//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: What is Even Happening?! // Story: Help! I've Turned Into a Princess! // by ScorchingFlamesInc //------------------------------// After everything that happened, Shining Armor and I quickly proceeded to leave the castle. "What is even going on?!" I shrieked. "We're in terrible danger!" Shining exclaimed. "We need to do something!" "How?! Twilight's gone, there's a rogue-shadow creature, and..." That's when I remembered. Cadance! "Oh no! Cadance! What if she's in danger?!" Shining, remembering what I told him about original Cadance, stopped in his tracks. "I never even thought of that..." he mumbled. "Dear Celestia... whatever it is... it took Twilight... maybe Cadance..." "Cadance or no Cadance, with all that is going on, I feel like something else is going to happen. We need to return to the Empire right away!" "Don't need to tell me twice!" Our mad-dash continued. Both Shining and I had the feeling that something bad would happen if we didn't return to the Crystal Empire in time. ... Shining burst right through the crystal doors, and I followed. The guards didn't stop running either, obviously. Our first task was to get to Flurry Heart's room to make sure she was safe. When we got there, Shining busted the door open. We both gasped. Flurry Heart was gone. "No!" Shining bellowed. "Where could she have-" I was cut off from a very loud noise coming from the crystal throne room. Shining and I both knew where we had to go next. Quickly, we made our way through the castle and to the throne room. When the doors were in sight, however, Tirick suddenly crashed through the doors, and into the wall. "Ouch..." he groaned. I rad to his aid. "Are you okay?" Tirick groaned, and lifted a shaky finger, before being pulled away into the room. I looked into the throne room, and Shining did too. What we saw was Flurry Heart, raised in the air, holding Cherylis, Tirick, and Kenzy with her telekinesis. "Now..." she spoke in a distorted voice. "Who's next!" "Flurry!" Shining shouted. "What are you doing?!" Flurry's ears perked up. "Well, well, well... look who lost the race." "Race? What race?" I ask. "From Canterlot to here, of course." "What are you talking about?" "Either you're not catching on, or you're just stupid..." Flurry scowled. "It's me! The creature that you kept encountering throughout the course of today. The one from the kitchen. The one who took Twilight!" "You?!" "Yes..." she smiled. "Me. Let me tell you, it's been fun seeing your face and condition during your time as Cadance, but our direct encounters were much more fun." "What do you mean? How long have you been around?" "Much longer than you thought. But I'd rather not get into it right now. If you'll excuse me... I have some work to do, and I want you out of my way!" The guards looked at Shining. I knew their looks. They weren't sure if they wanted to attack since... you know... that's Shining and Cadance's kid. That was all I could see though, before something opened underneath my hooves, and I fell. I grabbed onto the edge of the rift, my hooves slowly sliding closer to the gap. I looked underneath me. It was a portal to what reminded me of Discord's chaos dimension. But something felt different. Before I could do anything, though, Flurry reached down a long, slender, arm manifested of magic, and then tapped my horn. All of a sudden, I felt weaker. And I could see a magic ball of blue glowing above the finger. Was that... my magic? "I expected to already have Cadance's magic when I took her spirit away from you..." Flurry said. "But this works too. And I don't need you two anymore, either..." Flurry then created another rift and tossed Tirick, Cherylis and Kenzy in, before snapping it shut. She looked at me, struggling to stay up, and scowled. Then, I could hold on no longer. But right as I fell, Shining came to the rescue, and grabbed my hooves with his magic. "Sorry for not going sooner..." he groaned. "Too much to look a-" Flurry, for some reason, swatted Shining to the wall, causing him to let me go. I was partially out of the rift already, but then I felt it start trying to suck me in like a vacuum, and I was back to square one. "Say hi to Discord for me..." Flurry grinned. And that's when every last ounce of strength I had bailed on me, and I was sucked in. I saw the rift shut itself closed as I fell. Last I heard, the chaos realm had no gravity. So why was I falling, while also screaming for my life? Before I could mentally answer that question, I landed in something wet, but soft. I slowly got up and groaned. My wings were slightly sore, but everything else was still fine. I looked around to see what had broken my fall. I was on... a giant chocolate cake. Yes. A chocolate cake. "Yeah, this is definitely... a... chaos dimension..." I mumble, before licking some frosting off the cake ground that I stood on. Trying not to slip, I staggered to my hooves, covered in frosting. It was sticky, and I hate being sticky, so that made the experience all the more uncomfortable. I looked around, in hopes of finding the others. I could see a bunch of floating cakes, but no living beings. "Mmmph mph" I looked around. I heard muffled screaming, but I couldn't- Wait... Were those pink hooves sticking out of a nearby cake? "Kenzy? Is that you?" "MMMph." The smaller cake seemed to be floating on its own upside down, thankfully coming closer. I jumped with the hopefulness of grabbing her legs with my forehooves. But instead, my body twisted, and I landed on the cake. Think of it like a Mario Galaxy game. I got up, now seeing that I was standing on that upside-down cake, which was above my cake. So... does that mean these cakes have gravity? Hoping to take advantage of it, I went over to Kenzy, bent down, wrapped my forehooves around one of her legs, and pulled. I expected it to fail and I'd resort to biting and pulling her tail, but she ended up sliding out of the cake with ease, and we both toppled over. Kenzy took a deep breath. "Phew... thanks." "No problem. Where are the other two?" "Over here!" I heard a faint voice yell. Kenzy and I both looked around, until she spotted something. "There!" I could see faintly beyond the edge of the cake I was previously on. I saw Cherylis and Tirick both on a distant cake. "How are we gonna get over there?" Kenzy asked. I looked around my surroundings, and then I got an idea. "These cakes have gravity... so we're gonna do this Mario Galaxy style..."