Author's Notes:

A direct sequel to 'What is Love' so you, you know who you are--the one with that beard--that wants to read this without reading the prequel, I promise you that you will not understand what's going on.

Remember to comment, like, etc... I want to hear from you, really.

...I can already feel this fic's gonna be a long one. Crazy and long...

At least I didn't put in a song for the title this time....

“Come on, Ares,” I muttered, walking through the back alleys of Canterlot as quietly as I could. “We need to hurry up and get to the Sparkle house.”

Now, you may be wonder why I, Princess Cadence, was trotting around a dirty back alley like a criminal who was also tired and had a pretty nasty hangover, but there’s a pretty good reason ... really.

You see, recently I kinda sorta revoked my self-title of princess of love because, incredibly, I fell out of love with my husband, Shining Armor, and fell in love with my best friend. So, doing the right thing, I was going to go tell my ex-husband’s parents this and hope for the best. So yeah, a good reason.

Come on, Cadence, I thought to myself, stopping and closing my eyes in exhaustion.

You can do this. You HAVE to do this. They deserve to know! There’s no waiting until tomorrow, you have to do this NOW…. Despite my little pep-talk, I was shaking a little.

That is, until I felt a hand gently touching my shoulder.

Looking up, a warmth filled my chest as I looked up at Ares, my Ares, who was looking down at me with those pretty green eyes of his—though he reallllly didn’t look that good; he was probably as hungover as I was—which were filled with concern and bemusement.

“Candy, are you alright there?”

I leaned over and nuzzled him. “Yes, Honey.” Just saying that was weird, not in a bad way, it was in the best way in fact, but still weird. “I’m just worried about us telling everypony … I don’t know how Shining’s parents are going to take this.” I looked away from him, dread hitting me like a kick to the stomach. “I don’t know how Twilight is going to take this….”

Ares knelt down and wrapped me in a hug. “Do you just want me to tell them?” he asked, making me crack a small smile.

Don’t tempt me, I thought before shaking my head. “I can’t do that, Ares. Velvet and Night Light deserve to hear me say it.”

He nodded, standing up and running a hand soothingly through my mane before we started down the alley again.

I know it might sound silly, but I didn’t want anypony to see us go to the Sparkle house. Ponies might tell my aunts and then they might start asking questions before I was ready to tell them about everything, so ‘ninjas’ we needed to be until we got back to the castle.

Don’t get cold hooves, don’t get cold hooves, I desperately thought, fighting back a whimper when I saw that familiar mansion that might just ruin what was supposed to be a pretty good day.

Throwing all caution to the wind, the two of us scrambled to their front door. Ares gave my shoulder a squeeze as I looked at their door. “Are you ready, Candy?”

“No,” I instantly answered, firmly tapping the door.

A small part of me really hoped that they weren’t going to answer, but then I heard hoofsteps coming toward the door. “Come on,” I muttered to myself, listening as the doorknob slowly started to turn. “You can do this, you can do this.”

I flinched when the door flew open, revealing Velvet, whose eye’s widened in joy as she saw us. “Oh, hello, Cadence, Ares, how are you two—” She stopped when she saw the looks on our faces, her look of joy becoming a look of concern.

“Is there something wrong?” she quietly asked, leaning on the doorframe. “Did something happen to Shining?”

I gave her a fake little smile, trying to keep my legs from shaking and trying to figure out what to say next.

Thankfully, Ares saved me. “Mrs. Sparkle, can we come in? We have something very important to tell you and your husband.”

Velvet cleared her throat, looking at me. “Of course. Just make yourselves comfortable in the living room while I go get Night and something for us all to drink.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as the mare let us into her house before trotting up the stairs. “Ares,” I said, looking at him, “I don’t know if I can do this. I know earlier that I said I would be able to but—”

He shut my mouth with his hand before picking me up and carrying me to the living room. It was the same as I remembered it, a spacious, blue-walled room with a bunch of pictures and sofas all around it. It was the place where I had spent nights playing with Twilight, helping Shining with his homework when we were younger, and it would be where I told my in-laws what was going on.

Plopping me onto the couch, and sitting down next to me, Ares said, “you can do this, Candy.” He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead. “Just give them that big, pretty smile of yours and bat your eyelashes a few times. That’ll make everything a lot less awkward and weird.”

I slugged him with a small smile on my face. “Now’s not the time for jokes, Mister,” I chastised, getting a dry chuckle out of him.

Don’t ever change, Ares, I thought, leaning into my human, while we heard a pair of hoofsteps clopping toward us.

I had to resist the urge to move away from Ares. No, you let them see, I firmly said to myself as the Sparkles made their way into the living room, Velvet holding a tray of drinks in her mouth. The two looked at me and Ares oddly before sitting down next to us.

Night Light cleared his throat awkwardly, “Ares, Cadence, it’s nice to see you.” We nodded, smiling at him. “Now, Velvet here is saying that something’s wrong,” he waved a hoof in our direction. “Is there something that you want to tell us, Honey?”

Steeling myself, I hopped off of the couch and sat in front of them. Bowing my head, I started, “Velvet, Night, you two are wonderful, great ponies, and I have to tell you something that might make you hate me.”

I took a shaky breath and closed my eyes. “I’m divorcing Shining…”

I heard them gasp, and I forced myself to look them both in the eye. “I … don't think I love him … anymore." I gave the two a weak smile, sadness hitting my stomach harder and harder the longer I looked at the two. "But it could be worse, Shining deserves another mare that’ll make him happy; a mare that’ll give him—”

I stopped when Velvet growled, getting up and pressing our faces together. “None of that, Cadence.” I flinched when I felt her hoof touch my chin. “Don’t you dare sell yourself short like that.”

I sniffled when she wrapped me into a hug. “B-But—”

Her grip tightened around me. “Whatever happened, whatever is happening, just remember, Night and I love you.”

I bit back a sob while Ares and Night looked on, a little sad smile on the stallion’s face as

Velvet looked back at him. “I’m just sorry that it took me so long to realize it.”

I wrapped my wings around her, now crying my eyes out, my mother-in-law holding me, patting me on the back and cooing into my ear.

Stop crying, you baby, I thought to myself. S-Stop, you need to tell them why.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that those weren’t tears of sadness, but happiness, scared and shaky happiness, but happiness none-the-less.

When I finally calmed down I told them everything. Why Shining left, my feelings toward Ares, our drunken confession that could have come out of a storybook, my insecurities about if what I was doing was right.

I told them everything and more. Velvet held me as Night listened, his head bobbing but his expression unreadable, his eyes seemingly staring through me as he went over every word I said.

“A-And that’s it,” I muttered, wiping my nose with a hoof. “I just told you how bad of a pony I am … I-I’ll understand if you hate me for this … I’d hate me for this.”

To my surprise, Night snorted good-naturedly, “I had an uncle that was married seven times.” He ignored his wife’s squeak as he looked at Ares and I. “I asked him one time why he didn’t stay with a filly for more than a few years. He laughed and told me that he didn’t know; that something just wasn’t right with any of them.”

Night got up, trotting toward me and placing a hoof on my shoulder. “You know what happened to him? He married a stallion from Dodge City twenty years ago; he’s been with him ever since.”

His warm blue eyes looked down at me, full of forgiveness, something that I don’t think I deserved. “Love is a fickle thing, Dear, it doesn’t know what it wants until it has it.”

He looked over at Ares knowingly before he looked back at me. “You’re like a daughter to me, and there’s nothing you can do to undo that…. Shining and Twilight, on the other hand, might be a little harder to please.”

I nodded, smiling weakly at him. “I know. I’m going to tell Twilight and my Aunts as soon as we leave here.” That was something that I was dreading way more than this little sit down, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“I know they might not forgive me, but I hope they will talk to me so I can explain it to them.”

Velvet and Night smiled at each other before looking back at me. “We’ll be praying for you, Cadence,” Night said, “and remember to come and visit us sometime. We feel lonely and old when there’s nopony younger than us running around our house.”

~~@@~~

Celestia couldn’t help but sigh as she looked down at her daisy sandwich. They put mayo on it again, she thought distastefully, crinkling her nose as she used a spell to lift the bread. I know I asked for it without mayo; the chefs know that—

“Sister, are you well? You’ve been staring at your lunch since it was brought out.”

The sun princess looked up at her sister, who was munching away at her hay fries, before looking back down at her lunch. “I’m fine, Luna,” she answered, making Luna raise an eyebrow.

“If thou art fine, then eat.”

Celestia looked down at her sandwich before looking back at her. “They put mayonnaise on my sandwich ... again.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Sister, thou art over two thousand years old, thou can take a little mayo on thy sandwich,” she waved a hoof at her. “Do not waste it. Eat up.”

Celestia stuck out her lip, pouting as she crossed her forelegs. “I don’t like mayo, Luna,” she insisted.

The Princess of the Night hummed thoughtfully before levitating the sandwich in front of her.

“Fine, if thou wilt not eat it, We shall.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in panic, trying to snatch away her food from her little sister, who was cackling madly while trying to take a bite.

“Give that back this instant, Luna!”

“Nay sister, you snooze, you lose!”

“It’s myyyy food!”

“Well, We—”

Twilight cleared her throat nervously, throwing a glare at her coltfriend, who was trying hard not to chuckle. “Um, excuse me, Princesses?” The two alicorns stopped their little game of tug-of-war to look at the little unicorn, who gulped.

“Maybe you could just take off the mayonnaise … with a knife?”

Celestia looked at her sister, who looked back at her with an equally stunned expression, before snatching her food and grabbing a knife from the table. “Thank you, Twilight,” she said while her student beamed.

There’ll still be some of that awful condiment on it though, she glumly thought, trying her best to wipe as much of the horrid white substance off her lunch as she could. But I guess I’ll have to tough it out, as it were.

As she took a big bite out of her daisy sandwich, trying not to cringe at the flavor, Flash finally spoke up. “Hey, does anypony know where Ares or the Princess are?” He looked around the kitchen. “I tried to see if they were in their room but nopony came to the door when I knocked.”

Luna shrugged. “We have not seen them since the day before,” she said, sounding slightly irritated. “Though we all should have wished young Ares a happy birthday, not just young Cadence.”

Celestia smiled gently at her sister. “Luna, you know that Ares didn’t want a party.”

The younger alicorn huffed. “We did not need to have a party; giving him a gift would have been enough.”

“It was Ares’ birthday yesterday?” a confused Flash asked, getting a nod and nuzzle from Twilight.

“That’s what he put on the paperwork that he signed,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “He told me the other day that he reallllly didn’t want to have a party though, so we didn’t have one.”

Flash looked around again, now slightly nervous. “I should still go get him a card or something…”

Celestia grinned. “Yes, my little pony, and I think Luna and I should do the same.”

Luna was about to say something when she saw Ares and Cadence quietly slip into the room, odd looks on their faces.

Oh, there they are, she thought, cocking her head in confusion. For some reason, neither of the two were making their way toward them. In fact, it looked like they were almost scared; the two whispering to each other as they looked at Luna and her little group at the table. The night princess pretended not to notice them.

Now what are they do— She couldn’t help but grin a little bit as Ares quickly leaned down and kissed the pink alicorn on the lips. Ahhhhh, We see what is going on.

For a second, Luna couldn’t help but feel a little bit smug as she looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye. It seems they acted as We thought they would.

For her part, Celestia was acting a lot calmer than she should have—Luna knew her sister also saw that little bit of affection, she was just a lot better at hiding it—but Luna could tell that Celestia’s mind was churning the same as her’s was.

It appears that they are going to tell us, instead of hiding it. Once again you were wrong Sister…; which is odd, you are usually very good at guessing these types of things.

Luna herself didn’t really know how to take this now that it was suddenly thrown into her lap. On one hoof, she was a little jealous—she had made it pretty clear that she wanted Ares after all, though he always thought that she wasn’t serious—but, on the other hoof, now she saw an opportunity.

Hopefully young Cadence has already told Shining Armor. We do not want to defend the human from the captain’s wrath … but even if she did, this is still going to be quite the mess.

She watched as Cadence and Ares nodded at each other, their backs straightening before they slowly made their way toward the table. Luna’s eyes brightened as an idea hit her like a speeding cart, the alicorn grinning as the two came ever closer.

Luna had to resist the urge to rub her hooves together. Yes, that could work…. The nobles do not like me anyway, and We will not be taking no for an answer from either of them! Ohhh, I honestly cannot wait to see sister’s face!

But now wasn’t the time, she knew that is was a very touchy period for Ares and Cadence. She needed to be serious and solemn … at least until they had finished, then she could spring the trap and get what she wanted too.

Finally, Cadence cleared her throat, everyone looked at the two, who started to sit down.

Twilight smiled at them, popping a fry into her mouth. “Oh, hello, Cadence, Ares, how are you—” She stopped when she saw the looks on their faces, her ears pinned back against her head in worry. “…Are you two alright?”

Flash cocked his head at Ares. “Yeah…, Ares, you look like you’re gonna throw up; are you alright there?”

The human chuckled humorlessly, sitting down next to Cadence. “Hey guys, we have something to tell all of you.”

Everyone at the table looked at each other before nodding slowly.

Come on, Luna thought. No need to be coy, just tell us what’s going on.

Cadence cleared her throat. Luna couldn’t help but notice, she was also shaking slightly.

“U-Um, I don’t really know how to say this.” She looked toward Ares, who gave her a questioning glance—the two having whole conversations with just a few gestures and looks. The alicorn just shook her head before looking back at them. “I-I sent Shining a letter the other day…”

Twilight smiled, the only one not really noticing that something wasn’t just wrong, but very wrong--or solemn; Luna thought that was a better way to say it. “Oh? Did my BBBFF send you anything back yet? How is he doing in Trottingham? No no, he wouldn’t be able to send something back that fast.” The unicorn tapped a hoof against her chin in thought.

Celestia, who was looking at her niece emotionlessly, said, “And, Cadence? What did you say to him?”

Cadence sighed, looking down at the table. “Aunty…, I-I’m going to have to revoke my title as the Princess of Love.”

Flash and Twilight gasped, and even Luna showed a little surprise. Well, We were not expecting that. She thought.

Twilight violently rose from her seat. “WHAT?!” the bookworm demanded, making her way toward Cadence, who still wouldn’t look up at them. “What would make you do something like that, Cadence?!”

I finally worked up the courage to look at her. “In the letter I sent Shining, I asked for a divorce.”

You could have heard a pin drop as Twilight slowly churned around in her mind what her ex-sister-in-law had said.

“W-What?” Twilight croaked out, sitting on her rump with tears in her eyes. “W-Why would y-you do something l-like that?”

Luna looked over at Celestia, who was calmly taking a sip of her sweet tea, the white alicorn not taking her eyes off the scene in front of her.

Cadence rose from her chair, her wings dropping onto the floor, as she looked at Twilight. “I-I … don’t love him a-anymore, Twilight … I’m—”

“No!”

Everyone in the room watched as Twilight’s sad look instantly turned angry, the little pony getting back to her hooves. “No, you’re not Cadence. Cadence wouldn’t do that!”

Luna watched with concern as her niece slowly started to cry. “T-Twilight—”

“Cadence loves my brother! She wouldn’t do something like that!” Her horn glowed, encasing the pink alicorn in a purple glow. “You have to be some changeling!”

Celestia quickly rose from her seat. “Twilight—”

“NO! All I need to do is use this spell and it’ll show—”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she backed away from Cadence, who was staring toward her, raising a hoof.

“Nononono…” The unicorn muttered, looking around the room before sobbing. “The spell didn’t work. W-Why didn’t i-it work? … C-Cadence—”

Before anyone could stop her, Twilight was gone in a flash. Ares stopped Cadence from rushing toward where she had been.

“Let her be, Cadence,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around the now-sobbing alicorn. “Just let her be for a little bit,” he looked over at Flash. “Flash, you sit right back down. I’ll take it from here.”

And he did, not leaving anything out as the human spun his little tale of everything that had happened the night before. Celestia, Flash, and Luna didn’t say a thing as Ares—who was still holding a semi-calm, but still crying, Cadence in his arms—finished.

“So, that’s pretty much everything…”

Ares looks far more ashamed than I thought he would, Luna thought as Flash calmly made his way toward Ares. That is odd.

Looking at his Princess, the private said, “Is that true, Princess?”

Cadence nodded, letting go of Ares. “Yes … and that’s why Twilight, you, and everypony here has every right to be mad at me.”

Ares patted her on the head. “Don’t leave me out of it, Candy, I—”

With a grunt, Flash’s hoof cocked back as he stepped forward, hitting Ares in the stomach as hard as he could, the human rolled in the air before hitting the ground hard with a thud.

Before anypony could do anything, Ares lifted a hand up. “No, no,” he wheezed as Flash stood over him. “You all … stay … out of … it.”

The private looked down at his friend, his face an unreadable mask, before he offered him a helping hoof. “You deserved that,” he said simply, Ares tried to grin through the pain as he was helped up. “You’re still one of my best friends, but you still deserved that.”

“Shining … can have … a free hit … if he … sees me.” Ares said, letting Flash help him toward his seat.

Luna took a drink, trying to hide her smile with the glass. Stallions always had an odd way of doing things, she mused, watching Cadence fret over the man, who was rubbing his stomach tenderly. Now to see what sister says.

Celestia had watched everything, not with the look and attitude of someone who was angry, but of someone that had known this was coming.

“Well…, that is news indeed,” Celestia calmly said, making her way over and wrapping a wing around Cadence. “Are you sure about this, Sweetie?”

The pink alicorn looked up at her Aunt with fire in her eyes before looking over at Ares. “I think so, Aunty, I think that I have to follow my heart on this one.”

“It’s also why you are giving up your title?” Celestia questioned, nuzzling her.

Cadence nodded. “I don’t think I know what love is, I don’t even know if I’ll ever know what love is, so I don’t think I can call myself the Princess of Love.”

The sun princess nodded understandingly. “And what are you going to do now?” she asked gently while Flash rubbed his friend’s back.

“Flash,” Ares muttered, still holding his probably now bruised stomach. “You hit like a fuckin’ monster.”

Despite the situation, the stallion smiled. “Thanks, I’ve been working out a lot lately.”

While Luna snorted quietly, Celestia and Cadence ignored the silly conversation.

“What are you going to do now?” the elder alicorn repeated, looking at Cadence with concern.

Cadence shrugged half-heartedly. “I thought that Ares and I would go back to the empire. There’s really nothing keeping us here anymore.”

“And when are you going to do that?”

“Probably within the week,” Cadence wiped a tear from her eye. “I want to go talk to Twilight, try to explain to her why I’m doing what I’m doing first…. Or I at least need to try.”

“Well, Honey,” Celestia smiled down at her, “you do what your heart tells you. I will not tell you to go against it.” Finally—in Luna’s opinion at least, her sister always took too long—Celestia looked over at Luna.

“Sister, you have been awfully quietly after everything you’ve heard. Do you want to say something to help Cadence or Ares with this difficult situation?”

This time, Luna’s princessly mask really cracked, a hungry look coming to her eyes as she hopped out of her chair and very slowly made her way toward her niece.

It’s now or never I suppose, she thought, using a spell to pull Ares and Cadence close together. “Yes, Sister, I actually have something very important to say.

<<@@>>

I couldn’t help but gulp as my Aunt looked down at me, something in her eyes made me nervous. Well, more nervous than I already was.

But as she looked at me, I couldn’t help but think of Twilight and that look of hurt betrayal she gave me before she teleported away.

No, Cadence, I thought, blinking away on-coming tears. You can talk to Twilight in a little bit. Right now you need to listen to what Aunt Luna has to say.

“Ares, Cadence,” my Aunt said, slowly starting to walk around us. “We ourselves do not find it particularly offensive that the two of you have done this,” she shrugged. “We could go through a dozen stallions, and mares, in a fortnight back in our day.”

A little more insensitive than I’d like, but it works, I guess.

“But what We do not like, Niece, is that you have taken Ares from us,” Ares was about to comment on that but Aunt Luna shushed him, continuing, “I’m sure that you know that We have had Ares in our sights for a long while, Cadence. We find that he is a good stallion; he does not fear us, he makes us laugh, and we enjoy his hugs, the same things We are sure that attracted him to you, so We- I’m, slightly irritated.”

And now I was a little more concerned than I should have been. I know that Aunty wouldn’t hurt me—or if she tried, Aunty Celestia would stop her—but Aunt Luna was from the time where mares would beat each other to death for the hoof of a stallion.

So, naturally, I was a little leery, though I kind of wanted to know where she was taking this.

“Ares, while We—I.”

That’s weird…. Is Aunt Luna trying to get rid of her old talk right now for some reason?

Aunty Luna huffed quietly to herself before she started back up. “I know that you are not the sharpest sword in the armory—”

“Now wait a sec—” Ares started, before his mouth was closed by Aunt Luna’s magic.

“Hush, We are still talking,” Aunty barked—Aunty Celestia rolled her eyes and Flash snickered—before she trotted in front of us and sat down.

“You may not be the smartest, but you know that We have wanted thee.”

Ares looked away from her, rubbing his arm. “Well, Luna…, I really don’t know what to tell you now,” he gestured toward me before shrugging. “There’s nothing I can do about that right now.”

Aunty brightened at that. “Ah, but We can do something, my little human.”

What is she—I thought before Aunty Luna looked at me, her gaze becoming … sultry?

“Cadence,” she purred—heat rushed to my cheeks for some reason as I backed away from her. “You know you are not our niece by blood, correct?”

I nodded slowly, trying not to yelp when I felt my rump hit the wall. “Yeah…, Aunt Celestia said that…, but what does that—thmp!”

Annnnd my Aunt is kissing me…. Wait … myauntiskissingme!

My eyes widened; Luna looked into them as her lips pressed gently against mine—the kiss was surprisingly nice—before breaking it a second later, leaving me an embarrassed, panting mess.

“Awesome,” Flash whispered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that he was scrunching his face with his hooves.

“Luna,” Celestia barked, her cheeks also red. “What in Faust’s name are you—”

“We are getting to that, Sister,” Luna interrupted, looking over her shoulder at Ares with a little smile, like she enjoyed all of our confused looks.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I, Princess Luna, Lady of the Moon and the Night, Defender of Dreams and of Equestria, have determined that to win the young Ares’ affection, I have to win over the two of you by courting you both.”

Celestia took a step toward us. “Luna,” she said. “These two are going through a very

emotional time right now—”

“Which means that they’ll need a shoulder to cry on. I will also be able to help them through this with all of my experience. So, Sister, you should be thanking me,” Luna interrupted again.

“—and you just can’t do this!” Celestia huffed.

Luna winked at me before looking back at her sister. “And why not? Herding was a very common practice before We were banished.”

Celestia stomped her hoof. “It’s not a practice now!”

Aunty—nono, it’ll be too weird if I think of her like that—Luna shrugged. “So we are an old-fashioned kind of mare then. We are over two thousand years old, Tia, and half of that time we were banished. Not once have we had a serious special somepony in all of that time. And you may forget, but We are a grown mare that can make our own decisions.”

Her little grin was starting to grow. “We—I think that I deserve to be happy, isn’t that right, Sister?”

Celestia looked at us, as confused as the rest of us were, trying to think of something to say to her sister. “B-But—”

“And,” Luna once again interrupted, leaning in to nuzzle Ares. “Would you believe me if I told you that I am also following my heart on this?”

Ares finally cleared his throat. “But what if Cadence and I don’t want this, Luna?” he asked, making me want to hop up and kiss him. At least he was trying to be level-headed amidst all of this craziness.

Luna faltered before looking up at him a second later, a fiery look coming into her eyes. “Then We will wear the two of you down. We care not what the nobles say. We care not if ponies say if this is wrong, or if it is improper. It is what I am going to do.”

With a nod, she stood back up, and, tickling me under the chin with her tail, she slowly made her way toward the exit. “I will give you a few weeks to get situated at the Crystal Empire,” she called over her shoulder. “Then I will begin the wooing. None are undiddlable, Cadence and Ares, to the Princess of the Night. You shall see this in time.”

“Also, remember to acquire something nice to wear, Ares. Because I am taking you both out to somewhere very nice.”