//------------------------------//
// Questions and Scolding 
// Story: Rise Of the Dragon Queen 
// by Mystic Sunrise 
//------------------------------//

"I think I speak for everypony here when I say. WHAT?!" Pinkie finally exclaimed, trying to put her jaw back in place. But it was a losing battle.

"You're Tiamat?" Shining asked, his mind unable to make sense of what his eyes were telling him.

Pearl grinned. "That's us!" She burped, a puff of smoke coming out her nose. "Spicy. Who knew changeling tasted so good?"

The girls giggled, while the others were still lost. "But how? That shouldn't be possible. No magic can do that. And I have lived for long enough to see most magic in the world. Not even Discord's magic can do this," Celestia asked.

Pumpkin picked the last of the changeling out of her teeth. "We're not really sure. But it feels so natural now that we've done it. Hay. Just being a pony again feels weird after everything we did."

Twilight nodded. Out of her friends, she had changed the most. Her mane and tail had gone black, with only her two color stripes remaining from her original look for them. "If there's one thing I can think of, it's the Dragons Orbs we each have."

Rarity looked at the group closely. Something was missing from each of them. "Speaking of the orbs, darling. Where are they? You've never let them out of your sight before now. Let alone took them off."

Lavender stretched her wings for all they were worth, lightning playing along each of her feathers. "They merged with us, and we merged with them. I can still feel it inside me right now. It's a lot easier this way I think than carrying them around our necks all the time."

Nopony could argue with that. River, though, looked peeved about something. "Now that we've got all that out of the way. Let's talk about the sheer amount of stupid going on around here."

Fluttershy gulped. "Um. What do you mean?"

Pearl snorted as she pointed at all of them. "Did you already forget that we just saved your sorry butts and all of Canterlot from an invasion? All because you cared more about a wedding?!"

Twilight nodded, her gaze hardening. "I was almost killed last night. Mom and dad are probably worried sick about me because I didn't go home." She nodded at the girls next to her. "They saved me. We spent all night clearing out the city of changelings. How many you might ask? Too many."

Celestia frowned. "You had nothing to back up your claims, Twilight. What was I supposed to do? Take your word over the word of my niece?"

Twilight spat a glob of acid, the glob landing before Celestia and Shining. "That's your best excuse, Celestia? You're right. I had nothing to back up what I was saying. I admit that. But did you blatantly forget or ignore that Canterlot was under threat?"

Pumpkin nodded. "You'd fought Chrysalis before. You knew what she could do. Kinda obvious when you think about it."

Celestia bit back a growl. As much as she wanted to, she could not argue with the facts. 

Now it was the turn of the rest of the girls, as Twilight looked at her Ponyville friends. "Now then girls. Let's talk about you, shall we?"

Rainbow frowned. "What did we do?"

Lavender rolled her eyes. "It's a miracle you made Weather Team Captain, Rainbow, with that kind of attitude."

Pearl nodded. "You guys seemed far more interested in a wedding of a pony you barely knew, than your friend."

The girls winced, hard. Pumpkin sighed sadly. "All Chrysalis ever did was insult or belittle you ever since we got to Canterlot. I don't know about you. But I wouldn't have taken any of that. Princess or not."

Twilight's gaze softened as she looked at Pinkie and Fluttershy. "Fluttershy. In all the times you dealt with Chrysalis, did you ever feel anything that felt like kindness or good?"

Fluttershy shook her head, remembering when she'd had to deal with the disguised queen. "No. All I ever felt was hatred and anger. I used to think that it was just that nothing seemed to be going right. But now? That hatred was aimed at everything and everyone around her. There was no love in her heart. I don't know if she could have been saved or not."

Twilight nodded, her heart aching for her Pegasus friend. "Pinkie. Do you think Chrysalis could have ever been happy? You tried your best. But..."

Pinkie thought about it for a moment, before her mane deflated. "No. Unless it was doing very unpleasant and not very nice things to ponies maybe. But I don't want to think about what those could have been."

Applejack removed her hat. "You're right, Twilight. We were being stupid. Don't rightly know why now that I think about it. Do ya hate us for it?"

Twilight paused a moment, before breaking into a wide smile, and pulling the girls into a group. "Oh, girls. I can't hate you for that. Disappointed maybe. But I still love you."

The girls were more than happy to return the hug, huge smiles on all of their faces.

Pearl gagged as she watched the mushy scene. "Yuck. Maybe we should've stayed as Tiamat. Less mushy and icky stuff that way."

Shining chuckled. "You'll understand one day, Pearl."

Pearl just rolled her eyes. "If it involves all of this, I think I'm happier not knowing about it."

Everypony chuckled, but River soon had a concerned look as she looked around. "Not to ruin the moment. But what about Princess Cadance? The real Princess Cadance I mean?"

Twilight's eyes widened in horror. In all the excitement, she'd completely forgotten about her old foalsitter. And it seemed like her friends had as well, judging by their horrified looks.

Princess Celestia, though, just chuckled. "Cadance is fine. Luna and a Royal Guard detachment have found her." She paused a moment. "They have just arrived at Canterlot General Hospital."

"How is she?" Twilight and Shining asked at the same time.

Celestia sighed. "She is in bad shape. Luna doesn't know how long she was down there in the mines, but it must have been some time." She saw everyone's concerns mount, and her smile. "Luna was able to stabilize her. A few days of bed rest, and some proper food, and Cadance should be fine. Young though she may be, Cadance still has the biology and physiology of an alicorn. It will take much more than this to cause any permanent harm."

Everypony breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Guess that mean's the wedding is off," Rainbow grumbled, earning a glare from Rarity.

Celestia giggled. "Right now, a wedding is the last thing we need to worry about. Captain Armor and I will be having a rather stern talking to from my sister I fear about all of this." She looked at Twilight's Ponyville friends. "As will you, I am afraid. I cannot say what will come of it."

Twilight, Pearl, Pumpkin, River, and Lavender all shared a worried look. "What about us?" Lavender asked.

Celestia pinched her snout. "I'm not sure. All of Canterlot will have seen what Tiamat did. It will only be a matter of time before it gets out that the five of you and her are one and the same." She smiled at the crestfallen looks she received. "However, your heroics in stopping Queen Chrysalis will matter far more than the fear you will have caused."

Pumpkin puffed out her chest. "Being a hero does sound nice."

The group shared a laugh at that.





For as long as she had known her, Twilight had never seen Cadance look so bad. She had never thought her foalsitter could ever look so bad. It just made what she had done to Chrysalis worth it even more.

Cadance bore the bumps and bruises of however long she had been down in the mines. She was so thin that the girls could almost see her bones through her skin. Her eyes were bloodshot and weary, but she was still able to smile as the girls came in.

Pearl was the first to break the silence. "Cadance. You look like crap."

Despite her obvious discomfort, Cadance was still able to roll her eyes. "Thank you, Pearl. I hadn't noticed," she snarked, smirking as the others giggled.

Lavender, though, was still worried. "Are you okay, though? I've never seen somepony look this bad."

Cadance's smile softened. "I'll be fine, Lavender. Alicorns can take a lot more than this. Auntie Luna says that, in a few days, I should be fine with food and a lot of sleep." She rolled her eyes. "I'm having a hard time believing that. But she has been an alicorn longer than I have."

Twilight rolled her eyes. That was true. But there was something she still had to know. "Was that you, that day? Or?"

Cadance's smile grew. "That was me, Twily. Chrysalis didn't replace me for at least another few weeks. She replaced one of the maids in the castle. I didn't realize until it was too late that that maid had the night off on my order, and she isn't one to do something like this."

Twilight sighed in relief. That was a massive weight off of her shoulders.

Cadance though gained a rather knowing look. "Now. I heard there was quite a commotion going on outside Canterlot's earlier. Something about a five-headed dragon that destroyed the entire Changeling Hive."

The girls grinned nervously. "You heard about that?" Pumpkin asked.

"Pumpkin. All of Canterlot saw it. Tiamat's five heads matched exactly the colors of the orbs you girls have," Cadance replied, her smile growing. "I can still feel their power. Even after you absorbed them. My question is. How?"

River sighed, seeing no point in denying it. "We don't know. It just happened. But, and I think I speak for all of us, it feels right. If that makes any sense?"

Cadance shook her head. "Not really. But it's not my place to know a lot about any of this." She looked at Twilight. "Love the new mane look, Twilight. Black looks good on you."

Twilight giggled, as she ran a hoof through her now black mane. "Thanks. I'm still getting used to it though. But I do like it."

Everypony chuckled at that. "So, how did you know we're Tiamat?" Pearl asked, still having trouble believing it herself.

Cadance rolled her eyes. "One of the Royal Guard who came to get Auntie Luna saw the five of you change back from her into your pony forms. He is one of the most reputable guards, so I was inclined to believe him. But I can feel the power you girls now control, the orbs that are now literally a part of you. It doesn't take an alicorn to put it all together."

Lavender looked out a nearby window. It offered a grand view of Canterlot from this high up. "Where is Princess Luna anyway?"

Cadance sighed, her ears picking up the verbal beatdown going on right that second in the Throne Room of the castle. "Having very not nice words with Auntie Celestia, Shiny, and your Ponyville friends, Twilight. I won't repeat what she's saying. But, to be blunt. She is peeved beyond belief."

Twilight's ears flattened. She felt bad about how she had spoken to the others earlier. Her feelings were still the same. But she felt she could have said them better. What was done, was done, though. No point in beating herself up about it.

Cadance's smile turned into a rather devious smirk. "Luna's wanted to meet you, Twilight, since the Summer Sun Celebration. She was crushed you weren't there in Ponyville on Nightmare Night, even though your friends helped her more than I think they know. I think she's rather smitten with you."

Twilight's face turned bright red, unable to think of a proper response to that. Princess Luna might like her, like that? She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea, though she had no problem with two mares liking each other like that.

Quickly shaking her head, she tried to think of anything else, but her brain seemingly had decided to go a different route. The others giggled at how flustered the unicorn was quickly becoming.

"Not to ruin the mood. But what does this mean for the wedding?" River asked.

Cadance sighed, laying back on her pillows. "I still love Shining Armor. That will never change. I'll be having words with him later about how he could fall for Chrysalis' bad acting as he did." She looked down at her battered body, tubes feeding into her legs, the heart monitor beating at a stable pace. "But I'm in no shape or mood for a wedding right now. So it's postponed for the moment."

The girls sagged a bit, but they knew that it was for the better. None of them were really in the mood for a wedding at the moment either. Right now, Twilight was most worried about her parents. She hadn't gotten home the night before. They would be worried sick about her.

Cadance seemed to guess what was on the unicorn's mind, for her smile softened. "Go on, Twily. Your parents are probably worried sick about you by now. Don't let me keep you waiting. I'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere right now, even though I am starting to feel a little better now."

Twilight's smile grew, as she ran to the door. "Thanks. I hate doing this to them. Mom is going to ground me at this rate. Probably forever." She looked at the girls. "You girls can come. But it's going to get really mushy really fast at this rate."

The girls chuckled, as they followed her out of the room, leaving Cadance alone for the moment. "Mushy sounds good right about now," Pearl said.

Cadance giggled, as the girls' voices grew fainter. Alone, for now, she allowed herself to relax, closing her eyes as her condition finally caught up with her. It hurt, she wouldn't deny it. She just hoped it wouldn't last very long.

And as Twilight and her friend's voices finally faded away into nothing, her smile grew. United and together as the five of them were, there was nothing that could stand up to them. She believed in Twilight, Pearl, River, Pumpkin, and Lavender. She believed in Tiamat.

Equestria was in better hooves with them together.