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// Rthö Hlieüf: The Winter Wedding- Part Two~ Reunion 
// Story: CYCLED 
// by The REAL Mister Pkmn 
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Twilight took a calming breath, and decided against it by shaking her head. “I’m probably overthinking it. Maestro’s probably just really excited for the wedding. Feels a bit odd, sure, but it’s probably nothing sinister, right? I best be off.” She ran off before Celestia could get a word in edgewise. She needed to check on something. At this time of the day, she had come across ‘Cadence’ on the balcony. She did find her again, once again with her brother in tow. She tried doing their signature hoofshake, but once more was pushed aside.

Twilight shadowed her a bit longer to make sure it all lined up again, but was startled when Maestro interrupted her. “Sweetie? Why are you in the shadows like that? C’mon! You’re helping with this wedding too, you know.”

There was the uncanny feeling again, the feeling that something was wrong with Maestro. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but… She shook her head. No. just because he was… investing his energy into this… but that wasn’t what the Maestro she knew would do. He’d have taken her aside to talk about a plan to stop the changelings by now. She decided to test that, though. She shook her head. “I know, Mae-Mae. I’m just trying to ensure nothing bad happens. But… Cadence seems awfully wound up. This is nothing like her, Maestro. I think we need to do something.”

The girls perked up at this, and came closer to hear. Maestro however, just shook his head. “Chill, sweetie. It’s a lot of pressure that she’s under. You’ll understand someday.” He saw that Cadence was looking his way, and he straightened. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to place a few enchantments about the castle. I’ll see you later.”

Maestro certainly wasn’t acting like himself, and the others had noticed. Applejack commented as soon as he was out of earshot. “Wut’s his deal? I thought he’d trust you on something lahk this. Ya two’ve been petty close since you met, so…”

Rarity gave a nod. “It’s puzzling to be sure. Plus, Cadence isn;t anything like you said she would be. If you think that something’s wrong… we’ll trust you.”

Twilight smiled at the others. “Thanks girls. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get Maestro and Cadence back to their old selves…” She walked off, to try and clear her head. If Maestro had been replaced by a changeling, she wasn’t even sure how. He was pretty capable, as far as she understood.

Regardless of that, she had to get him out of this mess. It was then that she ran into “Cadence” again. Twilight stood as she saw Maestro come out of “Cadence’s” shadow. “Cadence” spoke. “I heard that you don’t exactly trust me. Why is that, Twilight?”

Twilight brushed herself off, and stood tall. “You can drop the act. You’re Cadence that I know. She would never be this cruel!”

“Maestro” gave a deep sigh. “Bother. Well, he did say that you were smart…”

Twilight growled. “What have you done with Maestro?”

“Cadence” smiled with a sinister grin. “Oh, you’ll see.” She lit her horn with sickly green magic, and green flames surrounded Twilight. “Cadence” turned towards “Maestro” as the flames grew in strength around Twilight. Twilight barely could hear what she said. “Now, get somebug to replace that pest. We don’t want any more undue attention.”

Twilight soon passed out from the sheer heat, barely feeling herself being dragged away.





It was an undetermined amount of time later that she woke to find herself in the familiar crystal caverns from the last cycle. Knowing how these walls were, she took a breath as she tried to recall exactly how she had broken through to the section with Cadence. She recalled the exact angle, and fired a beam of magic. It bounced for a while before it hit the wall and broke it. She gasped as she saw Cadence. After they performed their signature hoofshake, she hugged her. “You’re okay!” She then slowly realized something as her expression soured and she broke out of the embrace. “Wait… where’s Mae-Mae?”

Cadence shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve been down here for days. I wasn’t aware that bug had captured anypony else.”

It was then that Maestro burst through another wall, and dusted himself off. He coughed a little. “Bah. To think that a changeling could get the best of me… I must be getting rusty…”

Twilight ran to him. “Mae-Mae! You’re here too!”

He gave a grim chuckle. “ Yes I am, my Sparks.” He looked towards Cadence. “Right. Now, how do we get back to the wedding? We’ve got a few bugs to zap.”

It was then that they were approached by Sapphiron. He raised an eyebrow. “What’re you doing down here? This isn’t the wedding hall.”

Cadence looked at him incredulously while Maestro smiled. “Buddy! Can you get us out?”

He smirked. “I know these like the back of my hoof.” He led the way, and called back. “This way!” Twilight, Maestro and Cadence ran after him, soon catching up. Maestro actually slowed down as to not out-pace them as they continued through the dark mines.

The quartet ran for what seemed like forever until they reached the point where Twilight and Cadence had seen the “bridesmares” before. Maestro grimaced. “Mind control. Disgusting. They won’t remember this… at least, they shouldn’t.” He charged a spell, and sighed. “To think that I’d actually have to use this…” He cast a spell, and it hit Lyra and the others as they collapsed. The quartet went over to them, and Maestro jerked his head towards the exit. “They’re fine, just unconscious. Now. Let’s leave these blasted caves.”

He turned to see Sapphiron stopped at another junction. They came close and he spoke. “Go left. Continue up the stairs, and you’re home free. I’ve got business to attend to.” They then went their separate ways.


To Be Concluded In Part Three...