Twilight Sparkle tore through the halls of the Canterlot Castle, with a battered Cadence in tow. They had wasted enough time dealing with those brainwashed bridesmaids, teleporting across Canterlot, and finally climbing up stairs to the highest balcony where the wedding took hold. Seriously what is up with important events being reached only by stairs? Twilight wanted to just teleport right away, if not for Cadence warning her to save her magical energies. She just hoped they’d be there in time. At least until before the ‘I do’s’. That is the most binding part of the wedding, and if they can’t interrupt before that then it was all over. Twilight could hear Cadence panting and sobbing behind her, and it was taking all her will-power not to stop and comfort the distressed bride. The poor mare was supposed to be the star of this day, not some love-sucking impostor. Twilight readied her voice when she finally turned around a hallway and found the doors to the wedding chamber. She risked a glance at Cadence. The pink alicorn locked eyes with her, and nodded. Tear marks stained her fur, but other than her injuries she still looked quite beautiful. The young unicorn nodded back, before firing up her horn in a harsh magenta light. The doors in front of her were suddenly encased with a bright lavender aura, and opened by themselves in a loud manner.
“STOOOOOOPPPP!!!”
Twilight gave herself a smug smile as she basked in everypony’s attention. The majority of the gazes were confused, but a few certain ones were angry glares. She ignored those and stared at her mentor. She couldn’t help but feel a spike of anger from the previous ordeal at the rehearsal, but she steeled herself. Personal problems later, save Equestria first. Again.
The ‘Cadence’ at the altar rolled her eyes. She stomped her hoof as she stared at the interrupting unicorn. “ Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?!” She complained.
Princess Celestia was taken aback at that remark, so the impostor quickly changed methods. She lifted a hoof and brought to her eyes as she cried crocodile tears.
“ Why does she have to ruin my special day?” She sniffled. Twilight smirked as she sensed a familiar presence behind her.
“ Because, it’s not your special day, it’s mine!”
Everyone gasped as they once again turned their attention to the entrance. A battered Cadence strolled forward with confidence, and frowned at the Cadence at the altar. Twilight turned her ears to where her friends are, somehow hearing their confused comments made her smile be even more smug. She caught Rainbow Dash’s eyes and delivered an obvious message. “ I told you so.” Was all Twilight’s eyes said. A stomp of a gold-clad hoof brought her attention back to the altar. ‘Cadence’ looked downright pissed. “ What?! How did you escape my bridesmaids?!”
Twilight and Cadence shared a knowing look. “ We managed to lure them away with a withered flower bouquet.” The scholar said, accidentally rhyming. ‘Cadence’ smirked. “ Clever. But you’re still too late.” Was her snide remark. Twilight’s ears picked up a familiar snort of confusion, and turned her attention to Applejack. “ Ah don’t understand. How can ‘ere be two of ‘em?”
The real Cadence trotted closer to the altar, glaring at her counterpart. “ She’s a changeling! She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power from feeding off your love for them!”
Twilight heard a frustrated growl from the impostor. She looked just in time to see her eyes glow green, and flames of such color erupted around her, engulfing her body, dress and all.
She also glanced around to see the most horrified faces she ever saw since Nightmare Moon. The unicorn gritted her teeth as she watched the impostor change appearance. She should be ready. She knew a villain when she saw one. As quickly as the flames appeared, they vanished without a trace, leaving a creature far from who it impersonated. A mare as tall as Celestia, black armor-like chitin instead of soft fur, a poison blue/green mane with holes as well as her gossamer wings and limbs. A dark green back-plate protecting her backside, and a strange membrane around her abdomen. Her draconic eyes stared at her counterpart with the intent to kill, but they changed when they landed on Twilight. A soft but cruel smile formed on her fanged muzzle as she inspected the unicorn’s very being. She gazed back at the princess of love.
“ Right you are, princess. And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria has more love than any place I have ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it, that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!”
Cadence didn’t flinch. “ They will never get the chance! Shining Armor’s protection spell will them from ever even reaching us!” The Queen giggled at the statement, confusing the pink alicorn.
“ Oh I doubt that.” Her horn emitted a ghostly glow, and she turned her attention to the groom, who somehow remained in place, blankly staring at nothing. “ Isn’t that right, dear?” She asked the groom. Shining Armor’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as he nodded slowly, accompanied by a low hum as he agreed. Cadence widened her eyes, before beginning to charge at the Queen.
The changeling blocked her path and smiled. “ Ah Ah Ah!~ Don’t wanna go back to the cave now, do you?” She threatened as her horn glowed once again. Cadence bit her lip and backed away.
Satisfied, the Queen shut off her magic and flew to Shining Armor’s side as she spoke. “ Ever since I took your place, I’ve been feeding off Shining Armor’s love for you. Every moment he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it.” She looked up with a knowing grin. Then she laughed, sending shivers down everypony’s spine as she held Shining Armor’s chin. “ He may not be be my husband, but he is under my total control now!” Cadence gasped, Twilight doing the same as she went closer her former foal-sitter.
The Queen smiled as she harshly let go of the stallion’s face. “ And I’m sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the royal guard!” The pink alicorn made a terrified expression.
“ Not my Shining Armor!” She protested.
“ Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot, and then, all of Equestria!” The Queen declared in confidence.
“No.” A firm voice said behind the Queen. The changeling frowned as she looked behind her, and saw a very angry princess of the sun. “ You won’t.” Celestia finished. The changeling merely huffed, Celestia taking her silence as a sign to continue. “ You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you so foolishly revealed your true self,”
The white alicorn suddenly charged, meeting the Queen at the altar, locking horns. “ I will protect my subjects, from YOU!” At the last word, Celestia launched herself in the air and lit her horn, preparing a powerful spell. She shot a beam of pure light at her target, who retaliated with a beam of her own. The two beams of white and green magic fought for dominance, the Queen gritting her teeth from the strain. Princess Celestia merely hovered in her position in the air, confident that the power of the sun would vanquish this monster.
The Queen’s hooves began digging in the floor, for the force of Celestia’s power was too much for her to keep out for too long. She was not giving up though, never since she got this far off without a hitch! The Queen felt a spark inside her, that familiar feeling whenever she fed off from that stallion. She smiled as she reached in and used Shining Armor’s love to strengthen her power.
The effect was immediate, for her beam of green magic finally pushed the white beam closer to it’s caster. Princess Celestia widened her eyes at the sudden magical strength, and before she knew it, her own spell was pushed back, exploding in her face and blinding everyone with a bright light. The princess of the sun fell hard against the chamber floor, horn burnt and magic drained.
Twilight gasped and widened her eyes in terror. “ PRINCESS CELESTIA!” She screamed, all hard feelings for her mentor gone to the wind for a bit. Her friends followed her, rushing to their princess’s side and gazing at her downfall with fear. The Queen meanwhile was reeling from her victory. It didn’t take her long to recover with a snide grin. “ Shining Armor’s love for you was more powerful than I thought! Feeding from it has made me stronger than Celestia!” She gloated at Cadence.
Twilight kept her gaze at her mentor though, mind blown and thoughts jumbled. The almighty Princess Celestia, the one who ruled Equestria for many years, the one who imprisoned Nightmare Moon, was defeated by a simple spell cast by a overfed changeling Queen? The unicorn’s ears pricked at the sound of the changeling’s laughter. Something about it was… challenging her. Like it was a sign that says she could either just stay here and cry over spilled milk or do something her mentor would be proud of later on. She of course chose the latter. In a blind rage, Twilight flared her horn and violently turned her head to the Queen’s direction, shooting a beam of arcane magic. It hit her on the side of her body facing Twilight, and she screamed as the pain registered in her brain and flinging her to the distant wall. Everypony gasped at the sudden show of strength from the normally bookish unicorn. Now she was starting to radiate the aura of an entirely different persona. Twilight stood up and silently walked to the queen, who was digging herself out of the rubble. She quickly arose from the dust, and when she locked eyes with the unicorn, she laughed. “ Finally! A real challenger! Do you think you can give me a real fight, little unicorn?”
All she got was a glare and a harsh glow of a charging horn.
The Queen lit her own horn as she fired before Twilight could notice. It woke up something in Twilight that sharpened her senses, causing her to immediately drop to the floor with all her weight.
The beam hit the carpet, burning the fabric as it went up in smoke. The Queen wasted no time in firing another spell, but this time, the instincts that had awoken inside the lavender unicorn was ready. She dodged the spell, which was aiming at her chest by jumping upwards and letting the spell pass through as she flipped in mid-air, before landing as it hit another part of the floor. Twilight lit her horn and shot a beam of her own, hitting the rubble underneath the Queen’s hooves, sending her crashing to the floor. She quickly recovered as she dodged beam of lavender magic, rolling to the side before flaring up her wings to fly away.
By now the magical battle had sent the wedding guests into a panic. They ran as fast as they could out of the chamber, stampeding anyone slow enough to escape. Cadence had to tear herself away from Twilight’s fight and immediately ran to Shining Armor’s side, hugging the stoic stallion before inspecting his eyes. Twilight’s friends however, were busy keeping Celestia safe. Rainbow took her time in watching the egghead battle like a warrior. “ Are we sure that’s our Twilight? Fighting?” She asked sarcastically. Applejack smacked her shoulder. “ Of course it’s Twi! What ya think, cuz she’s a bookworm she doesn’t know how ta fight?” The prismatic pegasus smiled sheepishly. “ Uh, yeah?”
They watched as the Queen charged at the unicorn with her horn, encased in some sort of green shield. Twilight had such a shield on her own horn, and they met in the middle, locking both horns. They didn’t hold their position like Celestia did with the Queen a while ago though. As soon as their horns met, they separated them again and soon, it was obvious they were doing some kind of sword-fight, only using their horns. The Queen would thrust, while Twilight would either block or put up a shield. Somehow their use of magic became seldom as they seemed to resort to their horn-fencing only.
The Queen smiled as they did another horn-lock. “ I must say,” She mumbled as they clashed horns again. “ Your fighting skill is surprising. My scouts told me you were a bookish unicorn. Hard to believe now when you see that unicorn horn-fencing.” Twilight ducked as the Queen slashed sideways. Even with the Queen having the longer and sharper horn, Twilight seemed to know how to maneuver her own non-sharp and short horn to block and fence with her’s. The unicorn gritted her teeth as she made another thrust, which was of course blocked by the experienced changeling. Honestly, Twilight was surprised she even knew what the move was called. It was as if something had awoken deep inside her being, teaching her how to survive the situation. She was still reeling from the shock, but even as much as she hated to admit she loved the thrill that the fight was giving her. “ I hate to break it to you, but I didn’t even know I could horn-fence.” She replied as she blocked a strike from the changeling. The Queen had a genuine look of surprise on her face. But it wasn’t enough to throw her off-guard long enough. She retaliated Twilight’s slash in time before answering. “ Seriously? You have to be kidding. The way you fight make it seem-” She dodged a thrust. “-like you’ve been doing it all your life.” She finished. Twilight growled as the Queen once again slashed under her hooves, which she thankfully jumped to avoid. “ I honestly have no idea-WHOA!-that I can do this sort of thing. Also with being able to,-” She jumped sideways at another downward slash. “, talk while fighting.” The Queen smiled. It was strangely a real smile. A smile of joy. “ All myself invading Canterlot aside, you are a better fighter than Celestia, little Twilight. What do you say, fight to the finish, fight to protect our beliefs?” Twilight thrust again, but of course the changeling dodged once more. The unicorn felt herself smile too though despite the circumstances. “ I agree. There’s no way in Tartarus I’m losing to an enemy of my homeland.” The Queen nodded, smiling as well. “ So am I.” They horn-locked again, but with renewed vigor.
Each one holding to the fact that they are representing their own side. It was quite a motivator, knowing all rests atop your shoulders.
While the two fully made the chamber a battlefield, Cadence was having a different problem. Shining Armor was still stoic as ever, though his straight posture was slowly turning into a pained slouch. The bride-to-be panicked a bit when she saw the lavender shield outside flicker one-to-many times. “ Shining Armor, stay strong! Listen to my voice!” She begged. Her stallion didn’t even blink. The only reaction he ever gave was gritting his teeth whenever the shield flickered.
Princess Celestia was slowly regaining her consciousness. Pinkie pie noticed and grinned. “ SHE’S AWAKE!” She whisper-screamed. But knowing Pinkie, whisper-screamed means just screamed.
The Queen heard it and began to turn her attention to the knocked out princess, when Twilight widened her eyes and charged at the Queen. The changeling noticed it though and blocked her approach. “ I’m your enemy! I’M YOUR ENEMY!” Twilight yelled, trying to keep the Queen’s attention to herself and herself alone. The Queen knew what she was up to, but honestly Twilight was a better enemy than that sun lameness. She grinned as she slashed once again at the dodging unicorn.
Being safe from the Queen’s attention for a while, Princess Celestia groaned. The mane 5 immediately went to attention as they helped their ruler up. “ Princess Celestia, are you alright?!” Rarity asked. The sun princess got to her hooves and wearily opened her wings. “ W-What happened?” She blinked and suddenly went rigid. “ The changeling queen! Where is-”
She turned her head to the noise she’s been hearing since she woke up, and froze in both shock and amazement.
Twilight and the Queen where flinging spells around, but whenever they got close they would engage in a horn-fencing match. That wasn’t the most surprising thing however. It was how Twilight looked like. While she was just unicorn awhile ago, now she was wreathed in light lavender smoke, and some of the smoke strangely looked like-
“ Are those wings?” Fluttershy asked. She was right. The smoke had formed wings on Twilight’s back, which would flutter whenever she backed away or jumped back. The two engaged fighters didn’t seem to notice though, they were too ‘In the Zone’ to care. But every flutter of the feathery wings, they were becoming more and more solid. The same was true for her horn. It was slightly sharper and longer, wrapped in the same smoke. Princess Celestia had never seen anything like it. The way Twilight fought was also familiar. It was the same way she fought back in the day.
“ How did Twilight get wings?” Rainbow added.
“ Later about the wings, look at Shining Armor!” Pinkie pie yelled. They followed her pointed hoof. At the Altar, the white unicorn was at his knees. He was convulsing in the strain of keeping his shield up, and if the Queen was telling the truth, then he was also dealing with the impact whenever a changeling crashed on the shield outside. Cadence never felt so helpless. She couldn’t do anything. Shining Armor didn’t listen. As finally the inevitable came, the last of the Captain’s strength faded away, and the ground shook as his shield outside broke like a thousand windows.
It was noticeable enough to stop Twilight and the Queen’s fight, the smoke around the unicorn suddenly gone to the wind. The changeling queen smiled. “ Ah, Canterlot will soon be mine!” She yelled triumphantly. Twilight widened her eyes as she looked at the windows. Changelings shot themselves to the ground, surrounded in a green fireball to protect themselves from the impact, causing general panic to the masses. Royal guards are scattered everywhere, without a Captain to lead them, they were just well-trained ponies with no order whatsoever.
“ It’s starting!” Twilight yelled. The queen snickered. “ An now it ends for you.”
“No!”
They met again with their horns, Twilight angrier than a while ago. Her horn was sparking, but the Queen ignored it completely. Instead, she focused on her unicorn enemy. Smoke had started to form around Twilight again, thankfully in time when she backed away and needed to block a slash.
Princess Celestia was also busy with a fight of her own. After the changelings had gotten inside the borders of Canterlot, the bulk of the swarm had infiltrated the wedding chamber, and it was up to her and her student’s friends to keep them from helping their Queen battle Twilight. Her horn was still a little numb, but she was finally able to use her earth pony magic for some well-deserved hoof-to-hoof fight. After that incident with replacing her niece, it felt good to feel chitin crack under her gold-clod hooves. Rainbow Dash was having the same amount of fun as the princess. She was smiling madly as she dove in and out the swarm, taking out about 10 changelings each dive. Applejack was another story. Changelings even daring to come near her were immediately bucked away with a single kick. Rarity and Pinkie pie surprisingly held their ground, the party pony shooting party projectiles at every moving object with her trusty party cannon. The fashionista was resorting to physical violence, her magic limited to just basic levitation, and a healthy amount of the insects were taken care of. The fight was going well, but they can’t keep going forever. No matter how many they take down, twice as many comes to replace them.
During another one of their horn-locks, Twilight managed a risky glance at her friends. They were swarmed, to say the least. She growled as she pushed with all her might, throwing the queen off-balance. Twilight used that chance to fire a huge magic bolt at the swarm nearest to her friends. It worked, since half of the assaulting changelings immediately disappeared in a brilliant white flash. Her friends immediately attacked the remaining changelings, and Twilight gave herself a small smile of accomplishment. A smile that turned into a pained grunt as the queen tackled her hard on the side.
Time seemed to slow down as Twilight felt sharp fangs sink into her neck. She let out a blood-curdling scream.
The battle paused for a moment in time for everyone to see Twilight buckle to the floor as the Queen smiled. “ TWILIGHT!!!!!” Princess Celestia yelled. The unicorn in question stayed a few moments on the floor, the changeling standing triumphantly above her, but then surprised everyone when she flared up her horn and tackled the changeling queen. The Queen managed to block her strike in time with her own horn.
“ I’m FIIIINNNNEE!” Twilight shouted as she pushed the Queen once again.
Cadence could see she was not fine. As the others resumed their battle, she saw Twilight flinch whenever she needed to move her neck, which was the whole time. A strained gasp however, brought her attention to the stallion beside her. Shining Armor’s eyes were brilliant blue once again, and his orbs were flitting about, confused about being in the center of a battle. Though when his eyes rested on his sister, everything suddenly clicked into place. “ Twilight!” He moaned. Cadence placed a wing around her groom, the stallion immediately leaning against the princess.
“ It’s okay Shiny, Twilight will be fine. She will need our help though.” She whispered in his ear. Shining Armor blinked. He put on a determined frown and shakily got up. He locked eyes with Cadence, and the two moved closer by the pull of their hearts. Their horns met, and they closed their eyes. A spark of love was all the pair needed.
Everyone looked in awe as a lavender glow caught their eye. The Queen was the most disturbed being to gaze upon the new development. The two magical users at the altar were hovering in mid-air, in the embrace of a warm magical glow. The changelings knew, one little trigger, and it was all over.
And indeed a trigger set off the trap.
The royal couple suddenly opened their glowing white eyes, and a magical shock-wave came to be. Within seconds, Canterlot was cleansed. Every single changeling was caught unaware from the magical barrier that pushed them out as it encased the capital city. The Queen managed to fight it for a few seconds, which she used for delivering a confusing message.
Confusing for she declared a threat with the same insanely soft, cruel smile.
“ We will meet again, under more pleasant circumstances.” With that she was blasted out the window, and to the wastes of the Badlands. Twilight had little time to even register that as a sharp pain erupted from her neck. It went intense for a few seconds, but when the love spell receded, so did the pain. She cupped her hoof over the bite and immediately recoiled at the sting. Little did she know the bite glowed lavender for a while before dimly glowing green. As the other fighters regained their bearings, Twilight looked around for something to cover her wound. She found a stray blue scarf that instantly flew around her neck at the spark of her magic. It covered the wound pretty nicely, but just enough to stop the oozing green goo. She wiped the substance off her hoof and went to the others.
“ Is everypony alright?” She asked. She received a couple nods, washing away her worry. But it was quickly replaced by hurt feelings. The event at the rehearsal had scarred the unicorn for life, raising trust issues and wary senses. Her face did no effort in hiding her emotions. Princess Celestia inwardly flinched at the scornful face, but braved the risk of what she was about to do.
“ Are you alright Twilight?” She inquired. The unicorn looked frazzled, considering she had a horn-fencing magic duel with a changeling queen, and her horn was noticeably smoking. Shimmery smoke formed folded wings, but they were fading fast. The sun princess was about to point it out when she noticed the blue scarf around her student’s neck. “ What’s under the scarf, Twilight?”
She asked. The question took everypony’s attention, as it was strange to suddenly wear clothing after a sweaty battle. Twilight didn’t flinch. “ The Queen hit me with a freezing spell. I just felt chilly and grabbed the first thing I could see. Nothing to worry about.” She lied smoothly. She didn’t tell them about the bite, for fear they might do something they’ll regret. Besides, she still needed to study the wound herself. Princess Celestia looked skeptical, but ignored it for now. “ Good. I thought you were hurt, because you were in a fierce fight with the Queen.”
Twilight tilted her head. “ I honestly don’t know why I even knew how to fight in close quarters.” The sun princess smiled. “ I never knew you were the warrior princess type, my student.”
The unicorn, despite herself, blushed. “ I-I…” The alicorn chuckled. “ I’m teasing Twilight. Now what about we make sure the rest of Canterlot is safe before we… move to pressing matters.”