Your eyes shot open. You felt slightly groggy, and could probably sleep a bit longer if you really wanted to, but you decided against it. The way you awoke hadn't felt quite natural for some reason. You slowly but surely got out of bed, and made it the bathroom where you proceeded to do your business. You took a drink from the faucet as you rinsed your hands. You didn't have an appetite this soon after waking up, you never did. So you put on some clean clothes, put your knife and room key into your pocket, and put on your shoes. You checked the time on your phone before putting that in your pocket as well.
1:23 PM
"Damn I slept long, but I might have a lucky day seeing as its one two three."
You had decided to go for a walk seeing nothing better to do since the wedding wasn't until later that evening. It would be better for everypony to get over the initial shock of see you now, rather than at the wedding.
You strolled down the streets of Canterlot getting the reactions you had expected, while waving and smiling, trying to seem as friendly as possible. You were passing by the royal castle on your way back to the hotel after what felt like about an hour of walking.
"Mark!" Called a voice somewhere to your right.
You looked up at the large flight of stairs leading up to the castle when you saw all your friends with the exception of Twilight running towards you.
"Something wrong?" You asked as they reached the bottom.
"We were rehearsing the wedding for tonight when Twilight stormed in claiming Princess Cadense was evil, and how she had used mind control magic on Shining Armour!" Spike had spoken first.
"And?" You gestured for him to continue.
"Shining Armour got really, really mad at her, and explaining how Cadense wasn't evil, and that she had been healing the migraines he had been getting from using his shield spell."
"Then?"
"Everyone kinda awkwardly started to leave the room. Princess Celestia made it clear she was disappointed by saying 'You have a lot to think about.' in an angry tone to Twilight on her way out."
"And you just left her there all alone!? Even I know how important it is to Twilight that she impresses Celestia! She is probably bawling her eyes out up there!" You shouted sounding a little harsher than intended.
Everypony's ears flattened. You didn't bother waiting for a response. You went around them and fast-walked up the stairs two at a time. Arriving at the top, you jogged over to the palace doors where two guards stood on duty. You reached your arm out, and was about to open one of the double doors when one of the guards held out his spear across the door, blocking your path. You didn't speak, you slowly turned your head down and to the right where you met the guards eyes. You gave him as angry and serious a stare you could make.
"And just who are you?" He asked.
"Hey, let the human threw!" The other guard said as he nudged the one who had decided to block your path, making him drop his spear.
You gave him a nod of appreciation.
"Thanks, do you know where the wedding is being rehearsed?" You asked.
He held one of the two doors open with a hoof and allowed you to look inside. Inside was a large room with a very high ceiling, a purple and white checkered floor, and various banners hanging on the walls. A red carpet made a four way intersection in the middle of the room with two branching off, leading to hallways, and one leading up to, a small staircase with two larger flights of stairs branching off of it, one to the left, the other to the right.
"Go up the right staircase and down the hallway. On your second right, that hallway will end in double doors much like these where the wedding will be."
"I appreciate it." You said as you stepped inside.
You heard the door close behind you as you walked toward the staircase. You followed the guards instructions and quickly arrived at the door. You pushed the one on the right, but it wouldn't open. You tried the one on the left with similar results.
"Is it locked?" You thought.
You didn't see a keyhole on it. You pushed harder on the right door. It wouldn't budge. You were about to ram it with your shoulder, when the door on the left flung out into the hallway, and out came Princess Mi Amore Cadanze. The doors were pull, not push. You face palmed.
"They will fear my intelligence."
"Hello princess, Twilight in there?" You asked.
"That's Princess Mi Amore Cadenze, and no, that immature foal left after treating me so rudely." She said with her chin high as she rounded the corner out of your view.
"Why the fuck would Twilight's brother marry a bitch like you?"
You opened one of the doors and examined the room just to make sure. It was another large room with a marble floor that was partially concealed by a red carpet leading up to about four or five steps, that ending on a platform with three big windows behind it, undoubtedly where the bride and groom would say their 'I do's'. The room was however empty. If you had been told correctly, Luna and Celestia had left first, then Shining Armour, then Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity, then Twilight, and finally Princess Mi Amore Cadenze. That didn't quite add up. If Twilight left between the rest of your friends, and Mi Amore Cadenze, you should have seen her on your way in. Maybe Twilight was staying here, and just took a different hallway to get to her room. Yeah, that was probably it.
You had just finished eating dinner back at your hotel room. Weird calling it dinner with it being your first meal of the day. You lied down in your bed and thought about what had happened that day.
"I hope Twilight patches things up with her brother. Or maybe she already did. Or if she didn't will she even show up at the wedding? It starts in like an hour."
You hadn't even noticed that you involuntarily closed your eyes.
"What if a guard didn't get the message and tries to attack me at the wedding because he thinks i'm a monster or something? I'd just grab him by a hind leg, hold him up high and be like 'whose guard is this?' Now that would be hilarious."
Your smiled to yourself.
"I'll just lay low, try to blend in, smile and wave, things like that will hopefully lower suspicion. If it doesn't ill hide behind a curtain, or paint myself gray and pretend to be a statue. Yes, these are realistic options."
You sighed and put the topic aside.
You opened your eyes. For less than a second, there had been a violent rumbling. You noted it as a hallucination of some kind. You pulled out your phone and checked the time. You dropped the phone on your face. The wedding should of started half an hour ago.
"I fell asleep!? How the actual fuck did I manage to sleep even more. Lucky day my ass."
You quickly put on your shoes before you heard several what you guess were either explosions, or an earthquake.
"What the fuck is happening?"
You took off in a full sprint threw the hallway and down the stairs. There wasn't any pony in the lobby. You charged out the door to reveal a scene that made you stop, and spectate in confusion. The sky was a complete cluster-fuck of black shapes flying in ever direction imaginable at great speeds. It was nearly impossible to track one for more than a second.
Your gaze shift to the streets. There were far less black shapes, all running at slower speeds than their flying counter-parts. You focused on one and tried to identify it. It appeared to be a mostly black, mane-less alicorn with blue, transparent wings and blue, pupil-less eyes. You were taken back when you saw it had holes all over its legs. It made you wonder how it even had enough muscle tissue left in its legs to stand.
You heard somepony scream, and saw the very creature you were spectating leap onto the pony with a pink coat, and a yellow mane, that had just let out a terrified scream. You charged at the animal while pulling your knife out of your pocket and flipping it open. You pumped your arms as you ran, ducking under another black flying critter at one point, until you were right behind the couple. The creature was leaning it's head down with its mouth open, about to bite the neck of it's victim, until it stopped proceeding, your knife firmly planted in it's chest. You slowly lifted it off the earth pony with a grunt, and onto the ground, where it let out it's final exhale before the rising and lifting of it's chest ceased permanently.
"I...killed it."
Your focus shifted back to the mare you had just saved. She was lying on the ground, staring at you in shock, panting heavily. She slowly raised a hoof, and you thought she pointed it at you.
"It's okay...I'm no-" A large mass hit your right shoulder, and knocked you onto the ground, making you drop your weapon.
You rolled over, face up, just in time for a monster identical to the one you just defeated to land on your chest and lunge at you with its wide open maw. You stopped it just inches from your face; your right hand pushing the top part of it's mouth up; your left pushing the bottom down. You could smell it's warm, foul smelling breath on your face, and feel it's saliva on your hands, as well as all it's teeth, including two sharp fangs that had pierced your right hand, causing a trickle of blood to run down it and into the creatures mouth.
You applied more pressure on both halves of it's jaw. You received a soft wine in response, as well as nerves alerting you of the growing pain in your hand from your attacker's fangs. You pushed harder. A louder whine, and slightly more pain. With a final effort, you heard a very audible crack. The animal leaped off of your chest, and landed on its back next to your legs. You spun yourself around counter-clockwise on the ground, and drove your left elbow into its chest. It squirmed, and tried to get away. You looked to your right and saw your knife on the ground. You quickly grasped it, and planted it into the monster's head.
It instantly stopped moving. You got to your feet and rubbed your shoulder where your attacker had throw itself at. The mare you saved was still lying on the ground, obviously scared out of her mind. It quickly occurred to you she had probably been pointing at the creature. You were about to speak, but decided to briefly scan the area first.
You quickly noticed another hostile flying at you at an impressive speed from the direction you had just come from. They were pissing you off to say the least. You gripped your knife tightly, your knuckles turned white. It was nearing you. You gritted your teeth.
"I'm tired, of your BULLSHIT!" You roared the last word as you jabbed the knife at it's head.
The two of you collided, and were brought to the ground. You let go of your knife and quite literally threw yet another hostile animal off of you using both hands, the corpse landed a couple feet to your right.
You brought yourself to your knees and noticed a bit of blood had sprayed onto your shirt. You crawled over to the fiend and inspected it. It appeared to have opened it's maw at the last second, and allowed your knife to pass threw the roof of it's mouth. You yanked your weapon out of the corpse. The still warm blood on it reflected the sun. You wiped it on your shirt, closed it, and pocketed it. You brought yourself to your feet.
"Enough of this."
The mare was still lying on her back, paralyzed in fear. You lift her up onto your shoulder to which she didn't object, and ran as fast as you could back to the hotel. You kicked open one of the glass double doors, and ran to the door that led to the staircase. It was quiet inside. You gently set your passenger on the ground.
"Wha...What are you?" She asked unsteadily.
"The name's Mark, and I'm a human. Now a better question would be, what in the name of Satan's asshole are those!?" You shouted. She flinched at your sudden outburst.
"T-The-They're changelings. T-They feed off of your love for others by t-taking on the appearance o-of them." She said shakily.
"Jesus Christ am I really that scary? The way she's talking would make Fluttershy proud."
"So what they shape-shift or something?"
"Um...yes."
"Well that's fan-fucking-tastic, now stay here and wait it out." You said as you slipped out the door back into the lobby.
"Not only do I have to fight, but now I have to try and figure out who is the real-insert friends name here-every time I see one of them. Isn't today just turning out great so far."