Author's Note

WARNING! THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL HAVE A SMALL WHITE PORTION SAFE TO READ, HOWEVER...MUCH OF IT, IF NOT THE REST, WILL BE RED AND UNSAFE FOR WORK.

19: Secret Plots

A couple of days pass by when one of Celestia's maids guides you to Mi Amore's chambers at her request, arriving at a tower at the end of a corridor you have not been down before near the guard barracks. Stopping near the door, she turns her head to the left and looks at you, saying, "Be mindful of your position and knock on her door, then maintain propriety before waiting for her reply before entering a maiden's private quarters."

Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, you nod and walk up to the door in your unicorn form and raise your hoof to knock on it. Rapping the tip of your hoof on the door firmly, you say in a loud and clear tone, "Miss Mi Amore, my name is Blistering Blizzard and I was notified of you agreeing to meet with me."

Prancing in place as she looks down at her engagement ring she has hidden away in a drawer, she calms herself down and closes the open drawer before turning around and making her way to the door, saying, "I have been told that you have been having some emotional trouble, so I asked to see you at your earliest convenience." Opening the door, she looks you over with a smile, saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you again, Blistering Blizzard. Please come on inside so we can talk about what troubles you are dealing with."

Disguised as a unicorn maid, Chrysalis pretends to take her leave until the door closes, then quietly returns to it. Before leaning towards the door, she looks around to see no guards around and listens to what is being said, thinking, 'I must learn all I can about this princess and who she interacts with if I am to succeed in taking over Canterlot and all of Equestria...'

As you have a seat in a chair across from Cadence, you say, "Your aunt has told me that you have an ability to sense emotions, so could you tell me what you can sense from me?"

Rolling her eyes, she huffs silently and thinks, 'It is childsplay for me to see that your emotions are in a state of utter turmoil, battling for supremacy. It is quite interesting at how you still function with such a paltry amount of love being inside of you...'

Cocking her head, she closes her eyes and uses a small spell to detect emotions, then opens them back up, saying, "There are a few and it is difficult to gauge them, but the most apparent are: Happiness, Sadness, and Anger with the least apparent of them all are Fear and Love, which is almost non-existent." Straightening her head, she then asks, "Your lack of love concerns me greatly, may I place my hoof upon you so that I can examine your source of love?"

Unsure about what she is aiming to do, you sigh and nod, saying, "Go right ahead, though I have no clue as to what you can do to help me from what happened in the past..."

Cadence walks up to you and lays a hoof upon your chest, saying, "The spell I use will not hurt at all, it will allow me to see what is going on with your sources inside you."

Casting her spell, she finds herself standing in an empty space with five silver braziers surrounding her, with two nearly blazing beyond control. Identifying the wildly burning braziers nearly instantly as she knows blue to signify sadness with red being anger, she turns her head to look at the flame to the right of the red flame. Noticing that it is smaller than it should be, the flame to the right of Anger is an inferno compared to the tiny pink sliver of fire that belongs to Love, which sits to the right of Happiness's yellow fire. The green fire sitting between the pink fire of Love and the raging blue fire of Sadness is roughly the same size as Love, causing her to sigh and think, 'Why are these braziers in such a sorry state for a pony so young? I know my aunts told me that his name is Arthas Menethil, and that he is from another world...but they haven't mentioned anything regarding his past other than he has had a hard life. How come these braziers look as if he is in so much agony, and what caused his source of love to be on the verge of collapsing? I must find out what caused his heart so much pain that has him almost ready to give up on love and help breathe life into it again.' Placing her hoof upon the nearly crumbling silver brazier, she uses her ability to gain access to the cause of its current state.

Feeling something questing deeper into you, you wince as a memory flashes before your eyes, causing your sorrow to rise as you relive the moment, saying, "I'm so sorry..."

This part takes place inside of Arthas's Heart, with absolutely nothing being said by him or Cadence in the room until after her return to her own body!

After following the trail from the brazier, she finds a picture frame resembling a couple beings on two legs leaving a house holding each others hand. Looking closer at the leading figure, she identifies it as being male for its wide shoulders and posture. Another look at the picture makes her gasp as she recognizes the eyes and hair from Blistering Blizzard's appearance, saying to herself in the empty space, "So this is who you really are, Arthas. Why do you look like a noble in this picture?" Looking at at the figure to the left, she determines it as being female for its slighter stature and ample bosom similar to how the dragons are identified as male or female. Seeing long, blonde hair past her shoulders, and the joy in her eyes as she follows you down the steps, she asks herself, "You two look so happy together in this picture, so what became of your relationship?"

As she examines the picture frame for clues, she spots a barely noticeable jagged, red line running down the picture frame and cuts right through the middle of your clasped hands. Finding that unusual, she raises her hoof and touches the crack and gasps when it splits open, causing the left half to fall to the floor and leave the right half with you remaining behind as a red liquid slowly runs along the red tear and drips off the bottom of the frame. Pulling her hoof away quickly, she looks down at the other half of the picture to see that it is bleeding as well. Watching the blood slowly pool up to form two halves of a heart torn apart, sadness touches her heart as she understands that you two went your separate ways.

Needing to know more, she sighs and places her right hoof on both halves of the broken heart, which draws her deeper into the void. As she finds herself in a new area with several black reflection-less mirrors, one of them shimmers and begins to reveal an image. Focusing on the image, she sees a small crowd of two-legged beings sitting behind pews when she spots a pair of children, one of whom is looking to their left at another child with their hands pressed up against each other bowing their head reverently, a young female child by the dress she is wearing.

Thinking that it resembles the girl from before, Cadence says to herself in the void, "So you two first met when you were children, what happened next?" She then sees the mirror to the right of it begin to shimmer and watches as another image shows up, with the mirror beside it starting to shimmer once the neighboring image becomes clear.

As she watches frozen images from the past appear of your time together with her, not yet figuring out either your status in society, one mirror begins to shimmer as an image of you two at a much older age becomes visible. What surprises her is that it maintains its shimmer as it quickly transitions to another image and the next in sequence, creating a silent moving picture. As she watches it play out, it shows you arriving at her room, bowing to her as if requesting something from her when she hesitantly places her hand in yours. From there, it continues on to the two of you riding large ponies out to the countryside and stop near a huge oak tree, leaning against it with your back on the bark as you gently pull her to you for your very first kiss. The image stops there as a pink heart surrounds the mirror, when another starts to shimmer.

While the following mirrors don't have any motion in them, they too are surrounded by pink hearts. Cadence understands the pink hearts to mean that your relationship moved from friendship into romance, saying, "So you two were childhood friends that eventually became romantically involved, so what happened to make your source of love to become so damaged?"

More still images shimmer and show scenes from your time together, all surrounded by a pink heart until one of the last few mirrors shimmers brightly and pulls her into it.

Cadence looks around a lavish, ancient-looking castle throne room with a grey haired male sitting in a throne made of marble, gold and red satin wearing a silver crown with talons curling up out of it. Continuing to look around for clues, she sees a very expensive-looking gold and dark red velvet carpet stretch out from the base of the throne all the way to the door. When her eyes spot movement to her left, she turns to see you walking towards the red carpet wearing gleaming, heavy silver armor with gold trim around the edges, a long blue cloak around your broad shoulders with gold trim, a thick metal belt made of silver around your waist with a gold lion head on top of a blue background, though what causes her to look twice is the silver band around your forehead, making her shout out loud in the void, "Your ROYALTY!?" Thinking back to the night of the gala, she facehooves herself and groans, saying, "Of course...now it all makes sense why you acted that way." When you pass by her, she notices two silver pins on either side of the front of your armor by your shoulders, seeing that one has a painted blue background with a gold L while the other is all silver with a hand on it, wondering, 'What do those symbolize? I will have to ask him or my aunts later if he won't tell me.'

As she watches you stop and kneel before the ruler and bow your head to him, saying, "Father, I came to answer your urgent summons. What danger threatens the kingdom of Lordaeron?"

The old man's chuckle draws her attention to him as he then speaks, saying, "There is no danger to the kingdom, my son. The reason I have summoned you is regarding troubling rumors that have reached my ears.."

Cadence watches you cock your head and respond with, "What rumors would those be, Father?"

Averting her attention back to the old man, he raises his eyebrow at you, saying, "Rumors involving a certain admiral's daughter of the ruling family of the allied nation of Kul Tiras. Do these rumors speak the truth? Are you secretly courting Admiral Daelin Proudmoore's daughter...BEHIND OUR BACKS!?"

Things begin to clear up for Cadence as she turns to you, hearing you answer, "Yes they do, and I demand that you arrange a marriage between Jaina and I this year, for I wish to start a family with her at once."

Hearing a thunderous boom from her right snaps her attention back to the old man whose fist struck the throne's arm, bellowing, "YOU DARE TO COMMAND ME TO OBEY YOUR WISHES?! YOU ARE MERELY A CROWN PRINCE, MY CROWN BEARS MORE AUTHORITY THAN YOURS DOES, MY SON. DO YOU KNOW THE PRECARIOUS POSITION YOUR SECRET ROMANCE WITH THAT GIRL HAS PUT THIS KINGDOM IN?! YOUR FEELINGS FOR HER ARE JUST A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION FOSTERED BY YOUR LACK OF EXPERIENCE WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX! THEREFORE, I FORBID YOU FROM COURTING JAINA PROUDMOORE ANY FURTHER IN ANY MANNER, SO END IT IMMEDIATELY OR RISK LOSING YOUR TITLE AS CROWN PRINCE AND ALL PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO YOU AS MY SON! The safety of the kingdom rests on your shoulders with this decision, do not disappoint me..."

The scene around her comes to an end with the sound of glass shattering, making her look up to find herself back in the void with the mirrors. Looking at the most recent mirror she was drawn into, she sees a pink heart surround the cracked mirror as the next mirror to it shimmers and begins to create a moving picture, placing the two of you in a building somewhere having dinner together when you hold each others hands. The moment lasts for several seconds as you rub her right hand with your left thumb, when she apparently says something as her lips move.

Cadence watches as Jaina then pulls her hands out of your hold and reaches into a pocket, removing something small she hides within both of her hands. When she holds her hands towards you, Jaina opens her hands to reveal a beautiful silver locket with gold designs swirling about the top of it with small amethysts set into spaces at the end of each gold line. Taking the locket from her, you press the hidden button on top to open it.

When it pops open, she sees an image of you and Jaina standing together underneath the oak tree she recognizes from an earlier mirror. As Cadence watches you close it gently and put it into your satchel, then take her hand in yours while looking into her eyes. The moving picture shows you speaking to Jaina, which causes her face to become crestfallen as tears slowly appear in the corners of her eyes. As she dries her eyes, the image comes to an end as Cadence finds herself back in the room with the mirrors.

Another sound of breaking glass reaches her ears as she watches a broken pink heart show up around the mirror, causing the next mirror to shimmer and show a moment between you two after that. Able to figure out from the images that you two remained friends, she smiles at how rare that happens when the next to last image shimmers and draws her in.

Taken to another location, Cadence looks around her to see herself outside of a city as she watches hundreds, possibly thousands of soldiers marching away when her eyes land on you. She watches as you turn your gaze to Jaina as she takes a few steps from you, saying her name questioningly. Turning her gaze to her as she watches her stop with her back to you, saying, "I'm sorry Arthas, but I cannot watch you do this." and continues walking away, causing Cadence to turn her gaze back to you with tears in her own eyes as her heart aches at sensing how much this affected you. The scene ends with the alicorn watching you hang your head briefly with a tear falling from your eye before turning away.

An excruciating pain hits her hard, causing her to clutch at her own heart with her hoof, feeling like someone just stabbed it and sobs as she finds herself in the empty void again. Looking up at the next to last mirror, she sees a broken pink heart around the cracked mirror with a dagger plunged into the upper right side of it and sticking out the lower left side.

Still clutching at her heart in pain, she watches the last image shimmer and slowly reveal the image. What she sees causes tears to stream from her eyes as the pain becomes unbearable to her as she gazes upon the image of you wearing dark, ghastly armor with your gauntleted hand around Jaina's throat as if trying to choke the life out of her.

Collapsing to the ground, she screams in agony as your pain overwhelms her, forcing her to suddenly jerk her hoof away from you with tears streaming from her own eyes as she sobs at remembering the pain.

Cadence has returned to her room in the real world.

You watch her with a worried look and ask in a concerned tone, "A-Are you going to be okay, Cadence?" and raise your hoof to touch her cheek in a caring manner.

Cadence jerks away from your hoof, then sighs and takes a few calming breaths to help herself regain her composure, saying, "Apologies for the unseemly display, I was momentarily overwhelmed by the pain you felt in the past when you felt betrayed by your former lover." Taking a few steps back toward you, she says, "Here, let me help you ease some of that past agony."

Hearing nothing but silence until now after hearing you apologize, Chrysalis huffs in annoyance, thinking to herself, 'Well at least this wasn't a total waste of my time, I must remember that she has developed a fondness for this stallion and capitalize on that when the time comes for me to strike...'

As she holds you close, you feel some of your sorrow fade away, asking her curiously, "What did you just do?"

Continuing to hold you close, she says, "Your broken heart has suffered a wound that continues to bleed, which threatens its survival. It isn't a permanent fix, but I have shared some of my love with you to keep your source from perishing. A pony can live without love, but they will be colder than ice to those around them. With the rate of your bleeding heart, I would guess that the love I shared will last you a few months at most. I will be searching for a permanent fix for your wound in the meantime, and share more of my love with you when it gets low."

With a sigh, you attempt to push her away, but she refuses to budge as you say, "Why do you care so much for a monster like me? Do you not know what I've done in the past?"

Cadence shakes her head and refuses to budge, saying, "I am nicknamed the Princess of Love, so I care about all ponies equally, despite anything they may have done in the past."

When you raise your hoof to the spot just behind her left ear, you rub it firmly and say, "Then before we meet again, I suggest that you find out what your aunts have deigned to share with you despite being a princess yourself."

Finding the ear rub pleasurable, she leans into the petting, saying, "I am not a real princess, that is just a nickname due to how much I care for everypony. Though, I will be having a talk with them about what I have learned, I look forward to meeting with you again after I find out what I don't know about you."

Remembering that she is a taken mare, you stop the ear rub and say, "I doubt you will be so eager to see me after you learn my past."

Pouting at how abruptly the rubbing stopped, Cadence whines, saying, "Aww, why'd you stop! That felt so nice and relaxing..."

A chuckle escapes you as you ask, "How would Shining Armor react to hearing you say that?"

She rolls her eyes and snorts in irritation saying, "He wouldn't care. Besides, it is only an ear rub between friends. Now get back to rubbing my ear."

Raising your eyebrow questioningly, you hesitantly return your hoof to her ear, muttering, "I highly doubt that, but I will leave it to you to clear up the mess."

With a huff, she says, "Fine, but there won't be a mess. After all, Shining Armor finally asked for my hoof in marriage, but please don't tell anypony else that, especially not Twilight, for her brother wants to be the one to tell her."

New emotions well up within you, but instead of latching on to them, you let the bitterness and jealousy pass over you and say, "Well congratulations, when is the wedding going to be held?"

She catches herself almost nuzzling into your neck and pulls back a little, taking her head away from your rubbing and saying with a smile, "Thank you. I believe it is going to be held in a couple months due to the season that is arriving in about a week."

Putting your hoof back on the ground, you nod at her and say, "That is understandable, there must be quite a lot going on with Spring just beginning." Curious, you ask, "I have to ask, it was mentioned by a pony a while ago that all the males go away on a vacation around this time of year. Has that always been a tradition?"

Surprised by your question, she cocks her head saying, "Vacation..." before it clicks for her, bringing a nervous smile to her face as she says, "Riiight, that vacation..." Thinking about how to answer the question, she says, "It is indeed tradition for the males to go on a vacation, though many males go on the trip, some do stay behind due to their own desires or obligations." Genuinely curious, she then asks, "Are you planning on joining the stallions on the trip?"

You consider it and then ask, "Where are they going?"

Cadence thinks about it for a moment, saying, "I believe Shiny said they were going to Las Pegasus this year for some shows, gambling and other entertainment."

Sorely tempted to go somewhere new, you really consider going and say, "I have never been there before, so all that sounds very intriguing. Unfortunately, there is too much here that I need to deal with."

She cocks her head again and asks, "Oh, and what might that be, if I may ask?"

You sigh and then say, "Well, for one...I have to try to keep control of myself when I get angry. Another is the fact that I need to talk with you and Luna about the feelings that my other friends are not ready to deal with yet. Last, but not least, I need to get into the library and learn what I can about attack and defense magic for if there is ever trouble."

Finding your calm composure over the season odd, her eyes widen slightly as she gasps mentally, thinking, 'Hold on, does he not know that the breeding season is starting soon?!' She looks you over again and watches your eyes, her thought proves true as she then thinks, 'Oh Celestia, I will certainly not be the one to tell him about that, that is way too sensitive an issue for a mare to broach with a grown stallion out of the know. Once he leaves, I need to see if I have plenty of moon tea to last me through three weeks.'

Finding the continued silence a bit awkward, you then say, "Well, I enjoyed meeting you again milady, do you wish to see me again so we can talk?"

Cadence nods and says, "Yes I do, but I will let you know when once I learn what my aunts wish to keep from me. It would be wise of you to ease back on the charm, lest it land you in a sticky situation."

With a nod of your head, you bow to her gracefully and say, "I will take your advice under great consideration, so farewell for now, fair maiden. I shall await your word, good day to you." then turn around and head out the door, closing it behind you as you start to make your way to the library.

She looks at the place you were just standing with a far away look in her eye as she absentmindedly bites her lower lip, thinking, 'Buck...what a gentlestallion...' Before that thought can go anywhere, she shakes her head clear and groans, saying, "I can't believe it is hitting me already, need to drink my tea before I get into trouble and risk losing my Shiny." She then has a thought, thinking, 'Maybe he can tell Blistering Blizzard for me...'

A few days pass as Fluttershy teaches you how to control the multiple muscles in your wings as she then says, "The girls and I will be going on a camping trip to White Tail Woods for a week or two, so I won't be able to teach you how to fly while we're away." She then nuzzles against you affectionately, saying, "I will miss our time together, so please try to keep yourself out of trouble."

You then smile at her and say, "Thank you for letting me know. I will miss you too, and I will do my best to try. The one thing I will miss most other than you are the flying lessons, I hope to start flying soon."

Fluttershy giggles and kisses your cheek, saying, "Don't worry, we will get to that when we return. But let me show you a few easy exercises you can do to strengthen your wing muscles before we end this lesson."

Nodding your head, you say, "Alright then, at least that will give me something else to work on while you are off camping, show me what these exercises are."

As she shows you the first exercise, a simple push up, Fluttershy coaches you through it with a smile, saying, "Even though this is a simple exercise, it is important to get the form right or you won't work all the muscles necessary for flying at faster speeds. You need to keep your back legs straight behind you on the ground, and your back needs to be in line. Doing the exercise properly will help strengthen the muscles along your spine. I never really have a need to fly faster than a hummingbird, so I don't exercise as much like Rainbow Dash does."

Getting down into position to match her description, you listen to her correct your form a little bit and then watch her drop down into the same pose and perform a few push ups before returning to her hooves. Doing a few, you hear her say your form is good before starting on the next exercise.

The sun is nearly setting when Fluttershy must leave to feed her animal friends, giving you a tender kiss goodbye before brushing her tail across your neck as she takes flight.

With your stomach full from the food that Fluttershy brought, you mosey your way through the halls to go help Luna set up for her nightly patrol.

Once you have a chat with Luna about the grief you feel and the past mistakes that haunt you, you return to your chambers to get some sleep. Waking up the next morning after suffering a night plagued by your past, a floating mane brushes past your nose. As her mane tickles your nose, you try to snort it away when you suddenly throw your head back and sneeze, saying "AAHH-CHOO!"

Unable to hold back a giggle, Luna looks up at you as she lies beside you, saying, "Bless you, Prince Arthas. I thank you for putting up with me always sneaking into your bed at daybreak, as well as my...other shenanigans."

Turning your eyes to her with a raised eyebrow, shooting a scrutinizing gaze at her saying, "'Putting up with' is an adequate way to say that if I had let you have your way with me, your sister would either banish me into the sun or force me to take both of your hooves in marriage."

Her eyes light up in amusement at hearing that, saying, "I know she would jump at the first one, but she would be rather hesitant with taking a husband as she would not know how to let go of the control she has over her decisions."

As you stretch your body out, your joints pop after not resting too well. Turning back to the princess, you caress her cheek and say, "Well, I shall wish you a goodnight, milady." Giving her cheek a kiss, you then make your way off the bed.

Letting out a tired yawn, Luna then smiles sleepily at you, saying, "Enjoy your day, Arthas, mind that charm of yours."

Making your way to the door, you smirk and say, "Oh but how can I? That is the best part of my personality."

Raising her mask a bit, she cracks one eye open at you then snorts and waves a wing at you in a shooing motion, saying, "Pfff, don't come crying to me when it comes back to bite you in that toned flank of yours. Now shoo, off with you, I need my beauty sleep for the next night patrol."

With a chuckle, you open the door and walk out while closing it behind you softly, turning to head down the hall for breakfast when a maid comes up to you, informing you that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza wishes to see you. Nodding your head, you make your way down the hall after her.

Cadence paces back and forth in her room, trying to keep herself under control after learning all of your past history when she hears a knock at the door. Snapping her attention to the door, she forces herself to calmly say, "If that is Blistering Blizzard at the door, you may enter. If not, then please come back later as I am expecting company."

Opening the door and entering the room, you close the door behind you and see that Cadence's mane is frazzled and ask, "By the state of your mane, I am guessing that you learned of my past. Is my assumption correct?"

Hastily stepping up to you, her nose is close to yours as she looks at you with wide eyes, "Why didn't you tell me before that you are a bonafide PRINCE?!" Gasping as she recalls the maid outside not supposed to know that, she casts a privacy barrier then sighs and curtsies to you, saying, "Apologies for letting that slip, Your Majesty."

Still disguised as a maid, Chrysalis's eyes open wide at the revelation as she slowly blinks a couple of times from shock. When she recovers, a slow grin crosses her face as she thinks, 'An actual prince huh? I might have to adjust my plans a bit to further investigate that stallion.'

Sighing and placing your hoof under her chin, you pull her back up, saying with a sorrowful tone, "It is fine, I don't hear that maid running off to tell anyone else just yet. Maybe that bit of news caused her to faint. Besides, I used to be a Crown Prince, I am not one anymore."

Cadence straightens up a bit and forces her to calm down a bit, saying, "I know you died and came back to life somehow, but that doesn't change the fact that you still have a royal upbringing and the blood of your father running through your veins, not to mention your personality. Do the others know of your past?"

With her no longer bowing, she stands on her four hooves looking at you curiously and nod, saying, "They do indeed, even though I didn't go into great detail when sharing my story with Twilight as she wrote it down, it still is a lengthy read. I don't see you laughing like a madman, so I think you handled it fairly well."

She blinks a couple times at hearing that and says, "You call being terrified of the dark, the tiny motes of dust that float in the air visible only in the light of the moon or the sun, the sounds you hear at night that are supposed to help you sleep soundly, and the insects that I know are outside...HANDLING IT WELL!?!? I've been unable to sleep for the past two nights because of the horrors I've learned from your past. How are you keeping yourself from going insane, please tell me your secret!?"

You see her eyes twitch as she starts losing her mind, forcing you to change your shape into your original human one. As you stand over her, you see her back legs give out from under her as she slowly backs away. Lunging toward her, you reach out with your gauntleted hands and wrap them around her back. Pulling her up against you, practically able to smell the fear coming off of her, you hold her against you and move your hand to behind her head.

Almost losing control of her bladder, Cadence feels you rub the spot just behind her neck, saying in a half-moan, "Ohhh.....soothing."

Continuing your ministration just behind her ear, you take her left ear into your left hand and massage it gently. Your massage soon has her melting into your hold, pressing herself up against your armor moaning softly. Wanting to stop this from going too far, you slowly stop and say, "I maintain my sanity because I come from a world where war, bloody violence, and death are commonplace and unavoidable. I am used to it, however, you ponies know only peaceful times with only a few challenges appearing every so often"

Once she regains control of herself again, she wriggles out of your grasp with a slight blush at letting herself get too into it, saying while sitting a few steps away from you, "Thank you for helping me regain control over myself, I can't even begin to fathom what you feel when you relive your past every night. Care to talk with me for a little while?"

You shift back into being a unicorn, saying, "I would like that, I believe that you may need to talk about what you need to."

Cadence looks away for a moment, feeling guilt at almost screaming out and calling you a monster. Then sighs as she turns back to you and says, "Please return to how you normally look so I can work past this guilt I feel at almost screaming out in fear and calling you a monster."

A chuckle escapes you as you nod and shift back, saying, "As milady wishes, though you are correct that I am a monster. I am the worst monster this world has never seen before, but worry not, for I have other plans in place should I ever return to my former evil self."

Curious what you look like now, she asks, "Would you please remove your helm so that I may see what your human face looks like, Arthas?"

Reaching up and removing your helm, you set it on the ground beside you and look at Cadence, saying, "Am I everything you imagined me to look like?"

Quickly squashing the heat rising within her body, Cadence smiles and says, "Better, if I wasn't happy with dating Shining Armor, I would likely try to get to know you better as other mares wish to. You are a stallion among stallions alright, and are in a class of your own. Any mare that you decide to court or marry would be the envy of every mare in the world, though if I understand the state of your heart correctly, you are not looking for a relationship just yet, right?"

As you and Cadence spend a few hours talking, the sun starts to hang towards the horizon as you say, "I enjoyed our talk together, Cadence, let's talk again when you wish."

She smiles and nods her head, taking a breath and failing to suppress a wince at the smell coming from you, saying, "I would ask to meet again tomorrow, but I am afraid that you will need to do something about the stench coming from you or your armor first. Apologies, but it is taking all my strength not to hurl all over the floor."

Shifting back into your unicorn form, you hope to remove the smell and say, "My apologies, I never put any thought into maintaining my armor or weapon as they are just replicas and reminders of my past failures. I shall see about getting that taken care of before any others fall victim to my armor's fetid odor."

Bowing your head to her, you bid her farewell and leave her room to find the maid waiting for you patiently with a slight grin on her face and sigh, saying, "I'm guessing that you heard I'm a genuine prince? You must have questions, feel free to voice them, though be warned, I may not answer them if they make me uncomfortable."

Retaining her disguise, she continues to act like one of Celestia's dutiful maids, bowing her head to you and saying, "Thank you so much for granting me such a rare privilege, Your Highness. Just where might your kingdom be? Equestria has no princes, only three princesses and Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna rule over this land."

You look down at the light tan unicorn maid, saying, "Rise, both lands that I have ruled over were freed of my reign, and they are very far from here."

Asking her next question with a genuinely curious mind, she asks, "Don't you miss watching after your subjects, and do you desire to reclaim them?"

Making your way down the hall with the maid leading you, you think it over a bit before sighing and shaking your head, saying, "I do not, for I allowed myself to be led astray and did an extremely poor job caring for their well-being. I would be hunted by my former subjects and brought to justice if I returned."

Getting the answers she wanted, Chrysalis then says, "At least you have experience to know what to do better, should an opportunity to rule over subjects again ever present itself. My mother always told me that it is best to always be the hunter instead of the hunted, but if you ever find yourself being chased...have several escape plans prepared."

As you walk down an empty hallway, you consider her words and chuckle, saying, "That is sage advice, sounds like your mother led an interesting life."

Leading you back to his room, she begins to feel hungry as she responds, saying, "Oh she most certainly did, and she was quite amorous towards others. Not once, did she discriminate between one pony or the other when it came to intimacy."

When you turn and follow the maid down the hall leading to your room, you see the mare glance back at you with a hungry glance and smirk before shaking your head at recognizing that lustful look, saying, "I appreciate you always leading me back to my room, milady. I also respect your dedication to your station here at the castle."

Finally reaching the door to your room, Chrysalis opens the door and stands aside, saying, "We have arrived, sir, I hope you have a good night." Bowing her head to you, she begins preparing to attack and feed on your love.

WARNING! THIS SECTION CONTAINS CONTENT THAT IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK, so feel free to skip this and enjoy the rest of the story!

Stopping in front of her, you smile and say, "Thank you, I have enjoyed our chat. Allow me to reward you for not treating me so kindly..." Using your hoof to lift her chin up, you lean your head towards hers to kiss her lips.

Chrysalis looks up at you when she feels your lips touch hers, surprising her for a few moments as your tongue pushes into her mouth. When she gathers her thoughts again, she closes her eyes and begins to kiss back while siphoning off a little bit of your love. She instantly notices that something is off with the love inside you, having a flowery, feminine taste to it instead of tasting a bit sharper and a bit like cinnamon like a stallion's. Wanting to know more, she uses her ability as a changeling to search your body for what your love tastes like. She finds her answer when she finds a barely flickering source of love inside you, causing her to gasp and suck in air through her nose. She tastes a tiny bit of the love within you and finds it to have a very unique flavor to it, having a minty taste which causes her body to feel a slight chill pass through it.

You slowly step around her, raising your left front hoof off the floor and smoothly slide it over her neck. Managing to move around on three legs, you begin maneuvering her so that you can back her into your room when you hear her moan into your mouth lightly.

Finding herself getting into the kiss, she feels you slowly turning her around as her tongue tangles with yours. With your love source in such a sad state, she leaves it be and decides to take no more than half of the love that is within you. As she moans into your mouth again, she sucks your tongue into her mouth and feeds on a bit of the love in you.

When you get her turned around, you take your hoof from her neck and begin to walk forward slowly. When your mouth is firmly pressed against hers, her jaws open wider to accommodate you.

Nearly devouring your teeth, she takes a step back as you keep approaching her, thinking, 'We're already making out, why are you trying to push your head into my mouth, fool?!' As she keeps walking backward, she spots the door frame going by and thinks, 'Did he discover who I am, is he planning to attack me in his room?!'

You keep walking her back, swallowing some saliva that pools into your mouth and push the door shut with your back left hoof. You keep going until you near the bed, glad to see that it is empty, thinking, 'She told me she had a few things to help her sister out with, I better make the best of this opportunity.' You then pull away and kiss along her cheek, then make your way down her neck and down along her back.

Chrysalis's vision hazes over slightly as she bites her lower lip and pants heavily through her nose, thinking, 'Well, what a surprise...not many stallions are this forward and able to turn me on. Can't say that I hate that in a stallion...but what is he planning on doing now?'

Kissing your way down her back and lightly nipping at her flanks, you kiss your way around her right thigh and use your nose to nudge her tail aside before shoving your nose between her thighs. Nudging your muzzle against both thighs, you wordlessly request her to widen her stance.

A chuckle winds its way up her throat and out of her mouth as she moves her legs further apart, only to feel you suckle at her right teat. The sensation causes her eyes to narrow slightly from desire while feeling your tongue swirl around her small, but sensitive nipple, thinking, 'Oh now this stallion knows how to tease a mare, perhaps I should keep him all to myself...'

Switching to her neglected teat, you feel her nudge your tail aside and kiss one of your testicles. The sensation sends ripples of pleasure through your body, causing your body to make your member emerge from hiding.

Chrysalis lets out a throaty moan when you kiss up from her teats to her entrance, pushing her hips back against your face as she eyes your member. Licking her lips, she slides her muzzle in front of your back right leg and licks along the front part of your member, causing your member to twitch at the sensation.

When your tongue slowly quests deeper into her folds, you feel her take your member into her mouth and feel a slightly tangy liquid drip into your mouth. With the liquid tasting like citrus, you become more enthusiastic with pleasuring her.

Her eyes roll up as her marehood becomes excited and lets out some fluid to moisten itself, working her way into taking your member deeper into her mouth. Before too long, though, she feels your member grow in size and girth, poking at the back of her throat. The sensation of you pleasuring her entrance causes her to moan again as a slight staticky charge runs through her, making her marehood even wetter and attempts to take your member deeper into her mouth. When the tip hits her throat harder than before, she winces her eyes shut as she gags and convulses. Not letting the sensation stop her, she pushes on and feels your member squeeze its way down her throat when she convulses again with a staticky charge zipping through her body.

The tightness of her throat makes your member become rock hard as you use your neck muscles to push her further onto your member, hearing her choke and cough around your member. Slowly, you pull your hips back to ease her choking and hear her moan out through her nose as another small gush of citrus fluid enters your mouth, stopping just before your member leaves her mouth completely.

In utter bliss, she notices the sweet taste of a different emotion swirl through your body, and breathes some of it in to find out what it is. Tasting a sharp pepperminty taste carrying a very spicy aftertaste, she sighs through her nose and thinks, 'Oh, what a surprise... I never expected anger to taste like this, it usually tastes bitter and salty as hell. Even though Hatred has no power to offer a changeling, this might be my new favorite junk-food.' Sucking even harder on your member, her fangs absentmindedly come down and brush along the sides of your member as she feasts on your self-loathing.

Feeling your testicles rise up and prepare to unleash your seed, you feel your member become thicker and press against the sides of her teeth. Hearing her suck in breaths between thrusts, you say, "I'm nearly at the end, so be ready."

Not paying much attention, her lips press against your sack humming in acknowledgement at hearing you. Lifting one hoof off the floor, she hooks it around the back of your flank and pulls you further into her throat. Moving her other hoof around the other side, she lets your member keep her front off the floor while she forces herself into you, ending up with her nose pressed into your sack and unable to breathe in when you start to twitch. The first hot spurt causes her entire body to shudder in orgasm as it twitches again, causing seed to slowly fill her throat and creep towards her mouth. Not wanting to let any spill out, she goes to swallow it down and feels your tip push right through the opening to her stomach, thinking, 'I didn't realize that he was this gifted, I am definitely going to have to kidnap him for my own enjoyment.'

With your nose pushed against her marehood, you gulp down her fluids while you unload into her throat, thinking, 'This mare is really talented, I might have to ask for her name so that we can have a little fun once in a while.'

She loses track of time as she feels the heat of your seed pool up in her stomach, thinking, 'Oh how much fun this would be if I was further into the breeding cycle...' Several seconds pass when she feels you stop twitching, taking the signal to return her front hooves to the ground as her body trembles slightly with post-orgasm aftershocks.

When your member leaves her mouth, still hard, you turn and look at her dazed face, asking, "Would you like to continue?"

Chrysalis's eyes can't seem to focus on you as she cocks her head in confusion, then nods her head dumbly and watches as you start to approach her rear. The dots slowly start to connect when her mind starts functioning again, causing her eyes to widen as you hop onto her back and thrust your member into her marehood. The swift thrust causes her to gasp out in surprise and pleasure, shouting out briefly, "AH BUCK...SO BIG!"

Keeping yourself on her back and only partway inside, you lower your mouth to her ear and ask, "Shall I continue, milady?"

Pleasure floods her body as she lets out a deep, husky moan, saying, "Ohhh...you better. I haven't felt sex this good in ages..." loudly saying, "NOW GO DEEPER AND THRUST HARDER, TREAT ME LIKE A SLUTTY BROOD MARE!"

Nodding your head, you slam yourself forward and meet her hips with a wet smack, drawing out a loud, passionate moan from her mouth, saying, "As milady wishes, so shall she receive."

Chrysalis enjoyed the hard, fast, and rough pounding she was getting, but slowly started to lose track of time when you released inside her the first time.

Pulling her head towards you, you take her mouth for a deep kiss and soon discover she has fangs, pulling away while burying yourself into her tight confines, asking, "How long have you had those fangs?"

Lost in the passion, she mindlessly says, "I've had them all my life, but ponies were so terrified of me I had to learn how to hide them with my magic. Sorry if you find them hideous..." and prepares to hide them with her magic.

Seeing her horn start to activate, you hook your left hoof around it and yank her head backward, saying, "I didn't give you permission to hide them, did I?"

Suddenly finding herself the prey, an orgasm hits her hard and makes her clamp down around your member, causing her to squirt all over your sack, saying, "S-Sorry SIIIRRR!"

With her giving up on using magic, you take her mouth into a deep kiss once more and continue pounding her. When her front legs buckle from under her, you keep going and make her moan louder than before by biting the sides of her neck.

Guessing that you have filled her at least five times, she feels something change inside her when you suddenly start hitting her even deeper. With the kiss still continuing, she continues to gorge herself on your anger. Only realizing that she has overfed when she gets the unpleasant urge to puke, thinking, 'DAMN! I...overfed...(hurk)...must sleep...it off...in my...(hurk)...quarters.' Her thoughts are scrambled once more when she feels a new liquid heat pour into her deepest place, shouting, "BUCK YES! RIGHT THERE!"

Holding yourself against her hips as her back legs threaten to collapse, you run your tongue along her fangs and then whisper into her ear, "I don't know why, but those fangs look really nice on you."

Chrysalis's mind melts away with bliss as she groans tiredly, "Thank you...so tired, must get back to work."

Pulling your hips back and slamming them back into her, feeling a slight pop, you say to her ear, "No work, you sleep here. I will work things out with the princess."

Once she feels you let her go, she shakily returns to her hooves and looks back at you with mostly closed eyes, saying, "Thank you, kind sir. I will remember this for the rest of my life."

You watch her make her way to the private bathroom, saying, "Rest well, milady. I shall pay Princess Celestia a visit."

After stumbling into the bathroom and relieving herself, she makes her way to the bed while still struggling to walk a straight line, chuckling, "Oh yes...I will most definitely be kidnapping this stallion and making him my only consort, perhaps even my king..." She thinks about that for a moment and cackles, saying, "Scratch that, definitely my king! Those ponies don't deserve such a gifted stallion anyway." Recalling what happened a couple days ago, she giggles with amusement, saying, "I wish I knew who cursed Prince Blueblood and turned him into a toad... Then I can get them to do it again and watch him turn back into a toad so I can free him over and over just for my own amusement!"

END OF UNSAFE SECTION, ENJOY THE REST OF THE CHAPTER!

Making your way to the throne room, you see a line of ponies outside the door and understand immediately, saying, "That's right, she holds court three times a week. Well, better get in line and wait my turn."

As you wait in line, the line of ponies waiting to meet with Princess Celestia gets shorter and shorter when you eventually find yourself next in line. Looking behind you, you see no more ponies and then turn back to the guard, asking, "Is there a reason there are no ponies behind me?"

One of the guards turns their eyes to you and says, "It is three forty-five sir, the princess usually ends court at three o'clock in the afternoon." and swiftly returns their eyes to the front, resuming their duty.

With the guard returning to their duty and saying no more, you wait for the pony that went in before you to come out. When the mare comes out and winks at you, she kisses your cheek and swishes her tail teasingly across your nose with a giggle. Finding the mare's actions unusual, your eyes follow her for a moment before hearing the guard clear their voice, saying in a deep voice, "The princess will see you now, sir."

Turning your head back around with a slightly confused look on your face, you say, "What was that?" Looking to the guards, you nod and say, "Thank you for that, guards, you do your duty very well, but keep your senses sharp. My past experiences taught me that danger can sometimes hide in clear sight, so keep your senses keen and trust your instincts."

The disguised female guards maintain their stoic appearance, though a slight smile appears on their faces as they watch you enter the throne room. The unicorn guard on the right side of the door looks at the far wall ahead of her and looks to her right at a fellow guardsmare with a knowing smirk on her face, with one thought going through both of their minds at the same time, 'I can't believe how brave that handsome stallion is to volunteer his seed to any mare that desires it, through a game of capture the flag.'

Making your way into the throne room with no other guards inside, you approach the dais and see both Princess Luna and Celestia atop of it in their own thrones. Stopping at the base of the way up to the throne, you genuflect in your unique manner with your right hoof bent over your chest, saying, "Good evening, Your Majesties, you both look positively radiant this day."

Rolling her eyes as her sister giggles, Celestia sighs and says, "Can the formalities, Arthas, please tell us what brings you here before us?"

Returning to a normal standing position, you then say, "Well, I met again with your niece Cadence a few days ago and she used her ability or 'talent' to help me feel a bit better. She then explained to me how she had shared some of her love with me to save my source of love, telling me that it was a temporary fix which would last a few months until she found a permanent solution and would share more when it got low. When she wanted to know more about my past aside from my lovelife, I told her to go find out from you two and to let me know when she was ready to meet again. Today, she asked to meet me so we could talk some more, which she shouted out in surprise about me being an actual prince and forgot about the messenger being outside. When she remembered and cast a privacy barrier spell, I clarified for her that I was a former prince. After that, we continued to talk for a bit about how I managed to remain sane, so I told her and had to help her calm down by scratching behind her ear and rubbing it between my fingers after I shifted back to my human form."

Looking at you with wide eyes, Luna says, "Please tell us everything..."

Celestia then interjects and continues, "And leave NOTHING OUT!"

Sighing out in defeat, you say, "Very well, let me start out at the beginning."

When they hear your story from start to finish, Luna giggles and says, "Oh I almost feel sorry for that maid...almost."

Ignoring her tone, you look at Celestia and ask, "I came here for two reasons. One is to request your aid in helping me gain control over my anger so that I have complete control over my dark magic, and the second is to ask for you to forgive the maid for shirking her duties and permit her to regain her strength before resuming her duties."

With a nod, she says, "Very well, I shall forgive her and let her rest. As for helping you gain control over your dark magic, I eagerly look forward to helping you gain mastery over it as I have mine. Show up bright and early tomorrow, just after sunrise so that we can begin training. I hope that you learn it quickly, as I have an important event I must oversee."