Luna was silent.
The city, however, was not. It would be midnight soon. The streets teemed with ponies in fancy dresses and lavish suits. The very moment they had stepped out of their servant-drawn carriages, they had plunged right into the ritual sucking-up and licking-clean for which the Grand Galloping Gala was so famous.
They stood under every tree, by every wall, behind every corner and at every fork of the road, holding their expensive drinks and working their verbal ways towards one another's wallets, completely complacent and entirely ignorant of what was going on beneath their hooves and beyond their heads.
Luna wordlessly dodged them and their inquiries whenever they came near us, outright shoving them aside when needed be. They would never dare to say a word about it; if anything, they were ecstatic to have been touched by Her Majesty. Or they acted like it, anyway.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked. The question had been on my mind ever since Luna escorted me from Containment. It's not that I had been afraid to ask; it just took me a while to shake off the shock of what happened down there and start caring about my life and future again.
"I need you to talk to your brother," she replied.
Oh. How ominous.
We closed in on the Canterlot Palace, and the previous snobbish congregation was gradually replaced by a different crowd. Celestia's Royal Guards stood tall and kept a vigilant eye on any who came close to the great towers. And I was surprised, for a moment, for I had expected that the Night Guard would watch over the gala. I remembered, then, my previous visit to Canterlot, when the Night Guard had taken over for the day; a debt that the royals would, according to Shining Armor, need to repay later. Perhaps tonight was the night.
As we neared the great gate of the palace court, an odd sound reached my ears. Somewhere beyond the walls, a mare was yelling. Luna heard as well, and it made her hasten her steps. The wall of guards that stood before the gate parted for Luna and me and quickly closed again behind us. It was then that I could finally see the yelling mare; the revelation, however, left me only more perplexed.
Shining Armor stood atop the wall that surrounded the palace, dressed in full body-armour, and Princess Cadence was beside him. She was half-dressed in her regal attire, and her mane looked as if the servants had began putting it in order but stopped—or had been stopped—halfway through. Loose locks of hair sprouted and fell awkwardly, and she stamped angrily in place, shouting and sobbing in an unblinking Shining Armor's ear. The rest of the guards, on and below the walls, were doing their best not to look.
"Talk to me!" Cadence cried. "Why are you doing this to me? Why tonight?"
Shining went on with his business, patrolling the wall and occasionally checking the spear he had strapped to his side. His comrades—subordinates, really—made sure to stay well away. When Cadence yelled, Shining didn't look; when she pushed, he didn't flinch. To him, his upset wife seemed non-existent.
"I've told you, I'm sorry!" Cadence said. "You know I don't mean it. I need you!"
Luna and I found our way onto the wall as well. Cadence clearly cared not about the guards hearing her tirade, but seeing us made her wince and fall quiet. Shining looked at me, then away. During the brief moment that we locked eyes, I thought I saw a hint of shame in his eyes.
"Cadence," Luna said, "we have warned you to stay indoors."
"But I—" she began.
"No," Luna interrupted. "Go inside. Lie down."
"But Shining, he—"
"Lie down."
Cadence hung her head. She took one last look at Shining. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Then she passed by us, saying nothing, and climbed down the nearby stairs to leave the wall, dragging her half-made dress through the dirt. I had no words.
"You must talk to Shining Armor," Luna said. "Cadence needs him. He has to understand that."
"You spared me because of this?" I asked. "I read books, defeat ancient evils, and fight monsters. I'm not a marriage counsellor, with all due respect."
"Do it," Luna said. With that, she turned around and left for the palace as well.
As prone as I was to downplay the petty fights of lovers, I realised that this was different. Cadence would never, in her right mind, behave the way I witnessed. And indeed, in its prime, the love my brother felt for his bride banished the changelings from Equestria. Whatever prompted this argument, I knew it had to be connected to greater events, whether the participants realised or not.
That said, however, I still had no idea how to approach this. I walked closer to Shining Armor.
"Hello, BBBFF," I said. Should I even bother acting?
"Hello, Twily," he answered.
Nah. "So... I've heard you and Cadence haven't been doing all that well lately."
He didn't even stop, continuing his patrol route along the wall. He only turned to give me a surprised look. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
I stomped hard with a hoof. "Shining Armor!" That made him stop. Oh yes. Now he's frightened. "You want to play that game with your wife? Sure. Do it all you want. But I am not your wife, if you hadn't realised yet. In fact, I'm convinced you'd hate it if I were. And when Princess Luna of all ponies is concerned about your love life, you can bet I'll get something out of you."
He pulled away, and I stepped even closer.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want you to start talking."
He frowned. "So you want to do this? Right now, right here?"
"I'm at my wit's end here, brother, don't push me."
"Alright," he replied, dropping his spear. "Okay. You win."
He took a look around. His guards still pretended not to be looking or listening, but oh, they were, however much space they had given us. After a moment of pause, Shining took his helmet off. That was the cue for the rest of them to disperse as quickly as they could.
He began fiddling with the straps on his chestplate. In a short time, with a combination of magic and hooves, he threw off every last piece of plating, chains and scales that covered his body. With his armour lying between us, I could get a full look at him.
Bandages soaked by sweat and blood hung from his legs. His fur was missing in several spots along his entire body, and bruises and bite marks littered his bare skin. Without his helmet, I could see that his mane was almost completely gone, and that his eyes were bloodshot.
I took a step back. "Shining..." My jaw hung agape. "What happened to you?"
"Cadence happened to me," he said.
Cadence. It's always Cadence. "I... I don't understand. How? Since when?"
"A long time now. Years. I lost count."
"But Cadence? Why would—"
"She's insane!" Shining snapped. He sighed and sat down, hanging his head. "Or she's gone insane. She wasn't like this."
I sat down before him, putting a hoof on his shoulder. "Tell me what happened."
"She was..." He stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath. "She was the most beautiful mare I'd ever laid my eyes on. When I first saw her, when you were just a kid, I knew: I would marry that filly one day."
"Very touching. Still...."
"And I didn't care she was a princess. Then time passed, we all grew up and... and she loved me too. At least I think she did. I just can't tell any more."
"Was it the wedding that changed her?"
"After the wedding... the real wedding, I mean, she was aglow. Happier than I'd ever seen her, and no wonder. Things were amazing. They were perfect! Of course, we had a few... problems. Every relationship does. But that wasn't it. No, I think it happened... things changed when mum and dad...."
Of course. "What happened?"
"She wasn't the same afterwards. Not that any of us was."
"But life goes on." It was hard, saying those words. I scarcely believed them myself.
"I try to think that too. But...."
"Focus, Shining. What's done is done. We're talking about Cadence here."
"Yes. You know, it was a shock, what happened. To think that mum would... I didn't notice at the time, but Cadence was taking the news really hard. Looking back, I spent more time comforting her than the other way around."
"You think that's what changed her?"
"It didn't start like this. She was just a little more aggressive. No, that's not the right word. At first, she was just... confident."
"Confident?"
"She spoke up more. And louder. I don't think anypony noticed, but I did. That was... that was around the time she began seeing Luna. Or Luna began seeing her, I really don't know. They said Luna was helping her cope with what happened at the wedding, and that she was overcoming her inner conflicts, stuff like that. I didn't want to intrude. Luna really did seem to be helping, and I'm just a guard, not some psychiatrist."
"Psychologist."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry," I said. "Go on."
"Well, it was... it was last year, or maybe this one. Cadence started slipping."
"What does that mean?"
"If she wasn't aggressive before, she was now. She got violent. At first it was only yelling, and then she started throwing plates and glasses, and whatever, when she couldn't get what she wanted. I never made it my business, what she does as a princess. I thought she was taking her frustration out on me. I was hoping it would pass."
"But it didn't."
"I tried talking to her about it, but that only made it worse. She blew up on me, asking how I dare ask something like that, how I could imply that something is wrong. And of course, the next day she was sorry, and she promised she'd make it up to me, and that she'd never do it again. But she did. She always did. Worse than before."
"She hurt you?"
"She started to just... up and slap me, when she didn't like something. And she hated a lot of things. Short fuse, you know, getting shorter every day. After a while, she even stopped apologising. She pushed me, she punched me." He bit his lip. "I won't even talk about what she does after dark."
"But couldn't you defend yourself?"
He gasped. "Defend myself? Twilight, she's half my weight."
I looked away. "So you just took it."
"And this!" He pointed off the wall, at the city spreading before us. "The gala. It brought out the worst in her. Luna insisted it'd help, but it didn't, did it?!"
"Hold on. Does Luna know about all this?"
"I sure didn't tell her. But I can't imagine Cadence never bringing it up."
"How was the gala meant to help, exactly?"
"Oh, it's all Luna's idea. It'd help Cadence make connections. Socialise, feel she's loved, whatever. Between you and me, I think Luna is projecting."
I nodded. "She would be the one to fear abandonment."
"All I know is that it's killing Cadence. And she's killing me. In Cloudsdale, when we were delivering the invitations, she... she sneaked away from her escort. She sneaked away from me! And when she came back, she came with a limp. I was afraid to ask, by that point, so I didn't. But that made her angry again. Why don't I care any more? And I... I did defend myself then, that one time. I almost broke her leg."
I remembered Cadence failing to throw a ball back to some foals when I was last in the city. "Her fetlock."
"Told you she hit it on a doorstep, didn't she? That lying...."
I saw tears swelling in Shining's eyes. He turned away and wiped them off before they could fall.
"And I just can't do this any more." His voice was cracked. He gulped, trying to keep himself together. "I love her too much to stop her. But I can't be near her. What can I do? Do I go and complain to Celestia? I'm sorry, but sweet Princess Cadence turned into a monster? I'm the captain of the Royal Guard! I'm the one she sends to solve problems." He gulped again. "And now Cadence is out here, making a scene, and Luna sends you to talk to me, and...."
He raised his hooves and began pulling away at what was left of his mane. I quickly leaned closer and hugged him. He wrapped his hooves around me and held me tight. We spent a few minutes like that, and I felt his tears on my shoulder.
Even so, locked in my brother's bitter embrace, I couldn't stop thinking. As he sobbed, I began slowly piecing the puzzle together in my head. The bad blood, my parents, the tomes of the Horsmouth cultists, Monsoon Descent's library and his final testimony, Aurora Iris and whoever else, then my brother's account; I finally began piecing the puzzle together.
It's no secret that alicorns have extreme magical powers, whether they control it consciously or not. Perhaps the cult's beliefs were right. Insane as it sounded, it was the perfect explanation. When Luna began slipping a millennium ago, the world itself had gone mad. And today, the world was quite mad, and I wasn't the only one to realise that. Something was happening. If Cadence is losing her mind, I wondered, could she have that effect on the world?
How does Luna play into this, then? Cadence didn't lock up Aurora Iris; she did. Yet her reaction to my finding out is suspect. She was not innocent in this, clearly. I just wasn't sure how much guilt she shouldered. For she did have me talk to my brother when I already knew too much; she had to know I'd only find out more from him. Does she want me to know all this? Then why had she kept it all hidden for so long?
After a while, my brother's hold on me weakened. I took this opportunity to speak up. I will do you a favour, Luna, just this once more.
"Cadence does need you," I said. "At least for tonight."
"I know," Shining whispered. "But I just can't."
"If you can't do it for her, then please, do it for me."
"For you?"
"For me. I promise I'll do my best to help."
He let me go. "How could you help?"
"Don't bother your head with that. Just remember that I promised."
"But—"
I smiled. "Cross my heart, and all the rest."
He hung his head for a while before looking at me again. "Alright. Sure. Tell Luna... tell Cadence I'll be there for her. Just for tonight. I make no promises past that."
"That'll be enough. Thank you." I stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see the princesses."
Shining got up as well, nodding. "Take care."
I turned to walk away, but couldn't resist saying one more thing. "Don't forget to put your armour back on, big brother. It'll help you feel like a stallion again."
With that, I climbed off the wall and left for the palace. I did not possess all pieces of this puzzle just yet, but I knew who did.
"Lie down."
That's what Luna had told Cadence before following her into the palace. Why should Cadence sleep now, when she's clearly not prepared for the gala? Whatever the case, I'd have to find the two, and report my tentative "breakthrough" with Shining Armor. And perhaps find out something else in the process.
Between the ancient-looking Lunar Wing and the pristine Celestial Wing of the Canterlot Palace, there was a smaller, transitional space of bright reds and blues: Cadence's residence. The guards let me through easily; clearly, they had been expecting me.
Although, from the outside, Cadence's portion of the palace was comparatively smaller than the other two, it was no humbler on the inside. As I walked through the rich hallways and red carpets, past Cadence's many beautiful, bright rooms, I wondered how often Shining Armor got to spend time here. Such it was that I reached a closed door at the end of a long hallway: Cadence's private bedroom. A lone stallion stood guard before the door.
"Is Cadence inside?" I asked.
"Yes, ma'am," the guard replied. "As is Princess Luna. She told me to let you in."
"So?" I nodded towards the door. "Will you?"
The guard put a hoof on the handle. "Do be quiet. Princess Luna's request."
Raising an eyebrow, I walked inside. The guard closed the door behind me.
Unlike the rest of the palace, the room was dark; it took my eyes a few seconds to get used to the low light. Thick curtains hung before every wide window. None of the outside racket penetrated the walls.
A large canopy bed was in the centre. Gilded with exquisite woodwork and in the shape of a heart, it was most fitting for the Princess of Love. Thin drapes, so fine as to be practically transparent, hung from above and enclosed the mattress.
Before the bed, Luna sat silently, her back turned to the door and me. Through the bed's silky curtains I could see the silhouette of a mare lying on the bed, her chest moving up and down slowly and softly as she breathed.
Luna addressed me quietly, without even turning. "You've returned, Twilight Sparkle," she whispered.
"I've spoken with my brother," I replied. "Isn't that what you asked?"
"It is indeed. I trust you were able to talk sense into him?"
"He will be there at the gala."
Luna was silent for a little while. "Good."
I looked at the figure lying on the bed. "Cadence?"
"She's asleep," Luna said.
"And you're just sitting there, looking."
Luna stood up, turning around. "Would you rather I kept my eyes on you?"
"I assume you've been, princess. My only question is why."
"I imagined you'd put it together yourself."
"I do have a few ideas."
"Do you?"
I stepped closer to Luna. "You know, I've been thinking about our meeting in your study. I was there regarding my friend Rarity."
"You needn't remind me."
"Then you must remember how my visit ended. I accused you of murder. And you were going to erase my every memory regarding Night Shift. As you were going to erase Rarity's memories regarding the mannequin incident."
"But I did not."
"And that makes me wonder why."
"You've seen what I do." She sighed. "I've blanked ponies before. I've abducted them, and I've imprisoned them, all to keep a secret hidden. The very same secret that I am about to reveal to you, because I have failed to stop you when I could."
"You can stop me any time you wish, Luna. Even now, I am at your mercy."
She scoffed. "Do not taunt me. I prize dearly the little decency I've managed to preserve after the things I've done. After I failed to blank you, how could I have captured your friend and looked her in the eye? How could I blank you now?"
"It's much easier when you don't know the victim, isn't it? You managed to mine the minds of the Horsmouth folk just fine. That was the right thing to do, of course. You had to find me, and it's not like anypony cares about that forsaken backwater."
Luna raised her chin. "You are cruel."
"That makes two of us. And I'm also correct, I collect." I walked to the bed and sat down, looking at the sleeping Cadence. "I think you're much softer than you'd have others believe."
Luna turned back towards Cadence as well, sitting down. "There was a time when I was different."
I put a hoof onto the bed, careful not to wake Cadence. "You see yourself in her, don't you?"
"She needs my help."
"You mentioned a secret. It isn't yours, is it? Cadence is the one with something to hide. You're merely helping her."
"I am."
"Does Celestia know of this secret?"
"No," she said, louder than before. Her voice then returned to whispering. "And I hope she never will."
"Celestia is kind, Luna. I'm certain she would understand."
"Would she?" I thought I heard a tinge of resentment in Luna's voice. "You think you know her, Twilight Sparkle, but you do not."
"Why wouldn't she understand?"
"She's been betrayed before."
I began, slowly, to understand Luna's burden. But even so, I was left with one very important question.
"So why am I still here?" I asked.
Luna looked at me, but didn't say a thing.
"You want to help Cadence overcome her inner demons," I said. "And you've done so much to keep her secret. When you couldn't bring yourself to blank me, you tried to keep me away from Canterlot instead. You sent me all the way out to Horsmouth. You didn't think I'd learn more there, did you?"
"I did not."
"And then you found me in Containment. Still, rather than disposing of me, one way or another, you allowed me to simply walk out. You directed me towards Shining Armor, and you made me question him. I already knew too much, and now I do even more. Now's as good a time as ever to blank me."
Luna lowered her head, nodding.
"You just don't have it in you, do you?"
"Not any more," she whispered. I could barely hear her.
"You want me to help."
"I do."
"But I can only do that if I know everything."
"That is why you're here."
"Shall we wake Cadence, then?"
"No." She looked at the dreaming Cadence for a moment, then back at me. "They say a picture is worth a thousand words." Luna put a hoof on my forehead, and a rush of cold shot down my spine. "What you are about the see is worth more than a thousand pictures."
She looked at Cadence again, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, they glowed brightly, just like on that night when I met her up in her study. Her pupils turned pitch-black and grew wide, consuming her irises; her horn lit up and she pointed it at Cadence.
I lay on the floor, my eyes closed. There was a heavy rainfall, and there was lightning and thunder, and I was cold and soaked. By the time I stood up, my coat had absorbed enough water to make standing noticeably more difficult than it had any right to be.
The ceiling was gone. The walls were gone, and the bed was gone. Everything that had been in the room—indeed, everything that had been the room—was gone. The only reminder of my former location was the floor, which seemed to have been lifted wholesale from Cadence's room.
It was an island, a tiny patch of land amidst an endless, stormy sea. Sunlight seemed to fill the minute cracks between the edges of the dark clouds above, providing just enough light to see. The roaring bursts of lightning further illuminated the raging waves, if only for a split second at a time. Luna stepped up beside me.
"Where are we?" I asked. Although Luna stood right next to me, I had to yell in order to hear myself over the sound of turmoil. "What is this place?!" I spat rain from my mouth.
"It is regret." Luna spoke quietly, yet her voice was crystal clear. It was as if it had come from inside my own head.
She raised a hoof and pointed into the distance; something seemed to stand out from the vast sea, rising above the waves. She looked at me and nodded, stepping forward. As she did, land rose from beneath the water and gave Luna's hoof something to land on. She continued on her way, and a path rose before her as she walked.
After a while, she stopped to look back at me. "Aren't you coming?"
I shook my head. When I looked down, the floor of Cadence's room was gone from under my hooves, replaced by the slippery, wet road that had formed for Luna. I hurried to catch up. All along, I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
Luna guided the long dirt road, and the long dirt road led me. As we walked towards the thing that rose in the distance, I could slowly make out a vague shape. It was something wide with a triangular shape on top; for the longest time, the rain made it impossible to see any real detail.
I wondered why it was that Luna appeared completely unfazed and unaffected by the storm. She walked with the power and confidence she had always possessed, and her star-mane waved gently in the air, ignoring the heavy wind entirely.
In the middle of the infinite sea, we came upon an enormous hole, wide enough to fit the entirety of Canterlot into it, and perhaps then some. In a perfectly circular shape, the sea cascaded into a black nothingness below. I couldn't even hear the water splash at the bottom.
From that very same hole, at the centre, a large building sprouted, rising from the endless abyss to tower high above us. The building resembled a house of extremely simple design. Or perhaps more precisely, a dollhouse. Its many rooms were all missing a wall, allowing us to see inside. Within each room I saw a different vista; some opened to grassy plains and others contained real rooms, while yet others showed me illogical, alien sights and far-off lands that only a dreaming mind could conjure up.
Looking at the building felt like opening a foal's playbook of "tricky" pictures: the room I was looking at stayed completely still while everything else seemed to move and swirl around it. I could never take two looks at the same thing, for by the time I looked back, it had either changed its position, or the room switched out what was previously therein.
A crash of thunder reminded me to keep going. Luna kept walking as well, the road continuing to grow before her as she walked into the hole. The path in the water became a long and twisting platform that floated above the emptiness below. We continued our way towards the dollhouse as the path came to an incline, taking us below sea level. Closing in on the building made it no easier to comprehend; indeed, if anything, it only made my head hurt more.
"This is Cadence's mind," Luna explained. "This, for all intents and purposes, is Cadence. Everything she is, or ever was, is in there."
"Is this right?" I asked quietly, half-hoping that the rain would drown out my voice.
"Right?" Luna asked. It seemed she could hear me perfectly well.
"It feels wrong, invading her mind like this."
Luna didn't say a word.
"I'm just not used to it, is all," I added. "Is this common for you, entering the minds of others?"
"More common than I would like it to be."
"I see."
"You said you wanted to know everything. Do not start moralising now; go ahead and blame me for any wrongs you may observe, if that makes it easier for you. Now listen: if one knows where to look, she can find anything here. Cadence's fears, aspirations, her needs and wants, even her memories, it is all in there. She is dreaming right now."
Luna pointed at a room in the dollhouse, and I saw our floating path finally come to an end, attaching itself to the room's edge. Inside, I saw the Canterlot Park. Shining Armor sat peacefully, leaning back at the old cherry tree that grew there. Cadence lay beside him, her head in his lap.
"Anything you want to know," Luna continued, "ready at your wish."
With that, we came to the end of the road. I was within a step's distance of the room, and I saw the park in all its vividness. Cadence, however, did not appear able to see outside.
"Is that really them?" I asked.
"Cadence is," Luna said. "You may talk to her as if you both were awake. Your brother, however, is only an image."
I looked inside the room again. Cadence and Shining were still there, sharing a loving caress. I turned towards Luna.
"Do I just?—"
Luna stepped forward, walking through the missing wall into the room. Cadence noticed, and quickly got up. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear what it was. Luna responded, and Shining disappeared. Cadence seemed upset, but she ultimately resigned. With a deep breath, I stepped inside as well.
I felt the warm beams of sunlight on me. My coat was completely dry, and my mane was perfectly made; it was as if the storm had never happened. Birds chirped and bees buzzed. Looking behind myself, the sea and the pit were gone; I could see the spires of Canterlot at the edge of the park. There were even other ponies, and many foals played around us. For a while, I wouldn't even have believed that we were in a dream, for it all seemed so real.
It was only when I looked at a small filly running by that I began feeling uncomfortable. Where the foal's face should have been, there was only a smudged mess; and indeed, every pony, save for the princesses—and, I assumed, myself—was unidentifiable.
"What are you thinking, making that?!" Cadence snapped, pointing angrily in my direction. "Tonight of all nights! You destroy my dream, and you bring in that?!"
"Calm down, Cadence," Luna said. "You are correct, tonight is very important. That is why it is crucial that you remain calm."
"How can you ask me to—" Cadence stopped mid-sentence, looking down and wheezing. She took a deep breath, and continued in a much calmer manner. "How can you ask me to stay calm when that's staring right at me? I can't do this. Not tonight."
I inched closer to the arguing pair carefully. Cadence shot me a disgusted look.
"Please," she said, "make it go away."
"I will not make her disappear," Luna said.
Cadence looked at her in confusion. "What?" She looked at me, then back at Luna. "Do you mean she's...."
Luna nodded.
"Y-you're..." Cadence began, choking on her words as if she were about to cry. "No, you're lying. You wouldn't."
I looked at Luna questioningly; her nod gave me the go-ahead.
"I assure you, Cadence," I began, "I am quite real."
Cadence's eyes went wide, and her hind legs went numb. She sat down, her jaw hanging agape. Tears swelled in her eyes. She slowly turned her gaze towards Luna. "How could you do this to me?"
"She found out on her own," Luna replied.
"You didn't even try!" Cadence's voice was cracked, and she struggled to hold her tears back.
"It was either this, or taking her out of the picture completely. You would not have stood for that."
Cadence opened her mouth, but Luna interrupted.
"Don't act like you would have."
"But I—" Her voice cracked again. She looked at me. "I can't have her see me like this. I can't." She turned around and buried her face in her hooves.
"She already has," Luna replied. "Half the Royal Guard has, in fact. Outside, on the wall. Don't you remember?"
Cadence pulled at her mane. "Don't look at me. Don't look at me!"
"Cadence, please," I said, stepping up beside her. "I don't know what exactly is happening. But if Luna thinks that I can help...."
She looked up at me, and I saw her tears rolling. "You can't help. Nopony can. Luna's been trying, so hard and for so long, and what has that accomplished?"
Nothing.
I felt sick and I heaved. For a moment, I thought I was going to throw up. The moment passed, however, and I felt fine again. The two princesses didn't seem to have noticed at all.
"I will show her everything," Luna said. "Unless you want to tell her yourself."
"Do it then," Cadence said, burying her face in her hooves again. "If you absolutely must."
Cadence disappeared, and I heard Luna's voice in my head once again.
"It began when Queen Chrysalis arrived."