Chapter 5
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“And now, the vows,” Princess Celestia said, smiling at Cadance and Shining Armour.
It was several weeks after he and Twilight had woken in the Infirmary. Now they were back to good health and the wedding was being tried, yet again.
Twilight stood in her place as best mare and her friends and parents were amongst the audience. Spike stood on the opposite side to her, holding the cushion with the rings.
Twilight, however, couldn’t feel happy as she watched her brother and Cadance about to take their vows. In the pit of her stomach, she felt something she hadn’t thought possible. She felt jealous, of her brother. A part of her brain kept telling her to ignore this, but another part tried to convince her that Cadance shouldn’t be marrying her brother. She should be marrying her.
Twilight wanted to shake these thoughts away, Princess Celestia’s story of Starlight the Advantageous nipping at her mind. Had she really broken the Soulbond between her brother and Cadance and replaced it with one between Cadance and herself?
She kept trying to say no, that it wasn’t the case. But, watching Cadance about to marry Shining Armour and feeling the pit of jealously writhing in her stomach, could she really keep believing that?
“Shining Armour,” Princess Celestia said, looking to the Captain of the Guard, “do you take this mare to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for rich of for poor, till death do you part?”
Shining opened his mouth, but no words came out. For several moments he continued to say the two words he was meant to, but they wouldn’t come.
After several moments of uneasy silence, save the murmurs that had started amongst the crowd, Celestia said, “Let’s start with Cadance then. You must still be a little off from before, Shining Armour.”
Shining’s response was to turn his gaze away so that it was anywhere but meeting Celestia’s or Cadance’s.
Celestia looked to Cadance and cleared her throat. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza—”
“Just Cadance, please,” Cadance said, though rather quietly.
Celestia nodded and continued. “Cadance, do you take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for rich of for poor, till death do you part?”
Like Shining moments before, Cadance opened her mouth to speak, but no words left her lips. She tried several times, before lowering her head and saying, in a very quiet whisper, “I don’t.”
The whole room gasped and several mare in the audience fainted.
“Nor do I,” Shining murmured, which caused another gasp and several more fainting spells.
“What?” Twilight asked, her voice rising in pitch.
Shining looked to Cadance, his expression apologetic. “I’m... sorry, Cadance. I just... don’t feel the way I used to.”
Cadance nodded, looking down. “I must confess... I feel the same, Shining.”
Applejack seemed the first to recover from this sudden development and turned around, calling out to the audience, “Okay. Ya’ll heard ’em. Weddin’s off. Go on now.”
Slowly everypony began filing out, murmurs of confusion coming from the crowd.
Rarity managed to recover next, though only due to hearing a voice she highly despised after the gala muttering, “Knew that pony was too common. He didn’t deserve her.”
Had it not been for Applejack's suddenly grabbing her tail, Rarity would have gone after that self-centred, completely obnoxious stallion and beaten him to a pulp.
Once the room had cleared out, it was just Twilight, Cadance, Princess Celestia, Shining, Twilight’s friends, Spike and Twilight’s parents left.
Celestia looked between the two no longer soon-to-be wed couple. “Is this true, both of you? Do you no longer feel love for each other?”
Shining glanced at Cadance, who glanced back, before they both looked down.
“Not... exactly,” Shining muttered. “I still care for Cadance... but, not like...”
“More like a friend,” Cadance said quietly. “Just a good friend, nothing more.”
Celestia closed her eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. “Then it is as I feared.”
Before anypony could ask her what she meant, Twilight burst into tears and ran out the room. They all moved to go after her, but Celestia held up a hoof, stopping them.
She looked to several guards and said, “Keep watch over her. Make sure she’s alright.”
The guards saluted and hurried off after the fleeing, wailing unicorn.
Once the doors had closed behind them, Applejack turned to the princess, confusion and slight annoyance clearly in her expression. “Princess, what in the hay is going on here?”
Rarity gave the farm mare a slightly scolding look, but soon turned that towards the princess herself. “My apologies I must agree with Applejack, here, princess. Just what is going on?”
Princess Celestia sighed. This was going to take a fair bit of explaining.
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The guards stood outside of Twilight Sparkle’s old room, each of them trying to remain as stoic-faced as their jobs required of them. However, with the sounds of the wailing mare from within floating through the doors, it was becoming harder to keep their composure.
For several long minutes now they’d been standing outside, having found Miss Sparkle running through the castle shortly after the princess had told them to follow her, and having trouble keeping up until she’d reached her old room and gone inside, magically locking in from within.
As one of the guards, a Pegasus was about to lose his composure completely, another guard walked up to them from down the hall.
The guard who’d almost lost his composure recovered it, being able to divert his attention to the new guard as he stood straight again and saluted.
“I’m to bring Miss Sparkle down to the dungeons,” the new guard said.
The guards standing in front of the door understandably broke their stoic expressions, raising an eyebrow at the other.
“What exactly for?” the one of the right asked. “We were given orders by the princess to keep watch over Miss Sparkle to make sure she was alright. Why would she need to go down to the dungeons?”
“One of the prisoners wishing to speak with her,” the new guard replied. “Apparently there’s something only Miss Sparkle has the ability to do.”
The guards glanced at each other, before shaking their heads, the one who’d spoken saying, “Whatever the prisoner wishing to see her for will have to wait. Miss Sparkle is in no state to speak with them right now,” he finished his sentence with a bit of disgust entering his tone.
The guard nodded, something like a scowl almost flashing across his face, before he turned and headed back down the corridor.
The first guard, the one who’d almost lost his composure before, looked to his comrade. “What was that all about?”
The other shrugged. “Beats me. But our orders were clear and I don’t think the princess would appreciate if she found out we let Miss Sparkle speak with those creatures right now.”
With that said, they both resumed their roles standing outside the bedroom, trying not to listening to wails coming from within.
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“And that is what happened,” Celestia finished, having spent the last few minutes explaining to all present as to exactly why Twilight had run out crying and why Shining and Cadance had not been able to say “I do” during the wedding.
All, understandably, stared at the princess, some in shock for reasons slightly different than others.
“Ya’ll mean ta tell me Discord used ta be Starswirl the Bearded? Seriously? Discord?” Applejack asked, her expression understandably sceptical.
“And the only reason he became that horrible being his did is because of this mare and her spell?” Rarity asked, quite appalled.
Celestia nodded.
“And... T-T-Twilight used that same sp-sp-spell on Cadance?” Fluttershy stuttered.
The white Alicorn nodded again, then sighed. “Though, as I said, it seems we narrowly escaped a repeat of that disaster.”
Rainbow nudged Applejack in the side, giving a sly grin. “Wonder which of the Royal Guard it was that had their eyes on Twi.”
Applejack shook her head. “Dunno. But, princess, what about that guard? If’n what happened to him is the same as with Shinin’ Armour, who did his Soulbond connect to?”
Celestia sighed. “Fortunately, it seems he was close enough in range to a mare who didn’t have a Soulbond of her own, meaning it ended with them.” Another sighed escaped her. “That, however, is not what we should be focused on, right now.”
She looked to Shining Armour and Cadance.
“So... if Twilight made a Soulbond with Cadance, who’s Shining’s bonded with now?” Spike asked, looking thoroughly confused.
Celestia did not meet any of their eyes. “That is something I shall speak with him in private about, later.”
“It’s not you, is it, Your Highness?” Rarity asked, then gasped at the implications.
Celestia blinked, then chuckled, shaking her head. “No, no, Rarity. I can assure you, he did not make a Soulbond with myself.”
Pinkie looked like she was about to ask something else, when Cadance whirled around and hurried out of the room.
“What’s up with her?” Dash frowned, folding her forelegs as she hovered in place next to Applejack.
“Cadance now shares her Soulbond with Twilight,” Fluttershy murmured. “She’ll probably worried about Twilight and wants to comfort her.”
Applejack nodded. “Even without that Soulbond thing, those two were pretty close when Twi was a youn’n. Wouldn’t be right if she weren’t worried.”
Celestia looked to Shining Armour and indicated for him to follow her. It was time he learned who his Soulbond was now connected to.
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A knock came from the bedroom door.
“Go away!” Twilight sobbed, her voice muffled by her pillow.
“Twilight?” the calm voice made Twilight stiffen and her heart skip a beat. “Can I please come in?”
Twilight had every intent to say “no”, to tell the mare on the other side of the door to leave her alone, but, to her surprise, she felt her magic around her horn and heard the sound of the lock unclicking.
The doors slowly opened and Cadance gently walked in, her hoofsteps barely making a sound against the floor.
Twilight couldn’t bring herself to look up. She didn’t want to meet Cadance’s gaze. How could she forgive her? She’d ruined Cadance’s chance of being with Shining Armour. She’d destroyed the Soulbond between them. How could Cadance ever forgive her for that?
It was a few moments before Twilight noticed the weight on her bed that hadn’t been there before, along with the feeling of a wing draped over her back.
However, she kept her face buried in her pillow, not able to meet Cadance’s gaze, which she just knew was fixed on her right now.
“Twilight?” Cadance whispered, a tiny hint of playfulness, like the kind she’d used back when she’d been Twilight’s foalsitter, in her voice. “I’d rather talk to your face than your pillow. Could you please look at me?”
Something in her voice hit a cord in the unicorn’s mind. Reluctantly, Twilight lifted and turned her head. Cadance had gotten onto the bed next to her. She was looking at Twilight, not with a disappointed or betrayed look, as Twilight had expected to see, but a kind, thankful smile on her face.
“How can you even look at me?” Twilight sniffed, her red eyes leaking more tears. “I ripped yours and Shining’s Soulbond apart. Because of me, you two can’t get married anymore.”
Cadance remained silent for a moment, then looked up at the ceiling. “True, because of what you did, Shining and I don’t feel like we used to towards each other. Had you not used that spell on me, our bond would have never changed. If you hadn’t used that spell on me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
Twilight lowered down, pressing herself deeper into the bedcovers.
Cadance gave a small smile. “However, had you not used that spell, I also wouldn’t be alive right now, Chrysalis would be married to Shining and all of Equestria would have become a feeding ground for the Changelings.”
Twilight glanced up and saw the smile on Cadance’s face clearer, before the pink Alicorn leaned down and rested her head on hers. “You saved my life, Twilight. I could never hate you for that.”
Twilight was stunned into silence. Cadance didn’t hate her? How? How could she not hate her? She took Shining Armour’s love away from her and gave it to that monster that kept Cadance trapped in the crystal caverns. She should hate her guts.
However, while her mind had started off going through all the reasons why Cadance should hate her as opposed to having forgiven her, she realized that she was starting to feel relaxed and her mind started to shelve those other thoughts away for another time.
They spent the next few hours just sitting there on Twilight’s old bed, enjoying the feeling of being with each other.
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“Are you sure you wish to see her?” Celestia asked Shining Armour as they moved trhough the dungeon, their destination: the cell in which Chrysalis and her loyal Changelings resided.
Shining Armour nodded, his expression firm. Oh, he needed to be down here, alright. It was that monster’s fault that Twilight had to use that spell, her fault that all of this had happened. He was going to give her a verbal lashing the likes of which would make others tremble.
However, as they neared the hallway leading to the Changelings’ cell, the sound of sobbing could be heard from within.
Both glanced at each other, before breaking into a gallop. When they reached the cell, what they saw shocked them. The Changelings all looked different now. To be honest, they all looked like ponies, only with insect wings and dragon-like eyes.
But, what really caught their attention were two Changeling’s lying on the floor of the cell. They did not look like the others, but as Shining and Celestia remembered they should look.
The other, pony-looking, Changelings were crowded around them, all with their heads down, mournful expressions on their faces. Standing before them all was Chrysalis, who was sobbing uncontrollably, her tears sliding down her now pony face, dripping down onto the two still Changelings in the middle of the group.
Celestia noticed a large hole in the middle of the back wall that was being rebuilt by multiple Royal Guards.
She blinked. Had the Changelings tried to break their Queen out? But they swore on her name that they wouldn’t do that.
Her brow furrowed, Celestia cleared her throat. A few Changelings glanced in her direction for a moment before returning their gaze to the ground.
Chrysalis slowly looked up, her eyes red from her tears.
Celestia’s expression faltered for a moment, before she managed keep it in place and spoke. “What happened?”
“They... they tried to break me out,” Chrysalis whispered, brushing a hoof Celestia noticed had no holes in it across the two still Changelings’ faces. “Your... your guards stopped them, but... but they fought back, even against my orders.”
Celestia’s gaze turned to the Changelings, not sure which of them was the one she’d spoken to in the throne room. “Who among you is Carapace?” She been told the name by one of the guards who’d overheard them talking after the Changelings had all been brought to their queen.
One of the Changelings stepped forward, bowing her head. “I, Your Highness,” she replied quietly.
Celestia scowled at her. “You all told me you gave your word you would not do what your queen has just stated those two did. Would you care to explain?”
The other Changelings did not respond in a way Celestia, nor Shining Armour, had anticipated coming. They all lifted their heads and scowled at the two, Celestia now realized lifeless, ones on the floor.
“They were traitors,” Carapace said, a small Changeling coming up next to her that Celestia identified as her child. “One had pretended to be one of your guards, while the other was hidden among us. They used their abilities with mind magic to fool even us into thinking the one among us wanted what we did.”
“They were, however, sent by Chitin,” another of the Changelings, a male said, his voice cold. “They’re mission was to break our Queen out and take her to their hive for execution... along with the unicorn Twilight Sparkle... or kill them both if they were unable to escape.”
Celestia stiffened at that. A Changeling had meant to take Twilight?
“Th-they attacked us, hurt my leg,” the little Changeling next to Carapace said, Celestia now noticing the limp she had, her right foreleg lifted so her hoof wasn’t touching the floor.
Celestia’s expression changed as she looked to Chrysalis, a question ready for the Changeling Queen that she was sure she already knew the answer to, but felt should be asked, all the same.
“Why do you cry for them, when they meant to have you brought in for execution?”
Chrysalis’ expression hardened as she looked up at Celestia. “They were still my Changelings. I could still feel their suffering and deaths after your guards attacked them.”
Shining Armour frowned. “Didn’t she just say they attacked first?” Shining Armour pointed to Carapace.
The Changeling Queen fell silent at his voice and looked away.
Carapace answered instead. “Yes, those two did attack the guards first. But they still counter attacked.”
Celestia nodded, for both answers, having a similar feeling for her ponies that Chrysalis clearly did for her Changelings. “I will have a doctor brought down to care you the injured among you. What do you wish be done with the bodies?” she asked, this time directly to Chrysalis.
After some more sobbing, she looked up at Celestia. “I would like to give them a burial. Even if they will ill on me, I understand their reasons and, even if they were not my followers anymore, they were still my Changelings.”
Celestia nodded and turned to leave, but paused and glanced back at the queen. "Why have you all taken that form?"
It was Carapace's nymph that answered. "We awe woyal to Chwysawis. We won't wook wike dose mean Changwings anymowe."
"This is our new, permanent form," Carapace continued for her daughter.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "New permanent form?"
Chrysalis answered her this time. "Once in a Changeling's life, that can chose to make another their normal form. It has not been done, however, in centuries, our kind wishing to remain the way we have been since before you and your sister took to raising the sun and moon. They chose this for to serve me, not wishing to hold any connection to my sister's hive. I have taken this form too."
Celestia nodded and turned to leave, only to notice Shining Armour was not doing the same.
“Shining Armour?” she asked.
Shining Armour said nothing for a moment, then looked to the princess. “I’m coming.”
He hesitated for another moment, his eyes on Chrysalis as she nuzzled the lifeless Changelings on the floor, before turning and following the princess out, unable to get the sight of Chrysalis sobbing over those Changelings’ bodies, nor the sound of her mournful cries from his mind.