//------------------------------//
// Sacrifice of Angels 
// Story: The Twilight Child 
// by Detectivefish 
//------------------------------//

Princess Luna stared at Twilight Twinkle, playing over the mare's previous statement in her head.
'We need to talk. About the wedding. And your part in it.'

There was a pause as neither mare said anything. With the magical barrier above their heads, no wind made its way into Canterlot, yet Luna's mane still wafted as if brushed by an unseen wind.
"You are attending the wedding, right?" Twinkle said. Luna stared at her.

"I remembered your words of advice" she said, coolly, staring at the city beneath the tower.
"And?"

Luna shifted. "I... may be busy" she said.
"And you're going to be busy until... oh, I don't know, at least a good hour after the ceremony, correct?"

Luna stared at Twinkle, and said nothing.
"Convenient," the mare said, "Only showing up for the dancing."

Luna sighed. "I did consider asking Cadance if she would not mind me giving her away at the ceremony. But... I have been busy. Very busy. Outside Canterlot, making sure no potential threats develop while my sister plans our niece's wedding."

Then something occurred to Luna, and she turned to look at Twinkle. "And why is it Twilight Sparkle and her friends have been having such vivid nightmares lately?"
There was a noise from Twinkle that made Luna turn around, and she saw a look of concern on Twinkle's face.

"There is a problem with Cadance" she said. Luna did not comment.
"Or... sorry, I wasn't sure how to phrase this. Luna, what I tell you, you cannot tell anypony else. Not even Celestia."
Luna stared at Twinkle.

"Cadance has been replaced by a changeling, a changeling that is feeding on Shining Armor's love for her. That's why Twilight and everypony else has been having nightmares, because I told them of how events would have unfolded had I not time-travelled here."

Twinkle stared down at her hooves. Luna gave this some thought. "A changeling."
"Yes."

"Feeding on Shining Armor's love."
"Yes."

Luna frowned. This certainly explained why she could not see either of the couple's dreams, or nightmares. She resisted the temptation of questioning why she hadn't been keeping a watchful eye on her niece and her fiancé. "And you have not yet warned my sister... but you have warned me."

"That's why I'm asking you don't tell your sister, because if you do, she'll confront the changeling, and she'll lose. And I don't think there is any way she could possibly be talked out of doing anything less" Luna paused, and decided not to question this, "and... the changeling is the only one who knows how to reach where Cadance is being kept, and we do have a plan for solving that. But we don't know how the changeling would react if discovered early."

Luna nodded, before speaking. "And doubtless, you are telling me this, and making that remark about showing up late to the wedding because, in your timeline at least, that is what happened with me."
After a short pause, Twinkle gave a small nod, "So I'm told."

Luna sighed. "I suppose I had been planning to avoid the wedding. But... my sister confronts this changeling at some point, and in your timeline, she lost?"
"Yes," Twinkle nodded, "Though I am given to understand that it wasn't by much, if that helps, but it was enough to keep her out of... what followed."

"What followed?" Luna parroted, raising an eyebrow. Twinkle just nodded, but did not explain herself. There was another pause.
"And your aim... is to prevent what followed, whatever that was?" Luna asked. Twinkle shook her head.

"No, no it's too late to prevent everything that's going to happen. But the injuries inflicted will be less severe for almost everypony."
"Almost?" Luna asked, but Twinkle wasn't listening. There was an odd grin on her face, as she stared out over the city.

"You know, I... I really expected somepony from my time to have shown up by now, to try and drag me back to my own time, or something. Or for me to become violently ill, or for... for something, anything to try and stop me interfering."
Luna stared at Twinkle. "I shall attend the wedding, when it takes place, Twilight Twinkle. Thank you for informing me about... Cadance. I shall not inform my sister, but... is it all right if I drop increasingly unsubtle hints?"

Twinkle paused, and gave this some thought. "Might as well."
She turned to leave, and was almost at the door when she spoke again. "Luna?"

"Yes?"
"Stay out of my head tonight. Please."

There was something about the mares' tone that concerned Luna, but after a short stare, she nodded, and Twilight Twinkle was gone.


*****


Some fifteen minutes later, she met up with everypony else at the small corner restaurant everypony had eventually chosen to go to. She wordlessly sat down next to everypony.
"Is Princess Luna with us?" Rarity asked. Twinkle just nodded.

"That's something, at least" the fashion-designer smiled. Twinkle looked at everypony. Almost everyone looked worn out, save Rainbow Dash, who had been bearing the same wide-eyed grin on her face since they'd met up, and as far as she could tell, Rainbow hadn't bothered explaining why.
"So, what now?" Applejack asked, "We sit here, eat our meal, and... what? Wait for Princess Fakenza to come look down her nose at us?"

"We could talk?" Fluttershy suggested. There was a sudden pause as nopony could think of anything to say.
"Well," Rarity said, "I've almost finished 'Cadance's' dress. I think it is quite frankly one of my finest works."

She paused, and gave a small cough, "Of course, I am allowed to think that, am I not?"
"It's your creation" Twinkle shrugged, "You can think whatever you like about it."

"And everypony's bridesmaids dresses have been prepared, just in case she does ask us."
There was a small hum from Twinkle, "I don't know if she will" she said. Everypony (except Pinkie Pie) turned to stare at her.

"I mean that there's probably some way she can tell what emotions are like, so... she can probably see our suspicions of her. Although... on consideration..." she paused for a minute, silent in contemplative thought.
"She probably doesn't know why we're suspicious of her, directly, and she might not feel it important enough to care."

There was a moment's quiet, before Applejack stared at her. "Hey, if you're from the future, or a future, or whatever, how come you don't have some kinda spell to... de-brainwash Shining Armor or somethin'?"

Twinkle nodded. "Well, I do have some healing spells that 'might', as you put it, de-brainwash him, or at least get rid of his headache, but... I really don't know what would happen. And what if he remembers that that isn't his Cadance, and then..."
She frowned, and rubbed a hoof against her face. When she looked back, she noticed the unimpressed look on Applejack's face.

"I don't know."
She looked at everypony. "Come on then, Rarity got the ball rolling, let's keep going with what we managed today."

Applejack nodded. "Well, we've got the cake ready, got the food for the reception ready, so that's something, ah guess."
"Me and Viny have almost got her speakers ready," Pinkie Pie grinned, looking up from playing with the Shining Armor and Cadance figurines along with Spike, "I mean, we did argue a bit over how loud we wanted them to be, because her speakers are really loud, I mean super-duper loud, and I was saying we only need them a little loud because we want everypony to enjoy themselves while dancing. And we've got the song Twilight's gonna sing."

"I'm going to what now?" Twilight asked. Pinkie stared at her.
"Oh, yes, so I am. Forgot about that."

"I, uh, I haven't been having much luck with my birds. Actually, the... changeling yelled at one of them."
Everypony stared at her. "... why?" Rarity eventually asked.

"Well, he was terribly off-key" Fluttershy said, raising a forelimb, to which a bird was calmly attached. It then proceeded to eagerly produce noises that sounds like something heavy had sat on it.
"You're carrying that around, why, exactly?" Twinkle asked.

"Oh, well, I didn't want him to think I was angry at him, after all, he can't help it. He's just terribly excited about this wedding."
"'s nice" Trixie slurred, "'s all nice. Everything's nice, non?"

There was a pause as everypony present looked at Trixie, who was apparently smiling beneath the brim of her hat. Then she stuck out a hoof.
"Save 'im. He looks like he's see a ghost."

"Me?" Spike asked. Trixie lifted her head, which seemed to be taking a lot of effort, and shook it.
"No, him, over there. The dorky orange-head lookin' at us."

Suddenly everypony looked to see a stallion with deep blue fur, and bright orange hair staring at the table in what looked like alarm, or surprise. Next to his head floated a small coffee cup, which from appearances belonged to him.
"Ah" Twinkle uttered. "Yes, I forgot about him. And the fact that he lives and works here."

"Ain't that yer dad?" Applejack asked, "Only not yer dad 'cuz of the time-travel, and... ah've got a headache already."
In an instant, the deep-blue pony by the name of Comet Chaser ran.

"Should I-?" Twilight began, and Twinkle turned to look at her.
"You can if you want to. I've interfered in his life often enough" she said. "This is one romance I will not get involved with."

"What?" Fluttershy asked. Twinkle looked alarmed.
"I said that out loud, didn't I?"

She sighed, and looked at Twilight. "It's entirely your choice, Twilight."
She frowned, and paused for a long while. "If I left, would you girls-"

"Hey" Spike pointed out.
"Would you head back to the palace?"

There were exchanged glances.
"Most likely" Rarity said, "If only to allow Trixie's liver to heal."

"Ah don't know, Rarity, ah kinda like her like this."
"I'm not arguing that, Applejack, it's just... surely it can't be healthy for a mare to drink that much."

Twilight shook her head, and stood up. "I think I'll go see if I can talk with him."
"Have fun" Pinkie Pie smiled. As Twilight turned around a corner and vanished, everypony settled down.

"Hey," Rainbow Dash said, her brain apparently coming back from whatever place it had been, "Did you guys know I got to hang out with the Wonderbolts today? They let me use their stuff and everything!"

"Welcome back, Rainbow Dash" Twinkle said, as Rainbow Dash began listing her five favourite things about the Wonderbolts, her friends listening on in good humour (Well, Pinkie Pie and Spike horsing around with the wedding cake figures, but they could hear Rainbow Dash quite clearly.)


*****


Twilight galloped through the streets, following after Comet Chaser's trail. As she ran, it occurred to her that her usual routine of studying probably wasn't as conducive to developing proper leg musculature as staying in Canterlot had been. Not that she wasn't fast, but clearly this pony had a minor advantage, on top of not being as sleep-deprived as her, and the fact that he knew where he was heading, and she didn't.

She stopped to get her bearings, and then noticed something oddly familiar about where she was. Then she looked about the street, and saw it.
Shining Armor's house. She stared at it, a dozen feelings rushing through her. Did she dare talk to her brother? How could she not warn him? What if he already suspected?

She shook her head. She wasn't going to mull over possibilities. She walked over to the door and knocked. There was a small pause before a familiar face answered the door.

"Twily!" Shining Armor beamed, opening the door for her to walk in. She instantly noticed the smart uniform he was wearing, which she remembered had belonged to one of their uncles. In all fairness, it did look incredibly suited to him (which was in part due to some strategic 'adjustments'. Shining Armor was younger than their uncle had been when he'd worn it).

"Your brother's looking pretty sharp, huh?" he grinned. Twilight tried smiling, but somewhere between thought and action, the smile seemed to mutate into a concerned frown.
"Everything okay?" he asked.

"I..." she paused, looking around the room, "I just wanted to talk to you. We didn't really have much time to speak this morning, and I wanted to see how you were doing."
Shining Armor looked at her for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I guess we didn't. I'm okay, Twily. Just feeling stretched at the moment, what with the wedding and everything."

Twilight stared at him. "Haven't you considered just... delaying the wedding, until you're sure the danger has passed? I mean, that forcefield over Canterlot's because of you, isn't it? Aren't you worried it's taking a toll on you?"
Shining Armor winced. "I did give it some thought, you know. Holding the wedding off until I was certain everything was safe."

He walked over to a small sofa on the far wall and sat down. After a few seconds Twilight sat next to him. "But, I don't think I could - could do that to Cadance. I mean, we've... we've been talking about this for so long, I think she was actually questioning if I was ever going to ask her to marry me. I can't pull out now. It'd break her heart."

He stared out of the window for a moment, his expression inscrutable. Then he looked at Twilight and gave a small grin. "Besides, I'm pretty sure if I did try and back out, Cadance or Princess Celestia would probably chase me down and drag me up the aisle anyway. Maybe even Princess Luna."

Despite everything, Twilight couldn't help but grin at her brother's attempt at humour.
"Shining, I-"

There was the sound of a pony clearing their throat, and Twilight shifted to see 'Cadance' standing at the top of the flight of stairs that lead upstairs, mostly to Shining Armor's bedroom.
How long had she been waiting, listening, Twilight wondered. Was she enjoying herself, in her stolen life, the- no, no. Not thinking about any of that, she said.

"She sure has a way of sneaking up on people" she muttered.
"Could I speak to you for a moment, dear?" 'Cadance' said, pointing towards the doors to Shining Armor's study. The stallion leaned in towards Twilight and grinned.

"Better go see what she wants."
Twilight tried not to wince, or grimace as her brother eagerly walked into the study, 'Cadance' slamming the doors behind herself. For a few seconds, Twilight heard muttered voices, followed by an odd sound. She could see an odd green glow from under the door, and gasped. She found herself heading towards the door, and then out onto the streets.


*****


As Twilight rushed through Canterlot, a pair of eyes observed her, belonging to a decidedly nervous stallion of a dark blue colouration. After a few minutes, Comet Chaser sighed, took a sip from his now cold coffee, and tried to determine where he was in relation to the Royal Canterlot Archives. This was a bit difficult, as at the moment a part of his brain which despite his best efforts when he'd been he'd been younger had not seen much use began to work incredibly fast. Another, more logical part of his brain pointed out that this was going to make working difficult.
It did agree that the mare who'd chased him was good-looking though.


*****


Twinkle looked up when the doors to the room burst open, and an utterly terrified Twilight burst in.
"Shining Armor..." she huffed, "Changeling... brainwashed... dark mag-... what are you wearing?"

"Bridesmaid dresses" Twinkle said, "Because they're bridesmaids now, apparently."
Twilight paused in thought. "How the...?"

"Well, we came here a few minutes after you left, and then not-Cadance showed up, said the other three weren't available, and that she would..." a scowl overtook the royal blue mare's face, "Love... love... love it, if they filled in for her."
"Seeing as we've been working so hard, and everything" Rarity nodded.

Twilight frowned. "But... you had time to do all this... but... I... that doesn't make any sense. I just saw 'Cadance', at Shining Armor's house."
All eyes turned to Twinkle. "She must have some ability to teleport" the mare said, after a moment.

"That might explain a few things. Or she just flew really, really fast."
"An' it didn't perhaps occur to ya to mention this?" Applejack asked.

"Because I didn't realise there was so short an amount of time between the brainwashing of Shining and Twilight's returning here. When I was being told the wonderful tale of how these events played out, nopony really specified how long all these intervals took."

Applejack opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Twinkle sighed.
"Sorry for shouting."

"That's okay."
Twilight sat by the door, and then stared at Twinkle. "How come you aren't wearing a dress, or Trixie?"

"Well" Twinkle shrugged, "Because of the plan, mostly. Trixie, on the other hoof, declined."
"Declined?"

"Oui" Trixie mumbled, from the corner, "I've been a bridesmaid before. Didn't end well. Lot of fire. Some water."
She then muttered something that sounded amazingly like the words 'not my fault'.

"So, what else did I miss?" Twilight asked. Twinkle shrugged.
"An argument between Applejack and Rarity over whether hats were allowed on wedding dresses."

"It wasn't an argument," Rarity quickly interjected, "It was a civil discussion."
"You were practically shrieking at the top of your lungs" Twinkle said.

"You exaggerate."
"Who won?" Twilight asked.

"It was a draw" Twinkle grinned.
"It was not. We just... agreed to disagree."

"No, we didn't" Applejack sighed, "You just threw a hissy-fit and stopped talking t' me."
"Rainbow Dash said she needed help making her dress more aero-dynamic!"

"Don't drag me into this."
"Do we need to argue?" Fluttershy asked.

There was a sudden pause, which was broken by a knocking at the door. Twinkle slowly made her way over to it, and slowly opened it. Standing on the other side of the door was a cream-coloured mare with a streak of pink going through her blue mare. It was Bon-Bon, and she looked distraught.

"Bon-Bon?" Pinkie Pie asked, "What brings you to Canterlot? Oh, you're probably here for the wedding with Lyra, r-... uh-oh."
"Why 'uh-oh'?" Rainbow Dash asked, with clear suspicion.

"Have you guys seen Lyra?" she asked, slowly walking into the room, as if expecting her girlfriend to be just standing there.
"I've been looking everywhere for her, all day, and I can't find her. I tried looking at all her favourite places that she told me about, I tried looking at the university, but n-nopony's seen her, and I... I don't know where she could be," she began to tremble, "And she'd never go anywhere without telling me first and I haven't seen her all morning and I just-"

Before Bon-Bon could even begin to cry Fluttershy was upon her, and Twinkle noticed everypony was looking at her.
"Do you know where she is?" Applejack asked.

"I-" Twinkle was cut off by the sheer force of Applejack's stare.
"Do you know where she is?" Applejack repeated. Twinkle sagged.

"Yes'm."
"Then why, in the name of sanity, are we still talkin'?"

"It's not that simple. If we rescue her and the other two-"
"Twinkleshine and Minuette. Or Colgate. Or that other really long name nopony ever seems to remember" Pinkie Pie chimed, "And I think somepony once called her 'Fred'."

"If we rescue them, then... we could endanger them further, and Cadance."
"You know where she is, but you won't do anything because you're afraid of what 'might' happen?" Applejack asked. Twinkle winced, and looked at Bon-Bon.

"I... I-"
"Stop makin' excuses and just try and help this mare!" Applejack said.

"I'm not m-" Twinkle trailed off, and then looked down at her hooves. There were a few minutes where she said nothing. Then she looked at Bon-Bon. Shining Armor wasn't the only pony Chrysalis had hurt.

She looked at Applejack, and then nodded.
"Alright, Bon-Bon. Let's go find Lyra."


*****


Some half an hour later, the assembled ponies had gathered in the lowest basement of Canterlot Castle, along with a group of medical professionals. That had been Twilight's idea, fetching some nurses in case the 'old' bridesmaids were in need of aid. Applejack was standing nearby with some rope, for when they found the massive pit. Nopony said anything. Twinkle stared at the door.

"What room is this?" Fluttershy asked.
"An old storage cupboard, by the looks of things," Twinkle said, "Castles like this one tend to acquire disused rooms after a while. I think somepony wrote a paper on it once."

"And how do you know they're in here?" Bon-Bon asked, "When they could be anywhere?"
Twinkle frowned. She knew the entrance to the abandoned mine beneath Canterlot Castle was somewhere in the basements, because even running full pelt there was no way Twilight and Cadance could have ran across Canterlot in the time to interrupt the ceremony otherwise, unless... unless Twilight had teleported, which, she noted, would blow her theory out of the water. She shook her head, and focused her magic, and a small beam lanced out of her horn to the door, which opened with the satisfying customary 'click'.

She slowly opened the door, revealing nothing more than an empty disused room, filled with spider's webs and dust.
And a great big rent in the floor.
"Huh. Wonder how that happened?" Applejack asked.

"Well, nopony comes down here much, I suppose after a while the floorboards just... gave out" Twinkle suggested. "I don't know. Not important."
"Lyra's down there?" Bon-Bon asked quickly, before turning to Applejack.

"Rope, now!"
Applejack just nodded. With some assistance from Rarity, Bon-Bon supplied herself with the rope and leapt down into the darkness.

After a pause, Twinkle sighed, "See, this is where I really wish I could teleport."
"I could levitate you down?" Twilight suggested. Twinkle nodded.

It was slow-going, but after a few seconds in the darkness of the cave, Twinkle was sure she could see clearly. She wondered if perhaps if that was some still-lingering gift of being possessed by a Nightmare. Then she realised it probably had more to do with those crystals reflecting the bare amount of light that came into the cave. That probably helped a lot. What she found when she touched bottom was alarming. Bon-Bon was slowly backing away from three advancing mares, each dresses as bridesmaids and their eyes glowing an unearthly green.

"Don't interfere..." they said, as one. Twinkle just stared.
"So," she said, "You try and deal with your girlfriend, I'll try and work on the other two?"

Bon-Bon nodded, and Twinkle try to manoeuvre around the mares. The ones she now recognised as Twinkleshine and Minuette (or Colgate) turned, and advanced towards her. She tried summoning something to shake off their brainwashing. They advanced quickly.

'Well, so much for the brainwashing slowing them down' she thought, as Twinkleshine aimed a kick at her. She dodged, feeling thankful at least they didn't have their magic.
"Don't interfere" Minuette repeated.

"Interfere with what, exactly?" she asked, dodging another kick.
"Don't interfere."

"Very helpful."
Meanwhile, Bon-Bon was having just as much difficulty with Lyra.

"Honey, it's me. It's Bon-Bon."
"Don't interfere" Lyra droned.

"Please, just fight it, Lyra. I know you can."
"Don't interfere."

"Lyra, ple-" she stopped as she found herself being pressed up against a particularly sharp rock. Lyra advanced, and Bon-Bon readied herself for a fight, and then realised what she had been about to do. She paled as Lyra approached. Her hooves lowered.

"Don't do this, Lyra. I can't fight you."
Lyra got closer, and closer. Bon-Bon closed her eyes, as she felt pressure against herself. She tried not to think of the mare she'd known since she was little, how they'd been best friends growing up, how she'd been devastated when Lyra went away to Canterlot to study music. How they'd reunited just hours before the arrival of Nightmare Moon. She remembered every time they'd been together, every moment they'd argued, made up, every time they'd kissed. That time they'd fought because Lyra thought she was obsessed with Fluttershy, the holiday they'd taken to Appleoosa to make up for it, how they'd both worn those silly hats they'd bought each other, and how she'd been so terrified when that seven minute fight with the buffalo had started, the time Lyra had agreed to hang out at the Rainbow Dash fan-club with her, even though she had wanted to practice her music. Suddenly, that all seemed like it was so far away. She waited.

"S-... sweetie?" a voice said. She opened her eyes. Lyra was staring at her, her eyes still glowing green, but there was something different about them.
"Yes, it's me. Your sweetie. Your Bon-Bon."

"B-... B... Bon-Bon!" in an instant, the green glow vanished, and before Bon-Bon could react there was warmth as Lyra was against her.
"Hey, hey!" the confectioner yelled, "Not in a cave, Lyra."

The mare leaned out, and looked around. "BB... why am I in a bridesmaid dress? In a cave?"
"Might have to ask her that" Bon-Bon said, pointing to the scene on the other side of the small outcropping they were standing on. She looked out toward the rest of the cave.

"How long does this place go on for?" she asked, not noticing Lyra moving toward the other two mares with some speed. There was a loud screaming noise, and the sound of two ponies falling over. Bon-Bon's head swivelled, and she saw Lyra beaming as she stood next to two collapsed mares.

"I can't say I approve of that" Twilight Twinkle muttered. Lyra just rolled her eyes.
"You didn't seem to have anything else planned."

"Alright, questions first, then we get out of this cave" Twinkle said. She turned to Lyra.
"What's the last thing you remember?"

Lyra gave this some thought. "I... we had just visited Rarity, who was designing the dresses for Cadance's wedding, and she was really angry for some reason, so we decided to give her some space. And then about half an hour later, she turned up again, said she wanted to apologise, and wanted to see how our bridesmaid dresses looked again. And we were just happy she wasn't angry with us, so we didn't question it. And then she just stared at us, and I'd swear her eyes turned green for a moment, and then... next thing I remember I'm right next to this really sexy mare."

"Lyra..." Bon-Bon sighed.
"Okay," Twinkle said, "Well, we're gonna get you to the hospital, get you examined, just in case something's happened, but I think it's a safe bet that you're alright."

She paused and turned to Lyra, "Oh, and... I would recommend not mentioning what happened with Cadance for a while. Just... keep quiet about it."
"So the mare that hurt Lyra and her friends gets to walk free?" Bon-Bon said.

Twinkle stared at her. "Not for much longer. But the situation is... difficult."
"It wasn't Cadance, was it? I mean, not really Cadance," Lyra said, "Which would explain why she was such a jerk because I know Cady, and she's not like that, ever."

"Please, just... say you don't remember what happened when asked. Just for now."
Lyra paused, staring at Twinkle. "Alright, okay."

She looked over at the prone Twinkleshine and Minuette. "What about them?"
"I can lift them out of here" Twinkle said.

"How did Lyra break free of that... whatever that was?" Bon-Bon asked. Twinkle stared at her.
"True Love, obviously."

"Yeah, I get that," Bon-Bon said, smiling at Lyra, "But how did it actually happen?"
"No, it was True Love" Twinkle said, "What were you thinking of when she broke free?"

Bon-Bon gave a bashful grin, and Twinkle shook her head, blushing as she did.
"No, no. I don't need to know. Ever. From now on, I shall save ponies, and that will be it. Yes. Yes, it will."

Twinkle walked over to the two mares and lifted them up, taking care not to bash them against the ceiling. Lyra held on tight to Bon-Bon as the mare was hoisted upwards by the rope.
"Come to Canterlot, we'll go to your friends' wedding, have a few laughs" Bon-Bon muttered.

"Oh, come on, sweetie, it's not like we're in the middle of a warzone or anything."
"I think I preferred the buffalos. And besides, you looked really cute in that hat."

"You mean I don't look cute right now?"
Twinkle rolled her eyes at this, as she carefully levitated Twinkleshine and Minuette out of sight.


*****


Some time later, the changeling queen was stalking the halls of Canterlot Castle. Something felt amiss, to her, and despite her best efforts, she wasn't able to feel calm. She was wondering if it was something to do with that girl Twilight Sparkle, or her idiotic friends. She would perhaps have felt more comfortable if these ponies didn't seem so gullible. They had all bought her disguise as Cadance hook, line and sinker. Even the vaunted Princess Celestia didn't seem to notice. It was taking a serious amount of effort not to laugh in triumph. Then she noticed something unusual. Princess Luna stalking the halls, without so much as a sample of caffeine at hoof.

"Aunt Luna" she said calmly.
"Niece" the mare nodded. Chrysalis paused, and looked at Luna.

"Is there something the matter?" she asked. Luna paused.
"Perhaps. Your bridesmaids were found on the doorstep of a system of caves. Ones we had not known existed."

She felt a rising panic. Had somepony found out about her? "Are they-?" she began. Luna shook her head.
"Two of them are in no condition to speak to any guard, and the last will require much in the way of rest. But before her slumber she stated she could not remember her assailant."

Luna shifted, "A most perplexing mystery."
"That's a shame" Chrysalis said, the same way one would discuss a paper-cut. She struggled to get her heartbeat under control.

"But, no big loss. I have already acquired new bridesmaids."
Luna looked at her. "Yes, we gathered as much. Twilight Sparkle and her friends informed us most eagerly."

Chrysalis nodded, and walked away, satisfied that those three dumb ponies weren't going to reveal her to the world.
"Cadance?" Luna called out. She turned to look at Luna.

"We were wondering... for thy wedding to your betrothed... would it be acceptable for us to... give thee away?"
Chrysalis paused, and considered this. She didn't know if she could maintain her illusion with two alicorns watching her every move, and that stupid little Twilight Sparkle, and that other mare that kept following her about.

"Oh, auntie, I'm afraid that's not really necessary," she said, trying not to giggle, "You see, Celestia is already taking part in the ceremony, and... well, that really makes your presence..." she struggled to find the right phrase.
"Surplus to requirements, really."

And with that, she turned and left, trying not to savour the moment. Everything was going splendidly. And she had a good feeling about tomorrow.

Luna frowned, waited until 'Cadance' was out of sight, and hearing, and then turned to the two mares standing next to her.
"Changeling" she said. Twilight Sparkle nodded.

"So, you wish for me to... what?"
"Post guards in the hospital where those three are being kept, just in case" Twilight Twinkle said, "Just in case she comes around hoping to silence them."

There was a pause before she added, "Though if they find Bon-Bon's staying by Lyra's side, I'd tell them not to bother trying to remove her. We need every able-bodied guard we can find right now."
Luna nodded. "Anything else?"

Twinkle paused. "No, no. Don't think so. Just be ready for when the wedding starts. And... by the way, tomorrow? You might need to deal with an angry and / or upset Celestia."
Luna frowned. "What exactly is it you plan on doing tomorrow?"

Both Twilights looked at each other. "You don't want to know" they both said.
Luna considered this, and found herself agreeing. "Very well then. Good night, Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Twinkle."


*****


Of course, actually getting to sleep that night proved... difficult. Nothing to do but sit and wait and listen to the clock in the bedroom suite tick. And tick, and tick.
And then it happened. I really have no idea why...

Twilight Twinkle frowned at the ceiling, listening to the clock strike off second after second. She sat up, and looked at the clock, which was just a few minutes away from striking eleven o'clock. She frowned. She had presumed from all the time they'd been rushing about, getting Lyra to a hospital, that it was much later than that. But no, she was staring at the clock as it ticked, and ticked, and ticked. There was only one day left until the wedding of Shining Armor and 'Princess Mi Amore Cadenza'.

One day left. She slid off the bed, and walked over to the window, eyeing the distant stars, slightly obscured by Shining Armor's barrier.

"One day more..." she sighed. She felt something begin to swell in her, deep inside her, and she barely tried to struggle as she was certain she heard music swell.


"One day more...
Another day, another destiny.
This never-ending road in front of me.
One day more...


Elsewhere, a mare stared in a mirror, admiring her stolen appearance. In it, she could see the stallion she was supposedly marrying.


"Tomorrow you'll be worlds away,
And yet with you my life has started."


Far down beneath Canterlot, in long-abandoned mines, surrounded by an unbreakable cage of gemstones and using the ground itself as a bed, a barely-moving mare sang to herself in her sleep.


"One more day all on my own,
One more day with him not knowing"


Shining Armor, believing 'Cadance' could not hear him, found himself being afflicted by the song.


"I was born to be with you,
And I swear I will be true!"


Down in the caverns again, the mare he was vowing to protect continued singing.


"What a life I might have known,
But he'll never see me there"


Cadance woke a few seconds later as she felt tears beginning to move down her cheek again.
Meanwhile, the imposter couldn't help but imagine herself moving amongst an assembled mass of her people, her disguise abandoned as she moved amongst them.


"One more day till confrontation,
we will nip it in the bud!
I will fight these little schoolgirls,
they will wet themselves with blood!"


Twilight Twinkle stared out at Canterlot, and sighed.


"One day more..."


Shining Armor turned to look at who he thought was Cadance. She smiled back with what could've been mistaken for warmth.


"I did not live until today..."



"Tomorrow you'll be worlds away.


They walked over to one another.


"And yet with you my world has started."


Down in the caves, Cadance stared up at the ceiling.


"One day more all on my own..."


As Shining Armor went to sleep, Chrysalis resumed her triumphant singing.


"One day more till confrontation,
We will nip it in the bud!
We'll be ready for these schoolgirls
Tomorrow is the judgement day!


Twinkle was certain she could hear the voices singing out against the night.


"Tomorrow we'll be far away,
Tomorrow is the judgement day.


And then, at that moment, it was like she could feel them alongside her.


"Tomorrow we'll discover,
what the lady above has in store!
One more dawn.

One more day.

One day more!"


After that... odd little bit of singing, I found that getting to sleep was easier, though I still felt like a little girl before Hearth's Warming. Only, it wasn't anything like Hearth's Warming.
And being asleep wasn't exactly much fun either.


~~~~~


Hooves made their way through the darkened castle, eyes scanning everywhere. Something was wrong. Canterlot Castle had interiors made of marble, white and glistened, not charcoal grey and burnt. And the carpet was the wrong shade of green. And was the sky supposed to be that colour of red-yellow? Probably not. Still, she felt strangely excited for some reason, and she didn't know why.

"Twinkie!" a voice cried out, "You're late!"
She found herself facing a door. A mare approached her.

"And you're still not dressed properly!"
She stared at the mare, with her blue-grey fur and her lilac mane. The mare reached out with her hooves, and there was a tearing sound. She looked at the mare somehow tore away her... it looked like her skin, almost, and threw it away. Then her horn glowed, and a small mirror appeared in front of her face.

"What do you think? No, wait, no time. Late!" the apparition of her daughter sighed, and shoved her forward, as she tried to understand why she was suddenly wearing a wedding dress.
She moved through the doors, and saw row upon row of faces staring at her. She tried to fight her legs as they moved her toward the main stand, where an unmoving shape loomed. Then she heard a voice call out.

"Twilight Twyla Twinkle, daughter of Twilight Sparkle and some nobody, you stand accused of interfering in the affairs, fates and destinies of others, and ruining True Love. And dyeing your coat lilac."
She saw the pony standing by the alter turn to face her, her bright orange eyes glowing brightly.

"You summoned me into this world, then instead of just destroying me, you wiped my mind sealed me in a vapid children's book!" Nightmare Eclipse yelled.

"You changed what would have been! You gave foreknowledge of the future without consideration for its effect!" she heard a voice that sounded eerily like Twilight Sparkle's yell.

"And you didn't bother to warn anypony of what Chrysalis would do to Shining Armor, and you had to be told to save her bridesmaids" said what seemed to be Bon-Bon.

"You refused to take Wisp's feelings into consideration" someone who sounded an awful lot like Fluttershy declared, "And led him to being reclaimed by the changelings he was trying to escape."
"And then you let a Nightmare waltz right on in and use you to kill me!" Shining Sapphire loomed, "But it's alright for you, Twinkie, 'cuz you get to run off back to the past, and have adventures, even though you already know how to get back!"

"And you ruined my friendship with Silver Spoon!" a young voice, dripping with arrogance and disgust declared. Twinkle turned to see the young mare, with a butler standing next to him carrying a platter that looked like it was made of silver, "Look what I had to do to her!"

She gave the butler a kick, and he lifted the dome off the platter, revealing the startled looking head of Silver Spoon, whose eyes turned to glare at Twinkle.
"Yeah, thanks a lot!" she snapped.

Twinkle stared at the assembled ponies, all glaring intensely at her.
"Sorry, mom" Lilac's voice called out, "But, let's be fair, you knew this had to happen sooner or later..."

"There is only one answer to this!" the unseen judge announced, before leaning in to reveal Cadance, grinning manically.
Suddenly, every assembled pony shifted, and blurred until they looked like changelings themselves.
"Death!"

They lunged...


*****


Twilight Twinkle screamed, or at least tried to, only to find herself falling off the bed. For a while she laid there, crumpled in a heap. She wasn't sure what time it was, but the sun was definitely up.
"Stars above..." she muttered. She slowly tried to disentangle herself, not sure where her legs began and the sheets ended. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door.

"Just a minute" she called out. In an instant the door opened, and Twilight walked in.
"Oh, my" Twinkle heard Fluttershy call out.

"No, no, it's alright, everypony" Twinkle sighed, "I'm just... caught. In the bed-sheets."
"Bad dreams?" Twilight asked, walking over to her.

"Do you need some help?" she asked. Twinkle paused.
"Yeah, that'd be very nice of you" she eventually mumbled.

"What time is it?" she asked.
"Not yet time for the rehearsal. But we heard noises and... well, when you said you needed a minute we figured something was wrong, because you don't wear bedclothes, and you've never really seemed concerned about your appearance, so we got concerned."

Twinkle stared at Twilight. "What do you mean, 'don't seem concerned about my appearance'?"
There was a small pause for a few seconds before she sighed. "Thanks, anyway."

"Not a problem" Twilight smiled. Then her smiled changed, "Are you coming downstairs for breakfast?"
Twinkle nodded. "Sure."


*****


Breakfast was an odd, quiet affair. Evidently Rainbow Dash wasn't used to the meal, preferring to skip it and eat only after lunchtime, which gave the pegasus some pause. For a given value of 'pause'. Both Twilights, and Spike, were situated at the head of table, by Princess Celestia, who kept looking at Twilight, no doubt expecting the mare to regale her with what she'd been learning since they'd last talked. Instead, the mare was just staring at her bowl of soup. Spike, meanwhile, was pouting because he'd had to leave the wedding cake figurines back in Twilight's room. The quiet was eventually broken by Rarity and Trixie beginning to argue over whether the mare was allowed to wear her hat and cape to the wedding.

"I will not allow it" Rarity said.
"It's my hat and I'll wear it where I want to!" Trixie snapped.

"But it's so unsuited to a wedding," Rarity pleaded, "And I could quite easily put together a suitable dress for you."
"No."

Rarity scowled with the fury of a scorned dressmaker.
"Now see here, Trixie, you-"

"No. I'm not giving up my hat and wearing one of those dresses, alright?"
"It is not 'alright'. How can you attend an event of a lifetime dressed like that?"

Trixie paused for a moment. "Because every event I attend is significant, and I am always dressed suitably for the occasion. Besides, Trixie would rather not show up than wear one of those silly... flower... head-band things."
"It's a garland!"

"Should we-?" Twinkle asked. Twilight shook her head.
"They'll get over it in a minute."

"Before or after they start fighting?" Twinkle asked.
"I don't think they'll go that f-... Spike, are you alright?"

The little dragon was staring ahead for a moment. Twilight gave him a sharp nudge with her hoof.
"Sorry, what?" he asked, "I was just thinking about... stuff."

Twilight quickly walked over to the two mares and began to try and talk them down. After she eventually managed to pacify them, everything returned to normality, until Princess Celestia informed Twilight she had appointments to keep, while reminding everypony to arrive at the main hall for the wedding rehearsal, at which point whatever good mood there had been had utterly vanished. Everypony start nervously glancing anywhere but at each other.

"So, Rarity," Trixie said quickly, "You might at least show me the dress you made, since you put so much effort into it."


*****


Time passed, eventually, and after a few short hours the time for the rehearsal arrived. The hall was ready, everypony was in place. All that was left was for me to play my part.

Twilight stared at the young mare, who was sitting outside the secondary doors leading to the hall. She seemed lost in thought.
"It's almost time" Twilight said. Twinkle looked up at her.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Twinkle paused.
"No. But I'm not going to let it stop me. Actually, I'm kind of amazed I haven't teleported away or something yet."
She laughed, "Guess I'm more drained that I thought."

She gave this some consideration before adding, "Of course, I'd still be a few weeks out from full strength anyway. And I suppose my lack of sleep hasn't been helping much."
Twinkle scuffed a hoof against the floor, almost expecting somepony to appear out of nowhere and read the riot act at her for that. She looked up at Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight?"
"Yes?"

"Before... all this, I just wanted to say something."
"Yes?"

Twinkle took a deep breath, and then tried smiling. "You did the best job you could. You know that, right?"
Twilight blinked. "You're talking about..."

"Yeah" Twinkle said, before hugging her. "I might even go as far as to say I'm the luckiest daughter in Equestria."
There was a pause, before Twinkle leaned out again. There was the sound of distant organ music.

Twilight frowned. "Twilight... is there something you aren't telling me?"
The mare looked at Twilight, her burnt orange eyes filled with a strange sadness, and then she turned away and faced the doors.

"Let's do this" she said.


*****


The plan was quite simple, really. It was thanks to Rarity and Rainbow Dash that I came up with it. Basically, if time wanted a Twilight to storm the wedding, and make an ass out of themselves, then who were we to argue? The difference was that my 'reasons' for yelling at green-eyes was going to be different.
And I suppose the nonsense reason 'Cadance' had used to get rid of her actual bridesmaids helped as well...

"No need to rush!" Princess Celestia noted, as the five mares slowly walked down the carpet, each trying not to let their nerves show.

"Then, Cadance will enter" all eyes turned to the doors, where two guardsponies were standing. Together, they opened the doors, on the other side of which stood the imposter, who slowly made her way towards where Shining Armor was standing. The stallion smiled brightly as the mare walked up to him, and the two touched horns. Perhaps if they hadn't known Cadance was an imposter, and of what they would have done if they hadn't know, the girls would have thought it was touching.

"I'll say a few words," Celestia continued, "and then we'll being with the vows."
She looked over to Shining Armor, who was still grinning like a schoolcolt, "Shining Armor, do you have the ring from the best mare?"

He turned to where Twilight should have been standing, and saw only Spike, keeping the cushion the ring should have been sitting on over his knees, while the young dragon played with the cake figurines.
"Do you?" he laughed, imitating Shining Armor (and failing), "I do!" he laughed, until he noticed everypony was staring at him.

"Hey," Shining Armor said, "Has anypony seen Twilight?"
"Oh, she's not coming" a voice called out, and in a puff of smoke, Twilight Twinkle appeared.

"She's the smart one. Not standing next to her" Twinkle said, pointing a hoof at 'Cadance'.
Shining Armor looked uncomfortable, and then turned to the clearly annoyed mare next to him.

"I'm sorry, I really don't know why she's doing this."
"Maybe we should just ignore her" 'Cadance' said, irritation rife in her words.

"Or you could listen to me. Maybe I've got something important to say."
Shining Armor rolled his eyes.

"How can you stand next to her?!" Twinkle yelled, "How can you say you will marry her?!"
The look of utter fear on the changeling queen's face was making the whole endeavour worth it, Twinkle thought.
Shining Armor, seeking to live up his name, stood in front of his 'love', glaring at Twinkle. She ignored it, and quickly tried to make her way around him.

"She's been a jerk to all of us, she barely cares about the work everypony's been doing for this wedding, she is quite obviously the one who tried to vanish her bridesmaids, and she was an ass to Princess Luna. And if all that wasn't enough, she's clearly brainwashing Shining Armor!"

With each statement she backed the changeling up against the wall. The mare glanced to everypony nervously, and then down at Twinkle.
"Or would you like to explain why he's getting those headaches?"

'And three, two, one' Twinkle thought. As if one cue, the mare's eyes closed, and she began sobbing.
"Why are you doing this to me?!" she wailed, before rushing past Twinkle.

"Because you're evil! EVIL!" Twinkle yelled, trying to restrain her inner-actor and failing, as she chased the mare out of the room, "And if I don't stop you from ruining Shining Armor's life, nopony else will!"
She turned, fully expecting to slam into the solid wall that was her uncle. She did. It hurt. She looked up, and practically winced from the ice-cold fury emanating from Shining Armor.

"Who do you think you are?" he said. "Who do you THINK you are?"
He glowered at her. "You really thought you could just barge your way in here, make a scene and get away with it because you know my little sister?!"

His eyes suddenly started to spin, until he slammed a hoof against his head.
"You want to know why my eyes have been all weird? It's because ever since I started having to perform that shielding spell, I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadance has been using her magic to heal me, because she cares about me, and knows I don't have time to go see a doctor!"

Twinkle opened her mouth to say something, but Shining Armor continued, "And I don't know where you got that nonsense about trying to vanish her bridesmaids. She was worried about their disappearance, but she replaced them because the only reason they were at this wedding was to meet Canterlot royalty."
"What a load of-"

"And I'm sorry if she didn't worship the ground you walk on. The reason she hasn't been polite to your 'friends' is because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the hard decisions, and she's completely stressed out because it's important her big day be perfect. And I am not going to let anypony disappoint her, especially not some wash-out failure, who doesn't have the sense to recognise reality staring her in the face. I don't know how you managed to become friends with my little sister, but I'd be astonished if it was because of anything other than her pity."

He growled, and then walked past her, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go comfort my bride."
He stopped by the door, "For your sake, I really hope we don't meet again."

There was a pause, before Rarity spoke up. "I think we should probably go and see where Twilight has gone to. The poor girl's probably overslept."
Quickly, all six mares and Spike walked past her, trying not to look back. She sat on the carpet, glowering as Princess Celestia stalked past. She had no idea what the mare would say to her, but she was certain it wouldn't be good.
Celestia stared at her for a moment, then slowly turned away, slamming the doors behind her as she left.

Twilight Twinkle sat, and waited a moment, then let out the longest sigh of relief she'd ever given.

So, after that unpleasantness, all that was left was to bask in victory, and wait for the changeling queen to make herself known. Which didn't take too long.

"So..." a familiar voice said, and Twilight Twinkle turned to see 'Cadance' staring at her, "How did we come to this?"

She walked over to Twinkle, and frowned. "You know, I was honestly expecting his little sister to come charging in, screaming defiance at me. She seemed the possessive type. I honestly didn't expect a love-sick little puppy to come seeking to rescue Shining Armor, though."

Twinkle stared at her.
"Nothing to say for yourself?" not-Cadance asked, "Well, it wouldn't help, much."

At this point, I am going to confess I went off-script. This mare had hurt Shining Armor. She had hurt my mother, and indirectly my mother's friends. She had hurt Celestia, and worst of all, she hurt Cadance. Not to mention she would likely go on to hurt Wisp. And... a problem I now recognise all too well is that I am, sometimes, incredibly impulsive. And here was the mare who'd hurt so much for so little, right in front of me, speaking with Cadance's voice, her face. At which point everything I was holding in flooded out.
And I just saw red.

Twilight Twinkle slowly stood, and with all the force she could muster, kicked the changeling in the face. There were a few seconds pause before the mare finally reacted.
"Ow. I almost felt that."

Twinkle followed it up with a ball of fire, which struck the mare in the face, She was certain she heard laughter.
"That's it! Put up a fight! And here I thought you little ponies were so weak and peace-loving!"

Chrysalis found the mare rearing in her face. She found herself being struck again.
"Peace-loving, yeah. Not weak" Twinkle stated. Just for good measure, she hit Chrysalis a few more times.

There was a derisive snort. "Then how come I managed to subdue that oaf Shining Armor, or those three mewling kittens without so much as a shout, then?"
There was a burning sensation, as a bolt of lightning slammed into Chrysalis' side. She felt hooves impacting with her again.

"And what about that pretty pink princess? No dignity there, all that screaming and crying!"
Twinkle aimed a hoof at Chrysalis, and then found it connecting with another hoof. It was at this point, through the rage and the rush of adrenalin, she realised her mind was screaming at her to run. This mare had managed to overpower Celestia and she was trying to punch her.

'Oh, crap' she thought, before a hoof got her mid-section, sending her flying. She hit the ground, and bounced. Chrysalis stood up and stretched.
"You knew this was coming," she said slowly, "You knew where those stupid three mares were, you knew I would be coming back here. What are you?"

She stalked over toward Twinkle. "Are you a spy? Maybe a thief? Or an assassin? Could it be that this nation of sheep has some sheep-dogs watching over them?"
She paused, as Twinkle slowly got to her hooves. "No. No that's not it, is it?"

Twinkle felt a lance of energy screaming through her head, as she heard the changeling speaking again.
"Why don't you tell me, hmm? I just wanted to talk, and all you did was attack me. Tell Cadance what you know."

Twinkle focused her thoughts, ignoring the feeling of her mind being invaded, and imagined a cast iron door, and it slamming shut, as the door suddenly glowed, with words burnt into it.
'Get Out of My Head!'

The changeling queen sprang back, as if she'd been slapped.
"My, my. Problems with somepony going through your mind before?" she grinned, before staring at Twinkle, her eyes flashing green.

"Trust me, we can fix that for you."
Twinkle saw the malicious grin flicker as she let lose a volley of energies, her mind distracted with questions as to why nopony was bothering to see what was going on. Surely the energies being let lose would have drawn somepony's attention quickly enough. Then she felt a cold trickle moving down her spine. Chrysalis had sound-proofed the room. She poured more energy out, even as she felt another part of her desperately screaming for her to flee. She couldn't fight a Changeling Queen powered by Shining Armor's love, and she certainly wasn't going to win, especially not while she was still magically drained.

She focused some more energies, shooting at the candles that illuminated the room, and some more to the curtains that were being held back, before cutting off her energies, and trying to move about the room.
Then she heard the chuckling. "Darkness? Really? You think you can hide in the darkness? I am a changeling. I am the Changeling Queen. Darkness means nothing to me, and the light is nothing but brightness. I do not need eyes to see you, little girl."

Twinkle paused, trying to hold her breath.
Then she realised her mistake. She was in the darkness, alone, and the minute she turned around, she was going to be face-to-face with a truly pissed off changeling queen.

Then she saw two bright green eyes hovering in front of her in the darkness.
"I see you"
She was aware of being kicked, incredibly hard. She was aware of being thrown through the air, and of an alarming noise and pain, lots and lots of pain. She tried standing up, but heard the sound of a hoof stomping in front of her, and then there was brightness. After the spots vanished, she saw the changeling glaring at her.

"Nighty-night!" the mare grinned, and the last thing Twinkle saw was a hoof rushing toward her.


*****


Finding Twilight had been easy enough. The mare had decided to make it look like she'd forgotten something back in her room, and use that as a reason to arrive late to the rehearsal. In quick order they set about informing her of what had transpired between Shining Armor and Twilight Twinkle.
"Oh" Twilight had said.

"Yeah, that was pretty much what I thought" Rainbow Dash said, "Only with an extra word after that."
"So, what do we do now?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight paused.

"Well, somepony will have to remain on watch near the cave until Twilight gets out of the cave,"
"Hey, Twilight, could you... I dunno, maybe not refer to Twinkle as 'Twilight'?" Rainbow Dash asked, "It's just... makes it real hard to tell who you're talking about. And it makes you sound like Trixie."

"Hey!"
"Does it?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Well, anyway, somepony will have to watch the cave, wait until Twilight Twinkle shows up, and meanwhile the rest of us will have to find something else to do. Go over preparations for the wedding or something."
"I can do that!" Pinkie saluted.

"Meanwhile," Twilight said, "I think I would have words with my brother."
The mare walked away, leaving everypony else standing there.

"Shouldn't we try and catch up to her?" Fluttershy asked. There was a sudden silence.
"Yeah, of course we should" Rainbow Dash said firmly, "I'm not gonna sit by and let that big idiot yell at any more of my friends."

There was a sudden pause, as Rainbow Dash tried to look as nonchalant as possible.
"Guess that settles that, then" Applejack observed.

And they quickly set after Twilight.


*****


Shining Armor had been pacing the halls when he encountered Twilight. His smile at seeing his sister utterly vanished when he saw the look on her face.
"Hey, Twily, have you seen Cada-"

"No."
Shining Armor sighed. For some reason he felt incredibly tired. "What is it, Twilight?"

"Did you really yell at one of my friends?"
He sighed again. He hadn't wanted this conversation, not while there was a distraught Cadance unaccounted for. But Twilight's question demanded an answer.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but... I am under a lot of stress at the moment, and the last thing I need is some crazy-pony running in and making my fiancé cry."
He stared at Twilight. "She started accusing Cadance of being responsible for her bridesmaids disappearing, she said Cadance was the reason I've been having these headaches, when she's been trying to heal me. She was laying everything at the hooves of the mare who's been running herself ragged trying to organise this wedding before you came."

He looked at his little sister, and there was something about the way she was looking at him, as if she was almost expecting him to say something.
"Twily, seriously, is there something bothering you? You know you can tell me, right?"

Twilight nodded, and smiled weakly at him. "I just... are you sure that Cadance is the mare you fell in love with?"
Shining Armor gave this some thought, and realised what Twilight was hinting at. "If she is acting a bit different from how you remember, I'm sure it's because of stress. I've been so busy on my work I haven't really had time to talk to her much, or be of much help to her. I've been so busy on my own pain I haven't really been able to do anything for her."

He smiled warmly at Twilight, "I'll try and talk to her, see if I can't sort this whole mess out."
She looked up at him, "Shiny?"

"Yeah?"
"You know you're my B.B.B.F.F, right?"

"Yes" he said slowly, something about Twilight's tone making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Good. Because I just want you to know that if you ever, ever repeat what you said to her in that hall to any of my friends ever, ever again, well... B.B.B.F.F or not, you will regret it."

After saying that her expression softened, and she smiled at him. "Okay?"
He nodded dumbly. "Got it."

And with that, Twilight turned and walked away. Then he heard somepony cry out in distress.
"SHIN-ING!"
Instantly he stood up, and rushed towards the source of Cadance's voice.


*****


"Did anypony just hear that?" Applejack asked.
"Oh, yeah" Rainbow Dash sighed, "We heard it."

The group stood perfectly still in the middle of the corridor, trying to determine which way to go.
"Hey, Spike, you lived here, how come you don't know the way around?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Sorry. I don't know every corridor in the castle. Usually I just stayed in Twilight's room in case she received a package while she was out, or something."
"Hey, there she is!" Pinkie Pie declared. Everypony looked where she was pointing, and saw Twilight was indeed approaching. She looked startled.

"Hey, girls" she said, on approach, and the swift hug that followed after.
"So, you talked with your brother?" Rarity asked.

"I... I tried, but... it..." Twilight slouched, "It was difficult saying as much as I did."
Rarity nodded, before a look of concern overcame her. "What exactly did you say?"

"I tried asking him if he wasn't concerned about 'Cadance' and her behaviour, but... he's just so... in love with her. I just..."
She groaned.

"It's okay, Twilight," Fluttershy said, "At least this day ca-"
"Don't!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Sorry, Fluttershy, but anytime anypony in Daring Do asks whether things are gonna get worse, they get so worse!"
"Hey," Pinkie Pie said, "That's a new one."

There was a pause. "New... what, Pinkie?" Rarity asked.
"Not sure... but it's probably pretty random."

"Excuse me, but does anypony else hear that?" Fluttershy asked.
"Hear what? Ah don't hear anything?"

"It sounds like..." Fluttershy squeaked in what looked like terror.
"I know that music!" she said, before in an amazing move managing to curl into a perfect sphere.

It should perhaps be explained that everypony's current position was not too far from the main hall anyway, down one of the larger main corridors. It should also be pointed out that this wouldn't have helped them escape the pony tracking them.
"I have arrived!" declared a voice that to Twilight and Rarity was all too familiar.

"Oh... no!" Rarity gasped.
"What? What is it?" Applejack asked.

"Not her! Not now!"
Suddenly a small contingent of ponies appeared, several carrying atop them a silver-haired mare whose eyes were obscured by glasses, under which there was an expression of practiced apathy.

"It eez I, Photo Feenish, come to find de ones who vill be vwearingk the bridesmaid dresses for Princzess Cadenza!"
There were a few moments as Twilight and Rarity stared in horror, and Spike in confusion, while Pinkie Pie just stared at the new arrival like it was the most rational thing in the world, while Trixie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all tried to make sense of what they were seeing.

"...The hay?!" Rainbow Dash eventually got out.


*****


Luna had been woken by one of her guards informing her, with some enthusiasm it had to be said, that Princess Celestia was apparently in a foul temper, and that there had been a disturbance at the wedding rehearsal. Luna had nodded, and slowly woke up to go talk to her older sister. After some searching, she found Celestia staring out at Canterlot.
"Sister?" she asked.

"There was an altercation at the wedding rehearsal" Celestia said. Luna said nothing, waiting for her sister to continue.
"And I did nothing. I did nothing as Twilight Twinkle burst in and accused Cadance of being responsible for Shining Armor's current health problems, and for the disappearance of her bridesmaids. I just stood by as Cadance fled the room, and watched as Shining Armor tore Twilight Twinkle apart."

"I presume you mean that in a verbal sense, not a physical one" Luna commented. Celestia looked at her, and then sighed. Even sitting down as she was, Celestia was still taller than Luna.
"And I was angry, Luna. Angry because of what the young mare was saying. Angry because Cadance was crying and I wasn't able to help her. Angry because I did not stop Cadance from fleeing. Angry because I was angry."

There was another sigh. "And yet... the Cadance I kn- The Cadance I thought I knew would never have run away. I haven't talked to her much lately, but I had been busy, talking with foreign diplomats who wanted to know about the wedding, dealing with all the usual paperwork, arranging matters with the Canterlot weather team so that the weather was just right for tomorrow. I had hoped that by calling in Twilight Sparkle and her friends to help it would be a way of helping Cadance, and allow her to relax, and take some of the stress off her mind."

Luna frowned. "Cadance's actions are not the result of any failure of your part, sister. I can assure you of that much."
Celestia looked at her, and then frowned. "Maybe I should just go have a talk with Cadance, and see how she's getting on."
Luna gave no indication as to whether this was a good idea of not. Celestia turned to look at her again.

"Luna, is there something the matter?"
"No," said the Princess of the Night, "Nothing is the matter. At all. It's just good that you have stopped pouting."

"You sure you are not keeping something from me?"
"Not at all. Now I have to go feed Kirby. Right now."

And with that, Luna took off into the air, leaving Celestia sitting on top of the tallest tower in Canterlot wondering what had just happened. Pouting, indeed. She hadn't been pouting, she'd just been thinking. She shook her head, and made a note to catch up to Luna at some point and ask her whether she was going to attend the wedding. And while she was on the subject of talking to ponies, she wondered if it wasn't an idea to talk to Twilight.


*****


It wasn't that being dragged into a photo-shoot of the infamous Photo Finish was bad, as such. It was more that neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash were feeling cooperative, while Fluttershy was in a full-on catatonic state, which Twilight was trying, with little success, to drag her out of, while Rarity, Spike and Pinkie Pie just went along with everything. At least until Spike was gently moved out of the way on the grounds of clearly not being a bridesmaid. And then Photo Finish saw Trixie's hat.

"No hat" she declared, and Trixie's hat was suddenly removed, despite the mare's objections. Photo Finish frowned.
"Hat." And suddenly Trixie's hat was returned.

"Different hat!" and then it was replaced with something else. Trixie just glowered, though Photo Finish didn't seem to notice or care.
Eventually, however, Photo Finish seemed to have what she was looking for, with all seven mares carefully arranged in a way that made sense only to Photo Finish.

"Wunderbar! This vill be ze sensation!" the mare said, apparently to herself.
"Can we go now?" Rainbow Dash asked, annoyed at her hair having been styled, instead of being allowed to remain in its natural (and therefore, naturally awesome) state.

Photo Finish stared at Rainbow Dash like the mare had suggested they wear fish on their heads.
"No! There must be more!"

"Ah don't like the sound of that" Applejack uttered. However, they were only held against their will for another half an hour, as Photo Finish experimented with different ways of posing everypony, utterly ignoring the distress and discomfort of the mares.
"I have done eet! I, Photo Finish, have acvuired success. I go!" she declared, and after a pause, slowly walked away, her massive entourage following after her.

"Does anypony else know what just happened?" Trixie asked.
"No" Rainbow Dash said instantly.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, nudging the mare gently, "It's okay. They're gone."
"Are we sure about that?" Applejack asked slowly. "Like, really, really sure?"

"Let us hope so" Rarity sighed.
"Now then, I believe there was mention of waiting at that entrance to the mine for Twilight Twinkle to appear, was there not?"

Twilight nodded. "I was thinking we all take shifts until tomorrow. I'll volunteer for staying on-guard all day tomorrow."
"So..." Spike asked, "Who exactly is gonna volunteer to sit by a big hole for hours first?"


****


"Are you sure you don't need something? I could see if there's a pillow nearby? Or I could try and fetch some hot chocolate?" Fluttershy asked, and once again, Spike politely declined. It wasn't really fair, he told himself, being asked to go first by Rarity and Fluttershy at once. How was he, a gentlem-... gentledragon supposed to resist both of them at once? Who could?

Still, at least the guards remained outside the small storage cupboard. Something about Fluttershy made even the gruffest guards ever suddenly develop ideas of being chivalrous and gallant, which, while understandable were annoying after a while, although Fluttershy just shrugged it all off in her usual fashion.

Actually, as Spike gave it some thought, it wasn't really a 'small' storage cupboard at all. Most storage cupboards didn't have room for a small dragon and a Pegasus to sit some way apart from one another, and they could probably have fitted a chair in inside if they wanted to.
"Hope Twinkle's okay..." Spike said.


*****


Twinkle found herself jolted awake, and then after a few seconds began to really regret it, as pain blistered through her, far too much to even scream. Wherever she was it was cold and damp, and incredibly dark. There was the tiniest bit of light in the caves, but beyond that there was nothing.
'Okay, Twinkie, we have successfully antagonised the Changeling Queen enough, and have arrived down in the abandoned mine beneath Canterlot as per the overall plan. Bravo. Though perhaps a note for next time would be to avoid fighting her.'

She tried standing up, and was met with indescribable pain. She focused, and managed to get a dim light from her horn, and then saw a disturbing sight, which at least explained why it was impossible to stand up. A quick cursory medical examination revealed some more disturbing facts, but nothing immediately life-threatening.
'Indeed, bravo, Twinkie. Aside from several broken bones, it's all utter clockwork.'

She paused. 'And I'm talking to myself. Wonderful.'
She took a deep breath, and glanced about. After a few minutes she heard a high-pitched wail and laughter, and a familiar face was projected onto each face of the crystals around her.

"Welcome, little wedding crasher, to the caves beneath Canterlot!" the fake Cadance smiled.
"Once this place was home to the greedy unicorns who desired the gems that could be found inside. Now? It's your prison."

Twinkle glowered.
"I wouldn't bother calling for help. No-one can hear you, and no-one will bother to look for you either" the mare said, in-between fits of laughter.

"Most ponies have forgotten these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ponies who try and interfere in my plans!" she giggled again, while Twinkle just glowered at her. After a while the mare stared at her and looked annoyed.
"You're supposed to be asking what those plans are" she gave an irritated groan, "Fine, I'll tell you anyway. 's not like you're... going anywhere."

She paused to laugh again, "That's what you get for trying to interfere with my plans for Shining Armor! But you already guessed that, one, didn't you? Oh well, it's too late for you to do anything now!"
The changeling laughed once more, and Twinkle just glared, ignoring the mare's echoing laughter.

"And one more thing: there's a secret surprise for you down there. Have fun!"
Twinkle frowned as she tried to block out the mare's voice, and dragged herself up towards one of the crystals. She stared at her reflection, and winced at the sight. She was well-aware of her magic being at a low level already, and the fight with the changeling queen hadn't helped at all. She began to wonder if she really had enough energy to escape from the mines. She wasn't sure exactly how deep down she was, but before she'd been knocked out, there had been at least a day left before the ceremony, but she had no idea how long she'd been out for. She felt tired, which might have had something to do with her lack of sleep, and the lack of air, and her injuries.

She shook her head. She wasn't about to give up. She'd survived Discord, she'd survived an angry mob, she'd fought her way out of that messed-up alternate universe, she'd fought a Nightmare and won.
'So like hay am I going to give up just because I'm magically drained, stuck in a cave and can't walk. Not while you're still up there planning to hurt Shining Armor, and not while Cadance needs help.'

She shook her head and focused what little magic she had left, aiming her horn at herself. Just before she let the magic shoot out, she noted something to herself.
'If this works, it's still gonna hurt.'

It did. It really did.


*****


Shining Armor wasn't sure what to think. He had found Cadance crying, and when he had asked her to explain what was wrong, she had said nothing, merely asking that he lead her home. Naturally, he had. Once there she had burst out into tears again.
"Oh, Shining! She... it... I..."

He held her gently. "It's okay, honey. It's okay."
After a few more sobs she finally looked up at him. "I tried talking to her, to that mare who interrupted the rehearsal, but she... she attacked me!"

"What?!"
"She called me such... such horrible names..."

Shining Armor held her closer.
"And then she ran off when I wouldn't fight back."

"It's alright, Cadance. It's alright. I'll keep you safe."
"Oh," Cadance said, suddenly no longer crying, "I know that."

Shining Armor suddenly found his headaches increasing again as magic lanced from Cadance's horn, to the point where he could not longer think straight.
"That's right, dear, don't fight it. You don't need to worry about headaches. Just let me do the thinking for you from now on. Don't you want that?"

He struggled to fight, as recollection came back to him. This wasn't his Cadance. How could he have not noticed that? It obviously wasn't, and yet he hadn't noticed. However, his headaches grew worse, and worse, and then...
Blissfulness overcame him, and he stopped fighting. He stood up, a simple smile on his face.
"I do..." he said slowly. Cadance smiled, her teeth practically glinting.

"Perfect."


*****


Comet Chaser slowly made his way through the streets of Canterlot, keeping an eye out for anypony who so much as looked like they were either purple or royal blue. What with the upcoming wedding, it was a public holiday which, while nice, left him with absolutely nothing to do, seeing as he wasn't the most socially active of ponies, especially with his work hours, which usually left little time for interacting with others anyway, save the ponies who worked the city's coffee bars, and that donut store he occasionally visited. Today he felt like seeing if Pony Joe's was open, and to his great relief, it was. And then, as he entered the store, he saw an alarming sight. While he had only gotten a brief glimpse at the varied ponies who had been with his d-... that pony from the future, he was unlikely to forget them in a hurry, which is why he was alarmed to see the bright pink mare conversing with the pony at the front desk. At least, he assumed that she was conversing, although the pony she was talking to just looked terrified. Then she turned around, somehow carrying several dozen boxes of donuts between her forelimbs, like it was perfectly normal.

And then Comet Chaser found himself asking something he hadn't expected. "Excuse me, miss, but do you need some help with that?"
"Who, me?" the stack of donuts enquired.

"Yes?" he said, before finding half a dozen donuts being foisted upon him.
"Thanks. I could've carried all these donuts but it's so nice somepony asked to help because I was trying to fetch them all for Spike because he's one little dragon who really likes his donuts and I was beginning to question whether I could carry them all back to the cupboard where we're staring at a hole." the mare set down the stack of donuts, and looked at him. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie."

He paused, taken aback by the sudden outpouring of exposition. "Hello, I'm... Comet Chaser."
"Hi there, Comet Chaser. Do you wanna help stare at a hole?"

"I... sorry?"
"There's a hole in the storage cupboard in the basement of the basement of the basement of Canterlot castle and we're all taking turns staring at it and waiting for something to come out of it and then Spike asked me to fetch some donuts for him and I said 'okay' and so all I have to do is bring these donuts back to the storage cupboard in the basement of the basement of Canterlot Castle."

Comet Chaser just nodded. Around him, numerous ponies stared, wondering if this pony would deliver them from the babbling pink demon in their midst.
"Shall we?" he suggested. Pinkie nodded, and with her usual bouncing gait, set out the door, the completely confused Comet Chaser following after. A few minutes after they left, there were relieved sighs from everypony in the store.


*****


Rarity was calmly finishing some work on Cadance's dress when she heard a faint noise behind her, and a light giggle. She returned to working, only for her blood to run cold when she realised whose giggling it w-
"HI, RARITY!"

She leapt into the air, her sewing implements discarded.
"Sweetie Belle! What the h-... eck are you doing here. In Canterlot. In the castle!"

"We're helpin' out with the wedding!" she heard Apple Bloom call out.
"Yeah!" said a third voice, belonging to Scootaloo.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza said we could be-" Rarity braced herself for the oncoming explosion of noise.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FLOWER GIRLS!!! YAY!"

Rarity shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts. "That's... very nice, girls, but it doesn't explain why you're in this room."
"I just wanted to say 'hi'" Sweetie Belle muttered, "See what you were doing."

"Well, right now I am extremely busy finishing this dress, Sweetie Belle" Rarity said, pointing to the almost finished wedding dress. 'Cadance' had burst in and made some last minute demands, and she was trying to make it look like she was complying.
"Is that Rarity for 'get out'?" Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity sighed.

"Why don't you three go and find Applejack, or Rainbow Dash, instead of distracting Rarity when she had very important work to finish?" Rarity suggested. Sweetie Belle turned to her friends, and then back to Rarity.
"'kay. Was gonna go seem them anyway, 'cuz Apple Bloom's big sister is way cooler."

"I heard that, Sweetie Belle."
"GOOD!" the filly said, before trying to slam the door behind her as she left.

"Uh, Sweetie Belle, yer tail's kinda stuck in the door" Rarity heard the muffled voice of Apple Bloom say. She rolled her eyes and went back to finishing the dress.


*****


Twilight Twinkle found her eyes opening again, and another sensation of pain. On the plus side, however, from all appearances the healing spell had worked, as she quickly determined by the fact that she could stand again. It still hurt a lot though. She tried to ignore the pain, though that didn't help. Her horn flashed, and a beam shot out from her horn. It bounced off one gemstone, then another, and another, before finally smashing into a larger one. Twinkle turned, and then held a hoof up to her horn. She hadn't realised she had that much magic left in her.

'Probably not as much as I think' she frowned. She slowly tried to make her way over to the opening, not sure whether her legs would carry her that far. Fortunately, they did. And then she saw an alarming sight.
A mare, her pearl-pink fur covered in dirt, barely moving, her purple and pink mane ragged and also dirt stained.
"Cadance!" she called out, some small part of her amazed she hadn't added anything like the word 'aunt' onto that statement.

The mare gave a low moan, and slowly opened one eye.
"Twilight...?" she uttered, only for her expression to change once she saw who it was. Twinkle felt a pang of fear. From what she could remember of Twilight's tale of the wedding, Cadance had been fully capable of conversing.

Then she heard the laughter again.
"Did something... she did something" Cadance winced, "Hurts..."

Twinkle felt the fear beginning to take hold of her. She tried to ignore it as best she could.
"Okay, Cadance, I'm going to help you. Just focus on Shining Armor, can you do that for me?"

"I'll try" Cadance gulped. Twinkle smiled, and then tried to think of a spell she could use.
"Hey, Cadance" she gently, "Sorry, me again, but I'm not sure what's afflicting you. I don't suppose you could elaborate more?"

Cadance paused, in-between shaking. "I don't know... sort of burning, everything burning..."
Twinkle paused, and considered this. 'Sounds like poison.' She quickly did a check to make sure she had a spell for counter-acting poisons.

"Alright Cadance, this might take a minute. You aren't injured anywhere else are you?"
Cadance gave no response. Twinkle frowned. "Just... hang in there. Tell me about Shining Armor."

"What?" Cadance groaned.
"Focus on your memories, your love for him, it's important Cadance."

The mare gave no response.
"Come on, tell me about Shining Armor. Wonderful, brilliant, noble Shining Armor, something, anything."

"Well, I... you know they talk about... love at first sight?"
Twinkle nodded, "I have heard of it."

"Well, we weren't exactly love at first sight... took me a while to figure out. I mean, he was cute... but I was just foalsitting his little sister."
There was a pause before Cadance added, "You look a lot like her, by the way."

"Yeah," Twinkle grinned weakly, "I've heard that before."
"Was really hoping I'd see her again..." Cadance whispered. Twinkle frowned as she tried to remember the half-dozen healing spells she had.

"Shining Armor, keep going Cadance, come on!" she hated herself instantly for yelling. She was fairly certain she could feel a tear moving down her face.
"He kept... every time we met he just said three words... 'as you wish'... didn't know what he meant..." a tiny smile moved across Cadance's face.

"Last day I looked after Twilight Sparkle... he talked with me and... it all just made sense. All of it. He said..."
"Go on, what did he say?" Twinkle said, trying to hold on to whatever self-control she had left.

"Said if he made captain he'd marry me... took him forever. Finally proposed on Hearts and Hooves day..."
"Isn't that your..." Twinkle trailed off, before she found herself grinning, "That Shining Armor."

Cadance paused. "Are you alright?"
Twinkle stared at her. "Yeah, I-..." she trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Cadance. I... I'll keep trying but I can't seem to think of anything."
"We've met before, haven't we?"

Twinkle nodded. "Yeah, we have. I... sort of landed in your boyfriend's lunch several months ago. And there was that incident where you ran into three friends of mine."
"Oh," Cadance said, "That's right. That's where we met."

Twinkle stopped. She'd run out of spells. All her healing spells were gone.

Only, that wasn't true. There was one last spell I had, only... it didn't heal a pony, exactly. But it would solve Cadance's poison problem.
Some ponies might have hesitated before using it, questioned the sanity of using a spell to transfer a poison into themselves and praying they survived long enough to fight it off. And, in hindsight it is possible Cadance might have had the ability to survive its effects, albeit in an incredibly weakened state.
But... then my impulsiveness came back.

She started muttering under her breath, placing one hoof on Cadance.
"What're you-" the mare asked. Twinkle stared at her, but continued chanting. Time seemed to slow as her chanting built up, and then, she felt it. Something cold snaking its way up her leg, and into the rest of her. There was a moment of weariness, and then more pain, and she blacked out.

Again.


*****


"So..." Comet Chaser frowned.
"We're staring at a hole."

"Yes" the mare across from him said. She was trying to look extremely interested in the book she'd brought along, and doing a good job of it.
"And... why exactly? Is the hole dangerous?"

"No, no. It just leads to a cavern nopony's seemed to know about. Which is odd, because I've been reading through the history books, and there's no mention of it. Literally no mention."
The mare stared down into the hole. "I'd love to see what's down there. Mind you, Pinkie Pie said she wanted to look down there as well, which is odd, because I never imagined Pinkie as a pony interested in caves. Rarity also wanted to know what was down there, so we figured it probably wasn't a good idea to leave her on watch, just in case."

There was a pause as Comet Chaser glanced over to Twilight Sparkle, then glanced away. The mare glowered.
"Anyway," she said, continuing, "We're keeping watch for... somepony who should be showing up down there with the pony who's supposed to be marrying my brother."

"That'd be Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, right?" he asked. Twilight stared at him.
"It's in all the newspapers. Royal Wedding, big day, such forth. Public holiday as well, which is nice, I suppose."
Twilight nodded. "I suppose."

There was another pause, as both ponies tried to avoid staring at one another.
"This is ridiculous" Twilight muttered. She swivelled to stare at Comet Chaser.

"We're both rational grown-ups, right? Not hormone-addled teenagers. We can survive being in the same room together, surely? I mean, just because in another timeline we get married and have a daughter doesn't mean we will here."
"Yes" Comet Chaser said.

"So there's no reason we cannot engage in conversation like rational, sensible ponies."
"Indeed."

There was another pause. "Though this is really awkward" Twilight muttered.
"Could be worse" Comet Chaser said, instantly regretting it. Twilight stared at him.

"How, exactly?"
"Your friends could be trying to 'help' us get together."

Twilight shook her head, "Oh no, I know my friends, and they'd never stoop to that level. At least..." she frowned, "I don't think Applejack would, or Rainbow Dash, and certainly not Trixie, but... Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy might just..."
She shook her head, "No, what am I thinking? They're my friends! They wouldn't do that."

He nodded, and frowned, hoping to change the subject. "How long have we been up for, by now?"
Twilight blinked. "A few hours. But I'm alright, I usually stay up really late anyway."

"Me too."
Twilight stared at him. "Don't do that. We are not 'bonding', or getting to know each other. None of that. No finding out we have things we both enjoy doing."

He nodded, "You're right. Celestia forbid we find out we like the same things. Could be dangerous."
Twilight stared straight ahead. "Indeed."

"So, you shall read your book, and I shall just sit here silently for however long it takes this pony to appear."
Twilight agreed, and went back to reading her book. And she certainly did not stop every few minutes to make sure he wasn't staring at her. That was not the action of a rational-minded mare like her.

The morning could not come quick enough for her.


*****


Twilight Twinkle was not surprised to find she'd passed out. She tried getting to her hooves, ignoring the serious pains as she did, and noticed Cadance staring at her.
"Thank you" the mare said. Twinkle blinked.

"For what?"
"For coming to rescue me, of course."

Twinkle considered this, and then frowned, "You look like you're in better shape than I am at this point," she said.
"Makes a mare question who's rescuing who."

They looked about, Twinkle looking up at a distant light. "How long was I out for?" she asked.
Cadance looked uncertain. "I... don't know. An hour, or two, I wasn't sure."

Twinkle ignored the burning feeling spreading through her system, though she was aware that in a while it was going to get worse.
"Alright, time for us to depart."

Cadance nodded, and the two mares headed in the direction of the light, Twinkle lagging behind Cadance, and ignoring the obvious question of how long it would be before the poison started to really effect her.


*****


Day broke over Canterlot, warm and inviting. There was a joyous mood in the air, as the day of the union of Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had finally arrived. Down in the main area of the castle, everything was being prepared.
The hall was prepared, the orchestra (of birds) engaged, now it was time to see if the couple could dance.

Meanwhile, in one of the higher towers, in her private dressing room, one mare felt particularly joyous. As she examined a gift basket of flowers, she noted one rose in particular stood out. A sickly green glow lifted it, and gently placed the flower within immaculately styled hair. The dressmaker had clearly out-done herself, and pulled out all the stops. And as she examined her disguised self, Queen Chrysalis felt something strange begin to build up in her. All obstacles to her plans had vanished, and she was prepared to walk up the aisle. She quickly checked to make sure her room was sound-proofed as, in her head, she was certain she heard the beginning of music.


"This day is going to be perfect,
The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small."

"Everypony will gather 'round,
Say I look lovely in my gown.
What they don't is that I have fooled them all!"


Down beneath Canterlot, two mares desperately rushed blindly through non-descript caves. One, of a deep royal blue colouration, looked mildly dizzy, and like she was having trouble focusing. The other was the true Princess Cadance, and unbeknownst to her, she was singing the same song, in a much less jubilant tone that her imposter.


"This day was going to be perfect,
The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small."

"But instead of having cake,
with all my friends to celebrate,
my wedding bells they may not ring for me at all..."


The deceptive Cadance suddenly found herself feeling irate, and kicked at a nearby fruit-basket which contained nothing but apples.


"I could care less about the dress, 
I won't partake in any cake"

"Vows, well I'll be lying when I say
that through any kind of weather I want us to be together.
The truth is I don't care for him at all!"


She felt good now, and didn't care if somepony did hear her now.


"NO, I DO NOT LOVE THE GROOM!
IN MY HEART THERE IS NO ROOM!
BUT I STILL WANT HIM TO BE ALL MINE!!!"


Once more, in the caverns, the two mares began rushing. Twilight Twinkle was finding her vision beginning to blur, though she wasn't sure if that wasn't in part because of Cadance's singing.


"Must escape before it's too late,
find some way to save the day.
Hope I'll be lying if I say"

"'I don't want to lose him,
to one who wants to use him.
Not care for love and cherish him each day.'"


Cadance noticed something, and rushed towards a mine-cart, evidently left by the last ponies who used the caverns. As she sang, she slammed against it, though she was unable to push it, and instantly collapsed. Twinkle frowned, and, ignoring the fact that her magic was practically non-existent, lifted two heavy slabs out of the box, and then lifted Cadance.


"For I oh so love the groom,
all my thoughts he does consume.
Oh, Shining Armor, I'll be there very soon!"


As she sang that last verse, Twinkle shoved the cart with what was left of her battered body's strength, ignoring the winces from still brusied body-parts. In an instant, the cart jolted, and began rocketing down a poorly-constructed track, dragging the mare along behind it. In short order, it came to a sudden stop over a massive cave, hurtling the two mares skyward. Twinkle closed her eyes, until she heard the dramatic 'PWHUMP' of Cadance's wings unfolding. She tried smiling.

Above, once more. Horns rang out. Ponies beamed in joy, and three completely innocent schoolgirls skipped ahead of her. Chrysalis continued singing, not giving even one damn who heard her now, as she made her way towards the heavily-brainwashed Shining Armor.


"Finally the moment has arrived!
For me to be one lucky bride!"


Cadance and Twinkle alighted on an outcropping, but both could hear the distant sounds of bells ringing.


"Oh, the wedding we won't make.
He'll end up marrying a fake!
Shining Armor will be-"


Chrysalis couldn't help but giggle to herself.
"Mine. All mine."


*****


Seven sets of eyes scanned the crowd nervously. Nopony seemed alarmed, or bothered by the way 'Cadance' had been smiling, and while there was nothing wrong about what everypony had heard the mare singing, there was something about the way she'd sung it that made them nervous.
That, and the fact that they all knew she was some kind of shapeshifting monster. That helped.

"C'mon, Twilight" Applejack muttered through clenched teeth, "Where are ya?"
Princess Celestia cleared her throat, allowing the crowd to quiet into a revenential hush.

"Mares and gentlecolts," she smiled warmly, "We are gathered here today-"


*****


Cadance collapsed against a rock, and moaned.
"We're never going to save him" she announced.

Twinkle scanned the cave, and quickly noticed what looked like the bright light shining in from the storage cupboard.
"Yes, we will" she insisted, pointing a hoof at the area in question. Then she and Cadance exchanged glances.

"Can't you teleport us up there?" Cadance asked. Twinkle shook her head.
"Can't teleport. And besides, I've no magic left, I'm afraid. Getting that cart to move was the last straw."

"I can't fly up there, not without leaving you here."
That was that then. Cadance was never going to leave her there, and she couldn't go anywhere. Then she remembered.

"Don't worry, I prepared for this" Twinkle sighed, "Cover your ears."
She took a deep breath.


*****


Twilight Sparkle woke up at the sound of somepony yelling her name, and cursed herself for daring to have fallen asleep, before questioning the presence of a pillow beneath her face, which she quickly batted out of the way. She rushed over to the hole and looked down. She saw nothing. She frowned and teleported down. She was greeted with a total absence of ponies.

"Over here!" a voice echoed. She turned to see a dim light emerging from a small ledge lower down. She teleported to it, and was greeted with a shocking sight.
"Cadance?!"

"Twilight Sparkle!"
The two embraced.

"You remembered me!" Twilight smiled. Cadance, despite her previous gloom, smiled right back.
"How could I forget the foal I loved to foalsit the most?"

Twinkle gave a small cough. Twilight nodded, and reached over to Cadance. There was a flash, a pop, then another flash and a pop, and they were up in the storage cupboard. A startled Comet Chaser fell out of the chair he was sitting in.
"Who-" Cadance started, before Twinkle shook her head.

"No time, wedding, now, go!"
The three mares rushed out towards the door, and after a moment's hesitation, Comet Chaser decided to follow after them.


*****


"Everything go according to plan?" Twilight asked. Twinkle glanced at her. Despite her growing pains, she was still outpacing Cadance, and that was worrying her.
"Complications arose, ensued... were overcome."

She looked at Twilight. "What about you?"
"The girls are waiting to act, and we... have other allies."

A dark blue shape swooped into view above them, then past them.
"I wanted to be the one to make a dramatic announcement" Twinkle mock-frowned.

"We're almost there!" Cadance said.
"So, what is the final part of your plan?" Twilight asked.

Twinkle stared at her. "Plan? There isn't any plan! We just get Cadance to Shining Armor and let magic happen!"


*****


Celestia was still smiling, not noticing the clearly mounting terror on the faces of the bridesmaids.
"Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my pl-"

The doors slammed open, and a dark blue alicorn reared in the air, dramatic clouds behind her (because even in a serious situation, Luna was still going to be Luna).
"END THIS MADNESS!"

There were astonished gasps from the ponies lucky enough not to be at close range of Luna's yell.
"Sister, explain yourself" Celestia gasped.

"We can do that!" Twilight said, as she rushed in, Twinkle beside her, the mare glaring daggers at 'Cadance'.
"You! With the pink and wings! Get the hay away from the stallion!"

For a moment, all eyes turned to the mare in the wedding dress, and as if on cue her eyes began to water.
"Why are you doing this?" she whimpered, "Why do you have to ruin my special day?"

"Because it's not your special day!" Cadance declared as she rushed past the two mares, "It's mine!"
The false Cadance glowered in alarm, before trying to look calm. "Very clever, but you're still too late!"

Twinkle grinned. "Girls, that's your cue!"
In an instant the mare found her access to Shining Armor blocked by six angry looking mares.

"What is going on?" Celestia demanded.
"She's a changeling!" Cadance explained to the crowd, "She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them!"

"Well, she can feed off other emotions, but... yeah, her explanation's fine" Twinkle muttered, certain she was seeing ponies who couldn't be there. And was the room supposed to be spinning like that?

The second Cadance's eyes glowed bright green, at which point similar bright green flames surrounded her. The crowd watched as the features of Cadance shattered, revealing what was underneath. Dark chitinous armor, fly-like wings, her legs, and tail suddenly had holes in them, and on her head was an blue, oily-looking mane with a jagged, sharp looking horn just in front of it. The horn also had holes in it. Then her eyes opened, and they were... actually, almost normal-looking, even if they looked more like dragon eyes than those of a pony.

The Changeling Queen stood revealed to the world, and laughed. From somewhere behind the mare, Twinkle was certain she heard a certain somepony whimper "My dress!"
"Right you are, Princess" she said, in-between laughing, with a deep voice that seemed to echo, and made Twinkle's skin crawl. Although, she noted, that might not have been the changeling, "And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we ever dreamed of!"

Cadance just glowered at her. "They'll never get the chance! Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us."
The Changeling Queen laughed. "Oh, I doubt that." she turned to look at Shining Armor, "Isn't that right, dear?"

Shining Armor, his eyes glowing with whatever magic had been placed on him, just nodded dumbly.
Cadance scowled, and began to move toward her stallion, when the Changeling Queen stepped in front of her, horn glowing menacingly.

"Don't want to go back to the caves, now, do we?"
There was a noise from Twilight, the mare's horn glowing vibrantly. "I will smite you if you dare touch her!" the mare growled. The Changeling Queen didn't seem bothered by this, but stepped back anyway.

"Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it."
All eyes turned to the sky of Canterlot, where there were indeed a dozen, a hundred, no, a thousand, no, tens of thousands of black blobs, just hovering above the barrier. Some were moving in a way that indicated they were slamming into it.

Chrysalis moved over toward Shining Armor, shoving the astonished mares out of the way. "He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control! And I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the royal guard!"
"That last bit needs some work" Twinkle muttered, scowling at the mare. She was finding it difficult to stand.

"Not my Shining Armor!" Cadance declared. The Changeling Queen considered this.
"You know what? You're right."

She turned to Shining Armor, and then spoke with Cadance's voice. "Shining! Help, there's an imposter trying to hurt me!"
"Oh, buck" Twinkle muttered, as Shining Armor slowly began to move toward Cadance, before being dog-piled by six mares.

"Sorry, big fella. Ain't gonna happen!" Applejack grunted. While she was putting on a stoic face, the guardpony was still unbelievably strong, and she wasn't certain what was going to happen, though the words 'Hearts and Hooves Day' were flashing in her mind.
"Meanwhile," Chrysalis laughed, "My changeling army will break through. First, we'll take Canterlot, and then, all of Equestria."

"No" a clear voice called out, and suddenly Twinkle felt her stomach plummet, "You won't."
Princess Celestia glared at Chrysalis, "You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell," she declared, as Twinkle turned to Luna and desperately tried to signal to the mare to not get involved.

"But now that you have so foolishly revealed yourself, I can protect my subjects from you!"
The crowd seemed to agree with Celestia on this point, but Twinkle just stared on in dread, as the mare leapt into the air, and summoned a bright beam of energy, firing it at Chrysalis.

I knew it would happen. There was no way Celestia, even if we calmly explained to her exactly why it wouldn't work, would ever not try and confront the Changeling Queen to protect her subjects. The only difference between her and Twilight is that I could have prevented Twilight from doing it, and I'd like to think I did. There was only one possible course of action left. Not even Princess Celestia was as powerful as True Love, even filtered through that witch Chrysalis, and only I could intervene. Me, absolutely devoid of magic, my body still mending itself from the beating I'd taken the day before.
There is a school of phrase, that states 'when a pony thinks they're going to die tomorrow, they usually find a way to make it happen'. I may not hold Princess Celestia in the highest respect possible, especially given her laundry list of mistakes, and I knew she was essentially going to recover, and yet...
I have regrets, yes. There are things I wish I could've done differently, things I had yet to do, but I never wanted immortality. I'd have been happy with just wings, and my parents. But...
I am who I am. I am Twilight Twinkle, and I cannot, will not ever turn my back on somepony in distress. No matter what, it seems. This is the way it is, and I accept that, without (much) hesitation or regret.
So, I gathered together what was left of my strength, and I leapt.

There was a bright flash, a burst of energy, a noise of somepony hitting the ground hard, and an utter absence of a crown falling. The six mares struggling with Shining Armor stared in horror, even as the stallion shook them off. Twilight Sparkle and Cadance stared in shock. Princess Celestia stared in shock.
"Ha!" Chrysalis declared, "Shining Armor's love is even stronger than I thought! Consuming it has made me more powerful than Celes-"

She was cut off by several pounds of enraged Luna slamming into her, the force hurling both mares out of the window, and out into the streets of Canterlot.
Twilight was the first to speak. "Twilight!"

She rushed over to the mare, hesitant to move her. She looked over to Princess Celestia.
"Is there-?"

The monarch's face gave Twilight all the explanation she needed.
"Hey," Twilight Twinkle whispered, looking up at Twilight and smiling, "Don't... don't cry, Twilight. Please, I'm really tired."

"Don't" Twilight said, "Please don't."
"'s okay... 'm alright with this, mom. 'm alright with it."

"Don't say that" Twilight insisted, "You just hold on, you hear me. We'll... we'll look after you. You'll be alright."
The mare gave a small smile, despite the evident pain of that. "Terrible liar, mom. Did..."

She winced, and groaned, and Twilight tried not to stare at the evident burns on the mare's side.
"Not first time... not first time zapped with somepony's love... kinda funny, a bit... Shining Armor... Shining..."

She strained, and then looked up at Twilight, and a small, sad smile flashed across her face. "Don't cry, mom... hate it when you cry... you've got so much.... s'much to do... you'll see... everything's gonna be jus- j-..."
There was a sudden horrible silence.

Twilight shook. She trembled. Her mane and tail burst into bright blue flames. And then the noise came. A horrible, horrible noise.
"Hey," Rainbow Dash's voice said, "Has anypony seen the weather?"

"Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, her voice trembling, "How in the world can you be focused on the weather right now?"
"Well... look."

There was something in Rainbow Dash's voice that got everypony's attention. It was terror. Plain and simple terror. And when everypony looked out the window, they saw why. It was raining, that was true.
It was raining chocolate.