It would be shameful to admit it, but Cadance was almost enjoying her aunt’s discomfort. Celestia was a creature of routine and it could be said that she was set in her ways. There were, of course, well disguised efforts to have a little fun, but it could be said that Celestia truly wasn’t herself during those moments.

Last night, her aunt had been herself. She had bared her soul. Last night, Celestia had made a connection with another pony, as another pony. Not as a monarch, not as the Solar Empress, not as the Princess of the Sun, not as the ruler of Equestria, not as a teacher explaining the mystery of life to a student—last night, she had simply been Celestia.

In Cadance’s opinion, the date had gone well, far better than expected. It had gone well enough that Cadance now had her hopes up. She was starting to allow herself to dream just a little bit for her aunt and she worried about her aunt having dreams for herself. Celestia’s dreams had always been for the benefit of others.

“Cadance…”

Lifting her head, Cadance saw a scowl of concentration upon her aunt’s face. She had at least stopped pacing back and forth. Cadance would say nothing of course, but her aunt was nervous enough that she was leaving damp hoofprints on the floor because of her sweaty frogs. This was a private moment, a treasured thing for Cadance, this was the Celestia that nopony saw, even Twilight for all of her knowledge of Celestia never saw Celestia at her worst.

“Cadance, darling, how old is he if you don’t mind me asking… I feel I am entitled to know.”

“Auntie, in time—”

“No, Cadance, I really must insist upon knowing right now so I can make a decision.” Celestia’s voice was firm, stern, hard and flinty. “I have done everything to respect your process, but now you need to respect mine.”

“Auntie, he’s old enough to die for you in your service… old enough to be shipped overseas and do battle on another continent. He’s old enough—”

“How old?” Celestia turned a commanding eye upon Cadance.

Ears drooping, Cadance knew when she was defeated. She bent her neck to appease her aunt. She had brought up a good point and Cadance needed to respect her aunt’s way of dealing with things. Cadance coughed, cleared her throat, and then replied, “He’s fifteen.”

“Cadance, really? Fifteen?” Celestia looked stunned as she stood there, blinking at her niece.

It was time to salvage this mess. Cadance’s brows knitted and her expression became almost as stern as her aunt’s. She forced her ears to rise, almost as if she was raising her flag, her battle standard in preparation for a pitched, protracted fight. Celestia of course would dash her against the rocks in mere seconds if she wanted to do so, but Cadance was a captain who would go down with her ship in every way that mattered.

“As I have stated, he is old enough to die for you in your service. He’s a very mature and responsible fifteen year old. He sends most of his paycheck home to his mother so she can live comfortably. He joined the guard when he was fourteen, the minimum age, and he had his mother’s permission. Plus, all of this is your fault.”

“My fault?” Celestia blinked in shock and surprise. “My fault? How is this my fault? Do tell!”

Feeling pleased with herself, Cadance felt her courage surge. She had Celestia confused and on the defensive. Now, she had to make a calculated strike and hope for the best. “Yes, your fault. You wanted a virgin! Do you know how hard it is to find a virgin now in modern society that is of a reasonable age? Or among the guard? Your guards screw anything that walks and if it doesn’t walk, they’re polite enough to check for a pulse first.”

Score! Cadance could see that she had made a direct strike upon Celestia’s heavy armor. She watched her aunt take a step backwards and Cadance wondered if a follow up strike would be necessary. Celestia’s ears were raising and lowering as her lips moved, but no words were coming out, at least for now. Cadance chose direct bombardment.

“It isn’t like the age matters. No matter what, no matter who, you are robbing the cradle. As an extra added bonus, if we find you a nice young colt, you’ll get a few extra years that you might not get with a fully matured adult male. You might get a full century out of this relationship. You get to teach him how to do all of the right things and I daresay that you’ll be learning a few things from him. He’s smart, witty, and kind… he’ll make for a fantastic consort and Shining Armor is already vetting him.”

Cadance, feeling immense personal satisfaction, watched Celestia go down in flames. Down her aunt went, her backside making a muffled ‘whump!’ sound as it hit the stone floor. Celestia’s wings went limp against her sides and her mouth hung open.

“Auntie, please… let this happen... this could be the most wonderful thing that might happen to you during this era. Don’t let such a trifling thing such as a few years of age rob you of your happiness. Please?” Cadance, as a last ditch effort, turned the sad foal eyes upon her aunt and allowed her lips to pucker into a well practiced pout.

“Very well, Cadance. I raise the white flag of surrender. I have some real reservations about this, but I shall trust your judgment on this issue. After all, you would not have chosen to commit to this action had you not thought it through and reflected upon the potential consequences.”

“Good.” Cadance’s expression became one of joyful triumph and she leaned forwards. “This is good. Because you have another date tonight—”

“What?”

The shocked look upon her aunt’s face was priceless and Cadance would be savouring it for years to come. “You have another date tonight. A blind date. My client found his courage. I spoke with him earlier this morning. Unlike you, he’s not a big fraidy pony. He’s excited, eager, and champing at the bit to continue forwards. If things go well tonight, we might even do a reveal.”

“Cadance, I feel as though this is being rushed.” Celestia shook her head.

“Auntie, we move when my gut feelings and hunches tell me. That’s how the process works. I bring ponies together. That is what I do. I bring ponies together that are meant to be together and I remove all of the obstacles that keep them from each other. I remove all of the barriers that keep them from being happy. You move the sun and you keep everything as regular as clockwork. Love is not like the sun… it’s more like a whirlwind. Stuff happens on its own schedule. You really can’t control it, you can only guide it and then watch it happen.”

“Love is a fire… you ignite it and run away before you get burned,” Celestia said.

Cadance shrugged. Being burned was part of the job and she had learned to minimise risks long ago. One eyebrow arched and Cadance pushed her advantage. She felt as though she was now able to deal with her aunt as an equal and she was confident that she could make this work.

“If the reveal happens tonight, he’ll know who you are. He will be told to be discreet of course. Shining Armor is already preparing for all of the hard work ahead. He doesn’t strike me as the type that will go bragging and boasting to his fellow guard that he went on a date with some stupid sexy white alicorn—”

“Mi Amore Cadenza!”

“What?” Cadance blinked at her aunt and tried to look as innocent as possible.

“Cadance!”

“What?” Cadance repeated herself and refused to give ground.

“Cadance!” This time, Celestia shook her head to express her disapproval.

“Do you think you are the only one who has fantasies?” Cadance asked, playing a dangerous game of truth. “Let me tell you something… when I was younger, I used to have hot sticky dreams about plunging my muzzle deep into your marshmallowy goodness.”

“Cadance…” Celestia’s voice was a squeak.

“Yeah… think about that. I had the hots for teacher. It is a perfectly natural response. Most students have their first sexual fantasies about somepony that they trust. Somepony close to them, somepony safe and approachable. I indulged myself in a lot of imaginary role play and I enjoyed it for what it is… a fantasy. Having these normal, healthy sexual fantasies aided me in my sexual development. You could be my client’s sexual fantasy… come to life.”

This time, Celestia did not say Cadance’s name, but Cadance could see her aunt chewing on her lip. Celestia was still sitting on the floor, looking very much like an oversized confused filly.

“I used to dream that you would grade me on my performance,” Cadance admitted just so she could watch her aunt squirm.

The room filled with the rustle of feathers as Celestia extended one wing and began to fan herself. Cadance smiled, feeling satisfied, and she felt no need to mention to Celestia that Shining Armor had also had similar fantasies about being teacher’s pet or that Cadance herself had played the role of a very naughty Princess Celestia on more than one occasion and had put Shining into detention.

“I’m very flattered that you thought of me that way,” Celestia said in a low voice that sounded nothing like her usual eloquent manner.

“Do you think you can handle a reveal tonight, should I think the time is right?” Cadance asked. She watched as her aunt’s muzzle wrinkled and Celestia’s ears twitched like tiny semaphore flags trying to send a message of extreme discomfort. “It is going to happen sooner or later. You can’t hide the alicorn in the room for very long. It’s like tearing off a bandage. ‘Tis better to rip it off in one go rather than slow torture.”

“Cadance, try to give me a little more time.”

Cadance, hearing pain in her aunt’s voice, acquiesced. After her earlier victory, she would have to be satisfied. She nodded in agreement and studied Celestia’s face, hoping to understand her aunt.

“If you truly think the time is right for a reveal, then do so, but as a personal preference, I would like more time. I trust you to do the right thing.” As Celestia spoke, her wing folded against her side.

“Continuing with the bandage analogy,” Cadance began, “love is like jumping into chilly water to go for a swim. Wading out into the cold water is torture… it is far better to just dive in and get it over with. That’s the thing with love, Auntie, it is best to give yourself over totally and completely and then see what happens. For too many ponies, they hesitate. They’re slow. They want to be in control.” Cadance paused and considered her words for a moment and she watched Celestia listening.

“That’s why first love is so heady and powerful. We just throw ourselves in and we’re swallowed whole by it. The experience consumes us. For many, this is the only love they will ever know, like Twilight’s parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet. For ponies like you”—Cadance gestured at her aunt with her hoof and shook her head—“you’ve experienced that magical first love and now it is gone. It’s left you wounded and hurt. You can’t throw yourself in. You can’t give yourself over. It is very difficult to recapture that heady rush of first love the second time around because we become conditioned to be hurt… to be harmed… our tender hearts will not allow us to just give ourselves over so completely.”

Cadance saw Celestia’s gaze drop to the floor and her aunt closed her eyes.

“So we guard our hearts and most of us will never know that rush of all consuming love ever again. Each time we love afterwards, we become more guarded, more bitter, more cynical, more jaded, life continues to wear us down until at last, our hearts become stone and we feel only the barest of emotions. Scar tissue becomes hardened and scars on top of scars prevent us from feeling the most magical of all emotions, it robs us of the very thing that rewards us for making life continue.” Cadance watched as Celestia lifted her head and looked at her.

“Since when did you get so wise?” Celestia asked.

“Oh, I had a great teacher. A wonderful, wise, and witty teacher… who was just a little bit sexy.” Cadance kept a straight face but she saw a faint, sad smile spread over Celestia’s muzzle. “One day, it is my most sincere hope that I can find a way to remove all scars from a pony’s heart and allow them to feel love unfettered and free once more. It is my hope that all love will feel like first love and ponies will be happy.”

“That is a noble goal,” Celestia said to her niece in a husky, raspy voice that bubbled with emotion like a boiling cauldron.

Cadance laughed, hoping that her laughter would make Celestia feel a little bit better. “Hey, a mare has to have hobbies…”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter: second date.