The Alicorn Who Knew Nothing

The Alicorn Who Knew Nothing

Chapter 16

Flight plan

“When royal families wish to combine two households sometimes one pony from each family will be chosen to marry each other. This can be done for several reasons which include thinning of the bloodline in one family, a treaty being enacted, or cultural beliefs (see Appendix 69). Some marriages are arranged even before any of the ponies are born, the custom of foal-selling has also been associated with arranging marriages (for mares that can’t foal their own heirs). The custom of arranged marriages is rarely practiced in eastern cultures, and even fully abolished in current day Equestria.”

“Is that the only book that has anything…?” Ridge asked looking over Cadence’s shoulder.

“I’m afraid so. So what now?” She asked levitating the book back onto the bookshelf.

“I…I don’t know. Is Twilight even royal blood?” He asked sitting down on his rump.

“Technically she’s not, but her brother is my husband.” She said sitting down in front of him.

“We’ve looked at this sideways, upside down, and backwards. I just don’t get why they chose me, it’s not like I was anypony important before this.”

“”Well we don’t know that for sure do we Ridge?” she asked correcting him.

“Oh come on, she said my family had a fishing business. Nopony own a fishing business and is royal blood.” He said curtly.

“Alright you got my hoof there, but we still need to keep looking.” She said lifting him onto his feet with her magic.

“Why bother, it’s all going to fall apart anyway. Maybe I should just go along with their plan, at least I won’t have to worry about anything if I do that.” He said letting his head drop down near the floor.

“Ridge you know you can’t do that, this is wrong and you know it.”

Raising his head he was about to answer her, but an idea quickly popped into his head.

“Fine, but what are we going to do?” he asked looking up at her.

“Well, I was thinking of trying to find your family and telling them.”

“What could they do against the princess of the country Cadence? She would just slander them or something, and have them locked away forever.”

Turning away from him she sat back down in front of the book she had been reading.

“Well I don’t see you coming up with anything better.” She said quickly.

“I could just disappear.” He said standing up and grabbing a book from the bookshelf closest to him.

“Ridge, that wouldn’t help this situation.”

“I know… but it is the easiest option.” He said setting down the book.

Cadence sighed quietly to herself then turned around to address the sullen pony behind her.

“I know things don’t look that great, but I’m sure…”

“Sure of what Cadence?” He asked looking away from the bookshelf toward where she was sitting.

What Ridge saw scared him to the core. Cadence had this terrified look on her face as she stared off toward the western side of the library.

“Cadence…?”

As he started moving closer her horn began to glow softly and she began to slowly open and close her mouth in an awkward manner.

“A..Are you okay, speak to me?”

As he came up next to her he slowly put a hoof to her chest in an attempt to get her attention. As he did so her head snapped toward his and she began to whisper something.

“Rid….un”

“Your scaring me, what is it Cadence?” he said leaning closer toward her.

“They’re coming.”

“Who?” He said almost against her face.

“Luna and Celestia are trying to teleport in here. I’m trying to keep them away, but I don’t know how long I can keep it up. You need to find someplace to hide quickly.”

“What! Oh man, uh…where do I g..go.” he said quickly jumping back from her and frantically searching the room.

“I..I don’t know but just go somewhere I can’t keep this spell up much longer.” She said as her horn began to glow even brighter.

“Buck, Buck, Buck” he said as he began running away from the table.

Before he got more than a pony length away from the table he remembered the book he had been reading earlier. Quickly grabbing the book he had sat down on the floor he turned around and started running toward the door.

‘Thank you for everything Cadence…’ he thought as he burst through the doors and turned down a hallway.

“I’m sorry okay!” Luna said as she held her hooves in front of her face.

Celestia just sat on the edge of her bed massaging her temples.

“Just tell me exactly how it happened okay?” she said looking up toward her sister.

“I..I was up at my telescope and I felt my protection spell on my diary break and i tried to get to it as quickly as possible, but by the time I got there he was already gone.” She said slowly lowering her hooves.

“So you don’t know for sure if he knows?”

“W..Well it was open to his page…” she said blushing.

“His page?” she asked tilting her head to the side.

Looking away from her sister Luna tried to hide her face.

“I wrote about how you planned on him marrying Twilight…and well I thought…I don’t know…also where his parents were.”

“Is that all…?” she asked standing up from the bed.

“Well…I may have also mentioned something about the locket too….”

Sighing quietly, Celestia trotted over and put a hoof over her sister’s shoulder.

“It’s fine Luna, I should have expected as much I guess.”

“Wha…What do you mean?”

“Do you know how you became a princess sister?” she asked as she turned and made her way toward her balcony.

“Well…mother saw fit to let me rule over the night. Just as she saw fit for you to take over her day.” She said following her sister toward the balcony.

“Correct, now do you have any memories of our father?” she asked as she looked out toward the city below.

As Luna scrunched her face in thought she found she couldn’t recall any actual pictures of her father.

“No…not really, but didn’t mother say he passed away before I was born.

As the moon fell Celestia’s her face she gave a small smile and turned to face her sister.

“He died just a few days before you were born. Apparently the ponies of the time didn’t believe in a mortal and goddess relationship, and he was hunted down one night outside the old castle.”

Dropping her head down all Luna returned was a small noise.

“oh..”

“Yea it nearly destroyed mother emotionally.” She said quietly stepping next to her sister.

“But, what does that have to do with Ridge and Twilight?” Luna asked raising one of her eyebrows.

“Well after our father died mother wanted to make sure nopony that ruled over Equestria had to go through the tragedy of ruling alone.”

“So what are you saying?” she asked turning to face her sister.

“Mother originally had me arranged to marry discord…”

“What!?” she yelled backing away toward the wall.

Nodding her head slightly she resumed her story.

“He originally was a simple farming pony from one of the early settlements, but when he was given the powers of royalty he went mad and transformed himself into what we know him as today. After her plan failed she split the powers between us, so neither of us would have to rule alone.”

Slowly moving closer to her sister Celestia put her hoof around her sister’s neck.

“When I found out what mother had done, originally I was furious with her, and almost went mad with power myself. But after you were banished to the moon, I realized what she had done was really a good thing. The entire time you were gone I wanted nothing than for you to return, I couldn’t imagine going on with life if I lost you Luna.” She said as a few tears fell from her face and onto her sister’s dark blue fur.

Slowly turning toward her sister Luna lifted her sister’s face level with hers.

“Well the entire time I was gone I wished to return to you to, even if I was under nightmare moon’s control. You’re still my sister and I will always love you no matter what.”

Nodding and giving a genuine smile she gave her sister a hug.

“But, there are still two things I still don’t understand.” Luna said while holding her sister.

“What is it?” she said leaning her head backwards so she could see her sister’s face.

“Why Ridge? What made him so special that you chose him?”

“Well, after Twilight became my student I began to sense greatness within her.” She said breaking contact with her sister and moving over to the side of the room which housed a bookshelf.

Picking a book out of a seemingly random location she made her way over to the bed, and waved her sister over with her hoof. Quickly making her way beside her sister Luna looked over her shoulder as she opened the book.

“This is a book in which I’ve been tracking possible coltfriends for Twilight. I looked all over Equestria waiting and watching for a stallion that was exactly right for her. I’ve been following Ridge for about five years now, and I thought he would be a perfect match for her.”

Glancing at all the notes in the book she reached out with her hoof at Ridge’s circled picture.

“I still don’t understand exactly how you chose him though.”

“His parents gave him up for adoption at birth, and the family that adopted him treated him horribly. I mean these ponies shouldn’t have even passed foal raising 101, they barely gave him enough food to survive, physical and verbally abused him daily, and forced him to work at their business whether he wanted to or not.” She said skimming toward the rear of the book.

“So they were terrible parents, that doesn’t sound too special sister.”

“Well, it was his attitude toward people that made him stand out. Whenever he got the chance he would do anything he could to make somepony’s day happier, no matter if it hurt him or not. The more his parents did to hurt him, the more he would try to find a reason to be happy. If his parents yelled at him for not finishing his dinner one night, He would get straight A’s for an entire month. Say he was to accidentally break something in his house; he would have gotten a second job to pay for it. I mean his kindness knew no bounds, and he never expected anything in return.”

“Well, you certainly make him sound like a nice pony, but you wouldn’t pick him based on manners alone. What gave him the upper hoof over all the other ponies?”

Lifting her head up and closing the book, Celestia turned her face toward her sister.

“Do you remember when I asked you to look into his dreams?”

Putting her hoof to her chin in thought, she vaguely recalled that day.

“He kept having dreams of his friends if I recall correctly. Just going to the park and talking, or playing some small game; I think he even had a dream of kissing some mare he liked.”

“The thing is Luna, he never actually did any of those things, he either was too busy working for his parents, or school work. His dreams were what he wanted, not what he had. The nights I watched him he cried himself to sleep, and that was for a month straight. When he was alone was the only time he allowed for his true wishes to be shown. All he wanted was some friends, and he wasn’t ever going to get that with his parents.”

Quickly realizing the magnitude of his situation Luna hid her face in her hooves again.

“A…And I ruined it all didn’t I?” she barely managed to say without crying.

Wrapping her sister in another hoof she began to pet her head.

“Shhhhhhh, you did nothing I could be mad at. If it’s anypony’s fault it’s mine. I should have told him the truth from the beginning and let him make his own choices. Maybe I should have made him my student also, but what happened has happened and there is nothing we can do to change it. Now cheer up Luna I owe him an apology, you had nothing to do with this.”

“I know, but I still feel like I let you down though.”

“Trust me Lu-Lu, there is no way you could let me down.”

Luna giggled at the pet name her sister had used.

“Right, now what was the other thing that you wanted to know?” Celestia said as Luna lifted her head up.

“oh…um…I don’t understand how he knew about my diary is all. I mean you’re the only one who knew about it right?” she said looking up into her sisters eyes.

“Well…I may have told somepony else about it….” she said blushing.

“Sister!!! How could you!!!” she said with mock anger.

Picking up on her sister’s tone Celestia decided to play along.

“Well I didn’t think your private diary was private information.” She said sarcastically.

As their eyes meet they both burst into laughter.

“But seriously sister, who else knows?” Luna said trying to stifle her giggles.

“A certain Pink Alicorn we need to have a talk with.” She said standing up from the bed.

“Oh? Oh..Oh!!” she said jumping up from the bed.

“Come now, I believe we may kill two birds with one stone if we find Cadence.”

“You think she may know where Ridge is?” she said her eyes widening.

“Well I think there is only one way to find out, Don’t you?”

Quickly rolling her eyes she held her hoof out to her sister, and together they looked all throughout the castle for Cadence. After a short moment Luna spoke up.

“I found her…She’s in the library?” She said turning toward her sister with a questioning glance.

“Well come on then, we haven’t got all night.” She said lighting up her horn.

“Hmmmf!!” She yelled as she stopped fighting the teleportation spell.

In a flash of yellow and blue, the other two royal guardians appeared behind Cadence.

Taking just a moment to get her bearings after the teleport Celestia made her way forward to where Cadence was sitting. As she made her way up to the table she saw the book that was sitting there, her head dropping in realization.

“Cadence….Why are you in the library this late at night?” Luna asked not seeing the book.

Cadence just sat there in silence as she hung her head.

“I think I might have a clue Luna.” Celestia said resting on Cadence’s shoulder.

“Cadence I want you to be perfectly honest with me okay?” Celestia said slowly looking down at her.

“I..I..I’m sorry.” Was all she said as she looked up at her with wide eyes.

“Don’t worry about that for a moment, now can you be honest with me please?”

She weakly nodded her head.

“Does he know?”

She weakly nodded her head again.

“How much does he know?”

“A..All of it.” she said as she dropped her head.

Celestia quietly glanced at her sister, and gave her a small nod.

“Tis not your fault Cadence. We should have told you our plan a long time ago. Isn’t that right dear sister?” Luna said looking up toward her sister.

Sighing loudly she looked down toward Cadence as she cowered into her seat.

“Come, walk with me.” She said turning away from the table and motioning with her hoof for Cadence to follow.

Cadence quickly looked between the two sisters and as her gaze settled on Luna she  gave an approving nod.

As the pair made their way slowly toward the balcony that marked the end of the library Celestia draped a wing across Cadence.

“I just want to start off by saying I’m sorry okay.”

“B..But princess why are you apologizing to me? I was the one who told him about what you two were doing.”

“I know you were, but I should have told you about it first. I shouldn’t have left you in the dark like I did.”

As they made their way outside Cadence glanced out across the city and all the ponies below.

“But, what you’re doing to him is wrong, nopony should be forced to marry another pony.” She said looking up at Celestia’s face.

“I never had the intention to force anypony to do anything they didn’t want to do Cadence.”

“Then what do you call forcing him to get closer to Twilight.”

Sighing quietly she pulled Cadence in for a hug.

“I knew you wouldn’t agree with this, which is why I never told you anything to begin with. I hardly told Luna about it either but I promise not to hide anything else from you now okay?”

“Then tell me why you lied to him?” Cadence said wiggling out from the hug and turning to face her.

“Because his parents controlled his life, if I would have asked him to change his life for the better he would have refused. That’s why I took him from his family.”

“Change his life for the better, is that how you view this princess? Because from my point of view you pretty much ruined his life.” She said stomping her hoof on the ground.

Quietly shaking her head Celestia lit up her horn and produced her book that she had shown Luna earlier. As she levitated the book over to Cadence she turned it to Ridge’s page.

“What do you know how discord came into existence….”

Meanwhile two stories above them a pair of ponies jumped back away from the window after their most recent activity of spying.

“Wow, I wonder what the princesses did to him.” Pinkie said bouncing along down the hallway.

“I don’t know pinkie, come on we still need to find Twilight. I’m sure she can fix this.” She said as they turned down another corridor.

“Okie dokie lokie” she said bounding down the hallway beside Rainbow Dash.

Ridge sat inside the closet silently praying that he could just wake up from this nightmare.

“Why couldn’t everypony leave me alone...” he thought as he slowly lifted up the book he had managed to grab before he ran out of the library.

Using his horn to light up the immediate area around him he opened the book and began to recite the spell he had found earlier.

“Invictus clokaus hocus pocus”

As he finished reciting the ancient spell he looked at the cloth he currently had tied around his midsection. Slowly it began to glow slightly brighter in color before it seemed to lose all traces of a magical glow. Before he could celebrate his accomplishment he noticed that his vision blurred for just a moment.

‘Alright that worked I guess, now for the other part.’ He thought as he looked toward the shelf in front of himself.

Sitting on the shelf was a meat cleaver he had stolen from the kitchen as he was running through the castle. As he lifted up the blade he noticed how he could see his reflection in the mirror and as he looked at his now grey coat he extinguished his horn and brought the cleaver high above his head.

‘Man this is going to hurt.’ He thought quickly as he brought the clever downward.

‘scunhk’