see who was in the picture. There she saw a red pegasus filly and a white unicorn hugging and smiling. Cadence's eyes went wide and she stood up.

"Oh my goodness! I'm on..."

She didn't manage to finish her words because right then the door of the room opened and a Scarlet entered inside.

"Hey Cadence. I see you're awake"

"Morning Scarlet" Cadence said, looking confused "What am i-"

"Told you she'd be awake right now" Abe said, entering in and levitatinga tray with a cup of coffee and biscuits in his magic "Morning Candy. Well, not really morning, you've been sleeping for most of the day. Slept well?"

"I- I don't know. What am I doing in your house if i may ask?"

"Why, your house was wrecked and i couldn't let you spend the night there" he replied putting the tray on her lap "So i brought you here and Scarlet volunteered to let you use her bed"

Cadence was a tad calmer to know she at least wasn't on Abe's bed. 'Wait. My house wrecked?' she thought to herself and then she remembered what had happened last night with Chrysalis. 'Well i be damned. Shining was right, Chrysalis did attack just like on our wedding' and then she remembered what happened next when she went home. Shining and Twilight....

"And besides.....when you came back crying like that last night i just couldn't leave you alone"

Cadence just stood silent. She was looking at the coffee and cookies and her face showed no expression.

Abe gave a sigh "With who?"

Cadence looked up at him "I'm sorry, what?"

"I've been around long enough and have traveled to many places. I know the look of someone who feels betrayed in love. You had that same look last night. Still do. So tell me. Who did Shining cheat on you with?"

She did not expect that. She knew Abe was good at understanding things and sometimes he could be almost telepathic, but she did not expect him to get an idea of what happened to her last night that easily. And she really did not want to talk about it

"Look" Abe summoned a chair and sat down "If you don't want to talk about it I'm not gonna push you. Nobody will push you. But you need to talk about it at some point"

Cadence sighed and gave a weak smile "Thanks Abe. But maybe I'll talk about it later"

"As you wish"

She started eating the cookies and sipping the coffee. But her mind was else where. She still couldn't fully wrap her head around what she witnessed last night. How could Shining and Twilight love each other, they are literally siblings. Not forgetting the fact that Shining is married to her. How could he cheat on her like that? With his own sister! How could both of them do this to her behind her back. What should she do right now? Even tho hurt, she still loved Shining so she couldn't bring herself to call him out for sleeping with his own sister. The same went for Twilight. And she didn't want to put Flurry through the pain of having divorced parents because her dad slept with her aunt. She didn't know how to act. What could she possibly do?

"So what are you gonna do?" Scarlet asked

"Hmmm?" was all Cadence could say in response

"Are you going to stay here or will you be going back home?"

'Oh yeah..that'

Cadence thought for a moment. She really did not want to go back home. But her house here needed some time to be fixed and she really did not want to be a burden to anyone here. And besides, if she didn't go back to the Crystal Empire tomorrow they would most likely wonder why she's not coming back and they would start looking for her so she really couldn't stay here for long. So the only option she could think of was to just go back home today...as much as she didn't want to be there right now

"I guess I'll be going back to the Crystal Empire" Cadence finally spoke "Flurry must be missing me" she added in hope that would be a convincing argument so that they won't push her to stay

"You sure darling?" Abe asked, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder

"...Yes" Cadence replied weakly

"Well, as you wish darling" both Abe and Scarlet hopped on the bed to give Cadence a comforting hug. At first she was hesitant for a second but then she returned the hug and smiled slightly. At least she knew she could always come here if she needed friends to comfort her.

Crystal Empire. An hour later

Twilight was about to open the door of the throne room when two crystal ponies opened it instead and came out. Seemingly citizens coming in to solve their problems. She walked in and saw Shining standing in the middle of the room signing some letter

"Hey there big bro. Need help?"

He looked at her and gave a smile "Nah I'm good. Why, did you get tired of looking after Flurry?"

"You kidding?" Twilight asked while nuzzling the foal on her back "I would never get tired of looking after my little niece. I just thought to ask if you needed any help"

"Nah I'm okay i just-"

Their conversation was interrupted when the door opened and Cadence walked in.

"Cadence!!" they both called in unison and ran towards her smiling.

She tried returning the smile "Hey you both"

They both gave her a hug. Which to their surprise she did not return.

"Where were you?" Twilight asked "It's a little unsafe to go away all alone for so long without telling where you're going"

"By the way did something happen during your trip? You're one day earlier" said Shining

"Don't worry i was safe nothing happened" she lied "Also I'm sorry for coming back this early, I'm sure you two could have used...some more time together. As brother and sister..."

"Uhh, no problem. These past two days were enough for me and Twily to spend time together"

"I bet you did" Cadence said in an almost monotonous voice

Both Twilight and Shining could tell something was wrong. Her smile looked fake and she seemed to look at them both uncomfortably. As if she didn't trust them or something.

Seeing that Cadence looked unwell, Twilight was starting to feel a little guilty for sleeping around with Shining behind her back this past two days. Shining felt the same way.

"You sure everything went fine during your trip?" Twilight asked her in a worried tone "You don't look okay"

"I'm fine I'm fine. I just missed Flurry that's all. That's why I came back this early"

Twilight decided to go with that explanation. She grabbed the foal on her back with her magic and smiling she levitated her to Cadence. She was surprised however when Cadence more forcefully than expected snatched the baby out of her grasp as if she was taking back some stolen item from a stranger and started cuddling her protectively.

That was definitely weird. Both Shining and Twilight looked at each other in confusion and then back at her. This wasn't usual of Cadence. The castle has protective spells that made it impossible for changelings to use their magic here so it couldn't be Chrysalis acting like Cadence again. This was just Cadence acting unusual. Maybe she really missed Flurry that much. After all, motherly instincts can make you act weird.

"So" Shining broke the silence "How did your trip went?"

"Hmm?" Cadence looked up to them again "Oh, my trip. It was okay. I relaxed a bit. Maybe i should go again sometime"

"You still aren't going to tell us where you went?"

"No" Cadence replied, almost rude sounding "i said it's my secret place away from home. I go there when i need time alone. If i told you where it was it wouldn't serve that purpose anymore now would it"

Twilight though for a moment "No, you're right. It's okay if you want to keep it a secret"

"Good" Cadence replied casually as she continued hugging Flurry.

Shining and Twilight were confused. This wasn't usual behavior for Cadence and they didn't know how to interpret it. Cadence on the other hoof was having difficulty deciding how to act. She didn't want to let it known that she is aware of what they've been doing. But she couldn't help her behavior. After all how else was she supposed to act. They've both been sleeping together behind her back and had the guts to talk to her as if nothing was going on. She didn't know how to react though. She looked at Flurry. She couldn't just divorce Shining, even though he cheated on her. Not only because she still did love him, but also for Flurry's sake.

"She has been good the whole time" Twilight said with a smile, trying to warm up the situation

"Yeah" Shining added, also smiling "Twilight has been taking care of her while I've been busy taking care of the Kingdom" he put a hoof on Twilight's back

"Mhm. I see" Cadence replied in a cold manner, still cuddling Flurry but also looking with somewhat furious eyes at Shining's hoof around Twilight. Her look made both Twilight and Shining feel a little nervous, not knowing how to explain her behavior. Shining slowly removed his hoof from Twilight and looked awkwardly at Cadence, as if asking if he did good or something.

"So..." Twilight broke the unbearable silence and awkwardly coughed a little to clean her throat "I guess I'm not needed here anymore, since Cadence is back. So i guess I need to go back to Ponyville. Starlight must really need me...If she hasn't accidentally turned the whole town into brainwashed zombies already. So I'll be leaving now and leave you two to yourselves. I'll be teleporting back home"

"Good" Cadence whispered in reply, too low to be heard by anyone

"Okay Twily. Goodbye" said Shining. The two siblings went to hug each other goodbye but the strange glares from Cadence made that hard to do. Awkwardly they just stood there for a moment. Twilight also wanted to hug Cadence goodbye but something told her Cadence didn't want that right now. And she had a feeling she wouldn't allow access to Flurry either. So she was just staying there in awkward silence that could choke one to death.

"Okay bye!" Twilight said and teleported out of there.

Shining was left alone in the room with Cadence hugging Flurry and not wanting to let go. He could tell she was not feeling well. He didn't know what was wrong but he knew one thing. He had to make it right.

"Hm?" Cadence was a little confused when she felt hooves around her. It took a second to realize Shining was hugging her "Shining Armor? What are you-"

"Shhhhhh" Shining put a hoof to her lips so as to tell her to stay silent "I don't know what's wrong. But whatever it is, I'm here for you" he hugged her tightly

She kept silent for a bit. Still hugging Flurry tightly "Okay."

"Cadence..."

'Don't'

She knew what he was going to say. She didn't want to hear it. But worst of all. She could feel it. She didn't want to feel it. She didn't want to believe it.

"I love you" he said. Cadence didn't want to trust his word. She wanted to tell herself he was lying. But her powers were telling her the opposite.

".....I love you too" she weakly replied after a moment of hesitation. She too told the truth.

Shining just kept hugging her. She could feel his love for her. She didn't want to believe it as true but she could feel it and her talent to sense love never lied. She couldn't understand how he could love two ponies at once. She just knew that was the case. She couldn't understand. And that irritated her. She didn't know why, it just irritated her to not understand. But she knew one thing for sure. Shining still loved her, that hadn't changed. She didn't know how he could love her and Twilight at the same time, she didn't know how he and Twilight could fall in love with each other when they were literally siblings. She just knew he loved her still. And she decided that was all she needed to know for the moment.

'Maybe i shouldn't say anything, for now' she thought to herself.

She just stood there hugging her baby and letting Shining hug her. After a moment she started to smile weakly. They stood like that for a while in silence, until Flurry fell asleep while Cadence was holding her and they both took her to her chambers to put her to bed.

Author's Note

I'm sorry it took a while to post this. I've just been busy with life and stuff. Plus i recently posted another story so that took some of my time.

So what do you think about Cadence's reaction? Would you have reacted the same way if you were in the same situation? Let me know what y'all think in the comments