Who: Kurt Wagner and Princess Cadence When: The morning of 4/5 Where: Kurt’s place What: A shower, screaming, and some calming tea. Rating/Warnings: PG? She's freaking out about the cutie mark. nakedness within. Status: Complete
Cadence got up far too early. Her alarm pulled her out of a dream that she really wanted to forget. First she was dating someone else--a unicorn no less--and then he proposed. Dream!Cadence was thrilled! She started her wedding preparations, but was then kidnapped and stuck in a cave. Her phone alarm pulled her out of that dream just as Twilight Sparkle--the little sister of her fiance, and a girl she used to foal sit for when she was younger--was sent down and helped rescue her.
...whew. Thankfully, she didn’t wake Kurt with her sudden jolt. She wanted nothing more than to shake off the dream, so she climbed out of bed and headed straight for the shower, shedding clothes as she went. While the water came on and got hot, Cadence was looking at herself in the mirror. She didn’t see any signs of a horn or wings. As she turned to get into the shower, she saw something a little funny on her hip, but the mirror was fogging now, and she didn’t think of it.
Ten minutes later, as she was drying herself off from the shower, she saw it. A blue heart surrounded by gold. On her flank. Her hip. Whatever. She screamed.
Kurt teleported into the shower in an instant, carrying a fireplace poker as a weapon and completely naked. “Cadence??!”
She was halfway out of the shower, standing, horror struck, staring into the mirror. Water was dripping all over the floor, her hair was still soaked, the towel hanging limply from her hand. She felt absolutely terrified, struck dumb but breathing in deep, ragged, labored breaths, staring at the mark on her hip.
“Vas ist that?” Kurt lowered the poker and came over to her, wrapping his arms around her. “A tattoo?”
“I don’t... I don’t know...” Cadence said, still breathing hard. She was absolutely terrified that this meant she was turning into a unicorn, and that her life was going to be over.
He knelt, stroking his finger along the marking. He looked up at Cadence and kissed it. “Don’t panic.”
Oh, but she was panicking. She was nearly hyper-ventilating. "But... No... But.... How...? What if it... What if I change?"
“I’ll love you anyway.” He promised. Even if certain things were going to be very, very weird.
"You say that now," she said, on the verge of tears, "but you can't possibly know it." These dreams were terrifying in that she'd seen how far the transformations could go. She didn't want to become a winged unicorn.
“I’ll still love you, Cadence. Nothing vould change how I feel about you. Nothing.” He stared at her, with complete and utter confidence.
"I don't want to be a unicorn," Cadence almost whined, showing her childishness. She closed her eyes, as if closing them for a long moment and then opening them again would make the mark disappear.
"I ... Maybe there's a doctor ve could see?" It was a long shot but he was willing to do long shots.
“A doctor?” Cadence asked, frowning as she looked at him. How would a doctor help?
"I don't know! I'm just brainstorming ideas..."
Cadence shook her head. She felt helpless, hopeless. And she was starting to feel cold and awkward. She stepped the rest of the way out of the shower and wrapped the towel around herself. “If it’s going to happen, I don’t know if there’s any way of stopping it.” Just like he couldn’t stop his transformation, either.
Kurt closed his eyes. He could still love Cadence, but he wasn’t sure it could be the same..kind of love. There was a big difference between a humanoid and an actual animal, no matter how sentient that animal might be.
She wouldn’t want that kind of love if she turned into... she wouldn’t want him to be that kind of man. She would never drag him down to that level. See the dilemma? Cadence wandered back into the bedroom, feeling like she didn’t belong in her own skin. Feeling like her skin was changing without her consent, and she was a stranger now in her own body. She hated not knowing how far it was going to go.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and stared down at the carpet, trying not to cry.
He watched for a moment, then walked into the bedroom, and put his arms around her. “Shh..sh.h...”
She turned to curl against him, wrapping her arms down around him. She started to cry. “I don’t want to be a unicorn.” She said. Damn it. She didn’t care about class, she didn’t care about anything, she just wanted to stay there with Kurt, in his arms, not a unicorn.
“I vant you to be who you vant to be,” Kurt kissed her cheek, then her hair, and started to rock her. He was suddenly very afraid he was going to lose her.
She didn’t want to lose him. She clung to him for a long time, as if willing herself not to change would make a difference. She fought against it with all of her might. Finally, she sat up a little and pulled back the towel to look. The mark was still there, as if tattoo’d on her hip.
“It could be a lot vorse, Cadence...” Kurt pointed out, gently. “It could be really bad design.” He’d seen tattoos in his day that were patently ridiculous.
Cadence gave a little snort of laughter. She shook her head, torn between laughing and crying. “It’s... what is it?” She stared down at her hip, but wasn’t able to see much of it on her own. “A... blue heart?”
“A diamond heart. I’d say that vould suit you!” He liked the location, too.
“It’s not exactly what I would have chosen. Or where.” Cadence said, softly. But Kurt was the only person who would ever see it, so. “So long as you like it... I guess that’s all right.”
“It’s beautiful, just like you are.” He prayed to god she wouldn’t become a pony.
Cadence gave a hearty sniff, fighting back tears again.
“It’ll be okay. No matter what, it’ll be okay.”
She nodded, trying to believe him. She wanted to believe him.
Kurt just hoped that she would. And that he could still love her if she changed.