We'll Always Have Canterlot

by Tortfeasor

Strange Bedfellows

Disclaimer: I asked a Magic 8 Ball if I would ever own My Little Pony. It said signs point to no.

After the sun had gone down they’d made a sparse dinner and eaten in near silence. After that they’d settled in for the long wait until the buffalo camp became sleepy and quiet enough for them to break in. For Twilight Sparkle and her brother, that meant going back to perch on the ledge overlooking the camp.

“Twilight,” her brother rarely used her full name so it got her attention. “I’m scared. What do we do if it is Cadance behind all this? I mean what if we open up that tent, find Luna or Celestia, and they say that Cadance has gone bad like King Sombra or something.”

That was something Twilight had been thinking about herself, and a question she’d dearly hoped her brother wouldn’t ask. “I’m not sure there’s a right answer, or even any good ones for that matter. But I guess that if we do get to that point then we do what we have to. Celestia sent her own sister to the moon for a thousand years to keep Equestria safe. I’m not saying we’ll have to do that, I’m not even saying I think Cadance is behind this. With everything we’ve seen I think you’re right to put your bits on Queen Chrysalis coming back to take over Equestria. But you’re a captain of the royal guard, and I’m Princess Celestia’s apprentice, our first duty is to Equestria and all the ponies counting on us to save them.”

“I was worried you’d say that.” Shining Armor smiled mirthlessly. “You’re right, I know. But it’s one thing to say that my first duty is to Equestria. It’s another thing to think that might mean banishing my wife to the moon for a thousand years, or wherever she’d go.”

“We’re not banishing anyone anywhere if we don’t have to. Things will get better once we rescue the princess down there. And hey, if it’s Cadance, the real Cadance, down there then we can just teleport you two into Canterlot, let you do your love fuelled shield spell, and problem solved. It would actually be easy for a change, well relatively speaking.”

“There you go. You just jinxed it.” Twilight was glad to see her brother making an attempt at humor. Even if it wasn’t what she’d call a good attempt.

“I think we’ll survive.” Twilight tried to keep her tone deliberately light. “Pinkie Pie would have a whole song and dance routine ready about how to keep from jinxing something, or not worrying that you did jinx it, but we’ll just have to make do with good planning and talent. It’s gotten us this far, so I’m going to keep rolling with it.”

“I don’t know, that was a pretty impressive musical show she had going after the wedding. Think she could pull those speakers and turntables out here?” Twilight started to tell her brother to never underestimate Pinkie Pie’s ability to produce a party when he went on. “I guess if we can’t have a song and dance routine I’ll just have to keep myself together knowing that I finally saved your tail for a change.”

Twilight let out a snort that wanted to be a laugh before she killed it. “Whatever helps you sleep at night big brother. But I guess I can sleep pretty comfy when we rescue the princess knowing that I’m still ahead by one at saving your tail.”

“I seem to recall getting the crystal heart while you were stuck in Sombra’s prison. We’re all even saving each other’s tail little sis.”

“Oh please, that was all Spike and Cadance. And no you can’t claim some sort of team credit since and Cadance are married.” Twilight smirked as the smile that had just sprouted on her brother’s face died. She did know him.

They argued back and forth about who had saved who’s tail more times over their entire lives, going into and out of hysterics for quite awhile, Twilight hadn’t had this much fun since the last time Pinkie Pie threw one of her truly epic parties.

Twilight was just getting up to start walking around, she didn’t want to be stiff when the action started, when Spike walked up to her with Braeburn and Little Strongheart not that far away. “Hey Twilight, I was thinking, there might be an easier way to do this than storm through the camp and fight our way in.”

“I’m all ears. And I’m sure Little Strongheart would appreciate it if we had a way to get into that tent without hurting anyone.”

“Right,” Spike wound himself up to speak, “I was wondering why we don’t just walk in. The buffalo know Little Strongheart, obviously. I was talking with her about how things have been since we left, and when the settlers need to talk to the buffalo they send Braeburn often enough that no one would blink twice about him coming through. We could just tag along with them and not have to do anything until we’re right next to the tent. Shining Armor could put up a shield to keep us safe, you could cut into the tent, get the princess, and we’d be out without anyone getting hurt. Just like back in Canterlot when you dragged Pinkie Pie and me along to get that scroll from the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the library. Remember how you thought we’d have to sneak in and then the guard just let us walk in? I bet it’d be just like that!”

“Didn’t we agree to treat that like it didn’t happen?” Twilight glared at Spike. Her obsession with getting into the library after her week long series of mishaps was one of her less proud moments, and like she’d said, she’d prefer to just forget it had ever happened.

“Anyways,” she continued after calming herself down, “it wouldn’t work. Ponies are a rare sight in the buffalo camp. Braeburn comes here often enough that they’re used to him, but we’d stand out like a tourist in Canterlot. Everyone would want to get a look at us, and I bet dragons are an even rarer sight. You’re probably the only dragon they’ve ever met, and they wouldn’t pass up a chance to see you, even if it’s in the middle of the night. If the princess was in Appleloosa I’d say it was a great idea, but Chrysalis clearly thought ahead when she brought her out here.”

“Aw man,” Spike kicked at the ground, “I’m never gonna have a good idea. Why am I even along?”

Twilight quickly realized she’d been a bit harsh with her baby dragon, but before she could start apologizing Little Strongheart spoke up. “Actually that might be a very good idea. Twilight Sparkle is correct that the three of you would not be able to enter the camp without drawing undue notice to yourselves. But as Spike pointed out, if Braeburn and I were to walk through the camp, even at this hour, it would not arouse much curiosity in the guards. Returning at such an hour after being absent for some time may give rise to rumors, but if that is the price I must pay to free my father from whatever afflicts him then I will gladly bear it.”

“Well that’s half of the problem.” Shining Armor said. “But there’s still the little problem of getting you two out of there with the princess in tow. They might let you walk in, but they aren’t going to let you into the tent, or out of the camp.”

“Braeburn and I will not be going to the tent where your princess is.” Little Strongheart smiled. “We will go to the other side of the camp from where you will enter and cause a small ruckus. Not large enough to rouse the whole camp, but enough to draw off a few of the guards you would have to otherwise make your way through.”

“See Spike,” Twilight tapped him on the shoulder with a hoof. “That wasn’t a bad idea. It just needed a little more thinking. Now that we’ve got a plan, again, let’s get our stuff and go.”

Twilight was glad she’d so carefully observed the land below when the sun was up since the place she teleported them to wasn’t very visible at night. Preparation paid though, and they all arrived safely.

“I don’t know when we’ll be back here.” Twilight said to Braeburn and Little Strongheart as they prepared to head into the buffalo camp. “But thank you two so much for all your help. We would have walked right into Chrysalis’ hooves if it wasn’t for the two of you. And even if we hadn’t, we never would have known to come here.”

“Shucks.” Twilight could clearly tell that Braeburn and Applejack were cousins in that moment. “It’s nothing special. We’ve all gotta do our part to keep the Changelings from taking over. Just remember us little folks when you’re off saving the world.”

“I’ll see what I can do to get you two your own window in the royal castle.” Shining Armor smiled. “I might have a few strings I can pull once this is all over.”

Silently, Braeburn and Little Strongheart climbed up onto level ground and began making their way towards the buffalo camp as though they hadn’t a care in the world.

“Okay,” Twilight said as soon as they were alone in the dark, “it’s almost show time so let’s make sure we all know what we’re doing…”

Both Shining Armor and Spike quickly tuned Twilight Sparkle out until her voice was no more noticeable than the slight breeze that was the only disturbance in the night. They both knew that obsessively reciting a plan in the moments before it went off was simply her way of blowing off steam. Shining Armor occupied himself by thinking of how they had to defeat Chrysalis while Spike indulged in an idle daydream of how thankful Rarity would be when he returned to Ponyville a hero. Sure he’d been a hero in the Crystal Empire, but this time she could be a damsel in distress for him to save, and everyone knew damsels were thankful to the knights who rode heroically to their rescue.

Long, and painful, experience had taught both Spike and Shining Armor how to completely tune Twilight Sparkle out while still looking engaged. In that manner everyone passed through the long minutes while Little Strongheart and Braeburn made their way into the camp and created the necessary distraction.

Just as Twilight was wrapping up her summation of how exactly things should proceed a bright light flared from the far side of the buffalo camp. As a few of the buffalo guards perked up from their tiresome vigil and made their way over to the disturbance Shining Armor bolted out of the ditch, that was against the plan as they should have waited at least ten more seconds for the guards to gain more distance, but Twilight was only a few steps behind as Spike landed on her back in a magenta glow.

As she ran towards the camp Twilight continued to second guess herself. The guards were proving to be following a very predictable pattern, just what she would expect from guards not expecting any trouble. Maybe she should have chanced putting them down in the camp itself. No, if she’d done that it would have been at the exact moment a guard decided to break routine, or another buffalo decided to come out of their tent for a late night snack, or any of the other reasons that teleporting in a crowded area was a bad idea.

At a flat out gallop the tents of the buffalo camp quickly neared as ground disappeared between two sets of hooves. Several of the guards had left to investigate, but even if none of them had left their posts it still would have been worth it as the complete attention of the remaining guards was directed opposite to Twilight and Shining Armor’s incoming gallop.

In her head, Twilight worried very much that some unsuspecting buffalo would step out of their tent without even thinking there might be a pony galloping right into them. And in doing so throw the whole of her already teetering plan, they were already eight seconds ahead of schedule, completely off the rails.

She could have already started putting guards to sleep, but her brother could only perform the spell from a fairly close distance, and once the guards started dropping their element of surprise would be lost. Still, if a guard happened to turn and spot them she wouldn’t hesitate to act.

To her side, Twilight saw her brother’s horn light up and she in turn started to channel her own magic. The first pair of buffalo guards dropped silently to the ground as they passed the first row of tents. Twilight’s internal count said they’d gotten another precious second ahead of the all-important schedule of how this was to unfold.

Another pair of buffalo guards joined the first in blissful sleep, but Twilight could see that the others were starting to notice that something other than Braeburn and Little Strongheart’s deception was wrong, and much closer to them. She grimaced, the plan said they were only supposed to be detected on the third pair of guards.

While Twilight battled inner panic over the collapse of her dear, dear plan she looked over to see only grim purpose on her brother’s face.

The third pair of guards fell with cries of alarm just beginning to come from their mouths. If each side of the square tent still had that many guards it meant they were a quarter of the way through the guards. But now the guards from the other side were clearly clued in to the distress of their companions and were coming to investigate.

Twilight was tempted, sorely tempted, to start putting more than one guard asleep with the same spell. But she still had to get into the tent, undo whatever spells Chrysalis had put in there, very possibly help fight her off, rescue the princess, and still have the strength to teleport three ponies and a baby dragon far away from here.

“Twilight!” She heard her brother shout. “Get in closer to me!”

That wasn’t called for in the plan. They were supposed to stay a bit apart to minimize the chance of targeting the same guard as well as making it more difficult to target both of them. But as she saw all the remaining guards pouring around the tent towards them she realized her carefully crafted and cherished plan was falling apart, and her brother was much better at on the fly thinking.

Twilight closed the gap and continued galloping as she put another guard to sleep. She saw that though her brother’s horn was still glowing with magic he hadn’t put another guard to sleep himself. She briefly wondered if something was wrong until the world took on a slight magenta hue as one of her brother’s shields leapt into being around them.

The nearest pair of buffalo guards was rapidly approaching them. Twilight put one of them to sleep, and while the other made an impressive charge against Shining Armor’s shield such spells were his special talent and it held with no discernible cracks.

Then she had no more time to put any other guards to sleep as they were skidding to a halt in front of the tent with Spike holding on to her mane for dear life. The tent was made of a very strong yet stretchy canvass and as she probed at it with her magic she could feel the numerous metal supports inside. It wasn’t the worst case scenario she’d thought of, but she’d hoped that they might have used one of the buffalo’s much lighter tents rather than this far more sturdy tent of Equestrian build.

Frowning, she let magic swirl around her horn to rip a hole in the side of the tent and bring the fabric towards her so it didn’t hurt anyone inside the tent. She would still have to free the princess, deal with Chrysalis and her wards, and get them all out of here. It was going to be a long night.

Far away in the glittering city of Canterlot an orange earth pony lay strapped to a table groaning as powerful magic washed over her. Above her stood the shape of Princess Cadance, horn aglow with magic, and a look of concentration on her face.

“You are an impressive specimen Applejack. I’m powerful enough to have bested Celestia, twice, and forcing you to love me is still a challenge. I had originally planned to kill you and your friends when all this was over, completely eliminate the Elements of Harmony as a threat and all that, but I’m starting to think you’ll make endlessly useful thralls once my control over Equestria is absolute.”

She received only a groan in response, but then she’d expected nothing different. The pony beneath her was just a little busy having her brain forcibly rearranged to force her to feel love for a creature she would naturally detest. A smile crossed Cadance’s face, revenge was so much fun.

Suddenly the smile disappeared from her face as her head whipped about to a feeling of one of her warning spells going off a long way from where she was. She’d put that particular captive so far away from civilization for a reason, but Celestia’s brat had somehow found her. This called for her personal attention. Her horn flashed briefly and an instant later a still groaning Applejack was alone in the room.

Twilight hopped into the hole she’d created and stopped. The tent was packed with machinery, and not just any machinery, but cutting edge Equestrian science. Even she didn’t recognize some of the devices in front of her. So what was Chrysalis doing with them?

Then she spotted the large bundle on a table and all other thought fled. She’d have plenty of time to wonder about all this when they’d rescued the princess and gotten away from here. She walked over to the table and started work on the numerous spells placed over the bundle to keep it from being moved by some interloping pony exactly like Twilight.

“The princess is in here!” She shouted out to her brother. “Just stay there a little longer and I’ll be out with her!”

“That’s great!” Came the reply. “But we’ve got a little problem out here!”

“What?” Twilight shouted back as she worked her way through an impressively complex web of protective spells. Celestia’s lessons on complex magic and handling multiple spells at once were coming in quite handy.

“Twilight Sparkle, you are in so much trouble!” She hadn’t heard that particular voice for years. It used to mean her parents would not be happy when they got back from wherever they’d gone for the night. Now though, the Changeling Queen shouting at her in her former babysitter’s voice promised far more painful consequences.

“Just hold her off Shining Armor!” Twilight felt sweat start to bead on her brow as she furiously unraveled spells and disarmed magical trap upon magical trap.

She at last made it through enough of the spells to disconnect the first tube going into the sack. It came out with a sucking sound to reveal a long needle with green goo clinging to it that reminded her of nothing so much as Changeling blood. Or the inside of a Changeling cocoon a small part of her brain smiled at the likely answer to her puzzle. A nondescript sack would make transporting the princess without notice easier, and an artificial cocoon within would enable long term imprisonment.

Outside the tent Shining Armor took an involuntary step back as his shield spell wavered under the assault it was under. “Twilight, I could really use some help out here!”

“Sorry,” she shouted out. “I’m a little busy trying to free the princess, get through Chrysalis’ spells, and get us out of here as soon as I’m done. Just hold her off a little longer!”

“I’m sorry dear,” Cadance’s face twisted into a sneer. “But I can’t let you and your darling little sister leave. Especially not after all the trouble I went to setting up these accommodations for my guest.”

“Where’s Cadance?” He growled at the picture of his wife attacking him. “What have you done with her you witch?”

He was answered with a throaty laugh he’d never heard from his wife. “Oh Shining Armor, I am Cadance. I’m all the Cadance you’ll ever need. Now just lower that shield and come with me. I promise you’ll love it.”

He was about to tell ‘Cadance’ where she could shove her offer, backwards, when Twilight Sparkle jumped out of the hole she’d made in the tent with a large bundle in her magic.

Cadance’s face went from an unattractive sneer to an equally repulsive scowl at seeing his sister’s success. The magical attack she sent ripped up the ground beneath it and threatened to punch straight through his by now flimsy shield. Until Twilight’s horn erupted with light and reinforced by her magic, his shield became as solid as it had ever been. It was one thing to know his little sister was the strongest unicorn alive, it was quite another to see it in action right in front of him.

“Very good Twilight Sparkle.” Cadence’s voice said as she let her magic fade out. “I didn’t intend to teach you so much when we met last. But you’ve learned your lessons very well. So well in fact that I think once I’ve taken Celestia’s place as the beloved ruler of all Equestria I’ll take you on as my personal student.”

That struck a chord somewhere in her mind. But with so much going on, and still do be done, she had zero time to think over it. “Hang on Shining Armor, we’re getting out of here, now.”

Magic swirled around her horn yet again and to the tune of a laughing Cadance the world turned white around them. Where two ponies had once stood with a baby dragon and a large sack there was only a slightly charred patch of ground.

They appeared again in a wooded area with a small stream babbling nearby. Twilight shook her head to clear it from the strain of the spell. She’d had much more time to prepare for this teleport, and it showed. It didn’t do anything to change the fact that teleporting herself a long ways was difficult enough, and adding more ponies and exhaustion to the spell only made it harder and more draining.

Finally back to her senses she looked around and gave a satisfied nod that they’d come out where she’d intended them to. She’d taken a bit of a risk sending them where she had, but with their treasure from the Buffalo Camp securely in tow she felt safe enough to try.

“Come on you guys.” She said to Spike and Shining Armor as she took hold of the bundle and set off at a brisk walk.

Both of her companions were still shaking off their own effects from teleporting so far, but they fell in behind her nonetheless.

“So where are we this time?” Spike asked. “Manehatten? Baltimare? Las Pegasus? No, wait, scratch that last one, we’re on the ground.”

“Ponyville.” Twilight replied. “More precisely we’re just a bit outside of Ponyville, near Fluttershy’s cottage. Cadance wouldn’t have come as quickly as she did without having all my friends securely locked away. We won’t have to worry about any ponies coming to bother us all the way out here, and once we convince Fluttershy’s animals that we’re trying to help her we won’t have to worry about them either. In fact, I bet they’ll let us know if anyone is coming towards us well before we’d know otherwise.”

They made good time towards their destination. It may have been dark out, but on familiar ground Twilight was able to lead them by just moonlight. They’d gone a little more than halfway when she saw a small white object dart from one patch of shadow to another.

“Angel,” she called out to the darkness, “is that you?”

Just as she was starting to think she’d been seeing things a pair of white rabbit ears poked into her view followed by the rest of Fluttershy’s pet rabbit. She quickly noticed however that the rabbit had a look of pure suspicion on his face, and she had the sudden feeling that they were being watched by a great many animals waiting to see if they were friendly or not.

“We’re all ourselves. I promise.” When the look didn’t waver she went on. “Pinkie Pie promise, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my ow!” She always messed up at that part and poked herself in the eye with a hoof.

A Pinkie Pie Promise seemed to satisfy Angel, and with a wave he led them the rest of the way to the darkened cottage. Twilight nodded to herself, not without a bit of sadness, that she’d been right about her friends all being captured.

The animals had clearly kept the inside clean hoping that Fluttershy would return so Twilight didn’t worry about setting their precious bundle down on the floor.

“That was fun, so now what?” Her brother said as they lit candles around them to dispel the darkness of the middle of the night.

“First we find out who’s in here. Then we get a good night’s sleep, and when we wake up tomorrow we figure out where to go from here.”

For all the wards that had tried to keep her from it there was in the end only a zipper to pull to open the bundle beneath the three waiting faces. Breath caught in her throat Twilight pulled it down and then pulled the flaps of the sack aside with her magic.

Inside the sack a pair of eyes blinked, focused, and then settled on the ponies and dragon above.

“Oh great, it’s you two.” Twilight found herself looking down at the face of Queen Chrysalis.