Hello my friends! Yes, I'll admit, it did take a while to get this chapter out. I just didn't have a lot of time on my hands; life and all. I hope you like it!

Chapter III

"I kinda like how these stairs are built." I dryly noted as Cadence nodded.

"Ironically, for a dank cave for mining, yes I'd agree." I silently acknowledged, looking up and seeing bits and pieces of the stair length.

"How far up does this place go?" I asked, exasperated. I was afraid of what I'd hear, as I assumed they were… a long set of stairs.

"Well… if memory serves me right, I'd say we have about… well, a long time before he reach the castle."

I deadpanned at the princess only to be told she was sorry. Swell. Really swell. This is just great. I make it out just to kill myself on these stairs.

"Remind me to castrate myself when I get to the top of the stairs." I mentioned emotionlessly.

Cadence shot me a look of worry and shock with a bit of embarassment as I blushed myself, realizing my company.

"Sorry, just some weird things I say."

It took us a while before we needed to take a break, clearly still running off of straight up hope. Making it back wouldn't be an issue; doing it quickly would.

"Hey, how's your magic?"

"Its doing somewhat better. I… let me see..." Her horn lit up and a small cup appeared in her outstretched hoof to me.

"Water? This is for me?"

"Yes. That's all I can do for now, but… it should help." She smiled at me. I grabbed the cup and drank quickly, savoring the cool water as it ran down my parched throat. I stared down inside the cup in despair as I realized that was all.

"That was the best cup of water I've had in a long time." I shook my head and looked up at Cadence.

"Thanks. Like, I mean it. That was good. Real good." I gave two thumbs up, to her confusion.

"What does that mean?"

"What, what I do with my thumbs?" I motioned to them.

"Yes, what does that mean?"

"Well its basically a way of acknowlegding something that is good or we like it… how much do you know about humans? I'm asking because you didn't seem that surprised when we met." I asked, wondering if she knew more than she let on. But if my knowledge was correct, humans never were featured in the show, except for Equestria Girls. Hmm…

"Well, I know that they exist… that's really as far as it goes."

"Yeah, I'd expect as much, considering that you guys have the mirror." I agreed, earning a look of confusion from my pink pony friend.

"How do you know about that? That information is strictly between royals."

"Weeeellll… I know a lot about you guys."

"You said you've never been here before, and that to you we don't exist."

"I guess considering my situation, I should say that you ponies shouldn't exist. As for never being here, yeah, you're right… I just know some stuff, thats all." I shrugged and smirked at her.

It was this kind of conversation which made the trip albeit much quicker but did not make the trip any less difficult. Near the end, was by all intents and purposes, hell for my legs. My wound was not making it any easier.

In fact, my wound has made this journey considerably worse. Screw this stupid pain. As I thought of that, other things caught my attention. Mainly Cadence. I wondered how she was doing after all of this...

POV: Cadence

After hearing about his knowledge of the mirror, I began to wonder what else he had hidden in his mind. Humans were undoubtedly smart, but he seemed to be one of the smarter ones of his species. There was just this aura around him which stated "I'm different". I could feel it; it wasn't a feeling I could describe accurately.

"Hey Cadence, think we'll have a shot at stopping the wedding before it comes through?" He asked me, a look of uncertainty he gave. I had no idea whether I'd make it in time. For all I know, the wedding is over and Shining is… Oh Shining.

"I-I don't know… I just hope Shining is okay." Worriedly, I responded after a few moments to myself.

"Yeah… If its any consolation, the wedding looks great and- oops." He shook his head and looked down. How did he know what it looked like? What's going on?

"James, you're not telling me something. How do you know what it looks like?" I demanded, fustrated as his knowledge of what should be unknown.

"Same reason I know that Chrysalis was behind this. That the Changlings wanted to use this wedding to plan an attack. As for why they tried to now, well, that's a bit complicated. I know these things; I'd love it if you didn't ask me how I knew. I can't tell you." He glared at me seriously, giving me a feeling that I'd better back off on this one.

"I'll let you know of anything that may come to harm you. That, you'll never have to worry about." He pointed at me in reasurrance.

"I'm going to level with you, Cadence. I know a lot of things about Equestria. A lot." He deadpanned at me.

"And you won't tell me anything." I stated flatly.

"Yes. Not because I don't want to; but because I just can't. Okay? You trust me enough to accept that, right?"

"… I guess I have no choice." I shrugged and rolled my eyes.

"… Damn. I'm really sorry. I know that must be fustrating. Just… I'll explain before I leave and get back to my world; I don't want to ruin anything by being here. You know?"

"… Not really."

"In essence, the less I interact with things, the easier it will be for me to get back… I think."

"Ah, I see."

"Yeah, that sounded a lot better in my head than out loud. Logically, it makes sense if you knew what I know… but enough of that. Where- Whaaa!" He yelped as part of the stair gave way and he was sent falling through, his decent stopped only because grabbed onto the rest of the stairs before careening straight through.

"James!" I rushed to him and grabbed his arms, pulling hard until he was back standing on his own. He stared at the hole and grumbled to himself.

"I really hate those kinds of surprises." He glared daggers into nowhere as he motioned for us to move on. Looking at James, I noticed he wasn't doing so well. In fact, he was doing quite poorly. He hid his condition very well, but I knew better.

A few minutes later I had enough of worrying and decided to ask him:

"How are you holding up, James? You alright?"

"Yeah, doing alright. Just-" He began, turning into a coughing fit that came on quite strong and caught us both by surprise. He wasn't doing well at all, as he collapsed to the ground and slammed his fist into the stone stairs.

"I wish I could get you something, but my magic its-" He began to nod and wave me off, letting me know he knew.

"Its… alright. I'm a bit nauseous now, could you help me up?" He asked, as I silently helped him to his… hooves? I wasn't sure what to call them.

His way of expressing things was interesting. It was very, formal yet casual without jargon. It was refreshing to meet somepony who was sofisticated but kind and casual, somepony who was honest with how they acted, not like the royals I've had to deal with.

It was… He was nice to be around. Not something I'm used to… Its sad he isn't native here, he's really-

Cadence, no! You can't think of him like that! You're to be married to Shining as soon as possible, how can you think of something like that?

He's really cute… Something about him just gets me.

"Cadence? You there?" He asked me, waving softly to get my attention.

"Hm?"

"You were kinda lost there. I wanted to thank you for helping me… I just think you deserve to know how I feel." He flashed a warm, very cute smile to me, giving me something to think about.

"I mean you're really, super nice. Talking with you has been so much fun. Meeting you has made this ugly journey worth it. I-I would definitely go through this again if it meant you." He blushed, embarassed to be so honest.

"And you're really beautiful, Cadence. Shining is a lucky pony." He smirked and looked down with some longing, breaking my heart as his words struck me hard. Shining has said a few things like that but he was more of a jock in our perspective… James was a warm, sensetive being with a strong heart.

At least, that's what I thought… I didn't really know much about him… which gave me a wanting to know him. I'm not sure why… its just there.

After a long while of traveling these spiral stairs, we came to a set of two large, and I say what I mean when I say large doors.

I saw something spark within James as he rushed to them, feeling the door as if it was his ticket to sanity. Maybe it was.

"I-Is this the way out!?" He strained, his eyes pleading for an answer as I nodded.

"Yes. But, these doors are… well, they can be only opened with magic. Us ponies are simply not strong enough to do it physically.

He smirked at the door and then at me.

"Well, lets give a try, shall we?" He grabbed onto the handle and began to pull, the door not budging at all. I giggled quite a bit at his pouting after he stopped.

"If its worth doing, its worth OVER DOING!" He grumbled loudly, the door moving a slight bit, even against what I thought was possible. My jaw hung open when I realized this, only to find that he was able to open the doors, something that us ponies would find impossible.

"Just how strong are you?" I asked him, a question clearly meant for his race but I found myself questioning him directly.

"I'm… sort of strong. Bulky, but not as strong as you might think." He shrugged.

"Do you know how hard getting that open is for us ponies? It takes at least 3 ponies per side, and we can barely manage it!"

He blushed, scoffing at himself, "No, no, I'm not that strong." He chuckled nervously.

Whether you think so or not, that was pretty amazing.

He looked ahead at the small opening he made with the doors, walking through.

I was met with the very same blue and pink interior of the castle walls, making me feel at home. The floors, made of polished marble, showing hoofwork of colors and artwork. James stared at his enviroment and was speechless at the display.

"Woah… this place is… holy shit this is amazing." He forced out, obviously unsure of what to say. He walked around the corner lazily, being met by voices as I followed about a yard behind.

"W-Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Uhh, I-"

"Get him!" I heard as I rounded the corner, two crystal guards on James as he was struggling on the ground, to my horror, a guard had him by the throat.

"STOP!" I screamed at them, rushing to James' aid as the guards shrieked and jumped off my friend quickly.

"James! Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine." He looked at the guards.

"Next time? Just listen to what I have to say."

"H-He talks?" One asked the other.

"Yes, he does. He's my friend." I answered for him.

It was at this point when one of the guards asked me a good question.

"Princess?! W-What are you doing here? I thought you were attending your wedding?" He asked, shocked at my presence.

My heart dropped like lead in my chest, as I realized I may have been too late. Too late to make things right.

"Wait, her wedding is going on right now?" James asked.

"… Y-yes it is." The guard on the left replied to him, making James spin to face me.

Putting his hands on my shoulders, he looked into my eyes with a look of reasurrance, "Cadence, we've made it this far. Don't give up now, that's a fool's folly. You got this." He smirked and pet my head a few times, giving me that boost of confidence I need.

"Lets go put on a wedding these ponies aren't likely to forget." He smirked and rushed forwards with me to stop the wedding before going through.

Oh Shining Armor… I'll be there very soon.

Well there ya go. This took a while (and it is a bit smaller in length) because I was sick and I'm still getting over it.

Hopefull you like it!

Seeya in the next chapter!

-Joss10