The Dark Heart of Canterlot

Chapter 4: Professor Shimmer Dew

"I can't stand him!"

The kitchen was stiflingly hot. The air above the glowing cooking range shimmered like water while the high vaulted ceiling was thick with swirling clouds of steam. Yet still Shimmer Dew was not satisfied.

"More heat" he wheezed as he pumped up and down on the stove bellows, first with one hoof, then two. Up down, up down. The compressed air hissed through the pipes. The fire roared.

Cadence flicked away the bit of mane which clung to her glistening brow and horn and looked up. Having spent the whole morning cold and shivering in Silver Star's draughty classroom, she was now dizzy with the intense heat coming from the stove. "Does it have to be so hot?" she panted. Her smooth three toned mane was tied up behind her head with a small blue bow.

"If you...don't want your spiced scones to...end up like spiced stones", Shimmer Dew replied breathlessly, "the hotter the fire..."

"The lighter the dough" Cadence finished for him, and laughed. She'd heard the words a thousand times before on her little baking days. It was one of the many earth pony sayings that the funny old professor had brought down with him from Baltimare, passed on through word of mouth down dozens of generations- so Shimmer Dew said, anyway.

The yellow earth pony looked round to see the young Princess sitting on her step-stool at the round white oak table, smirking from ear to ear. He brushed down his hooves with his bushy tail. "Forgive me, but I thought you liked your scones crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside."

"I do" said Cadence.

"And for that, we must do two things" declared Shimmer Dew heartily. "One, ensure the oven is furnace hot. And two...", his gaze fell upon the whisk laying idle by Cadence's forehooves, "we must beat the mixture until it is frothy light." His dark orange eyes narrowed. "Is it frothy light?"

The beautiful pink coated alicorn looked down into the bowl before her. The mixture slopped about in the bottom. "Not quite" she said, a little shame faced.

"Then beat, foal! Beat!" said Shimmer Dew with a laugh. "While I sort out the apples."

Cadence nodded, held the bowl firmly in between her forehooves, and levitated the ivory handled whisk into the mixture before stirring furiously. Ever since she was little, of all the cakes, pastries and other assorted dough-bakes that Shimmer Dew and she had made together, it was the spiced scones that she liked most. Delicious on their own, but with the generous serving of razzleberry jam mixed with honey and topped off with cream, they were sublime. It was Cadence who had suggested they make some for Shining.

Now, with her forehooves aching and her horn growing tired, she was beginning to regret her generosity.

"So, how are you and the young guard cadet getting on, anyway?" asked her professor as he stirred the stewing apples. Cadence started. It wasn't the first she'd wondered whether her old tutor could read minds. If she hadn't already been so red in the face from the heat, she would have blushed with embarrassment.

"We're getting on all right" she muttered.

"More than all right, if you ask me", Shimmer Dew persisted, "after all, why else would we be making him spiced scones?"

Cadence whisked the mixture more vigorously. Slops of it splattered down her front, on the table, on the floor.

"Like I said, we're getting on all right"

"Only you did say you thought he was a little...rough and ready" said the yellow pony has the lid back on the bubbling pot. Cadence snorted.

"Well, he is" she huffed.

"Hmm, your aunt certainly seems to think highly of him"

Cadence's lips pursed. "Does she?"

She began beating the mixture so violently that a huge dollop landed in her face. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, letting go of the bowl whilst still continuing to mix. The bowl slipped from the table and clattered to the stone floor with a loud clang!

"NO! Dammit!" Cadence shouted with a mixture of tears and anger. "I'm sorry professor, I'm hopeless, useless! I can't do anything right!"

"Cadence, my sweet" said Shimmer Dew, his face crinkled up with concern. He trotted across from the stove, wrapped a foreleg around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly. His feather quill cutie mark pressed up against her crystal heart as he hugged her warmly. "There, there" he whispered, "no need to worry, its only a bit of batter"

"But I've ruined it, we're gonna have to start all over again!"

The old earth pony pulled away and glanced at the floor. He shook his head.

"No we won't, look."  To her surprise, Cadence saw that the featherwood bowl had landed on its base. None of the mixture - frothy and light as it was - had been spilt. She picked it up with her magic, the pale blue light reflecting off her angry tears. The pink Princess gently put it back on the table and wiped her eyes.

"You see" said Shimmer Dew, taking both of Cadence's forehooves in his own, "things are never so bad as they first seem."

Cadence flinched. Never so bad as they first seem. The words echoed in her head. Never so bad as they first seem. She tore her hooves away from her Professor. "No they're not" she laughed bitterly. "They're worse! Far far worse!"

"Why? How?" said the old earth pony, "what in Goddess' name are you talking about foal? What is worse?"

"Everything!" wailed Cadence angrily. "I mean, I try..." she sobbed. "I try so hard But Aunt Celestia never seems to notice me. Whatever I do. I know it's not her fault. She...she spends so many hours on that 'Great Work' of hers, and - oh, Professor, I worry about her. She never seems to sleep any more..."

The yellow pony nodded sympathetically. He was only too aware of how much the young Princess worried about her aunt.

"And then he comes along. Him! That cocky little know-it-all guard cadet, SHINING!"

"But you said you were getting on all right" said Shimmer Dew, patting her foreleg.

"We are" said Cadence desperately. "But now Aunt Celestia's got even less time for me. Its all 'SHINING, can you do this? SHINING, can you do that?'" She looked away. "It's as if she'd rather have a nephew than a niece..."

"That's enough Cadence!" said Shimmer Dew sharply. He shook his head. "All this carry-on! I mean, I'm not saying that Equestria's Monarch doesn't spend too much time on her work. She does. but this doesn't mean she loves you any the less. Work is work and family is family and-"

"And Shining is both! Work and family"

"He's not" said the old stallion wearily.

"He is!" retorted the triple maned alicorn. Aunt Celestia includes him in everything. Sending him on errands, giving him tasks..." she looked up angrily. "She's never given me a task!"

"She's made him her assistant" said Shimmer Dew gently, "thats what assistants do"

"Yes, but what was it it she told Captain Stormswirl?" thundered Cadence, biting back the tears, "'While Shining is here, I'll treat him like my own son.' Her own son! You see! Work and family. He's both! And where does that leave me?" She turned away and sat down sadly, leaning against one of the white stone pillars of the kitchen.

"Cadence my dear, if you don't mind my saying, you're sounding a bit jealous."

"Jealous?" Cadence stormed. "Don't be ridiculous! Jealous of that mule? I'm not jealous, I'm...I'm..." her lower lip trembled. "Lonely" she whimpered at last, her voice small and wobbly. Shimmer Dew shook his head sadly. He plodded over to her and patted her on the shoulder. He had known the young Princess all of her life. He was at the Palace when she was born, when her mother was snatched away from her. He had seen her grow up to be a beautiful regal Princess. He had seen her mature into one of the most loving ponies he knew.

"I can't help it" she blurted out, "its just how I feel"

"What you feel is what you feel - that's what my mother used to say. And knowing how you feel is the first step to changing how you feel, if you really want to."

Cadence shrugged. She still felt like crying.

"How can I change if nothing else changes? I mean, if Aunt Celestia continues to work so hard and Shining takes all her attention the whole time..."

"Well, you must make things change."

"How?"

Shimmer Dew thought for a moment. "Lets look at this logically" he started, "you feel your Aunt ignores you. You can't seem to get close to her. And you're lonely. Shining, on the other hoof, seems close to her, but is new here. He doesn't have any friends. I would think he's a little lonely himself. He probably needs someone his own age to talk to. So..."

"So I ought to make friends with Shining?"

The old earth pony teacher smiled. "Lets just say that I don't think its any bad thing us preparing delicious spiced scones for tea" he said. "So come on then, young Princess. You dollop out the mixture into the baking trays while I give the oven a final blast of the bellows, and..."

"And when they're in the oven, can I scrape the bowl?"

Shimmer Dew smiled so hard his old eyes shrank into his wrinkles. "Of course you can Cadence."

In the upper gallery of the kitchen, far above the heads of the young Princess and her earth pony tutor, stood a solitary figure, his head swathed in clouds of steam. It was Shining Armour.

Too tired after his long night in the Great Library to even attempt Silver Star's homework, yet far too excited to sleep, the young unicorn stallion had taken to the Palace's corridors again. The whole place fascinated him.

He'd just stumbled on a music chamber. It was amazing. On the platform had stood a grand piano, a beautiful piece of work lovingly polished and varnished. Beside it were three chairs, each with a different instrument on it. One was a peculiar looking wind instrument which Shining guessed to be some form of fancy flute, one had a violin, while the third was a combination of the two, with an enamelled bow leaning up against the back of the chair. It was made from the finest featherwood and ivory from the Deer-Realm of Concordia across the sea. From what Shining could make out, it was designed to be bowed and blown at the same time.

What impressed Shining the most however was the fact that, thanks to the attentions of the faithful old pony Comet Catcher, the room was incredibly clean. And not just clean - but ready. At any moment, that a quartet of musicians could walk through the door, pick up their instruments and play as if nothing had ever happened.

And it was the same with the other rooms he stumbled across as he roamed the corridors, storey after storey, trying door after door. Room after room, each one lovingly tended to - yet so still, so unused.

There was the ground floor Chamber of Lilies - a wood panelled room with faux leather chairs once used by the Sun Princess and senior politicians who, following the death of a minister for whatever reason, would cluster together until they had selected a new one. And on the third floor, the Hall of Gifts, where cavernous glass cabinets housed generations of officially received gifts from every nation across the world - everything from crystal embedded wine goblets from Prance to beautiful Neighponese swords set with rubies and onyx. Further along that corridor was the Portrait Gallery with its many painting of great Equestrian and foreign heroes - each one carefully dusted - stretching back down the centuries. Some were famous to Shining,  like Aegis the Defender and Morning Star the Storm-Summoner, whose heroic actions during the legendary War of the Two Sisters were told in stories over a thousand years later.

Others were unknown foreign figures from the Griffin Kingdoms, the Deer-Realm of Concordia, the Zebra homeland of Zevera, and the mythical Crystal Empire that Shining had heard mentioned once or twice. At the far end of that corridor, the young blue maned unicorn had stood looking at the portrait of Princess Celestia for several long moments. It smelt of fresh paint. The likeness was fantastic; the fair snow white coat, the spectacular aurora tempered flowing mane, dancing serenely around her elegant gemmed crown. And as for the eyes, the artist had captured the expression within their violet depths perfectly - that sparkle of foallike eagerness, tempered by a haunted look of...

"What is that look?" Shining murmured to himself. Weariness? Despair? Fear? He shook his head. "Or perhaps a combination of the three?" he sighed, "but you're not going to tell me, are you?" he asked the portrait. "I'll have to find out for myself."

As Shining closed the door to the Portrait Gallery, all thought of the Sun Princess immediately vanished. The smell now filling the corridor was intoxicating. Sweet, fruity, laced with honey and spices - it reminded him so much of the mulled wine his parents used to drink at Hearth's Warming Eve. Head raised and nose up, the strong unicorn followed the scent along the hallway, down the stairs, to the rear of the Palace through a small door...

"Mmmm" he sighed. He had found the source of the mouthwatering aroma. Clouds of it wafted round his head, billowing up from somewhere far below. The white pony walked forward to the polished gold balustrade and peered over the edge. Between the clouds of steam, he could see several massive pieces of machinery. At first he thought he must have stumbled across some kind of workroom, but a closer look revealed that - as the smell of cooking itself suggested - he was standing on the gallery above a vast kitchen.  The huge machines were merely ovens, boilers and broilers, on a scale large enough to feed the army of Royal Guards and domestic staff who must have once filled the erstwhile Palace years ago. Now, with the royal abode as it was, the number it housed was down to only about two dozen and, like so much else in this great building, the kitchen apparatus remained carefully tended but unused.

But somepony's cooking on something, Shining mused. He could smell the simmering apples. He could almost taste them. Shining peered down. The steam was coming from directly below him. There must be a stove there, just out of sight - and he was about to move round to the other side of the gallery to check when...

"SHINING!"

Shining jumped.

"SHINING!"

The voice was coming from down in the kitchen. It was Cadence.

"SHINING!"

There it was a third time. What had he done now?

He leaned over the balustrade and strained to hear what was being said. But it was impossible. He could make out she was talking to Shimmer Dew - but the shouting was over now and their conversation no more than a murmured buzz. Shining turned away, left the kitchen gallery and made his way back to his room. The anger and exasperation in Cadence's voice when she had shouted his name was unmistakeable. "She hates me" he told himself flatly. "Its the only answer. She hates me."

He kicked the door to his bedchamber shut and threw himself on his bed.

"Stuck up little prig..."

"The thing is" Shimmer Dew was saying, "as a country pony, I must say that I'm all in favour of what your Aunt is trying to do in Canterlot. Those nobleponies and politicians have grown too big for their horseshoes - what with their bickering and plotting and big towers everywhere. Why, to listen to them you'd think the rest of Equestria didn't exist at all. But it does, and there was a time when the common pony's voice mattered. Old ministers knew that, and so does your Aunt..."

Cadence listened, surprised, as she licked the whisk slowly clean. It was unlike Shimmer Dew to mention the politics of Canterlot, but ever since the trays had gone into the oven, he had talked non stop.

"Oh, I accept that it can be handy to make peace with other nations, but as a citizen from Baltimare I know how important it is to understand the needs of the people" he went on, "to know what life is like in different parts of our seemingly perfect land. We were united once, against the griffins in the War of the Skies, and against Adolf Bitler in the first Pony-War. Somepony needs to remind Equestria of how strong we are when united, especially in these troubled times."

Cadence nodded.

"I just wish that somepony wasn't my Aunt" she said. Shimmer Dew chuckled.

"I know dear, I know. She's taken a great burden upon herself, thats for sure. And she's so determined to succeed that i fear for her"

"What do you mean?"

The old Professor frowned. "Do you remember the old story I used to tell you?" he asked, "The Tree That Said It Could Fly"

A broad smile spread across Cadence's face. "I think so"

"Tell it to me then" quipped her tutor with a raised eyebrow.

Cadence set the whisk down on the table. "Well, its about an ash tree and an oak tree" she said. "The ash tree keeps saying 'I shall fly, I shall fly, if its the last thing I do.' And the oak tree keeps saying, 'Prove it!'" Shimmer Dew smiled and nodded encouragingly.

"The ash flaps its branches but it does not fly. It spins its leaves but it does not fly. it jiggles its roots but it still doesn't fly. Then, just as the oak tree is about to lose its temper with its boastful neighbour, the ash tree is struck by a bolt of lightning. It bursts into flames and its hurled from the ground high into the air. 'I said I would fly' the ash calls down. the oak tree turns and says, 'Yes my friend, you said you would fly if it was the last thing you did. And it is!'"

Cadence looked up and smiled weakly. "I used to think it was a happy ending when I was small, but now that I think about it, it isn't is it?"

"It depends on how you look at it" said her tutor, "the ash tree got its wish in the end"

"Yes, but it would crash into the ground and break into nothing" said Cadence.

"That's right, and do you remember the moral of the story? For in success can lie destruction"

Cadence flinched. "And you think my Aunt is like that ash tree. You think that she..."

At that moment, the heavy double doors to the kitchen flew back on their hinges and crashed against the walls behind them. Cadence and Shimmer Dew spun round to see Princess Celestia standing in the doorway. Her beautiful mane and tail were dishevelled, the normally gentle waves now ragged and violent. Her face was even paler than normal, and her arresting eyes were drawn and puffy - and unmistakably angry.

"Why did no one wake me? Who raised the sun this morning if I was still asleep?" she demanded. "I've already missed most of the day!"

"B-But you were up all night...and the Highlords raised the sun together this morning. You n-needed to sleep" replied Cadence nervously.

"Even if it does mean turning nocturnal" Shimmer Dew added wryly.

"When I want advice about when to sleep, I shall ask you for it!" Celestia snapped. She looked round. "Have either of you seen Shining Armour?"

"No" said cadence, "not since-"

"Oh, by the sun!" Celestia roared, causing both other ponies in the room to shrink back. "Do I have to do everything myself? I send him on an important, not to say urgent, errand - and what happens? He disappears!"

Cadence suddenly felt very uneasy and frowned. "Urgent?" She fumbled around in her tail, so voluminously curled she could store several small things in its multi-toned depths. She pulled out the old scroll. "Is this what you need?"

Her aunt limped across the kitchen, snatched the scroll in her golden magical grip and opened it up.

"Yes" she whispered. "Yes!" she turned on her niece, eyes literally blazing. "But why didn't Shining bring it straight to me?"

"Because...because I told him not to..." the young Princess stammered, rubbing a hoof against her other foreleg. Her face smarted, her eyes stung. "You...you were asleep. I didn't want him to disturb you..."

"When did he arrive back?"

Cadence hung her head.

"This morning" she whimpered at last, and swallowed. "At about six o'clock"

"Six o'clock?!" the Sun Goddess roared. "Cadence, this is absolutely intolerable! You must not interfere with matters you know nothing about..."

"But I only meant to..."

"Stop meddling in my affairs! Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, Your Highness" whispered Cadence, her voice breaking.

Without another word, Princess Celestia marched out of the kitchens, slamming the double doors shut behind her with her magic.

"You see?" Cadence shouted the moment she had gone. "Its always the same. In her eyes, everything I do is wrong"

"Oh she didn't mean it my dear. You could see how tired she looked. How out of sorts..." said Shimmer Dew dismissively.

"Its all Shining's fault" Cadence went on bitterly. "Bringing Celestia that wretched, stupid scroll. That's what upset her. That's what made her sh...sh...shou-" she burst into racking tears. "Shout at me."

Shimmer Dew waddled over to her and placed a forehoof across her withers. "Come on now Cadence."

But the young pink alicorn was inconsolable. She pushed her old tutor away and buried her face in a pink feathered wing. With a slight shrug and a sigh of sympathy, Shimmer Dew trotted over to the oven and opened the door. Cadence heard him gasp, and looked up.  Thick, black smoke was billowing from inside.

"We make a fine pair, we do. What with all the fuss and to-do, I forgot all about the scones."

"They're ruined!" Cadence howled in despair.

"I could try scraping them" the old earth pony suggested.

"Throw them away! Shining doesn't deserve them anyway!"

Tears stinging her eyes, she ran from the kitchen and up a flight of stairs. Comet Catcher was plodding towards her, a tray held firmly in his magical grasp - but Cadence ignored his respectful bow and brushed him roughly aside.

"Young Princess?" the old unicorn's creaky voice echoed round he stairwell. Without hesitating, the alicorn rushed on - not to her bedchambers - that would be the first place Shimmer Dew would come looking for her, and she didn't want to be found - but to the balcony chamber.

Across the marble floor she sped, behind the lacy curtains and her half finished painting and out of the glass doors. Panting with exertion, she stepped to the edge of the balcony and breathed in the warm, sticky air. To her right was the greater city of Canterlot with its shining spires and violet tiled roofs, to her left, the tall part of the Palace known as the Cloud Wing, and past it - just visible through the gap between the buildings - the Grand Viaduct, teeming with life.

"Canterlot ponies" she murmured scornfully as she watched them. "Like insects, scurrying here and there. Making business deals, breaking promises; plotting, scheming..." She sniffed and pushed her mane out from her eyes. "My aunt, Princess Celestia, the Sun Goddess and Ruling Monarch of Equestria, is better than the whole lot of you put together..."