Cleaning the guest room took no time at all, especially since Rainbow, Twilight, and Scootaloo all helped Spike do it. Twilight's magic made it so much easier for all of them. It only took about fifteen minutes with the four working together.
Celestia's sun had set about an hour prior, and Luna's moon now graced the brilliant purple night sky. Twilight beamed at its pure beauty, while Rainbow changed her bandages in the restroom. They both had similar thoughts in their minds... How am I gonna tell her my feelings?
"Hey, Twi! I can see through my left eye again!"
"Really? Nurse Redheart expected you to be blinded for at least a week!"
No response came from the bathroom. After a few moments, Twilight tried again.
"...Dashie?"
Still no answer. Twilight, her curiosity being piqued, walked to the bathroom door.
"Rainbow... are you alright?"
Silence.
"I'm... I'm coming in."
Twilight slowly opened the door and peeked in. She saw Rainbow staring at herself in the mirror. She opened the door fully and stepped inside.
Rainbow turned and pointed at her left eye with a hoof that was holding the bandages. Twilight merely raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?"
"Look at my eye! It's all messed up!"
Twilight stepped closer to Rainbow, trying to get a better look. She let out a slight chuckle when she saw what Rainbow meant.
"It's not funny! It looks stupid!"
"Why? Just because it turned from crimson to pink?" Twilight pointed at Rainbow's discolored eye.
"This is so not cool..."
"Oh, come on Dashie... I think it looks adorable." Twilight wrapped a wing and foreleg around Rainbow. She giggled again when she saw Rainbow's blush.
"I'm sure it will go back to normal eventually."
"Who knows how long that will be? Don't you have some magic that could help or something?"
Twilight rolled her eyes at the comment. She released her hold on Rainbow and walked out of the bathroom. She teleported onto her bed and pulled the covers over herself. Her eyes started to close, but snapped open when she heard Rainbow let out an "Ouch!" behind her.
She turned around to see Rainbow sit on the edge of the bed, and look down at one of her front hooves.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I think I just stepped on something..." She lifted her hoof to reveal a small piece of mechanical scrap that she had apparently stepped on. "What is this thing?"
"Oh, that would be part of my alarm clock." Rainbow had a confused look on her cyan face.
"Yeah, I kind of... imploded it and threw it out the window."
"Woah... remind me not to get you angry anymore." Twilight smiled and turned around, after tossing the scrap into a small trash can next to her desk.
Rainbow climbed in right behind her, and wiggled under the covers. She decided to not put on any new eye bandages, as now she could finally see with both her eyes. The two had their backs pressed together, and their wings locked at the tips.
"So, Dashie... what are you gonna tell Spitfire?" Twilight gave a playful nudge to the mare behind her.
"This again? I told you a while ago that I don't like her that way."
"Hey, I could've said Soarin."
"Yeah, and I could've said Flash Sentry."
Twilight snorted at the mention of the Royal Guard in the Crystal Empire.
"Besides, you only stopped teasing me about Soarin when I told you..."
"Oh, that's right. That's how I find out you... swing the other way. So, I replaced him with Spitfire."
Rainbow let out a long sigh. "I actually thought I liked Soarin for a while, before... yeah. Well, it doesn't matter. I know I like somepony else anyway."
Twilight felt her heart skip a beat. Maybe she was being stupid for even considering Rainbow to be more than a friend. It was Twilight's turn to sigh now.
No point in holding on to these feelings now, I guess... unless... she means me? Yeah, I doubt it.
"Hey Twi, you know that feather you have? My feather? It's not exactly the first one I shed..."
"I know that Rainbow... but whatever did happen to the first one? I thought Pegasi always held on to it so they could give it to their special somepony."
"My first marefiend... destroyed it after we broke up." Rainbow winced at the painful memory.
"...Wow. Talk about shallow." The two shared a laugh. One thing Rainbow loved about Twilight, was that she could have a sense of humor, no matter how serious a situation was meant to be. Nothing compared to Pinkie Pie, but still.
After a few minutes, Rainbow decided she would tell Twilight now. There was no point in holding it in. Maybe Twilight would feel the same! Either way, she needed an answer. Rainbow once again mustered all the courage she could, and let out a deep breath.
As she opened her mouth to speak, she was cut off by the sound of light snoring behind her. She looked back to see Twilight was out cold. Rainbow rolled her eyes. Twi just looked so cute that way...
Rainbow leaned over and gently kissed Twilight on the cheek. She put on a warm smile in her sleep.
"Sweet dreams, Twi..."
Princess Luna paced around in front of Princess Celestia, both deep in thought and concentration. Celestia sat in her throne, watching her sister intently.
"I just don't understand, Tia. Why would she return now?"
"You're guess is as good as mine, sister. However, I do know that we will need to prepare. We may be on the verge of a Changeling War, and we cannot let another incident like the wedding happen. Anyway, we must focus on more immediate issues. Have you sensed any nightmares?"
"Not yet, sister. Not from Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, or the young Scootaloo Dash. She was not even exposed. They show no signs of being affected by the foul magic of Queen Chrysalis."
"Magic? Her mere presence was enough to cause night terrors in some of the weaker-willed ponies that were at the wedding. That poor dear Fluttershy... those touched by her magic are more likely, but... she has more than just nightmare abilities. Changelings absorb love, but Chrysalis can corrupt that power and turn it into Hate Magic."
"That is what worries me, Tia... Rainbow Dash was directly assaulted by her magic. Perhaps the doctors managed to destroy it... or perhaps they only temporarily weakened it. If so, the only way to destroy it now is for somepony very dear to her heart and skilled with magic to Dreamwalk into her subconscious, and purge the corrupted magic from the inside."
"You refer to Twilight, do you not?"
"Perhaps. The two are very close, and the young princess is very skilled in magic... but Dreamwalking can be very dangerous to both ponies involved."
"Twilight also has Pegasus magic now. It may help her enter Rainbow Dash's mind. Do not underestimate her abilities, Luna. She rivals us now with pure magical potential."
"Ah, but we are getting ahead of ourselves, dear sister. Are you not proud of your student?"
"Of course I am. But, if that kind of power was somehow manipulated or fell into the wrong hooves... it would be disastrous. However, Twilight is nothing if not pure of heart, and I am confident that anything that tries to capture her or use her for evil will be destroyed by Twilight herself. Oh, and Luna... you're getting better with saying 'I' instead of 'We'."
Luna gave Celestia a happy smile, but it was cut short. Luna's eyes turned a bright white, and her horn glowed with her dark blue magic. She closed her eyes, and when they opened, thy were normal again. Her horn, however, was still glowing.
"It's happening, sister. A nightmare."
"Who is it happening to?"
"I can't tell yet. I must try to weaken the magic when I enter, correct?"
Celestia nodded at her sister, before giving a reassuring smile. "I know you can do it, Luna."
With that, Luna lowered herself to the floor, lying on her legs. Her eyes slowly began to close as she entered the dream world...
"Are you suuuuuure you don't want to talk about it?"
Spike was lying in his small bed which had been moved to the guest room, and he looked up at the little orange filly in the bed next to him.
"I told you Spike, I really don't." Scootaloo sat up, looking at the young dragon.
"But maybe I could help. I just hate seeing you so depressed."
Scootaloo flopped back, staring up at the ceiling. She carefully considered Spike's offer. She was quite happy he cared so much, but also wondered if she could trust him to keep a secret. Pinkie Pie had taught her the Pinkie Promise, maybe she could do it now...
"You have to Pinkie Promise to not tell my mom. Or Twilight, because she will probably tell her."
"Of course."
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." The two said in unison.
"Heh, well of course you hope to fly." Spike gave a sly smile.
"Well... don't you? You are a dragon..."
"Well, Twilight insists that she has no idea when my wings will come in. I'm sure she's actually read a ton of books about dragons, and I'm sure there's stuff about how we mature. I mean, even when I went on that greed rampage and became huge I couldn't fly. Sorry, now can we talk about what happened?"
"No problem, Spike. Well, first of all, I was... at the fight. I saw everything that happened from one of the trees in Sweet Apple Acres, and that's where they all were..."
Scootaloo went on, explaining every detail of the fight to Spike. He listened closely, as he was very interested and wanted to help his little Pegasus friend.
"Wow. Rainbow bucked Applejack in the face? Awesome! Thanks for telling me Scootaloo, Twilight wouldn't tell me much about it."
"Well, that's not everything... there's still the thing with Sweetie Belle. She stuck up for Twilight with Apple Bloom during the fight, but at Sugar Cube Corner... she wouldn't say a word."
"Maybe Rarity yelled at her for being on Twilight's side."
"Yeah, maybe..." Scootaloo grabbed Spike in a hug, but not a bone-crushing one like earlier that day. "Thanks for listening, Spike. I feel a lot better."
"Not a problem at all. That's what friends are for, right?" Scootaloo released Spike, and he plopped back down onto his bed. The two soon fell asleep, and Scootaloo's stress had faded away.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, and looked around, confused, She was no longer in Twilight's bed. She was in Sweet Apple Acres, and it was the middle of the night.
"Hello...?"
"Somepony? Anypony?" Rainbow Dash instinctively jumped up and flapped her wings, but fell back to the ground, grunting in pain. "Right... messed up wing."
Rainbow began walking towards the barn house, but was stopped by a sickening slash sound. The sound had come from inside the barn. She bean trotting forward, and stopped at the doors. One was partially open, and she peered into the pitch-blackness. As she stepped in, the blackness faded as her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.
The sight in front of her almost made her scream in pure terror. All she managed was a muffled screech, as she covered her mouth with a hoof.
There, in front of her, on the floor of the barn, was Twilight. She was lying on her back in a rapidly expanding pool of blood. She was not breathing. There were three massive gashes across her chest.
"Twilight!" Rainbow attempted to move forward, but found herself unable to move her hooves or legs. Looking down, she saw that they were surrounded by a white magical aura.
"What's going on?!"
Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with wide eyes, as she appeared to start moving. She sat up on her haunches, facing away from Rainbow, which was incredible considering the massive amount of blood she had lost. Rainbow tried to speak, but no words escaped.
Twilight slowly turned towards her, and Rainbow gasped when she saw Twilight's eyes were now open.
Twilight's eyes were completely purple, except for the pupils, which had narrowed into slits.
Rainbow watched in pure horror, as she was unable to do anything else.
Twilight's fur began darkening rapidly, even more than it already had from all the blood. Even her wings quickly turned darker until they were completely black like her fur. Two fangs protruded from her mouth, extending to her chin. Her horn slightly curved upward. Her mane and tail turned a light teal, the purple and pink stripes turning dark blue and white. Claws formed in place of her hooves. She let out a frightening roar at Rainbow Dash.
Twilight Sparkle had turned into a Changeling.
Rainbow heard an all too familiar laughter, as a pool of black liquid appeared from the ground next to Twilight. Green smoke began flowing out, as the Changeling Queen rose out of it.
"Ahahahaha! She belongs to me now! There is only one way you can save her Rainbow...
...Join us."
Twilight disappeared in a puff of green smoke, as Chrysalis walked slowly towards the immobilized Rainbow Dash.
Before she got too close, a dark blue beam of energy pierced the Queen through the chest, and she stopped. She looked down at the wound, as another pierced through her head, causing her dream form to shatter like glass and vanish.
Princess Luna landed in the spot where the Queen had been standing.