Heir of the Nightmare

Chapter 10: Reconcilation

Canterlot Castle; Servant's Quarters

Eighteen Hours Into Eternal Night

Twilight

The warm cup of tea in front of her did nothing to settle her nerves, or soothe her discomfort. Twilight was sitting quietly at an old wooden table with a cracked cup sitting in front of her. The quality of the tea was poor at best, and sewage water mixed with crunched tea leaves at worst. The room itself was shabby and small, barely fitting two beds with rotten frames and their accompanying chest of clothes. There was a small burner designed for earth pony use in a corner along with a few kitchen utensils; old pots, a few pans, and a couple jars of scant food littered the corner as well. The walls were an undecorated solid black edifice of unfriendly stone, like the inside of a cave. On one of the beds, Spike's prone form laid still as the baby dragon had yet to wake from his fainting.

All of this irked Twilight immensely, as these were Shining and Cadance's new living quarters. But none of that bothered her as much as what Cadance was wearing.

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask. Why are you dressed as a maid?"

True enough, the former Princess of Love was wearing a dainty maid costume that was several sizes too small. It was a black and white monstrosity that looked like it had been pulled out of a garbage chute with its several holes and ruined laces. Twilight suspected it had been for either an earth pony or a unicorn since Cadance had to rip some new holes in the side so her broken wings could poke through. Because Cadance had a larger frame than most mares, the maid outfit hugged her and looked uncomfortably tight around her barrel and legs. The skirt had several patches and Cadance had managed to extend it with her awkward sewing skills so that it adequately covered her rump.

Shining was not in much better condition. He wore a tattered janitor's blue overalls with several bright red patches. Unlike Cadance's, Shining's new outfit was actually several sizes too big. It looked like it had been made to fit a rather rotund and plump stallion, not the lean muscular frame of Shining Armor. It was severely baggy and Shining had been forced to use a belt that held it firmly to his waist, so that it did not slide off easily. A nametag scrawled with somepony else's writing read 'Shining Armor, Captain of the Bucket Brigade.'

The deep frown Cadance wore etched deeper into her once cheerful face as she eyed her outfit disdainfully. "It's my new 'official' uniform that befits my position. I have been dubbed, 'The Princess of Dust Bunnies' by the new occupants of the guard barracks."
Shining snorted in frustration. "Cadance is being mild. We haven't had a wink of sleep since your magic flare. They've made the two of us work on cleaning up the debris in the castle while the other servants were allowed to rest. It's been difficult to keep up with their demands since we can't use our magic. Once they decided there wasn't anything more we could do for the moment, they led us here to our new 'room.' And calling this broom closet a room is giving it a compliment. We had to put all the old cleaning supplies that were in here in another location before scrounging up some furniture from the local dump. Everything we got in here is either broken, rotten, or deformed. Our so called 'rations' are no better. Most of what we've eaten are table scraps from the Legion's meals."

Twilight scowled and put a hoof firmly on the wooden table. "That won't happen again. I'll make sure you're both given better rooms and meals. And you can go ahead and take off those ridiculous outfits, I can't stand seeing either of you in them."

Cadance shook her head in resignation. "Don't bother Twilight, I don't want you to get into any more trouble. Besides, they won't listen to you."

"Oh yes they will." Twilight asserted. She then pulled out the royal proclamation Noctis had given her a few moments ago announcing her status as Crown Princess of Equestria. "The Legion's commander gave me this, they'll have to listen to me." She set it down on the table in front of them and let them read while she tried to bravely sip the muddy water they called tea.