We'll Always Have Canterlot

by Tortfeasor

The Best Laid Plans

Disclaimer: Last chance, I’m not going to say this again. I don’t own My Little Pony

Twilight Sparkle was the first to take her own advice. She didn’t dare look back as she fled into the stairwell leading down into the proper castle. Behind her, she heard the sounds of a spell fizzling against one of her brother’s shields. That plus the fact that Cadance wasn’t crying out in triumph let her feel safe the others had followed her.

“What do we do with these?” Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying just above her with the sack holding the other Elements of Harmony.

“We have to double back,” Twilight shouted to make sure her brother and Chrysalis could hear. “Lose Cadance and we can get back to my rooms. We’ll be able to put the Elements on the others and then we make Nightmare Moon sorry she ever set hoof back in Equestria.”

“Easier said than done!” Her brother ducked as the wall beside him exploded into razor sharp fragments of rock. “She really has it in for us this time.”

“Because she’s been so friendly before.” Twilight muttered to herself as she burst out into the castle proper. Apparently Rainbow Dash had overstated things when she said Cadance had control of everyone in the castle. Several ponies jumped towards Twilight, only to be intercepted by others who shouted at her to run.

Twilight took off in a random direction. As long as she wasn’t sure where she was running Cadance wouldn’t be able to guess and cut them off. More explosions from behind told her that Shining Armor and Chrysalis were still covering their flight. Twilight was hardly idle though, every time a pony burst out in front of them they were sent flying backwards by her magic.

As fast as she was running through the castle chaos spread faster. Twilight threw aside a pair of doors into an indoor courtyard to be met with the sight of a pony being flung across the walkway. The standing pony waved her on so she assume it was a pony not under Cadance’s control. Still, as she ran through the statues and shrubbery she kept a wary eye glancing back.

“Rainbow Dash.” Twilight looked up to see the pegasus was still above her. “If we could get you to a window do you think you’d be able to get back up to my rooms and get the Elements on the others?”

“Probably.” Rainbow Dash ducked under a bolt of energy that had made it past Shining Armor and Chrysalis. “But if Cadance sees me flying off with the Elements she’s going to come after me. Could you keep her off me for that long?”

Twilight sorely doubted that. If they could keep Cadance off anything they wouldn’t be running all over the castle to escape her.

“Fly ahead when we get back to the stairs,” she said eventually. “Cadance will have to go through us to get to you so that should buy you enough time to get back with the others.”

That left out the small, insignificant detail of getting back to the stairs. Twilight knew the castle more than well enough to find her way back to her rooms from anywhere. Cadance however, seemed well aware of that fact, and whenever Twilight tried to double back she found the hallways choked with ponies, or rubble, or a storm of arcane energies that would have stripped her to the bone had she tried to pass through.

Cadance was herding them. She knew as well as Twilight that they would never get another chance like this. Her friends were nearby, and she could get the Elements of Harmony on them if she could just get back. If they fled, Cadance would move her friends to some dark cave where Twilight would never find them. Twilight couldn’t run away from this. She would just have to find a way around Cadance. If they could get back to that staircase Rainbow Dash wouldn’t even need a minute to get back up and down. They could hold Cadance off for a minute, right?

Unfortunately, Cadance too had plans of her own. They were running through one of the many long collonaded hallways that criss-crossed the castle when Cadance started collapsing the columns into the middle of the room. Unsurprisingly, since the columns supported the roof it too started coming down.

With the Element of Magic Twilight could have held up all the weight. That is, she could have held it up if she were rested and she’d had the leisure to concentrate all her magic. Being pursued by a murderous ancient entity didn’t leave much time for rest or concentration beyond escape. She was more than a little lucky that the column that separated her and Rainbow Dash from her brother and Chrysalis didn’t kill her. As it was, she still thought she felt a few hairs on her tail get yanked out.

“Shining Armor!” She shouted over the column blocking her view.

“We’re fine!” Came the reply. “Just keep running. We’ll hold off Cadance and try to meet up with you somewhere else.”

It was a good plan, if only Cadance had played her part. Probably because she knew Rainbow Dash had the Elements of Harmony on her, Cadance ignored Shining Armor and Chrysalis completely. Instead, she launched herself over the column and bore down on Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.

“Run!” That was becoming a depressingly common occurrence for Twilight, but there was no denying it was the lesser of the two evils.

They took off again, moving more or less at random as Twilight tried to steer back towards her rooms and Cadance tried to steer them anywhere but. Being able to draw magic from both her Element and Rainbow Dash’s almost certainly saved their lives. Cadance had only been trying to get past Shining Armor and Chrysalis, she was pulling out every trick in her disturbingly large bag of tricks to kill Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

Twilight was a glowing whirl of shields, debris flying backwards, and every non-lethal offensive spell she knew how to conjure. But every time she looked back she could see Cadance at the center of a luminous ball of magic that annihilated everything in her single minded path. Around her, Twilight could see ponies fighting each other, but they all wisely fled from the maelstrom that was Twilight and Cadance fighting each other.

On and on they ran. Twilight wondered where her brother and Chrysalis were, with all the destruction she and Cadance were causing it shouldn’t have been particularly hard to find them. That however, was completely out of her power. Speaking of power, even drawing on two Elements Twilight could feel exhaustion starting to creep up on her. She had been galloping and spell casting flat out for nearly half an hour now. She wondered how Cadance appeared so unaffected. It wouldn’t have surprised her to learn Nightmare Moon had some way to make her bodies more durable, or that she simply didn’t care if she burned up Cadance so long as she won. It was probably the latter.

Feeling more desperate than she cared to admit, Twilight tried to teleport Rainbow Dash and herself back to her rooms. Unfortunately, Cadance seemed to have thought of that. Twilight’s spell fell apart in the face of a shield so strong she wouldn’t have believed it was possible if she hadn’t seen it for herself. It would take all six Elements to move so much as an inch through that shield. And that brought her back to her recurring dilemma, if she could use all six Elements she wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

Twilight soon found herself barreling through the large doors into the throne room. She noticed that it still looked the same as the last time she’d been here after returning from the Crystal Empire. Well, if you didn’t count the ripped tapestries, blood-stained carpets, and the shattered window, but those were obviously very recent additions. Maybe, just maybe, she could lose Cadance amongst the wreckage. They couldn’t head straight back to her rooms, Cadance would suspect that, but if they could lose her they could get back there one way or another and use the Elements.

Twilight grabbed as many tapestries and shreds of tapestries as she could manage and threw them back at Cadance. With a little luck it would occupy her long enough for Twilight and Rainbow Dash to disappear. Luck, unfortunately, was not with her. Cadance burned the tapestries, some of them as old as Equestria itself, to ash before they reached her. She returned the favor by shattering several stained glass windows and hurtling the shards at Twilight. A quickly erected shield blocked those razor sharp shards, but it left Cadance still coming after them.

“It’s time for you to die Twilight Sparkle!” Cadance roared as she ripped the ornate royal throne from its place and sent it flying towards Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Somehow, Twilight was fast enough to dodge it while Rainbow Dash wasn’t. If she lived through this she would ponder on how absurd that was, but living through today was going to be a sizeable if.

Twilight ran over to Rainbow Dash to make sure she was okay. After assuring herself that her friend was merely knocked out she snatched the bag containing the Elements and turned to face Cadance.

“Why don’t you give up?” Nightmare Moon sneered with Cadance’s face. “I promise I’ll only torture you horribly before killing you, not torture you with pain beyond mortal comprehension.”

“I’ll pass,” Twilight panted. She had to find a way around Cadance, but that was going to be next to impossible with all of Cadance’s attention focused on her.

For that matter, Cadance seemed quite unwilling to wait for Twilight to try escaping. Rarity had attacked her with a few dozen spells, Cadance threw several hundred at her. Twilight held it off for a few seconds, but such spellwork was simply beyond her. She wasn’t sure exactly what threw her to the ground, but it left her sore beyond belief. It also knocked the Element of Magic off her head.

Cadance wasted no time in pouncing. Her horn shone with an incredible brightness that made Twilight close her eyes involuntarily. Twilight knew exactly what spell Cadance was casting. Rainbow Dash had said that Rarity and Applejack had resisted the spell for several days, but the power Cadance was putting into the magic was simply unbelievable.

Twilight couldn’t give up, she couldn’t stop fighting Cadance... why was she fighting Cadance... because Cadance wanted to conquer... Cadance didn’t want to conquer anything... Cadance, her old foalsitter... one of the kindest, most loving ponies Twilight had ever known... Cadance... would love her... would love all Equestria...

Twilight snapped her eyes open to see a Cadance flying back as a white blur charged into her. It had hurt Cadance! She had to protect the pony she loved most in all Equestria. No! Cadance was evil. That white blur was probably her brother, she had to get the Element of Magic back on and help him and Chrysalis. She reached towards the crown, but stopped halfway as an overwhelming feeling of revulsion assaulted her. She couldn’t hurt Cadance, wonderful, loving Cadance. But that wasn’t Cadance. It was Nightmare Moon, and she had to fight Nightmare Moon.

Twilight’s hoof trembled inches away from the crown, her horn sparked with the magic she needed to grab it, but she couldn’t, for the life of her, literally, for the life of her, grab the crown and attack Cadance.

All the while she watched her brother fight the monster controlling his wife. She wondered where Chrysalis was, she wouldn’t have been terribly torn up had something happened to the Changeling Queen, but she would have preferred it happen after they saved Cadance.

Shining Armor seemed to be favoring attacking Cadance much more than using his shields to block her. Twilight just wished it hadn’t taken her being half controlled by Cadance to break his resistance to fighting. If he’d fought like this back in Manehatten they could have ended this whole mess back then. If Chrysalis had shown up they would have had a chance to beat her now. If Twilight could just get the Element of Magic back on her head they might have a chance. If Rainbow Dash would wake up they might have a chance. If, if, if, none of that did Shining Armor any good.

He had the element of surprise, and he used it as well as Twilight could have hoped, but even Celestia hadn’t been able to stand up to Nightmare Moon. Twilight managed to move the Element of Magic ever so slightly closer to her. It seemed as if merely being next to the artifact helped her to fight Cadance’s magic. She shuddered ever so slightly as she thought what would have happened had the Element been knocked just a little bit farther from her.

“Oh this is so darling,” Cadance crooned as she threw a battered Shining Armor to the floor next to Twilight. “Brother and sister dying together after spending so much quality time together. Except, it wasn’t really quality time since you never had a chance. Anyways, Shiny, dear, consider this our divorce.”

Cadance’s horn began to hum threateningly. Twilight really, really didn’t want to find out what Nightmare Moon had in mind for her. However, just as the humming reached a crescendo Shining Armor disappeared in a wash of green flames leaving Chrysalis next to her.

“A good queen always has a backup plan.”

Cadance whipped her head back and forth looking for the real Shining Armor. She didn’t look up. Shining Armor had somehow clung to one of the columns in the throne room through that whole fight. He flattened Cadance to the ground with this fall, and before she could begin to realize what was happening he had his horn pressed against hers. Magic, like what Twilight had felt in this same room when they’d defeated the Changelings, began to swirl around them. A scream no pony could have ever made escaped from Cadance’s throat. Nightmare Moon was obviously not happy about being evicted from Equestria again.

The light from their horns became bright, painfully bright, just as it began to hurt Twilight’s eyes through her eyelids there was a rush of energy and everything went black.

Twilight blinked groggily as consciousness slowly returned. What in Equestria had happened? Shining Armor had gotten a hold of Cadance and used the same spell he’d used to defeat the Changelings. Then there was that huge wave of energy, and then waking up. Had they won?

She opened her eyes to look around. The first thing she saw was a small piece of paper on her chest. She picked it up and read it, ‘Thought it best I was gone before anyone woke up. I’ll be in touch about our arrangement.’ There was no name, Twilight didn’t need one though to know it was Chrysalis. She supposed that meant they had beaten Nightmare Moon, or at least Chrysalis was sure enough to leave them. It also didn’t surprise her that Chrysalis had been the first to recover, she did have experience with this sort of thing after all.

Twilight struggled to her hooves. They really had done a number on the throne room. Carpet was ripped up, tiles and even a few of the titanic columns were cracked, they’d broken quite a few windows, and the throne itself had been tossed about like a toy. Celestia was going to banish her to the moon when she saw what Twilight had done to the place.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight spun around and dropped to her knees in shame as she found herself facing her mentor.

“I’m so sorry Princess Celestia.” Twilight didn’t quite grovel, barely. “This is all my fault. Just please let me say goodbye to my friends before you banish me.”

“Banish you?” Celestia sounded rather surprised. “Why would I banish you Twilight Sparkle? You just saved Equestria. Rescuing Luna, defeating Discord, and now this, I think you’re going to set some sort of record for the most windows showing one pony’s heroics.”

“Heroics?” Twilight still wouldn’t meet Celestia’s eyes. “I dealt with the Changelings, I used dark magic on my friends, and if I had listened to my brother in the first place all this might never have happened.”

“Twilight,” Celestia said in her most comforting voice. “You were in a very difficult situation, and you made the best of it that you could. Here’s a lesson from your teacher, sometimes there are no good choices, just bad and worse. If anyone should be blamed for all this, I should.”

“And I made the worst choices. I’m another King Sombra waiting to happen.” Twilight wished Celestia would just banish her already.

“One of the most dangerous things about dark magic is how useful it is, or how useful it seems.” Celestia sounded like she was at least partly talking to herself. “That said, there is a time and a place for everything. King Sombra reveled in the power that dark magic gave him, and he used it far beyond what was necessary. You are not King Sombra, Twilight Sparkle. You used the only tool available to you, and as soon as you could you removed the curse. Of course, you should avoid dark magic unless it’s absolutely necessary, but you already know that. And Twilight, I’m not mad at you for making a deal with Queen Chrysalis. You had an opportunity to make peace with an enemy and you took it.”

“I let the Changelings into Equestria to feed. I deserve to be in one of those pods having all my love drained.”

“You’ve given us a chance to not live in fear of the Changelings,” Celestia said. “I don’t begrudge them trying to feed themselves. I begrudge them trying to feed themselves at our expense. If they can feed without abducting ponies and draining them I think they will. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have my doubts that it will work. I have many doubts about it, but I don’t blame you for that Twilight, I’m proud of you.”

Twilight finally looked up at Celestia’s face. She saw not a bit of anger in her mentors face. That more than anything else finally brought out the tears of stress, anger, sadness, and far too much pressure on one pony that she’d been pushing down for weeks.

“It’s okay,” Celestia gently patted Twilight on her back. “I’m so proud of you Twilight Sparkle. You saved all of us.”

“What, what about my friends?” Twilight managed between sniffles as her tears began to dry. “Nightmare Moon, she did things to them while they were under her control.”

“I wish I could say they were all fine.” Celestia let her worry show for the briefest of instants. “But nothing I can do will take away the memories of what Nightmare Moon made them do. And we won’t know until they wake up if what she did to them had any side-effects. Luna and I can handle things here. Go make sure you friends are okay Twilight.”

Twilight didn’t want to leave the throne room, but eventually her worry for her friends dragged her back through the ruined hallways and up the tower to her rooms. The whole way she kept thinking to herself that all the destruction and hurt she could see was all her fault for not listening to her brother that night. Celestia had told her emphatically otherwise, and on some level Twilight knew that what she’d said was right, but every bit of her personality screamed out that all these ponies should be angry at her for failing them.

Ironically, the closer she got to her rooms the less the destruction. She supposed that she hadn’t quite started using her full magical arsenal until they’d run a bit further.The stairs going up to her rooms showed only a few occasional cracks from a stray spell. Even Nightmare Moon had had to concentrate a bit on not hitting the walls herself as she’d pursued them.

She opened the doors to her room, they’d somehow closed, and looked inside. Almost immediately she found herself at the bottom of a mass of ponies she only belatedly realized was her friends. Clearly they’d decided to take their anger at her out in a physical manner. At least someone was finally being honest about what Twilight deserved.

“Twilight! We’re so glad to see you!” That didn’t sound like an impending thrashing for failing her friends and using dark magic on them.

“I’m sorry girls!” Twilight blurted out. Before they let her know how much they hated her she wanted to get that out. “You must hate me now. I promise I’ll stay out of your way from now on. I just wanted you to know that I hate myself even more.”

“Why would we hate you Twilight?” Fluttershy didn’t look like she hated Twilight, but that was Fluttershy. “You saved us. We should be apologizing to you for what we did.”

“I let you down, all of you!” Twilight couldn’t believe they weren’t all lashing out at her. “I ignored my brother’s warnings and let Cadance take control of all of you. Then I used dark magic on you in Appleloosa. I’m a horrible pony. I don’t deserve to be in the same city as you, let alone be your friend.”

“Twilight, darling.” She saw Rarity standing on shaky hooves. “Cadance, no, Nightmare Moon did those horrible things to us. You had nothing to do with any of it.”

“She’s right sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Remember what you said back in Manehatten, that we were inside and we’d thank you when all this was over? Well, thank you. We had to watch ourselves do all those horrible things, and deep inside we were rooting for you the whole time. We’re all gonna be laid up awhile getting better from what that witch did to us, but you’re the one who stopped her.”

“But I let it happen.” Twilight was insistent. “If I’d been just a little bit faster I could have gotten you out of Ponyville. We could have used the Elements of Harmony right there and none of you would have had to go through this. I don’t deserve to talk about it, but Nightmare Moon used terrible magic on you. You’ll be weeks, months even, getting better from this.”

“And it’s thanks to you we’ll get better.” Rarity abandoned trying to stand for lounging as dignified as she could manage amidst the ruin they’d made of Twilight’s rooms. “I’m lucky that learning how to teleport didn’t turn me into a vegetable. If you hadn’t locked up my magic in Appleloosa who knows what Nightmare Moon would have ‘taught’ me next, and if I would have survived it.”

“Face it Twilight.” Pinkie Pie couldn’t manage to bounce around, but she still exuded joy. “You’re a hero, again, and everyone loves you for it! We’re going to throw you the biggest, bestest, mostest fantastic party ever! And then you’ll be happy again, and we can throw you another party because you’re not being all depressing Twilight anymore.”

“I don’t deserve you for friends.” Twilight had cried herself out with Celestia, but she felt like it nonetheless. “Where would I be without you?”

“Probably in a ditch crying at yourself.” Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash leaning on the doorway. “Thank goodness you’re all better now. I can’t deal with Twilight’s pity parades on my own. And, you know, it was bad that you were all still being controlled by Nightmare Moon while I was free.”

“I mean it girls, I really don’t deserve you for friends.”

She was met with five identical sighs.

Cadance had woken up the morning after they’d trashed the castle. By all appearances she was back to normal. With the tiny exception of all the mental baggage she’d picked up while possessed by Nightmare Moon. Unfortunately, how to help your wife after she tried to conquer Equestria while possessed by an ancient evil was not part of royal guard training. That left Shining Armor in a bit of a bind.

“Dear,” Cadance sighed. “I’m not made of spun glass, and the more I get back to a normal routine the more I’ll be able to get back to normal myself. I talked all this over with Aunt Luna, and you do remember that she has a bit of experience being where I am, right?”

“I know, I know.” Shining Armor knew he sounded petulant, he just didn’t care. “It’s just that you seemed so normal before Nightmare Moon took you over, and we didn’t defeat her with the Elements of Harmony, so who knows if I got all of her out of you.”

“Come here,” she patted the side of the bed and fixed him with a look until he settled down beside her. “Nightmare Moon got in by feeding off of my fear and worry. I saw Chrysalis draped all over you at the wedding, and I know it wasn’t your fault, but you seemed to enjoy it. Then you were quite the popular one in the Crystal Empire. And all of Twilight’s friends seem to like you quite a lot. I... I felt like I’m just little old me, how could I compete with all that? And Nightmare Moon was there, waiting, and she took the opportunity to get in my head and twist all those fears until I became something else.”

“How could you think that Cadance?” Shining Armor took his wife’s hooves. “I love you because you’re little old you. I don’t want to be with anyone else. Just ask Twilight what I think of Chrysalis.”

“I know, I know.” Now Cadance was the one who sounded a bit petulant. “When you used your spell to force Nightmare Moon out of me I felt your love. And I knew how stupid I was to let Nightmare Moon into me in the first place. Believe me, I’ve gone round and round on that with Aunt Luna. What I really don’t know is how I’ll ever apologize to all the ponies I hurt. At least Luna got around that by being gone for a thousand years. But I still think she feels guilty, and I don’t think that says anything good for how soon I’ll get over this.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Shining Armor looked her in the eyes. “However long it takes, whatever anyone else says, I’ll be right beside you, and I’m not going anywhere. Nightmare Moon didn’t do much in the Crystal Empire, so when you’re a bit better we can go back up there and you’ll have a chance to prove to all the ponies back here how great you are.”

“I hope so,” Cadance looked past Shining Armor to something only she could see. “I’ve got a lot of proving to do. Probably to myself first. I talked to Twilight’s friends yesterday. I couldn’t believe how ready they were to forgive me. They kept saying that I hadn’t done anything to them and there wasn’t anything to forgive in the first place. But I remember everything Nightmare Moon did, and it feels just like I did it. Can you believe they said that Twilight felt like she had to apologize to them?”

“Yes,” Shining Armor couldn’t hold in a laugh. “That sounds just like Twiley. They were right though, you didn’t do anything to them. And if anyone does blame you for any of this I bet they’ll be the first ones to stand up and defend you.”

Cadance smiled, a smile most unlike the cruel imitations Nightmare Moon had worn. “How did I ever get so lucky to become part of such a great group of ponies?”

Shining Armor laughed. Partly at Cadance’s question, but mostly because her stomach let out a rather audible growl at that point. Apparently Nightmare Moon didn’t eat like other ponies, and it seemed like all those weeks of hunger were coming back at once. “I think I’m the one who should be asking that question. Now let me go get you something to eat.”

“I’ll do it.” Cadance put a hoof out to stop him and got up. Shining Armor couldn’t see it, but as she passed a window the light caught her eyes for just an instant and they changed. “I need to start getting out of this room if I’m ever going to get back to normal. Besides, whatever happens, with you here this day is going to be perfect.”