Sleep: Final Epilogue
3
Cadenza's wings strained and quivered as she forced herself through the air, gliding on the strong sea breeze as much as she was flying. The second half of the Flashtone Amulet hanging around her neck felt like a noose.
'It's as if all his malice and hatred imprinted themselves on it,' Cadenza reflected grimly.
She let out another ragged breath as she forced herself to continue her flight, her wings beating against her coat as she moved. A tidal wave might have been averted but their battle had thrown the already temperamental Southern Seas weather into further disarray.
'At least there weren't any ships nearby,' Cadenza thought, with some relief, as she eyed the chopping waves crashing against one another.
The alicorn princess could feel the evening sun dipping in the sky, its orange glow coloring all she saw and warming her bruised and injured back. Cadenza strained her blurring vision ahead of her, 'surely I can't be that far away,' she thought desperately.
That was when a brown line appeared in her vision. Pushing herself Cadenza flared her wings, straining them against their exhaustion and damage as she picked up speed. Coming into sight, was Roam: Its golden, sandy beaches sparkled in the evening light as Cadenza pushed herself harder.
Cadenza spread her wings and beat them against the air, forcing herself higher into the air, it wouldn't do for her subjects to see her in such a state: Bloodied, bruised, her regalia and mane mangled beyond all recognition. Instead, Cadenza pressed her flight close against the cliff-side where her Summer Palace rose up and looked over the ocean.
'Home at last,' Cadenza thought, a brief glance at the city calming her soul as all seemed well and peaceful in the city below, boats were docked and the streets were bustling.
As she glided over the white stone walls, Cadenza came to a lurching halt in one of her courtyards. Her muscles screamed out in protest as she put her weight down upon them. So Cadenza simply stood, frozen for a moment, as she silently caught her breath. She took in the scene of freshly cut grass, and tried to stabilize herself against the sudden feeling of vertigo and pain that rocked through her body
Princess Cadenza sharply rose from her exhausted stance, her eyes focusing on every detail, 'Something’s wrong, where are my guards or the staff, somepony should have...'
"No," she whispered. Cadenza turned right and galloped towards the bodies of two of her guards that lay against the floor, their weapons not even drawn. Stumbling down the sun bleached steps, Cadenza took in the forms of the crumpled earth pony and pegasus guards. Gently running her muzzle across their heads, she used what little magic she had left to cast a diagnostic spell.
"Unharmed," she let out a sigh before muttering, "A sleeping draught?" she wondered curiously. Whatever was in their systems, it was both a toxin and magical ‘and if nopony has noticed these two’, Cadenza reflected taking in the silence of her home. ‘Then, that means whoever is responsible must have taken my entire palace!
Cadenza looked down at the Flashstone Amulet. Her mother had told her, ever so rarely, never to court such dangerous powers, never to use them, 'But what sort of choice do I have?' Cadenza lamented. 'Maybe I can just use it as a threat, or to make a prison or even to con-' her thoughts were interrupted by a violent crash echoing down the hallways.
'I can't abandon my little ponies,' she looked down at the vile trinket and grimaced, 'no matter the risk to myself,' she determined.
Wincing slightly as the pounding in her head grew stronger, Cadenza shook her head and surged down the stone hallways. Her ears twitched at every sound as she moved, her eyes peeled wide despite the gashes surrounding them. Through all her pain Cadenza knew she could not let herself be taken by surprise, no matter how weary she felt.
Cadenza burst into her throne room only to see that the great double doors that served as the primary entrance were hanging open and unguarded. Her wings rose in fear and agitation, twitching ever so slightly because of the hairline cracks running across her bones. Vision blurring, lungs heaving, Cadenza took in her throne room: the drapes hanging from the walls, the evening sun still shining in through the high windows, even her throne remained untouched, but sprawled out across the floor were more sleeping ponies.
That was when Cadenza spotted another door, it sat at the far right end of her throne room and had once been bolted shut. Now those bolts sat in melted puddles and the door was nothing but cinders, 'They're going for the vault!'
Cadenza focused on the presence of the amulet, 'I can call some of its power if I need to, mother protect me,' she thought with a dawning sense of horror running through her mind, this wasn't just some lackey of Squirk’s. The magic she felt hovering in the air, the only being who could and would release Squirk upon the world, it could only be Corona... her aunt.
Shaking her head, Cadenza forced those terrifying memories from her mind. She was a grown mare and a princess in her own right, if her aunt was here, then she would defend Cavallia with her life, as was her duty.
'Mother said she might still be weak after her last encounter with the Elements of Harmony. if I surprise her, maybe I can capture her here,' Cadenza considered, moving slowly towards the right side of the throne room. 'I'll hug the wall. And the second I see her, I’ll take the amulet and let loose a binding spell,' she decided coolly.
Cadenza forced her agonizing breaths down to silence, her beaten chest heaving silently as her tension only increased the soreness.
As Cadenza silently pressed herself against the wall and slid across the throne room, a blinding, agonizing, light flashed in her mind, burning her senses. She didn't even have the time to do more than turn her head before a red-tinted gold beam of magic struck against her her barrel and slammed her against the wall with a violent thud.
Everything was black in her mind, pain was shooting throughout her body as the stone wall cracked against her. She fell to the ground with a thud, dust and pebbles surrounding her as she clung to consciousness.
"It was you!" she spat out in agony. Forcing her blurring eyes open, Cadenza looked upon Corona, the Tyrant Sun, the alicorn stood near the entrance of her throne room. One half of the Flashtone Amulet hanging around her swan like neck as her distant and stone-faced gaze fell over Cadenza's injured form.
Before she could summon the magic to stop her, Celestia’s golden aura encircled Cadenza's half to the amulet, and wrenched it from her neck with a rough tug. The amulet floated over to the older alicorn who appraised it with a critical eye.
Cadenza watched in mounting horror as Corona levitated the two pieces of the Flashstone amulet together. Red lighting danced between them as she struggled to pull herself to her hooves, begging the mare to stop, “Please, don't! He'll-.”
"Don't speak," she instructed harshly, her words sounded like iron in Cadenza's ringing ears. With a mighty flash, the two halves became whole. Corona wreathed a golden thread through the amulet and slipped it around her neck, the red tainting her golden eyes.
Corona snorted distastefully, “With only half this amulet it’s no wonder he could not mold anything more complicated than such simple spells of destruction. It shall be of far greater use in my possession,” Corona intoned deeply as she looked down upon the confused mare beneath her.
"Yes, I released Squirk and removed your guards and communications from play. Do not fear, they are unharmed and shall recover soon enough,” she explained grimly, casting her gaze over the fallen ponies.
“You... the amulet-!” she started.
“Is safe,” Corona replied cooly, gazing down upon the mare dispassionately. “Squirk awakened without the aid of the amulet. The curse is broken. Not only that, but the seal around him has been changed, thanks to your own magic. The Flashstone Amulet can be whole again without awakening the abomination.” Corona said.
Cadenza could only gape at the mare before her, at the sight of ‘that thing’ being whole after all she’d done that day.
Corona seemed unaware of her concerns as she continued to speak, “An illusion has kept your citizenry from noticing that anything is amiss, they believe you well and victories, which in a sense... You are," Corona assured her imperiously. Cadenza could just make out the golden hoof cups striking against the floor as Corona approached her.
“You should be proud, they now revel in the streets at your success,” Corona explained.
"The door... a trap?" she breathed out, trying to bring her legs back under her so she could at least face her aunt standing and not on the ground like an infant. 'It was all a trap... now Corona has the amulet, and she has me,' Cadenza thought. Images of her mother, her adoptive family, and her past husbands and wife flashing through her mind. Images of thousands of her beloved little ponies looking up at her for protection filled her memory, and gave her strength.
"Yes, it was a good strategy to try and surprise me like that. But I have had this stone in my possession for hours now, and you are exhausted," Corona explained simply. There was no arrogance here, she was merely stating facts.
The Princess of Love ignored those facts and brought her knees up to her barrel, her wings flared and her horn glowed. She let out an almost rabid snort as she began forcing herself to stand, glaring at the solar alicorn, only for Corona's right hoof to press down on her back. With a single push, Cadenza was forced back to the floor, a pained gasp escaping her lips.
Cadenza could feel Corona's body heat as the elder alicorn leaned over her, and the mare’s breath brushed against her ear as she spoke, "You performed admirably today, but a s strong as you are little one, you are too young to face me yet. That much has been made clear this day. But do not know fear for I will not end one of my own family, and in time you shall see that all of this had to come to pass."
The warmth disappeared, and Cadenza could hear her aunt’s armored hooves striking against the stone floor as she made to leave, "Aunt Celestia!” she cried desperately, her voice hoarse. She forced herself to her hooves, panting and straining under her own weight, wings sagging against her weary form as she stumbled toward her aunt.
Corona, Celestia, stood frozen for just a moment before speaking, "...You can still rise. I am impressed, my niece." she intoned seriously.
"Auntie, please listen to me. I'm begging you, you don't have to do this... any of it. You... you need to stop," she intoned desperately. Limping towards her aunt as she spoke, the light billowed in from the setting sun, casting her aunt in shadows as she waited for her niece’s approach. Her white coat and lightly glowing horn and eyes stood out against the darkness.
"You are young and innocent; raised in ignorance. You have no understanding of what I must do," she snorted.
"Auntie, I can feel it. In your mind, your soul, and your body." Celestia straightened and cast a wary glance at her approaching niece. "Deep inside you, beneath all that fire and rage and fear I can feel it. Your love," she whimpered desperately. Cadenza was only a few feet from her aunt as she strained to look the mare in the eyes, the gold was fading again, ever so slightly.
"I can feel how much you love your sister, your subjects, even me," she whispered, "but there's something wrong! It's been tainted by something deep inside you. You have to listen to me! I know that love, that obsession, I've seen it in others and even had it directed towards me... it ruins you, and it will lead you to burning everything you love until there's nothing left! Can't you see that?" she cried desperately.
"I shall not entertain this nonsense any longer," Celestia snapped, but her voice was quiet and she still refused to move.
Cadenza stumbled, only to find herself steadied by Celestia's muzzle at her side. She shivered from the contact only for the elder alicorn to pull away, looking affronted at her own behaviour.
"Please... let me help you," she begged, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
Scowling, Corona spoke back, "I do not need your help, I know what must be done here child. Do not think to lecture me, you understand nothing!"
"I understand everything!" Cadenza screamed, lurching forward she pressed her head up against her aunt’s chest. She felt the warmth emanating from Celestia, even through her cold adamantine armor, 'ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom!' her heart thumped far too rapidly.
Forcing her eyes skyward, Cadenza saw the look of shock upon the solar princess's face as she arched her neck to meet her niece’s gaze. "I understand everything, I can see into your heart," Cadenza crashed her hooves against her aunt’s armored chest, the metal hoof cups met the Celestial steel with an unholy clang. Leaning against the older mare’s chest, "I can feel it, everything: love enough to dwarf the sun, and so much fear… So much pain," she wept.
"I know no pain." Celestia ground out, trying to pull away as the gold began returning to her eyes.
"You may be able to lie to your sister, your servants, and even yourself. But not to me! I can see everything. How broken you are, how tired and alone… You know you're defeated, that you can't win, but you just keep fighting!" she bit out as the darkness surrounded her vision, her voice quivering. "Can you even do anything else?" she implored fiercely.
A metal clad hoof pressed itself firmly against her back and Cadenza felt herself slowly pushed to the floor. Her legs sliding out from under her as she met the cold tiles, rapid breaths leaving her as she fell ever closer to the darkness.
Celestia leaned down, her horn glowing as she looked over her weary niece; magenta eyes taking in the crumpled alicorn's form. She began to hum, magic surrounding the younger mare as she strengthened the young princess’s waning reserves.
"Rest now, child,” she implored quietly, gently nuzzling the younger mares neck, counting her breaths as she did so. Celestia closed her eyes and Cadenza's body was consumed in light and vanished, appearing in the medical ward next to the enchanted medical staff.
Then she rose, falling back into her regal posture. Squaring her taught shoulders Celestia took in a deep breath, accentuating her barreled chest as her eyes closed. A single breath in, a single breath out, she stood there like that as seconds fell into minutes. Her spell upon the castle’s staff now breaking under her will.
Yet, she did not move. She stood in the Throne Room where she had so easily conquered her foe and gained all that she desired. Celestia stood, her face still lowered her eyes staring at the floor, focusing on nothing at all.
"Freeze, Corona!" a guard cried pointlessly.
Celestia opened her eyes, they shone blazing gold. She spread her wings and surged through an open window and into the sky, escaping the guard’s sight within moments and disappearing amongst the clouds.
Her mystical prize was pressed tightly against her chest, so close to where her niece had rested her head.
'Soon, it is all going to be over soon.'
Well I hope you've enjoyed the final installment of 'From The Depths.'
As always if you have any critiques, questions or just general comments i'd love to hear them and if you enjoyed it please don't forget to like and fave 
I would like to extend a huge thank you to Housecarl of Clan Drops for all his amazing work as an editor. I would also like to thank Lev the Lurker for helping with chapter 1's editing and RDD for his advice. And finally, I'd like to thank all of you who have read, commented on or or liked the story, you're all awesome!
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Poor Cadenza. Poor Celestia.
3611046
I know that feel, it's exactly what I was aiming for. But hopefully they can straighten things out in the future.
Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you enjoyed this piece.
alicorn's
excellent story.
3611151
Thanks for the catch and the compliment, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Just as Celestia has to be crazy to better fight the real threat, the amulet has to be whole so it can be more properly destroyed.
3611296
What real threat? Sorry if I misunderstood.
No clue what's going to happen to the amulet, I guess that's in other authors hands now, destroying it 'could' potentially lead it's magic back to Squirk, or do something else, or nothing at all. Hopefully the mystery will be intriguing. 
Thanks for the comment.
3611386
Zecora point blank told the Luna Six that for the world to be saved from whatever crisis ends this season, Corona had to be a well-intentioned extremist with a heaping helping of paranoia. Her being sane right now would get everypony killed.
3611396
I feel like I've missed something rather large. I know she mentioned a storm of chaos, but I figured the prophecy wasn't 100%, though I could and probably am wrong. TY for the clarification.
3610908 A tire iron has iron in it, which traditionally nullifies magic. I'm also real and she isn't. Therefore I auto-win against her.
3611561
How can one defeat that which is not there?
Ahh, there we go, I was wondering what Corona had gotten up to while Cadance was off fighting the beastie.
That was a somewhat touching meeting between the two of them, it's a shame Corona couldn't let go of her issues.
3611813
Thanks for the comment, i'm glad you found it touching, that's more or less what I was going for, hopefully the two of them will get another chance in S3.
Okay. Celestia needs punching. Massive amounts of punching. Eff. HER!
Does Squirk appear in this story?
3612639
That's a fascinating comparison, I quite like the idea there. Thanks for the review!
3613711
To be an effective villain Corona does need to pull out a win every now and again.
3614169
He's in chapters 1 and 2.
Called it! I totally called it!
3618217
Congrats! Thank you for reading.
3698762
Thanks for the comment!
It's the only way they'll learn.
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza sees straight into the hearts of ponies. This makes in strange that another version of her in the CelestiaVerse fell to changelings, given that she can see into their hearts.
Corona with the Sqirkian Amulet does not seem like a good development. It will likely make her more crazy and powerful. It also might release Squirk.
3701810
Thanks and good observation. I imagine it's because Chrysalis is the queen of changelings more than anything else. Seeing into her aunts heart was difficult but not impossible. Someone in a similar frame of mind/crazy (say Sombra) who has no familial relation to Cadence and therefor no reason to care about her, would probably have been even more difficult.
It's certainly not good for the mane cast!
But a villain needs to win sometimes. 
The amulet may well enhance aggressiveness or madness, though it might not, though it will definitely make her more powerful. As for Squirk, the idea behind Corona's Xanatos Gambit / Batman Gambit was that by the end of the day, whether she interfered or not Squirk would be dead or sealed. In this case he's sealed in such a way that someone would have to actively give him his amulet for it to have much chance of awakening him, or find some other means of doing so.
Thank you for reading and the comments, I really appreciate it!
Is there more? I see the story is marked 'incomplete'.
3725213
That's twice I've made that mistake now; thank you for pointing it out to me. Sorry there isn't anymore, it was initially marked as complete, I changed it and forgot to change it back. Usually I try o upload everything at once so not doing so threw me through a loop. 
Regardless, I would love to hear your thoughts on the story, as I am always looking to improve, but if not that's cool as well, I really appreciate the comment.
I forgot to fav this story! I just realized it had update. Fantastic work Vazak! I hope RDD makes good use of the Flashstone Amulet for the battle of Canterlot.!
3752122
And for the compliments,i'm glad you enjoyed this story, i'm looking forward to seeing how that goes myself. 
Thank you for the fave!
Great
4552849
Thank you! 
I really enjoyed the story! The fight between Cadence and Squirk was exciting, and the interaction between Cadence and Celestia were both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.
Good job! Hope you will write more Lunaverse stories.
4651706
Thank you, I really appreciate you saying that and I'm very happy you liked what was done here as it is exactly what I was going for.
Hopefully I'll be able to write more soon.
I thought of the game, and now I want to play it. ;-;
space the sentence.
______________
[quote“An illusion has kept you citizenry from noticing that anything is amiss," ]your
_____________
Cap.
_____________
Cap.
__________
This was an all together nice little short fic.
...Well, so much for Corona getting better.
This is basically a relapse to her old "abduct the foals" style of doing business and a major step backwards in her development even with the conversation with Cadence. That's not to say that it's a bad story, but I think it would probably be smart to shift it forwards about a year in the timeline so Cadence's talk can be a factor pushing her towards her more moderate stance at Tambelon rather than Corona's actions being a reversal of her established character arc.
3614193
She can win just fine without going mustache-twirling evil as seen in The Glass Kingdom.
8238654
If someone wants to move the timeline of the story I am totally fine with that. Sorry for the ridiculously late response, I have been away and my alerts have apparently been turned off.
Though if it helps I planned for her to intervene and stop Squirk if he actually got by Cadence.
7976791
Thanks for all the corrections!
Haha exactly, everything will be fine!
8402674
Heh, no problem, and you'll probably want to talk with RDD about moving it up. I don't see that being a problem since it is basically completely independent of the main cast and thus doesn't have to worry about the timeline there, but he's the arbiter of canon, not me.
As for Corona stepping in, you (and she) can say that but unless we see it happen it remains hypothetical, especially since I'm fairly sure I remember Squirk doing some damage without her stepping in.
8403190
I can bring it up with them somewhere sure.
Fair point, though as to Squirk's damage it was largely superficial or just scaring ponies, Cadenza didn't let him get close enough to do anything significant.
3611046
Hi there! Sorry its been so long, I hope all is well.
As you can see the idea of moving the placement of 'From the Depths's's place in canon has come up, would you like to weigh in on the issue?
8403831
Personally I don't mind it where it is. Ultimately it's your story, you get to decide its placement; though personally I like it where it is. Corona may be getting better, but she is still insane.
8403831
Eh, it did still happen which means Corona didn't take action to prevent it. If you edited it to change that (maybe by throwing up a shield or blowing it away with her magic) the problem would go away since she would be making it clear through her actions that this really was just a test for Cadence and that she actually cared about the population at least a little bit.
8403980
). Her general response to this earlier was basically that she decided she had to make an effort to look better to the general population as she takes over Equestria (because they obviously won't mind that at all 
), and we have seen that new pattern of more moderate behavior fairly consistently through season 2, especially when she met Bon Bon again in Past Remnants immediately before this story in the timeline. Thus I think she either needs to display that same pattern here or have this moved forwards in the timeline so its absence isn't a problem. Considering changing the story to include that would require significant rewrites while moving it earlier in the timeline would just take a few tiny tweaks and a quick update to the main lists, I think it makes far more sense to adjust the timeline to resolve this issue.
My issue with that line of thinking is that insanity does not equate to random action. Corona is definitely insane, but she has decided that the problem is Luna telling the public lies to turn them against her as opposed to something reasonable like endless day or abducting/threatening foals (which really should get brought up more because no one has ever mentioned it to Kindle, Smoke, or any of the foreign leaders they were trying to persuade
8404053
Well, like I said, it's up to Vazak.
8403980
Thanks, that is very kind of you to say :D
8404053
I see where you're coming from, though int hat context Corona would also likely have revealed herself which would run against her plan and as no one had been hurt yet she felt she could wait until either Cadence won or got smacked down, then swoop in and resolve the matter.
As I said, I am fine with it being move into a different time-slot, but if its going to cause problems (That is to say, her possessing the Amulet causes issues) it might be better to leave it.
Editing isn't out of the question, though I;d be a little unsure where/what to change without potentially drastically altering the story.
8404911
I'm glad to hear we're on the same page, and I don't recall seeing any real problem with moving it which is why I suggested that in the first place. The amulet isn't an issue because Corona is basically just gathering power in one way or another through all of seasons 1 and 2, and since she generally acts through cats paws it won't come up. Honestly, the only story I can see her carrying it to in all of season 2 is Tambelon, because she rarely appears directly and when she does it is more diplomatic than anything else so it makes sense for her to leave it behind like the other weapons she has gathered for the final showdown. Also, now that I think about it, having her grab the amulet early in season 2 would be a good way to more gradually lead into her magical artifact grabbing habits which is a plus for the overall structure of the season.
As for the actual changes, all you will need to do is give this a quick once over to look for and update timeline references (probably to a vague "shortly after Tambelon") which shouldn't take more than a few minutes, and if you're feeling really ambitious you can add a bit of reflection on Tambelon to help solidify her character development while you're at it. Also, I'm sure you'll find some silly mechanical errors to fix while you're at it, and it might help you get back into the swing of things here too.
8405242
My concern with moving the story back to "shortly after Tambelon" is less with whether or not Corona has the amulet, and more with the fact that her making a direct attack on Luna's daughter would probably elicit some strong reactions from Luna when they meet in subsequent stories. Not to mention from Cadance herself in Contest of Champions.
8406058
Hm, that is a fair concern. That said, I'm thinking Cadence may not have actually gotten around to telling Luna about this since their next and only meeting before Contest of Champions was dominated by the emotional bombshell of Luna admitting to being Cadence's mother. That does still leave events hanging in Contest of Champions, but I don't recall any interactions between Cadence and Corona besides the first brief confrontation which was focused on why she was there rather than past grievances, and I seem to recall Cadence being fairly angry there so that is fine so far. Granted something would have to be written in later in Contest of Champions to deal with this more fully, but that conversation will have to happen no matter what (probably in one of the stories you have planned for the end of season 2) and Contest of Champions is still being written so I don't see adding this to it as a problem. That said, I don't have a great grasp of how you are writing Cadence in general so I might be way off the mark here, but it's still worth considering.
Also, it might make sense to tweak the final confrontation in this story a bit to make it more clear to Cadence that this was a test for her to muddy the waters a bit, although I don't remember exactly how that conversation went so it might not be necessary, especially since Cadence has the political experience to pick up on that kind of thing from subtle clues.
8405242>>8406058
Solid insights and points in both regards. As it stands I'd like to minimize the amount of potential work I create for others, so I may go with that other editing option, to make it clearer Corona was gonna step in if things went too far. She could probably say it during her confrontation with Cadence, another signifer on how much control she had on the situation maybe? Or Cadence could gleam that from her heart meld?
Sorry for the late response, busy day, crowded tabs.
8406114
That meeting wasn't long after Season 1 began. Cadance might still have some superficial injuries, and in any event it's not exactly something that would be kept secret - certainly at the least the fact that Squirk woke up and attacked Cavallia would be newsworthy, so Luna would read about at least that aspect in the morning paper if nothing else. It also messes with the timeline further as Luna only tells Corona that Cadance is her daughter near the beginning of The Return of Tambelon; before that, Corona had no idea.
8406813
That works, although if you do edit like that you'll want to also cut the property damage, either by having her prevent it or just by writing it out of the story.
Also, no problem on the lateness. Life has an annoying habit of getting in the way of things we want to do.
8407156
Huh, I thought that meeting was in season 2. Well, that makes things easier since it would mean they don't see each other at all until Contest of Champions, and I can definitely see her keeping the Corona part under wraps even if the larger attack is obviously going to be well known because this is a bit of a family matter and is probably best discussed face to face. Of course, if vazak decides to edit this and keep the timeline the same it's a moot point, but it's still an interesting discussion and worth pursuing to see what it turns up.
8407156
Good insights, given what Cadence saw in Celestia's heart I could see her not wanting to publicize what happened, though rumors from the guards may have spread anyway.
8408139
That's fair, sorry to ask, but would it be possible for you to tell me which chapters to look into, or which sections, I can't recall property damage myself, its been awhile, sorry :(
8408885
Sorry, my memory isn't good enough to do that without rereading it myself, and you're going to want to reread the whole thing anyways because you're going to have to subtly tweak a number of scenes to more clearly show Corona's character growth.
8409644
I'll see what I can do, though likely tomorrow as its late now and I have had a long day (By my standards XD) From memory I'll probably be keeping the prologue much the same though, both to help maintain tension and because I'm not sure much needs to be changed, it will likely be Celestia's moments with Cadence that need alteration and her watching over the battle scene.
8409644 8407156
OK, so I went through chapter 2 and added a line about how while the waters receded they left the boats just sitting in the sand and because Cadence turned the wave into rain the water will only shaken them around a bit as the tides return to normal.
Beyond that I couldn't find much damage and I had Celestia offer this:
"So, my dear niece, we have seen you can deduce, you can plan, you can give orders, and even act on your own without my sister’s guiding hoof,” she said seriously. “But can you defend your subjects… or will I be forced to end this threat myself?" Celestia wondered quietly. She watched the young alicorn beat her wings against the ocean, creating a tempest wind that scattered the water and interrupting the rising flow.
"Let us see what you can do, Princess Cadenza."
I also made some changes to the epilogue, mostly just minor notes about how the guards are and will be unharmed, the streets and docks are bustling and how Corona tricked the ponies into thinking Cadence had already returned victorious, I hope that's acceptable. in terms of both character and addressing the concerns about Corona's behavior and the potential damage.
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If it helps, Corona is just as capable of illusions as any other powerful mage, they're just not her specialty. To assuage fears, though, she could easily have disguised herself as Cadenza temporarily.