The Prince's Predicament 2: The Princess's Predicament

Shortly after Cadance fell asleep, a dark shadow stepped through the fabric of the world, materialising into Princess Luna's shape. "It is unwise to call for the attention of the night's protector while she is watching over her subjects," she warned.

"And yet, you came," answered Cadance. "Either you have nothing better to do, or you have abandoned your royal duties to chat with somepony just because she asked."

Luna sighed. "What do you want?"

"I want my husband back."

"And?" asked Luna. "You have him."

"Yes, but he doesn't want me."

"And you're the princess of love," shot Luna back. "Do you not know how to encourage that love to blossom forth?"

"Not when there's this much damage."

Luna could not help but hide her smirk. "You were quite blase when you were in your cottage. Even as you came back, you were full of swagger, prancing about like you owned the place."

"I kind of do," snorted Cadance.

"And yet, a stallion that has promised to love you until one of you dies does not reciprocate your feelings."

"Are you going to be snarky all night, or are you going to help me?"

"Are you going to ask me to help you in a way that I actually can?"

Cadance sighed. When she'd called for Luna, she had expected that she'd have some idea of how to do that.

"What have you done so far that would make it up to him?"

Cadance shook her head. "I've barely done anything."

"You've tried nothing, and you're all out of ideas?"

"This is a very delicate matter!" snapped Cadance. "If I do the wrong thing, I'll turn him away from me forever!"

"Assuming you haven't already done that..."

Cadance lowered her head. "I did, didn't I?"

As she sat down and started to cry, Luna approached and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I am glad to see this."

"Glad to see me beaten down?"

"Glad to see you remorseful again," corrected Luna. "When you first found out about the detrimental effects you were causing, you felt it. When Shining found out what you were doing, you felt it. When you were first sentenced to solitude, you felt it. I have a personal history with remorse; one in which my regret has almost escaped me and harmed all of Equestria. It all stems from... Well, that's not important right now. What's important is this: Any apology you give to your husband has to start with this."

Cadance said nothing, just breathing.

"Let us say that you go out for ice cream. You grab a cup for yourself, and on your way out, you grab a cone for Shining and give it to him. That's not going to make him forgive you."

"But he loves ice cream."

"Not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

"In that scenario? The point would be to do something nice for your husband for no reason. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, I'm just saying you're not going to earn his forgiveness just by doing nice things."

Cadance wiped her face. "Fine. What do I need to do? You've told me something that doesn't work. A plan that will fail with absolute certainty is useless."

"Not useless," warned Luna.

"I can't use it."

"But you can learn from it."

"Will you just answer the question? If you don't want to help me, you can just go. Go and do whatever it is you were doing when I called."

Luna straightened her neck. "What constitutes an apology?"

Cadance looked up at her. "You can't be serious..."

"It's odd that you would believe that. Most ponies think that I can't be silly."

Cadance groaned. "An apology is when you say you're sorry."

"And what else?"

"That's it."

Luna nodded. Lifting her hoof from Cadance's shoulder, she smacked the pink princess across the back of her head.

"Ouch!" shouted Cadance. "What was that for?"

"I'm sorry," smirked Luna.

"No, you're not."

"Am I not?" she grinned. "How can you tell?"

"You didn't mean it. You just said it."

Luna nodded. "So perhaps an apology; a real apology, that is, needs more than just the words "I'm sorry." Would you like to revise your answer?"

"You have to say it and mean it."

"And what else?"

"I don't know."

With a nod from Luna, a disembodied hoof attached to nothing slammed into the back of Cadance's head.

"Will you stop that?!"

"Truly, I am quite sorry that happened," bowed Luna as another hoof came from nowhere. "And for that, as well. It brings me no pleasure to be doing this."

As Cadance ducked another hoof, a fourth came up from the ground and smacked her in the jaw. "Stop!"

Luna called off the barrage of hooves. "Would you like to change your answer again?"

"That depends. Are you going to hit me again?"

"I am. And then I'm going to apologise in a way that you will have defined."

Cadance took a deep breath. The words "I'm sorry" seemed to have no meaning anymore. "So, if there's an apology, there must be a problem, right?"

"Something to apologise for, yes," nodded Luna. "We call that guilt."

"I know what we call it. So, we need an admission of guilt. That's what the remorse is for."

"Correct."

"And then, whatever it is needs to be stopped. If you're just going to keep hitting me, what's the point of apologising?"

"Sounds right to me."

"But what if there's more to it? What if, instead of stopping, the damage needs repairing?"

"Sounds like you should discuss it with the offended party and come to an agreement on what needs to happen."

"Like medical bills and such."

"Fair, fair."

Cadance took a deep breath. "So, first, you need to regret your actions. Then you take responsibility, make an arrangement with the offended party, and then be bound to that arrangement."

"Is that the answer you want to go with?"

"Indeed it is." She braced herself for a smack, but it never came. "Didn't you say you were going to hit me?"

Luna was looking around. All of a sudden, she seemed worried. Scared, even. "I would, but I'm being called away. Think about what we discussed, so that when I come back, we can see if you've learned anything."

Luna spread her wings and took to the air before being dragged backward into the shadows, where she disappeared with a pop in a puff of smoke.