//------------------------------// // Unstoppable Meets Immovable // Story: The Twilight Child // by Detectivefish //------------------------------// It was a lovely sunny day in Ponyville, with a mild cooling breeze helpfully supplied by the Ponyville weather team helping prevent anypony from getting too warm. Strangely enough, nopony had been looking at Canterlot, but with the distance between the two cities, they probably hadn't noticed the little black specks of the changeling army, or the bright flashes of magic from the fighting going on. Then, quite suddenly, and with absolutely no warning, the skies shifting. Clouds formed and shook and trembled. There was an almighty burst of light and sound for one instant. There were a few seconds of utter silence. To someone who thought they would never hear the sound of birdsong or wind ever again, the sudden bursts of sound were like a chorus. The warm sunlight was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Twilight Twinkle raised her head and smiled. And then she began to cheer. Or at least it sounded like a cheer, it was difficult to tell what she was doing. A dozen varied emotions were rushing through her head, and very deep down there was a bit of annoyance at being in Ponyville and not Canterlot, along with amusement at being in Ponyville and not Canterlot. She couldn't hear her own thoughts, and at the moment was too excited to really think much in the way of consistent and coherent thoughts. Then some part of her noted the presence of two royal blue wings jutting out of her backside. Her cheering grew louder, and then the mare braced herself, and in an instant rocketed into the air, heading in the direction of Canterlot. A short distance away, three ponies sitting around a table together stared at what had just happened. "Remember when this town used to be boring?" Raindrops sighed. For a moment, the orange-maned mare next to her gave this some thought. "Not really" Carrot Top said. "Me neither" Cheerliee added, absent-mindedly. She hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation anyway. "Thought not" Raindrops groaned, as in the distance a newly-minted alicorn soared toward Canterlot. ***** The wind was in her face, her eyes were stinging, there was an army of changelings between her and everypony else, and a mad chaos deity on top of that. And she was fairly certain something was going on with her mane and tail. She also had wings, and knew her cousin was alive. Her mind was burning with a dozen new thoughts and ideas, and she felt like she could take on every changeling herself. And she had wings. She was flying, she had wings and she was alive. Canterlot was getting closer. ***** Across the city, it was a scene of chaos. Guards tried desperately to fight the changelings swarming at them, even as Discord dropped small grey furry creatures and chocolate squares on everything. The two Princesses found themselves staring at an incredibly angry-looking changeling queen, though if either felt any concern about their own well-being, they weren't going to let it show. In Canterlot General hospital, numerous changelings found themselves on the run from a strange mint-green unicorn and her marefriend. Meanwhile, none dared approach the castle gardens, due to a large pair of amplifiers deafening any changeling who dared approach, and a phoenix that seemed to delight in vexing any changeling that came near the higher towers, but apparently had no inclination to do more. Meanwhile, in the hall of the Elements, eight ponies faced down a small swarm of changelings. However, even though six of them were heroes of Equestria, and the other two (One Trixie Lulamoon, and one Comet Chaser) were not doing too bad, they were having trouble fighting a whole group of changelings inside incredibly cramped quarters. Outside, had anypony been looking, they would have seen a dark blue shape approaching the city. "Too many..." Applejack declared as the changelings began to overtake her. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around happily, almost oblivious to the fact that the changelings were after her. She didn't seem bothered about the fact that they'd managed to separate her from her party cannon. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was covered with at least a dozen changelings, and didn't seem to care, still shouting defiance at them. Fluttershy looked eerily calm, leading Rarity to suspect the mare had finally reached some strange area on the other side of panic. This did however leave the fashion designer open to getting mobbed by several changelings, without even a chance to yell at them. "We can't fight them all" Trixie announced, as she tried to move from underneath a small dog-pile of changelings. "We gotta!" Rainbow Dash yelled, even as the changelings began zapping her with magic in an attempt to subdue her. Her legs collapsed from underneath her, she tried to ignore that, still trying to stand. "Can't give up now!" she strained, even as her legs refused to go on working under the barrage. Suddenly Rainbow Dash's mind started to feel all pink and fuzzy, things seemed to stop mattering, and she began to slump, an uncharacteristic smile crawling across her face. There was a scrambling of hooves and a buzzing of wings as the changelings began to overtake the now tiring ponies. "Looks like this is it..." Twilight said. "Nice knowing all of ya" a weary Applejack called out. "Even you, Trixie. Kinda." "Hey!" The changelings swarmed, and Twilight found her vision obscured, meaning she only heard the loud 'bloink' sound, seconds before the amazingly bright flash, followed by a wave of force which swept the changelings off of her, while at the same time knocking her to the floor. This was exactly the same for the other seven ponies in the room. After a few seconds, they realised they could move, and slowly looked up. As their eyes focused and the light dimmed down, they saw who had created the blast, and one by one, their jaws dropped as they saw a pony standing in the middle of the room, her fur a royal blue colour, her mane a different shade of blue with two orange stripes running through it, and a Cutie Mark of an eclipse plainly visible on her flank. "It... cannot be..." Rarity whispered. "But... we saw you-" Rainbow Dash began, as a purple blur rushed past her head. There was a surprised grunt from Twilight Twinkle as Twilight Sparkle collided with her, holding the mare tightly. The next few seconds were quiet, save for some clearly deep breaths from Twilight. "You're alive" the mare breathed. Twinkle just held the mare back. "Yeah" she whispered. Pinkie Pie watched this scene, and then took a step forward, before being blocked by one orange hoof and one white. "Don't" Applejack said, her voice as hard as iron. Pinkie just stared from Applejack to the Twilights, and then nodded. "But how?" Twilight whispered. Twinkle just looked at her and tried smiling. For a moment she struggled to think of something to say. "Like hay I was going to leave you in this mess I made." There were a few seconds as Twinkle looked at Twilight. "Twilight? We do have things that need taken care of." "I know" Twilight said in response, "But... I thought you were-" "Me too" Twinkle responded. Then there was a cough. Twinkle looked up to see everypony staring at her. "What?" she asked. "You've got wings" Rarity said. Twinkle craned her neck, and gave them a small flap. "Yes, I do." "And I must say you are slightly taller than when we last saw you." Everypony stared at Rarity for a moment. "I have a good eye for measurements" she said defensively. "So," Applejack said slowly, "Yer a Prin-" "No." "Why not? I-if you don't mind our asking?" Fluttershy asked. "No crown, for one thing. And I don't want one either. (I don't want to rule)" There was a pause as Twinkle frowned, and shook her head. "Anyway, that's not important right now. What's been going on?" "Well, there's an army of changelings running around (which you should have mentioned, by the way), Princess Luna was last seen fighting with the Changeling Queen, and Discord has somehow managed to get free of his prison" Twilight frowned, "Oh, and Shining Armor knocked himself out somehow." Twilight stared at Twilight for a moment. "Knocked himself out...? Really?" She shook her head, looking for all the world like she was trying not to laugh, and then turned to look at the wall behind her. "So, you're here to get the Elements?" she asked. Twilight nodded. Twinkle turned to look at the stirring changelings. "What are you waiting for then?" Twilight blinked. "I... don't know how to..." Twinkle stared at her. Twilight frowned. "But I'll see what I can do." "The changelings are getting up" Fluttershy squeaked. "Everypony behind me! You too, Rainbow Dash!" Twinkle declared. The mare slowly, and calmly walked over to everypony else. The changelings moved towards Twinkle. Her horn glowed, and a small wave of strange light blue energy passed over the changelings. Instantly their angry expressions vanished, and several of them sat down with strange smiles on their faces. They looked like they were about to start falling over, or telling each other they were 'their best friends', or singing rude songs about hedgehogs. "What did you just do?" Rarity asked, staring at alarm as two changelings began to hug each other. For some reason, she found their smiling worse than their scowling. Twinkle just made a bemused expression. "I... am not sure. Sorry," she said, "My mind is literally racing with all sorts of things right now, so I might get a bit spacey. I was just thinking I needed a spell for calming them down, and... well, this is the result." The changelings looked at them. Where before there had been several ponies who looked like tasty supplies of emotion, now there was only a giant piñata in the place of Applejack, a fluffy cloud instead of Rainbow Dash, a pony-shaped balloon for Pinkie Pie, a talking teddy bear rather than Rarity, a kitten instead of Trixie, Comet Chaser looked like a ball of yarn, a nervous looking duckling where there should've been Fluttershy, a curious-looking lizard in place of Twinkle, and lastly, a strangely cohesive pile of bubbles representing Twilight Sparkle. "Will they be alright?" Fluttershy asked, watching as two changelings began to hug. Twilight Twinkle gave this some thought. "They'll probably be alright." "Yer grinning like you've gone mad" Applejack said with consternation. Twinkle just turned to look at her. "Far from it, Applejack. I'm just really cheerful" she looked toward Twilight, "Any luck?" Twilight shrugged. "I don't know how this locking mechanism works. For all I know I-" Twinkle walked over and gently moved Twilight out of the way. She lowered her head and placed her horn in front of the opening. It glowed, and a small blue light shot out, and there was a satisfying click. Then the wall slid back to reveal a jewel encrusted box. Twilight lifted the box and opened it. There sat the Elements of Harmony. "He didn't disappear them?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Guess Dissy must be slipping." "I don't think he is" Fluttershy mumbled. Rainbow Dash glanced at her. Behind the group, several changelings began to move toward the door. "What? Come on, Flutters. He left the Elements of Harmony here where we could grab them, even when they're the only things th-" Then Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy was staring at the ceiling. She looked up, and then her expression paled. Suddenly a very large and very heavy mattress slammed into all nine ponies. "Seriously?!" Rarity yelled, "A mattress?" "Hold on a moment" Twilight sighed. There was a bright flash and a pop, and then several more in quick succession. Soon eight incredibly dazed ponies were standing on top of the mattress. "Alright, we've got the Elements, now all we need to do is find Discord and zap him" Twinkle grinned. Then her smile flickered, "By which I mean you guys need to zap him, because you're the Element bearers." "But how exactly are we supposed to zap him?" Rarity asked, "When half of us cannot fly up him, and he's unlikely to come anywhere near us? Unless he suddenly starts feeling contrary, which... no, no," she frowned, "I'm overthinking this." Twinkle frowned in thought. Then Pinkie stared outside. "What is it?" Comet Chaser asked. Pinkie tilted her head. "Dunno. But I think a piano's about to fall on somepony..." Comet Chaser's brow furrowed as he tried to understand what had just been said. This was cut off by a sudden noise of a piano hitting the ground and smashing, which was then followed by several more. "It's raining pianos" Rainbow Dash observed, looking out of the window. "He's just dropping stuff on everypony" Twinkle frowned, "Maybe he's suffering chaos deity's block." She walked over to the door and looked out into the courtyard, cautiously. She saw one smashed piano sitting in the middle of the courtyard, now devoid of the changelings which had been rampaging around it. Then she noticed the ground had been changed to a gumball like substance, and the new piano debris was beginning to bounce everywhere. She frowned, until she saw one non-bouncing smashed piano. She stared at it, and then looked about for some sign of Discord. Foiled, she walked back over to everypony else. "I think I know how to get him down to our level" she said, "Now all we need to do is find ourselves a chaos god." She gave this some thought, and then turned to look at everypony else. Then she looked at Comet Chaser. "Except you. You go find somewhere out of the way" she said. He looked at her in confusion. "Me? Why, exactly?" "Because it's not safe" Twinkle frowned. He stared at her. "It's raining pianos because of a chaos god, and there's a swarm of shapeshifting bug-pony things around, led by a mare capable of going hoof-to-hoof with Princess Celestia herself. Where exactly is safe?" Twinkle stared back at him. For a moment, her expression remained blank. Then she raised an eyebrow. "I know where." She held out a hoof toward him, and her horn glowed. There was a bright flash and a 'bloink', and they were gone. ***** In the main hall of Canterlot Castle, dozens of ponies had gathered. The changelings hadn't managed to enter the room, despite the wide open windows. This might have had something to do with the irate mother and father protecting their stricken son, along with his marefriend and fiancée casting a barrier to keep them out. Then everypony noticed the bright flash in the middle of the room, followed by a loud 'bloink', as a mare and a stallion appeared in the room, the stallion looking startled as dozens of ponies stared at them in confusion. The mare just shook her head. "Teleporting. Still weird. Oh, just teleported through a shield-spell ag-" "Hey!" came a yell as something collided with her. She looked about to see her attacker, only to realise she could feel someone's feet on her back. "Spike?" she asked. There was a small noise from the dragon. Twinkle's horn glowed, and she lifted the little dragon off of her back, moving him in front of her face. "You're..." he said. She gave a weak little smile. "Yeah." "You've..." he pointed a finger towards her wings. "Yeah." There were a few seconds as neither said anything, Spike just staring and smiling. "Cool" he finally said. Then Twinkle turned to see three fillies staring slack-jawed at her. She nodded. Suddenly Scootaloo started grinning smugly. "I knew you'd be okay" she said. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at her. "You did not!" Apple Bloom snapped. Scootaloo looked at her. "Sure I did! Her body just up and vanished when nopony was looking. That's like a great big flashing sign! A great big 'She'll-be-back' sign!" She noticed everypony in the room was staring at her. "What? It happens all the time in comic books" she muttered, "No body and they're alive..." Twinkle just smiled at that. "So, you're a Princess now?" Sweetie Belle asked. Twinkle shook her head. "No. Alicorn, but not a Princess." The filly tilted her head. "What's the difference?" "I don't have a crown." Twinkle looked around the room. "Everypony okay, by the way?" There was a pause before Cadance spoke up from across the room. "We're okay, at the moment at least. Nopony's seriously injured, but..." she trailed off and looked out of the window. "Nopony's feeling very safe, or secure." "Don't worry about Discord" Twinkle said calmly, "That's being taken care of." She turned around to Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Look after him" she said, pointing toward Comet Chaser, "Make sure he stays out of trouble." The four of them nodded. Twinkle smiled. "Good to hear it." With that, she teleported out of the room, leaving Comet Chaser surrounded by three fillies, who just stared at him, not blinking or faltering. In fact, the entire room seemed to be staring at him. He smiled nervously. ***** Twinkle reappeared in the hallway where she'd left everypony. "Okay," she said, "One potential problem dealt with. Now we just need to find Discord." There was a nervous cough from Trixie. "Don't I get an opportunity to opt out from chaos deity fighting?" Twinkle stared at her. "No, Trixie. You don't." "(I figured you'd say that. Good to know dying didn't change your sanity.)" "Any other objections? Fluttershy? Rarity?" Both mares shook their heads. Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy. "You aren't afraid?" "Oh, I am" Fluttershy said quickly, "I just didn't want to be any trouble." "Alright, everypony, let's go find that chaos god." The ponies quickly made their way outside, taking great effort to dodge the still-falling pianos. Rarity looked at Twilight, whose expression was troubled. "What is it?" she asked. Twilight looked at her. "Why did Discord leave the Elements lying around?" she asked, "Why did he not just vanish them like he did last time? Especially since they're the only things that can threaten him? Why isn't he directly trying to neutralise us immediately?" "That one's easy" Rainbow Dash snorted, "He's not going to do the exact same thing each time. No villain ever re-uses their schemes." There was a sudden moment as everypony considered this. "Okay" Twilight said after a moment, "Though that still doesn't explain why he's left the Elements of Harmony sitting around for anypony to find." "Maybe he doesn't care" Twinkle shrugged, "Maybe he's forgotten." "Why would he forget?" Twilight asked. "Why wouldn't he? Chaos deity. Leave reason and logic at the door" Twinkle shrugged, "Sort of like being in a conversation with Pinkie Pie." Everypony expected the pink mare to chime in with some strange, random comment at this point, but the mare was just sitting and smiling. "Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy asked, "Are you okay?" Pinkie Pie just stared at her. "Oh, sorry Fluttershy, I was just thinking about all these smashed pianos, and where Discord keeps getting them from, I mean, he must make piano saleponies, or salesbeings, really angry if he keeps smashing all these pianos every few seconds, I mean the Cakes won't let me near a piano anymore after-" "Hey," Trixie commented, "I think I've found him." "-ppened with the watermelon, which I said wasn't anypony's fault it was just because Pokey didn't notice where he was dancing a-" Everypony stared to see where Trixie was pointing, which was toward a deck chair, floating in air. Two mismatched legs were hanging from the side, kicking lazily. "Okay, we have found ourselves one Discord" Twinkle said calmly, "Now we get his attention." Everypony looked at the odd smile on her face as she continued, looking toward the falling pianos. "And fancy that, I know just how to go about doing that." She turned to look at Trixie, and then smiled. The mare suddenly felt a sharp pang of terror. "And after that is where you come in, Trixie..." ***** Discord relaxed on his chair, watching chaos unfold as changelings spread over the city. It was wonderful, it was brilliant. Especially the fight between Celestia, her little sister and that crazy bug-lady, although he was annoyed to note that none of the three seemed to have noticed his chaos, being far too preoccupied with fighting each other. None of them seemed to have a clear advantage. It was a stalemate. He hated stalemates. This called for only one thing, for him to interfere again, like he had a few moments before. He frowned. He'd gone to all that effort to help get the bug-lady out from underneath the giant dog, and she went and repaid him by not winning a fight. He analysed the scene, and wondered if it would be improved by turning the ground into oil, or possibly butter. He shook his head. They wouldn't notice. And those stupid little changelings were destroying pianos before they could fall on top of anypony. And strangest of all, he was sure he could feel the taste of a temporal paradox moving about nearby, a ludicrously powerful one. Although given his usual thought process, he had no way of knowing whether that was actually real, or if he was just imagining it. Had he turned around, he would have noticed something very large and expensive heading toward him at an impressive rate. Therefore, he was caught completely by surprise by a massive grand piano smashing into his head. "Ow!" he declared, before pausing. "Who throws a piano? In this day and age?" He frowned, and looked about. "I see you" he hissed. He snapped his fingers and in a flash of light was standing in front of a young mare, of royal blue colouration. She was smiling eagerly. "And you are?" he asked. "You look familiar. Weren't you one of the little ponies?" The mare's smile vanished. "Was that your piano?" Discord asked. The mare shrugged, and Discord noticed the wings on her backside. And then he noticed the paradox seeping off of her. "Might have been. It's a bit hard to tell with all the pianos lying around." Discord frowned, and wrapped his tail around her. "Well, I hope you had fun. Now it's my turn. Any last words?" The mare seemed distracted by something behind her. "What in the world could that be?" she asked. Discord laughed. "Please, young lady. I'm Discord. I invented that trick. And in case you're hoping that mare casting the illusion behind me can help" he reached out his paw to grab something. There was a small shimmer, and Trixie appeared in his paw, struggling and cursing at him in prench. "Language, mon petite poney" he said sternly. Trixie continued cussing at him. Then he lifted up his claw and flicked her horn. "Now let's see what it is yo-" he gulped as he saw six mares standing in front of him, bearing the Elements of Harmony. His expression was one of pant-wetting terror mixed with alarmed recognition. "Oh, right. Those things." he frowned, "Knew I'd forgotten something..." There was an ethereal glow, as the six Elements began to glow, each mare beginning to float into the air, Twilight staying in the middle as the others floated around her. Twinkle stared in astonishment for an instant, before remembering what was going on. In an instant she teleported over to Trixie, and then just far enough to get a good view of Discord's re-petrification. "No!" Discord said, "Not again! I was just set to get some really good chaos going! I never sa-" There was a blast of light, and a wave. As it washed over Twinkle, she found herself feeling warm, fuzzy thoughts. Harmony. She was feeling harmony. Then the light died down and there was a dull 'clump' as Discord's stone imprisoned form hit the ground. There were a few more or less quiet seconds. "Hey, those evil teddy bears are gone" Pinkie cried out with what sounded like disappointment. Twinkle looked over to Trixie, who was struggling to catch her breath. "Never... again" the mare breathed, "Never doing that again!" "You did good, Trixie" Twinkle smiled, "Especially with no prep time." Trixie paused for a minute before giving a proud smile, "Was there ever any doubt? Now, if you'll excuse Trixie, she's going to collapse for a minute while she gets her breath back." Twinkle watched as the mare slowly slumped into a heap, and carefully walked over to the others. She paused by Discord and tapped him on the head, trying not to grin at his panicked expression. "Don't worry, Dissy," she whispered, "You'll probably be out in a few months on good behaviour." "That was way too easy" Rainbow Dash announced. Rarity and Applejack glared at her. "What? I can't be the only one thinking it. Last time we threw down with this guy he picked our brains apart, and this time we just get one whammy on him and that's it?" she shook her head, "Nuh-uh. Way too easy." "Stop complaining, Rainbow Dash" Rarity sighed. Twinkle nodded. "Besides, if you want an actual fight, there are still several changelings running about, threatening civilians, that sort of thing." There was a pause, during which only two sounds were clearly audible. One was the distant sound of combat, the other a strange repetitive thumping sound, which, if anypony had noticed, Pinkie seemed to be dancing in tune with. "So, any clever ideas for dealing with the changeling queen?" Rainbow Dash asked Twinkle. The mare nodded. "Yeah, I've got a plan. Or I had a plan, but it did sort of require Shining Armor to be awake, so now on to the backup plan." She frowned, then looked to everypony else. "Okay, you guys head over toward the main hall, try and find some way of waking Shining Armor up." Rainbow Dash frowned, "What about everypony else in the city?" Twinkle looked at Rainbow Dash, "If you want to try and save somepony, you're more than welcome to try Rainbow." Rainbow Dash looked to the rest of the group. Before she could say anything, Fluttershy spoke up. "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. Don't worry about us and go and do whatever it is you need to do." The mare nodded, and smiled, before a determined look took over her face "Then I'm gone!" In an instant the pegasus shot into the air. Twinkle turned to the others. "Anypony else got any ideas?" Rarity looked at Twinkle. "So, what exactly are you going to do?" Twinkle gave this some thought. "I'm going to go find the Changeling Queen. Don't worry, I do have a plan. Sort of." "I would tell you to be careful," Twilight Sparkle sighed, "But I get the feeling you're just going to ignore me." Twinkle tried to look offended. "Well, I am eighteen. Still," she grinned, "Nice to know we're beginning to understand each other" "And what is your brilliant plan for dealing with the mare who can fight one on one with Princess Celestia?" Trixie asked, as Twilight facehoofed. Twinkle turned and gave this some thought. "Put simply, I'm going to make her hungry..." ***** Six mares rushed through the streets of Canterlot, toward the main building of the palace, noting the total absence of changelings. Strangely enough this did not make them feel any easier. As they ran along a familiar green shape appeared alongside them. "Hey, Pinkie!" Lyra called out. Pinkie Pie turned to see Lyra and smiled. "Lyra! Hi!" then she saw the out-of breath cream coloured mare running behind her, "Hello, Bon-Bon!" There was a nod from Bon-Bon. "What's going on?" Lyra asked. Pinkie frowned, though her bouncing gait did not stop for an instant. "There's an army of changelings invading the city and we just zapped Discord after he broke free and started dropping angry furry creatures and pianos on everypony and I still want one of those creatures because even with all those teeth they looked so cute and now we're going to go try and help Twilight Sparkle's brother because he went and zapped himself because he's in love! How about you?" "Woke up, got attacked by changelings, helped kick them out of the hospital. Had lots of fun, despite wearing hospital gowns." Suddenly the group stopped dead as Twilight came to a halt. "What is it?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight nodded toward a pair of guards tied together by a strange substance, several changelings hovering menacingly around them. There were a few seconds as everypony exchanged glances. Twilight turned her gaze back to the changelings. Her horn glowed. ***** Inside the Wonderbolts' stadium several ponies glanced towards the changeling horde. The top athletics team of Ponyville were surrounded, and no matter where they moved, there seemed to be another changeling there. The shapeshifting hadn't helped, when Spitfire had been knocked out by her own teammates not knowing which one was actually her. There had been some angry yelling once she'd woken up. Now there was just annoyance at the changelings, and at Soarin' for constantly apologising for everypony else's actions. Then there was a thundering, and a cheering, followed by the sound of several hoof-kicks. Spitfire glanced about to see all the changelings sprawled on the ground, as above them, blocking the sun out was a strange shape. "Everypony okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Yes? No? Little bit?" "Yeah, we're okay" one pony said, "Well, a bit slimey. Those guys were drooling a bit." Rainbow Dash nodded, "Alright." And with that she began to take off. Then Spitfire called out. "You're taking the fight to these changelings, right?" Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah." "Need some help?" Spitfire asked. Rainbow Dash frowned, as she gave this some thought. "I don't, but there are other people who will." "Then what're we waiting for?" Spitfire said, taking to the air and hovering in front of Rainbow Dash. The speedster looked for all the world like she was trying not to squeal with delight. "Lead the way." ***** It had been Twinkle's idea to fly. Running through Canterlot would've taken too long, and she couldn't teleport because she was certain Chrysalis was in the middle of the melee, and she wasn't exactly in any hurry to get in the middle of a fight between two alicorns again. At first she'd assumed it would be a simple idea to just follow the sound of fighting, but with Canterlot's street layout, following the noise was trickier than she assumed. She had wondered about taking to the air, but then her mind had suddenly been filled with visions of her plummeting to the ground before she had a chance to react, and while she was certain she had been more durable than the average pony even as a unicorn, she wasn't exactly eager to test out whether she was capable of surviving a fall. And of course, there was another dilemma. She hadn't exactly had a chance to learn how to fly, most of her flight towards Canterlot being driven by sheer instinct. At least in Rainbow Dash's body, she'd been in a body that was designed for flying, and knew what to do even if the mind had been engaged in other tasks. Of course, this was offset by the fact that she was flying. She was beginning to wonder if the feeling would ever get old, even if it was difficult not spinning around as she flew, or nearly flying into buildings. True, it was incredibly terrifying, and she was probably going to hurt herself tremendously, but she did have to learn to fly. After all, she had wings now. ***** The two Princess glowered at their opponent, both trying to look as strong-willed as possible. Above them, the Changeling horde hovered, not daring to get between the three ponies. Chrysalis snarled at them. "Will you just fall already? Are you really this stubborn, or just too stupid to know when you are beaten?" "Maybe" Luna gave a small smug grin, "Maybe a little bit of both." Chrysalis frowned. Her horn began to glow. "I've spent too much time fooling about with you two as it is." There was a sudden sound from behind them, and several changelings were struck by blasts of magic. Then a blue blur rushed toward the changeling queen and blasted her. The mare went flying, bouncing off the street a few times as she went. Twinkle dropped to the ground, and stared up at the changelings. They stared back, looking almost uncertain. She looked over toward Celestia and Luna. The mares looked over toward her. "Discord-" Celestia stated. Twinkle cut her off, "Taken care of." "Good" Celestia said, allowing a tiny note of relief to enter her voice, "That's one less problem to deal with, at least." There was a noise behind them, and Twinkle turned to see the Changeling Queen getting to her feet. "This feels familiar" she muttered. The Changeling Queen stood up, and then rushed toward Twinkle, hurtling the two down the street, past Celestia and Luna. The two Princesses then looked up to see the remaining changelings. "COME ON THEN!" Luna yelled, despite looking like her legs were having trouble supporting the rest of her. The changelings descended. Some of them found their descent aided by blasts of extreme heat and cold coming from the two sisters. ***** All eyes in the main hall of Canterlot Castle turned towards the door as they opened, and a handful of ponies rushed inside. Twilight found herself being practically tackled by her parents, and Spike, while Rarity and Applejack had similar reunions with their siblings. Then Twilight looked over toward the unmoving form of Shining Armor. "He won't wake up" Twilight Velvet said quietly. "We've tried every spell we know of, but he won't wake up." "I tried seeing if there was something that changeling did to him," Cadance said, "some curse or hex she'd put on him, but..." She sighed, "I'm not very good at that sort of magic. I mean, I do know a few healing spells, but nothing especially powerful. Or, it seems, useful. I'm sorry." Twilight walked over toward Shining Armor and looked at him. "I'll see what I can do" she said, trying to smile warmly at Cadance. ***** Twinkle was finding it hard to focus with a changeling roaring in her face. She found herself hitting an incredibly solid table, some part of her getting caught up in a tablecloth, meaning when she stopped, she was practically gift-wrapped. "You will not stop me!" Chrysalis yelled, "You cannot stop me. All you're doing is making me really angry!" Twinkle frowned and tried to unwrap herself from the tablecloth. The mare approached her. "You will not stop me. You have no idea what drives me to do this." "Feeding your subjects" Twinkle frowned, deciding to dispense with subtlety and just tearing the tablecloth in half, "But I also don't care much." Her horn glowed violently, and the Changeling Queen was hit by a sudden blast of electricity, as Twinkle scrambled to her hooves. "You threatened Canterlot, you hurt my family, and for no real reason other than you find it fun. I don't give a damn about your motivation" she said, aiming a blast of energy at the changeling, who managed to dodge it, "I don't care about your history, or where you came from. Nothing could ever justify what you have done." "Small words," the changeling scowled, "Small words from a pony princess." Several fireballs spat out from Twinkle's horn. "Not a Princess. And besides, you don't need to feed by force, and I think you know that. So what reason could you have to imprison Cadance, and to hurt Shining Armor?" The mare dodged the fireballs, and shrugged. "Well, with Shining Armor, it was mainly so I didn't strangle the love-sick idiot every time he opened his mouth, but as for that foolish little girl? That was just because I wanted to. And the poisoning thing? That was because I could." There were a few seconds as neither pony said anything. Twinkle just nodded. Then her mane and tail burst into flame, her coat turning a pale yellow-orange colour, and directed a massive beam of bright red energy at the changeling. There was a massive burst of fire and sound. Twinkle found herself thrown off her hooves by the force. In the main hall of Canterlot Castle, all eyes turned towards the sight. Outside, Celestia and Luna briefly paused in their fight against the changelings as they heard the noise. Twinkle stared at the haze. She didn't dare turn around, knowing that if she did that Chrysalis would doubtless emerge screaming her head off. She considered how close she was to the blaze and took a few steps back. Seconds seemed to blur into minutes. Until she heard the noise. It sounded like it was the hideous child of a groan and a snarl. She stared at the flames as they whipped apart, and the Changeling Queen stood, roaring. "Stupid little girl!" she yelled as she charged Twinkle, "All you've managed to do is make me hungry!" She kicked out, sending Twinkle flying. The mare found herself pinned by the creature. "And look at that. A tasty little snack to eat." Twinkle tried to force the mare off of her, and then felt something smashing into her mind. It became difficult to focus, as she felt her thoughts slipping away. She gritted her teeth and tried to focus, her mind set on one specific set of memories. "You want... to feed on emotions?" she winced, "Then... have your fill!" There was a noise from Chrysalis as the changeling stepped back. A strange light was pouring from Twinkle into the mare, and the alicorn slowly rose to her hooves, trying to fight down tears building in her eyes. She felt like something was being drained out of her, out of her very heart and soul, but she just kept thinking of it. "You have no... idea. You just inflict pain, and misery. You have never felt loss, or hurt. Just because we feel love doesn't mean we don't know loss, or grief. And I have felt those. I have felt the greatest joy I will ever feel, and pain so great it could break minds, and" she blinked, trying not to wipe tears which were now pouring from her out of her eyes, "I... I will never heal from it. But I will keep going, keep living. Never see my daughter again, no matter what happens, no matter what I do or how strong I become, and I will never forget her. But I'm not going to grieve, and I never can because I will not stop. I just going to let you feel what it's like to lose... the. Most. Precious. Things! So, come on. You want to feel love?! You can HAVE IT! TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL!" There was a final noise, and the light stopped. The Changeling Queen collapsed, and Twinkle found herself slouching. She felt like something had been scooped out of her, like someone had reached into her and torn her heart out. But beyond that, she couldn't feel anything. She sighed, and looked at the collapsed changeling. There was a noise, and she noticed several ponies approaching. "Whoa" a pony wearing the familiar outfit of the Wonderbolts exclaimed, "And here I was wondering who was doing the screaming." Rainbow Dash hovered around by Twinkle's head. "Sorry we didn't show up sooner. We were fighting some changelings, and they all started taking off toward over there, and then we saw this weird light show and..." she trailed off. "What happened?" the mare asked, glancing toward Twinkle. "She tried to feed on my emotions" Twinkle said, before adding, "That was a mistake." Rainbow Dash paused, before she glanced nervously toward the changeling, "Is she dead or what?" There was a sudden moment as Twinkle's face contorted in confusion. "Why would she be dead?" "I dunno" Rainbow Dash shrugged, "But she did, like, brainwash your uncle, and all that stuff you told us about, and then she did... sort of kill you, so I figured-" "Why would I kill her? Rainbow Dash, that- that doesn't make any sense." Twinkle just stared to the foetal form of Chrysalis. "You don't say you're a good pony (and on balance, I'd have to say I am) and then go and kill someone. I mean," she scoffed, "That really makes no sense." There was suddenly a warm glow as both Princesses appeared. Princess Celestia looked toward the unmoving form of Queen Chrysalis, then to Twinkle. "Are you alright?" she asked Twinkle. The mare gave this some thought. "Feeling emotionally numb, for the most part, but... apart from that, everything seems alright." She shifted on her hooves, secretly thanking whatever deity was listening for qualifiers. "I think... I'll go see what progress Twilight Sparkle's made reviving Shining Armor." She nodded to Rainbow Dash, and then teleported out of the area. ***** There was a bright flash as Twilight Twinkle appeared in the main hall of Canterlot Castle, looking slightly weary. Twilight Sparkle looked up to see her, and a small smile passed across her face. Then she looked concerned. "All the changelings outside have vanished" she said, "Why?" "Changeling Queen is down, so they're probably trying to think of a new strategy, which gives us a few minutes" Twinkle said, calmly, before looking at Shining Armor. "That's good" Twilight said, "We've not been having much luck with Shining. Or, actually any luck at all." Twinkle looked to everypony else, each looking concerned, as Twilight continued, "We've tried everything, but he just... won't wake up. Every single healing spell we know, and nothing has happened. It doesn't make any sense. There's no reason, literally none that could possibly explain why Shining Armor is like this, and..." Twinkle frowned. Something on the edge of her hearing was getting her attention. Then she looked up at Cadance. "This is... not something I ever wanted to ask, least of all you, but... does Shining Armor... snore?" There was a small noise from Twilight Velvet, "He used to, back when he was younger, but... when he became a guard he just... stopped." Twinkle nodded, "I see" she said calmly. Clearly neither of his parents knew about techniques the guards were taught about for not getting caught sleeping on duty. Cadance looked puzzled. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" "Well, I am a bit curious as to how much sleep he's been getting. After all, maintaining that shielding spell, while simultaneously preparing for your wedding and worrying about every little detail would tire anypony out." "Are you..." Twilight said, incredulously, "Are you actually saying Shining Armor's just fallen asleep?!" Twinkle tried not to grin, before saying, "No. Not exactly. I mean, he did probably did have some nasty injuries, but that combined with being sleep-deprived? Waking him up would have been kinda difficult." She gave this some thought. "He just needs a reason to wake up, is all." "Getting married isn't reason enough?" Spike commented. "Or the fact that the city's been attacked by Discord and Changelings?" Applejack suggested. There was a sudden swooping noise, as several Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash entered the room. Strangely enough, Rainbow Dash didn't seem remotely excited about being near her idols. Fluttershy and Rarity were quickly assigned to explaining the situation to the mare. And then, any further conversation was forestalled by a strange noise from outside. Everyone rushed to the window, and saw a rapidly approaching black shape. "Ah" Twinkle said, "That's bad." "Bad?" Twilight asked. "The means by which I defeated the Changeling Queen seem to have only managed to make her more dangerous." "How?" Rainbow Dash asked. "If I had to guess, I'd say I made her upset." She turned to look back to Shining Armor, then to everypony else. "Everypony out of the room" she declared. There was a pause before several ponies began to file out. Twilight and the others remained there. "We're not going anywhere" Twilight said firmly, "Not if we can help." Twinkle gave this some thought, trying not to focus on the rapidly approaching and incredibly angry looking changeling approaching. "Fine. You want to help, then protect Shining Armor and Cadance." Twilight nodded, and moved over the room to the mare. Twinkle took a step back and waited. The Changeling Queen flew into the room, her eyes wild with rage, though if one looked closely enough, she looked like she'd been crying. "I am a Changeling Queen! I will feed on you! On all of you! There will be nothing of you left u-" "Yeah, that's enough" Twinkle frowned. Her horn glowed, and bands of energy wrapped around the Changeling Queen, who simply kicked and screamed. Then the mare's horn glowed, and a blast of energy struck Twinkle's horn. It did hurt, though not enough to count as extremely painful, but enough to disrupt her spell. The mare began to move toward Shining Armor. Twinkle leapt, tackling the mare with enough force to send them across the room. "Wake him up already!" Twinkle yelled. "How?" Twilight responded. Twinkle jabbed Chrysalis with a hoof. The mare stared at her for a moment. "Did you honestly expect that t-" she suddenly convulsed, and collapsed to the floor as. Twinkle looked back to Shining Armor, and frowned. "Shining Armor! Cadance needs you!" In an instant, the stallion's eyes opened, and he seemed to get to his feet without actually moving at all. "Cadance!" he yelled in alarm. He looked about in confusion, not seeing the wide smile on Cadance's face. "What happened? Did I miss the wedding?" he asked. Twinkle rolled her eyes, and then noticed the changeling queen getting to her hooves. Shining Armor's eyes went wide, and he stepped in front of Cadance. "Use your spell!" Twilight yelled. Shining nodded, and tried to summon a barrier with his magic. Twinkle grabbed the Changeling Queen, and threw the mare over towards one of the windows. Shining Armor's horn glowed weakly, and fizzed. "I can't... I don't have the strength." He slumped, but Cadance quickly moved closer to him. "My love will give you strength!" she announced. There was a scoff from the Changeling Queen. "What a lovely but absolu-" Twinkle cut her off with a kick. "Enough out of you already!" she sighed. Chrysalis glared at her again, and aimed another kick. Twinkle found herself pinned against the wall, which did mean she got a good glimpse of Shining Armor and Cadance's kiss. There was a sudden rustle of wind, and a strange glow. Chrysalis paused to look, as Cadance's appearance seemed to change. Her fur and mane, which had just seconds ago been dirty and dishevelled, suddenly looked clean and immaculate again. Shining Armor and Cadance stared at each other, and then smiled. The wind picked up, and the room took on a bright pink colour as the two ponies lifted into the sky. Twinkle was fairly certain she was laughing at that moment. The couple floated into the air, and then their eyes were filled with a strange glow, which became brighter, and moved across their entire body, brighter, and warmer, and then... there was a wave of light, and when it died down, Chrysalis was gone. Twinkle was sure if she looked, she would have seen the mare being thrown into the distance. But she didn't. She was too busy looking at Shining Armor and Cadance, as the two gently settled back down onto the ground. They looked at each other. They leaned in again. Since the invention of the kiss, there have been six kisses that were rated the most pure, the most passionate. This was not one of those six. This one was beyond even them. There was an awed hush after that, which was eventually broken by Rainbow Dash. "So... we won, right?" "Yeah" Twinkle nodded slowly, before grinning. "We won. We won." "And what just happened?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Love happened," Twinkle said calmly, not caring what anypony thought of that statement. "No, no, no" Twilight Sparkle said, scoffing, "That wasn't love. It was a unique energy field generated by two ponies focu...sing..." she trailed off when she saw practically everypony in the room staring at her. "Fine," she muttered, "Love. It was love." "Yes it was" Shining Armor said, still staring into Cadance's eyes, "We drove them away with love." The two kissed again, before Twinkle dared move between them. "Alright, alright, break it up you two. Much as we're all happy for you, you can't go 'round kissing each other all day." She paused, "After all, isn't there some wedding that was supposed to happen?" The look of surprise on their faces was truly something to behold. "Yes, there is" said a new voice, as Princess Celestia entered the room, several more Wonderbolts following behind her. Twilight rushed over toward her. Twinkle noticed ponies beginning to filter back into the room. "I apologise for not getting here sooner" Celestia said, "But the Changeling Queen took Princess Luna and I... by surprise." "So... What happened to all the changelings?" Fluttershy asked. "They got thrown out of the city" Twinkle said, "Well, the ones that were still here got thrown out, at any rate." Fluttershy gave this some thought nodded. "Don't worry," Twinkle sighed, "You'll probably be seeing them again soon enough." Celestia just nodded. "Now, about that wedding..." "Really? Can't you just give us a few minutes?" Twinkle asked, "I mean, more than half the guests have vanished, there's been a full-scale invasion, a few acts of chaos, and one sort-of resurrection. Some of us would just like a few minutes to sit down and get our breath. Maybe take tomorrow off as well." She took a deep breath, "And that's just within the last... I dunno, half an hour? I think we've earned a few minutes rest." "No kidding!" Trixie yelled out. There was a small pause, as Celestia looked to Twilight and the others. Each of them looked suitably weary. "She does have a point" Rarity said, "I wouldn't mind a chance to sit down, (maybe even have some tea...)" There were similar noises from everypony else. Celestia looked to Cadance. The young Princess nodded. "After today, I think we do need to make sure everypony is okay. And don't worry, auntie" she smiled, "I think I can survive waiting a bit longer." She smiled warmly again, and Celestia just smiled. "As you wish." Cadance went back to staring into Shining Armor's eyes, and then something occurred to her. She turned to look at Twinkle. "Excuse me?" she asked gently. Twinkle looked up at her. "Yes?" "Well, it... I just wanted to say thanks for rescuing me from those caverns. And..." she glanced over toward Spike, who had re-entered the room and was now standing next to Twilight. Twinkle was not surprised to see Spike had what looked like a quill and parchment ready to go. "It's a bit hard to believe but... You're Twilight Sparkle's daughter?" Twinkle just nodded, at which point Cadance smiled, and suddenly hugged her. "Nice to meet you." Twinkle said nothing, but after the briefest second returned the hug. Then Cadance leaned back out. She seemed mildly uncertain about something. "By the way, Shining and I... we had this conversation a few days ago, and... I suppose it means he probably won, because whichever of us spoke to Twilight Sparkle first was going to ask her to be the best mare, or the maid of honour-" "WHAT?" Twilight yelled, causing Spike to fall over in alarm, "You were?!" She turned to glare at Shining Armor, who suddenly found himself being glared at by his parents as well. "It's alright," Cadance said quickly, which seemed to calm Twilight, though she was still shooting death glares at Shining Armor. From the look of it, the young stallion was going to get a severe tongue-lashing from his mother later. Twinkle felt a pang of pity for him. Cadance turned back to look at Twinkle, "So, since your..." she gave a small cough, "Your mother is already filling the part of the best mare, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind being the maid of honour?" Twinkle blinked, as her mind replayed Cadance's statement. Suddenly the world seemed to be going distinctly blurry. She tried to respond. "Well, I-ah, wedding, me... that is... I just..." And then she collapsed. Conveniently enough, there happened to be a pillow just where her head had landed.