“I’m sure your sister is safe, sir.” Flash’s voice said. “We will find her very soon.”
“And I want those who have dared kidnap her too.” said Shining’s voice. “I’ll teach them about trying anything against my little sister! They are somewhere here in the streets. That’s why I want to install my new headquarter in your house, to stay close to the search.”
Twilight realized that she was not only separated from Flash Sentry by nothing more than a few planks, but also that she was in his actual house. And in a second, the old walls of the basements turned into gold, the dusty shelves turned into a museum exposition about the marvels of Equestria and the dry and cold air happened to fill with scents and sounds of joy and pure intoxicating happiness.
“Alright.” Bon Bon, who had quickly analyzed the situation, said. “This place is compromised. We have to move. We will escape through the sewers, follow them to the waste reception center and disguise ourselves as homeless ponies.”
Lyra sighed, knowing there was no point to argue.
But Twilight decided it had gone far enough.
“What are you doing?” Bon Bon asked, panicking as she watched Twilight go up the stairs.
“I’m putting an end to this madness.” Twilight replied. “And you should come with me and apologize for all you have done.”
On the upper floor, Shining armor was transforming the living room into a proper headquarter with maps of the city all over and a whole intelligence center to filter the reports from the patrols he had dispatched all over the streets.
“I will find you Twilight. I promise!” he vowed.
“I’m sure you will big brother.” Twilight replied, emerging from the basement.
She startled Shining Armor who jumped on the living room’s table and, once he had recognized it really was his little sister, immediately hugged her, almost suffocating her.
“What happened?” He asked. “Are you hurt? How did you escape, where are your kidnapers?”
“They are in the basement.” Twilight replied. “They are just two mares fooling around. Nothing serious. It’s just all a big misunderstanding.”
She had just said those words that she saw Flash entering the room. Her eyes refused to look at anything else and her mouth refused to say any word that wouldn’t be dedicated to him and him alone.
Shining Armor had seen the guard too and ordered him to go with some other and arrest the two mares in the basement, which the guards did. A moment later, both Bon Bon and Lyra were surrounded by guards and under arrest.
“Twilight told me you aren’t dangerous. But you will still have some explaining to do to the princess. Also, you have a wall to help rebuild.” Shining Armor said.
“Excuse me…” Bon Bon replied. “But would you allow a mare some concern about her appearance and for her to go put on something decent if she is to meet with the princess?”
Shining Armor hesitated, as he didn’t want any more surprise, but Flash Sentry convinced him to grant the mare her wish, as he would personally make sure none of the prisoners would escape. So both Lyra and Bon Bon got to put on a dress, shoes, as well as earrings and, for Bon Bon, a bow tie.
As everypony was ready, they all went back to the crystal palace where Twilight separated from the others as she wanted to explain everything to Cadance and, as the same time, reassure her about her well being.
She found Cadance in her bed room, whose face lit up as she saw Twilight. A second later, both mares were hugging each other.
“I was so worried for you.” Cadance said.
“I’m sorry.” Twilight responded. “It was all just a silly misunderstanding. Please don’t be too harsh on the culprits. They didn’t mean to do anything bad. They were just mislead. You won’t believe this: one of them is convinced that you have planned to rid Equestria of love, can you imagine it?”
Cadance laughed, as did Twilight.
“Ponies are very surprising, aren’t they?” Cadance asked.
“They sure are. But you can’t be mad at them to try and do what they think is right. Even if they are wrong.”
“Wrong?” Cadance asked.
“Yes, you know, about the whole conspiracy thing with you getting rid of love. It’s ridiculous isn’t it?”
“You find it ridiculous?” Cadance asked.
“Of course. I know you would never do such a thing. It’s just absurd.”
“Is it?”
At this point, Twilight felt a shiver go through her spine. Cadance’s insistence was playing with her nerves. She couldn’t really understand it. Well, she did have an explanation for it, but she just refused to give it any more thought.
“You did the right thing, Twilight.” Cadance said. “It is very important for ponies to ignore what we are doing. It could become a problem: they wouldn’t understand. But you, I know you. You are smart, rational. You can help me in my endeavor.”
Now Twilight was sweating. She could hear Cadance’s voice, but the words weren’t making any sense.
“This is why you came to me, right?” Cadance asked with a comforting smile. “You wanted advices about love. You wanted a solution to the turmoil in your head. I’ve been studying love my whole life and I found that solution. I understand love, I discovered its true nature: it is a poison Twilight!”
But Twilight was trying as best as she could to convince herself she wasn’t hearing those words. And to not see the violet flames coming out of Cadance’s green eyes.
“Love is a destructive force. Because of love, Celestia almost destroyed both Equestria and another dimension. Love made changelings the creatures they are nowadays. All over Equestria ponies fight each other because of love affairs. Some end in tragedy and everypony turns a blind eye as if it were a fatality. As if it were normal.”
“Love isn’t a bad thing!” Twilight finally responded. “You were there: you saw how your love for my brother and my brother’s love for you saved us all from the changeling’s invasion.”
“Exactly!” Cadance replied. “Love is a weapon put in the hooves of thousands and thousands of ponies who have no idea how to handle it. So they get hurt, they hurt each other and they do not even understand why. You know I’m right. You know I’m saying the truth. You have seen it!”
“I… I…”
Twilight wasn’t prepared for that… debate. She wasn’t prepared at all for anything that was happening. She looked around, but saw no escape. And where would she escape to? She couldn’t just go to her brother and tell him that Cadance had turned evil. Because that is what was happening.
“You are evil!” Twilight suddenly shouted.
A silence ensued, because Twilight hadn’t prepared to say anything else and Cadance was waiting, until she eventually said:
“You disappoint me Twilight. I had really hoped you, from all ponies, would understand. But you are like all the others. You aren’t thinking rationally. You are blinded by your emotions.”
It was still hurting for Twilight to hear Cadance saying she was a disappointment. Even if she knew she shouldn’t feel hurt at all. But at the same time, rationally speaking, she was confused. She knew she hadn’t countered any of Cadance’s argument. She hadn’t even heard those arguments. She wasn’t acting rationally.
Well, she was, because Cadance’s eyes were green, and she had violent flames coming out them, and she had a mean grin on her face, so Cadance had clearly turned evil, but still…
“It doesn’t matter.” Cadance said. “You won’t stop me. But for now, let’s get rid of that love you have for this “Flash Sentry”. I’m going to save you, Twilight Sparkle, whether you want it or not.”
Cadance’s horn lit up, but Twilight reacted and created a shield around her. It would have worked, had Cadance used an attack, but her spell went right through the shield and into twilight’s mind, then to her soul. Twilight felt a violent pain all over her body and fell on the ground as a part of her was being ripped off. Images of Flash Sentry ran in front of her eyes, his smile, his eyes, his hooves for some reason, and then both the pain and the images disappeared.
Her love was gone. And all around, the room had been turned into the copy of a battlefield from the spell’s blasting effect.
“Nooooooo!” Twilight lamented.
But she stopped there. She wasn’t feeling any pain. She wasn’t feeling bad. In fact, she wasn’t feeling much. As if nothing had changed.
“Don’t you feel better now?” Cadance asked.
“I… I don’t really feel any different at all.”
Cadance smiled widely and suddenly started shouting for the guards to come help her. A second later twelve guards had entered the room, literally walking over each other as the door wouldn’t allow them to enter all at once, and Cadance ordered them to arrest Twilight for having tried to attack her.
The guards looked at the state of the room, deducted a battle had taken place and followed the order, ignoring Twilight’s shouting about their princess being evil and some other senseless stuff.
Shining Armor arrived too and immediately asked Cadance why his little sister was being taken to the prison.
“I’m sorry dear. The mares that kidnapped her must have used a spell or done something to her. She is convinced I’ve turned evil and she tried to attack me. I barely blocked her attack.”
Shining Armor looked at Cadance’s eyes, those eyes he knew so well. He wanted to protect his little sister the best he could, but there were those eyes and those he trusted more than anything. If Cadance said his little sister had attacked her, then it had to be true.
“Do not worry.” Cadance told him. “I’ll make sure to heal Twilight and bring her back to us. Leave it to me. I’ll succeed.”
Once again, Shining Armor trusted her and accepted to leave the entire matter into her expert hooves.