Shameless

“Princess, you really don’t need to come with us if you don’t want to,” said Emery as he led the group down the winding staircase to the dungeon below. Cadance followed close behind the guard captain, and Pavise held up the rear.

Emery and Pavise had planned to venture down into the dungeon together this time, over a week having passed since Pavise’s last visit, but Cadance had surprised them both by asking to accompany them. Emery tried to reason with her, but she had seemingly made up her mind.

“No, I need to do this… I know I do. I’ve been avoiding it, but I need to know. I need to see him with my own eyes.” Cadance came across determined, if a little fearful. Pavise looked at Emery; he grimly nodded.

They picked their way down the dimly lit passage, kicking dust and stones underhoof, and finally reached the dungeon after what felt like an eternity–more than enough time to reconsider, though Cadance hadn’t budged. A few guards awaited them at the bottom, ponies Emery had sent ahead just in case.

“Princess Cadance! Your Highness!” said the jailer Pavise had met last time. He bowed, knocking his speartip against the ground carelessly, and Emery shot him a glare.

“Mind yourself,” Pavise said simply. The jailer quickly righted his spear and stood at attention, maintaining his rigid posture until they had passed. The extra guards followed them closely, adding a shuffling cacophony to their tense parade down to the last cell.

Pavise recognized Twilight’s form in the murky light of the cave, and to his surprise she had somehow amassed even more books, forming a cluttered library against the back wall. She had seemingly already conquered a mountainous pile of tomes and had herself written several dozen pages of notes, their contents indecipherable to anypony but the author.

The unicorn herself wasn’t much better: strands of purple mane jutted out at odd angles, and her tired eyes spoke of insomnia. A few grimy plates were piled nearby. It was obvious Twilight hadn’t gone very far, if at all, from the dungeon since she began her studying. When Twilight finally noticed they had arrived, with Cadance in tow no less, she got to her hooves and trotted over to hug the Princess with an unusual amount of energy for a pony in her state, or at least so Pavise thought. Cadance returned the affection with a difficult smile, not failing to notice Twilight’s disheveled appearance.

“Princess! I was wondering when you would come down to see my progress. Would you believe that I’ve nearly figured out how to cast these mind domination spells that Sombra came up with? It was a little tricky in the beginning–I’ve never seen an approach to spellcasting like this–but I’ve been able to adapt most of the steps to what I know about casting normal unicorn magic. A few more weeks and I’m sure I’ll be able to dive into the prisoner’s mind mostly unimpeded,” said Twilight excitedly.

She levitated a few loose pages to show Cadance, who regarded her work with a mixture of anxiety and concern. Pavise heard a few gasps behind him, however, as the rest of the guards learned exactly what kind of research Twilight had been doing down here. Emery grimaced, but otherwise said nothing–it was for the Princess to decide how the prisoner was to be handled, dark magic or not.

“That’s… very impressive, Twilight. I just wonder if working with dark magic is really the best idea. I’m a little worried about its influence on you, Twilight–he might even return somehow.” Cadance leaned forward to nuzzle the unicorn, but jumped a little when Twilight suddenly erupted in laughter.

“Cadance, you saw what happened, didn’t you? He disintegrated!” Twilight sat back on her haunches and spread her hooves apart, mocking an explosion with unusual enthusiasm–a grisly sight, Pavise thought. He wondered how much being stuck in the dungeon studying evil magic had tampered with what little of her sanity remained following her brother’s death.

“Oh, uh…” Cadance floundered, glancing nervously at the crazed writings which Twilight had tossed carelessly during her grim pantomime. “I trust you, Twilight,” she finally said after a deep breath. “I know you’re more than capable of finding your way around magic, evil or not. Just… Promise me you won’t take things too far.” Twilight’s expression softened, as if some of what Cadance had said made it through the cloud of grief that clung to the unicorn.

“I won’t. I just want to know the truth–and I’m sure you do too, Cadance.” Twilight leaned forward and rubbed cheeks with the Princess.

With that, they all turned their attention to the prisoner. Much like before, he had remained silent, watching them all with contempt. His wicked smile glittered dangerously in the darkness of his cell, and Pavise could once again feel his pulse quicken. For some reason, Pavise suddenly felt that their extra numbers were still inadequate to protect the Princess.

Cadance approached the metal bars carefully, training her sights on the prisoner. She was trembling, but steeled herself and spoke with all the regal confidence of a Princess of Equestria.

“Hello. I’m sure you know who I am, but I’ll introduce myself anyway: I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire. While I was away, you-” Cadance paused, the words frozen in her throat, but eventually she willed herself to continue, “-you murdered my husband, Prince Shining Armor.”

The prisoner said nothing, and Cadance let her gaze sink to the floor, as if exhausted from getting such horrible words out. “I’m not here to interrogate you. I just want to know-”

“SILENCE! You are no Princess–you aren’t even a Crystal Pony. But I know what you are, false alicorn, and you are weak.” The prisoner erupted in a fit of discordant cackling. Everypony was taken aback by his sudden outburst, and the prisoner cut the Princess off before she could respond.

“You were given power beyond a pony’s wildest dreams, yet you were barely able to hold back my Master when he crushed the Empire and the last Queen underhoof. You aren’t strong enough to protect the Empire, and neither was your Prince. That’s why I killed him, and I would have killed you too if I had enough power.” He spat to his side, as much as the chains would allow him to turn, and broke into a series of rattling coughs, spewing black dust from his vicious maw.

Pavise felt his anger coming to a boil, and he resisted the urge to paw at the ground. How dare this fool talk to Cadance that way–after all Cadance and Shining Armor did to save them? He cooled a little when he felt Emery’s shod hoof rest on his shoulder; the older stallion gave him a tense look, perhaps feeling the same.

“That… is all true,” said Cadance to Pavise’s–and everypony else’s utter disbelief. The Princess lowered her head, as if accepting the weight of every accusation the prisoner had made.

“Princess-” Pavise cried out impulsively, but she ignored him.

“You’re right. I’m not better than anypony else, and maybe I’m not fit to rule. Unlike Princesses Celestia and Luna, I wasn’t born an alicorn, and I haven’t lived for centuries like they have. I was just a naive little unicorn a few years ago. I’ve tried to learn what it means to be a Princess, but… Sometimes I get it wrong. Nopony is perfect.” She swallowed, hesitating slightly. “But none of that changes the fact that what you did was wrong. If you disagreed with our rule, I would have welcomed-”

“What I did was for the good of the Empire. You wouldn’t know, since you aren’t one of us, but our previous ruler was just like you: weak. She’s the very reason Sombra rose up and took control of the kingdom. After he slew her, he hid the Crystal Heart and ruled with an iron hoof, yet gone were the days when the ponies of Equestria looked down on us for not having any magic of our own.”

Pavise ground his teeth, his tail lashing side to side as he finally jumped in front of the Princess, jabbing a hoof at the prisoner.

“We were slaves! How can you pretend like that was a good thing?” Cadance looked taken aback by Pavise’s defense, and for a moment he regretted butting in. “Just because we don’t have horns or wings doesn’t mean Crystal Ponies are weak, and just because the Princess was born a unicorn doesn’t mean she can’t be a great or powerful ruler. You’re making an awful lot of assumptions about a pony you barely know.”

The prisoner scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You were already slaves to your own lack of ambition. The only reason why this castle even stands is because of what King Sombra did, you foal. And for those that saw through their own pointless dreams and took on a higher calling, King Sombra gave us power. Power to rule alongside him, and magic that had been denied to us at birth.”

Pavise’s eyes darted up to the pony’s evil horn, crooked and pulsing with darkness; he was silently thankful that the pony was now unable to use it. “Of course, that magic has run out now that King Sombra has been defeated. This pointless device you stuck to my horn is just a decoration. If I’d had the kind of magic that would have warranted a suppression device, I would have killed the rest of you.”

The frankness of the threat brought a chill to Pavise’s spine. Twilight, who had watched the exchange with silent anxiety, spoke absently.

“So that’s why you weren’t able to cast any magic…” She returned to her notes, frantically scribbling something down, and it looked to Pavise like she had absolutely no interest in the confrontation taking place between her brother’s murderer and Cadance; perhaps she was too exhausted, too mentally taxed to contribute more than her own idle thoughts. Pavise quietly admired her intense focus on academia, if nothing else.

Cadance sighed. Her eyes flicked to the ground, full of pity.

“...I see. It’s clear that you’ve been twisted by Sombra’s evil. But we are not like you. No matter what, I believe that taking the life of another pony is wrong, and if you are expecting some kind of equivalent punishment, you-”

“He screamed. Called your name like a little filly. It was so sweet,” the pony said, and Cadance’s almost gentle expression transformed instantly to one of wide-eyed disbelief. “I had just enough magic to slip through your husband’s pitiful night watch. It was easy enough to reach out, to grasp his throat while he was sleeping.” His voice was light, playful, as if spinning a tale for a sleepless foal.

“Stop… Please…” Cadance shook her head slowly, muttering disagreement. She was no longer looking at the prisoner, but lost in an ocean of despair as she seemingly imagined the night’s events anew. She didn’t have to think of how it had happened anymore–she was learning the truth, just as she had wanted. Even if the prisoner was lying, the effect was the same.

“I was surprised that he had awoken so easily, but I’ve heard he was a guard once. All the more disappointing how little resistance he was able to muster. Even a unicorn at full strength was no match for my Master’s power, fleeting as it was.”

“...Stop talking.”

“But the biggest surprise was that he didn’t even fight back–he ran. Or tried to, at least, like a coward. The window was open, and he jumped for the escape, but I caught him and pulled him back in.”

“That’s not… He would never…” Cadance trembled violently, her voice cracking.

“His eyes were wide with fear, and he knew he was about to die. But he kept crying out for his Cadance, kept trying to get away, kept trying to escape his fate. It was pitiful. I wasn’t expecting him to be such a cow-”

“STOP IT!”

For once, it was the prisoner’s turn to be interrupted. Pavise felt the air erupt in magical energy as Cadance’s horn ignited and she wrapped her power around the captive pony; his chains heaved and groaned as he was dragged into the air, pulled taut against the restraints. Her nostrils flared, and dangerous fire burned in her eyes.

“How dare you talk about him that way! You’re lying, I know you are–everything out of your contemptible mouth is a lie! How could you ever understand anything about my Shining Armor?”

Cadance’s voice boomed, bringing dust down from the high ceiling of the dungeon and shaking the ground beneath them. Pavise winced at the terrible sound. He had never heard it himself, but knew from the stories that Princesses Celestia and Luna possessed the ability to project their voices powerfully in the same manner–the Royal Canterlot Voice, it was called.

The prisoner attempted to speak, but the breath was literally squeezed from his lungs as Cadance’s magic coiled around the stallion like an enchanted boa, hissing malice in his face. Twilight watched on, looking amused, and hoofed out a few more lines of notes. Pavise dimly realized that the pony was very much in mortal danger if Cadance didn’t release him. He made no immediate move to stop her, though, out of both fear and a twisted sense of justice.

“Princess, you have to let him go or you’ll kill him!” Emery said at last. He stepped toward the Princess, only to be thrown back by some sort of magic bubble–perhaps it was the same kind of magic that Cadance had used to protect the city from Sombra. Pavise ran to Emery’s side as a few guards standing nearby helped him up; Emery staggered to his hooves and coughed. “Somepony needs to stop her before she does something she kills the damned guy.”

“It’s what he deserves, Emery, isn’t it? A life for a life,” Cadance said darkly. The rest of the ponies looked at her with concern, but none were sure what to do.

The links in the prisoner’s bindings bulged as Cadance brought him further aloft–any more and she’d likely rip them straight from the stone floor. The stallion squirmed pitifully against his magical restraints, weaker every moment. If the chains didn’t break soon, Pavise was sure the pony would–he nearly retched at the thought.

“How does it feel? Having the life squeezed out of your body? Did you ever think what it might feel like to be on the other side of this? To be entirely at the mercy of somepony more powerful than you?” Cadance’s eyes glittered with hatred, and momentarily Pavise felt as if he might be caught up in the Princess’s rage if he interfered. But Pavise swallowed his hesitation and carefully trotted in front of the Princess, skirting the magical barrier as best he could. Cadance bore down on him and his resolve almost disappeared entirely under her scrutiny.

“Cadance, you need to put him down. You can’t kill him–you just said yourself that it isn’t right! You don’t need to be like him. What would Shining Armor think?” Pavise realized too late he had forgotten her title, but in context it seemed to hardly matter.

Cadance looked down at Pavise, unreadable, and repeated, “What would Shining Armor think?”

“I don’t know him as well as you did, but I know that killing ponies is wrong, no matter who they are. We can punish him some other way–but killing him won’t bring Shining Armor back.”

It gave her pause. Cadance looked at Pavise, and he realized just how terrifying she looked. Heavy breaths jetted from her nostrils, and her mane was plastered against her muzzle haphazardly; her ears were pinned, and her tail swished nonstop behind her. The Princess’s eyes darted up to the Prisoner, who had nearly passed out from the immense agony of being crushed to near-death.

Moments later, Cadance’s magic suddenly dissipated and the prisoner fell to the ground unceremoniously, wheezing. He clutched at his throat, weak from the experience, and slumped against the floor in exhaustion.

But he still glared at the rest of them, hate burning in his eyes; it was obvious enough he hadn’t repented.

Cadance panted, her head drooping. Her wings sagged at her sides, and she suddenly looked very, very tired. Pavise reached out to her after a while, against his better judgment, but she suddenly picked herself up as if nothing had happened. She addressed Emery, who admittedly looked a little fearful after being tossed aside earlier, with a hollow finality that left no room for argument.

“We’ll let Twilight continue interrogating the prisoner while I decide a fitting punishment for him. Maybe a letter to Celestia would be a good idea.”

The Princess strode past Emery and the rest of the guards, all of whom quickly nodded to her orders. Her complete change in demeanor made Pavise uneasy. “Don’t feed him anything either–it’s too good for a pony like him.” Twilight dove back into her magic notes, now having been given express permission to continue practicing her sorcery on the assassin who had lost any chance of sympathy he could have gathered.

That being said, Twilight’s foray into dark magic still didn’t sit right with Pavise. It definitely wasn’t right to kill, but it also wasn’t right to starve somepony or experiment on them using evil magic. He crept toward Cadance as she barked further orders at her guards, now uncertain of her disposition–she had flipped from somber to enraged to indifferent remarkably fast, and he wasn’t sure how receptive he’d be to any perceived sympathy toward the assassin.

“Cadance, I-”

“Princess Cadance,” she said, not even bothering to turn her head. He stammered out a quick apology, dropping to the floor in humble obedience.

“Princess Cadance, I think that, well…” He struggled to find the right words. “Don’t you think this is too much? Starving a prisoner, testing out Sombra’s magic on him to try and force him to give up his secrets? I know what he said was terrible, but it seems like you’re just-”

“What do you know about me, Pavise? How can I seem like anything to you?” She finally turned to face him, boring into him with unfriendly eyes, and Pavise shrunk away. “If you’re so worried about the pony that murdered my Shining Armor, then maybe you can join his guard instead of staying in mine.”

With that, she made her way out of the dungeon; the rest of the guards hurried to follow her, and Emery gave Pavise a troubled, yet compassionate look as he beckoned Pavise along. Pavise struggled to find the motivation to catch up. Maybe he didn’t deserve to be in Cadance’s guard after all.

The days that followed passed Pavise by like he was standing still in the busiest part of town. Cadance had, to some, seemingly recovered overnight, but Pavise knew better. She had thrown herself into the kingdom’s most pressing affairs, taking the initiative to sort out the Crystal Empire’s uncertain financial system following its return to the global economic sphere.

Pavise understood next to nothing about economics, but it sounded like the Empire was pretty well off; there were crystal mines in the mountains that ponies used to sell precious gemstones and metals, and the local flora produced a unique sort of dye that sparkled without the need for light–very high demand in high pony society, or so Pavise had heard.

Cadance had also dipped her hoof into diplomacy; A number of foreign ambassadors had arrived in the Empire since word traveled that the Crystal Ponies had returned, and Cadance met with a new delegation seemingly everyday. And when she wasn’t handling finances or befriending foreign players, she was mingling with the ponies themselves out in town–without Pavise’s escort, he had noted sourly.

He was surprised not to have been taken off his nightly duties, but it almost seemed as though she didn’t need it at all anymore. She had been all but completely quiet the last few nights since the incident in the dungeon, and he didn’t dare move to her side without at least the partial justification of easing her night terrors. Pavise had fallen from her good graces, he thought, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“It worries me a little, but I don’t think she meant what she said back there–she was just angry. Plus, we need you on the guard, Pavise. Just put your head down and let it go,” Emery had said in reassurance when asked. He looked just as tired as ever, but was always willing to put his duty first. It was a subtle reminder of what Pavise lacked, and it should have been enough. But he couldn’t just let it go, as hard as he tried.

Whether because of his own selfish desire or the fact that Cadance was obviously pretending that her altercation with the prisoner hadn’t had an effect on her, Pavise felt determined to do something.

It came to him one afternoon, after a particularly grating patrol through the throne room, where he watched as Cadance almost deliberately ignored him and the other guards as they strode the perimeter and left through the opposite hall. He could tell she was being deliberate–the way her ears would swivel, following them as they marched, and the way she offered incurious responses to the pony she was talking with. It was one of her advisors, an unusually aged crystal pony mare, explaining how the citizens of the Empire felt now that some time had passed since Shining’s death.

“Well, most ponies have recovered from the initial shock, I’d say, but they still haven’t returned to their full luster. Frankly, the attitude of the town reminds me a little of right before the Crystal Faire that Twilight Sparkle and her friends put on for us, when they had first arrived.”

The Crystal Faire…

That was it! Pavise struggled to march with composure as he counted the days in his head. Enough time had already passed since the last Crystal Faire, it seemed. If he were to have a hoof in organizing the whole thing, in restoring everypony’s spirit, Cadance would surely forgive him for his blunder in the dungeon.

As soon as their patrol had ended, Pavise took leave to find the city’s event planner. The stallion, a chipper pony named Pop Rocks, sparkled with glee at Pavise’s proposal and gladly welcomed him into his comfortable stone home.

“Why, that’s a fantastic idea! I’ll need a few months to get everypony up to speed, to reserve the space in the market, to get formal approval from the Princess-”

“Wait! No, you can’t tell the Princess.” Pavise felt a pit form in his stomach when he thought of Cadance shooting his idea, and by extension his chance at redemption, out of the sky. “It’s uh, well… It’s a surprise. The Princess has been feeling a little under the weather lately, and I thought this would be a great surprise.” The stallion looked at him a little suspiciously, but otherwise nodded his head. “And a few months is too long, is there any way to speed things up?”

Pop Rocks frowned. “These things take time, sir–I can’t just conjure a faire up out of thin air!”

Pavise rolled his eyes. “You know, the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle and her friends, managed to throw a Crystal Faire in a single day. You’re telling me you can’t expedite the process at all?”

The stallion sighed, turning away from Pavise and wandering over to a desk in the corner of the room. His home was surprisingly organized for a pony specializing in throwing parties and celebrations–he had always assumed party planners lived in complete disarray for some reason.

“The best I can do is a week,” he finally said after some note taking and counting to himself out loud.

“Much better,” Pavise said.

A week later, the city properly reflected the impending celebration. Streamers, banners, and fliers advertising the faire were pasted everywhere, and the dull roar of fairgoers signaled the beginning of the festivities early that morning.

The faire itself typically lasted a few days, much longer than the impromptu event that Twilight had thrown together–something Pop Rocks had been eager to point out before Pavise left the week prior. In the days leading up, Pavise had conducted his patrols with a volatile mix of enthusiasm and anxiety; they wouldn’t be allowed to attend the festivities unless the Princess decided to visit, which was something he hadn’t even considered.

Yet fortune smiled upon him, and Pavise finally got the news that Cadance would attend the faire. Better still, he was elated to learn that he had been picked to accompany the Princess, along with Emery and a dozen other guards.

Pavise’s armor shone so brightly he feared it would blind somepony, reflecting the brilliant sun overhead, and he barely resisted the urge to grin quite unprofessionally as they all followed Cadance down into the city on the first day of the festival. They were a little early, but owing to the planning of Pop Rocks and many other ponies, the faire was still in full swing, and the festival music carried strongly through the air. Cymbals crashed and trumpets blasted from the prepared welcome band as the Princess and her guards arrived at the market square, and everypony bowed low to the ground.

“We are honored to have you attend this year’s Crystal Faire, Your Highness!” said Pop Rocks from a raised podium in the center of the square. “And with her Highness’s approval, this year’s Crystal Faire has officially begun!” Cadance smiled thinly amid the cheers and enthusiastic stomping from the crowd, and they set off to browse and enjoy the festivities.

The event had already conquered over a quarter of the city, everypony no doubt wishing to show off to the Princess. This was likely Cadance’s first Crystal Faire, he realized. All the more reason for this to go well, Pavise thought.

They wandered through elaborately decorated stalls, peddlers on quilted blankets selling hoofcrafted jewelry and trinkets, and deliciously fragrant pastries steaming on vendor counters. One pony had even created some extravagant cake featuring rubies advertised as ‘fit for a dragon’–though Pavise doubted the efficacy of that particular business strategy considering the Crystal Empire housed no dragons.

“Please come this way, right this way! The Emerald Shine Theatre Group is beginning their matinee of The Shadow King–you won’t wanna miss it!” A mare wearing a newspony hat waved fairgoers into a small arena, where a number of wooden bleachers had been set up and a colorful mobile stage had unfolded. The stage itself was also wooden, but carved with extravagant detail. Pony masks expressing various emotions were cut into the topmost arch spanning the entire stage, and on either side flitted vivid crimson curtains being fought with by stage ponies. There was even a pit off to the side where some ponies were setting up their own mini orchestra.

Pavise didn’t recognize the name of the troupe, or the performance, but he wasn’t much for plays. It seemed Cadance was, however, as she led Emery and Pavise through a crowd of ponies and into the arena with an unexpected energy. A special seat had been designated for the Princess, sandwiched between two sets of bleachers; there was nowhere for the guards to sit, of course, so they simply stood on her either side.

Just when Pavise thought he might fall asleep from the inactivity, the pit band erupted suddenly, welcoming a dozen ponies dressed in gaudy renaissance costumes tumbling onto the stage. Half of them sprung into the air, somersaulting several times before throwing their hooves up and landing on their partners alongside the rising crescendo of the band. The ponies already seated in the bleachers stomped their hooves in applause. Bowing, the acrobat ponies shuffled offstage. Another mare, a pretty green pony with a lovely, flowing mane trotted on from the right.

“Fillies and gentlecolts,” she said in a clear voice, “welcome to the Emerald Shine Theatre Group’s very first showing of The Shadow King! I am Emerald Shine!” She bowed graciously, to both the audience and especially toward the Princess before throwing a hoof out in gesture. “We hope you all enjoy, and we are pleased to welcome the Crystal Empire’s very own Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!”

After everypony’s eyes were drawn to the Princess, they all bowed reverently before applauding wildly. Cadance turned and waved, hesitation shining through her false confidence. She settled back into her seat, and Pavise thought he could see a genuine smile creep onto her muzzle as the red curtain drew open; he resolved to remember that she liked plays.

Pavise expected he hadn’t been the only one unsurprised to learn The Shadow King was about King Sombra. It was a sort of fantastical retelling of his rise to power; the ruthless enslavement of his own ponies; his defeat at the horns of Celestia and Luna; the thousand year curse; the eventual return of the Crystal Heart; and the rise of the kingdom’s new rulers, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor.

The pony they had picked to play Shining Armor, a stout white crystal stallion, was exceptionally well acted. Yet despite having seemingly enjoyed the rest of the play, Cadance looked a little uneasy whenever the pony was on stage. Pavise hadn’t expected them to include the Prince and Princess; a gnawing anxiety grew in his stomach as the final showdown between Sombra and the Crystal Empire’s monarchs drew to a close, but the play itself kept rolling.

“And now, the desperate fight between the lovely Prince Shining Armor and the agent of darkness, Sombra’s evil accomplice!” said Emerald Shine from the right of the stage; she had narrated most of the play, which Pavise had eventually grown to dislike, as they and everypony else were both perfectly capable of making out the events on stage themselves and were already familiar with most of the substance–it was their own history, after all. The stagehooves nudged the previous backdrop of the Crystal Castle and town off to the left and brought in the next scene–it was an approximation of the royal bedchambers. Cadance froze, and Pavise watched her expression muddy in horror.

No… They can’t be serious. He shared a helpless look with Emery, who brought a hoof to his face in disbelief.

‘Shining Armor’ lay asleep in his bed, snoring dramatically under the covers. Suddenly, a second pony crept out from the curtains, dressed horn to hoof in billowing black robes. He raised his hooves dramatically overhead, and the band offstage rose in crescendo. Suddenly, Shining Armor leapt from the bed, his fake horn bedazzled with jewels to simulate a perpetually cast spell.

“Fiend! How dare you sneak into my chambers and attempt my life! Have at you!” The two proceeded to mock-battle, and crystal ponies shined reflective crystals from offstage to mimic spells flying back and forth between them. If it weren’t for the subject matter, Pavise might have found the scene rather entertaining.

Suddenly, the shadow pony cast a particularly ‘dangerous’ spell, some shade of vibrant purple, and the Shining Armor fell to the ground. He raised his head up weakly, regarding the assassin with quiet rage.

“Though you may… take my life this day, “ he said with a dry cough, “at least my beloved Cadance is safe. Sombra will never have the Crystal Empire again…”

Cadance sprung from her seat, and Pavise realized too late that she had been crying.

“No! Not again!” she screamed, and everypony turned to look at her in shock. Even the actors on stage froze in place, uncertain of what to do, and the band quieted to a whimper. The emerald mare galloped onto the stage with a pale, looking from the Princess to the set, and uttered a quiet ‘Oh no.’ in understanding.The audience hushed as Cadance stared, unblinking; tears stained her cerise cheeks.

Her horn erupted in blinding white, and with a crackle of magical energy she vanished.

“Princess!” Pavise called in vain. The ponies in the stands panicked, rushing out of the bleachers and spilling into the arena grounds below. Emerald Shine tried to calm the audience, assuring them that it was all a misunderstanding, but to no avail. Emery motioned for the other guards to split off and look for the Princess, and they all shot off at once.

Hours had passed since the Princess had disappeared. They had nearly turned the Empire upside down looking to no avail. Cadance was nowhere in the castle, nor anywhere else in the city. Ponies had quite willingly allowed the guard to systematically search every house, every floor, but they had come up empty-hooved after having searched for most of the day. It was as though the Princess had simply vanished from the city entirely, a train of thought that became less implausible as the sun began its descent into the pale blue.

Emery was speaking with the other guards, and a few of Cadance’s advisors, about sending word to Canterlot and notifying Princess Celestia when Pavise suddenly realized that there was one place nopony had thought to check. Without a word, he slipped out of the castle and galloped down the city’s main street, his helmet threatening to tumble right off his head. Nopony gave him pause, as they were all still concerned primarily with finding the Princess.

He ducked through a few alleyways, between houses where ponies were cleaning up the remnants of the faire. Not a single crystal pony had considered carrying on with the event without the Princess, and so they had collectively decided to wrap things up early. He was spit out in a far part of town, toward the outskirts; he only slowed to a hasty trot when he had finally reached his destination.

“Princess! Princess!” called Pavise as he ducked into the narrow mouth of the cave and tried his best not to slip on fallen rock and crystal shards. It didn’t take long for him to find Cadance; he breathed a sigh of relief.

She was there, lying next to the bed of crystals. He thought better of running up to her, suddenly reminded of his last conversation with the Princess. Maybe she didn’t want him here? It was obvious that she had escaped for some reason.

Hesitantly, Pavise crossed the impossibly far distance. He winced as his quiet hoofsteps grew thunderously loud, entombed as they were in the crystal cave. Cadance didn’t look up when he finally drew near enough to see the remnants of sadness on her face; her eyes, red and puffy, betrayed the hours she’d cried.

“I can’t do it. I can’t be their Princess anymore,” Cadance said softly. Pavise was taken aback. Is she going to abdicate? Who’s going to lead the Empire? Where would she go? The torrent of questions caught in his throat, trapped by fear of an unpleasant answer.

“When Princess Celestia first told me and Shining that we needed to head to the Crystal Empire, that there was a problem only we could solve, I knew that she was planning to have us rule there together. After all, what good is a Princess without a kingdom to rule over?” She chuckled, a hollow and rattling sound. Pavise frowned.

“But I was so excited. Ever since I became an alicorn, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a Princess, to rule a kingdom. When we got here, I finally got the chance to figure it out. I didn’t know what it meant to rule, or to manage a kingdom, but I was so excited to learn it all. And the best part of all was that I didn’t have to do it alone. Shining Armor was my stable, my place to shelter in the storm. He always seemed to know what to do, even when I was supposed to.”

Fresh tears rolled steadily down her face as her horn shone to life. Pavise glanced to the corner of the cavern, where Cadance’s crown lay illuminated by magic; it seemed she had cast it aside at some point. She brought it to her face, scrutinizing it.

“Celestia ruled Equestria for a thousand years without her sister. But I’m not her. I’m just-I’m just Cadance,” she said. She craned her neck to look at Pavise, giving him a start. “What do you do, when you know you need to do something, but you don’t know if you can?” Pavise saw his own uncertainty reflected in Cadance’s magenta eyes as he searched for an answer in the fog of his mind.

“I, uh… I just do it,” he said, floundering. He clarified after a moment of consideration. “My cutie mark–it seems pretty simple, but I think that it makes my purpose pretty clear. I… Oh, right–you can’t see it.” He realized Cadance had looked back to see his cutie mark.

“It’s just a shield, with the Crystal Heart inside of it. I don’t remember how I got it–I don’t remember much before Sombra came. But I know that when I got it, it was because I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself. I just wanted to help other ponies, and protect them.”

As if feeling the weight of his words, he sank to the ground beside Cadance, who made a little space for him.

“Of course, I don’t always get it right, but I know it’s what I’m supposed to do. It’s my duty.” Yet the more he spoke, the more he felt like he was describing somepony else. His gut twisted as he recalled the nights he’d spent with Cadance, comforting her in secret. The line had already blurred between duty and selfish indulgence.

What about right now? Am I here because of duty, or because I just wanted to see the Princess? I didn’t tell anypony where I was going, after all. The question chewed at his conscience like a hungry rabbit, nibbling away bits of his self-confidence.

Cadance seemed to savor his words for a while, and Pavise readied himself for what he thought would be the end of the conversation. He looked at her, seeking her eyes.

“Princess… I was the one who told everypony to start preparations for the Crystal Faire early this year. I was thinking about what you said, about how you didn’t want me in the guard anymore, and I-” he paused, grasping, “-I just wanted to make it up to you. I thought that maybe the festival might help cheer you up. I know everypony thinks that you’re better now, but I… I don’t think that’s true.”

Her words in the dungeon surfaced suddenly. What do you know about me, Pavise? How can I seem like anything to you? He hung his head apologetically, anticipating her renewed wrath at any moment.

“I’m sorry, Princess. I was selfish. I just didn’t want you to hate me.” He was startled when he felt a painfully familiar sensation: Cadance was looking at him, touching his foreleg gently with a hoof. Suddenly, nothing mattered anymore, and everything he had been worried about the last few days melted away like snow in Cadance’s radiance.

“You’re not the only one who’s been selfish, Pavise. I’m-I’m sorry too. I don’t know what came over me back then, in the dungeon,” she said, looking a little ashamed. “I just couldn’t stand those things he was saying about Shining I just wanted him to stop. I guess I felt like you were on his side instead of mine.”

“I’ll always be on your side, Princess,” Pavise replied without hesitation, startling Cadance a little with his intensity. He suddenly looked away, a little embarrassed. But Cadance left her hoof on his, for what felt like ages, granting Pavise plenty of freedom to imagine what sort of face she’d made in response. After a while, he spoke quietly.

“I didn’t know about the play today, either. I didn’t know we even had an Emerald Shine Theatre Group, honestly,” Pavise said. Cadance smiled, and snorted in mild amusement. Pavise finally lifted his head to behold an unexpectedly amiable looking alicorn.

“I guess that makes two of us. I hope Emerald Shine doesn’t feel too bad… It was just a lot, and I wasn’t ready for it,” said Cadance. “The play was pretty entertaining otherwise.”

Pavise chuckled. “Yeah. Honestly, I kind of wanted to stick around… I’ve actually never seen a theater performance.” It felt wrong to admit given the circumstances. He watched her smile melt into confusion, and wondered if he’d misspoken after all.

“You’ve never seen a theater performance? You don’t know what you’re missing! Back in Canterlot, there used to be a yearly reenactment of the battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon on the eve of her banishment–of course, now that she’s returned they don’t put that show on anymore.” Cadance looked a little sheepish mentioning it, but continued on enthusiastically. “When I was a filly, I practically dragged my parents out every year to go watch the show. It was obnoxious and romanticized, sure, but so much fun to watch.”

He hadn’t expected her to be such a fan of theater, and he wondered if perhaps he could persuade the Emerald Shine group to give them another show–maybe even a private viewing. The thought nearly made his heart skip.

“Well, maybe we could go catch a show sometime,” he said, then immediately realized he had basically asked the alicorn out on a date. “What I mean is, uh, just as friends-er, guard and Princess. I mean, we don’t have to go by ourselves, we could bring more guards, or you could bring anypony else you wanted, or uh-” Cadance silenced him with a hoof to his muzzle, leaving him wide eyed.

“I’d… I’d like that, Pavise. It sounds like fun.” She offered him a small smile, and hope leapt in his chest.

Pavise and Cadance spent a little longer in the cave together. He talked about what he could remember from before he joined the guard, carefully avoiding the specifics of why he’d joined for obvious reasons. Cadance spoke of being a young unicorn in Canterlot, and her unique special talent–matchmaking. He still couldn’t wrap his head around unicorn magic, especially the kind she had described, but it sounded as though she was particularly sensitive to strong feelings of love; Pavise was deeply conscious of his never ending thoughts about her, and hoped desperately she couldn’t read his mind.

When they were finally ready to leave, he led her back through the cave. Cadance paused by the entrance; Pavise turned to ask why, but she spoke first.

“Pavise, I wanted to apologize for what I said to you in the dungeon. I was emotional, and it just… came out. But you were right–I had gone too far–and I should have realized that.” She regarded him carefully, judging his reaction behind the protection of her beautiful mane. He just shook his head.

“It’s uh, not a big deal,” Pavise said lamely. “I just didn’t want you to do something you would regret. Even if he deserves it.” Pavise hated to defend the assassin, truly, but murder was still murder.

Cadance nodded; a pleasant smile crossed her muzzle. “You know, you remind me of Shining sometimes. Always saying the right thing, even if nopony wants to hear it. I don’t think I could have asked for a better guard, Pavise,” she said. Pavise’s heart skipped, then sank into the mud as he thought himself compared to Shining Armor, who should have been standing there sharing pleasant conversation with Cadance instead of himself.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, personal stuff going on. For anyone wondering, I know that Hasbro said Cadance was originally a pegasus before becoming an alicorn, but it makes more sense to me for her to be a unicorn, so that's what she is in this story.