Shining Armor advanced towards Cadance, his mind a fog. The mare stared in horror, any coherent thought lost in the fear of seeing Shining Armor moving the way he did, like a puppet on a string. She was aware that something had just happened with her aunt and the changeling queen, the one that had taken Shining Armor's mind from him, she was aware that Twilight's friends had been shaken off of Shining Armor in the ensuing chaos. He advanced, his face set with numb anger, his eyes still glowing that horrible shade of green. Then, they both heard it. Twilight Sparkle screaming, or roaring, or... was it wailing? Unrestrained pain and anguish roaring out of the mare in an instant. Then Cadance realised what noise it was. It was the sound of a pony's heart breaking. Cadance saw the look on Shining Armor's face change, and for an instant, he turned to look.
"Tw-... ily?" then he grimaced in pain for a few seconds, and collapsed to the ground. She began to move when he stood up again, and turned to look at Cadance again with his eyes fixed on her blankly, and began moving towards her. But there was something different in his eyes. And then his horn glowed. Cadance stared, and then was aware she had managed to back herself again a wall. She stared at the advancing Shining Armor, and closed her eyes. There was a sudden noise from Shining Armor, a bright flash, and after a few seconds she opened her eyes again.
Shining Armor was lying on his side, a noticeable mark from where a powerful blast of magic had hit him.
"Shining!" she yelped, rushing over to his side. She could barely hear her own thoughts over the sound of her heartbeat.
'Please be okay, please be okay, please...' she thought. A quick check revealed he was breathing, but unconscious. She sighed with relief, and then tried to get her breathing under control. Panic wasn't going to do anypony any good.
And then she saw Discord hovering above everypony's heads.
*****
Half a minute ago, Rainbow Dash had pointed out the chocolate rain. Although, on reflection, 'rain' wasn't the best definition for it. Rain would imply the chocolate was falling in a liquid form. This was more a hail of chocolate, little square chunks plummeting from the air from purple clouds that were forming around a rapidly cracking purple-pink barrier.
And then there'd been the flash of light, and Cadance yelling out as Shining Armor had somehow managed to blast himself with his own magic, and the barrier had abruptly shattered, Rapidly vanishing little shards of magic raining down upon Canterlot, followed by a seemingly endless horde of changelings, each one looking for a prospective meal. They had stopped dead on seeing the sudden chocolate hail, and briefly paused, hovering, their wings buzzing as they did, at this strange sight.
"Testing, testing, can you hear me?" a voice declared. There were muted mutterings before it continued.
"Now that's better. Hello again, Equestria. It is I, me, the one, the only. Kiss your pets goodbye and throw the kiddies in the cupboard, because Discord is back!"
The varied changelings looked around for any sign of where this strange voice was coming from, and could see nothing that was causing it. They decided to hold back and see what would happen next.
*****
All eyes of those who were left in the main hall of Canterlot Castle were drawn to the mismatched form floating above their heads.
"And I've g-..." the god of chaos frowned, and looked around at the sight beneath him. A dozen or so panicked ponies, fine, glowering band of mares who'd defeated him before, there they were, Princess Celestia, like usual, pleasant smell and flowers everywhere and-
Discord's train of though (such as a chaos entity can have a train of thought) was interrupted by a blast of magic hitting him in the stomach. He turned to see a shocking sight, that of Twilight Sparkle, head lowered and teeth bared, about to leap at him.
"Bad time?" he asked. Twilight Sparkle leapt, not getting very far before a familiar golden aura wrapped around her. However, the mare still let off several blasts of energy.
"Stop it!" Discord yelled, then he looked at where Twilight had blasted him. "You're hurting me. You're actually hurting me!That's not funny!"
"Discord!" Celestia yelled, "Un-do whatever madness you've unleashed, this instant!"
"And I missed you too, Celestia" suddenly he was standing right next to the Princess. "Have you redecorated in here? It's a bit much. And what's that buzzing noise?"
"Discord!"
"Oh, I know, Celly. You missed me so much, when I've been gone for..." he paused, then drew a watch out of a non-existent pocket and checked it, before raising an eyebrow, "Six months? My, my. You just couldn't resist me, could you?"
There was a sudden burst of heat as Celestia blasted Discord in the face.
"Leave, or be made to leave, Discord, it's up to you."
"Leave?" Discord gasped, "When I've just got back? But Celly, we haven't even celebrated yet. We could do all sorts of things. A little touch of chaos here and there, some wild dancing. We could paint the town a dozen shades of red. Or maybe green. No, no... What am I thinking? Magenta, all the way! (Maybe a bit of goldenrod)"
"DISCORD!" Celestia took to the air with all the anger she could spare, "ENOUGH! I will not have any of your nonsense, not now or ever. Now, return that mare to life and I might be persuaded to be merciful!"
Beneath them, Rarity stared slack-jawed at the sight of Celestia in anger, until she felt a hoof nudging her.
"Rarity..." a tiny voice squeaked. She turned to look at Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie Belle, not now!"
"But-!" the filly continued, before being shushed. She looked over to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.
"Squirt, seriously? Kinda waiting for Discord to make his move."
"Apple Bloom, quiet."
"But, Applej-"
"Hush up!"
"Return life t-... you get so poetic when you're angry, Celly."
Twilight Sparkle found herself being dropped down next to her friends. She stared ahead, not moving.
"Should we... try and get the Elements of Harmony?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight just slowly turned to stare at her. Fluttershy winced from the look on the mare's face.
"And besides," Discord said, "What makes you think I'm responsible for what happened to that pony?"
He frowned, and then turned to look out of the window. "You seem to have a bit of an infestation going o-"
He felt something slam into him, and then heard Celestia yell.
"Twilight, now! Fetch the Elements of Harmony before it's too late!"
"Twilight?" Applejack asked, when the mare gave no response.
"Applejack!" Apple Bloom repeated. The farmpony turned to look at her sister.
"Apple Bloom, ah get yer scared, but right now we got bigger fish to fry th-"
"HAS ANYPONY LOOKED OVER THERE?!" Sweetie Belle declared. She then pointed in the direction of where Twilight Twinkle's body lay. Or, where it had been. At the moment, there was only a burn in the floor in the shape of the mare's Cutie Mark.
There was a strange noise from Twilight Sparkle, who just stared at the burn, and then frowned.
"Elements" she stated. Everypony looked at her.
"Let's go."
There was a sudden burst of activity as Applejack and Rainbow Dash tossed their bridesmaid dresses into the air, while Fluttershy and Rarity gently removed theirs, while Pinkie somehow seemed to have gotten out of hers without actually moving. The seven mares moved towards the door, then stopped as Twilight noticed Cadance next to the struck Shining Armor. She gasped, and rushed over to the mare.
"What happened?" Twilight asked. Cadance looked up at the mare, startled.
"I... I don't know. I think he fought through the brainwashing and knocked himself out rather than hurt me."
There was a pause.
"Is he-"
"He's unconscious" Cadance quickly stated, and Twilight looked just slightly relieved.
"One less thing to worry about. Alright," she said, "We're just going to go fetch the Elements of Harmony, are you-?"
"Don't worry about me, Twilight Sparkle. You go do what you need to do."
Twilight paused, her mouth opening and closing for a few seconds before nodding. Then she stopped again when she found herself face-to-face with Comet Chaser.
"What?" she asked tersely.
"I'm coming with you."
"You are?" Rainbow Dash asked sceptically. "Really?"
Twilight scowled. "Can you fight?"
He paused, and gave this some thought. "I expect so. It looks like that sort of day."
"He has a point" Trixie muttered. Twilight frowned, and then nodded, and rushed past him.
Spike stood next to Cadance, and sighed.
"Guess I'll just stay here. Again."
****
Darkness. Coldness. A sensation of falling. Then quiet.
After a few seconds, there was a realisation.
'Oh. Not dead. Okay... I suppose that's good.'
Twilight Twinkle opened her eyes. It wasn't much lighter.
'Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I like living, living's good, but... death is sort of an unavoidable side-effect of taking a blast of energy when you've been badly poisoned. And, you know, dying.'
She tried standing up, and was rewarded with swift, painless movement from her joints. In fact, she felt... good. Healthy. Rested, even. She looked about. All was blue, and vaguely cloudy.
'Okay then. I was expecting grey and barren and smoky, so... this is kinda different. Not the afterlife I thought I'd be getting, at any rate.'
She paused. If this was the afterlife, wasn't there supposed to be somepony else around? Or possibly someone or something to tell her what she was supposed to do now? Or was this some form of cosmic waiting room?
She sat down and gave some thought to her situation.
'Now what?'
*****
It had been an exciting few minutes for Princess Luna and the Changeling Queen. The two had grappled for a few seconds, after which Luna had spent much of her time dodging wild blasts from the changeling, rather than confronting her head on.
"Oh, do come on out" Chrysalis sighed, as their fight took them through a row of conveniently empty buildings, "This is ridiculous."
Luna said nothing, merely trying to ascertain the best direction to attack the mare from. She was aware of a loud buzzing noise from outside.
"Listen, Luna, was it? Do you want to know something funny? I did consider replacing you. It's true, it's true! But the reason I didn't? Well, aside from Shining Armor's ever-so-tasty love for Cadance, it didn't really seem worth the effort. That's why I didn't bother studying up on you either. Why bother? Who would notice?"
Luna frowned, as her muscles began to tense. "I know what you're trying to do" she said calmly, "You're trying to make me angry."
In an instant she moved from her cover, and slammed into the changeling queen, who began laughing.
"You succeeded!" Luna growled. The two mares continued grappling, their path taking them into a large square, which while devoid of ponies was filled with tables, chairs, banners, and various other signs of a planned celebration. The two fought, smashing one of the larger tables, until Chrysalis recalled she had magic. Her horn glowed brightly. Luna grabbed the other mare in a near-death grip, only to find herself blasted back from the changeling. She slowly dragged herself to her hooves, and coughed, as the other mare approached. Then she noticed Shining Armor's barrier was gone.
"You haven't stopped me, or even slowed me down. You're the weaker of the two sisters, and we both know it, so the fact that I beat your sister so easily doesn't say much for your chances" Chrysalis frowned, "So why oh why are you smiling?"
"Well," Luna shrugged, "You do have your army, and all that stolen love you're being fuelled by, which I presume requires access to Shining Armor to maintain, and you are, without a doubt, a difficult opponent. Most of the foes I've fought were brainless brutes, or the occasional animated corpse, but there is something I have that you don't."
Luna was pacing around Chrysalis now, occasionally glancing up at the sky. The mare stared at her.
"Really? What's that? Suicidal overconfidence? I'm stronger, faster, more powerful than you, 'princess'. So why are you smiling?"
Luna grinned. "Because," she said calmly, "I brought my dog."
Chrysalis's eyes went wide, as a shadow fell across both her and her opponent, mere seconds before a massive leathery paw descended upon her like the hand of god.
Luna stared up at the three-headed dog the size of a small house and smiled. She flapped her wings and floated up toward his head, and began scratching the dog's ears.
"Good boy, Kirby. Momma's so proud of you."
She was aware of a sudden buzzing, and noticed a black cloud forming over her head. Then she noticed it wasn't a cloud, more a group of extremely angry (and hungry) changelings.
"Oh, yes. Army."
Then she smiled.
"Fun."
*****
Twilight Twinkle frowned. Sitting down and thinking hadn't been any help. At the moment, the only thing she could think of was that she had lied to Twilight.
She had lied. She had been lying there and she'd actually bothered to lie. Why?
Because she didn't want Twilight to be upset. After she'd fatally injured herself leaping in front of a blast capable of injuring alicorns.
'Good move, me' she sighed, 'That's the exact sort of rational-minded thinking I'm known for.'
It occurred to her she'd been sitting still and waiting for something to happen for minutes. She rubbed a hoof against her chin. Surely something was supposed to happen at this point? Or was she just supposed to sit in this endless void forever?
She looked around, and then saw something floating toward her. She took a step to the side, and waited. She soon saw that whatever it was, it was rectangular and displaying an image of her. Her when she was little. She noticed she'd been reaching out a hoof towards the image, and watched as it slowly passed by.
She looked about, and saw more floating towards her. This was deliberate. Someone or something was doing this. She raised an eyebrow, and then looked up.
"Okay!" she yelled, "I'm here. Whatever it is you want me to see, just show me."
There was silence, as she stared at the passing images. Her with Tw... with her mother, and with her father. Her learning magic, her first spell.
"Look, whoever you are, cut out the weird memory lane thing."
There was a rumble, and then a voice spoke.
"Twilight Twinkle. You have finally arrived. We have watched y-"
"No" Twinkle frowned, "None of that. I'm not having it. If you want to talk to me, you talk like a normal pony. No 'this is your destiny' nonsense, just talk to me!"
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then more seconds passed, and then she was certain she heard a weary sigh.
"Fine, fine!" a voice said, one that sounded strangely familiar, "You want somepony to talk to you? You want to know what this is all about?"
She turned to see a mare she'd honestly never expected to see again in front of her, staring at her with barely-controlled disdain.
"Hello, again, great-granddaughter."
*****
Above Canterlot, the changeling army reached a decision. They could no longer hear their queen, and they were starving, and to deal with that, they would just have to ignore the chocolate rain, and whatever other madness lay down there. They descended. A few were instantly met with a raging, loud, blue-furred force of nature going by the name of Luna. If they weren't hungry, they probably would have given thought to why the mare was laughing.
*****
Getting through Canterlot was not normally so difficult, but with an invading army hovering overhead, and a mad chaos-god on the loose, making their way through the city was going to be difficult. There was chocolate covering the street, and with the lovely warm weather, some of it was beginning to melt. And Discord had evidently seen fit to repeat the trick he'd performed before whereby all fruit produce suddenly grew to several times its usual size. This had made making their way toward where the Elements of Harmony were kept difficult. Then the first changeling landed in front of Twilight. More or less. It had slammed into the pavement in front of her, and then stood up, revealing sharp fangs in its mouth. Twilight stared at it, and then shoved it out of the way. Then she noticed the seventeen other changelings.
"Not to speak ill of the dead, or nothin', but wouldn't it have been an idea for yer daughter to mention this army of Changelings, or somethin'?" Applejack groaned.
"Doesn't matter" Rainbow Dash said, "We're just gonna hafta do this the hard way."
The pegasus moved forward, only to be met with an exact duplicate of herself. For a few seconds both Dashes examined each other, and then the second pushed her back.
"Wh-" she groaned.
"Changelings" Trixie said, "Plus, the whole thing with their queen disguising herself as Cadance. Thought it would be pretty obvious."
"Thought it would be pretty obvious" sneered five Trixies.
"Okay, that's creepy, and getting old fast" Rainbow Dash scowled.
"That's creepy, and getting old fast" repeated several Rainbow Dashes.
"Don't let them distract you" Twilight spoke, "We have to get to the Elements."
Seven ponies braced themselves, and leapt. Numerous identical copies leapt as well.
*****
"Isn't it wonderful?" Discord grinned, "All this chaos. And most of it isn't even mine!"
Several incredibly brave, or just mad, changelings swarmed at him. A giant pink flyswatter appeared in his hand and he swept them into the distance.
Celestia just said nothing, just trying to catch her breath. Attempting to fry a chaos demon was tricky work when still being swarmed by evidently suicidally hungry changelings.
"Although... these bugs just don't-" one changeling grabbed onto Discord's arm. He stared at it, and raised his free hand towards it, and flicked the creature away.
"Where are these things coming from?!" he sighed. Then another bolt of magic slammed into him.
"Really, Celly? You're still trying to fight me?" he asked, giving her a level stare, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"
She glowered at him.
"Look, Celly, we could fight, yes. We could wage war un-" another changeling attacked him. He frowned, and suddenly the changeling was covered in raspberry jam, before plummeting to the ground, a small dusty, jam-y cloud billowing from where it landed.
"Let me start again: Yes, you seem to have this strange hatred for me masking your obvious obsession with me, and I get that, but why are you attacking me, instead of focusing on these bugs attacking your ponies, while I haven't really done anything heinous to them? (yet)"
Celestia paused. Her horn, which had been glowing bright with prepared magic, dimmed, and she stared at him. Then she looked to Canterlot, as the changelings swarmed over it.
*****
Lyra's eyes slowly opened, and she yawned. Then she looked down to see the awful mucus green of the hospital issue dressing gown. She looked to her side, and noticed the vacant chair that had until recently had been Bon-Bon's current base of operations, now abandoned for unknown reasons. Despite this, Lyra still smiled, and then stretched. No doubt any minute a nurse would rush in and tell her not to, but she couldn't help it. It was what she did after waking up, right before ten minutes of showering Bon-Bon with affection. Then she noticed the strange purple barrier was gone.
"Huh."
Then she heard the buzzing noise, and saw the changelings swarming the street, and the purple clouds depositing chocolate over anypony foolish enough to be outside. She just nodded, calmly. After seeing buffalos driven to a rampaging frenzy by that utterly bizarre song of Pinkie Pie's, and having spent two years in a town that seemed to be turning into a magnet for insanity, something like this seemed to prove Lyra's belief she had gone mad. Or she was dreaming. Either way, she didn't mind. Then she heard the buzzing getting closer. She turned to see a dozen strange-looking ponies staring at her.
"Guessing you aren't here to change the bedpan" she said. Then she noticed the glowing green horns, and felt her legs begin to shake.
*****
Bon-Bon was calmly making her way back towards where Lyra had been sleeping. She had been wary initially of Lyra going into hospital along with Minuette and Twinkleshine, but the doctors had wanted to see if there were any side-effects of whatever had been used to control all three of them. Bon-Bon had successfully managed to argue that she was capable of defending her marefriend all by herself, though every now and then a guard had shown up to make sure they were alright, which was nice of them, she supposed. Then she heard the yelp, and began to run. She soon saw the collapsed guard, and briefly considered checking to make sure he was alright, but then thoughts of Lyra in danger drove her onward. She found the mare surrounded by several odd-looking ponies, each lacking manes, and of a strange charcoal-grey colour. There were a few seconds as she stared at them, then to Lyra, then back to the ponies, then back to Lyra.
"You... hurt... Lyra?" she said, her voice an eerie sort of quiet.
"You. Hurt. Lyra?" she repeated. Instantly, the changelings knew they made a mistake.
It should be noted that changelings, for whatever reason, have an ability to see how a pony feels, though the mechanics behind this are amazingly unclear, and the changelings have never told anyone why the exact reason for how it works, but the group of changelings looking at Bon-Bon could see quite clearly the mare was feeling a mixture of seething rage, and love. And it was incredibly difficult to see which was which to them.
"YOU! HURT! LYRA!" Bon-Bon yelled. She charged. Five of the changelings managed to escape, but the other four found themselves on the receiving end of a comprehensive beat-down from the confectioner.
"BB?" a voice called out as Bon-Bon moved toward changeling number four. The mare stopped her advance, and the changeling quickly rushed out of the room, not pausing to rescue its fellows. Bon-Bon stared at Lyra for an instant, and then held her close.
After a few seconds she felt Lyra returning the hug.
"It's okay, sweetie" Lyra whispered.
*****
Elsewhere, in Canterlot Castle, several changelings swarmed across one of the back-gardens, following the taste of something wonderful. Then they saw a unicorn sitting at a pair of amplifiers, her head bobbing to some tune only she could hear. They began to walk closer, and closer.
Then the mare turned to look at them, and her mouth turned slightly.
"Wow. Interesting look you guys have on. Look like you're lookin' to whup."
The mare slowly moved a pair of glasses sitting on her head over her eyes.
"Me? Well, I prefer to-"
Whatever she said next wasn't heard over the massive explosion of sound from the mare's amplifiers, which threw the changelings back. Nearby, several ponies wondered who had just yelled the word 'wub' out loud.
"Oh, babes" Vinyl Scratch grinned, patting and stroking the amplifiers, "Second best thing in my life."
"What's the first?" asked the light grey mare sitting next to her, wearing a pair of earphones and a mildly irritated expression. Vinyl just stared at her, before raising an eyebrow. Octavia raised an eyebrow in response.
Then Octavia grinned, which caused Vinyl some momentary alarm.
*****
"What have I been doing?" Celestia asked herself. She turned to look at Discord, then back to the changelings.
"I cannot let you roam free" she mused, "But I cannot let my ponies suffer."
"And we both know what choice you're going to make, don't we?" Discord grinned. She nodded. Then she glared at Discord.
"Once these changelings are dealt with, I will return for you" she said, her voice low and cold. Discord just shrugged.
"Fine, fine. I'll just sit here" he said, reclining onto a folding chair, "Maybe get some light reading done. I'm chaos, after all, and these changelings are doing a fine job spreading the word."
He lifted up a book, one that looked like the sort one could find in the average airport, and slowly opened it. He stared at Princess Celestia.
"You're still here" he noted. She just nodded, and as she left, Discord began to feel mildly curious about the odd expression there'd been on her face. Then another changeling stopped in mid-air, and rushed towards him. It was halfway towards him when a small grey marsupial landed on its head. The changeling paused, staring at the furry creature, which looked remarkably cute and cuddly. Then its mouth opened to reveal a lot of sharp teeth.
Discord stared at the changeling wrestling with the koala bear, and grinned. "Drop-bears. Gets 'em every time."
He gave this some consideration, and snapped his fingers. Above him, giant salt and pepper shakers dispensed confused and easily irritated koala bears over the entire city.
"Drop-bears for all."
*****
In the strange void, Twilight Twinkle stared at Twilight Twinkle.
"Okay," the royal blue mare said slowly, "I have to admit, I honestly wasn't expecting you."
"Who were you expecting?" the elder mare frowned, "The Creator Herself?"
"I think I was expecting a me from the future or something. Or my mom, or Celestia, saying that the last eight months were all a test or something."
Her great-grandmother gave this some thought. "No, those last eight months were very real. Not that you actually did much with them, of course."
Twinkle ignored her, and turned to stare at the images passing by. Now they were up to her years in school, such as when she first met Wisp.
"You didn't want to go back to your own time, and yet you didn't want to stay in the past. You could have changed so much, and yet you were content to sleep in a spare bed and do nothing!"
The mare frowned, and shook her head, "Aside from that nonsense with Trixie. Nice bit of time-altering there, saving that girl from doing anything stupid with ancient items of unlimited power, very nice stuff there. But apart from that? Nothing. Nada."
Twinkle found the mare looking at her, her gaze seeming to go right through the eighteen year-old. "You wanted adventure, you go it. You got to travel through time and you squandered the opportunity. Every single time!"
The mare sighed again, "Although you did save your mother and her friends from making fools of themselves, that was something, and of course by tomorrow little Sparkle will have gotten over it completely."
Twinkle said nothing, just watching one image float by. Her, Wisp, a balcony, the beautiful glow of the Crystal Empire at sunset, and Shining Sapphire. And the way the mare had reacted to Wisp's presence, plainly visible.
"Am I right in thinking your attempt to save that wedding is maybe derived from some guilt over what happened with you and that Nightmare?"
Twinkle stared at the image, reaching out a hoof to it. "Guess it doesn't matter now" she said quietly.
The elder mare said nothing, watching as the image floated away.
"Doesn't it? What if Shining Sapphire was alive? What would you do then?"
Twinkle gave this some thought. "I... I'd... I really don't know."
She frowned, as what the mare had said registered with her. "Wait... Sapphy's alive?"
As she said that, a strange feeling began to build in her. Something she hadn't felt in a long while. Hope. She was feeling hope. A smile quickly over took her face.
"She's alive!"
"Maybe, though after what that Nightmare did to her, it would take a miracle to restore her."
Twinkle just nodded.
"Miracles are what they'll need, as well" the mare muttered, "Back in that mess you made."
Twinkle stared at her. "Pardon?"
"Well, your actions, your nonsense, it unleashed Discord. So, between him and those Changelings swarming every which way, I don't think my granddaughter and her friends have much of a chance. Not with Shining Armor out of the picture for the moment..."
Twinkle walked over to the mare. "How do you even know any of this, anyway?"
The mare stared at Twinkle, and gave an odd smile that did nothing to reassure the mare.
"A good question. I know because it is what I was told, to tell you."
"By who?"
The mare paused, and then looked away. "There are... those who think perhaps there is some potential in you. You have just as much potential as your mother, though... there are differences."
"Such as?" Twinkle asked. Her great-grandmother shrugged.
"Well, you were unable to teleport. And there's how you got your Cutie Mark."
Twinkle sat down, and stared about. "I don't remember h-"
"How you got it? But you have your suspicions."
"Yes" Twinkle said, slowly, "But suspicions aren't the same as actually knowing."
The mare looked at her, "No, not really."
Twinkle shook her head, "And that doesn't matter either. What I want to know is why we're here, right now?"
Her namesake smiled at her. It wasn't a pleasant smile, all things considered.
"Because, Twilight Twyla Twinkle, you're been given a choice..."
*****
Cadance sat next to Shining Armor, every few seconds checking his breathing. It was all well and good telling yourself to be calm, but when the pony you loved was lying on the floor not moving after having been brainwashed over a period of days, it was hard to remain calm.
"Are you okay?" a tiny voice asked. She opened her eyes, ignoring her mind asking when she'd closed them, and looked at four faces staring up at her, three fillies and one dragon.
"I..." she started, and then paused.
"I was supposed to be married by now" she said quietly. Her glance moved over to the head of the room, where she was supposed to have been standing next to Shining Armor.
"I was just so ready to be married..."
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders exchanged glances.
"So, what's so great about this guy?" Scootaloo asked. Cadance stared at him.
"He's... wonderful. Kind, selfless. Noble. Devoted. Maybe not an absolute genius, sometimes a bit overly romantic, has a tendency to push himself too far and blame himself for things outside his control, but... I love him."
Each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders reacted in their own unique way. Sweetie Belle, who had heard far sappier things from Rarity, just gave a small 'aw'. Apple bloom remained quiet, and Scootaloo, who was still thoroughly convinced that cooties existed, despite a forty minute lecture from Twilight Sparkle, just looked disgusted. Spike just remained silent, feeling he was in no way qualified to comment on such matters.
"And now, all of this has happened and I..." Cadance trembled slightly, "All I can think of is that I didn't know the name of the mare who freed me from the caves."
"Y' don't?" Apple Bloom asked, "She didn't say?"
Cadance shook her head.
"Funny," Scootaloo said, "She's been telling everypony else."
"Well, sort of" Sweetie Belle said.
"I think she just sort'a stopped caring if anypony knew" Spike said.
"So, who is she?" Cadance asked.
"She's miss Twilight's daughter from the future, Twilight Twinkle" Sweetie Belle grinned.
"I think 'Midday Eclipse' was a way cooler name" Scootaloo muttered. "Sounded like a superhero."
Cadance paused, and blinked. "Sorry, but could you... repeat that?"
"She's Twilight Sparkle's daughter from the future, which..." Apple Bloom repeated, "Ah'm guessing if this guy's miss Twilight's brother, makes him her uncle, and that'd probably make you her aunt."
Cadance just sat there for a moment, thinking. "That's.... unusual news."
"Cadance!" a voice yelled out, and the mare looked over to see two ponies rushing toward her, one a deep blue, the other a light purple colour. They saw Shining Armor and gasped.
"What happened?" Twilight Velvet asked. Cadance shook her head.
"It was that changeling. She made him attack me, and then... when aunt Celestia attacked her and then... Twilight..."
Twilight Velvet looked up at the young mare with concern.
"Shining... I think he blasted himself, rather than taking the chance of hurting me."
There was a pause before Twilight Velvet face-hoofed. "Gonna need to have a talk with this young stallion before this is all over."
Night Light meanwhile was just trying to repress a severe case of the giggles. He stopped when he saw his wife glaring at him.
Cadance just hung her head low.
"What is it, dear?" Twilight Velvet asked. Cadance looked at her.
"I... all the harm that's been inflicted, just because I accepted Shining's proposal. All that's been done to your family."
There was a pause as Twilight Velvet and Night Light exchanged sceptical looks. Then they turned to look at the mare.
"You're family as well" Night Light said. Cadance looked at him, and her teary eyes blinked.
"Oh, come on," Twilight Velvet scoffed, "You helped look after Twilight when she was little, you and Shining were there for her when she really needed you. Heck, you're already family. Marriage would just make sure everypony knew."
Night Light nodded, and Cadance stared at them.
"Plus, you were in and out of the house so often when you and Shining were younger, you practically lived there."
Cadance smiled weakly, and then looked at Shining Armor, then back to his parents. Her smile grew.
*****
Elsewhere, some minutes ago.
It was one of the strangest fights in Equestrian history. Seven mares and one stallion against a small battalion of changelings, each of which had shapeshifted to look like one of their opponents. In hindsight this was perhaps not the smartest move for the changeling horde, though when you're half-mad from starvation, rational thinking and strategic planning aren't very high of the list of needs. Each pony responded in different ways, most of which involved physical retaliation. Fluttershy tried to avoid direct confrontation with any changelings, who did not have the same consideration for the mare.
"This is horrible!" Trixie wailed over the melee. Applejack just rolled her eyes.
"Then why'd ya tag along with us? Ya could've-" she paused to hit one changeling looking like her between the eyes, "-stayed back at the castle!"
"I'm pretty sure it's fractionally safer here than it is back there" Trixie responded, blasting one changeling who tried to take her hat with a large amount of electricity. She stared in astonishment, then tried to look at her horn. Then another changeling leapt at her. There was a flurry of kicks and it collapsed.
"You seem to know how'ta fight" Applejack commented. Trixie shrugged.
"Well, I suppose-" another changeling with her face, kicked "- but then, wandering about on the road a lot, and the occasional weddings back home, it almost makes sense!"
The air was filled with the squeak of Pinkie's party cannon going off, concentrated balls of confetti smashing into changelings and sending them flying.
"Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked, as the mare blasted several changelings away from here, "I was wondering, where do you keep that giant cannon anyway?"
Pinkie stared at her, before shaking her head, "Not important right now."
"But-"
There was another squeak from the cannon, and Rainbow Dash shook her head. Then she saw several changelings heading towards a curled up ball that looked amazingly like Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash soared over and knocked each of them over. Then found her head spinning as the previously curled up changeling stood over her, and grinned. Then a white hoof connected with it, as Rarity began unleashing a small whirlwind of hooves at everything in range.
"Rainbow, are you alright?" she asked. Rainbow Dash nodded, and groggily got to her hooves. Then she kicked out at the small grey thing heading towards Rarity's head.
"What are those?" she asked, as the creature sank its teeth into a changeling's rump.
"I have no idea, they just keep falling out of the sky," Rarity said, "But they are strangely cute. Despite the fangs and claws."
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Yeah, they are kinda..." one headed towards her, and was then blasted out of the sky by a burst of dark purple magic. Twilight Sparkle was simply moving among the changelings like she was walking through a rose garden, only blasting whatever she happened to glance at, save the Fluttershy clones, just in case. Comet Chaser remained behind her, since the mare seemed unconcerned about changelings coming from her blindside.
"Hey, friendly fire!" Applejack yelped as one blast knocked her on her side.
"Twilight, stop, stop and think!" Comet Chaser asked, before chastising himself for such a stupid statement. Twilight's expression hardened.
"I'm just dealing with these changelings" she said, her voice filled with barely controlled hostility. "It's no less than they deserve."
Comet Chaser zapped another changeling, stunning it before he kicked it. "Really? Because it looks to me like you're taking your pain out on them."
"Why shouldn't I?" the mare demanded, "They-"
"I know, I was there. I saw it" he said, his voice leaden, "But I'm not blasting changelings into unconsciousness."
"That's because you don't know how. You're just an astronomer."
"And you're a librarian."
"Future Princess, and the Element of Magic!"
"Heir to one of the oldest families in Equestria, practically predating Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"
"And you're an astronomer."
"It was either that-" he paused to zap another changeling, "Or stay at home for the rest of my life. Starcatchers don't get to be important ponies."
"Why not?" Twilight asked, her anger momentarily gone, replaced with curiosity.
"There was deal" the stallion shrugged.
"Sounds interesting!" Twilight said, blasting another three changelings pretending to be Pinkie Pie. She was aware of a hissing and turned to hit one changeling in the face. Next to her, Comet Chaser tripped up another.
"And she was my daughter as well. At least you knew her, I only met her once."
"Really?" Twilight asked, zapping another three changelings, and one of the strange falling creatures.
"Yes, once."
There was a sudden silence as the two began blasting and hitting the changelings with increasing speed, conscious thought being discarded in favour of fluid motion, changeling after changeling after changeling. Twilight knocked one down, then another looming over an unaware Comet Chaser, sending it flying into two of its fellows. Then Comet Chaser blasted another, and another, and then, he was aware of a movement behind him, and moved, hoof flying.
It connected with Twilight Sparkle's. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as they heard the distant noise of Rarity yelling at every changeling she attacked, as Rainbow Dash taunted the changelings attacking her, Pinkie's cannon squeaking away. It all sounded so far away, and they were right there. Twilight stared into Comet Chaser's bright orange eyes. He stared into her own purple orbs. They loomed closer, and closer, and closer-
Then they suddenly pulled out as they saw a changeling leap at them. One purple hoof and one deep blue hoof connected with the changeling.
"We should-" Comet Chaser mumbled. Twilight nodded vigorously.
"Yeah."
The fight continued on. Pinkie's cannon firing, Rarity kicking, Rainbow Dash hitting, Trixie zapping, Applejack kicking, Fluttershy tripping any changeling who dared come near. And so it repeated, blasting, firing, hitting, zapping, kicking, tripping, blasting, firing, hitting, zapping, kicking, tripping, blasting, firing, hitting, zapping, kicking, tripping. And with each one they seemed to start moving through changelings quicker. Blast, fire, hit, zap, kick, trip, blast, fire, hit, zap, kick, trip, blast, fire, hit, zap, kick, trip, blast, fire, hit, zap, kick, trip, blast, fire, hit, zap, kick, trip, blastfirehitzapkicktripblastfirehitzapkick-...
And then, that was that. It was over. Eight ponies stood triumphant, several dozen changelings sprawled around them, and several confused looking koala bears on top of that.
"That was intense" Rainbow Dash breathed, a proud grin on her face.
"Again!" Pinkie called out to one collapsed changeling.
"Come on," Twilight said, as they rushed toward the building.
They were rewarded with the sight of what seemed like hundreds of changelings flooding toward them.
"Didn't we just leave this party?" Rainbow Dash sighed.
"There's so many" Fluttershy staggered.
"Almost makes it a fair fight, then" Applejack said. "Fer them."
*****
Luna paused, catching her breath as a small swarm's worth of changelings lay around her. A shadow fell over her and she looked up, to see a hoof stretched out toward her.
"Thank you" Luna sighed, before glowering at the changelings. "Sister, do you remember that time we were held 'hostage' by that idiot... the one with-" she paused, as she tried to remember some identifying detail about that incident, "The one with the wand."
Celestia paused as she tried to recall one incident from several lifetimes worth. "I think so" she said eventually.
"This is almost as annoying" Luna sighed, "These changelings may not be very strong, but there are a lot of them, and they are very persistent. Also, irritating."
She frowned, "Also, I couldn't help but notice it was raining chocolate. Is-"
"Yes" Celestia sighed, "But for the moment he seems content to drop tiny marsupials on everyone."
Luna stared at Celestia for a moment, as if waiting for her to say something else. When she didn't, Luna continued.
"By the way, their queen is... subdued."
"Subdued?" Celestia asked, as she noticed a cloud of changelings moving toward them.
"Kirby may have stood on her."
"Stood on..." Celestia trailed off as she tried not to take satisfaction in hearing that.
"What? It's not like I could take her in a fight! I had to improvise"
"I suppose" Celestia said, before nodding toward the approaching changelings, "But we've got bigger problems now."
"Together?" Luna asked. Her sister nodded.
"And no running ahead like with Sombra."
"I didn't run ahead" Luna sniffed.
"No, you just rushed in and almost got yourself killed."
"There were only nine of them! And they were mostly undead!"
Luna glanced over towards the changelings, who were getting closer. "Sister, have you noticed something?"
"The way they've stopped advancing?" Celestia asked, "Or that sound of loud rock music coming from somewhere?"
"That too."
Then they suddenly saw an eagle's claw nonchalantly lean past their heads. Its owner snapped His fingers.
"Discord, what did you just do?" Celestia yelled at the chaos deity, who was trying to look innocent.
"Moi? Nothing! I don't know what you're talking about, and- oh, look, it's raining dogs."
Technically, one dog does not constitute rain. A large black dog hit the ground and bounced.
"Kirby!" Luna yelled, rushing over toward the three-headed dog. It gave a small whimper, and tried to lick her face.
"He's okay" Luna called out. Then she turned around to get a second look at the face her sister was making.
"What?"
"That." Celestia nodded, towards a rapidly approaching, and incredibly enraged, changeling queen.
"You're probably busy" Discord smiled. "See ya!" and with a flash, he was gone.
*****
"A choice?" Twinkle asked, watching as images of her teenaged years began wafting past.
"So I'm told" her namesake said. Twinkle gave this some thought.
"What choice?"
The mare frowned. "I say 'choice'. It doesn't really sound like one to me."
She turned to look at Twinkle. "You can either choose to move on, or you can turn back and fight alongside your friends and family... but at a cost."
Twinkle paused, and then stared at her great-grandmother's ghost.
"What cost?"
The mare paused for a moment, as if battling the urge to speak. "Your mortality."
Twinkle stared for a moment. Then she looked down at her hooves, then at the images floating by her.
"I thought I already forfeited that when I... you know, jumped in front of that attack meant for Celestia."
The mare just stared at her and shook her head. "Not really. As I understand it, you were only Mostly Dead."
Twinkle paused. She opened her mouth. She couldn't speak. She tried again.
"As I said, it's not really a choice, because we both know what you're going to choose."
Twinkle nodded. "Guess we do."
She sighed, "But... why?"
Her great-grandmother rolled her eyes. "Because. That's why. And because your life is too important to waste taking attacks meant for a pony who's suffered far worse than being zapped by a bug-lady."
"Important?" Twinkle asked incredulously.
"What was it you said when you and that girl Trixie rebooted time? 'Somepony's daughter. Somepony's child.' Does that somehow not apply to you?"
Twinkle stared at her hooves.
"You know," Twilight Twinkle senior said, "One of the things about being deceased is that I have seen you. I've seen what you are capable of, what you could do. And while there have been... problems, Twilight, I do know something. You helped bring together two ponies who should by all rights have the most reason to stay away from each other. You managed to stop a young mare from continuing down the path of self-destruction. So don't dare say you aren't important, don't dare say you cannot make a difference. Now, are you going to sit there, or are you going to embrace this gift you've been given?"
Twinkle looked up, then turned to the mare. "I thought you didn't like me."
"Oh, well," the spectral mare shrugged, "A young girl rushing into the underworld on a school night? What was I supposed to think?"
"And why are you the one who showed up here?"
The mare gave Twinkle a level stare, and a small, sad smile slipped across her face. "Because. Your grandparents are too busy being alive. Try and talk to them sometime, by the way."
Twinkle then paused, "So, what, I accept this offer of immortality, and then what?"
"You fly" the mare deadpanned.
Despite her trepidations, Twinkle couldn't help but smile. She had always wanted wings, after all, just like she'd always wanted adventures. And her great-grandmother was right. There was no way she was just going to leave everypony in trouble. "Alright then," she took a deep breath.
"I accept the offer."
There was a sudden feeling in her chest, and a small blob emerged. Then she heard a voice, not actually speaking, but as something was putting the words directly into her mind.
Twilight Twinkle. Destiny Awaits.
There was a bright light...