As The Sun Sets

Cadance's perspective

Cadance woke up slowly, a bit too warm for comfort. She spread her wings to reach the edges of the blankets and flapped lightly to let fresh air underneath to cool her down. Shining stirred for a moment before settling again, and Cadance cracked her right eye open.

The crystal room was still dim, though the barest hint of daylight was beginning to filter in through the window. Her sleepy mind could only focus on Shining Armor, though, and the fleeting dream she had just experienced. Words and voices with colours she could barely remember drifted away as she let them go and closed her eye again.

Totally worth the scheduling nightmare

Cadance shifted a little, her body discomfortably warning her of the pressure in her limbs.

"Mmmmm." Said Shining

"Sorry honey, I didn't mean to wake you."

He squeezed her, "Mnahbr"

Cadance smiled

"Mawake now." He leaned up, stretching the hoof that was laying beneath Cadance moments ago. "Time is it?"

"Early. We still have a till noon."

"Perfect." He rolled back into position and grabbed up Cadance again, settling back into rest moments later.

Stallions...

Cadance did not find sleep again, but she wasn't consumed by her thoughts. She just rested, having successfully cleared her mind the night prior. That and a good night's sleep left her feeling... whole, serene even. The comfort of her husband holding her probably added onto that.

The hours past, and the sun came up. Cadance didn't bother pulling the curtains. They did have to be up eventually. The Friendship Express was only taking one round trip to The Empire today, so...

We could always try and find one of Silver's... uh... distribution centers? I'll have to ask her for a map, for emergencies.

Once it became bright enough for Cadance to think it was time to get up, that and when she got bored enough of lying around, she carefully extracted herself from Shining's grasp and onto the floor. There was a short flurry of levitation as she arranged their luggage, and quickly moved some of the things they wouldn't need that morning. Toiletries were important, she'd have to take a trip to...

Wait...

She hadn't noticed it till now, since she hadn't been told, but she had yet to use the little filly's room since arriving. She didn't feel like she had to either.

She shifted in place, her brow furrowed. Then she quietly made her way to the bathroom, both on her way out of the room, and out in the halls with toothbrush and co in tow.

Still felt normal. Yet within the next few minutes when she went, everything worked like normal, she just didn't feel the way she was supposed to. At least the sudden motive to be in the bathroom gave her the excuse to groom herself quickly, her mane had nearly grown back to its normal length. The bottom of her mane was beginning to curl at the edges, hard to see with the different colours, but still clearly visible.

That and her wings, wing care was very important

A few more minutes freshening up in the bathroom and she stepped back into the hall, feeling good and clean; mostly due to magic, but hey, if it works.

She made her way back to the room, or rather, she tried to. She ended up lost in the castle hallways.

"Why have..." Cadance mumbled to herself after opening another door that lead to another empty room. "Ugh."

Cadance lit her horn, she wasn't willing to just try teleporting in a structure like this, but that didn't mean she couldn't find the nearest pony. She turned in place, trying to get a feel for whoever was closest to her.

Turns out trying to judge distance in a place without distance and covered in magic is kinda hard.

Cadance continued walking aimlessly down the halls until she came across an open door. She peaked inside, "Helloooo?"

"Oh! Cadance!" Came Twilight's voice

"Oh thank goodness, Twilight!" Cadance stepped into the room... the... Empty room, what was Twilight doing in here? The mare in question was just standing in said empty room. She turned to Cadance as she walked inside, they met halfway. "What are you doing in here?"

Twilight smiled, "Oh, just morning spell practice, what are you doing?"

"Looking for a way back to our room..." Cadance muttered, trying to make her faux irritation clear.

Twilight frowned, "Oh, right. Uhm, come on, I can lead you back."

Twilight was overtook momentarily by a wave of indecision, or doubt, or something like it, Cadance couldn't exactly tell. Her emotion sense struggled to work on Alicorns, the only reason it worked on Twilight at all was because of their bond.

Time to bite the feather

"Something on your mind?"

Twilight's ears shifted on her head, "Is it that easy to tell?" Twilight took one look at Cadance and answered her own question, "Never mind, yes. I do have something on my mind."

Twilight opened her mouth, but Cadance lifted a hoof, "Walk and talk?"

Twilight nodded and used her magic to lift the stone propping the door open, while holding the door open as well. They left the room together with Twilight taking the lead. "I dunno, I don't want to be all..." Twilight rolled her eyes in opposite directions, "Looking over your shoulder or anything-"

"Twilight" Cadance said sternly, "Just talk to me. Where is all of this trepidation coming from?" To emphasize the mood she was trying to get across, Cadance took a step closer and wrapped a wing across the smaller Alicorn's back.

Twilight didn't shy away from the walking embrace, just groaned, "Ugh, I'm already overthinking this." She lifted her head, "You've been a little more..." she led Cadance down a right hoof turn, "More like Celestia."

"Tall?" Cadance joked.

"Distant."

"Oh." Cadance tried not to let the comment get to her.

"I don't mean it personally!" Twilight tried to backpedal on the phrase, but it was already said, and it was pretty true.

The moment when she tried intimidating that changeling struck out at her from her memory and her mouth found itself in a line. Her wing around Twilight's back became ever so slightly mechanical.

"It's okay Twilight, I've been stuck in my own head recently; I understand."

"And Silver-"

"Lemme stop you right there." Cadance smiled, returning to a playful demeanor, "Do you think you can talk to me about what's bothering you without mentioning Quick Silver?"

"Err-"

"Okay, just curious, go ahead."

Twilight mulled over her words momentarily before speaking, "I just... She scares me, and for good reason. She's not like Discord, Cadance, she'll hurt ponies and she can't be trusted."

"Oh, she definitely can't be trusted. I know that much, she makes it a point with almost everything she says." Cadance tapped her other wing to her chin, "I think she actually makes a game of trying to get ponies to call her a liar." Cadance lifted her wing from Twilight's back as she folded both appendages back into place. "But I've never seen her hurt somepony without a reason."

Twilight sighed, "But what if she does? I won't... undermine you, or your work; but what will happen if Silver tries to do something bad, and we didn't stop her?"

"You mean like what happened with Discord."

Twilight frowned, "Yes, I do mean... Like that."

Cadance didn't just want to be mean, but the next thing she said was true. "Well that worked out, didn't it?"

"Yes..." Twilight said slowly.

"Thank you for worrying about me Twilight, and I'm not just saying that." Cadance lifted a hoof and bumped Twilight's shoulder, "But I got this, you don't have to worry. I do think about the things you say, so if you have a concern, please tell me."

"Well... Will you look over her... well, I don't know if it is her company, but nopony else I know has access to the magical artifice to be able t-"

"Tack & Co.?"

"Yes. Will you look into it? Closely? After... Well Discord basically pointed me at a- there was a literal plane- okay, how he told me doesn't matter, but he told me to look into it and I did. You know what I found?"

Cadance gestured for her to continue

Twilight's brow furrowed, and her voice came out even, tensed to get across how serious she was being. "I used my title to get access to a couple of documents. Tack & Co. has operation centers in every single settlement in Equestria. Every. Single. One. But only two are active. On paper, and to the public, the company is only active in Trottingham, Manehatten, and the Crystal Empire, but there's structures everywhere."

I was just thinking about that...

Cadance's muzzle wrinkled, "Why have buildings without using them?"

"That's what I tried to figure out." Twilight gestured, "The safety inspections for the building records had locations on them, so I... tracked down the one in Ponyville. I tried to use a scrying spell to see inside, but I got... blocked." Twilight huffed, "When I tried something stronger, the entire house lost all magical signatures, all of the spells dispersed into background thaumic ambiance."

"Wait, house?"

Twilight nodded, "I don't know if it was intentional, but it was just a normal house. Completely impossible to recognize as anything else from the outside."

Why? What could it be for?

"Quick Silver has instant access to everywhere in Equestria and... Well, in spite of what I want to believe, the only purpose for infrastructure like that is-"

"I get it, and... That is very concerning."

"The worst part?" Twilight rhetorically asked

"There's more?"

"The dates, at least, most of the dates I found for the inspections and building records are marked from before Silver showed up in The Empire, before you and Luna freed Dusk from stone. As in, years before."

Years?

"Quick Silver has been planning whatever she's doing for years, and whatever it is; I don't know if we can stop her without taking drastic action." Twilight continued, "That's what I tried to say when... When I said she wasn't like Discord. Discord doesn't think years in advance... I don't think; Silver is conniving, and manipulative."

Cadance thought back to all the times Silver warned her about Tack & Co. being the keystone to her plan, and it struck her as odd that the only time Cadance was ever just told 'no' by the mare was when she went to inspect the building itself. It only just clicked now how out of character that was. Every other question or accusation was brushed off, avoided, or turned back onto Cadance. With Tack & Co.? A brick wall.

"I see your point. I won't let it sit anymore, I promise." and Cadance meant it. "Though, can we stop going in circles now?"

Twilight flushed, having been found out, "S-sorry. I didn't want to get there before we were done talking."

"Me neither." Cadance affirmed, "Thank you for telling me that."

As they came to a stop in front of the room in question Cadance wrapped the door in her aura before turning to Twilight, "You can always talk to me Twilight. Please remember that."

"I will, and I'll go make breakfast for you two. See you in a minute?"

"If I can wake up your brother." She joked

Twilight giggled, "Good luck with that." She turned away and walked off, Cadance watched her take a deep breath and let it out as she walked away.

The door opened, Cadance stepped inside the room. "~Shini-"

"Surprise!" He said, standing over a suitcase.

This stallion!

"Shining! Did you pack everything?" Cadance took a couple more steps into the room, glancing around, everything was as it was. The only thing left out of place was their pair of suitcases, currently opened to display the stacks of papers, a jar, and a few other assorted objects.

"Everything but the toiletries, I noticed you took them with you?"

Cadance ruffled her wings, "I left them in the bathroom, one second." She lit her horn and cast an object teleport, since she knew the shape, colour and intimate details of the objects, it was something she could do without issue. They teleported directly into her telekinetic grasp and subsequently joined with a cup in her suitcase.

"There, done. Unless we're miss-"

"Paint." Shining supplied.

Dang it, I... Guess I predicted forgetting about that.

"Thank you, I think we'll just carry that though." Cadance lifted the suitcases to the door, "Twilight's making breakfast, hungry?"

"Yeah, actually, I could've stood to eat more yesterday." He joked while bumping Cadance

"Hey, it's not my fault your spoon fencing is rusty."

Shining contemplatively looked at a wall. "I never thought I'd hear that statement said out loud for any reason."

"Breakfast!"

"Okay okay! I'm coming!"

They arrived in the kitchen where they had waged war the night previous. Twilight was currently sitting at the island on a stool with her hooves crossed and a pout on her face. Spike was at the sink washing his claws.

"What's going on here?" Cadance said, confused and amused.

"Spike won't let me cook breakfast."

Spike retorted from the sink as he shut it off, "I'm not letting you burn down the castle."

"I wouldn't've burned down the castle!" Twilight cried in embarrassment.

"You made a spell to light crystals on fire."

Twilight hid under her wings.

Shining scoffed and walked past Cadance and took a seat on the stool next to Twilight. "Hey don't feel bad Twilight, Cadance is a terrible cook too."

"Uh- excuse me?" Cadance said in mock offense

"It's true?" Shining said, shrugging

Cadance nodded sagely, inclining her head, "It's true, what can I say?" She turned to Spike, "It's good to see you Spike, how are you?"

"Eh." He shrugged, taking off his apron, "You know, work, saving the world, nothing new."

"Just another day for Spike the brave and glorious huh?" She smiled, and he tried to hide how the praise made him feel. He did a pretty good job actually, Cadance assumed nopony ever told him that she can cheat though.

"You know it."

Shining joined in, breaking away from his conversation with Twilight, "Hey Spike, what's on the menue?"

"Cherry Danishes and whatever's left from the mess you guys made last night. I got the jam at the post office yesterday."

Cadance tilted her head, "The post office has jam?"

Spike opened the fridge and pulled out a jar half full of said jam, "One of the mail mare's father makes jams. She brings in snacks from time to time, muffins mostly."

"Spike!" Shining shouted; Spike turned in confusion at the shout, "Stop growing up so fast!"

Spike’s worried posture melted away and he smiled, "Thanks."

Twilight made a face, but Cadance distracted everypony by spreading her wings and opening a few cabinets.

Crackers and cheese

She fished out the crackers she'd found the previous night, "Spike, do you-"

Spike had already pulled out a bag of cubed cheddar from the fridge when he put the jam back inside. He handed it to her, she took it in her aura in light confusion, wondering how he knew what she was looking for. "Thanks..."

Spike had already walked off to the oven, presumably for pastries.

"How long until you guys have to leave?" Twilight asked to the room

Shining answered, "We leave at noon right?"

Cadance nodded from the seat she'd just taken as she lifted a cracker and some cheese into her mouth.

mmmm

"So two hours or so?"

"Sounds about right."

Spike pulled a tray of almost comically delectable looking pastries from the oven and placed them on the counter a few hooves away from Cadance.

"Holy-" Shining blinked a few times, "Spike, those look incredible!"

Spike polished a claw on his chest.

"Spike's been picking up skills faster than anypony else I know."

"You taught me how to learn Twilight."

"I knooow. I just wish I could cook like that."

Shining elbowed her in the side, "Never gonna happen."

"Ugh."

Cadance levitated a danish up off the tray, the bottom sizzled as she picked it up, exposed to the air.

"Careful Cadance, it's pretty hot."

Cadance put the whole thing in her mouth.

Spike's eyes widened and Shining 'snrked.

Around a mouthful of pastry, a good juxtaposition of Cadance and 'Princess Cadance' she said, "I realized recently, I am a little more heat resistant than I thought."

After breakfast, Shining and Cadance shared hugs and goodbyes with Twilight and Spike before heading out to collect Cadance's paint order. Neither Shining nor Cadance spoke during the event, as they both simply didn't feel the need to. Brush was polite and professional like before, and the married head to the train station and subsequently bordered after collecting two enchanted buckets of paint.

Cadance wished for a moment that Silver was there for the trip back to continue her story, before she and Shining snuggled up on their seat and watched the countryside pass by.