Shining Armor stood at his post in the Castle Courtyard, directing the Guard to their posts in preparation for the big event that was to come. Many of the Guard were a bit confused at the last minute changes he'd made to both assignments and general layout of guard positions, putting veterans at seeming unimportant points and raw recruits at seemingly key positions. This was because his time in Haven had showed him just how effective 'traditional' guard setups were, leaving him to work feverishly to recreate the work Jak had done in coming up with a Guard patrol and detail that had successfully kept them out (the final test before the plan was approved). It was his hope that the new lineup - leaving those with experience and expertise but weighed down by age at command and observation posts, while those with stamina and fire but lacking in wisdom were at combat positions - would prove at least somewhat effective in keeping the city safe.
As he directed them, he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. "I have something to say to you, mister!" the lavender unicorn proclaimed as she stomped towards him.
Guards immediately leveled weapons, but Shining waved them off. "Twiley!" he called out eagerly, discarding his helmet as he rushed forward, eager to get to know her all over again. "I've missed you, kid! How was the train ride?" He reached his hoof towards her chin. "I-"
She immediately pulled back angrily. "How dare you not tell me in person that you were getting married?" she demanded, glaring at him. "I'm your sister for pony's sake!"
Okay, looks like language is the biggest thing I'll need to get used to, Shining thought to myself. "Well, to be fair, with how busy I've been snapping the Guard into shape to deal with an unknown threat and preparing for the wedding, I haven't even told Mom and Dad in person yet, and they live here in Canterlot. It's not like you were singled out."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better that I learned about this 'from the desk of Princess Celestia'?" Twilight countered back, plainly not willing to give an inch until she got all her anger out. "You could have at least written the invitation yourself!"
"I meant to, Twiley, I really did," Shining promised. Glancing up, he saw his Aegis starting to dim as the energy cycling lost enough juice to show. "But this..." Focusing his mind, he sent his magical energy up into the sphere, charging it once more to full strength. "...takes a lot of my mental focus, and between that and the Guard details, I just couldn't manage to write a good letter. Princess Celestia offered to do it for me, and probably kept it 'official' to avoid spilling any details to anyone not cleared for them, depending on who was around when Spike belched up the letter." He paused mentally as he realized how much he was saying that he hadn't even been aware of before, but he now remembered. Fire breathing fax machine. Keira will have a field day with that. "Besides, she's the only one who can send to you via Spike's dragonfire." Turning, he led Twilight up to a bridge between two towers where they could have some privacy.
Twilight, for her part, lowered her eyes. "Okay, okay, I get it. You've got a really important job, and that has to come first. But still...how could you not tell me about something as important as your wedding?"
"Oh, like we've had so many opportunities for face to face discourse since you moved to Ponyville," Shining teased. "Like when you told me you defeated Nightmare Moon- no wait, I learned that from the official report." He shot her a playful glare, smirking as he did so.
Much to his pleasure, Twilight countered with a blown raspberry. "Har har," she grumbled petulantly. She then sighed sadly. "I guess...we've drifted apart. Are we just...not as important to each other anymore?"
"It's called growing up, Twiley," Shining offered softly. "It happens to the best of us eventually." Though some of the older guards still wonder at times when it's going to be Celestia's turn, he thought ruefully. "And hey, would I be asking you to be my Best Mare if you weren't important to me anymore?"
"You want me to be your Best Mare?" Twilight gasped in shock.
"Well, yeah!" Shining insisted warmly.
"I'd be honored," Twilight spoke warmly, bowing. She happily accepted the embrace Shining offered, but then pushed him away. "I'm still pretty ticked you're marrying somepony I don't even know-"
"You mean your old foalsitter, Princess Cadence?" Shining interrupted with another smirk.
Shining chuckled softly to himself as he watched Twilight wax eloquently about how great Cadence was. He didn't really need to track the exact words, as even as Twilight spoke the memories started to come back. As she danced and cheered, he noticed Cadence herself stepping out onto the bridge...but something was off about her. As Twilight nearly bumped into her, the Princess asked, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," her voice...unpleasantly harsh.
Shining wanted to just shrug it off on wedding stress/jitters, but something about the whole thing bothered him. Looking at her...he felt nothing. He tried to pretend, hoping it was just some sort of disconnect. But the more he saw, the more he was convinced something was off.
And then when she hugged him...he could have sworn he felt Dark Eco inside her. And not a corruption like when it had been forcefully infused into him, but as though it had been embraced like with Errol. As she turned away - he still pretending everything was 'normal' - he stared after her, frowning. Noticing Twilight staring at him, he faked a quick smile before going about his day.
He hoped he was able to put together what was going on sooner rather than later. He really wished he could get Twilight's help...but he didn't know enough about what was going on to take any risks...yet.
hmm.... seems Chryssi ain't as stealthy anymorei390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/stryke81/MLP/can_i_help_you__by_dop4min3rgic-d4j9x9g.jpg
meanwhile deep in the canterlot crystal caves.
Daxter: we're lost
Jak: We're not lost we just have no idea where we are.
Daxter: So we're lost
???: who's there?
7756831 To be perfectly fair, Chrysalis did everything right. What messed up her plans was the last minute arrival of one of the few ponies that knew how the real Cadence acted. (And even then she rallied valiantly, and managed to overpower Princess Celestia on her own.)
Same thing here, only this time Shining's not spent months being mentally drained by her. He sees the discrepancies and realizes something's wrong. Not only that, but he can sense Dark Eco, and likely Dark Magic, and how it intermingles with a person/pony.
Chrysalis was perfectly stealthy... it's just that she didn't, couldn't, account for the rather unlikely event of Shining suddenly and without explanation, in her POV, regaining his complete mental faculties, as well as being able to sense something no pony else has ever been able to sense.
7756849 Ugh. Terminology is a nightmare when you throw Ponies and their altered nouns and pronouns into the mix...
7756849 true
7756849 she was kind of a moron, not even trying to act like the real thing, or doing any research into her at all. it was amateur work. certain details, like that weird dance thing, i could understand her not knowing, but not doing any research into cadance's personality was just stupid, and that's why she failed. in fact, i find it hard to believe no one else noticed, although ponies are notoriously dim-witted, but you'd think at least Celestia would know something was up, unless she did know and was just being a troll.
Thank you! Thank you SO MUCH Tatsurou, for yet another better version than that horseshit-fest that was the Season 2 finale. As much as I love the songs, and Chrysalis, those episodes rank as some of the laziest that were written.
And this is when Faust was still at the helm!
My major gripe with the episode has always been how the 'apology' towards Twilight at the end was handled. Not only that, but that she just accepted it without showing any anger.
Even so, I do see that it's a kid's show, so Twily needs to show herself as being magnanimous. Still, they could have at least shown a better apology.
Ah! Ah! He did it! Shining can detect Chrysalis with the Equestrian equivalent of Dark Eco!
7756851 Yep. That's why I completely disregard it.
I can't believe it. You're taking this event we all know and making me feel suspense about it! How!?
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7756849 Are you serious. Chrysalis in that episode was an incompetent idiot. Completely unable to act as the pony whose form she had taken and singing about her deception without any idea of who might be listening. And that isn't even taking into account how fucking self-destructive the invasion idea was in the first place. She claims feed on love, but that is going going to be hard to come by when you make your prey hate you and suspect everyone they meet of being one of your servants. That kind of suspicious environment would destroy the pony ability to feel honest love. In short she was going to destroy her best possible food source. And before you start explaining of her trying to do it before being noticed, consider that her changelings were going to destroy the shield and attack Canterlot even without her being found out. Why the fuck else would she have had her swarm outside the shield and have sent the damn warning in the first place?
And lets not forget the fuck-up that was Celestia in that episode. That episode alone most likely multiplied the cliche of Royal Incompetence. You do not keep a nation in peace for centuries, let alone a full millenia by being a fucking idiot. The level of ignorance Celestia showed in just that on episode painted a picture of a figurehead unable to handle the most inane politics of the most inbred braindead nobility. She calls Cadence her niece but fails to even suspect anything when her behavior does a full to the opposite direction or when her captain of the guard is acting strangely. If your captain cannot perform his duty for a while then someone else should take over, but no, let's keep the clearly distracted stallion whose condition is not perfectly clear not only keeping up a city enveloping shield but also handling the stress of his own approuching wedding. Seriously, who ever wrote that episode screwed up beyond any and all words in my vocabulary.
Sorry about venting like that. I have just seen far too many otherwise good stories ruined by the cliche this episode started/compounded and that has left me with a few issues about it.
7756836 and Keira having a talk with Luna about magic and how she and Celestia move the sun and moon which would explain her absence
7757052
Royal wedding = large amounts of stress for organizer. In this case, Celestia. It's understandable that she missed Cadence acting odd.
Do you really want Hasbro trying to depict a Cold War scenario with any kind of accuracy? The show would get taken down so fast it's not funny.
7757637
Tatsu doesn't do sex change, ever, so keep dreaming.
7758201
s2.quickmeme.com/img/5e/5e15d1a66d2aadfcfbb1d38a972ee48a90480e88332fd836ab6fbff147e75a58.jpg
.....So..........Wheres Jak?
7758216 https://youtu.be/g-4-gLlF0uw?list=PLkWx61Ae4I7ImpvA8mtnRmj6xsUZswi0l
Edit: Whoops. That leads to my playlist..... please don't judge
Bug Queen is not going to be happy very soon. Especially if Twilight and Shining double team her. I can't wait to see how this goes down, then we've got Sombra being a douche bag and Flurry Heart's birth. It's actually more realistic to expect an Alicorn birth with Shining having Eco powers, maybe he'll go Alicorn soon??? I can just imagine the look on Blueblood's face if Shining is now an actual Prince compared to him.
7757817 i understand why they did what they did, i just took offense to him saying she was at all well disguised.
7758830
Sure Mega Man died, but it sounds like Shining will swat a fly.
7829023
fuck, you made me sad
Chryssy better watch it. He's not as zonked out here.
7756849
Nope. No way. Not at all. This line of thought doesn't work. IMO, Chrysalis. Got. Lucky.
First, she probably only did enough research to capture Cadance to get into position to cast her spell on Shining. It would have only needed one to get him into a position of being drained. She then probably acted the way that many women are wont to act- at least according to stereotypes -before impending nuptials; cold, aloof, and real snappish. She banked on pushing Twilight over the edge as a way to get rid of her; which would have worked if she hadn't decided to gloat afterwards. Then, at the finish line, she started monologuing, giving Twilight the few seconds she needed to free Cadance and get her to Shining in time.
As much as I like her, Chrysalis is like any Over-the-Top villain in kid's media; either relies on henchmen that fail time and again, uses the exact same tired old strategy over and over- like every Power Rangers Big Bad, or decides to monologue at the precise wrong time.