Change the Heart

by FatesWinds

Chapter 7: Reunion and Explanation

Heart Shield’s absence from Ponyville only lasted a month, but for Twilight it felt like years. News about what had happened spread through the entire town within a day, how, she didn’t know. Everypony, even her friends, acted as if she wasn’t there, even Owlowiscious refused to be near her. It was like she was back at Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding all over again. Only Spike kept her company, though it was clear that even he was upset with her. She wrote to Princess Celestia every day, asking for news about her friend, but all she got were letters saying that it was a process that needed time. She rarely left the library these days, the cold shoulders and looks she received were too much for her. She wished she could go back and stop herself from making that choice, but after her mishap with Star Swirl the Bearded’s time spell the last time, well, it was out of the question. Finally, the letter from Celestia that she had anxiously waited for arrived, saying that Heart Shield wasn’t under any form of magical control, though they had detected trace amounts of Chrysalis’s magic on his wings, and that he was heading back to Ponyville. He returned that very evening, Pinkie even through him a Welcome Back to Ponyville party, invitations she passed out personally to everypony in town, including Twilight.
Pinkie was her usual bouncy self at the prospect of throwing a party, and as far as she was concerned, now that Heart Shield was coming back then there was no need to be mad at Twilight anymore. Twilight took the invitations out of politeness even though she didn’t have the heart to go, though she sent Spike to the party as thanks for keeping her company.

Lady Celestia’s chariot landed in Ponyville just before evening. Heart Shield would have just flown there, making his way back on his own time, but the Princess had requested that he travel personally with her. She apologized to him on the way there for all the trouble that had been caused for him, that Twilight hadn’t meant him any harm, but every mention of her name was accompanied by a loud “Hmph!” from Heart Shield and an angry glare at the passing landscape.
“Heart Shield, you’ve known Twilight Sparkle for a year now, you help her out and even live with her,” Celestia said as they began to near Ponyville. “You know the kind of pony she is, and how much she cares for everypony, especially her friends.”
“What she did, Lady Celestia, was attack a helpless pony, burn off my wings, send me to Canterlot for a pointless month of your best magical minds poking and prodding me, asking inane questions and refusing to let me come home until I threatened to knock the next pony who stuck me with something right into next year, and the worst of it all, sent away somepony who only wanted our help, who trusted me!”
“I understand your anger, but-.”
Heart Shield turned around in the chariot and looked Lady Celestia in the eye, raising his voice to her in anger for the first time since they had first met. “ENOUGH!” he shouted. “I am sick and tired of hearing you apologize for her and offer excuses for her! Let me give you my lesson in friendship for today. Somepony who’s a friend is supposed to trust in you, even if it’s about something nopony else would, but I got more trust from Chrysalis than I got from your special, prized STUDENT!”
Celestia merely nodded, not getting angry at his reaction like somepony else might. “All I ask is that you allow her a chance, one chance, to explain her actions.” She held up a hoof to silence him. “I know that you think you got everything you needed to know from your time in the Everfree Forest, but just allow her a single chance. As you said yourself, a friend is supposed to trust in you, so trust her to tell you everything.”
Heart Shield huffed, not bothering to give her a response to this. He stared out at the trees rushing past them and asked, as he had every day for the past month, “And Chrysalis? Has she been found anywhere?”
“The queen of the changelings is still nowhere to be found, I’m sorry Heart Shield.”
“Yeah, I am too.” When they landed, he jumped out of the chariot and gave her one last look. “Your student may have just single-hoofly killed an entire race, if what Chrysalis said was true.”
Celestia, though she didn't understand what he meant by what Chrysalis had said, couldn’t meet his gaze and her Guard kicked off the ground to fly her back to Canterlot.
“Oh good, you’re just in time!”
Heart Shield jumped into the air as Pinkie Pie popped up near his elbow. “Pinkie, what did I tell you about doing that?” he chided, though the familiar face of his friend did soften his mood just a little.
“I know, but everybrony’s come to expect that from me by now,” she laughed, tugging him into town.
“I think you mean ‘everypony’,” he said, confused at her term.
“Everypony too,” she replied. “Come on you slowpoke, there’s a party!” Pinkie jumped high into the air and zoomed off towards town hall, before landing on the ground.
“Wait!” Heart Shield shouted, rushing to catch up with her. “What in Equestria is a ‘brony’?!”

The party was in full swing by the time he arrived at the building, everypony in Ponyville was there, well, almost everypony, Heart Shield determined after a quick scan of the room.
“If you’re looking for Twilight, she told me that she wasn’t feeling good.”
Heart Shield looked down at Spike and nodded. “And what about you and Owlowiscious? And Peewee, how big is the little fire chicken these days?” he asked, leaning down to pull the dragon into a noogie head-lock.
“Hey quit it!” Spike laughed. “Owlowiscious and I are doing fine, and Peewee’s grown a whole inch since you last saw him.”
“You keep an eye on that one,” Heart Shield joked, releasing Spike’s head. “Where are the others?” A blue blur shot over from the opposite end of the room and he barely had time to duck as Rainbow Dash zoomed past him.
“Ha! I almost got you that time Large-wing!” she shouted from down the street before racing back to the building, skidding to a halt in mid-air right before him.
“Almost Rainbow Crash, maybe one of these day’s you’ll be fast enough to do that,” he teased.
“Fast? I’ll show you fast, pretty-boy.” Rainbow Dash began revving up her wings and attempted to fly at his head, only to be stopped when Applejack showed up and grabbed her by the tail, yanking her back. Heart Shield laughed, this was something he’d missed during the month away from them all. There was some giggling behind him and he heard a familiar shout from three little fillies.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Dog Pilers go!”
Before he could turn around Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo leapt onto him from behind, tackling him to the ground, laughing as he pretended he was pinned down by them.
“Where have y’all been, Heart Shield?” Apple Bloom asked. “You missed the Zap Apple harvest, an’ me and Sweetie Belle an’ Scootaloo been waitin’ for you to come back an’ show us all the stuff y’all promised to so we could get our cutie marks.”
“Yeah, nopony would tell us anything,” Sweetie Belle said, pouting. “And Rarity told us that we should probably not ask Twilight about it since she’s been so upset. She hasn’t even left the library for weeks. Did something happen?”
“I’ll bet she finally asked him to be her special somepony and he turned her down,” Scootaloo guessed. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began to trade ever increasingly ridiculous stories while he looked up at his friends; Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had come over to see what was going on only a few seconds before. Pinkie began to join in the fillies’ guessing game, though she never once came close to saying the truth. The others began to laugh, which made him start laughing, all of this grabbed the attention of the other ponies in the room and soon everypony was laughing. He looked up to see if Twilight would lift the Cutie Mark Crusaders off him with her magic before remembering that she wasn’t at the party, and that he was still upset with her, that, despite what Lady Celestia said, he didn’t think he could trust her after what she did.
He sat up, which caused the three fillies to squeal as they slid off him. He told them that Twilight hadn’t asked him to be her special somepony, and began to disappoint them as he mentioned each and every guess they had made and that they weren’t what happened. “There was just a disagreement between Twilight and me,” he told them, downplaying what actually happened, “and some things were said by both of us, which made me leave for a while until some of it cooled down.”
“It weren’t somethin’ too bad though was it?” Apple Bloom asked worriedly. “Y’all are still gonna be friends right?”
“Some things are going to be different, kiddo,” he said, placing a hoof on her head and rubbed it playfully, “and a lot will depend on whether or not what happened can be fixed, but don’t you worry, I promise you things are going to be fine. Now, I think I spy a rather large cake over there on the table,” he leaned down, speaking to all three fillies in conspiratorially. “What do you say to giving cake devouring a shot.”
Huge grins covered their faces and they let out their cry of “Cutie Mark Crusaders Cake Eaters!” and dashed off to the dessert. He stood up as everypony began to resume the partying, save for his friends. Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, sharing a knowing look.
“Heart Shield,” Rarity said slowly, “would you be a dear and come with us for a moment, it’s rather cramped in here.”
“Yeah, and there ain’t much privacy for all of us to talk with everypony crowdin’ around us,” Applejack added.
“You mean we’re headed to Twilight’s,” he said. “It’s written all over your faces.”
“Please won’t you come see her?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “She really has been awfully upset.”
Heart Shield shook his head slowly. “Sorry, but I just don’t feel up to it today.”
“Oh come on,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s been a month and Spike’s told us that she’s been apologizing in her sleep, and she’s written to the Princess and you every day!”
“Besides, Twilight’s missing out on the party! I said everypony was supposed to come and it’s not everypony without her!” Pinkie added.
Spike tugged on one of Heart Shield’s wings. “Please Heart Shield? You two don’t have to talk to each other, but can’t you at least come see her?”
He sighed. “It’ll happen eventually, you guys, but I really am not in the mood to do much of anything right now. It’s been a long month and an even longer day, and all I really want to do is just be by myself for a little while.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to leave the party, that means there will be two ponies gone, which means that there’ll be even more ponies not making it everypony here,” Pinkie said, her bouncy, cotton candy-like hair deflating like a balloon. “And we can’t have a welcome back party for you if you’re not at the party!”
“Tell you what, if you keep the party going without us, then I’ll Pinkie Pie Promise that all of us will have a private welcome back party later. It could even be a surprise party, but only if you promise to keep this one going until everypony heads home and that the one between all of us won’t be for a few days, at least two, a week at the most.”
“A surprise party!” Pinkie’s hair instantly resumed its usual state and she bounced high in the air, clapping all of her hooves together. “I love surprise parties!”
“So it’s a deal then? This party continues and we get our own one in a few days after I’ve gotten settled back in?”
“Deal! But you need to Pinkie Pie Promise like you said.”
“I promise Pinkie. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“Great! See you in a few days for your surprise party!”
Pinkie bounced around the town hall happily.
“That was a mighty fine thing you did sugarcube,” Applejack said. “I reckon y’all just made Pinkie’s day just now.”
“Yeah.” Heart Shield looked over at everypony having a good time, then outside. “Would you mind if I had some time to myself?”
“Not at all. Will you be stayin’ at the barn or Fluttershy?”
“Not tonight. I just want to be alone for a while.”
His friends nodded and let him have his space. He walked outside, wandering around the town silently.
“Are you sure it’s alright to let him be alone like that?” Rainbow Dash asked after he left.
“Well shoot, we wouldn’t be much good friends if we didn’t respect his wishes now would we? He just needs to get his thoughts together I reckon. Let him have his space for a day or two while he gets back into things. He’ll come around.”
“I guess you’re right.”

The sounds of cheering and good times rang throughout all of Ponyville from town hall where the party for Heart Shield was being held and ran deep into the night. Twilight Sparkle listened to it as she stared out her bedroom, window. Twice she thought she saw him walking outside, both times she ducked out of sight quickly, not rising up again for several minutes to be sure that she wasn’t at risk of being seen. She knew that she was acting childish, hiding from their eventual reunion, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so, the idea of seeing the same disappointment from him that she’d had to see in everypony’s eyes was enough to bring her to tears. She sat there, crying. He had come to her for help, trusted her, and she had turned around and betrayed that trust, getting him caught in the crossfire and injured. She wouldn’t face him, she couldn’t.
“Twilight? Are you still up?”
Spike’s voice broke the silence that had fallen over the library after the party outside had died down. Twilight quickly wiped her eyes and got into her bed, pretending to be asleep. Spike climbed up the ladder to her room and saw that she was already in bed.
“Guess I’ll see you in the morning then, good night Twilight.”
He climbed back down, heading to his own little room and curled up in his bed, quickly falling asleep. Twilight lay there under her covers, crying silently. She had difficulty getting to sleep, as she had for the past month, but now it was worse. He’d come back, which she was happy for, but she dreaded them running into each other, even while she wished that he was here. The guest room lay empty of anypony, his things still in there, a constant reminder for her of the friend she’d betrayed. The night passed slowly for her.
The moon had risen to the top of the sky when a light tapping sound came from the glass door to the library’s balcony. It continued for a minute before stopping; she guessed that it was just a branch rapping against the glass in the wind. She pulled her blanket over her head when suddenly the quiet tapping began again, this time from her window. She sat up, looking curiously at it, but a cloud covered the moon just as she rose, dousing Ponyville in complete darkness. The sound came again, a little faster, then once again stopped. Twilight got out of bed and walked to her window, her horn glowing to create some light for her to look outside, but there was nothing there. She doused the light and turned to go back to bed when she heard a soft thump from the balcony.
What in Equestria is going on? she thought to herself, wandering over to the door. The tapping started again, softer this time, and she lit her horn again, determined to find out just what was making all that noise. It was still too dark for her to see outside, and she had some curtains covering the glass on the door. As she drew near, the tapping stopped, but she thought she saw something out there through the curtains. She opened the door and stepped outside, looking around.
“Hello? Is somepony there?” she asked.
“Hey Twilight. I was told you were here.”
She jumped, startled and her horn stopped glowing in her surprise at the voice. “H-Heart Shield?”
“I didn’t wake you did I?”
“N-no,” she said, wiping her eyes as fast as she could before she lit up her horn again.
Heart Shield stood at the end of the balcony, watching her. She shut the door behind her and took a few steps forward before stopping, looking at him.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” she asked.
“Just getting back to Ponyville.”
“No, I mean here, at my house.” Twilight dimmed the light as a few tears fell down her cheeks, making it almost dark so she could wipe them away before making it brighter again. “I thought you didn’t… you wouldn’t-.”
The cloud over Ponyville passed, freeing the moon. Twilight shut off her horn and looked at Heart Shield.
“I’m not going to lie,” he said, “I almost didn’t.” Both of them fell silent for a long time. Heart Shield was the first to break the silence. “Do you have time?”
“I might have a few things scheduled for tonight, but I supposed I can squeeze some in for you,” she joked weakly. She thought she saw his lips twitch for a second, but she supposed she imagined it.
“Walk with me,” Heart Shield said, spreading his wings. He flapped them once, lifting off the balcony and hovered in the air, watching her.
Twilight nodded and her horn flashed. She vanished in a small flash of purple light, appearing on the ground a moment later in another flash. Heart Shield flew down to the ground and began to walk slowly through the streets, Twilight hurried to catch up to him, falling into step beside the Pegasus in a moment. They walked in silence for a long time, wandering aimlessly through Ponyville.
“Why did you come to the library?” she asked quietly as they passed Sugarcube Corner.
“I had a feeling you might be up,” he replied.
“That doesn’t-.”
“Lady Celestia’s castle is a little different from the last time I was there,” he interrupted. “More guards than before. She didn’t look too surprised when I was brought in, though when the Guard told her I showed up in a ball of light she did. She had probably thought I had shown up for a surprise visit until the Guard spoke.”
Twilight bit her lip, falling silent.
“I was brought to the college for magic where she began to ask me all sorts of questions, to find out if I was actually me I suppose. I spent my time between there and a cell in the castle. For weeks her best unicorns poked and prodded and studied me, making me go through all sorts of tests, looking for any trace of… of her magic. They were interested particularly by the ones left on my wings, since there was a lot of Shining Armor’s and Princess Cadance’s there, but only a tiny bit of hers. They asked a lot of questions, and Lady Luna would stop by the cell to talk to me now and then. It’s an odd way to meet somepony, locked in a cell. She would ask me about the bits of magic on my wings sometimes, but mostly she came to talk about letters sent by you. She was the one who let me go, you know. I was brought a few, or all maybe, I have no idea how many you sent, but I never read them. I was told this morning that I’d have been let out weeks ago if just told them about the wings, and about her. I never did, so you don’t have anything to worry about from Lady Celestia.
“Lady Celestia accompanied me here. She didn’t stop apologizing for you and giving excuses for you. To be honest, the only reason I’m here tonight is because she asked me to talk to you, to give you a chance to explain why you did this.”
They stopped when they reached the lake where Rainbow Dash liked to spend free time. Heart Shield turned to Twilight, looking at her for the first time since they’d began their walk.
“So I’m giving you that chance Twilight. You only get one to tell me everything, which I think is more than you deserve for what you did.”
“Heart Shield, I’m sorry… I’m sorry you got caught up in this. I’m sorry I sent you away. I’m sorry that I destroyed your wings. I am, I mean it. You trusted me and I-.”
“I don’t want to hear your apologies!” he shouted. “I want answers! Why did you attack Chrysalis! Why did you make her go away after she explained everything to you! Where did you send her! Why did you do this to me! ANSWER ME, SPARKLE!”
“Because I was trying to protect you!” Twilight’s eyes filled with tears. “Because I saw what she did to my brother and Cadance, what she did to Celestia, to Canterlot, and I couldn’t let her to do the same to you! Don’t you get it?” Her tears began to fall as she started crying. “I couldn’t let her do the same to you, you stupid idiot. She tried to take my brother from me, Cadance from me, she almost took Celestia and my old home too, and I was scared she’d succeed with you!”
Heart Shield’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing, not because he was surprised, but because he didn’t trust himself not to go off at her again.
“Chrysalis took away everything I cared about Heart Shield. She would have succeeded in keeping them if Cadance and Shining Armor hadn’t ended up stopping her,” Twilight whispered, wiping her eyes. “I didn’t want her to take away somepony I care about too.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you acted like that Twilight. She’s not the Chrysalis you know anymore, you saw that yourself. You’re supposed to be my friend, supposed to trust me. So why didn’t you trust me when it was shown that she’s not a bad pony anymore?”
Twilight sniffled and finished drying her eyes. Her horn glowed and in a flash of light, they were transported to the crystal caverns deep under Canterlot castle. “It’s a long story, Heart Shield, one that I can’t tell all by myself. Please, wait here for a moment, I need to get everypony involved in it to help.”
She vanished again, leaving Heart Shield alone in the crystal cavern. He went over what she had already told him. It wasn’t news to him that they had gotten close over the past year. It was the same with Applejack and Fluttershy too. Applejack had even gone so far as to ask him if he’d spend Hearts and Hooves Day with her. He knew that the three of them cared for the pony who’d been staying with each of them, but despite what the Cutie Mark Crusaders had thought, or at least had thought about him and Twilight, the four of them never once deluded themselves into thinking any of them would ever be special someponies. And even though Twilight’s actions and what she had said might suggest otherwise, he knew that she only meant it as the same as her and her friends. All eight of them – Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, and now him – were a family, and family looked out for each other.
Twilight reappeared with Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash in a moment; all five of the ponies she’d brought looked disheveled, having been woken up and brought into the cavern in the middle of the night. She vanished again, saying there was somepony else she needed to bring. The other five looked to him immediately.
“Heart Shield, please tell me you know why Twilight interrupted our beauty sleep and brought us to this place so late at night, not that this cavern isn’t lovely and all with so many wonderful crystals,” Rarity asked, stifling a yawn.
There was a flash of light while she had been speaking, signaling Twilight had returned.
“Yes, I’m curious to know the reason as well.”
Lady Celestia walked over with Twilight and sat by a particularly large crystal.
“Princess Celestia, there’s something I need you to do before I begin,” Twilight said before he could answer. “Can you make a connection with my brother and Cadance? The crystals here can be used to communicate with somepony, and they’re the last two I need.”
“I can try, Twilight Sparkle, but I expect you to explain everything afterwards even if I don’t succeed.”
Twilight nodded, and Celestia’s horn began to glow. The crystal beside her started to shine, different colors of light coming out of it. A few moments passed before the light flickered and Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s images came into view.
“Twily!” Shining Armor said, a smile coming over his face as he noticed his sister. Twilight waved to him and Cadance, a nervous smile on her face.
“Hello Shining Armor, Princess Cadance,” Lady Celestia said, drawing both ponies’ attention to her. “Forgive me for interrupting your sleep like this, but Twilight Sparkle wished for you two to be present for… something.”
Everypony’s eyes fell on Twilight, who sat down nervously.
“I’m sorry to have woken everypony up, but there’s something I need to talk to Heart Shield about, and I can’t do it without each of you contributing.”
She explained that she had sent him to Canterlot, wrongly she now realized, because she had thought he might have been under, or was about to be placed under, Chrysalis’s control. Both Shining Armor and Cadance where shocked to hear mention of the Changeling Queen, but allowed Twilight to continue. Heart shield was asked to explain how Twilight’s actions had come about. Apart from Twilight, who already knew everything, everypony looked at him as if he had grown a second head, as he told them how he had come across Chrysalis injured in the Everfree Forest, not knowing who she was, how he had helped her recover and how Twilight became involved. Twilight shrank back when he told her to explain the rest of the story. She didn’t meet anypony’s eyes as she explained how he had gotten in the way to protect Chrysalis from her spell, his wings getting destroyed, how Chrysalis suddenly attacked her, how he had stopped the Changeling Queen from continuing to attack and made Twilight heal her, how Chrysalis had used the rest of her magic to repair his wings. She didn’t talk about what Chrysalis had told them –something that earned her a glare from Heart Shield, but he allowed her to continue and didn’t bring the subject up –though she did said how Chrysalis’s actions were not at all how they were before, and how Heart Shield tried to convince Twilight that she had changed, how she sent her away and sent him to Canterlot out of fear that something had, or would have, happened.
“This explains how your wings had Cadance and Shining Armor’s magical residue and only a hint of the Changeling Queen’s,” Lady Celestia said. “I think now I understand why you’ve brought us here Twilight Sparkle.” She looked at Heart Shield, nodding in thanks for him giving Twilight a chance to explain everything.
“Heart Shield wanted to know why I did all of this, and I decided the best way for him to fully understand the reasons, I needed to have everypony tell him everything that happened at the wedding.”
“Well I can understand why Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are needed, but what possible reason did you have to bring us along Twilight?” Rarity asked. “After all, everything the five of us know is the same that you know.”
“Exactly,” Twilight replied. “You five fought against the changelings with me, you’ve seen what they’re capable of, and you’re the only ponies I can think of who can help Heart Shield see exactly the kind of threat they posed and why I couldn’t risk Chrysalis staying.”
“I’m not sure exactly what it is you think we can add Twi, but if you reckon we can help, I guess we can give it a shot,” Applejack said.
“Thank you. Cadance, Shining Armor, I need you two to start in off since you two were the first to encounter her.”
“We’ll tell what we can Twilight, but Shining Armor doesn’t remember all of what happened while he was under her spell,” Princess Cadance told them.
“I think I can remember enough, though,” Shining Armor added.
Princess Cadance began by telling Heart Shield how she and Chrysalis had crossed paths, that the changeling had taken her image and imprisoned her in the crystal caverns. Shining Armor picked up from there, helped out now and then by Lady Celestia and Twilight when he didn’t remember some things. The Guard had been put in place to protect Canterlot from an unknown threat, with him in charge of keeping up the entire magical barrier around it. Chrysalis, in Cadance’s form, would “help” him with the headaches caused by the strain of keeping the barrier up all by himself. She used those headaches to her advantage, to feed off of his love for Cadance and to make sure he was completely under her spell so as to not only never suspect she wasn’t his bride-to-be, but to also cause his protection spell to weaken. Twilight and the others continued the story, with Twilight being the main contributor. She had, like everypony else, thought at first that Chrysalis was truly Cadance. Chrysalis was able to copy the Alicorn Princess’s looks, but not her memories. As such, she – or rather “Cadance” – didn’t remember Twilight at all from her foalsitting days, or even the special saying the two had shared.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” Twilight and Cadance both said, going through the entire routine together. Lady Celestia cleared her throat and Twilight continued, she and Cadance both looking away, flustered.
Twilight was upset that “Cadance” didn’t remember her, and began to get angry when she didn’t act like the Cadance she had known. Chrysalis was insulting, hurtfully sarcastic, shallow, and deceitful, all of which Twilight noticed, though everypony else just attributed it to wedding nerves. She, however, with each increasingly distasteful action, decided that Cadance was not a fit pony to marry her brother, and went to his quarters to tell him so herself, when she saw Shining Armor having another one of his headaches and Cadance, looking evil, using magic on him, which made his eyes glow green as the spell took effect, and think nothing of it afterwards. The next day, during the wedding rehearsal, she stormed into the hall and accused Cadance outright, listing everything she had done and causing her to run crying from the room. Shining Armor, angry with her for treating his bride like that, told her that what she had seen was Cadance helping him recover from the magical strain, the bridesmaids were replaced because the only reason they wanted to be there was to meet Canterlot royalty, and that if she hadn’t been on her best behavior it was because with him being so busy Cadance had to be making all the decisions on her own, which really stressed her out because it was really important to her that the wedding be perfect, accusing Twilight of not seeing that as important and that she would no longer be his Best Mare, or even be allowed at the wedding. Everypony grew angry with her and left her, even Lady Celestia was furious. Left alone she began to question her suspicions, deciding that she had been being overprotective. Cadance came back and Twilight apologized only to have Cadance trap her in a magical barrier, forcing her down to the caverns. When Twilight came to, she realized she was trapped. Chrysalis, still imitating Cadance, declared that she had plans for Shining Armor, and, furious and desperate, Twilight began to blast each reflection of Cadance in the crystals, eventually destroying the ones that had kept the real Cadance trapped. She almost blasted the real Cadance had she not proven to be her real self, remembering who Twilight was from when she foalsat her and doing their “Sunshine Sunshine” dance. She told Twilight that the Cadance she had met was an imposter, and together they managed to escape, though they were too late to stop the wedding. Everypony was shocked to find that there were two Princess Cadances until Cadance told everypony what the fake was. Chrysalis, no longer needing to hide any longer, abandoned her guise as the false Cadance and revealed to all her true self as well as her plan to allow her Changelings to invade and feed off of everypony’s love, allowing them to gain more power than they had ever dreamed of. She then used her power over Shining Armor to weaken the barrier enough for her Changeling army to break through and invade.
“Queen Chrysalis declared that she would first take over Canterlot, then all of Equestria, Heart Shield,” Lady Celestia told him, taking control of the tale. “Her conviction was true and her heart as black as her appearance. She was truly a monster both inside and out. I had to stop her, and so I attacked. She countered my own magic with her own. At first, I overpowered her, and it seemed certain that I would win, but she managed to force my spell away, obviously drawing on Shining Armor’s love for Cadance for more strength. I held her back as best I could, but I am ashamed to say that for all my effort, I was unable to protect my subjects, and was defeated. The queen of the changelings proved to be stronger than myself. We had one last hope, and that was the power of the Elements of Harmony, and I sent Twilight Sparkle and her friends to find them and defeat her. While they ran to follow my request, and fought against the changelings, I was knocked out. When I came to, I was trapped in a changeling cocoon, and unable to use my magic or get free. Shining Armor was under her complete control and Princess Cadance was bound by the same material that had my prison had been made of. I don’t know what happened between my black out and regaining consciousness, but I believe you have some friends who hold those answers.”
Twilight and the others backtracked to after Celestia had sent them out. The changelings finally managed to destroy Shining Armor’s protection spell and began their assault of Canterlot. They ran through the streets, trying to avoid the changelings crashing into the ground like meteors, but they became cornered. Surrounded, they could only watch as the Changelings each transformed into their likenesses. With no way out and no other option, they had to fight their way out, but with all the changelings looking like the real ponies they appeared to be, it was difficult to tell ally from foe. However, they managed to beat all of the changelings, or so they thought until a second wave hit Canterlot. When they got to where the Elements were kept the changelings were already there waiting for them. They were outnumbered and outmatched and captured.
“We were brought back to the wedding hall, corralled by those changelings like sheep in a fence,” Applejack said. “An’ all we could do was watch as that queen sent them into Canterlot and attack innocent ponies.”
“She was gloating the entire time, you should have seen it,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “And not just that, she was SINGING! I uh… something about a perfect time when little I think?”
“This day has been just perfect, the kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small,” Cadance sang. “Everypony I’ll soon control, every stallion, mare and foal. Who says a girl can’t really have it all?” She shuddered and Shining Armor held her close, comforting her. “That’s a song I’ll never be able to forget.”
“That’s the one!” Rainbow Dash looked pleased, as if she’d been the one to know the words. “But she was too busy with her celebration that she never saw Twilight here sneak over to Princess Cadance and free her. And then Cadance went to Shining Armor and she did some of her special magic and his eyes stopped being all wonky. But then Chrys… Crissie…-”
“Chrysalis,” Heart Shield said.
“Yeah, her; she went to them when she saw they were free-.”
“So Cadance told Shining Armor to use his spell-,” Twilight broke in.
“Yeah! And she was all ‘It’s too late, my changelings are already here, bwahaha,’ but he tried the spell any way-,” Pinkie said, standing on her hind legs as she did her impression of Chrysalis.
“But it didn’t work, and Cadance went to him and she lent him her strength-,” Fluttershy added.
“And in a beautiful act of teamwork by the two of them they combined their spells-,” said Rarity.
“And then they shot out a gigantic blast that spread throughout all of Canterlot!” Rainbow Dash cut in, determined to finish recounting the events. “Only it just washed over everypony, but the changelings? They were sent flying! You should have seen it! They were all hit by it and then Bam! Womph! Kerchow! Knocked right out of Canterlot and out over Equestria to who knows where!”
Heart Shield nodded slowly as they finished telling him everything. Lady Celestia asked Twilight if she could bring her friends back to Ponyville while Cadance and Shining Armor returned to their night together, but requested that Heart Shield remain behind. The crystal beside her returned to its normal state and Twilight, after glancing at him for a moment, teleported Applejack and the others back home.
“Heart Shield, I wanted to thank you for allowing Twilight Sparkle a chance to explain things, and for allowing us to hear the details of what happened in the Everfree Forest.”
He said nothing. When Twilight appeared again, Lady Celestia requested that the three of them return to her room in the castle, where Twilight instantly transported them. Twilight took a hesitant step towards Heart Shield once they had appeared in the room. “Do you see now? She was completely evil. No matter how she may have been found in the Everfree Forest, she wasn’t a good pony at all.”
“Maybe not,” he said, getting to his hooves, “but you and I both saw a different side of her there. She’s changed Twilight.”
“She was going to take over all of Equestria a month before that!”
“Because she was convinced that was the only way to keep the changelings from dying!”
"You don't know if she was telling the truth about that!"
"And you don't know if she was lying!"
Twilight and Heart Shield’s voiced got louder as they tried to prove to the other that their version of Chrysalis was the true one. They moved closer with each argument until they were literally butting heads.
“She locked up Cadance, attacked Princess Celestia, and took over my brother’s free will!”
“She did that because after seeing how you treated Nightmare Moon and Discord, how was she supposed to know you wouldn’t have done the same to her kind like you did to them!”
“We did that to save all of Equestria!”
“For Nightmare Moon, yes, because Lady Celestia wasn’t able to save Lady Luna from the jealousy caused by everypony ignoring her night, everypony except the changelings, who loved her night! With Discord, you all acted because he bent reality a few times in the past and never gave him a chance to change! You just went and turned him back into stone!”
“We did what we had to do!”
“Which is exactly why Chrysalis never sought help by coming to Lady Celestia directly! Your answer for everything is to blast it with the Elements!”
“That is enough you two!” Lady Celestia declared, using her magic to separate them.
“Why don’t you tell Lady Celestia what Chrysalis said to us after she fixed my wings?” Heart Shield demanded, glaring at Twilight.
“Heart Shield, that is enough fighting,” Lady Celestia said before looking at Twilight. “And what is this about Queen Chrysalis telling you something Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight squirmed uncomfortably.
“If you won’t tell her everything, I will,” Heart Shied said when she didn’t speak. “The only reason Chrysalis attacked Twilight was because I had gotten hurt protecting her from Twilight’s spell. She saw how badly injured I was, stumbled over to see me on a broken leg, and got angry that Twilight had hurt me! After Twilight healed her, Chrysalis went to me to mend my wings, saying that she was trying something different for a change, exhausted all but a little bit of her magic to save somepony, rather than hurt them. And when, after her actions because of something that happened to somepony else, Twilight still accused her of being evil, she told us everything! Why she did what she did, didn’t she!”
Twilight squirmed more.
“Twilight Sparkle, is Heart Shield saying the truth?” Celestia asked.
“Yes…”
“And she told you two the reason why she had acted, why she resorted to attacking Canterlot?”
“Yes Princess Celestia…”
“And what reason was this?”
Twilight looked at Heart Shield, her expression pleading. “Heart Shield, please, you don’t even know if she was telling the truth. For all either of us know, she was telling us this because she knew that you already cared enough for her to protect her and she wanted to say what you would want to hear, to make her seem like she was doing those terrible things for a good reason. She could have even been trying to win me over.”
“Twilight Sparkle, what was it Chrysalis said to the two of you?” Celestia asked again.
Twilight looked down at the ground as Celestia gently placed them both down. “She said that they were the last of their kind, and that because we had already shown ourselves to see things that we don’t understand as evil, the only way she could save the Changelings was to act like the monsters we would have thought they were. She told us that they were dying because they had no love to feed on, while we continued our lives with no thought about them, that we had completely forgotten them from long ago. They saw how we reacted to Discord and Nightmare Moon and that given how we treated them, she believed that there wasn’t any way that we wouldn’t react like that if they presented themselves as someponies needing help.”
“And what else did she say?” Heart Shield demanded. “Tell her what Chrysalis said after you said that she would have drained us all dry.”
“She said… that she would have gladly drained us of our love and strength in order for them to survive… but not anymore… because even though we treated them like monsters for what they did, Heart Shield never once looked at her like that…”
“All I saw when I first found her was somepony who was injured and scared. I didn’t know what happened in Canterlot, and even if I did, nopony should have to suffer like she had been in the forest,” Heart Shield said. “She wasn’t the Chrysalis you had known Twilight. You and the others always showed me that a little kindness, a little friendship, can do things that magic can’t, that it can change somepony. Look at yourself. You told me that when you first came to Ponyville, you couldn’t believe that you had to try and make friends, and had to learn lessons about friendship. But see how much you’ve changed since then because of it?
“The changelings have never known kindness from us, they see us and see monsters. That’s how Chrysalis saw me when I found her, she saw somepony who meant her harm. But she changed as she learned that I didn’t mean her any harm. She could have flown away with all that magic stored in her the moment her wing was healed, but she stayed. When she could have used it to get rid of us both after you healed her, she used it to heal me. She wasn’t a monster anymore, can’t you see that? She changed for the better, she doesn’t mean anypony any more harm. I believe that, Twilight. I trust her, like you should have trusted me.”
Twilight was silent as he said all of this. He was right. Chrysalis hadn’t acted like the Changeling Queen she had known. The old Chrysalis would have never helped out Heart Shield if he got injured protecting her.
“Heart Shield, Twilight Sparkle, you both have listened to each other’s side of the story,” Celestia said. “Do you both accept that each of you has a different view of Queen Chrysalis?”
They both nodded.
“And can you both see how each of you had come to the conclusions that you had come to?”
They nodded again.
“I hope you two have both learned a lesson from all of this.”
“Yes Lady Celestia.”
“We have, Princess Celestia.”
Celestia smiled at the two of them. “Then I expect a letter from each of you, explaining exactly what you two have learned from this, but not tonight. You two have a lot to digest, and have had a lot to deal with this past month. I want both of you to get some sleep, and in the morning, see how things between you have become.”
“We will,” they said simultaneously.
Twilight’s horn began to shine as she prepared her teleportation spell, but a quick shake of Celestia’s head stopped her.
“You two are going to sleep here tonight, tomorrow you can return to Ponyville.”
“Here, Lady Celestia?” Heart Shield asked, not understanding her meaning.
“I thought that all of the resting houses were closed this late at night,” Twilight said with a frown.
“Which is why you two are going to be staying with me tonight,” Celestia replied, pointing her horn at where her bed lay. Two beds sparked into existence on either side. She looked back at the two ponies, who were currently staring at her as they grasped her words. Both Twilight and Heart Shield thanked her, each choosing a bed gratefully. She climbed into her own and pulled both of their blankets over them. “Good night my little ponies.”
“Good night,” they replied.