Twilight sat at her desk against the window, reading in the sunlight with the few minutes she had before the homeroom teacher showed up. She tuned out the quiet conversations around her as the other students found their seats and got ready for the school day.
She had just turned a page when a hesitant voice said, “Um, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight looked up, meeting the eyes of the young mare who had approached her desk.
“I’m Moon Dancer,” she said. “I just wanted to say hello, since you just transferred to Canterlot.”
“Hello,” Twilight replied. She started to turn back to her book.
“Is that The Complete History of Griffonia?” Moon Dancer asked.
Surprised, Twilight looked up again, actually pausing to notice Moon Dancer for the first time. The two of them had nearly the same straight-cut mane style, though Moon Dancer’s color was more magenta and Twilight’s was more purple. Aside from both being unicorns, their appearance diverged from there. Twilight’s coat was lavender while Moon Dancer was pale. Moon Dancer also wore thick black glasses.
Twilight showed her the cover of the book. “Have you read it?”
“It’s a good summary, but I think some of the translated griffon works do a better job explaining the minutia,” Moon Dancer replied. “If you’re interested, I could recommend a few.”
Just then a hoof grabbed Moon Dancer around the neck. “Hey nerd, what are you and the transfer student talking about?”
The newcomer was a mint and white unicorn mare with eager golden eyes. She grinned at Twilight, her foreleg still draped over Moon Dancer’s withers.
“Lyra, this is Twilight Sparkle,” said Moon Dancer.
“Lyra Heartstrings.” She offered her hoof to Twilight, who returned the gesture. Lyra said, “You look like you’re in shape. We need somepony to play the tuba in the marching band.”
“I don’t think I’m quite who you’re seeking,” said Twilight.
“Playing music is easy,” said Lyra. “You just have to remember directions and follow them. I bet a neat freak like you would be great at it.” She gestured to Twilight’s desk, which contained a notepad, pencil, eraser, and inkpen perfectly arranged on top.
Twilight flushed. Moon Dancer elbowed Lyra and apologized to Twilight. “She just says whatever’s on her mind, but I assure you, she means well. If you’re looking for an extracurricular, though, I’m part of the library club.”
“Maybe,” said Twilight. “I haven’t really gotten settled in Canterlot yet.”
“Well, if you need anything, just let us know. I know all the best places for all the best things. And don’t forget, the Spring School Sojourn is coming up. I think we’re going to the beach this year.” Lyra waved goodbye and turned to go to her desk. She promptly tripped over Twilight’s school bag, which sat neatly beside her desk.
The bag upended on the floor, scattering supplies everywhere. “Oh, sorry!” Lyra exclaimed, immediately grabbing at the various debris to stuff them back in the bag. Moon Dancer helped. Twilight also began to pick up her things.
“Whoa, check this out,” said Lyra, uncovering a capped fountain pen in the clutter. It was black and silver, ornately engraved, and polished to a mirror finish.
Twilight’s magic yanked it out from under Lyra’s nose and she threw it into her bag without a word. Just then, the teacher walked into the room and the students began to take their seats. Lyra and Moon Dancer scrambled back to theirs.
Twilight slumped at her desk as the lecture began. She touched her chest briefly and took a breath, getting her heart rate under control. She’d panicked for a moment when Lyra had found that particular pen. She kept it with her, always, but never used it.
The lesson began. Twilight’s mind wandered, which was uncharacteristic of her, but she’d self-taught well in advance of this lesson, trying to make up for transferring mid-year. She looked out the window.
The school day trickled by. At lunch, Twilight didn’t leave her desk, instead turning back to her book while eating.
A desk scraped across the floor and bumped into Twilight’s. She looked up to see Lyra pushing it over.
“Hey, I’m sorry again about this morning,” said Lyra as she sat down.
“It’s no problem,” said Twilight.
She braced for Lyra to ask about the pen, but Moon Dancer appeared just then. She looked between the two of them. “Are we eating together?”
Lyra looked at Twilight. What would it hurt? “Sure,” Twilight said.
Moon Dancer grabbed a desk and sat down. She opened her lunchbox, but paused. “Oh, did you copy down that last trigonometry function? I was busy with another one when the chalkboard was erased.”
Twilight checked her notes and found that she had the requested equation. She spent the rest of lunch talking math with Moon Dancer, noticing that Lyra’s eyes had glazed over. Something about that amused her.
The conversation was better than nothing, Twilight supposed. It surprised her that she missed talking to ponies. It wasn’t better than books, but really, what was?
While they talked, Moon Dancer accidentally bumped an apple at the edge of her desk with her fetlock. She’d set it aside to work on math. Twilight’s hoof shot out almost before it had finished rolling off the desk, snagging the apple without even using magic.
“Whoa, those are some reflexes,” said Lyra. “Maybe you should play the drums instead.”
“Thank you,” said Moon Dancer as Twilight returned the apple to her. “Do you play sports?”
“I exercise,” Twilight said. “I don’t really play anything, instruments or sports.”
“What’s your workout like?” Lyra asked.
“I blend a mix of practical routines and endurance. I don’t build, I just work to exhaustion.” Twilight flushed, not intending to say so much.
“Wow, a super smart, super athletic loner moves to our school? Are you the protagonist of some kind of Saturday morning cartoon?”
Lyra roared with laughter at her own joke, distracting herself from Twilight’s brief but panicked expression.
At the end of the day, a wave of students swept from the building, Twilight washed along with them. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of a tall pink unicorn standing at the school gate. She was dressed in a jacket too warm for the weather. Their eyes met.
“What are you doing here, Cadance?” Twilight asked in a low voice as she approached.
“I need to talk to you,” Cadance replied. She glanced around. “Not here, of course.”
“I’m not going to go anywhere with you.”
Cadance tipped her head. “Just for a beverage?”
Twilight hesitated. “Alright.”
Two blocks down the street was a small donut shop. The two of them got a coffee and a donut each and sat in a nook in the back. Out of sight from the front door, Cadance took her jacket off. Her back was scarred, raw skin where there should have been wings.
“It looks like your surgery went well,” said Twilight.
“As well as could be expected,” said Candance neutrally. “I think we both knew they weren’t going to be able to save anything, so they just smoothed out what remained as best they could.”
Twilight took a sip of her coffee. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I wanted to ask about your school. We’re moving the development group to Canterlot.”
Twilight stared at her. “You don’t mean…”
“Fluttershy will have to pick a new school. Yours is on the list for consideration.”
“You know that’s not really a consideration at all,” said Twilight. “She’s going to choose my school. I just know it.”
Cadance dipped her head. “While you’re probably right, I am doing my due diligence getting information about several possible schools for her.”
“The whole point of me moving to Canterlot was to get away from this,” said Twilight. “I got out. I don’t want to be a part of the Element Warfare Development Group. Nightmare Moon is dead, and I am done.”
“I understand,” said Cadance.
Twilight stared at her. “Please don’t do this. Don’t insult my intelligence. The development group coming to Canterlot and Fluttershy coming to my school? The pressure is going to be on me to rejoin even if it isn’t stated.”
“You can keep saying no, just like you’ve been doing.”
“You know how bad I am at saying no.” Twilight sighed, her eyes going to Cadance’s scarred back again. “We all are.”
She paused, opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Cadance said, “You look like you want to say something else.”
“I do,” said Twilight. “I want to ask why the group is moving to Canterlot. Why now? But I don’t want to know.”
Cadance’s eyebrows lifted. “You’ve never been one to deliberately turn away from knowledge.”
“They say knowledge is power,” muttered Twilight. “And I don’t need it.”
Twilight got up abruptly, dropping a few bits on the table but leaving her donut uneaten and coffee half finished. She paused, hoof on the back of the chair. “Is there anypony else besides Fluttershy?”
“Me,” said Cadance. “A few soldiers.”
Twilight considered it. “Well, it was good to see you, Cadance. I wish you hadn’t come, but it was good to see you.” She turned and walked away.
Leaving the coffee shop, Twilight kept walking, head down. She’d transferred to Canterlot to lose herself in the anonymity of a city. She’d tried going back to the country, but it didn’t suit her nerves. It was too quiet. There wasn’t enough to do to keep her mind occupied, so now she was trying out school in Canterlot.
Stopping at a crosswalk, Twilight looked at a newspaper machine on the corner. She stared in surprise. The headline picture was a grainy shot of a brightly colored pegasus, spotted overseas on some type of mercenary operation, the headline indicated.
Twilight dropped her eyes. Rainbow Dash was the only one of the Elements to ever reveal her given name to the public. She, Fluttershy, Twilight, and the others had gone their separate ways. It was for the best. Twilight was done.
With the others lying low, Rainbow was now the center of attention, as she probably wanted it. The newspapers certainly followed her closely enough. When the traffic light changed, Twilight crossed the street and didn’t stop walking until she’d reached her apartment and let herself in.
Setting down her school bag, she took out her homework and did it automatically, without distraction. Afterwards, she opened her history book again and read until long after the sun had gone down.
She kept track of the clock out of the corner of her eye, dreading as it ticked onwards. Seeing Cadance today, hearing about Fluttershy, reading rumors of Rainbow...tonight was not going to be pleasant.
But she needed sleep. Knowing what was coming didn’t mean she didn’t have to face it. Eventually, with a sigh, Twilight put her book down and got ready for bed. She put her fountain pen on the bedside table and reluctantly crawled beneath the sheets.
Twilight was often right, but wished that she wasn’t. As predicted, her sleep was restless and tortured. That night, it wasn’t dreams that came for her, but memories.
The dying filly in Twilight’s hooves choked on her own blood and couldn’t summon the strength to cough it up. Twilight stared blankly. They’d already done all they could.
Twilight’s eyes held Surprise’s, but only for a moment, and then she was gone.
Twilight got up, the dirt squelching with blood. Another Element dead. Her mind started to do the math to figure out how many were left, but she forcibly stopped herself.
She took a few steps out of the trees to rejoin the others. Her eyes went around the circle. She had to stop herself from counting, but she could tell at a glance that there were fewer than there used to be.
“Surprise is dead,” she said.
“Firefly’s gone, too,” said Applejack.
When had that happened? Twilight raised her head, aware that her focus was slipping. She didn’t remember the last time she had slept, or eaten.
Around them, the battle still raged, but Twilight could only hear the clash of steel and terrified screams. The moon was full, but it didn’t illuminate anything through the thick trees of the forest.
Rainbow Dash skidded into the clearing. Her feathers were singed and there was blood on her hooves. “I saw the castle!”
That got everypony’s attention. Rainbow quickly gave them her report. Nightmare Moon’s army was one thing, but the Everfree Forest was an opponent all its own, and navigating at night was next to impossible even when there wasn’t a war raging inside it.
“Let’s go,” Cadance called. The - Twilight reminded herself not to count - group of them got moving towards their final objective. She couldn’t help but note a few faces, though. Several of her friends from Ponyville. Cadance, her old babysitter. Shining Armor, her brother.
Shining was not an Element. Stallions weren’t, couldn’t. Twilight had never gotten a sufficient explanation as to why, but this was hardly the time to think about it now.
He did seem to be the perfect complement to Cadance, though. His shields and her Elemental weapons had been humming in perfect sync through the battle.
The group broke into a main thoroughfare through the forest. Twilight knew it by the ground - the spongy feel under her hooves of bodies crushed into the soil. She didn’t look to see whose side they had been on. It didn’t matter.
Unicorn lights provided flashes of meager illumination through the trees. Somewhere ahead, there was a roar and a bloom of fire, seemingly from the darkness itself. The army of shadows seemed to absorb light, phantoms in the night.
Rainbow, up front, paused, and then leaped sideways out of the way of something whipping a furrow through the dirt. Twilight had never seen whatever it was before, but had time to lift her sword and flip the point downward to meet the creature as it surfaced in front of her. The blade cleft it in two, each half flopping to either side of her.
Something splattered on Twilight’s face. She immediately wiped at it, lighting her horn. Fluttershy hurried over. Her face was worried, but she didn’t reach for her remedies. “Just ink.”
Relieved, Twilight silently thanked her weapon, her Element. Even if she’d been trying to count, she probably couldn’t have tallied the number of times it had saved her. The ink was a minor inconvenience, but that was better than getting splashed with something else. Some of the creatures had poisonous blood.
During Twilight’s minor distraction, something parted the trees ahead. She aimed the light of her horn at it, but only saw feathers and darkness. Her head tilted back, reaching the tops of the trees before she found the glowing red eyes.
Cadance was closest to it and the charm bracelet on her foreleg flashed with magic, transforming into a flail with long silver strands. Beside her, Shining threw up a magic shield.
However, whatever the shadow creature was, it began to shrink. In just a moment, it was only a little taller than a pony.
Something huge with a wickedly curved beak reached down from behind them and clamped onto Cadance’s wings. She shouted in pain and anger at the ruse and turned her weapon on the monster, which was just as big as the other one had started out. A strike to its face sent it reeling. It released her, for all the good that did. She fell to the ground, wings mangled and bleeding, but still able to get to her hooves.
As Shining turned to engage, the monster that had attacked Cadance began to shrink. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw the other one begin to grow.
She galloped forward, leading with her sword, but was too late. It bit into Shining’s flanks, beak big enough to fit around his body and still growing as it picked him up.
Cadance made a noise Twilight would never have imagined coming out of her throat and charged forward. She and Twilight converged on the monster that had taken Shining. It shrank as Twilight leaped at its head, ducking her attack. Its body rotated past her, spinning in place like a top, and released Shining like a bullet towards Cadance. He slammed into her, knocking them both into a tree with a crunch of bone.
Twilight, looking down at her dwindling target, sliced a pattern in the air, the blade tracing lines of magic. It was a spell she’d developed herself, and it released an unseen force from the glowing rune, crushing the monster between it and the ground. Simultaneously, the creature’s twin seemed to explode like a balloon.
Pleased by the dual effect, but with no time to show it, Twilight ran to where she’d last seen Shining and Cadance. She pulled up short, staring in horror. Shining’s spine had been severed, his front half held to his rear half by little more than intestines. He was already gone.
His body lay across Cadance, who seemed stunned. Her bracelet was scattered across the ground beside her, broken.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted, even though she knew it was too late. Cadance blinked, seeming to internalize what had happened. She looked up to Twilight, grabbing her foreleg. “Get to the castle.”
Twilight opened her mouth, but Candace screamed in her face, “Go! There’s no time!”
They could have gotten her up. Maybe she could have been healed enough to carry on. Maybe she could have fought with her own magic and hooves.
Maybe she would have slowed everypony else down and gotten them all killed. Maybe she knew that.
The others, those that remained, headed for the castle.
Twilight rolled out of bed in the morning with red eyes and a pit in her stomach. It wasn’t the first time. It wouldn’t be the last.
Hundreds had fought. Most died. Just six had survived to leave the castle. Twilight was one of them. Was. That had been her last battle.
And now, she was a high school student. Why couldn’t they let her have that? A normality that everypony deserved?
She wasn’t rested, but hurried off to school so she wouldn’t have to be alone with her own thoughts.
Moon Dancer smiled as she came into the classroom. Without realizing it, Twilight returned the smile. It was amazing how a welcoming face could unconsciously and automatically inspire that kind of reaction.
“Hey,” said Lyra. “Who was that you were meeting at the school gate yesterday?”
Twilight’s heart seized.
“Your sister or something?”
“Yes,” said Twilight. The lie had been automatic, for how could she explain? Her lips kept moving. “My sister, Cadance. Big sister best friend forever.”
There was pain in her heart again, but for a different reason. Meanwhile, Lyra laughed, knowing nothing of what it meant to Twilight.
The thought of family and friends almost whiplashed her back to last night and Twilight was already rushing to bury her nose in a book by the time she got to her seat.
At least the memories had been in her past. What came next was here and now. The teacher walked in, leading a yellow pegasus who hid behind her long pink mane.
She was introduced to the class as Fluttershy, but Twilight already knew who she was. She was one of the six.
Fluttershy said her name to the class in a voice that just barely carried to the back row. She didn’t make eye contact with anypony, not even Twilight.
The world knew Fluttershy as the Element of Kindness. The magic of the Elements kept all their identities concealed under a glamour, well, save for Rainbow who’d voluntarily divulged it. Twilight was not about to reveal her secret identity, and Fluttershy probably even less. If the battle had been rough on Twilight, she couldn’t imagine how the timid Fluttershy had fared. She hadn’t asked.
Twilight bit back the emotion. This was part of the reason why she didn’t want to see any of them again. She didn’t want to have to care about them.
“Um, I need to visit the nurse to explain my condition,” Fluttershy said to the teacher, somehow even quieter than before.
“Miss Sparkle?”
Twilight started as her name was called.
“You had the tour of the school most recently, why don’t you show Miss Fluttershy to the nurse?”
What could she say? Twilight did as she was told.
The two of them walked out of the classroom and paused in the hallway as the door closed. Twilight faced Fluttershy.
“It’s good to see you,” said Fluttershy.
“You too,” Twilight replied.
There was an awkward silence.
“You need to talk to the nurse?” said Twilight. She gestured. “I thought you could handle it yourself.”
“Well, my civilian medical records still say that I’m diabetic,” Fluttershy explained. “I keep my needles with me, but I have to at least tell the nurse.”
Twilight nodded. “The office is this way.”
Fluttershy glanced at her as they walked. “You used to keep your pen behind your ear.”
Twilight grimaced. “I don’t need it anymore.” She thought about how that might sound insensitive. Fluttershy still needed her needles. They arrived to the nurse’s office before she could think of a way to backpedal.
She let Fluttershy go in by herself. While Twilight waited, she pondered Fluttershy’s use of the word “civilian.” She knew Fluttershy was involved in the Element Warfare Development Group, what Equestria’s Harmony program had come to be called. It was vaguely tied to the Royal Guard now, Twilight had heard, a military unit.
Inside the nurse’s office, Fluttershy was made to show the nurse her medicine and kit. The sleek, brushed silver case contained a syringe and several vials marked as insulin. Some of them were.
The nurse glanced at it, apparently impressed by the quality of what most ponies considered disposable. “Do you know how to use it?”
“I’ve been doing this for a while,” Fluttershy replied.
She probably had more medical knowledge than most any pony in Equestria, particularly more than a school nurse, cutie mark or not. Most of that technique and skill was magically augmented by her Element. But Fluttershy didn’t say that.
Moving to Canterlot had been a cautious thing for her. It was where the development group needed her, but Fluttershy didn’t like the city. There was too much noise and not enough nature. But if that’s where they needed her to go, she couldn’t say no.
Seeing Twilight again was nice. The two of them hadn’t been especially close, but Fluttershy seemed to be able to release a breath and relax slightly when she was around somepony else who shared the secret of the Elements. Though, if she could have chosen which of the other girls to see again, Fluttershy knew who she’d rather.
Fluttershy managed to convince the nurse that she was no threat. She’d gotten good at that. She went back to class with Twilight. The two of them didn’t talk. Fluttershy didn’t know if Twilight was trying to respect her, or if she was trying to avoid the topic of the Elements, what she had run away from. Retirement from the Elements...it sounded nice, Fluttershy had to admit, but she couldn’t do it. Twilight apparently could.
The afternoon classes went by. After school, Fluttershy saw Twilight in the hallway. Without planning it, the two of them had ended up walking together.
“I wonder if the teacher went light on the homework because of you,” said Twilight, though mostly to herself.
“Maybe,” Fluttershy replied.
“Without homework, I don’t know what I’m going to do after school,” said Twilight. She paused, and then asked, “What do you do?”
“I have a job.”
That seemed to catch Twilight by surprise, though her eyes narrowed. “Wait, the...group?”
“Well, yes. But they have a dessert bar they use as cover, so I tell ponies I work there.” Fluttershy paused, and then added, “The desserts are really good, though. There are getting to be almost too many customers.”
Twilight smiled, catching the implied humor. “That does sound good.”
“You should come and try them.”
Twilight stopped suddenly, causing a pileup of students in the hallway which she ignored. Fluttershy quickly backpedaled. “Oh, no, I know how you feel about the group. I was just asking you as a friend.”
Twilight’s face suddenly developed a tic.
“Don’t do this, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, just loud enough to be heard over the hubbub of students in the hallway. “That word isn’t poison just by saying it. I meant...just somepony you know.”
Twilight took a breath and the tension went out of her shoulders. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s go. I could use something sweet.”
Downtown, Fluttershy showed Twilight to a confectionary that was practically hidden behind larger buildings. The small sign beside the door read Café Cadenza. Fluttershy had a key to the front door, which brushed against chimes as she opened it.
“The menu is on the counter,” said Fluttershy. “Let me go get my outfit.”
“You don’t need to do that for me,” Twilight replied.
“Would it help you feel more like a casual customer?” Fluttershy asked. She didn’t wait for Twilight’s reply, because she suspected she already knew the answer.
In the back room, Fluttershy put on a frilly outfit with an apron, an overdone dress of a waitress. Of all the uniforms in Equestria’s military forces, this was by far the most ridiculous, though it was perfect camouflage for a covert café.
She found Cadance sitting in front of a security suite, which contained several camera feeds. Twilight was visible on one of them, examining a menu. Cadance wore a trimmed jacket in the same colors as Fluttershy’s uniform. She was the boss, after all.
“Twilight’s just here for a snack,” said Fluttershy. “She made that clear.”
“Still, good job bringing her here,” said Cadance.
Fluttershy went back out into the front room. Twilight looked up from the menu. “I think this flambé flan sounds interesting.”
“Right away,” said Fluttershy, turning for the kitchen. Deliberately, she pulled up short, and turned again. “Um, Twilight, Cadence is here. I just wanted to let you know.”
Twilight stiffened, but nodded. She didn’t get up or start to leave. Good.
Fluttershy went to get the dessert. Cadance walked into the front room, passing Twilight without a word, to flip the sign on the door to open. She walked back behind the counter and took up a position leaning on it down by the cash register.
“You have a nice place here,” said Twilight, without looking at her.
“Would you believe, this is kind of what I always wanted to do?” said Cadance, looking out the window. “Just have a little bakery or something. A place where you can smile and help others to do the same.”
“You must have been pretty young when you wanted that,” said Twilight.
“I was. You remember when I became an alicorn. That was also about the time Celestia made me the Element of Love.”
Twilight swallowed, wanting to say something, but not wanting to hear it come out of her own mouth. Cadance had talked about the good things. Twilight didn’t want to mention how they had gone bad.
Instead, Twilight said, “So this shop was your idea?”
Cadance smirked. “Once Celestia heard there would be cake, it sure wasn’t my idea anymore.”
Twilight snorted, but then broke into laughter, failing to keep it inside. It felt good. It felt like the time before the Battle of Everfree. It felt like when her brother was still alive, when Cadance had somepony to love, and when everypony was just a little bit happier.
Thankfully, Fluttershy brought the dessert before Twilight could come down from those thoughts. Twilight picked up the tiny spoon and took a bite. Her eyes closed. “Mmm, wow, I can see why you might have trouble keeping your cover if you make stuff like this.” She took another bite.
As she kept eating, the doorbell tinkled. Twilight subtly moved her spoon, glancing at the shiny convex side.
She dropped the spoon and spun around. “Rarity!”
The white unicorn coming through the door met her eyes. The expertly coiffed wave of her purple mane was exactly as Twilight remembered. She carried several garment bags with her.
Twilight turned to glare at Cadance. “You told me it was just you and Fluttershy.”
“Darling, I’m a contractor,” said Rarity. “I’m as out of the group as you are, I just happen to be selling what Cadance is buying.”
Cadance nodded. “As you might expect, we need quite a few outfits, tactical and otherwise. It helps to have a supplier who is read in.”
Twilight relaxed, but only slightly. Rarity sat down beside her and placed the clothing on the counter, along with an alteration kit. An ornate silver thimble rested on top.
Twilight glanced at her dessert again and picked up the spoon, but put it down again after a moment.
She got up. “It’s a lovely place you have here,” she said, “but I need to be going.”
Twilight pulled out her coin purse, but Cadance held up a hoof. “Don’t worry about it. Doing our taxes will only get harder if we don’t take a loss now and again.”
Twilight nodded to her and turned for the door.
A pink-on-pink earth pony slammed into the glass. “Hey, does this look like a party or what!”
Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple.
“Huh,” said Pinkie Pie as she opened the door and came it. “She could have at least said hello.”
Rarity crossed her hooves. “You could have at least waited until we called you.”
Pinkie shrugged. She sat down where Twilight had been and picked up the spoon, digging into the dessert. Her smile matched that of the small silver theater mask she wore on a necklace.
Miles away, Twilight flashed back into existence on a street corner. With the panic shot of teleport magic and her own surprise, she stood there for several seconds, breathing hard. Yesterday, she was the only Element around. Today, there were four, almost five if one counted Cadance.
This could not be a coincidence.
Her curiosity at the reason was tempered by her anger that it was happening. They wanted her back. They wanted her back.
The conflict that had claimed so many lives, including those of Twilight’s parents and brother, was over. Nightmare Moon was dead and her army of shadows finished. Twilight had personally seen to it. So why did they want her back? Why didn’t they approach Rainbow Dash or Applejack instead? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?
It was going to be another rough night, Twilight could already tell.