For Harmony and Love! – A Princess Cadance Quest
[X] You spend your nights with your dear Velvet Covers herself. The mare that you care for greatly, that you love. Get to know her, learn more about the mare who holds your heart. Of course, this will also do a world of good for you. (Immediately recovers three sanity. Learn more about your love.)
-[X] Ask about her rescue of Twilight when she disappeared during the Catastrophe
You are Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. But you are called "Princess Cadance" by most ponies, and just "Cadance" by the one that really matters.
It is nighttime.
And beside you, on the couch in your room is a mare.
A beautiful mare with dark intriguing eyes. Her mane is flowing long silver. Her every act a promise of desire. Her forelimbs were bandaged, weakness clear though her body, and the contrast of her vulnerability and inner strength was just so very attractive. Around her neck was a necklace with something that felt of focused hate to your senses.
She was never interested in anypony before Shining Armor, but gazing upon the beauty of her very close friend. Well, she couldn't say she wasn't interested.
Ara ara… there is absolutely nothing in Equestria that could ruin this night. You can feel it. Knowing that you are going to spend the whole night with the mare you care about, with the mare you love, is like a dream come true.
There really isn't anywhere else in the whole world you would rather be.
Like lighting splitting though the darkness she appears so vividly in your mind as you gaze upon her. Admiration, friendship, jealousy, love. They all come together in a single great storm burning inside your chest. A candle in the dark, a fire whose warmth keeps you from freezing, a promise that when you
fall she will catch you. You can feel that this thing coursing through you is…
Love.
"Velvet it's nice for you to be here" you say, although your throat is so dry for some reason your voice fails. But the smile on your face is growing so much you don't really have it in you to care.
She expresses her joy at your words through that bell-like laughter of hers that echoes in your ears. Like tiny gifts for you to cherish forever.
"It's good to be with you Cadence." Your heart throbs with joy at her words. At the small smile on her lips she sends you.
"So I was wondering," you purse your lips "what happened in your search for Twilight.".
You remember of course how relieved you were when you heard that she had found Twilight. That Twilight was safe at her home. That you hadn't failed.
But you never heard what happened.
Velvet is quiet for a long moment.
She seems in a way cold and something in the air, around that mare, feels of remembering something important. A memory you hold onto and can never forget in the end.
Then the icy beauty speaks to you. Her voice a cold whisper in the wind like the dying embers of a fire under the starry night sky.
"Changelings are evil."
"Or at least that's what I told myself. That's what I have been telling myself this whole time. They are evil. They are the enemy. That their species has caused terrible harm to countless ponies."
"They are not even of my species. So that makes them evil, right?"
"They are supposed to be evil."
"They have to be evil, by their very nature."
She looks sad but also determined. An iron will beneath a cold gaze.
"So why weren't they thrashing and hissing? Why didn't they resist to the very end? Why didn't they act like the cruel beasts that they were supposed to be? Like the creatures that prey on the love and feelings of ponies, the monsters who burnt down our works, who spread blood and fear into the hearts of ponies, who committed the most gruesome tragedy that pony species has seen in centuries?"
You feel it inside of her. Beneath the love she radiates something cold and beside it sharp hatred.
"When they were cast down at my hooves, defeated. They didn't do any of that. They didn't justify the hatred I should have felt for them."
"They just stared at each other, hollow resolute eyes trying to console each other in their final moments."
Something glittered in her dark eyes.
"Instead they felt exactly like a pony should. And when I killed for the first time I could not hide from myself what I was doing. When the other realised what its own fate will be, and alone with no companion, no reason to be brave. It quietly cried, it didn't close its eyes. It kept them wide open though the tears to look at its dead companion. Till its blood too covered my hooves."
For an instant you remember the catastrophe. Of bodies broken under your magic. You didn't even hesitate.
She didn't hesitate either.
What she says next you will remember.
You are absolutely sure that…
That by some cold weight that she had about her, a coldness that you somehow knew was not unkind, and a sharpness that would not be denied.
You will remember it, you are sure.
"Kindness is the intent to help. It's been the idea of what a pony is for over a thousand year. A good pony is not a pony who kills. In the end I was afraid."
She sighed, a sigh of losing something once held close.
"I made my choice. I crossed that line. Cast my fear aside. What I did I can not take back, and when moving forward. Well… Malice is the intent to harm."
Hearing her reminds you of yourself, your own thoughts. Of a mare who, when things really come down to it, cares about nopony but herself. Of a mare who only cares about her own loved ones and no others.
And so you ask her the question that beats in your heart.
"Do you regret it?"
She knows what you are talking about. The blood on her hoofs, just like yours.
The thing on her heck glints as she slowly shakes her head.
"Why should I regret anything at this point? There's no use in repenting for my sins. It would make no difference. There's nothing I can give back to the dead to undo what I have done. This is my chosen path."
"I know that if I want my happy ending, a happy ending for us. The path to reach it will require me to pile up many more bodies."
"For the sake of taking hold of my desire."
Hearing her words the same part of your mind that learned you can trust her is also whispering to you that…
The light you see in ponies.
The warm feeling of kindness for all living creatures.
That it is no longer there…
"Lady Velvet Covers. Unicorn. Noblemare. Mother. A mare you met by chance, and yet another example of how nobility can sometimes smother its own talents rather than cultivate them. She has a penchant of appearing in places where you don't expect her to be, but somehow that always seems to be for the best. She has a lovely family, and you have made no secrets that you hope to one day have one just like hers. But most importantly, she is a somepony you have chosen to love in this world, your trust in her is boundless, as is your happiness at her presence. The thought of her gives you strength and comfort no matter how dark things get. So long as she is by your side."
Name: Lady Velvet Covers
Council Position: Head of the Lunar Bureau
Harmony Affinities:
Generosity [+++]: She is a competent pony who avoids the spotlight. A mare who exhausted herself searching for somepony else's sister out of love. A noblemare who adopted a
commoner (A Princess). And if you need any more confirmation, look no further than the namesake's Element Bearer, who practically gravitates around her.
Kindness []: Kindness is the intent to help. Malice is the intent to harm, and malice resides in her heart. To protect those she loves she has changed. To cast off her kindness in the flames of hate. To paint in blood another path. With sharp teeth and claws to bring an end to all that opposes her desire.
Magic [+]: She has a gift, of sorts. Even you can tell. You are not sure if it was twisted, if it was badly raised, or if it was simply never nurtured. But she has something inside of her, even if it a diamond still in the rough.
Laughter [--]: She didn't go into much detail. But you did your background checks, and you can put one plus one together. She was ousted from succession of her family's title. She was relegated to a minor position in a backwater town. And the other things you discovered under the table were somehow even more grim. She did not lead… a happy life.
Loyalty [UNKNOWN]: You know she is loyal to her family, but that's a given. (You might gleam more of her affinities if you get to know her better.)
Honesty [UNKNOWN]: Everypony has secrets. But if you can't trust her, who else can you trust? (You might gleam more of her affinities if you get to know her better.)
Positive perks:
[The Good Velvet]: Your background check came through. Her family is shady, but she isn't. (Unaffected by Noble Affiliations).
[How did you get here?]: She seems to have a hoof everywhere. Or at least, everywhere that matters.
Somehow… (May add her bonus to the tasks of other Council members)
[Mother]: You have
already picked your foals' names. And the logistics to get them are as irrelevant as they are
inevitable. Still, here is a pony that might help you… facilitate your own journey, by virtue of experience. (Might be able to teach you lessons for "The Nature of Motherhood")
[LovesChosen]: Your Chosen one, the one who holds your heart. The mare you will forever love. The mare who promised not to leave you. (???)
[Beautiful]:
"A work of art with a mane of flowing sliver." (+5 when trying to seduce other creatures, or just be pleasant)
[OTHER
POSITIVE PERKS UNKNOWN] (You might learn more if you get to know her better.)
Negative perks:
[Clear priorities]: You will never blame her for this, but you know her family will always come first. (This Council member has a clear weak spot. Enemies might potentially learn of this).
[Scarred]: Once there was a small filly who loved her father very much. Now there is a mare, a mare who you love. A mare who still bears a scar. (-1 base Health)
[Murderer]:
"This one's hoofs have taken a life" A burden she will carry for the rest of her life, clear and obvious for all those who have the eyes to see.
[OTHER
NEGATIVE PERKS UNKNOWN] (You might learn more if you get to know her better. But surely, it can't be that many?)
Lost/discarded perks:
-Frightened [MALUS]: -10 to Personal Combat; (Once she was afraid. Once her mind was scarred with fear. Till at last she changed, cutting away what would hold her back. What would stop her from going so far.)
