The lower halls of the castle remained dimly lit as guards stood at attention near every pillar. The guards, instead of being clad in armor, were simply dressed in chainmail holding spears and crossbows. Nearly every single one that stood was a unicorn standing at the ready. The halls were scarcely illuminated by torchlight, some blazing brightly while others flickered as they would experience their last breaths.

The increased security didn't seem to phase Cadance as she trotted down the hall with a scowl on her face. What she quickly approached was a tall door that lead to some deeper passage. The guards at the checkpoint walked up to her and didn't even salute her before they held out a hoof to stop her progress.

"Halt!" The chain-clad guard ordered sternly. "These halls are only for those with proper clearance, those who do not have clearance will be turned away swiftly."

The pink princess rolled her eyes and held out her hoof. One of the other guards ran from the checkpoint with a ink pad and a paper with a square in the middle. The pad was placed to the floor for Cadance to step on, the parchment was laid beside it for her to stamp her mark on, and the paper was taken and evaluated for marks identical to her profile. The guard who stopped her then said. "The sun sure is bright outside."

She promptly replied. "Yes, but it's better carry an umbrella."

He spoke again. "Surely a hawk can see much."

"But a sparrow sees the value in humility." She replied again.

The guard rolled his eyes for his next phrase. "...Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake."

"Clap your hooves and do a little shake." She said, devoid of any dancing.

The inspector gave the head guard a nod before he stepped aside. "How far do you wish to go, your highness?"

"You know who I came to visit, Warden Hard Edge." She answered harshly. "I need an update."

As they made their way through the tall doors, progressed through the halls, and bypassed many of the other prisoners, they conversed. "She's not budging. Her horn also seems to be on the mend. So apparently changelings can grow back their horns while we ponies cannot... as if our situation isn't disadvantageous enough."

Cadance groaned with slight frustration as two other guards raced ahead to their post. "As expected from a species who can shed their outer appearances and even their anatomy."

When they finally reached the door of the prisoner they sought, the two guards stood quietly as some light laughter came from within. The warden turned to the princess. "What do we do with her for now?"

The pink royal didn't waste any breath as she barked out her request. "I want a moment with her."

The warden winced at her request. "Your highness, I don't recommend─"

"That's not your decision." She harshly corrected him.

The warden then cleared his throat and bowed before her as the two guards ignited their horns. "At once, your highness."

The two stallions placed their illuminated horns into two separate sockets, sending magic through a complex series of runes before their auras flooded at the top. As the magics combined, a white glow cut the stone door in two, allowing passage to the princess.

The moment she walked in, the door was closed behind her. Though she couldn't see them, she could hear their voices through the stone door. "She's really on edge as of late."

"Think it could have something to do with the captain's break-up with Princess Twilight?"

"I heard there was some blaming in the matter."

Cadance, who was already fatigued with the topic walked up to the captive prisoner. The changeling sat in place, her horn taped with binding gauze, her eyes blinded so that she could not see her visitor and their current appearance for fear of her taking that form to attempt an escape, and her hooves chained to the floor so tightly that she was only allowed to bend down to eat anything. Dormant runes encircled the two figures as the changeling quickly discerned her visitor just from the sound of her hoofsteps. "Princess Cadance, it's been ages since we last talked."

"Shut up." She instinctively called out, feeling as if her voice was mocking her.

The changeling queen chuckled while she continued to carry on with her casual tone towards her captor. "Oh come now, you're here because you want me to talk, not because you want me to be silent."

Realizing that her initial choice of words was counterproductive to her desired ends, Cadance started outright with her question, "The invasion, why did you do it?"

Chrysalis felt the princess to be so close to her that she could even tell what snack she ate prior to her visit. She merely smiled as she responded. "You know, I heard the funniest little rumor from the guards standing post outside. Apparently the human was deemed unworthy to be the purple one's toy."

Growing more frustrated from was seemed to be the talk of the day around the castle, she forced the discussion to her desired topic. "The invasion, Chrysalis. Tell me why!"

The changeling queen didn't give in to Cadance, continuing to mock her. "I thought he would've been excited to be the subject of interest to that of a princess, but it seems to be more of the same with you all. I wonder if insecurity runs in the family."

"INVASION, CHRYSALIS!" Cadance screamed, using her magic to hold the changeling by her hair. "I want to know why you invaded, why you took my place."

Despite the pain she felt from her mane being yanked so cruelly, the changeling queen didn't stop teasing her adversary. "I wonder if the human was as untouched as Shining was with you."

"Answer the question." Cadance urged.

"Do you want to know the answer?" Chrysalis asked with a strained smirk.

"Tell me." The princess hissed through her tightly-clenched teeth.

"Do you REALLY want to know?" The changeling mocked.

Cadance used her magic to yank the changeling's head further back, causing a few strands of her mane to pop. The princess then whispered to her enemy. "I had enough of your games, Chrysalis. I could have you executed, easily."

"But doing that wouldn't do you any favors, now would it?"

The pink princess looked down at her prisoner, still holding her head by the mane. Cadance felt an intense lust for vengeance while she stood dominant over the one that once had her imprisoned in solitude. "It would do me the pleasure of seeing you pay for what you did to us."

Chrysalis merely giggled at her treatment. "So that would make it twice that I'd walk down the aisle, being the center of attention." She stated with a playful hum. "♪That day was going to be perfect, the perfect day in which I dreamed since I was small─♫"

"Shut. Up." Cadance stressed emphatically as she realized what she was singing.

"♫Everypony gathered 'round, said I looked lovely in your gown. Even your husband fucked me silly all night long.♪" Chrysalis finished as she erupted into a brief period of hysterics.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Cadance screamed, releasing the changeling's mane. Clumps of seaweed-green hair fluttered to the ground while the pink princess stepped away from the changeling. Closing her ears from the lyrics of her song, the princess tried to process out the memories of what happened to her when she was captured.

"Oh come now, what's the point in being so serious? It's just something to look back and laugh at. There's no need to be personal."

Cadance could still faintly hear her voice, despite plugging her ears closed. "I hate you!"

Chrysalis cackled while she heard the princess nearly induce herself into an anxiety attack trying to keep herself in control of her emotions. "I know, just the thought of it makes you so angry, doesn't it?"

The princess grumbled to herself, chanted repeatedly, underwent a cycle of deep breaths before motioning herself to breathe it all out. Finally reaching a point where she could maintain her civility, the princess whispered to herself. "Okay..."

"Your breathing exercises won't help you now." Chrysalis teased.

In a calmed voice, Cadance then returned to her topic. "There were many approaches you could've made to this invasion. You could've just walked your drones in as normal ponies, and then waited until the night before you slaughtered us. You could've easily disguised yourself and played the role of some stallion to woo Celestia and lure her into feeding you her love, you would've been unstoppable then. Or even playing as some dark and mysterious stallion for Luna to play with. You could've even played as Shining Armor, pretending to be my loving and dedicated fiance, just to feed love from the Princess of Love herself."

"I could've done all of that, couldn't I?" Chrysalis said, instinctively yet vainly raising a hoof to her mouth.

"You instead chose to play me instead. You fed off of a stallion who was no more powerful than any other high-ranking magic student, not even a full mage or wizard. You chose him of all ponies to feed from. You sent out the anonymous notice of an invasion, you did all those things that set up your failure. Why?"

"It was a little sloppy, wasn't it?" Chrysalis said with causality. "Maybe I should take my ideas from you."

Unable to put aside her personal feelings for her husband, the emotions within her rekindled a passionate emotional flame. She inquired the changeling on the matter. "Tell me why! Why him, he went through enough!"

"Because I thought it would be fun." She simply answered.

"Enough of your games." Cadance said, turning herself away from the changeling queen so that she could calm herself once more. But she started to find it much more difficult as the changeling put on display the depth of her cruel mockery.

"It was like you didn't want me, Cadance."

"Just stop it." The princess whispered while she tried to breathe her anxiety away.

"It was hard, trying to be the stallion you wanted me to be. I wanted things to be normal between us, not all of this. Did you ever even considered what I wanted before you just made me feel like I was so useless, so unwanted? You wanted everything about us to be at the front of my mind but you didn't want to even touch me. But at the same time, you wanted me to stay away from any other mare that even so much as smiled at me. I wanted to have a normal relationship, not to be imprisoned in some political cage."

"I did everything for y─" Cadance stopped herself as she realized that the sound of her husband's voice didn't come from him. "You need to stop this."

"It was like you didn't love me like I loved you. Everywhere I went, you wanted me to be loyal. You even disguised yourself as a guard twice to follow me. And each time, you knew that you were forbidden to do so. Yet you still followed me, just so I couldn't find interest in another mare. So imagine my relief when I found out you finally told me that you were tired of waiting. I was so happy. I felt like you finally wanted me. I don't think I could've ever felt so passionate, to make love to you like that. I couldn't stop because I wanted to show you just how much I wanted this. Didn't it feel good, to watch me─"

*SMACK*

The sound that resonated throughout the room was nothing more than the sound of princess losing her composure and applying that flash of rage into the face of her adversary. Chrysalis was slapped so hard by the princess that her blindfold was shifted to where one eye was exposed. Cadance breathed heavily while her hoof stung from the impact she made with Chrysalis' face.

The changeling merely laughed. "Heh... ha ha ha... Ha ha ha ha... AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" While the blow was potent enough to draw blood from the changeling's maw, the captive queen still smiled in the face of her enemy. "Oh how it still feels good to remember what it was like to take what was never yours."

"You bitch." Cadance quietly whispered as her magic warped into a ring around Chrysalis' neck.

While the magical grip grew tighter, the changeling continued to speak. "Come now, Cadie. It's not like he never took on every mare other than you. I just merely gave him what he wanted. And since I knew you were feeling so lonely in the caves, I just thought that you should see the passion your husband had for you... Oops, I guess you were too busy crying to notice."

By that point, Cadance finally abandoned all hope of being civil. By then, she had completely given herself to revenge and hatred. Even the magical ring around Chrysalis' neck started to slowly spawn crystals as Cadance retained her grip. "It will not be long before they bring you to trial, and I will be there to watch you get the punishment you deserve."

While she only had one eye to see, it was enough to bring confidence to the changeling queen. "You don't get it, do you? I didn't take your 'precious' Shining Armor because it would be better. I took your role because it was far easier than any others to take. Just think of how you'd act in a stressful situation. You know your special day is going to be overshadowed by the looming threat of an invasion, the stallion you worked so hard for is paying more attention to everything else other than you, you're left with the hard work of trying to organize your special day without the assistance of your dear husband. It's just like you! We have much in common, you and I."

Cadance stared at Chrysalis with an icy glare, gazing down at her. "You and I are NOTHING alike."

Chrysalis then listed a few things the two had in common. "We both hold a position of authority, we both seek to look after those who serve under us, we both adhere to the responsibility of our power, we even have the same taste in colts."

"I had enough of you." The pink princess said, almost with a dead tone.

While she stared back at the princess, the imprisoned queen cooed with satisfaction. "But there is one thing that's different about us, Cadie. It's not just that we're changeling and pony, it's the main reason why you trying to appear as if you're wanting to give him a normal marriage. Even I can have his offspring without so much of a care about anything... meanwhile you're really too terrified to even have a foal!"

Within a single beat of the princess' heart, she summoned jagged crystals from the ground, encircling the changeling while one particular stalagmite pressed against her windpipe. Even Chrysalis was surprised by how much the princess had snapped. Cadance's voice was mouse quiet when she whispered into the changeling's ear. "I will bleed you here and now if you every say something like that again."

Genuinely impressed by the contradicting display made by the Princess of Love, Chrysalis felt the time for her fun had reached it's end... "Tell me something, Cadance." ...But not before one final joke. "Does my voice get you wet?"

Cadance didn't even give any emotional acknowledgement to the queen. Instead, she dropped her crystal spell and removed the magical grip from around her prisoner's neck. Chrysalis started to laugh again as Cadance tapped on the stone door. The door quickly opened and closed as she left the cell.

When she walked out, every guard that stood before her cowered from the expression she wore. The guards didn't dare to question what had made her so angry, but they quickly sealed the cell and reactivated the containment runes. She walked over to another guard and asked him. "Did either of you hear anything that came from within this cell?"

The entire group shook their heads quietly with pursed lips.

Cadance then tapped her hoof against the tip of another guard's spear, slowly guiding along it's sharpened edge. "...I know that there are times where even I may show hatred or even a desire for swift vengeance. Believe me, I have my fair share of wanting the past to become just that. And even I may want to exact some cruelty of what I went through towards others so that they know what a true struggle really is. But I deem myself to be better than that. I am a mare of moral standing, and I will even offer the amenities that even I was not afforded by my worst enemy. It is not often felt as fair, but it is just."

Cadance removed her hoof without as much as a scratch. She tapped the shaft of the spear and took a deep breath. Her composure softened again, but her orders were not as such.

"Throw her in solitary confinement, one month, one meal per day, bread and water only."

"As you wish, your highness." The warden said with a bow.

After several minutes of trying to pace herself back into a non-confrontational state, the Princess of Love trotted back to the halls of the castle, finding her way into the royal throne room. As she entered, she saw her guard Flash Sentry actively attempt to dodge her presence. He cringed before he unfurled his wings and barreled down the hall at full speed. The pink princess shook her head as she walked into the spacious room. Luna stood to the side, reading off scrolls and parchments while Celestia trotted back and forth in the center of the room. Cadance already knew what had recently transpired. "Did he say no again?"

"He walked in already knowing what was in store." Celestia responded, still pondering over the situation.

"Well that is unfortunate." Cadance mumbled. "Would've figured that he'd change his mind after a little while."

"It would be less unfortunate if you were to have kept your meddling at a minimum." Luna called out as she used a quill to scratch out the guard's name at the top of the list.

Feeling annoyed, the pink royal groaned on the matter. "Celestia has already lectured me on that, Luna."

Luna, still wanting to get her words in, chided the younger royal further. "And I still find it to be a solid point of emphasis, especially to the one that carries a namesake such as yours. Now it could very well be that the humans are looking at us for the wrongdoing."

Cadance rolled her eyes and placed a hoof on her chest to admit the blame. "If that is to be, then I will be the one to take responsibility."

"No need to." A voice boomed from the entrance of the room. The three princesses looked back to see a human briskly walking into the room. "Oh, and knock-knock."

Luna then called back to the human. "You do realize that an appointment was needed to be made far in advance before you can just barge in here, correct?"

"Well I believe I come here as a representative of my brother. So forgive me for being so brash."

Celestia stopped pacing and smirked at the human. "I find it odd that you're so willing to roam around the castle so freely, Alexander."

The man placed his left hand over his abdomen and his right to the one he acknowledged. He then bowed before the Princess of the Sun. "Your highnesses, if there's any responsibility to be had, then it would be on my end. I'll make sure that my little brother won't play the village idiot and actually go all-out with you."

"Do you really think that he would be willing to still see us as allies?" Luna questioned.

"Of course. If anything, he's more into grudges than outright revenge." Alex answered.

"I'm not sure, Chrysalis seemed pretty close to losing her head to him." Celestia rebutted.

"She's an irritant to everyone she encounters." Cadance stated with a kiss to the teeth.

Luna chuckled while she pointed at the pink princess. "You would know. I've recently gotten word that you've placed her in solitary confinement with minimal nourishment."

"Again, irritant." Cadance responded with a low growl.

Alex, who became genuinely curious, proceeded to inquire about the changeling queen. "Okay, I was told that you and her were enemies, but not the reason for it. Should I dare to ask?"

"She threatened to invade the city and took the form of Cadance to try and abscond Shining Armor." Celestia quickly summarized.

"Oh... so it's nothing personal?" Alex joked.

While the bit of shock humor took both Celestia and Luna aback, they then found the sudden causality of his response to be somewhat humorous. Luna snorted while Celestia held a hoof over her muzzle as she giggled. Cadance, however, didn't find his well-timed bit of sarcasm ticklish. "Funny, laugh it up. I don't understand how the rest of you humans can be so casual to us royals. Even Nondis was once afraid to look at us."

Realizing that he did touch a sensitive spot, he apologetically bowed to the pink princess. "Well if I am to be honest, the three of you do look endearing. And all three of us have had our experience with equines in our world, you know with going on our grandparent's farm and whatnot."

"Yet it feels like there's some disrespect..." Cadance soon found herself interrupted by the sensation of Alex's fingers running through her mane, gently caressing her head. As his fingers made their way to her ears, he began to scratch at the back of them lightly, causing the younger princess to silently tilt her head towards his hand. While she didn't want to show a smile, her eyes closed while she melted at the sensation. "...I now see the reason why Twilight would speak so fondly over these little things."

"Soothing, isn't it?" Luna asked, knowing exactly what the younger mare was feeling.

"If only my husband could do something like this when I'm so irritated."

Feeling that his apology went through in spades, Alex then refocused to his initial intent. "In speaking of irritation, I kinda wanted to put in a bit of a request, if you'll be willing to hear me out."

Luna smiled while she grew a bit giddy. "As long as I get next with those fingers of yours, I'll be willing to listen to whatever you may have on hoof... or rather on hand."

With the confirmation of two princesses, the human went forward with his proposition. "There's this holiday coming up in my world─"

Celestia, who already knew what was going on, interrupted him before he could finish. "Your father is quite assertive."

"Oh so Nondis told you about him?" Alex asked, still scratching Cadance's ears.

"Or rather, his words and voice gave me much in the way of context." Celestia answered, causing Alex to stop scratching and look to her with surprise.

"Oh... Phone call, huh?"

The solar princess continued. "I should also warn that he'll be eager in scolding you and Stanton in the near future. And I should note that a 'Vanessa' was named in his rant."

Alex stiffened his lips and nodded with understanding. "I'd figure my wife would tell him. Better her than me, or else I'd be blabbering off more details than what Nondis would allow for the time being."

"Ah, a common sympathy amongst the three siblings." Celestia replied jestingly.

Cadance, who was a little annoyed that the scratching stopped, used her magic to grab at the human's hand. "Now if we could get some context to that."

Alex already knew what the princess was alluding to in grabbing him and happily complied. After all, he had no reason to displease the ones with the authority and power to put forth his idea.

"Of course, it does file in with my request after all."

The next day...

The morning came with very little in terms of fanfare. The sun was raised above the horizon and the birds chirped sweet songs to celebrate the coming of a new day. The view of Canterlot's taller buildings casting a shadow among the streets of the citadel made certain areas cooler to many of the early-risers. One such early-riser found it somewhat difficult to get out of bed that morning as a maid knocked on the door.

"Your highness..."

"Muhhhhg..." Cadance croaked wearily.

The door sounded with a knock once more. "Your highness..."

"Ugggh... Dawn already..." She mumbled to herself. "I'm up!" She groggily called out.

The maid then opened the door and closed it behind her to offer the princess some privacy from the guards standing watch outside. The maid approached with a chalice filled with water and a miniature chocolate mint sitting on a silver saucer. As she approached, Cadance glanced over to the curtains. As they were opened, the princess winced in pain from the light.

"Agh... I know Celestia said she'd never intentionally brighten the sun, but it sure seems brighter than usual."

"Have you slept well?" The maid questioned.

"I had a rough night's sleep. Doesn't help that my husband snores and goes on occasional bathroom breaks, but it's what it is." She says as she extended her limbs in a state of pandiculation. She looked over to the side of the bed her husband once slept and groaned in dismay. "I'd wish for once he'd actually love me enough to greet me when I wake up."

"It's only because he's busy, your highness."

Cadance looked at the chalice and levitated it towards her lips. Tossing the golden goblet back, she emptied the contents and looked at it with dissatisfaction. "Bad case of cotton-mouth this morning." She said before snatching the mint off the small plate and eating it.

"I will be sure to send for some of the finest spring water in all of Canterlot for you, my grace."

"Just bottled water will do, don't stress yourself." Cadance said through a yawn. "Might drink the bath water if I'm really feeling it."

"Well I'd advise you to not do that. I'll just quickly bring some, princess."

"You are truly appreciated." Cadance said as the maid bowed before her.

The maid quickly ran out of the room, shoving guards out of the way as she called the others to make way for her errands. While the halls slowly began to liven up, the princess stared at the pillow her husband slept on and closed her eyes. Faint cries filled her head, reminding her of what wasn't her memory of him. Each time she breathed, she felt the world become smaller and more confined. Even the scented oils and lavender that graced her nose was disrupted by the recall of stale air, a foul stench, and a sour odor. The sounds of the bed creaking back and forth while a mix of laughs and moans sounded as her voice greeted her mind with the familiar despair of watching herself becoming intimate with her beloved husband, all while being trapped in the dark caves beneath the castle.

Her heart began to race as the anxiety overtook her. Opening her eyes, she expected to be in a dark dampened cave with several crystals refracting her image. But she was greeted with the bed she and her husband slept in the previous night. The pleasant scents of the room returned her to the present. Her heart slowed while her body loosened. She drew a long sigh as she realized that her past was not set in present time.

"Who is it?" She called out.

"Cadie, it's me. I brought you some water."

The familiar voice caused the princess to express relief as she called out to him. "Why the hell are you knocking, get in here!"

Shining obediently entered the room, closing the door behind him. The sudden sensation of a magical aura pulling him towards her caused him to stumble before he walked over to her. "Geez, sweetie. You okay?"

"Kiss me." She ordered. "I need you right now."

The stallion sweetly shook his head and gave his wife a series of pecks on her lips. "Love you, sweetheart."

"You can do better than that." She groaned with dissatisfaction.

"Oh, guess you want more than the usual." He said as he backed her into the bed. "You're so greedy at times."

He used his magic to sweep her off of her hooves and shove her back into the disrupted sheets. He planted his forelegs on either side of her as he gave her a devilish grin before he pressed his lips against hers. His head tilted slightly as she accepted his morning offering. His tongue quickly worked into her mouth, dancing with hers. His magic started to pull at the tip of her wings while she moaned from the pleasure of having them tickled. The stallion looked at her as he assaulted her, she looked at him back.

But it wasn't out of passion that she looked at him. She was observing him, taking note of the difference he had. Obviously he was doing whatever he could to arouse her, but that moment didn't supply that to her. She was more attentive to the eyes that looked at her, half-lidded as if he was watching her every move. She grew accustomed to the fact that her husband kissed her with open eyes, but it was not always that way.

Before they were married, their kisses were so invested, he could let himself get lost in the moment of contact long awaited by the both of them. It was like each time they knew that it would lead to trouble, but the risk of it all made it all the more exciting. But after the wedding, his touch and his approach was far too calculated. And thought she felt satisfaction in the heat of the moment, there was still the air of uncertainty between the both of them. For him it was the fear that the mare before him was a lie. For her, it was the knowledge that her special moment was taken from both of them.

The night of their marriage, the week after, the month to follow, they went without claiming each other until they were afforded the opportunity and comfort. Though they were quick to make up for lost time after that one night, her mind wandered to that one day her husband was claimed before her very eyes after they were finished. And under most circumstances, she'd see this as an opportunity to reclaim what was rightfully hers.

Today, her mind was plagued by the words of her enemy. Her body reacted in kind, even as her husband's head crept beneath her haunches. The sight of him parting her hindlegs did not excite her. His grins, his coos, his determined stare, nothing. She felt numb to it all.

"...Stop." She ordered.

Shining's head rose up, confusion on his face as he readied himself to dive in. "What, what's wrong? You usually love it when I do this."

The princess closed her legs and rolled over. "I'm just... I just got a headache. Maybe later."

The stallion started to show signs of disappointment as he had to urge himself to climb down from his state of arousal. And it showed on his face as he realized that his efforts were to go unrewarded. "...Is it me?"

Cadance knew the answer to his question, but chose not to answer it directly. "I just wanna cuddle." She replied. "When have we ever just laid here, enjoyed each other's company? I haven't woken up to you by my side in months, it's like my husband doesn't even have time for me anymore."

Shining laid behind his wife, hugging her closely as he nuzzled her. "Sweetie, you know it's been pretty busy lately. My new position doesn't exactly come with an Applewood breakfast hour."

"Shining, you're gonna have to find time for us, you know." She urged. "We need this for us to work."

"I know. And I'm sorry I haven't been giving that to you. It's just I've been so damn busy. And this morning isn't any different. I had to overlook a prison transfer this morning. And then I had to overlook a few protocols in the courtyard, messy affair."

Cadance stopped him there as she kicked her hind leg into his. "Shining... Us, please. Let's just worry about us right now. No more princess stuff, no more sex, no more guard duties, just you telling me that I'm yours and me telling you that you're mine."

Shining lightly winced from the kick, but still hugged his wife in spite of the slight stinging. "...Is something wrong, Cadie?"

She leaned into him as she spoke. "It's like there's something wrong with us right now."

The stallion brushed her mane with his hoof, lightly stroking her face while he whispered into her ear. "All it took was one kiss, and I'm sure the wheels of fate turned and brought me a perfect moment of tenderness and happiness. From now on, every moment, every second I have, I will spend beside you to make you happy."

The pink princess whimpered as her husband quoted his wedding vow to her. Cadance felt weak as she pulled her husband's hoof against her face. Tightly she clung to him, rocking back and forth while she cherished the hoof she held. "I feel so... terrible."

Shining, who was aware of how his wife acted since they reencountered Chrysalis, knew what had bothered her. "...Is it her again?"

"It's like I can't even be the mare you wanted to marry anymore. It's like I'm constantly watching you do your best and it feels like I can't even get with you at times. Even now, you're mad because I called you off."

Shining grunted as she alluded to his current battle with his sexual frustration and offered words of comfort. "Sweetheart, you are the only thing I'm worried about right now. Sex just comes when all the pieces are in place. And right now, I'm more concerned about what parts of you are missing. I'm here because I chose to be here with you. I didn't choose to be anything other than your husband. And I'm damn proud to be able to say that you're my wife."

As they laid in the bed, another knock came at the door to disrupt them. It was the voice of the maid. "Your highness, your presence is requested in the Royal Parliament Chamber."

Shining looked back at the door and called out. "She's not feeling well, please come back later."

The maid then responded. "Sir, also your presence has been requested by Princess Luna on the matters of security. She says it is urgent."

The princess moaned sadly as she called out. "I'll be right there."

"Honey, are you sure?" Shining asked.

The mare rolled over to face her husband. "Are you my husband?"

"...Don't let 'em get to you." Shining answered.

"I remember saying those same words to you way back when." She said, giving her husband a peck on the lips.

"Well don't mind me, I'm just giving them back." He stated as the princess stepped out of bed and quickly put on her regalia.

"You and I gotta set aside some time for us." She said as she brushed her mane to look presentable.

"Guess there's no time for a bath for the both of us." Shining joked.

"Later, Romeo." Cadance replied. "We'll fit in some fun time for later today."

"Sounds like a date."

"I miss going on those."

"No kidding." Shining said as he hopped out of the bed and ran towards the door. "So, later tonight, Canterlot Royal Spa? Figure we could both go with some unwinding."

Cadance smiled as she accepted. "It's like my husband is actually trying to make me happy for a change."

"Oh whatever." He said before he left the room.

Cadance's smile quickly faded as she started to hold her head. The tightness in her throat started to make itself apparent as she found herself trying to swallow whatever saliva she produced. She then levitated the bottled water her husband provided her. In seconds, she gulped the contents of the bottle and swallowed. Much of her condition had gone unchanged.

"Ugh... Faustdamn cotton mouth."

Canterlot Royal Medical Facility...

My body felt great after a much-awaited shower. It was like I had finally started to smell like a normal person as opposed to a bedridden hospice patient. My arms regained most of their strength, allowing me to become semi-independent in climbing out of bed and into my wheelchair.

Still processing that phrase at the moment.

My feet could move almost as freely as they once could, but my leg strength wasn't quite where it needed to be to consider independence. But that's a process I can wait on. My neck didn't feel that great from being in an awkward bed predicament, so I wasn't active in turning my head as much. And it wasn't like I could roll my neck and pop my spine for that one instant of relief.

My digestive cycle has shortened, so I'm going into twice-a-day bowel movements. My abdomen aches from time to time, but it's nowhere near as painful as it was when I had gotten stabbed. Sometimes I get a few chills, but that's just the effects of the blood transfusion. Mel told me that I would feel it from time to time, but not in frequency. No rejections of platelets, no fevers, just a little itchy, and no hives to be seen. I can safely say I've been on the good side of the mend.

Alex, Melanie, and Stanton were all here to visit. And though we had discussions about many things, there was one thing that managed to nibble at our curiosity. The four of us made our way to the courtyard and came in contact with a unexpected... and rather macabre, surprise.

"Oh... wow." Mel said as she looked on.

"Don't wanna be them." Stanton said as we looked to the gallows set up at the center of the courtyard.

At the gallows hung three lifeless changelings and one bloodied rope. The three had an assortment of expressions, but many still reflected the finality of their existence. Eyes half-lidded, jaws hung halfway open, limbs silent. The only thing to be heard was the sound of the ropes creaking and squeaking against the wooden bar from which they swung.

"Je-sus, no wonder they cancelled public executions." Alex said with a bit of unease. "I know they're changelings and it's not doing much to me in the psych department, but that shit would be fucking nightmare fuel if you had a front-row seat."

I wheeled myself a little closer as I looked at the blood that dried on the scaffolding. When I had gotten close enough, I noticed a significant blood splatter on both the planks and the cobblestones below. And judging from the way it ran a trail from the platform, to the ground and pooled after a bit of a turn, I came to the conclusion that the final rope had done more than it's job. "Yeah, still a few errors to be had. This guy at least got the quick end."

Melanie cleared her throat as she gotten a little closer to me. "Yeah, where is that last guy? Obviously they left these three here for insurance, but that last rope's been used."

"My guess." I started to summarize. "Apparently this guy got hung like the rest and I supposed they gave a little too much slack, he went down incorrectly."

"Meaning?" Stanton asked.

"His head popped off." I concluded. "Too much of a mess, can't keep that here or it'll start to smell."

"Well they'll start to smell if they keep them out here." Melanie argued.

And almost on cue, two guards came from within the castle with a covered wagon. As they approached the gallows, the two greeted us brightly. "Good morning, humans!"

While the other three seemed thrown off by their emotional detachment to the situation, I wheeled on over to greet the two. "Hey fellas, what's the word on the post?"

One started to unhinge the door to the back of the wagon while the other spoke to me. "Well captain, apparently a lot has happened the past nine days. You've been the topic of eight of them, nice to see you up and at it, by the way."

I raised a hand as a gesture of thanks. "Yeah, I could be as cold as these three, but I'm still flailing my arms around. So who gave the okay for this?"

"Princess Luna gave the word that these three were being uncooperative and unrepentant. So she signed them off and brought them here for their final words before dawn. Brigadier General Shining Armor was the overseer."

"Oh, so what you do with number four?" I asked, tossing a thumb back at the fourth rope.

"Yeah, they said that one was a bit active in trying to wiggle his way out of it. Apparently he was a little too eager and caught the rope wrong, so there's a mess we have to clean. Just toss a bit of acid on the stones and wash it right off, and you can have a dinner party here as if nothing happened. Of course we don't want them here long enough to smell so we're pulling these guys and dumping them off on the mountainside."

"Kinda crude way of disposing the bodies, don't you think?" Melanie questioned.

"Not really." The guard replied. "There are actually the benefits of what we do to the scavenger's ecosystem. There's an endangered strand of buzzards living on this mountain that don't get a lot in terms of the food they eat. So we toss these guys off, then the local critters, insects, scavengers and whatnot take advantage of it. It's much more economically efficient to do it this way as well as being a benefit to the ecosystem of the mountain."

"Well you make an interesting argument..." Melanie stated with a glance to the three changelings.

"And thus the circle of life completes itself." Alex summarized.

"So the last guy, did you already toss him?" Stanton asked.

"Dunno, might wanna ask the overseer if he knows anything about that."

The other guard finished laying out the bed to place the bodies and pulled out a tarp as he finally spoke. "In other news, there's an ongoing investigation of that griffon assassin they found on the McIntosh Hills. Apparently he was a Griffonstone native, so there could be some talks of an investigation against the Griffon Kingdom.

"Oh no, not this again." I muttered out loud.

"That investigation won't involve you, captain. So be sure to rest up."

"Much appreciated." I answered.

"Also in rumors around the castle, five guards were caught in an underground gambling scandal, two maids were caught having an illicit affair with each other in the garden, one stallion who worked in the medical ward got fired for eating the patients' meals, and one senator misplaced his meds and hasn't come out of his office for the past three days. And also, the infamous Senator Count DuMoneé is under investigation for blackmail."

"Ha! They nailed his ass." I crackled with pride.

"You're welcome." Alex said holding his fist out for me to bump.

"Also in prison news..." The first guard added. "The changeling queen has been transferred to the X-block for a month. Apparently she said something to piss off Princess Cadance and she gave the order to have her shipped from her containment cell in level-3 block G to level 5 block X. Her diet will consist of bread and water, once a day, solitary confinement, mana dissipation seals of the class 8 variety, and forced hibernation removal so she can't sleep her way through it."

"Huh... no wonder why she was so tense last night." Alex said, causing all three of us to look back at him with bewilderment.

"Context, please?" Stanton requested.

"I had a nice chat with the princesses is all. No need to overanalyse the situation."

The two guards didn't pay any mind to us while they started loosening the nooses for the changelings to slip through. As they were freed, their bodies collapsed to the ground. While one started working on the next one, the other hauled the lifeless corpse into the back of the wagon. By the time one body was put away, another fell to the ground. It was like watching a morticians gleefully carrying about their duties as if it was them loading groceries on a sunny day. Of course they tossed back and forth a few jokes about the changelings, but they were so efficient at what they did.

For a moment, it disturbed me how easily they went about it. "Uh, gents..." I called out. "How is it that you guys are so calm while doing this?"

One of them answered. "It's never easy dealing with the dead, easier dealing with changelings, they're our enemies who takes the lives of our families and friends. They don't show the emotional dynamic we ponies do."

"It's an odd thing." The other answered. "To be honest, it's just feels easier to deal with something that doesn't really feel like us. I'm sure it's similar for you humans to watch us die and not feel too much for us."

It's true. It was surreal to have a pony die in my arms, but it didn't carry the emotional toll it would if someone I didn't know in my world was grasping at my shirt trying to understand what was going on, only for them to just fall limp. But there was one thing that did manage to break me. "I think I can understand your point. But wouldn't it start to take it's toll after living amongst them for quite some time?"

"It would if we were allies and knew peace amongst our species. Maybe that reality is years off or even months, but as of now what do we know about them? Should we care about something that seeks to not care about us? There are still over two hundred of our citizens unaccounted for thanks to them." The second argued.

"If you had to ask us as guards, the two hundred you claimed was just reward for two hundred of ours. How many lives have been altered because of them? Thousands, maybe? It goes further than their recent operations. Is it our hatred of them that causes us to become so callous? There's a reason for our madness, and it's as simple as the old adage goes: It's better them than us."

As the last body was loaded onto the wagon, the wooden bed was shoved in, the back cover was lowered and tied off. Finally, the back door was hinged shut and the guards bridled themselves to take the corpses to their final resting place. The two stallions gave me a salute before they set off.

"Captain, it's better to stay optimistic in the most trying of circumstances and be able to find a way to cope with or overcome your odds." One of the guards said. "It's how you stay sane in our line of work."

The two disappeared beyond the path and out of the castle checkpoint. The four of us looked at each other as another group of stallions quickly ran in from the castle and started to pull apart the gallows. Since many of them were unicorns, several of their tasks were made expedient due to the their ability to multitask. So in the span of five minutes, the platform that once showed death was suddenly removed to only display an empty patch of cobblestone. Even the blood was washed clean. And as the two clean-up guards declared, it appeared that nothing had even occurred.

Flowers were planted, hedges were trimmed, and sweet-scented oils were dashed on the stones to give the place a smell that could've made any unsuspecting individual eager to stay a while, to bask in the uninterrupted beauty of the royal courtyard. Six other guards then posted themselves at various points of the courtyard. One such guard called out to the others.

"Maintain your posts! We'll be having some important guests coming later this evening for the City Celebration Banquet. Make sure no tourists are guided here, and keep the grounds clean."

"SIR, YES SIR!" They all called out in response.

The one who barked the order then walked up to me and issued a salute. "Captain, it is nice to see you doing well this morning."

After all that I just saw, I could only come up with one response. "Uh-huh..."

Our stroll through the halls of the castle were uneventful up till recently. We somehow managed to run into two of the guards that served alongside me on the deployment. They managed to fill me in on how everything was going with the restitution situation. Apparently the politicians were even more impatient that they couldn't loophole their way to getting some of that gold we retrieved, especially after Blueblood and Shining managed to tell them off by inviting them to go retrieve it for themselves if they're so willing to have some.

Obviously, there were no takers.

So the parliament have mostly given up on that pointless pursuit of greed, and turned their attention to the matters that have grown to become a concern, the Griffonstone investigation. Seems there's some serious mumblings of a potential campaign brewing if the griffons were to become uncooperative. I suppose that would be a problem if it did ever come to that.

As we moved along, a rambling individual had his head buried in the headlines of a newspaper as he trotted right into me, knocking me back a foot while he fell to his backside. And as his head poked through the newspaper, I was surprised by the very face I saw.

"...YOU!" Count DuMoneé screamed.

I gave him a cheeky smile while I waved at him. "Hey, good morning, Count! Sun seems pretty bright for November, I'll tell you what."

The senator stumbled onto his feet, causing me to get a good look at him. His mane was not as well-kept as he would normally have it, his eyes seemed sleep-deprived, his coat seemed untamed while his clothes were wrinkled. I looked down to his hooves to see a variety of paper cuts, seemingly from going through several files for various reasons. He didn't seem as composed as I last remembered him being, especially after I bit his ear.

He jumped up, used his magic to grab at my collar, and proceeded to scream at me. "Why have you been created!? Your vileseome existence nauseates me beyond compare. It is politically correct when discussing your faults to use certain words to denote your equinity above your disability. But in your case, there is nothing equine. You are just challenged, you are just different. Given a choice of stepping in something nasty on the sidewalk, or bidding you good morning, I would happily choose the former. Single-hoofedly, you have wrenched all meaning out of life."

Yeesh, and your breath smells worse than an arimaspi's ass. "Um... Sir, I think it would be within my kindness to offer you a tic-tac."

"TIC TAC YOUR KNOBBISH SLAG OVER THERE AND FUCKING LEAVE FOR ONCE! NOT FOR A DAY, NOT FOR A WEEK, NOT FOR A MONTH OR YEAR, GIVE ME A DECADE OF NEVER SEEING YOUR FACE! OR BETTER YET, PLEASE, BY ALL MEANS, JUMP OUT THAT WINDOW! AFTER ALL YOUR PRETTY PRINCESS PARTED FROM YOUR PATHETIC PRIMATIVE POSTERIOR AND POSSIBLY PROPOSED TO ANOTHER PONY!"

While his breath nearly had me in Vietnam flashbacks to the one time I was forced to taste the flatulence of a pony in a fast-food restaurant, I resorted to covering my mouth and nose before my lungs felt like I was inhaling mustard gas. I turned to Alex and asked. "Dude, what the hell did you do?"

"Dude, what the hell is that smell?" Alex was a few feet away from me, also covering his nose.

The stallion then shook me again. Meanwhile I was quietly praying to never undergo another alliterative assault accompanied by an ambush of spit. "Oh you think you're so lucky to be rolling around in that chair, don't you!? Well I can tell you this much, YOU WON'T TAKE ME ON! C'MON!"

I then pressed my hand on his chest, another on his horn to prevent him from casting any spells. While the struggle commenced, Alex and Stanton tried to pry the pony off of me. But their effort would come to a stop before they even began as he ran a spell through his horn to rapidly heat it up, causing me to remove my hand from the burn. A small bubble formed over the both of us and expanded enough to knock both of them to the ground.

My struggle would go unassisted for a few more seconds before his assistant ran up to him from behind, wrapping his hooves around his chest and pulling him off of me. And with the addition of his magic, Single File successfully pried the two of us apart to a considerable distance.

Alex and Stanton both rubbed their heads as they got up, while I coughed from the fumes the stallion left behind. "Sulfuring succotash. Thank you for getting your mans over there." I said while clearing my throat and wiping my face of his spit.

"I'm so sorry, he's been lacking in sleep and he hasn't been himself as of late." Single File said, straining to hold his boss back.

"I don't give a fuck what he hasn't been doing." Stanton replied. "Your dude needs to fucking chill. Tell that asshole to smoke something, fucking drugs, get him to hang loose a bit before he gets his lights turned off."

Single File continued to restrain his employer, but suddenly he found very little resistance in his struggle. The aged stallion almost froze in place as his eyes zigzagged around the hall. Then one word was whispered from his lips. "Hang..."

The stallion seemed completely different now that he had stopped. It was like he became a lot more docile while his assistant slowly let him go. We watched as the stallion took quiet, short steps in looking around the halls.

"Who's hanging?" He muttered. "W-wh-wh-who hanging..."

He looked around the hall, walking back and forth from pillar to pillar as he really started to ramble on.

"Wh-who's hanging? Hanging... hanging swinging... swinging creak... it's creaking... all this creaking... all this fucking creaking... what the hell is this creaking noise?... Noisy... noisy creak... all that racket... hanging... Ceiling hanging... Hangingfromtheceilingallthisnoisethisfucking NOISE!..." Suddenly he snapped at the pillar standing behind him. "STOPTOUCHINGME!" He finally calmed down for a second before he looked to the center of the hall, staring at the ceiling. "It's you again, isn't it? I told you I didn't want you here, why are you here?"

While this amalgamation of a breakdown took place before our very eyes, we were left staring with abject terror and a sudden desire to back away slowly. Melanie held a hand to her mouth as she mouthed to herself. "Oh my God."

The stallion's head popped as he sharply turned to Mel, looking at her with a jaundiced stare filled with madness. She lost her balance and fell to the ground. When she looked back up, he was no longer there, instead he was standing right behind her. He placed a hoof on the top of her head, making her shriek while he held her in place with his magic. Slowly, he forced her head to the side, breathing on her neck. "Where are the marks?"

Single File quickly galloped to her and grabbed the deranged stallion off of her. While he held him back, he promptly received a hoof to the eye as consequence.

"LETMEGO!WHOTHEHELLAREYOU!?GETYOURHOOVESOFFOFMEBEFOREI─"

And with a single flash, the older stallion collapsed to the ground. The chaos had finally ended while the young assistant laid his employer on his back. He quietly bowed his head as a show of remorse. "I am so sorry. He has not been this bad in a long time. Whatever compensation you need, I'll be sure to have it sent to you for this."

Alex shook his head. "What the SHIT is wrong with him?"

Mel, who was left shocked for most of the time, stayed on the ground as she moaned quietly. "Heee's goooooone. He's faaaaaar gone."

While my brothers and I were used to breakdowns similar to that, especially in the case of our grandfather, the three of us came to a silent consensus that what we saw was a completely different class of mental malfunction. The three of us were left stunned by what we witnessed. Melanie didn't even want to get off of the ground, she was so shaken.

"So, Single File... You had to catch up with this guy, right?" I asked.

"You wouldn't believe how hard it was to keep him in one area. He's been all over the palace, reading newspapers, clipping headlines, checking his drawer."

"Does he have any meds?" Melanie quietly asked.

"Thiothixene. If you see an orange phial with that word on it, please send for me."

"...Okay." She replied.

The stallion started to proceed down the hall before he stopped to look back at Melanie. "I should also request, on the family's behalf... Please mention nothing of this. I will bring you reimbursement for any damages incurred. I bid you all a safe day."

The young stallion walked off, leaving the four of us to reflect on what all happened today. I looked down at my legs and nervously bit my lip.

"I got baby issues here."

We never really talked about what we just saw earlier. I'm sure the guards who paid witness to what happened further down the halls didn't speak much about it either. Melanie only mumbled to herself as she chanted the word 'thiothixene' over and over again. Alex wouldn't stop pushing me along while Stanton wouldn't ever get three feet away from me. But then again, could I really blame them after what happened.

This whole day has been one giant question mark to all of us. I can understand the courtyard situation, that was just protocol. I guess it was my first time seeing something like that and it kinda threw me off for a bit, especially with how quickly the mood was shifted towards normalcy.

There was no normalcy with what happened earlier, hell no.

Two other faces turned the hall, greeting us as they approached. Cliff and Rickey had returned from our world after a few classes and with some spare time in between their lunch break and study period. And thankfully they were here to change the mood. We were kinda dead for a while, and it just felt like a long chain of awkwardness being wrapped around the four of us.

"So what's the news on the street, soldier boy?" Rickey questioned.

"Apparently Chrysalis got transferred, a few changelings got put down, there's gonna be a dinner party this evening, and we have come to terms that Count DuMoneé is completely insane." I said, going down the list of everything I experienced today.

Cliff laughed. "Bruh, we been knew that motherfucker was leagues gone when he decided to pop up out of an air vent."

Hindsight now tells me just how terrifying that could've been. "We're thinking on another level of crazy."

"He has meds." Melanie added. "And obviously he hasn't been taking them."

Rickey and Cliff's eyes widened at the revelation. "Ohhhhh, yeah I can see that being a bad thing. What's he taking it for?"

Stanton quickly interrupted. "You mind changing the topic, we really don't wanna talk about that right now."

"It's just bringing up some bad memories right now." Alex murmured.

The two thankfully complied and switched to something else that was moderately uncomfortable to me. "So any of you guys seen Twilight?" Cliff inquired.

"No not today." I answered. "I just know that she went back to Ponyville for a few errands. Then again her life is more over there than it is here. I just wish we could visit the others today, getting a visit from Pinkie would be a day-breaker."

"Honestly, I'm kinda curious on why she's not staying for the dinner party this evening." Stanton brought up. "Wasn't it something that had to do with the city? Usually princesses are all about public functions."

"Yeah but not every princess attends every function." I rebutted. "Normally they have like one or two to sit at the table and mingle with the crowd."

"So, safe to say if it pertains to the city that Princess Celestia would be there." Alex assumed.

I didn't even give it a second thought, this is the city SHE founded after all. "I can confirm that she will be there. And I know that Blueblood would also be the number two option since he's the big-city talker here. Some of the upper crusts of Canterlot he's pretty close with so I can imagine him getting a few jokes in at everyone's expense."

"Sounds like he's the life of the party." Melanie said mockingly.

"Actually, from what I know about past dealings, he is. Often times when it comes to these uppity social events, he's usually there to do three things: drink, joke, and poke at the mares there for... you know. Essentially what we did every Saturday night at the frat house, he does with the rich folks."

Cliff, Rickey, and Stanton smiled at the thought. The three had a delightful and approving nod while Stanton spoke. "Oh yeah, we gotta hang out with him sometime."

Melanie grimaced with discomfort. "I don't know. He seems a bit too prickish for me. He's more like that guy who's an asshole for shits and giggles. I don't think I can trust that."

"I feel you." Alex agreed. "He's great for the political work, but his party persona might be a ruse to get some really shady shit done under the table. Seems to be a lot of ulterior motives that comes with hanging out with someone like him."

"He might be a little troublesome to hang out with at times." I admitted. "But he's at least nice enough to show you around to get you familiar with the current climate."

Melanie yelped loudly as a unicorn randomly teleported themselves directly in front of us. I tightened my grip on the wheelchair as the teleportation spell came with some smoke, I was readying myself for whatever was going to come at me next. One of my arms tensed up as if I was ready to throw a punch until a purple aura swallowed my right hand. And through the clouds, an unexpected individual waved her hoof to clear the smoke.

"Ohh hohohoho, gracious! I have done that kind of spell in YEARS!"

Melanie held her chest as she released a long-held breath. "Mrs. Velvet─"

The mare didn't even let her finish as she just strung together her greetings. "Oh-hi-there-miss-Melanie-I'm-sure-you're-doing-well. Oh-hello-mister-Cliff-and-mister-Rickey. Mister-Alex-and-Stanton-I-know-these-past-few-days-have-been-quite-a-trial-I-completely-understand-but-I-need-to-borrow-your-brother-for-just-one-moment."

I blinked wildly as her aura wrapped around my entire body. "Ma'am─"

She planted a hoof over my lips to silence me as she pointed to the others. "You, you, you, you, and you, nice-seeing-you-again. Ta-ta!"

And in a poof, she disappeared with me in tow. The smoke cleared to reveal a wheelchair filled with only the clothes I wore. The group of five stared with astonishment and confusion. "Did she just take him... and NOT his clothes?" Melanie asked slowly.

Cliff laughed jokingly as he pointed to the wheelchair. "Damn, I didn't know she got down like that."

Then another smoke cloud appeared as she reappeared to grab the clothes and finally the wheelchair. "Oopsie-day! Forgot-you-humans-wear-clothes-and-that-he-needed-this-to-get-around! Pardon-me!"

Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared leaving behind only a small cloud of smoke.

Alex was left with a floored jaw and a finger on his chin. "Excuse me, whaaaaa─"

She fucking saw everything. And it wasn't like she was disgusted by what she saw, she was genuinely curious. She stared, for seconds... and thirds. She even tapped it once 'just for funsies' before she disappeared and reappeared with my wheelchair and clothes. She tossed me my clothes and turned around long enough for me to slip on my boxers and put on my pants. I only managed to get my shirt halfway back on while I was speaking.

"Thanks for giving me my clothes back. Now what's with the─"

She snapped back around and pressed her muzzle against my nose, looking at me with a frantic expression. "YOU AND TWILIGHT ARE BREAKING UP!?"

The sudden reaction had me jump back a bit as I answered her. "Well it was kinda her decis─"

The mare angrily slammed her hoof into the ground repeatedly in protest. "NO! I refuse! Not happening! I've already sent out wedding invites to my four sisters, my two brothers, my thirty six cousins, my five uncles, my nineteen aunts, my mother, my father, my best friend, my ex boyfriend..."

...Say what now? "Hold on, ex boyfriend? How far back are you g─"

"GRAAAAADE SCHOOOOL!" She growled hysterically while grinding her teeth.

"okay..." I squeaked.

Obviously today was not the day for sanity.

The mare then ran over to a cabinet and rummaged through the contents while she ranted on. "Oh, and then there's the wedding planner to consider, the banner maids, the musicians, the cooks, the day where we were supposed to spend out together finding Violet a ring, introducing you to the other members of the family. and this is all on MY side of the family tree! I haven't even began to start counting up Crescent's family members. His sisters would love to attend, his cousins all missed out on Shining's wedding and promised that they'd show up for this one!"

I raised my hands up to signal at her to ease up. "Can we slow down?"

She jumped out of the drawer, holding an unsealed envelope. Running up to me, she shoved the envelope in my face. "Take, TAKE!"

I calmly took the envelope and reached inside. "Okay, what is this?"

She started to lift me off of my backside and plant me in my wheelchair before pushing me into the kitchen, showing me a large poster on the wall. "Ticket's dear, zeppelin tickets to Prance! The two of you will be holding a private ceremony of family only and it will be a romantic spot set up on the edge of the river. The gondolas will pass by, introducing a quartet of singers and even Cadance will be willing to unionize the two of you! I also have the keys to your hotel suite, your passport, your clearance to the private tour of the Eifoal Tower, your brand new disguise, your proof of reservation for the Café Dú Pón─"

"STOP!" I shouted loudly before covering my mouth to chastise myself for screaming so loudly in a residential area. "What is all of this?" I asked at a much lower volume.

"I'm getting you two the happy ending you deserve!" She said as she took out a suitcase and started packing her clothes and other personal belongings.

I walked up to her and closed the suitcase before she could pack anything else. "I've never seen you so... off your rocker. You okay?"

The lines of stress started to reveal themselves on her face while she tried to use her magic to pry my hand off of her suitcase. "You get news of your daughter not being able to seal the deal with the ONLY ONE who could actually give her some hope in her misery-filled political career. Instead, I'm watching you just casually waltz around like there's no problem for any of this."

While my left hand still stung from the last time I grabbed a horn, I had to face the pain and cut her magic short to keep my hand on that suitcase. "Not my choice. Her choice."

"THEN WHAT DID YOU DO!?" She hollered loudly.

I opened my mouth and pointed at her before I ended up stopping to think about it. Unfortunately nothing concrete came to mind. "...You know, I can't even answer that question. She never told me, she just said 'we're done' as soon as I woke up."

The mare threw her hooves on her cheeks and raked them downward, pulling at her cheeks as she groaned. "Don't you know what this means? She'll never get married because of that stupid law! She'll always look around for candidates, but politicians will turn against them, and then they're going to quit! And then it's going to start all over again until I'm on my death bed looking at my unfulfilled and unfertilized Violet. And who knows what may happen when I and her father die. She may lose herself, she may even start having secret, scandalous rendezvous with the dragon she raised!" Velvet then squeaked like a mouse before she started crying hysterically. "MY DAUGHTER'S GOING TO BE AN OLD MARE WITH A DESPERATION DRAGON FETISH!"

Somewhat perplexed on how her thought process managed to come up with such an unbelievable scenario, I shook my head quickly and reset my mind to respond to the mare. "So what's wrong with dragons exactly?"

The mare grabbed at my chest sobbing with theatrics. "NONDIS, YOU NEED TO REVERSE THIS SOMEHOW, SOME WAY, AND SOON! I refuse to watch my daughter become as desperate and depressed as one of my other sisters!"

Oh, well... apparently it must be something absolutely terrible. "What's wrong with her? What did she do?"

"It's horrible!" She cried out.

"Okay."

"It's the worst thing a mare could ever do in her middle years."

"...Call an escort?" I guessed.

The mare briefly broke her performance as she completely seemed normal for a few seconds. "Actually, that's quite normal. Even my husband and I do that once a month for our special day in." And she promptly snapped back to the dramatics. "But she does the worst thing in all of the worst things you could ever do in the midst of a midlife crisis."

What, is she the secretary of some pompous asshole? Is she some sort of janitor for some middle school? Is she a stripper.... wait, she would have to be putting on the clothes in order to be stripping. "Does she put on clothes in front of others in some weird exhibitionism fetish?"

"It's far worse than that!"

"Really, what is it?"

She quietly squeaked as she hugged me tightly, nearly pressing the air out of my chest in doing so. "You. Don't. Want. To. Know!"

I peeled her hoof off of me and calmly spoke to Mrs. Velvet, hoping that I would be able to calm her down. "I know you're in a bit of a shock over everything that's happened recently, and trust me when I say 'I don't blame you'. But if there's one thing I can promise to you is this: Twilight will not be alone in her future years, nor will she be harboring some weird not-incest thing for Spike, or even slowly and seductively putting on clothes in the middle of town square for everypony to drool over. You wanna know why?"

"Oh, you're just trying to give me words of comfort." She said wiping the drama-induced tears from her eyes.

"It's because I will be doing everything in my power to make sure that she won't. And it won't be anymore of this 'suitor for the approval process' crap either. I'm going to do my part in trying to convince these politicians that this law is outdated and far too archaic to remain in place."

She looked at me for a few seconds before she burst into tears again. "My daughter IS going to have a desperation dragon fetish!"

"No, she won't." I reiterated. "And I think I may have a plan on how we can do it. I can't share it right now, but I can give my word that this law will be done before the start of February. By Valentine's Day, I swear that your daughter will be knocking horseshoes with whatever stallion she so chooses... Not to say that she would shack up with just anypony, but she will be liberated to choose whoever she feels comfortable with."

She looked at me with a bit of hope in her eyes as her jaw slacked open a bit. Her eyes glistened with optimism as she asked. "What's Valentine's Day?"

...Okay, I fucked up there because I don't really know anything about the pony equivalent of Valentine's Day. I never really got a chance to learn what it was. "Okay, what's a lovey-dovey day that you ponies celebrate in February?"

"Hearts and Hooves Day?" She answered.

"Okay, for humans it's 'Valentine's Day' while it's 'Hearts and Hooves Day' for ponies. Fourteenth of February, right?"

"That's right." She nodded.

"Well your daughter will be having some sort of illicit activity on that day, consequence-free, I guarantee it or your money back."

The mare then frowned as she looked at me. "B-b-but... There's one thing I want!" She wined, similar to that of a filly.

"Okay, what?" I inquired.

She then summoned the envelope she tried to give to me earlier tilting it to the side over and over as she cheesed from ear to ear. While the mare bounced excitedly in a nod, she continued to flaunt the tickets inside.

I shook my head with some disbelief before I inevitably gave in to that smile she wore. "Okay, now here's the deal on that. If she doesn't think I'm a total tool after all of this, we MIGHT think about something like that. But only if we're thinking of getting back together."

The mare sadly pursed her lips, quivering them as she gave me her best puppy-dog impression. The moment she tried, I looked away, not wanting to be tempted by that damn face. She then whimpered as if she was a crying puppy, making my struggle significantly worse as I knew that looking at something like that would quickly win me over. I turned my back on her, only for her to walked back in front of me hold her head up high, displaying her pleading face with full gusto. Even her pupils grew nearly the size of her eyes as she continued to plead her case, holding the tickets beside her face. I looked directly ahead, wearing my best poker face, placing myself at attention as I would in basic training.

She then came out with the hurt. "I'll love you no matter what, son."

Knowing that I was losing the battle, I threw my head in the air and chanted to myself. "Nope. No. Nuh-uh. Not gonna do it. Not gonna fall for it."

Suddenly, as sure as the rising sun, she levitated herself to make sure her face was seen. At that point, I couldn't help but to see her, her cute pony hooves dangling from her body much like a tiny excitable puppy begging for a treat. Her hooves dangling from the air made it seem as if I was picking her up and looking at her directly. Even her cute belly poked out like a small bit of pudge that I swear I could poke my finger into and make her laugh.

FUCK. "Okay, we'll talk about it."

The mare landed on her hooves just long enough for her to excitedly trot in place with probably the biggest Twilight-like smile on her face. Her giggles made me smile and feel like I was dealing with her daughter for a few seconds before I was brought back to the present.

"Now slam the brakes, this doesn't mean that we're going to get married. It just means that we'll talk things over once this mess is sorted out. If she agrees, WITHOUT ANY EXTERNAL INTERVENTION, we'll start dating again and we'll take it from there."

She couldn't stop smiling as she pranced around where I was sitting. I was starting to see that Twilight picked up a lot from her mother, even her name. Guess that's par for the course. She cheered as she pranced. "As long as you're involved in my Violet's life I am cured of all worries!"

A few serious thoughts came to mind, some of which wandered in the darker realm of possibilities, but I set them all aside just to watch this older mare act like a younger teenager all over again. I'm actually surprised she didn't pull a muscle or anything.

She stopped for a moment and then panted heavily while wiping the sweat from her brow. "Oh, goodness me, I can't pick em' up and put em' down like I used to. But it's good to feel like that once in a while. I've just been so busy all day that I can't even spare the energy for a little excitement."

Ah, there it is. "It's okay. At least I know where Twilight get's her charm."

"Which one?" She asked with a smug smile.

"Yes." I responded with a similar expression.

She tapped my shoulder with glee while she giggled. "Oh, you are a charming lad. I sure do hope you do well in your mission. If I paid any bits for what you're doing, then I sure wouldn't like to see it come back my way."

She threw her forelegs around my neck, nearly causing me to fall out of my wheelchair. She noticed that I wasn't properly balanced and adjusted herself to make it more comfortable for me. I returned the embrace and absorbed the little bit of normalcy for the day.

But I was still a little curious. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"What is it dear?" She responded.

"You said your sister worked in someplace horrible for a midlife crisis. What's so horrible of a fate that you'd want Twilig─err... Violet to avoid?"

"Oh, my sister Twilight Azalea, she works in retail!"

...Huh... retail... FUCKING RETAIL!? "I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."

She then clasped on to my shoulders while her horn crackled up with the sound of electricity and the loud hum of a teleportation spell being cast. She then whispered into my ear almost as if she was death itself. "...You don't?"

It was at that moment, I knew I would regret my decision. It was also the same moment I grabbed onto my boxers for dear life.

"Uh-oh."

Cadance carried on about her day with limited smiles, often stating that she was under intense stress over a set of issues plaguing her. Much of the morning's interaction with her endearing husband had ran rampant through her brain for the greater amount of the day. She was more than frustrated.

She was depressed. Her husband tried everything he could to please her and she found nothing to be thrilled about. And somewhere in her mind, she was already criticizing herself on why she couldn't even allow her husband to enjoy himself. Tinges of regret and worry ended up making her play out scenarios of him looking elsewhere to indulge, a problem she was all-too familiar with during the days of his bachelorhood.

Jealousy was never one of the things she could fully control, on the contrary. She was very protective of her status and she would often stake her claim to him among the guards to emphasize that he wasn't to try his hoof at anyone at any point until she was allowed to do so.

Many memories of their time together before the infamous deployment continued to run on repeat. And it would often get so bad that Celestia would intervene on her behalf. And as a result, she'd have her stallion quietly standing in place... at least for the time being.

More of her past, she continued to compare to her present. And it made her ache that she spent so much time trying to play the similar role to Twilight, only to set her husband's desires on the back burner. They would interact frequently, but not to the level she was used to in their marriage. The result, she longed for him deeply and more than ever. And yet, she denied him when he had the very little time he was afforded.

That was something she wanted to cement. She wanted to know her husband again. The thirst for him had became so insurmountable that she was even physically dehydrated. She wanted to ensure that the evening had no further interruptions between them. She wanted to work on her marriage and she wanted to be fulfilled emotionally.

With her desires, she took to the princess' throne room and approached the alter which she sat. "Princess Celestia, your highness." She called out with almost a childlike tone.

The alabaster royal, who was holding up an assortment of scrolls around her, lightly folded a corner to see the pink princess standing below her. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, how nice it is to see you again."

The younger mare lightly winced at her full name being spoken. "Please, Princess Cadance is fine."

The elder continued to tease her niece. "If your full name is such a burden to you, then why don't you practice a more informal approach? You've always approached me so formally after being scolded."

A slight blush tainted her cheeks, making them pinker than usual. "Auntie, it's like I want to say much to upset you after being scolded."

"I see that." Celestia said as she placed away the scrolls and jumped off of her seat to speak with her fellow royal. "But I am most certainly glad you are here. I was going to send for you, but now that seems to be an issue of five minutes past."

Cadance, feeling a little more comfortable, started to open back up to her superior. "Well I too wanted to speak with you. I was coming here to inform you that I was going to take some time off with my husband. He and I haven't gotten much time with one another lately and we agreed that this would be our evening together."

The elder princess smiled at first, but then quickly shifted her mood. And then she looked to the scrolls she set aside and groaned with guilt. "Ssssss-oooooh gracious."

Already, Cadance saw there was an issue with her request. "You had plans for me?"

"Well that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Celestia slowly explained, expressing her remorse for placing her niece in such an unfavorable position. "Tonight is the City Celebration taking place in the courtyard and I'm afraid that I'm so caught up in research and paperwork that I'll be unable to attend. So I was hoping you would go in my stead."

Cadance then tried to reason with her. "But surely Luna could attend in your stead? I know that you're the founder of Canterlot, so it would mean a lot if someone so close to you like her would be able to attend in your place... right?"

Celestia shook her head. "I'm afraid my sister is running her new night shift as well as the guard duties for the evening. I would've assigned it to Shining Armor, but it seems that he placed in his request for an early leave around two weeks ago."

The younger alicorn's eyes grew from the unexpected news, and soon fell to the ground with despair. "He had this planned for two weeks!? I'm such an embarrassment right now! I can't believe I'm going to let him down like this."

Celestia groaned as she spoke. "It would've been better for the both of you if you had spent a little more time tending to the marriage you're in as opposed to the marriage that was originally planned around your dear sister-in-law."

Realizing that her aunt was right, she refused to argue against her. Instead, she already started to prepare herself for what was to come. "I don't know how I'll be able to make this up to him. Now not only will I have to deal with upsetting him, I'll have to deal with the annoying chatter and rumors about Twilight's breakup."

"I am certain that Blueblood will be able to keep much of the conversation based around him. So you should find some solace in his being present." The older princess stated.

The younger could do nothing but rub her head in disgust. "I'll find an even worse headache than I have now in him. Couldn't one of his wives take this one instead of him?"

"He already volunteered to go with me. But because I'm doing the research to be able to meet Alex's request, I'm having to turn to you. Twilight's already out of town, Shining's got the night off, Luna's running the night shift, and you know we always follow the rule of two when it comes to these gatherings."

Feeling all the more defeated, Cadance drew a deep breath and released as she flexed her foreleg outward. "...I will talk to Shining."

After leaving the palace, Cadance did whatever she could to track her husband down. She ran over to the various spas all over the city, trying to find her husband so that she could explain to him why she would be absent. But her search was brought to a small private establishment in the upper-crust community, an abnormal choice considering his tastes for the simplified treatments he preferred. As she walked in, he was already at the counter eagerly running down a list of their services.

"Oh, and the marsh bath, I'm sure Cadie would love something like this."

The elderly mare standing behind the counter giggled as she pointed to Cadance. "Well I'm not sure if you want to know this, but I think you should probably ask your wife over there."

The stallion turned around and jumped from her sudden presence. "Cadie, I didn't expect you here so early!"

Cadance walked up to her husband, giving him an extended warm embrace before she gave him a peck on the lips. "I didn't expect you to be in a place like this. I thought you would've done something a little more close to home."

"Yeah, but I know how you like your crystal spa treatments, and this is one of the very few places outside of the Crystal Empire that would've offered something like that. Plus there's this new treatment they have that I'm sure you're gonna love. See, there's this thing called a marsh bath where they─"

Cadance silenced her husband with a hoof on his lips and looked at him with a bittersweet smile. "I can't believe you set this up two weeks early."

The prince shrugged. "Well you know me, I'd like everything to be in place and in order. I wouldn't be my dad's son if I wasn't." After he spoke, he noted that her smile had completely disappeared, replaced by a frown. "Is something the matter, honey?"

Cadance, not wanting to bear the expressions on her husbands face turned away and whispered. "They called me in tonight."

Shining then realized that his afternoon scramble was all for naught, causing him to feel a bit upset. "Oh... Well that's... Yeah, I guess that's what to expect with our line of work."

Cadance hugged her husband's foreleg, clinging onto him as she pleaded with him. "Shining... I swear I will do anything to make you happy."

"I know." He replied despondently. "I just know that you were so busy and I was so busy and I knew that you'd feel a little off because of our not spending any quality time together other than anything having to do with work, and the Empire, and the situation with Twily..."

"I owe you so much, Shining Armor." Cadance answered sadly.

"Maybe next time then." He said. A lengthy pause grew between them as the mare behind the counter opened up the register and started counting the bits he deposited. "Well I already paid the reservation for two of us. I'll just nab somepony to hang out with."

Cadance laughed weakly as she tried to find her emotionally stranded husband some good company to spend time with. "Well, I know Rarity would be in need of a good spa date, with her preparing for the show. She'd need to take some stress off of her life so why not her? She'd appreciate it."

"Yeah, I'm sure she would." He replied.

Cadance knew that his words didn't have any hard feelings behind them, but hearing them still made her feel like she had done something wrong. Tilting her head in defeat, she started to make her way back to the palace. "Well... I guess we can try this again sometime. We're married so we have all the time in the world to spend with each other."

"Yeah, I'm not going on any long deployments any time soon either." Shining joked.

"That's true."

"And can you imagine what it would be like if we had a little one to look after? Our day would be shot."

"That's also true. Then maybe you should be happy that I haven't gotten the mind to have anything like that until you're ready." She said with a light smile.

Shining smiled as he hugged his wife, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I love you, Cadie."

"Love you too, Shiny."

After what I could consider to be a pretty unusual─and I use that term lightly─day, I was shipped back off to the medical ward and then given one hour to work my legs into shape. I've managed to get a little further than yesterday and I've regained a bit of my balance. Standing unassisted is something not too far off from now but walking with crutches was something that was discussed very liberally.

I wasn't very fond of the idea of crutching up and down the numerous stairwells in the castle, but it sure did give me some independence outside of staying in that wheelchair. Apparently I forgot about the numerous areas of ligament damage I suffered from that griffon's knives. Guess I'll be doing a little better than most humans under my world's medical knowledge.

And by 'a little bit better', I mean that I shouldn't even be talking about crutches right now.

Still, it was an idea that came to mind about whether or not I'll start tomorrow or the next day. But Melanie advised that I wait one more day before I start checking myself out of the medical ward for the day. Trust me, that's something I couldn't wait to do, I was tired of sleeping on those hard-ass mattresses on those small-ass beds. Can't even turn right in them, have to shimmy in place just to move.

The evening came, the sun started bidding the world adieu and the few of my friends started to fizzle out slowly. Rickey left first stating that he had to go over some material for the semester finals. Cliff, while he wasn't too far behind, was busy chatting it up with a few curious maids who swore to not let him leave unless he spilled the goods on both me and Mel's friendship. Alex left a while after to talk with Vanessa and dad about the whole 'me-in-the-hospital' situation. The only ones who were left were Mel and Stanton, both of them giving me some advice and words of encouragement.

All was pretty civil, that is until a certain somepony entered into the room.

"So I trust that the walking thing is set for sooner than later?"

Melanie pursed her lips while Stanton greeted the blond-maned prince. "Hey, your highness. How's the day treating you?"

"Oh, let me tell you about the food I just got my hooves on in the courtyard. Pumpkin spice cheesecake, lemon meringue pie, pear butter muffins, fresh strawberries glazed in a light red sauce over a warm, fluffy spongecake. Oh, the tang, the tart, the sweet, the savory mix of flavors that require a sophisticated taste pallet to understand. It is absolutely to die for."

Stanton kinda winced back at the prince's choice of words while Melanie outright asked him. "You do know what they did earlier this morning, right?"

The alabaster prince shrugged. "That? Oh please, it's just another day in Canterlot. It's not as if they left the bodies to decay out in the open sun while the flies and maggots gathered. What happened this morning was rather civil if you asked me. I've lived long enough to tell the difference."

"You're speaking like you've seen all of this before and don't give a damn." Stanton said.

Blueblood quickly replied. "Well it's a different time, that is true. But it's not as bad as the times when the executions were still a public spectacle. They were much less appealing to those of a weak constitution and Celestia fervently agreed. It was only after so many executions in the lower town square in the slums that the area was then dubbed 'Canter-rot' for the stench that lasted for months. The punished were left to be an example, the poor suffered disease while the wealthy and well-to-do were living in the cleanliness of inner Canterlot proper. It was then changed by decree of the politicians as many of them started to catch a whiff of the stuff. Nasty business, that was."

Mel, somewhat disgusted, shuddered as she visualized the image of a rotting pony corpse being left to pasture. "Not something I'm interested in knowing."

Stanton, however, grew morbidly curious. "So whatever happened to the lower slums?"

"Ah, the bodies might have dwindled significantly, but the stench and the filth hasn't changed. It just took a different appearance. Instead of being a gallows of sorts, Canterrot became more of an underground to the common dealings you'd see on the regular. A bed of seedy interactions, corruption, gambling, prostitution, drug trade, black market, and even an exclusive fight club where the most influential would be said to gather. A hotbed of activities that brings about elation, spectation, masturbation, copulation, emasculation, and even the rare case of decapitation. If you fancy a visit, t'would be better to go well-dressed... unless you were willing to have a pair of guards knocking on your door the next morning."

Just the mention of that stuff sent Mel into a frantic thought process. "That does not sound like a good time."

"It isn't, but the prostitution could be worth the risk if you know who to find." He responded, giving a light glance at me. "In speaking of knowing who to find─"

Mel quickly stood between me and the prince. "Oh no. Ho nonononono. You're not dragging Nondis into any of that bullshit."

Blueblood scoffed and laughed as he rebutted. "Seriously, him? He's too high profile to blend in. He obviously stands out more than an arimaspi climbing a skyscraper in Manehattan. He'd sooner be ousted before reaching the front door."

I then inquired the prince. "Well you found who you were looking for. Guess I should ask what would you want with me?"

The prince leaned against the wall as he pulled out a gold and ruby-encrusted pocket watch. "Well I was wondering if you had any time to permit yourself for another outing before the ward decides to shut the doors on your visitation hours. At least when the expire, you'll still be out and about, socializing with the crowd."

Mel interrupted me before I could answer him. "Well you're gonna have to elaborate a little more before I let my patient go out past his bedtime."

"It's just a social gathering in the courtyard. I'm sure you heard of a little something called the City Celebration. Your presence there would be quite a hit with the mares and the affluent members of society."

Stanton then questioned him. "Is this for some plan you have cooking up? Maybe some way to pay a few others off to 'bat an eye' at my brother's appearance to this 'Canterrot' place?"

"Again, I could not involve him with such a situation." Blueblood replied sternly. "That's too high risk."

Finally, I got in my question without some form of interruption. "So if I'm getting this right, you want me to chat it up with the rich elites of the city for... what?"

"Of course, connections." The stallion answered. "You've got to have those moving forward if you want to push forward with the removal of a certain article of legislation. You want lobbyists, backers, sympathizers, boosters, and even members of the parliament on your side. Your recent activities practically made you a hero in the eyes of many and a valuable asset to any who might join us in our plight." He then looked at me with a glint in his eye. "I'm sure you've heard of the story of Prince Fair Charity."

The other two looked at me with confusion as they were deprived of the context of our conversation. After a moment of thought, I responded. "I have."

"Then you do realize what you've done could paint you in a similar light?"

"You mean me being a martyr?"

"I mean you being a symbol of change. Whether you believe it or not, in spite of the circumstances that brought you to our very world, you are destined to amend what we could only dream of for the past millennium."

Mel and Stanton looked at me quietly, almost like they were waiting on my answer. I could already tell how upset Melanie was getting just from her body language alone. Stanton was cautious, but he wasn't going to stop me unless he felt this was going to directly bring harm to me in one way or another.

I simply closed my eyes and accepted the wrath that would come from my nurse later. "I sure hate you put me in the whole 'destiny has foretold of a hero' shtick. Not really my cup of tea."

Blueblood merely smiled. "Don't think of it that way, just think of yourself as a much-needed agent to change."

It didn't take me long to get ready to make my way downstairs. In fact, it still took me more time to carefully get myself down them as opposed to putting on some shoes and pocketing a gun for safe measure. I'm not quite sure why I was so eager to take one with me for an event that was filled with so many posh ponies, but today wasn't exactly comforting for the mind either.

And of course there's also the threat of an assassin wanting to finish what the other guy started.

When we reached the lobby of the castle, I could see an assortment of ponies wearing all kinds of dresses and suits. Jewels and precious minerals were so abundant on the wearers that they could easily surpass the GDP of Cambodia. Hell, a visiting arimaspi would be swiping away at them just to horde it all for themselves. Suddenly, I was so conscious of my own appearance and felt that I was severely underdressed.

My initial entry in the room was rather quiet, not grabbing any attention due to my not standing over everyone. Still a bit taller than everyone else, but my presence wasn't as profound as it usually is. And for a while, I was comfortable with it... that was until Blueblood walked beside me and called out to the masses.

"Everypony, may I have your attention please!" Just the regal tone of his voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing and shift their eyes to the prince beside me. With a cocky smile, he raised his hooves and flicked his mane. "The party has officially arrived!" He called out quite boisterously before turning to me with a slight chuckle. "Oh, and I brought a guest or something." He said almost as if I wasn't worth shit.

With pursed lips I threw up my hand and flicked out a wave. "Hi." I replied, sarcastically matching his careless tone.

Whispers and murmurs were had at the sight of our arrival, but much of it was covered by the sound of applause. While Blueblood bowed twice and stepped aside, he pointed his hoof at me, causing a few whistles and hoots to sound throughout the room. Blueblood then turned to me. "The officially-anointed Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard, Captain Nondis P. Haines, long may he serve crown and country!" A servant then galloped our way from one of the halls, holding two glasses of champagne. Blueblood raised the glass to the crowd, which they responded in kind while he finished. "To the dawn of a new day, a new future. We will believe!"

"WE WILL BELIEVE!" The crowd chanted back, holding up their glasses.

I found myself staring dumbfounded at the prince, realizing that those words seemed awfully familiar. "Um... what was that all about?"

The prince patted me on the shoulder as he answered. "Oh, you know that nice little speech you used to garrison the troops before you set out to get the goods? Well all of Equestria has heard of it, your voice is an icon of the nation. And as long as you hold the responsibility of our safety in your hands, many will be willing to follow in whatever direction you so choose." The prince threw back his drink before levitating the one that remained on the tray. "Surely you wouldn't let a drink go to waste."

While Mel's voice started to nag in the back of my brain, I felt some regret in turning down the offer. "Sorry, alcohol's forbidden until I'm walking. Doctor's orders."

"Eh, suit yourself." He said, tossing the glass behind him. While the drink spilled on the ground and the glass shattered, I was left staring at the new mess he made. I wasn't allowed to stare for very long as he started to use his magic to push my chair along. "Now I know the main thing that's going to be the topic of the day, but I want you to play this one out as long as you can."

"You mean with my being here?" I asked.

"Surely you jest." He deadpanned. "The inquiring ears are all for one thing and one thing alone: your breakup with Princess Twilight."

"Oh that..." I droned. "What scandal..."

"Of course you've gotten your part down, right?"

Wait, what part? "I'm sorry, you lost me there."

"The feud between you and Cadance." He whispered. "If anypony asks you on the subject, then you should respond as if she is the one to blame. Play this card, and you will be quite the topic of discussion for many of the more powerful members of the Canterlot elite."

"How are you so sure of this?" I asked cautiously.

"Because they're a glutton for hot-topic gossip. Any one of them will easily pull you to the side and introduce you to a few friends. Engage in the conversation and you will find yourself in a promising position. After you manage to grab their names and engage in some more... intimate conversation, then you come to me. Till then, you're on your own."

The prince's eyes quickly wandered to a well-dressed mare that walked right by us. And just as quickly as she disappeared, so did he in pursuing her. I didn't quite catch him leaving so I ended up striking a conversation with myself. "So what's the first place─"

When I realized I was on my own, I put on a nervous smile as I looked to the next flight of stairs I had to work down.

"...Gee, you could've bought me dinner before fucking me over like this, dude."

Cadance sat at her table impatiently tapping her hoof on the top as the two mares before here rambled on about the situation involving Twilight and her ex-fiance. The pink princess then glanced at the window looking up to one of the castle halls leading towards the royal residential wing. Feeling a bit frustrated, she closed her eyes and imagined her husband standing right beside her.

"Ugh... If only you were here to make me feel better, I wouldn't have this headache." She mumbled in a low voice.

Her headache would only get worse as the conversation before her dragged on. "So I'm thinking that maybe since he's having problems walking that she let him go because he can't... you know." The first mare stated.

"No way, you obviously didn't hear about the outburst he had with the other royals over this in parliament. Princess Twilight is not even to blame." The second one responded.

"It makes you wonder how inept of a mate he is."

"I'm wondering if something happened between them on a more personal level."

"Do you think he could've got tired of waiting for her to give him 'the goods'?"

"Likely, she's a princess. She's not going to give herself out like that, it's not like she's legally able to either. I wouldn't be surprised if he pressured her to do some pretty saucy things to compensate."

"Or maybe he went after another mare?"

"Maybe one of her friends?"

The first mare gasped and covered her mouth. "The Ponyville girls? I heard that mares like them don't like herding!"

"And the princess has been there for years now, since she was fourteen! No doubt she's in the 'no herding' syndicate."

"Which means she'd probably take him asking her friends for a go as something to be offended by."

"Well the question would also be if any of her friends like him too."

"This is so scandalous! We could be on to something!"

"I'd love to get some perspective on it."

"What do you think, Princess Cadance?"

The pink royal felt a bit nauseated over the subject as she gave a quiet response. "Whatever happens for them will happen, whether it's for the good or the bad. I personally don't care."

The two mares looked at her with bemusement and stood from their seats. "Well, I suppose we were talking so much that we made you a bit uncomfortable." The second mare stated.

"We're sorry about that. It's probably a subject you're looking to stay out of, it was irresponsible to ask you so outright." The first added.

Without anything else said, the two wandered off to mingle with the crowd, leaving Cadance to look at the plates of half-eaten cake slices sitting before her. "I could've been at a spa with my husband by now."

"So what would you like?"

That was probably one of the first questions that made me genuinely uncomfortable tonight. I had just managed to find three mares who were nice enough to wheel and levitate me down the flight of stairs. Then the conversation slowly ran from 'tell me how the mountain was' to 'can we see your battle scars' to 'when did you start dating ponies' and then shotgunned it's way to the aforementioned question.

And it was evident that they weren't just asking for no apparent reason. Oh they had that look in their eyes like they were ready for an answer and were willing to mold themselves accordingly to whatever answer I gave. I could say I was into necrophilia and one of them would probably dig up a fresh corpse for me to partake in.

But it didn't end there.

"We know that mean 'ol princess left you high and dry, especially in your most dire need. It's just that we all feel like our hero could have so much better than what she gave you." The first one stated.

"Which was nothing!" The second one called out eagerly.

Unfortunately for them, Twilight managed to beat them to the punch by a month and then some. "Ladies, I know you all mean well, but─"

The third one, which seemed to be the most aggressive of the three, stepped forward, rubbing my shoulder as she talked in a seductive tone. "You deserve a proper welcome. So the three of us decided that we'll be the ones to at least entertain you for a while. All you have to do is escort us to one of the guest rooms."

"I'm not sure if I have the clearance for that." I responded trying to wheel myself back.

"Well if you're out here, then maybe you can escort us to our hotel this evening. It might be a little dangerous for us to walk in the dark alone."

"Hello ladies."

Suddenly a voice called out from behind me. Before I knew it, a stallion walked up to me with a confident smile and stood beside me. The three mares appeared somewhat irked as he stood before them. The more aggressive one continued to assert herself. "Hello, I am so sorry but we were in the middle of an important conversation."

"An important conversation that pertains to harassing our esteemed guest? I am quite sure that he is more than willing to part the time with the three of you some other night. As of now I do believe that he's feeling quite uncomfortable."

The assertive one started to become angry, but she wasn't for long as the second one tapped her on the back and pointed to the stallion's chest. The three then quickly retreated without so much of a word. Meanwhile I was left wonder what the hell just happened. Yeah, turns out I've been asking that question all damn day with hardly an answer for any of it.

"Swoon Song, Fond Feather, and Dear Darling, those three are a mess to deal with." The stallion said with a gentle yet sassy voice. "Let them take a night with you and you'll sooner find a herd giving you foals via assembly line."

"Um... I don't think that's physically possible for me." I replied.

"Oh-ho, they'll make it happen. You're looking at three of the most infamous welfare queens in Canterlot. You name an orphanage and I can give you three names of each foal and the name of the poor sap that hired a legal team to ditch them."

You know, this guy finally gave me an answer today. And not only that, but he also banished those three off to the darkness of the outer courtyard. So I might as well thank him and formally introduce myself as a reward for saving my ass from the cold clutches of unwanted child support payments... if that's even fucking possible.

"So what was your name again?"

"You said what now?"

Cadance, who stared slack-jawed at one of the attendees, unwittingly held a passing server hostage within her magic. The unfortunate colt was caught in a light blue aura, preventing him from moving. Meanwhile the tray of wine-filled glasses he once held was then slid beside the pink princess. She stared with shock while the attendee happily informed her of the news.

"The captain is well! He was even formally introduced tonight. Of course I'm not quite sure as to why he's not walking, but I can say he's doing well for himself to be a cripple."

The princess forced herself to give off a huge smile, her cheeks twitching from the stress of her cheesing so hard. "So you're saying that he's here? Tonight?"

The stallion turned around as he tried to recall where he last saw the human. Without much of any kind of hesitation, Cadance levitated every glass on the silver trey and proceeded to lob back the wine. Most of the robust flavor any other guest would savor was serviced to nothing more than a placebo to help her feel any better about her night. She went through about three glasses before he finally pointed out where he previously saw the human. "He's last been sighted on the other side of the courtyard." He said before staring at the three empty glasses the princess held in her possession. "Your highness, are you alright?"

Cadance continued to fake her awkward smile and dismiss the stallion. "I'm fine, peachy! I'm just a little surprised that he would be here is all. Guess he's doing fine after all to be here. My congratulations to him on his recovery." She said with a anxious smile.

The stallion, easy to read her mood, was already finding himself wiser by opting to not say anything further and take his leave of absence. She then looked to the colt server and broke her smile as she demanded of him. "You will bring me the bottle of this or I will have you relieved of your job."

The terrified server, upon being released from her arcane clutches, frantically saluted her. "Y-y-ye-yes ma'am."

While the stallion galloped off, she tossed back another drink and gargled it for a few seconds before gulping it all down. A feeling of anger and frustration made her commandeer an empty table with rolled eyes and a pounding headache.

"...Oh, fuck all kinds of duck."

For much of the night I spent rolling around in my wheelchair, I was frequently asked of my ordeals in the forest. Stallions and mares of all walks of influence approached me with eager haste and more questions than I felt comfortable answering. But thankfully, I met an interesting individual who managed to breeze me through many of the more talkative encounters. If he was a wingman at a club, I'd probably be getting laid ten times over.

It's been around an hour since I was dragged along by this kind stallion, whom also happen to be a member of the city council. When he disclosed that to me, I felt a bit honored to be worthy of so much personal attention. But then the reason why he accompanied me for the entire night was soon to be realized as he introduced me to those of his inner circle.

"Captain Nondis, these are my associates. Paramount Palomino is a member of the firm known as 'the Sun's Trust', stocks and bonds, all those things." Another posh stallion with a pompadour mane-style dressed in a black blazer with a partially unbuttoned shirt. "This pretty lady here is none other than Cherry Cabaret, she's owns a distillery chain for fine wines and spirits. Anything you drank here tonight would probably have her family's seal on it." A more mature mare with her mane done in a bun. While her look was more conservative, her coat seemed so well-polished that it would put Rarity to shame on her best day. "And finally, a good lad of mine─"

Before he could finish, the stallion walked up to me with a broad smile and an extended hoof. "Ah ol' chap! It's been quite some time since I've seen you off the papers, eh!?"

I did recognize the stallion from one place before, but his face failed to register a name. Though I didn't want to seem entirely rude, I politely greeted his hoof with a smile of my own. "Hey... I've seen you before!"

The stallion chuckled as he responded. "Of course, you remember the morning we were introduced. Rarity was the one to bring you and Spike to see us that one time. Though I can't fault you for forgetting a name, you've had your mind on so many things as of late, I'm sure."

Well at least he's nice enough to read the mood. "Heh heh, yeah. I remember seeing you too. You were with your wife, correct?"

"Indeed! Fleur's here, but I think the last time I saw her she was keeping one of the princesses company this evening."

I took a moment to think back and process who I've met on that day. Of course it was a little hard to do since the bulk of my day was spent being out cold due to Celestia zapping me unconscious.... I never understood why she chose that method of approach to this day.

"Why ol' chap, you look as if the gears in your engine have gotten stuck. Perhaps a bit of priming is in order. Allow me to reintroduce myself to you, Nondis. I am Fancy Pants."

As soon as he said his name, I snapped my fingers as the name seemed to have blared out in bright neon lights in a dark room. "Ah... So you're Fancy, huh?"

"And he's got it." Fancy said with a smile. "Alabaster Charm, since when were you going to tell me you knew Nondis!?"

"I just ran into him tonight." The stallion said. "Quite fortunate to convene with the newly-bestowed Captain of the Royal Guard. He is pretty interesting, isn't he?"

"I'll say. Though I will note that he's not quite as towering as I saw him last. Did something happen on that assignment? We the citizens were given note that you had entered hospice with hardly a single shred of news to be announced until... you know, the situation with your... *ahem* estranged."

Ah, I knew that topic would show up again. "Yeah, it's been a day."

"─and it's like I'm often punished for loving my husband so hard. I mean really, how do you put me on the spot like this!?"

Cadance continued to rant and ramble on about her circumstances, but with more than the glass and the wine listening to her concerns. Fleur De Lis nodded quietly as she shared her experiences. "I know! It's like the time I'm forced to take my job as a model over my duties of being a wife. It is nice to travel the world and to occasionally get away from Fancy, but when the heart grows fond, it's like the absence extends itself."

Cadance took another sip of her glass before she continued with her rant. "And I swear, I would've gotten to spend more time with my husband if Twilight's ex-fiance wasn't such a dense idiot with no compassion for what Twilight deserves. He has no self-control, no sense of moral decency, no loyalty at all."

Fleur nearly choked on her own drink as the words Cadance spoke shocked her. "Oh... um... Your highness, I don't think I should be allowed to hear this─"

But the intoxicated princess carried on with her rant. "Oh and let me tell you, if he hadn't dedicated himself to cheating with Rarity, Twilight would have so much more trust in him."

At the mention of the fashionista's name, Fleur's eyes lit up as she did a double take. The mare then whispered to the princess. "Um... I know that she invited him with Spike at one time. But when did they ever start talking?"

Cadance deadpanned and answered Fleur. "Are you asking me when he decided to live a double life? If you wanna know my guess, it's probably shortly after he finished basic training. Guess he couldn't take the stress of being a suitor. But it's okay, my little Twilight dumped his sorry ass in front of the entire parliament. Guess he wasn't as strong as my Shiny after all, goes to show what Celestia knows."

Fleur looked around to see if others were listening. "Shouldn't we talk about this someplace else?"

"Sure thing, girl. Walk with me, talk with me, I need some unwind time with some relevant company instead of keeping up with appearances. Probably keep me out of the wine bottle too."

"Indeed." Fleur responded with a slight blush.

As the two walked away, a party of three distinctive mares popped up from within the bushes to snicker and giggle over the gossip they just got in on. The three mares squeed as they hollered out in unison.

"SCANDALOUS!"

A small gathering had started to formulate around the area where our group stood. Instead of a large concentrated gathering, it was just a cluster of smaller groups standing at various places. As we walked and talked, I had taken notice that some would even shadow our party in some strange fashion.

By the end of our stroll, we ended up at the very same spot the gallows were set up this morning. I didn't say anything about that, even if it was at the front of my mind for some stretch of time. Instead, I was explaining my perspective of the situation.

"At the end of it all, I just wanna say it was some unnecessary intervention involved. So that's what happened."

The group of ponies appeared to be surprised as Fancy interjected. "By Faust, I never would've imagined that a royal would intervene in the personal matters of another one of their own so actively. I suppose doing so at a distance would be a bit predictable, but never thought your encounters were so micromanaged."

"Well that's the issue they're dealing with. That Approval Process law is something quite fierce." Alabaster stated.

"Tell me about it." Cherry Cabaret stated before walking beside me. "My sister, though if you could keep this bit of news between us."

"Not a soul." I assured as she leaned into my ear.

She looked around twice before covering her muzzle with one hoof and whispering in my ear. "See, when one of my sisters was managing one of the ports out in Clopistan, previous-captain Shining Armor's brigade were frequent visitors for some of the exotic wines we sold. And she would tell me stories of how he'd relieve himself of his pent up desires. Though she'd say he was adept in size, she spilled on how quick he sent his soldiers marching, if you catch my meaning."

I held a stoic face as I wondered to myself if this situation was before or after his trip to the mountain. "Okay... Not telling a soul, lest the wife grows vengeful."

"Good lad." She said while giving me a pat on the arm. "But almost anypony who's a suitor had always had excursions."

"Who's the exception?" I asked.

"Well of course, Shining Armor." She lied loudly.

I merely shrugged at her words and played along with her. "Oh yeah, especially considering how in love those two are with each other, I couldn't imagine him getting frisky with anypony else."

Alabaster chuckled as he rubbed his chin. "Indeed, a noble stallion of pure cause."

"Guess he picked up from Blueblood." I said, causing the group to erupt with laughter.

"I swear, it was as if the birds they acquired started to sing a funeral march while he walked out on the balcony!" Alabaster said, causing me and the others to grasp at our sides for air.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to talk about a thing called life. Electric word, life, it means forever and that's a nightly long time, but I'm here to tell you that there's something else: the afterworld." I quoted while growing short of breath.

"A world of neverending depression." Palomino added, causing me more misery from the laughter.

After a while of trying to catch our breath, I was left clutching my abdomen in hopes that I didn't reopen any wounds. "Oh shit, I forgot I shouldn't be putting myself through that kind of abdominal stress. Hoooo that hurt, but that was funny as hell."

Cherry wiped a tear from her eye as she spoke to me. "I don't see how you even lasted that long. Being a suitor to a royal is often said to be one of the most trying things you could ever volunteer for."

I leaned back in my chair as I started to remember everything I went through just to get out of basic training, the fight on the mountainside, and everything before and after all of that. I took a deep breath and responded. "You know, I was really hoping something would've came out of us being together. But I guess laws and shit like that is the only thing that seems to matter when you want a relationship with these individuals. And the politicians don't make it any better."

"Oh, every last one of them are subscribed to envy, they want all the prestige of the one lucky family without any of the work to breed it into existence." Alabaster stated. "It was like Shining Armor was almost bred for royalty from the outright. Even his little sister being chosen to the position was a rallying point for many of those ugly bastards to try and dress their sons up for the role. But when they found out she wasn't interested, they got heated."

"It's been like that for hundreds of years." Palomino stated. "Why even in my younger days, I was dressed for another one of Celestia's students. But when I found out she wanted priority, I checked myself out."

I lightly scratched my head as I questioned the stallion. "Priority?"

"She wanted first dibs, no saving grace clause, no wandering the realm for any ulterior motive. And I wasn't interested in having a one-sided affair where the first twenty-four months was nothing more than my being a hood ornament on her royal carriage, then to get the approval of Celestia herself."

I nodded in approval of his decision. "Funny thing is this, I kinda had those same restrictions. But I would've only had to wait for another six months for mine."

"Then I suppose it must have something to do with how open she was with you." Fancy said. "Getting to know you and the family plays a key role in that stuff, so it's often a year or two before the finalization paperwork gets drafted. Quite a strenuous affair, you've done well to last so long."

"I really did love her." I confessed. "But it's like the longer time dragged on, we started... disagreeing over what was or wasn't fair."

"Fancy!" A voice called out from across the yard. The five of us turned to see the direction of the shouting. The individual being referred to was quick to pick up who was calling out to him and waved at his wife.

"Fleur, dearest, come here! We have a special guest with us tonight!"

Meanwhile, Alabaster had grabbed my attention for a few seconds. "Well I am sorry you had to go through those things. If there could've been something done differently, I would've definitely tried putting in some work to get it changed."

I quirked an eyebrow at his suggestion and quietly asked. "What do you think you could do, to pull something off like that?"

The stallion shook his head. "Oh no! I couldn't hope to bring about any kind of change like that. I'm just a hoof on the city council. My line of work is more around the aesthetics of Canterlot, streets, lights, trees, even some residential areas."

"But you're a representative of the everyday citizen, that's a great place to start your political platform. Just run under a ticket where you emphasize the infrastructure─"

He returned to me a rather damning glance with a broad frown on his face. "I will never engage in the world of royal politics." He said sternly. "Those ponies are far too greedy and corrupt to represent any kind of agency on the citizens' behalf. I can't even begin to measure how many have suffered under their nonchalant watch."

Seeing the bitterness on his face, the scowl that replaced a once-brimming smile, I realized that he and I were on a common ground. He hated them just as much as I did at this point. I said nothing further to him as I turned my attention to Fleur and.... oh no.

With a roll of her eyes a click of her tongue, and a groan of frustration, Cadance turned her head. "You again." She whispered under her breath.

While the others looked at her with confusion, I paid her no mind and continued my conversation with Alabaster. "So... I take it that you have a thing against the politicians?"

"My reasons are my own." He answered harshly. "I don't find them favorable nor would I find them useful. Bicker and complain, those lot do a lot of that. Individuals I know have even fell victim to their underhoofed practices. And it's a world I've been made to know of for years, since the days of living with my uncle in Trottingham."

That sounds like a lot of emotional baggage that I shouldn't be prying through. Better to find a way off the subject. "I'm sorry for your situation. I guess I kinda know how it feels to be on the receiving end of things. Like would you believe this one guy wanted to send me to the Frozen North for eight months?"

"I can only imagine you being so frail to a little cold weather." Cadance murmured, grabbing the attention of the group again. "Just throw on a cloak and you'll be fine."

I took another glance at her, gritting my teeth as if I wanted to say something back, but chose not to. I didn't want to feed her passive-aggressive behavior, so I carried on with my conversation. "And I mean I'm sure there's a lot to look at up there, but I don't do cold too well."

"Obviously, you can't take a little heat either." By then, I completely turned my entire body to face her while she mumbled on. "I mean, it's just only a few months, you could've lasted longer than that. Guess Twilight was right in dumping you." What she said next was what ultimately completely grabbed my full attention. "You 'carrying her' was nothing more than a disappointment. You're a failure."

Fleur quickly interjected while stepping in front of the princess and producing an awkward smile. "Oh, you'll have to forgive her, she's been a little invested in the fine product Cherry Cabaret's provided for us this evening. She's not quite sound in judgement, you see."

While I knew better when it came to unicorns and drinking, I called the princess out on her words. "I'm not quite sure where her statements are from, but I can assure you that they are without foundation."

"Oh, and let's not even go into how Twilight had to go through the embarrassment of having her wings clipped because of you!" She shouted, grabbing the attention of the whole courtyard.

...She's drunk, Nondis. Don't lose your cool. Just deny and debate. "Well, I do believe that situation was unfortunate and could've been avoided, it was not as if I allowed my actions to carry on without some form of consequence on my end. I gave the appropriate response to the situation and sought reason, only to find that I have quite a few individuals painting targets on my back in the parliament."

"It also helps that you chose to do what you want while abandoning sound judgement. Tell me how your date with Rarity went, by the way."

"And our relationship couldn't really patch up well when you have someone stabbing at the scabs." I lashed back before immediately calming myself. "But it doesn't matter, what's done is done."

"Yeah, you're right. It is done. So don't ever think you'll find any way of getting close to Twilight again, she'll be moving on from you soon enough. And you'll just be the shining example of the best thing she never had for the long-term. Suitors are always available, and we can easily find one better than you."

I'm not quite sure what it was in that statement that made me pull myself out of my wheelchair, but there was something behind it that pushed me forward. For a few seconds, I could take a few steps at her with the deepest scowl on my face. I almost felt the desire to get physical with the altercation. "Oh I'm sure Flash will do just fine, except for the fact that he knows what's up. The jig is old, we know what it does and how it ends." Shortly after, I felt my balance give way and I was sent towards my hands and knees. "Obviously I know how it ends, so who the fuck you think would put as much on it as I did?"

My use of language managed to elicit a few gasps of shock. Few covered their mouths while Cadance argued back. "You know, you don't look so high-and-mighty now that we're on the same level. Be honest, this is what you deserved, and I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted longer than you'd hope it would."

Of course the conversation we were having was rather personal, I wasn't very fond of her mocking me while I was down. So I vouched to hit her where it hurt the worst. "I wouldn't be surprised if Shining left you for someone else. It's not like you had to stop him before, right? It's not like someone stepped in and gave him the time of his life while you cuffed him, right? It's not like some other bitch rode his dick before you did, right?"

She got mad, and boy did she ever had the guts to buck up to me while I was knelt down. "Oh funny, last I checked, it was me who had to help step in and save your balls from the surgeon. Guess you don't appreciate anything I do."

"Bitch, you ain't did shit." I replied. "Only thing you probably did was annoy Shining with how often you jump in on something you're not involved in. Makes me really think about how much you project yourself on Twilight, playing your relationship through her. I'm more feeling sorry for the poor guy for having such a terrible wife who'd rather spend her time looking at everybody's issues except for the shit she needs to get done."

Cadance used her magic to suspend me upwards to her face as she vehemently stared in my eyes. "You know nothing of our relationship! You can't even maintain one long enough to be able to tell me what I need to do in mine."

"How long have the two of you been married? It's been like what, almost three or four years? And he's still drinking himself to sleep at night, what do you do to help that?"

Cadance dropped her magic as she turned her face away from me. "I do what I need to do as his wife."

"Aww, that's sweet." I replied sarcastically. "I don't hear a single concrete answer. Please tell me how you make the scars go away, the very same scars he had because of you."

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Of course it is! You're the fucking princess he got chained up to. And because of that, he had to suffer because you wanted to hold that chain as long as possible. Twilight broke up with me at least implying that she didn't wanna hold that chain for my sake. Now what the fuck does your sorry ass do?"

Cadance looked at me for a second before her eyes grew several sizes. Her foreleg started to shake as she placed it over her muzzle.

"Oh yeah, that's right, you dragged his ass right through the pain and torture just because YOU believed in love, where true love would've been let that shit go and watch from a distance. You didn't love him enough to do that, did you? No you were greedy, you had to have him for yourself, to hell with the consequences. You held him prisoner all throughout the course of your engagement because you wanted to not be alone, knowing it would probably kill him. But if that shit did kill him, then what the fuck would you look like right now? 'Stupid' is it."

Cadance leaned over, closing her eyes and folding her ears so she could minimize what she could hear. I only got louder as the longer she stayed there.

"Oh, and why the fuck y'all ain't got no kids? Three years and all the fucking y'all did and he's saying he's gonna at least entertain the thought in the future. Lemmie guess, it's because you respect your husband's opinion right? Hell no you don't. You dragged him through a year of hell and then some just to be able to marry up. Surely a cuffing-ass bitch such as yourself would also do the same when it comes to kids. And especially after three-or-four years of y'all getting nasty, you'd think that the recreation value would be non-existent in your brain. Now why is that!?"

Cadance's eyes wandered while she started to slowly step away. Still feeling incredibly heated from our exchange, I grabbed at her hindleg and pulled her back.

"Oh fuck no. You don't get to walk away after you decided you wanna start some shit on the sly. You wanna look down at me while I'm down on my luck, sailing against the wind, talk down at me like I'm a child goddamn KNOWING I WAS TRYING TO FUCKING HELP YOU! YOU BETTER LISTEN TO ME BITCH, AFTER ALL THE SHIT I PUT UP WITH AND HOW I ALMOST LOST MY LIFE FIGHTING FOR YOUR CAUSE! OH YOU BEEEETTER LISTEN TO ME LIKE A GROWN ASS ADULT! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR FUCKING TITLE IS, YOU DON'T GET TO LOOK DOWN ON ME! I LOST SO MUCH OF MY BLOOD THAT I CAN'T RECOVER ON MY OWN! I LOST TWO FEET OF MY INTESTINE, CAN'T GET THAT BACK! I HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO WALK AGAIN, TELL ME WHAT ELSE I'M MISSING! OH, THAT'S RIGHT, I LOST MY PEACE OF MIND INVESTING IN THIS RELATIONSHIP AND YOU HAVE THE GAUL TO TELL ME THAT I CAN BE EASILY REPLACED!? OH TELL ME CUNTDANCE, WHAT ALL DOES THE NEXT POOR FUCK'S GOTTA LOSE TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF THIS?"

The princess tried to yank her hind leg back away from me, but I continued to hold on, grasping it even tighter.

"Oh, is he gonna put his neck on the chopping block and help you get rid of this stupid-ass law? Is he gonna laugh in the face of every politician and wear a confident smile, knowing that he's terrified as shit of a world he knows he shouldn't belong? Or is he going to avoid Twilight and the rest of you like the plague because of the fact that you know that whatever future they might have is similar to yours? If I were you, I'd know one thing's for certain: I'd be terrified to tell my mortal husband that I can't have his kid because of an ancient law that would put their very life on the rack."

With a small jolt of magic, Cadance numbed all the nerves in my hand and forearm, causing me to let her go. She only managed to take one more step away before she paused and heaved. Her chest expanded and contracted rapidly before she dropped her head, clenched her eyes shut, opened her mouth, and unleashed a powerful red stream of vomit. Out of reflex, I jumped back away from the mare while she continued to disclose the amount of wine she had ingested. While she carried on, Fleur walked up to her side and held her mane out of the way as it started to become undone and cascade over her face.

The pink princess whimpered quietly while the multitude of onlookers watched silently as the princess' unflattering display carried on. After many seconds of her expelling the contents of her daily diet, she was left dry-heaving and holding her chest from the pain. And as she was close to finishing, she slowly turned to me, almost as if she was going to say something. But before she could, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her entire body collapsed under it's own weight. Her chest continued to rise and fall, but significantly slower and lighter this time. In the shortness of her breath, she produced silent moans and grunts.

Shrieks and screams could be heard from all over as a few guards who watched the affair ran in to assist the suddenly-ill princess. Two of them ushered the remaining guests in the area to return to the foyer of the castle. While the crowd was quickly herded away, including the group of ponies I was with, I stayed to oversee the situation. One guard walked up to me with my wheelchair with a stoic expression on his face. I gave him a appreciative nod as I tried to get myself back in my seat. As I shuffled myself back into place, I heard him whisper behind me.

"Now you understand why we never talk to them."

I turned around to look at the guard that pushed my wheelchair in place as he finished his statement.

"Why should we love them when it only brings us harm or worse? It's better to take what you can get on the street and live a normal life. At least all of this could be avoided. Their love ain't that strong."

I turned back around and proceeded to wheel my way onward after I gave the guard a rebuttal.

"For all I went through and suffered, I beg to differ."

Holy hell. I have made a terrible life choice. Remember to stay away from competitive Overwatch kids. Getting a golden gun for Mei, Sym, and Bastion ain't worth it. But other than my sodding around, I've managed to get myself a myriad of engagements and sessions that ate my weekends alive. So I apologize for this multi-holiday spanning absence I've had. And I know it seems like I just up and left, but that was not the case.

I was so busy so often (as well as distracted) that I couldn't get my brain together for this chapter and it was hard to push it through. And you know it's bad when you have to read back on your own material to regain your train of thought. What ended up taking 4 days for me to do have suddenly become a slog over a month's length or more. And as of late, I'd usually set aside a weekend or a group of them to finish it within the month or so. But that didn't work as planned... oops.

So again, I apologize for the absence. As for why Cadance is a little (lol) miffed this chapter is for reasons that pertains to a high level of stress. I started to look back at the character (or her lack thereof in the show) and went back into how she was portrayed in the story to ultimately give me an idea of how she would act on what would be her worst day. We've always seen her or visualized her in her usual mood of "I'm the princess of love and I will do what it takes to protect my citizens." But the question was always in my brain "What would she do if her calming exercises she introduced to us in season 3 just simply didn't cut it anymore?"

So the answer was simple: Go back to the epic chewing-out Shining gave to Twilight in "A Royal Canterlot Wedding."

...And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!... She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day be perfect!

This, of course in the context of the story in the show means that Shining was making excuses for his 'fianceé'. But I started to think on the morbid end of things and realized that more often than not that changelings would research the individuals they're taking place of, whether by a minimal amount (season 6 finale: group of changelings imitating the mane 6) or to the smallest detail (season 6 finale: Thorax in imitating Twilight, Trixie, and Starlight). This means that Chrysalis had to have done her homework to fool Celestia, Luna, and Shining so well.

And then the idea began to manifest: What if the 'Cadance' Shining was defending was actually true to the character of his fianceé? What if in actuality she was like that whenever her breathing exercises weren't cutting it? The impending invasion and the fact that her husband is so busy in trying to defend the city while she's left with every aspect of planning a wedding in the midst of all of this chaos. It would then be sensible to assume that the fake Cadance is actually how she's portrayed in a situation where her patience has run out. We've seen Cadance in an uncomfortable position before, but never have we seen her actually go outside of that comfort zone.

With that being said, I had to think about how she would respond to anything that got in the way of her spending time with her beloved husband, which made her so irritable from the jump. And of course, that combined with the stress of the current plotline in this story, she would react accordingly. That of course gets taken up to 11 when you add in the x-factor known as alcohol. And being that Cadance is often the first to step up to a fight when threatened, it would be best to assume that she would be normally reserved in many situations outside of being in conflict. Alcohol will flip that script and make her openly brash and allow her to freely speak her mind.

Phew, that's alot to expand upon when it comes to how Cadance is so "OOC" in this chapter. But it's merely a headcannon I've expanded upon when I went back to read some of the earlier chapters of this story. And of course, there's a reason for this conflict happening. So I can only ask that you be patient as this will simply resolve itself in due time, perhaps sooner than later.

Of course, Nondis seem to have had enough and lost his cool a bit. Of course when someone loses their temper, they tend to come off with an unlikeable demeanor or become extremely confrontational. I had to put him in that situation because it was right for him to be angry at her after what all of what was said and heard since the breakup. To be fair, many of us would not be so calm and collected when someone's putting your personal stuff out in front of the mouthiest elites of society. So there's that.

But as for what's next, I can't spoil it. I'll let you guess what will happen in the comments while I'll be stirring up the pot to see if someone can decipher what I'm cooking up.

Until next chapter, I hope you all had a Merry Festivus and here's to a new year filled with many things to look forward to in life. I hope you are all doing well and I am interested in hearing what happened to all of you in the past few months.