1000 Years Ago

1000 Years Ago

by PartyCannonInc

Cadence

Canterlot, Canterlot Castle

August 19th, 162 DR

3:09 PM

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, get back here this instant!”  The sound of an alicorn’s fury roared throughout Canterlot Castle. The midnight blue alicorn, whom the big mouth and loud voice belonged to, stormed through the large and decorative hallways. Any guard that met the fierce ruler was grabbed by a angry blue aura and tossed aside. It was safe to say that they were rather fearful of the alicorn, whose name was Princess Luna, and would do anything to get out of the castle in that particular moment.

But there was one pony who wasn’t scared of the thundering Princess of the Night: Princess Cadence. Laughing, she skipped and flew this way and that, making Luna lose track of her in the labyrinth of a castle.

Why she was being chased, she was rather clear of. To put it short, Luna’s hair was now an repulsive mustard color. Hey, it wasn’t Cadence’s fault that Starswirl had kept 101 Spells for Pranking the Unlucky Pony open.

And now here is Starswirl, opening the door to his gigantic study to see what all the ruckus is about. After all, there was enough chaos outside the boundaries of Canterlot and in the country of Discord.

Now there were two ponies giving chase, one a warrior princess and the other an immortal scholar. Surely Cadence would be scared.

But she wasn’t.

So it happened that this was a daily routine: Cadence use her magical princess powers to pull a shamelessly hilarious prank, the poor pony whom it was put upon would yell and scream (they were usually nobles who thought that even eating without a fork was putrid), and eventually Cadence would have to apologize before Princess Celestia, only to have it happen again the next day.

Yup, Cadence was surely one to look out for those days.

The pink alicorn princess slammed herself on the door, opened the handle, ushered inside, and locked it all in one swift motion.

She was rather good at this, considering the majority of the last twenty-three years of her life was spent on such actions. In fact, this happened so much, and Celestia grew so tired of getting Cadence to say sorry every day that the Princess of the Day started to prank other ponies alongside Cadence.

Too bad she missed this one.

Celestia currently was in the throne room, stuck reading land disputes between the Zebrican Ambassadors and the Canterlot Nobles. She was still trying to get the Zebras to let some ponies stay in their country. Discord was never one to mess with the zebras. The way they always found a way to rhyme perfectly without messing up disgusted him. Of course, the Zebricans couldn’t go all the way over to Canterlot. They were sending each other formal letters, via teleportation (or, if you are on the other side to the spectrum, magical brews in great big bubbly cauldrons).

That’s how it was these days, ponies shaking in their little hooves whenever they came close to the border between Chaos Country and Canterlot. Discord was no tyrant. He was an all-powerful tyrant. He could do anything he pleased. Day by day, several ponies would go missing near the edge of Canterlot, all used for Discord’s evil, yet mischievous, schemes. That was how monsters were made. But of course, Starswirl, Cadence’s mentor, would go in a lecture about it and make something that sounded so cool become so boring.

The clopping of hoofsteps sounded through the hallway. Suddenly, a voice joined in.

“Ugh, where is that little filly?” It was feminine voice, tinted with the authority (but not the volume; thank goodness) of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Luna. Cadence gulped just the slightest.

“You can go back to your duties. I’ll go find her, Princess.” This was Starswirl.

Starswirl trotted off in the opposite direction at a brisk pace while Luna went back to the throne room. After making sure the Princess of the Night wasn’t here anymore, the elderly unicorn doubled back and knocked his hoof on Cadence’s door.

“I know you’re in there, Cadence.”

Cadence, after a moment’s hesitation, unlocked the door and let her mentor inside. Afterward, she took a seat on her fluffed and outrageously pink bed.

“Locator spell,” Starswirl said while opening a pocket and revealing a scroll for said spell. “Really useful for finding hidden princesses.”

Cadence sat still.

Starswirl walked up to the filly princess and sat on the bed. “After all, with all the ruckus you’re making, we don’t even need a Discord!”

Cadence turned her head to stare at Starswirl. She could sense mixed feelings inside of him, the awkwardness most prominent. “You’re never one to crack a joke. What’s going on here?”

Starswirl sat still.

“Celestia getting up to you again?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “I swear, you know exactly what’s going inside my big and wise brain.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Hey!” Starswirl huffed mockingly. “I’ll have you know that I was made immortal for my spells and theories!”

“Of course, Mr. All-Knowing Teacher.” Cadence grinned. “And it’s only because you and Luna are in love,” she said in a sing-songy voice, dragging out the last word like a fermata on two slurred whole notes.

Starswirl started to drool. With a sudden shake of the head, he commanded, “Well, let’s get to your lesson.” He hopped off the bed, trotting up to the door.

“You’re dodging my question.”

He turned round on his hooves. Cadence was sure that she had got him, until Starswirl answered. “That was a statement, not a question. Only proves that you’ve”-he booped her on the nose-“got more to learn.”

“Everypony knows that the proper way to dodge a question is to answer a related question, not completely ignore it.”

Starswirl let out a groan. “I’ve already got Celestia battering me with this junk, and now you too? Sweet Discord, save me from these unholy alicorns!”

A creak and a growl sounded in the roof.

“Never mind.”

Canterlot, Royal Greenhouse

“This is Apis mellifera,” Starswirl stated as he levitated a confused honeybee from the swarm and in front of Cadence’s face. “The Honeybee.”

Cadence took one glance at the poor creature, who struggled to jump out of the blue aura. “He doesn’t like it. He’s scared.”

Starswirl stared at the scrambling honeybee. “Well, now, I guess he is.” Cadence nudged him. “Oh, of course.” The magic stopped short, and the bee fell straight down. Cadence caught him on the wing.

“Off you go,” she whispered.

“I just don’t understand,” shouted Starswirl while looking at the dirt ground. “One day you can understand animals and the next you have a knack for seeing the stars! What am I missing?” He turned his head to look at the pink princess. “Cadence, you are such a mystery.”

“It’s not the end of the world,” exclaimed Cadence. In just ten nanoseconds, she realized her mistake and put her hoof to her mouth.

“Not the end of the world?” Starswirl bristled. “The sooner we find what the hay you’re good at, the sooner we can challenge and destroy Discord! Have you any idea what life is like in the cities?”

Cadence cowered back into the edge of a pot. With a deep breath, she stood up, chest puffed and eyebrows arched. “Such language!”

Starswirl glanced nervously around, and, with a sigh, exclaimed, “I just don’t know what went wrong!”

Cadence let out a hearty, cheerful laugh. “Let’s get back to the lesson, Mr. All-Knowing Teacher.”

“Don’t make a habit of that.”

“Oh I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.” Unluckily for Starswirl (/ Mr. All-Knowing Teacher), Cadence had her hoof behind her back. “Come on, Mr. All Knowing Teacher.”

“Excuse me?”

With a devious smile, Cadence snickered and said, “Kinged you,” while Starswirl let out an exasperated sigh and dramatic eye roll that was well worth an Oscolt Award if they existed.

“Princesses,” muttered Starswirl.

?????????

“When shall we strike?” A misty voice echoed in the dark, eagerly awaiting a signal.

“Start phase one, my dear. We’re in for some chaos.” The host of the second malicious voice grinned darkly. In a whip of air and an squee of jubilance, the first seeped through the tiny cracks in the walls and up to Canterlot, putting to sleep all who saw it. “Sweet nightmares, my friends,” she cackled as each one fell with a thud on the ground. She headed toward the Castle, and into the kitchen, adding a new page to the cookbook.

Canterlot, Royal Dining Hall

August 20th, 162 DR

6:03 PM

Princess Celestia looked down at the pitiful amount of fresh vegetables on her silver and gold plate. Fearful, she asked the waitress, “Is this all that’s left?”

The waitress bowed, a bit shocked that the princess had asked her and not some other higher in the rank, and replied, “We’ve been holding on as long as we can, but Discord’s magic is destroying the plants in both our gardens and Everfree Refuge.”

“Not much of a refuge now, isn’t it? I had hoped that my childhood home would be safe.”

“Is that all?” The waitress asked anxiously.

“Yes. You may go.” Celestia looked down at her plate of food. Oh, I do hope this will pass. She looked at Starswirl and Cadence, her advisor and her youngest sister. I fear for both of them.

Suddenly, the two double doors opened with a bang, revealing the angered Princess Luna and a nervous wreck of a soldier.

“Princess, we can’t find any sign of the Elements!” He reasoned. “They’re all the way out!”

Luna turned on the soldier. “Do you have any idea what is going on out there? The citizens need you. You can live a coward, or die a hero. What would you choose?”

The soldier opened his mouth to speak, until Luna zipped it shut using her magic.

“I don’t want to hear it. Tell the others to decide,” she ordered. “I trust that they will choose the right decision.”

In a hurry, the soldier scampered off.

Starswirl put a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, my star,” Luna apologized.

“It’s quite all right, dear,” answered Starswirl.

Quietly, Celestia leaned over to whisper in Cadence’s ear while the two lovers were busy. “Why don’t you pour yourself a drink? You’re too young for wine anyways.” Cadence was relieved for the break. The love filling the air was getting too sappy sweet for her. How could Celestia bear it?

While Cadence scurried to the kitchen, Celestia used her extensive knowledge of ‘house-magic’ to double the capacity of Luna’s glass, and poured Cadence’s wine into Luna’s. Her sister needed to calm down and take a breather, that was for sure.

Canterlot, Castle Kitchen

A light blue glow levitated The Uncanny Drink to the ground. Cadence opened the books, flipping the pages until she came to a stop on Drink of True Love. Cadence tilted her head, curious, and started reading the page. The mixture of ingredients sounded very strange, but tasty. Cadence was sure that the title meant that she would be enamored with the liquid.

Take a tuft of cloud.

Cadence peered into the Cake Ingredients cabinet and delicately took two pieces of the soft cloud, eating one. She levitated a bowl to the floor, setting it down with a clank. She looked around as the sound resonated through the enormous kitchen, then, after making sure Princess Luna wasn’t coming for her, placed the nimbus gently into the ceramic.

A bright rainbow’s glow.

Cadence was sure that they had rainbows somewhere. Going back to the same cabinet, she saw a prismatic liquid safely tucked away in a glass jar. She tried to use her magic to open the lid, but it would not budge. She bit it, threw it, pried it, set fire to it, and even froze it. The jar would not open.

That was, until Cadence saw the jar opener.

It was made out of straw and dried hay, but it’s strength was amplified by magic. Cadence was sure that she hadn’t seen it before.

So, with a twist of the jar opener, the lid came off and clattered to the floor.

The rainbow inside quickly whizzed into the air, dancing around in a flurry. Cadence quickly took flight, grabbed the rainbow with her teeth, and shoved it in the bowl. It settled in the cloud.

Stir with a pegasus feather, fast, not slow.

Cadence looked skeptical. A Pegasus Feather? She wasn’t sure that was legal. Oh well.

Biting her lip, she quickly plucked one of her pink feathers. The pain seared through her wing, and she tried her best to subside it while mixing up the cloud and rainbow.

Serve.

Cadence squinted her eyes. Serve? That was it? She was sure that she saw faded words.

I’ll just serve it with ice, Cadence quickly remedied her dire situation.

She levitated open a ice box and dropped the ice in a glass. Steadily, she poured the drink into the cup. She ignored the way that the concoction slowly turned ice blue.

Smiling, she picked up the glass with her magical blue aura and trotted out the door. Entering the dining hall, she set the glass down, careful not to spill a single drop.

She took a sip, eyes closed so that she could taste it without being distracted by all the love between her mentor and the regal princess of the night.

She opened her eyes at the unorthodox flavor.

“Oh my, where have you been all my life?” Cadence exclaimed.

“Cadence, are you okay?” Starswirl asked nervously, eyes darting back and forth.

“Oh, let’s not talk about me.” Cadence’s mouth curved just slightly, her eyes fixed on Starswirl. She put a hoof on Starswirl’s chest, licking her lips.

“Let’s talk about us.”