Thirty-Six Hours Later…
The Equestria Northern Line train pulled into the Crystal Empire’s ornate new Central Terminal. Twilight immediately hopped out of the first-class cabin car she had demanded from the conductor… who was glad to see her gone; so many questions about the technical workings of the train interspersed with comments amounting to ‘are we there yet’ had worn down his sanity. She ran across the platform, paying little to no attention where she was going, when she smacked head-on into an orange Pegasus in royal guard regalia.
“Oh! You’re… Flash Sentry, right?” Twilight asked with a blush.
“Yes, Princess Twilight. I’m glad you remember my name, but I wish you would quit literally running into me. This is about the third or fourth time.”
Eighth, counting your other-world self, Twilight thought.
“Anyway, I’ve been asked to escort you to the palace. Please follow me,” Flash said, his tone strictly business. Twilight frowned as she contrasted the terse stallion before her with the other Flash, whom her suddenly rekindled hormones would never allow her to forget.
One quick carriage ride later, Twilight and Flash arrived at the Crystal Palace in the exact centre of the city. She jumped off the carriage, leaving Flash shaking his head, and galloped at full speed into the main entrance on the north leg, scaling the spiral stairs two at a time until she made it to the floor containing the throne room (much more modest than Celestia’s) and the Grand Balcony. There she found her brother, Shining Armor, waiting for her, his face intentionally as blank as he could make it.
“Hello, big brother,” Twilight said, unnecessarily curtly. “Where’s Cadance? I have a super-important message for her from Princess Celestia!”
“Uh, Twily?” Shining Armor said carefully, “Cadance left for Canterlot yesterday, probably less than an hour after you got on the train here.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide and her pupils shrank as her brain snapped. “Wha-? Buh? Eh?”
Shining Armor sucked air in through his teeth and began to prepare his barrier shield as he scratched his head. “Yeah. Princess Celestia has a direct line to Cadance no one else but them knew about, and she apparently wanted an excuse to get you as far away from everyone as possible for as long as possible.”
Twilight said nothing, although her left eye twitched involuntarily as her horn sparked just as involuntarily and her ears drooped.
“But hey,” Shining Armor said in a vain attempt to salvage the situation. “We’ve already paid for your return ticket to Ponyville! And it’s the scenic route!” He held up the tickets via his aura along with his left forehoof – if he possessed a thumb, he would extend it upwards as he had seen Spike do many times – while sporting a full-toothed smile so big his eyes involuntarily closed.
Crystal Ponies going about their business near the palace turned towards it as they heard a great explosion accompanied by acrid grey smoke pouring out of the balcony threshold for several minutes. Eventually, Shining Armor, completely unharmed, stepped onto the balcony to address his wife’s citizens and inform them that everything was in fact fine. Nothing to worry about save an angry little sister.
Inside, in the middle of a scorched circle on the crystal floor, lay a totally drained (magically and psychologically) Twilight Sparkle, who let out a defeated sigh as she recalled Princess Celestia’s enjoyment of premeditated misdirection.
“She got me again.”