I blinked. "I'm sorry... what?"
"I know you're not Cadance," Twilight said again. "Wait... Scratch that... I know you're controlling Cadance's body."
"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" I say.
"I guess I can explain..." Twilight began. "Starting with a little flashback spell..."
Twilight immediatly lit up her horn, and before I could even say anything else, I suddenly felt a quick sense of lightheadedness.
And then my vision turned completely white.
When my vision returned, everything was different. The only thing that remained the same was Twilight, who still sat in front of me.
But we were no longer in my hospital room,
Instead, we were in the crystal throne room.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"A flashback," Twilight answered. "Watch, and your questions of why you're my sister-in-law will be answered."
"Okay then..." I muttered.
I turned my head right, and saw... myself, sitting on the throne. No, not my human self. Princess Cadance. She had royal guards on each side of the throne. Cadance also appeared to be reading a scroll or something. Was it a spell? A letter? I had no idea.
I heard the doors open and I turned my head the other direction. I saw Shining Armor and Flurry enter the room. Shining had a bag that looked as if it had beach stuff.
"Hi!" I turned my head right again to see Cadance smiling happily at her husband and daughter. She hopped off her throne and made her way to her family.
"How was the beach?" she asked.
"It was fun, though Flurry wished you could've went," Shining answered.
"Well, maybe I'll come next time," Cadance promised.
"Mommy, I found something at the beach," Flurry chirped.
"Really?" Cadance bent down so her muzzle was at the same height as Flurry's. "Would you like to show me?"
"I got it right here," Shining said. He lit his horn before the bag draped on his side opened. Out floated a pearl that was probably the size of my eye... my pony eye, of course. Technically Cadance's eye.
"Oooh," Cadance admired. "Well, Flurry, that looks like a pretty valuable pearl that you found. How about we go put that somewhere safe in your room while Daddy watches the throne?"
"Okay," Flurry bounced.
And so Flurry and Cadance walked past Shining Armor, who made his way to the throne to probably watch over it.
The landscape suddenly rippled before going pitch black. But despite that, I could still see Twilight as well as myself.
"If I may ask, why does this flashback matter?" I queried.
"I will explain after," Twilight replied. "Let's fast-forward..."
Again, the landscape began to ripple, but when it formed, we were no longer in the throne room. Instead, we were in a large bedroom, and it appeared to be night.
I already knew that this was Flurry Heart's bedroom, due to the large amount of five-year old girl items. I turned my head, taking notice of a glow coming from an open closet.
Flurry Heart, who was in her bed, appeared to be sleeping.
I turned my head back to the closet before a sudden bolt of strange, indescribable lightning shot out of the closet and struck a stuffed bunny on the ground. The stuffed bunny suddenly transformed into an ice sculpture of a pineapple upon impact of the lightning.
Another bolt shot out and struck another stuffed animal, turning it into a ball of cheese.
I noticed Flurry groaning and slowly opening her eyes.
The door open and I turned my head around. I saw Cadance in the doorway, with Shining Armor behind her.
"Flurry? GAH!"
A bolt suddenly flew past Cadance and Shining and struck a photo hung on the wall behind them. It turned into green slime and oozed down the wall.
"Mommy?" Flurry muttered.
"What is going on?" Shining queried.
"I think it came from the closet where I put the pearl," Cadance muttered, slowly entering the room.
"Mommy? What are you doing?" Flurry questioned.
"It's ok, sweetie," Cadance assured, before looking in the closet and brought out a familiar pearl.
"The pearl seems fine..." Cadance looked to Shining.
And then she took a step forward and stumbled on another stuffed animal.
The blue aura around Cadance's horn and the pearl faded in a snap, and the pearl fell to the ground.
Upon impact, a bolt shot out of the pearl... and struck Cadance right in the barrel!
And just like that, Cadance was gone!
"M-Mommy?" Flurry whimpered.
"CADANCE!" Shining shrieked.
I suddenly felt lightheaded yet again, and my vision turned blazing white. Within seconds, I found myself back in the hospital room. I shook my head and brought my gaze back to Twilight.
"I'm sorry for not saying much," Twilight apologized. "I could have explained as we went, but I chose not to."
We only saw what happened to Cadance and not me, but this was still a lot of information. A lot of information that I wanted to review.
"So let me get this straight..." I began. "You're saying this all began because of a pearl?"
"Yes," Twilight nodded. "After Cadance vanished, Shining sent me the message right away. Discord was visiting when I heard the news, and he was near the room as well when he heard about the pearl. Apparently, for reasons yet to be discovered, the pearl Flurry found harbors a large amount of chaos magic. When Flurry found it, it activated the magic."
"And when Cadance dropped it, a large bolt lashed out, struck her, and put me in this situation," I finished.
Twilight blinked, shocked that I was able to finish her explanation. Honestly, I didn't know either, but I wasn't going to say anything.
"Y-yes, that is the explanation we have so far."
"And how did you know I'm not Cadance?" I asked.
"I worked with Discord to find you," Twilight explained. "When we tracked you down and brought you here, Discord checked your mind and came to the conclusion that you are not Cadance, but rather, another life form. Only Discord and I know who you really are, since it was only the two of us when we brought you back."
"So now that you found me, what next?" I asked. "Could we maybe work on getting me home? Hire Discord or something?"
"I wish we could get Discord," Twilight sighed. "But a few hours ago, the pearl went missing. Discord went missing as well. Guards are out looking for his whereabouts. Shining is supposed to join the search tomorrow."
"So what am I supposed to do until then?"
"Live your life until further notice," Twilight advised. "Whether you want to pretend to be Cadance or not is up to you. But it would be easier if everypony knew the truth. I wish you luck."
Twilight got up and turned to leave.
"Wait!" I called out. Twilight stopped in her tracks and turned to me. "If I'm in the real Cadance's body... then what about Cadance herself?"
"Do you have a feeling she is somewhere in you?"
I opened my mouth to speak. But I said nothing. I have never thought of that before. I never felt that Cadance was with me. But now that Twilight brought it up...
"I... don’t even know!”
Twilight then nodded. "I promise to return when I can. Again, I wish you luck and hope to see you soon."
"Alright..." I waved a hoof. "See you..."
Twilight waved goodbye before she left the room closed the door, leaving me alone yet again in the hospital room.