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1325 HOURS
NEW CANTERLOT PALACE
NEW CANTERLOT, CENTRAL EQUESTRIAN UNCDI-ADMINISTRATED ZONE, EAST CHINA SEA
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Mi Amore Cadenza’s eyelids slowly drifted shut, her head lolling forward and the buzz from the blinking fluorescents overhead becoming a soft, soothing lullaby as she sat there with a form labeled “176-T” before her. Apparently, it was to grant permission for the local German command to use one of the empty warehouses in Baltimare for storing weaponry and…

UGH! So boring! Why did the entire Baltimare council of elders have to face down the nuclear hellfire ‘like true stallions would’!? Couldn’t just one pony have wussied out at the last moment and cowered in the shelters with the rest of the town’s populace!? It’s not like there hadn’t been enough death on that terrible day!

Cadenza peeled her face off her desk and sat with her chin resting on its surface. She knew the petty problems she faced after that dark moment in time paled in comparison to the millions of ponies vaporized by hellfire, and to the landmarks that had stood for thousands of years only to be reduced to rubble within minutes, but right now, it was six-o-clock and she still had a half-dozen petty bureaucratic issues to settle before she could go home. She figured she was entitled to a selfish thought or two.

“Rough day, my little pony?” Someone said from the other side of her desk. She grimaced and pulled her face up, looking up at a pretty little human in an MP’s uniform with the Chinese flag on a shoulder standing there, her black hair tied back in a knot, a sheepish smile on her face, and another accursed stack of papers in her hands.

Cadenza cringed and smiled weakly. “Yeah, hello Tian, how are you?” She asked, automatically slipping into the human's simplified Han Chinese with the ease everypony had possessed since Equestria's emergence on Earth.

The smile on Tian’s face faded instantly. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I forgot she used to call you…”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Cadence waved her off with a hoof, grabbing the pile of papers and laying them on the desk manually, her magic being firmly secured by the small metal band around her horn. “A slip of the tongue, Tian, think nothing of it.”

“I just wish I could make things easier,” the human said with a sigh, eyeing the impressive stacks growing on the pony’s desk.

“Yeah, looks like another all-nighter for me.”

The human gave a sympathetic nod and propped her hands on the desk, fingers spread. “Listen, I know it’s technically against the rules, but if you want a hand…”

“Stop right there,” Cadenza raised a hoof to stop the human. “You know that would be against the treaty. A human working in a purely Equestrian bureaucracy? Both sides would throw a tiff-fit!”

“Shit-fit,” the human corrected with a tired smile.

“That too,” Cadenza said, returning the smile as best as she could. “The point is, they’d have your uniform Tian, and I don’t want to lose you. You’re one of the only soldiers in Canterlot not off to take their anger out on some Celestial cultists.”

“Oh, that?” Tian waved her off. “That’s just boys being boys. You should be grateful for the cultists. Without something to fight, those guys would be daring each other to see who could get a unicorn pissed enough to take off their magic suppressor and blast them.”

“I could never be grateful for anything that might remind me of that evil bitch,” Cadence replied flatly, a sudden surge of anger rising in her chest.

Tian took a few steps back at the rage that suddenly appeared on the little pink unicorn’s face. Why, if she had them, the little thing would be flaring her wings! The human immediately bowed her head apologetically, chastising herself for two social faux pas in as many minutes. “Gosh, sorry Cady, I didn’t mean…”

“God, I know,” Cadence slumped in her chair, her rage abating to a point where she could at least keep it buried. “I’m sorry, it’s just been such a long day, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any shorter. And anything that reminds me of her just gets me so…so…”

Suddenly, Tian leaned across the desk and wrapped the pony in a hug, her uniformed arms cradling Cadence close to her chest. “I know,” she whispered. “I get it. I’m sorry.”

Despite her first instinct to pull back, Cadence couldn’t help but sink into the hug. She didn’t cry, she’d wept enough tears in the past half-decade to be beyond that, but she wasn’t beyond the pain, or beyond accepting a hug when it was obviously needed. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Don’t mention it, sweetheart,” Tian replied before pulling back. “I know how much even thinking about her must hurt, but just hang in there. In a few weeks, the first ponies will be graduating from that special training course, and you’ll get all the help you’ll ever need here.”

“A room full of bureaucrats, whoopee,” Cadence replied with a dry smile, looking up at Tian with eyes that glistened. “You didn’t have to do that, you know?”

“That’s what you say, but your tears say different,” the human pointed out.

“Wha…” Cadence reached a hoof to her face, just under an eye, and felt a few trickles run over the keratin. “D-darn it…I thought I was…past this…”

Tian just shook her head. “I don’t think anyone on this planet is ever going to be past what she did. We all suffered at that tyrant’s hooves,” she looked down at Cadence with all the sympathy she could muster. “Some just suffered more than others.”

“Yeah,” Cadence sighed, shaking her head. “Tian, how is it your species produced those Jackass movies and is still capable of saying stuff so wise?”

At that, Tian just tossed her head back and laughed, her warm laughter bursting from her chest and echoing throughout the room. “There’s a question for the ages, hon! Hey, if I ever figure it out I’ll let you know, alright?”

“Sounds like a deal.”

“You sure you don’t want me to stay? If not for help, at least for moral support?”

“No, no, go on,” Cadence waved her off. “We ponies have to stand on our own some time. Besides, you’ve been here almost as long as I have, judging from the bags under your eyes.”

The human scowled playfully. “Ah, me and my lack of makeup. Oh well,” she shrugged, turning to leave. “You have a good night Cadence.”

“You too, and hey, don’t be so afraid to try makeup! You might get one of those testosterone-addicts outside to finally notice you!” Cadence called after her.

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” Tian laughed before she walked out the door, letting it slam behind her. With the boom from the door echoing in the chamber, Cadence sighed and sank deeper into her seat.

“Alright, let’s see what we have here,” she sighed, sorting through the documents with her bare hooves. It might have been easier with her magic, sure, but the suppressor was such a pain to yank off, and even then, if one of those “testosterone addicts” happened to peek in, she’d have to explain why she was using magic to help with paperwork when it was only to be released in the most extreme circumstances. “Either at the behest of a neutral United Nations observer or in situations where massive loss of property or loss of life would be at risk,” as the treaty so eloquently put it. Besides, she’d grown used to working with her hooves. It felt nice to feel the paper as it travelled over her skin, rather than robotically sorting through a page kept in the air with her magic.

“Request for more funds to Manehattan reconstruction effort…pass…ten pages requesting a new filter for Ponyville aquifer…pass…” she muttered, the minutes ticking by as she sorted through the pages. “Request for expansion to the Crystal Palace…”

She paused, her eyes widening. Leaving the sheet on her desk, she immediately circled the room, checking and double-checking that every door and every window had been sealed and locked shut. She then returned to the desk, her eyes darting over every corner of the room. Thing was, the Crystal Palace had been renamed the Solar Hold after Prin - she had vaporized the wicked King Sombra in battle following his attempted insurrection against her (though looking back, it’s hard to tell if that had been a true victory for good or just one evil destroying another). Which meant this document was…

…a coded transmission from one of the embassies! She thought, practically bouncing in her seat with glee. Finally, she got to put the crash course in code-breaking she’d taken at the Prince’s request to use! And a message directly to Canterlot, meant for the Prince? It had to be huge! Oooohh, I’m just like Daring Do! Or that James Pawned guy the humans are always going on about!

Settling herself with a few deep breaths, she took her seat and set to work decoding the message. Judging by the stationary, it was from Equestria’s London office, wherever that was. She kept promising herself to learn Earth Geography when she had the time. “Let’s see…setting at 0800 hours…that means new…request funds in summation of 1200 bits, that’s…materialize? Odd word, but it’s used in this context here…and the message is…E…Q…U…E…”

Her smile faded, her earlier excitement replaced with a wave of dread, washing over her like a cold tide. “No…” she gasped. It had to be a mistake, it had to be! It was impossible!

She finished decoding the entire message. Then, when she had it, she decoded it again, and again, and again. Around the fifth attempt at decoding, she finally surrendered and accepted what she was seeing. A lump rose in her throat as she slumped in her chair in shock, her pen dropping from her hoof. This time, she did feel herself start to cry, the tears rolling down her cheeks, fat and heavy this time instead of the little trickles she’d held earlier. She managed to stifle a sob by stuffing a hoof in her mouth, albeit just barely.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please. Not again. God no, not again…”

When she had collected herself just a bit, it dawned on her that the Prince would need to hear this. He was the only pony with any sort of power to do something about it. She allowed herself a few more sobs and choked-off gasps before she settled again, smoothing out her mane, standing, collecting the transmission, and walking to the ornate oaken doors along the back wall.

She took a few deep breaths, steadying herself, using a technique that another version of her had spent years teaching a little lavender unicorn for relaxation. Then, keeping her head low, she pushed the doors aside and stepped in.

As usual, the shades were drawn and the lights turned off. That had always seemed like such a waste to her: for the humans to go through all the trouble of installing electric lights in this room, one of the first in Equestria they had done so in, and the Prince never even used them. Not that she would ever bring it up to his face, hell no!

She scanned the room, finding the small, dark lump perched on the large oaken desk, the gold-plated ink quill and pen next to his hoof, as it usually was. “Um, s-sir?” She asked, trying and failing to keep the fearful quiver out of her voice.

“Wha-buh!?” The shape stirred and jolted up, the gleam of a rapier suddenly appearing in the dim light. “Oh, Miss Cadenza, you startled me.”

“S-sorry, sir,” she replied, only relaxing after the weapon was safely back in its hiding place.

“Well, what is it? You didn’t come in here for no reason,” the large pony behind the desk stated.

“R-right,” calming her nerves again, she lifted her face to look right at him with as much confidence as she could find in her little, pink, unicorn’s body. “Sir, our London office is reporting an…occurrence in the North Sea.”

“Well? Out with it.” The Prince stated calmly, yet firmly.

She squeaked, wringing her hooves over the paper in her grip. The Prince let out an audible sigh as he motioned to her. “Please?”

“Sir…I, just don’t know how to put this…” she sighed, running her hooves through her mane. “Th-this was never considered a possibility in any of our contingency meetings, with the humans or otherwise.”

“What’s that, Miss Cadenza?” The Prince asked, obviously growing tired.

She sighed again and took a deep breath, deciding it would probably be best to just get it out in one go and be done with it. “Another Equestria has appeared, with another…ruler.”

The Prince gave pause at that, his silhouette becoming a frozen statue sitting there for a moment. Eventually, he leaned forward and switched on the small lamp he kept on his desk, the eyepatch concealing most of the scar that ran down his face now plainly visible as his marred, grizzled visage entered the light. The magic suppressor around his horn, bejeweled and gold-leaved but still there at the request of the United Nations, glimmered in the faint glow. “I’m sorry, what was that, Miss Cadenza?” He asked, his voice low and dangerous.

She quivered and squeaked again, all pretense of confidence vanishing as the words tumbled out of her mouth in a rush, like rats from a sinking ship. “Another Equestria has appeared in the North Sea and the humans have already launched a raid into it and they captured Cel…the Solar Princess and they’re holding her and now the whole UN is mobilizing for war and…and that’s all.”

The Prince remained in place, apparently frozen again. His features remained unreadable. Then he leaned back in his seat, crossing his forelegs over his broad chest. “Thank you, Miss Cadenza, will that be all?” He asked.

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Good, now, why don’t you go home?” He asked, waving her off. “I’m sure whatever work you have left can wait until the morning, yes?”

“Um…” Most of it really couldn’t, but at this point, she was willing to say just about anything to get out of that room. “Yes, sir, I’ll just be taking my leave for the night.”

“You do that,” he replied, still waving her off. “Good night, Miss Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“G-good night, sir,” she replied, realizing that was the first time he’d said something even remotely outside of “business talk” in her presence since…well…since that day. Since the day he’d lost the last thing in the world that held any meaning for him at the hooves of the one pony in the universe whose name Cadence still couldn’t say out loud. Bowing respectfully, Cadence turned and strode out the door, closing the door behind her as quietly as possible.

The moment the door closed and the Prince was alone, he visibly shrank, his head resting in his hooves. In a heartbeat, he yanked the suppressor off his horn with practiced ease and tossed it aside, watching it clatter off into the darkness. He reached into one of his desk drawers with a faint, pink glow, pulling out two objects: a tin flask filled with the strongest whiskey he could find in the humans’ lands, and a framed photograph of a little lavender unicorn with pink streaks in her mane and a face lit up with the sort of happiness that only a filly could know.

Taking a swig from the flask, the Prince ran a hoof over the picture, the filly perched on the back of a younger, less-scarred version of himself with a cardboard sword and shield. He smiled. She always had liked playing the savior knight, not the poor, stranded princess when they’d played together. A few drops landed on the photo, and the Prince scowled, gingerly laying the photo back in its place before slumping in his chair again. He took a few more swallows from the flask and wiped the tears from his face on the back of a hoof.

“One way or another, either at my hooves or their hands, you’re going to pay for what you did to my sister, Celestia,” he growled under his voice, keeping it low to prevent any curious ears from hearing. He leaned forward in his chair, a blue curl falling from his mane and dangling over his one good eye in the dim lamplight, his alabaster coat shimmering in the flickering candle. “You’re gonna pay for killing my Twily.”

Author's Notes:

Edit: OH SHI...and special thanks goes out to Lackrome for editing and for putting up with my temper!

Just so you all know, speech in italics is in a language other than English. Yeah, I know, short update. I hope the twist near the end there makes up for it. And if not, then I pray the comedic stylings of Christopher Titus can do the trick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz-kd4WHbS4