As The Sun Sets

Cadance went to the hospital that night when they returned, once everything was packed away and Shining got nabbed by the castle staff for something important.

comedic timing? Or the other kind of timing?

Cadance mused, making her way inside. The hospital was cramped as always, and an idle thought of crystal growth magic passed through her mind as she worried what the emergency section of it looked like.

"Hello Princess Cadance!" A mare said from the intake desk, it was the same orange and blue mare from before, waving jovially from her rotating chair which shimmied in place slightly as she waved. "Here for your appointment?"

"Yes." Cadance said simply, almost on accident, while trying to think of something else to add.

The mare leaned down and picked up a paper slip with her mouth and dropped it into her hooves as she stood up by falling out of the chair. "We changed your room around, so come with me."

Cadance followed the orange maned mare down a different hallway, "Thank you, though I think I never caught your name?"

"Dawn, Highness, my sister is Dusk."

"Have you two been working here for long?"

"Oh yeah, me and Dusk signed on just when the place was looking for ponies. I'm not a doc, but I do have a good head for paperwork. Dusk came along because we always do things together." The mare talked with cheer, clearly recalling the last time she spoke about this.

"That sounds nice." And it was, truly, Cadance didn't mean to sound demeaning when she said it, though; there was a little self consciousness directed internally, which Cadance promptly ignored.

"And here you are, room five ninety nine."

Hmm, why five? are there four more floors?

"Thank you Dawn, when wi-"

"Mrs. Treatment will be by soon. She doesn't have any other patients this late, so she's just doing paperwork in her office."

Cadance just nodded as she stepped into the room and was reminded of what exactly she was to these ponies. It was a windowed room, with a wide panel peering over the street outside. A planter box in front of it, filled with a flux of coloured flowers, and the whole room was just as jaunty as the flowers. The crystal and plaster was covered in a soft banana esc wallpaper, with white trims around the corners where the walls met the floors. There was a medical stand, full of gems and more mundane implements of medicine like thin hoof covers and an otoscope.

In essence, it was what one pictured when thinking 'hospital room'. There was a large white board on wheels in the corner, and a long bed that took up near half of the far side of the room. Built and covered with parts she didn't really have the technical skill to understand, it just looked like a complex bed to her.

The thing folded up along the middle, clearly designed for her to lay on her back.

Cadance wouldn't be doing that. Side or chest, not back.

Cadance stepped up onto the low bed and sat down on it. Staring out the window while waiting for the doctor to arrive. It would've been a nicer view if it wasn't still dusk. The aurora over the Empire reflecting off the shield and the crystals made for a beautiful night sky, though at the moment it was all just glare from the sunset on the mountain beaming into the city.

There was a knock on the door that pulled Cadance from her attempt at staring out at the sun

"Miss Cadenza?" Fair Treatment pushed the door open and stepped inside the room, clipboard floating in her deep strawberry coloured aura.

Cadance turned, politely facing the brown mare, "Cadance is fine."

"Of course." Treatment levitated the clipboard in front of herself to break eye contact, "Would you please confirm again for me the ballpark for how long you've been pregnant for?"

Ah, right of course

"Only a month, at most. However..." Treatment peaked over her clipboard, "We found out recently that my due date is... within the next two months?"

Fair Treatment was a stoic mare, even at the news, her mouth didn't shift from a professional yet neutral line. Cadance knew a little better than what most would see upon glancing at Fair Treatment and her mildly chilly demeanor. There was a kind of focus that emanated from her, a level of attention one would only give to the most important thing in their life. Fair cared deeply about what was going on in front of her, just not positively, more like a duty or a mission.

"I'm going to be clear when I say I do not have a decent gauge for your physical health. The bloodwork we did indicates that you could have already given birth, or that you're four months along." The clipboard found rest on her back as Fair moved over to the stand covered in medical tools. "The best we're going to be able to do is give you a full look over, and keep comparing between other features during your... Three month long pregnancy."

Treatment gave Cadance an unreadable look, "While I can't legally recommend it, wherever you are receiving your current information; I'm guessing another princess. You may want to look into less conventional treatment and checkups." Treatment applied the hoof converse and grabbed a stethoscope. "May. I'll do everything I can, and there generally isn't a good supplement for conventional medical data analysis, but I can't promise to be able to catch trouble before it happens."

Cadance smiled as Treatment placed the stethoscope over Cadance chest, the bed was practically right against the floor, and Treatment used her levitation to do so; a slightly longer cord on the stethoscope being the innovation to let such a thing happen. "That does actually make me feel a lot better."

"Breath in deep please."

She did, and the actions repeated a few times with the cold metal disk placed in various positions on Cadance's body. Cadance noticed Fair Treatment was holding a single blue rubber covered hoof in the air off the floor during the whole exercise.

"Your lungs sound very good, I don't think I've ever heard a clear pressure gradient like that in anypony other than you. Your heart is the same, very strong, though at a decent pace faster than average like before. Do you feel stressed at all right now Cadance?"

Cadance shook her head.

"Can you spread your wings for me? I'm going to run my telekinesis through them with a spell."

Cadance did, there was a very warm tingle that ran through her feathers, for a moment, she could feel the active magic vibrate each individual branching node of her feathers. There was a warm sensation that ran up her back where her wings connected to the muscles for flight.

"Very good, excellent wing maintenance, and very magical; though that's no surprise. Please lay on your side, towards me." As she laid down on her side, Cadance noticed the scribbling sound from the clipboard floating next to Treatment's head. In addition, she realized why the doctor was holding her hoof up off the ground, as she reached forwards to move the fur over on her stomach.

"Have you been to see a doctor who specializes in reproductive health?"

"Not recently." Cadance said

Geez her hoof is cold

"Please lift your tail and leg for me." Cadance did, "I'll recommend it. Though you look like a perfectly healthy young mare to me."

Cadance made a face at the phrase 'young mare'

"Your bloodwork came back more than clean, in addition to the other magical tests we ran." Once Treatment removed her hoof after a couple more cold prods, Cadance lowered her leg and the doctor continued, "As far as projections go, your body has shot forwards as fast as we could expect when it comes to Alicorn metabolism." Treatment went back over to the stand and discarded her current gloves. "The good news is that with a body operating as young as yours is, it's very unlikely that there will be any complications. Everything out of the ordinary presented to my team have only ever been strangely positive benefits to you."

Well if Silver 'looking into the future' is to be believed. That's just about how it is.

The mare lifted a couple more implements from the stand while she continued talking, "As far as I can tell, you'll likely have the fastest and healthiest pregnancy in recorded history. Though, that's only a prediction. Please say 'ahh'"

Cadance did not say 'ahh' but she did open her mouth the way she was supposed to.

Cadance walked out of the hospital and onto the glass streets of The Crystal Empire with copied documents from the hospital she wasn't meant to know how to read. It was dark, by now, and she took a moment to appreciate the sky through the magic in the air, and the shield behind it.

She wondered if there was a way to stop the eternal storm of the north.

Then she wondered what she was going to do for the next hour. She basically had free time to do whatever she wanted; while normally what free time was for (that being, whatever one wanted) Cadance didn't think of it like that. Amber had probably already gone home, Shining was busy, and she didn't and wouldn't have anything to do until tomorrow morning.

"Hmm."

She lifted the papers into her pocket space with her magic.

Surely that doesn't just leave Silver does it? I have hobbies don't I?

Cadance did not have any hobbies, and she hung her head in realization.

I guess I could just... go to sleep early...

"Excuse me?"

Cadance shook her head and snapped her vision towards the pony standing behind her in the doorway. "Sorry, I was in my thoughts."

The earth pony stallion gave her a light bow as she stepped to the side, and then left without any fanfare.

Okay well, first step is to stop standing around in public staring off into space.

Cadance spread her wings and took flight, simply flapping once into the air with ease. Flight for Cadance was as subconscious as mentally picturing the direction she wanted to fly in, and then pushing. Looking in the particular direction usually helped, but her skill allowed her to tune out the world while she flew, making for prime thinking time; almost like showering, but with wind.

I guess I can just relax for a while.

Cadance's hooves dangled once she eventually made it to 'cruising altitude' several body lengths away from the aurora that hung in the sky. Basically swimming in the light, Cadance was cascaded in blues and pinks and every soft colour of the rainbow. To an onlooker, she would've been practically invisible, to Cadance, it may as well have been daytime underwater. Surrounded by twisting bright colours that reminded her of a coral reef.

Funny, I don't feel very relaxed.

She mused, letting the wind direct her glide through the air, vaguely in the direction of The Spire.

She sighed. Lifting her hoof in front of her face to look it over, "I really need to get myself out of this... Funk." She turned her limb over, "I thought hormones were meant to make me... overly emotional, not... absent minded? Funky? Ugh, I wish Ponish had better words."

Maybe I could learn another language, grab a book from the library or something... Guess I do need a hobby. Twilight reads, Luna... does something, probably; Celestia bakes, I know that.

I should have a hobby.

Of course, thinking about it didn't suddenly make it happen, nor did it spontaneously spawn the creativity to come up with the perfect thing for her to do for...

Cadance looked up at the moon and frowned.

That... More time passed than that, I swear.

Cadance was bored, which was awful, because the only alternative was being stressed, and/or busy. How could her mind not latch onto the wind and sky and just let her relax damn it! She didn't want to wish she was busy so she wouldn't feel bored! That would just heap all sorts of karma on her that she definitely didn't want to deal with.

And I definitely can't just go to bed early like this. I need to clear my head. I need Shining...

Cadance took another deep breath and began to tilt downwards. Gaining speed as she banked lightly towards the bottom of The Spire.

"Ah screw it."

Cadance turned away from The Spire, heading for the second largest residential district. She used her diving momentum to glide just over the tops of the buildings before dropping onto the street after passing over the top of the last building to her destination. There were four solid clacking noises as she touched down, hooves on crystal will tend to do that.

As she walked up to the door, Cadance pondered how exactly she was going to do what she was about to do. It was likely Silver would just tell her to go away, but it was equally unlikely that Cadance would be able to fool Silver into letting her inside so...

Blunt force honesty is the best way to do this.

She nodded to herself as she reached to knock on the door, there was a creaking noise that came from somewhere as the door swung open, leaving her hoof to pass through the air instead. The door didn't swing all the way open, a metallic furred silver hoof wrapped around the edge and Silver herself became visible, poking her head and front half into the space not wide enough for Cadance to enter.

"Yes? Is there a reason you're standing outside my house again?" Her face was blank, as usual, emanating disinterest.

"I-"

Silver set her jaw and interrupted Cadance's thought, "I mean... seriously Cadance. I was eventually planning to use your relationship with me as political leverage, but if you keep coming here in the dead of night, ponies are going to be talking without me having to do anything"

Cadance pursed her lips. There wasn't anypony outside to see her here anyways, so what was the problem?

"What did you want again?" Silver questioned, not leaving enough time for Cadance to speak in-between phrases.

"I was bored."

Blunt truth

Silver's eyes narrowed

"I don't have time to do anything else tonight and I figured I could come see you."

The door shifted in Silver's grip, "You saw me less than two days ago. You'll see me Thursday."

"I know bu-"

"You were feeling aimless, and couldn't find the motivation to start doing something with so little time before bed?" Silver's eyes narrowed further.

"Sorta, I was more like-"

"Restlessness, anxiety and boredom all in one."

Cadance's mouth closed slowly as Silver opened the door a little bit more. "Uh... yeah. How did you know?"

"Come inside." Silver let go of the door, and it hung in place. Cadance stepped inside slowly, slightly weirded out by Silver's strange heel turn from annoyed disinterest to letting her inside. It clearly wasn't something she did.

I suppose... blunt force honesty worked, in a way?

Cadance stepped onto the carefully polished crystal floor to see the same sitting room that was usually in here. Instead of a table, there was a massive block of white reflective chalk that took up most of the space of the length in front of the couch, where Silver had just sat down.

"Come sit next to me." She said, closing her eyes. As she did, Cadance felt the magic in the air climb ever so slightly.

Cadance walked forwards, tempted to touch the massive block of weird chalk; though she refrained. She walked slow enough to gauge Silver's reaction to her presence, that was, nothing. She just sat there on the couch with her eyes closed, supposedly oblivious to Cadance prodding the couch.

Wow, they weren't joking.

The couch itself may as well have been made of crystal. There was a slight give, attributing to the fact that it was made out of some kind of fabric. Not any fabric Cadance had seen though. She stepped up, lifting herself bodily onto the couch. It was just large enough for her to comfortably sit down on, though if she tried to lay down, her front hooves would end up dangling over the edge. After she sat down, she looked to Silver questioningly.

This was technically working. Cadance was occupied with something interesting enough to make her feel like she was doing something.

The moment dragged on long enough for Cadance to feel awkward for staring. Luckily, Silver spoke up while flaring the wing on her side facing Cadance. "I said next to me, not nearby."

Cadance looked at the wing, realizing it was meant to look inviting. Silver had clearly not done that in a while.

Is she offering to hug me? What is happening right now?

Cadance shuffled over, watching Silver, she kept her eyes closed through the process of Cadance scooting in range of Silver's wing. Once close enough, Silver closed her wing over Cadance's back and pulled. The Alicorn slid across the couch surface until she was touching fur with Silver, she didn't say anything, or otherwise respond at all.

Cadance eventually found the words, "Can I ask what's happening right now?"

"Go ahead." Silver responded with her eyes still closed.

Uh huh, right, but with no assurance you'll actually answer.

Cadance instead to choose a different question, "What are you doing?"

"Problem solving." Silver's right ear twitched on her head, the first movement Cadance had seen besides the silver wing. Her wing was almost too light to feel, room temperature and slightly pointed. The only reason Cadance could feel the thing was because of the pressure on her coat.

"What problem?"

"Dialateral thaumaturgical spell detonation."

Cadance tilted her head to the side, and Silver continued

"Chemistry and Magic are interchangeable when you get to a high enough level, but it's not a perfect conversion. When physics fights against magic, and wins, explosions happen. Most spells end that way, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with the enchantment I theorized, since it exploded when I tried it."

"What enchantment?"

"It's a smaller thing, a sound toleration spell; it's part of a larger structure in my ears."

"Your ears?"

"Most of my body functions on a mix of magic and manually crafted biology, my ears are mostly biology, but they can still register sounds higher and lower than the normal pony hearing range. That's not exactly safe long term, so I'm trying to build a resistance enchantment to replicate in the cell structure with runes inlaid inside microscopic liquid crystal designed to retroactively change the vibrational tolerance of the hairs in my ears."

"I... think I got most of that. You're trying to make your ears tougher and weaker based on the incoming sound?"

"Yes."

Cadance's eyebrows twitched, but she smiled. "That's cool?"

"Thank you."

Is...

"How does it work?"

Is she just going to keep talking to me?

"It's complicated... Think of it like magic cheat codes into physics. Time doesn't actually move, it runs, and it doesn't run forwards, it runs backwards. You can't see this with minds, since well... We experience time forwards, a quirk of mental frameworks hosted by physical mass. With a bit of math, and super positioning wavelengths of light, you can measure time operating in reverse."

Silver gestured in front of her like she was holding something, eyes still closed. "Most magically infused particles work this way, electrons, anti-particles and so on. Their traits are determined in our relative futures, their relative past, and they move towards an end state in our future where they become defined when observed. Experience creates magical stability in reality, but the cascading effect can be measured before it happens; which means if you know what to look for, you can look a few moments into the future based on traits of mass in the past."

"You lost me."

"The... Spell is meant to check what speed the air in my ears is going to be at, think of it like scrying, it's not future sight, since I'm looking for currently defined features."

Cadance took a moment to respond, "So... it's... the spell can guess the future based off of the present?"

"The same way you could guess a ball was going to hit you in the face as you watched it travel directly for your face, yes."

Cadance 'hmmed' to herself, "But isn't that because light travels faster than the ball?"

"And the effects of magic on mass travel faster than time, like how shadows can 'move' faster than light."

Cadance ignored Silver's answer, instead drinking in the features of the smaller mare, trying to figure out through will alone what was going on. Silver was still an impenetrable fortress of emotion like always, but there was clearly something causing her to act this way. Tangentially, Cadance also just now noticed the indentation Silver was making on the couch, to an outside observer it looked as though Cadance was floating just above the surface by comparison.

This time Cadance didn't feel awkward staring. Silver's wing squeezing her close pushed away the sense of strangeness that came from being so close to another pony. The Alicorn wasn't exactly sure why Silver was holding her, but she was, and Cadance couldn't find a great reason to be discontent with the comfort.

It was making her feel better, after all.

"You're going to catch my coat on fire if you keep staring so hard."

"So you can see me? Even with your eyes closed?"

"No."

Cadance mock frowned, annoyed at having gotten 'got'. She tried her best to phrase this the right way, and her voice came out with equal softness for the question, "Why are you doing this?"

"You were experiencing the early symptoms of depression. The enemy of life exhaustion is connection."

...

...

Silver's wing suddenly felt warm over her back. She shook her head to banish the feeling, mentally piecing together what Silver had just said.

She thought I was... and she just invited me in and is engaging without complaint? Just like that?

"You..." Cadance tried to distract herself with a question, "I thought the opposite of connection was loneliness?"

Silver snorted, "No. The opposite of connection is addiction. The opposite of loneliness is contentness. I said the enemy of life exhaustion is connection."

Cadance's ears folded down, her smile was still warm, but small, "I'm not sure what that means..."

"It means that it isn't a cure. Connection, comfort, and affection can't fix depression. It can't make the thousands of tiny little things that shouldn't be the way they are different. It will make you feel better, but it won't make you better. Connection will fight, but it won't win. That is unfortunately all I can offer you."

Cadance was already confused, stunned even, but that floored her. Fight for her? What was Silver on about? -aside from what she clearly meant. The situation was almost exactly not what Cadance had expected when she tried and failed to knock.

"I didn't... I mean, I don't feel like that, but I didn't think you cared?"

"I do not. I need you mentally and emotionally stable, this activity is unfortunately a requirement for my plans, and you... foolishly refuse to acknowledge that I don't actually care, and will believe that somewhere deep within the core of my 'evil' and 'dismissive' nature is some sort of misaligned care for you that leads me to comfort you."

Cadance's mouth opened and closed.

"I've read books before Little Princess. It's not exactly an original premise, but it works, so who am I to complain?"

"You're right."

Silver's eyes opened in confusion, she turned to the taller mare, looking up slightly to meet her gaze.

"I don't believe you." Cadance said while smiling.

Silver sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to smack her face with her other wing before returning to her calm sitting position and closing her eyes again.

A few more moments passed before Cadance spoke again, "Thank you."

Silver's response went against her words, "I do actually need you to be quiet so I can think." Silver's wing tightened around Cadance's back. "Leave when you want."

That brought forward a thought.

"What time is it?"

"Around ten."

"Oh."

Cadance almost jumped up, but didn't.

She didn't want to leave quite yet.

She enjoyed another few minutes of the wing around her shoulder before wiggling out. Silver retracted her wing, and Cadance made for the door. About half way there she turned. "Okay, but can I ask what the giant block of chalk is for?"

Silver didn't respond for a moment, then she took a strong inhale and said, "Of course you can."

Cadance laughed, then she shook her head and left a few pounds of weight behind her when she stepped out into the street.