Cadance lay atop her bed, her mind going over everything that had happened during the first date, especially the end, when she…

Candace blushed when she remembered the kiss, her mind going over every intricate detail. From the way her lips felt, down to how long she held it. For Cadance it could have been the only kiss she ever received from the mare, and she would be happy with that, for she knew it meant that Twilight was willing to give this a shot.

She rolled onto her stomach, looking around the room she had practically moved into since she had left the Crystal Empire. It had been nice, going home after all those years, but to her nothing beat the rooms of the palace, and plus in truth, the ponies of the Crystal Empire really didn’t need her to rule the kingdom day in and day out.

She slowly got up, heading over to her dresser and pulling off her regalia, getting ready for her next date with the young mare, though she immediately laughed at the thought of calling Twilight young. But in respect to herself, and especially in respect to Celestia and Luna, Twilight was young for an alicorn. That’s not to say she knew many alicorns beyond Celestia and Luna, but she knew there were ones far older then even them, though none of them were as old as Faust was, and from everything she knew about her, Faust had always existed.

She quickly shook such thoughts from her mind, not wanting to dwell on such concepts at the moment, though she did file it away for latter as something to bring up to Twilight, maybe get her more relaxed during there next date and possibly allow for some more…physical displays of affection.

She finally finished brushing her mane, smiling as its stripes glowed brightly in the early morning sun. She had decided that there next date would take place earlier in the day, out in the hills where they could lounge about and relax, talking about whatever they wanted. She had also managed to arrange it so that no guards would be present during their date, for many of the populace had realized that, after a thousand years of peace and the fact that the biggest threats to Equestira were either dead or reformed, the princesses could take care of themselves, especially when together.

She made it to Twilight’s room, knocking on the door and then smiling as it opened, receiving a quick kiss from Twilight as she walked out with the picnic basket. “Good to see you,” said Cadance, grabbing Twilight’s left wing with her right and walking with her as they made their way out of the castle.

“It’s good to see you as well Cady, I have been looking forward to this all day ever since you mentioned the idea, I don’t think I have been on a picnic in ages.”

Cadance nodded, “I thought it would be good for you, and I also thought it would be a nice chance to just talk to one another.”

“That sounds really nice, and I do have a lot of questions I have been meaning to ask actually.”

Cadance smiled at that, then daringly pulled Twilight close, using her magic to teleport them both to the hilltop, where the blanket was already set up.

“Wow…” said Twilight, smiling as she walked over and sprawled out on the blanket, letting her whole body relax as Cadance began setting up the food. “And you sure that we don’t have to worry about guards?”

“Absolutely sure,” said Cadance, “they know we can take care of ourselves, plus I stressed that they were not invited, so we don’t have to worry.”

“That’s good,” said Twilight, “I still don’t get why they have to follow us everywhere.”

Cadance looked back at her, scooting over and handing her a glass of wine before speaking. “From what I have been able to figure it’s more for the common ponies, even after a thousand years and so many battles under our belt, they can still only view us as helpless damsels who will inevitably get stuck in some random dragon’s tower.”

That made Twilight laugh, causing her to lean against Cadance and cause her to blush. After that they dug into the food, though Cadance had to admit she thought Twilight was being a little too liberal with the wine, finally placing her wing over the glace to stop her from draining it again. “Twilight stop, that’s your sixth glass of wine and I haven’t even finished my second, what’s gotten into you?”

“Sorry Cady…” said Twilight, looking sad. “It’s just that…you mentioning battles brought up a lot of bad memories from the griffon war, and I have found that wine helps relieve the pain of them…most of the time.”

Cadance looked stunned, for Twilight had never, ever talked about her memories from the war, never even hinted at them. “W…would you mind talking to me about it, I know it might be painful, but it really does help to talk about things like this.”

Twilight sighed, setting down her glass and leaning once again against Cadance, not speaking for a very long time. Cadance simply sat there, gently rubbing her back with a hoof and waiting for her to speak.

“Did…” started Twilight, “did you ever hear about the rumors surrounding the battle of The Shattered Capital?”

“…only the vague ones really, I…I didn’t want to hear any of them though, thinking they would mostly be just slander.”

Twilight nodded, and then took a small sip of her wine before speaking. “Celestia and I had confronted King Screaming Skies during the end of the battle, trying to get him to surrender so that we could stop the slaughter that was going on around us. We knew if we killed him, it would make him a martyr in his people’s eyes, and thus they wouldn’t stop fighting, even if he was dead. However…he refused to surrender, and during the battle we found out why…it seems that somehow he…he got ahold of the alicorn amulet.”

Cadance’s eyes widened, knowing the dangers of the artifact but keeping her mouth shut, figuring she needed to let Twilight speak. “He over powered me, which is how I got these scares on my neck, but he could not defeat Celestia, no matter how hard he tried. She kept trying to reason with him, telling him that his people would suffer it he did not surrender, and that to continue to fight would be folly. But he just kept on refusing, saying his death would be a glorious end, which would be spoken about by griffons for years to come.”

Twilight shivered as she took another sip of her wine, “but Celestia had other ideas it seemed…and…and much to my horror, she did something that still frightens me to this day.” She gulped, trying to keep her breathing calm as she kept going. “Her…her mane and tail lit on fire then, and…and then these black skeletal ponies rose up from flames on the ground. But that wasn’t the most horrible thing for me…it was the look on the kings face, that realization that came into his crazed eyes as those…creatures came toward him, for in that moment he realized his death would not be glorious, and if it was ever spoken of…it…it would spoke of only in whispered horror, as a reminder of what happens when you challenge the might of Equestria.”

Twilight shivered again, looking down at the blanket as she spoke again. “And the worst part about it all…she wiped the memory of it from all the ponies who had witnessed it, all of them…except me.”

“What…but why?”

Twilight didn’t look up, keeping her head hung low as she spoke. “She…she said I needed to remember what I saw…because she needed me to not see her as…as something she wasn’t.”

After that Twilight finally broke down, crying and leaning against Cadance as the older mare pulled her close, rubbing her side as she quietly shushed her. Cadance of course understood why Celestia had done what she did; knowing Twilight had always viewed her as the picture perfect goddess, not allowing anything to taint her view of her old teacher. But to force Twilight to see past that illusion like that…Cadance honestly couldn’t think a more brutal way for somepony to wake up somepony else to the truth, and she made a mental note to scold the sun goddess later.

Finally Twilight calmed down, nuzzling into the mares soft coat and causing her to squirm a little, for she only now just realized how close Twilight was to her.

“Your coat smells really nice,” said Twilight, causing Cadance to blush as she looked away from the beautiful mare.

“Th…thank you Twilight, I cleaned it extra special, just for you.”

Twilight nodded, and then lifted herself up, getting the older alicorns attention and gazing deeply into her eyes. They both remained where they were for a long moment, both drinking in the rich color of each other’s eyes before finally moving forward, locking lips in a deep and passionate kiss.

It took all of Twilight’s self-control not to moan outright, for it had been so long since she had last kissed somepony like this. Cadance on the other hoof was being extremely aggressive, leaning into the kiss and moaning aloud, her tongue wrestling with Twilight’s as she began trying to push her onto her back.

But as she started to get some leeway, she felt a hoof upon her chest, breaking the kiss with Twilight and looking at her with pleading eyes, wondering why she had stopped her.

“Cady…not that I am not opposed to that, I mean that…that kiss…it felt really comfortable, it felt right. But…but I don’t feel comfortable with doing that, not yet anyway.”

Cadance hesitated for a moment, and then nodded her head, moving so that she was sitting beside of the younger mare, looking her over before speaking again.

“Um…Twilight, i…if it would be alright, would you mind if I preened your wings?”

Twilight blushed at that, her eyes drifting back toward her wings as she fluffed them out, hesitating a moment before nodding her head, getting comfortable as Cadance began to tend to her wings.

Twilight shivered as she felt Cadance’s first tentative touch, for it had been a really long time since she had let somepony else tend to her wings, not even her spa ponies were allowed to touch them. Each touch was gentle, taken with delicate care as Cadance took each feather into her mouth, straightening those that needed to be straightened and plucking out those that were broken.

Finally after a long while Cadance finally pulled out the last feather, placing it down on the pile she had built up and nuzzling Twilight once more, before getting comfortable herself and serving up the food. “Well let’s dig in shall we, it would be a shame to let all this hard work go to waste.”

Discord was fuming, for he could not believe what Celestia had just asked him to do, “You want me to WHAT!”

“Discord there is no need to yell,” said Celestia, giving him a stern look. “I just want you to help me with this, I mean you are my friend after all; I thought you would be happy I was finally dating somepony after so long.”

Discord took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he thought about what Celestia had just asked him. It had been nearly a thousand years since the passing of his dear friend Fluttershy, and over the course of that time, he had managed to repair the long damage friendship between Celestia and himself, getting his old friend back.

But in truth, Discord had always hoped they could be more, even back before the days he had went mad with power, and now here she was, asking him to help her get ready to try and woo one Twilight Sparkle, who was also being sought after by Luna and Cadance.

“It’s not fair,” he thought, and then he turned away from Celestia and started walking away. “I’m sorry Celestia, but I can’t help you…not with this…”

“But Discord…”

“I said no,” he said, stopping for a moment to look back at Celestia with a sad looking expression. “I am sorry Celestia, I want to be happy for you, I really do. But I…I just can’t…” and with that he snapped his fingers, disappearing from where he stood and leaving Celestia alone, he face a mask of sorrow.

“…Discord…I’m sorry…”

Author's Note

Happy new year guys, and I am sorry for the late update, but this chapter was really hard to do, especially the end part. Next chapter will be the final date with Cadance, and yes, they will be having sex in that chapter. After that we will have six more chapters before Twilight's meltdown over the fact that she is in love with more then one mare, and then things are going to get interesting. As always guys, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop them on by, you all know I love hearing from you.