“Spiky would you please calm down, you’re going to give me an anxiety disorder” Rarity said rubbing the back of his head to try and calm the young dragon. He was breathing in and out of a brown paper bag that had the scent of muffins oddly enough as it was
Ditzy that had handed him the bag.
The Wall eyed mare was busy eating said muffin in the corner of the room. She was happy enough to just sit there and eat in the face of the potential crisis.
Pinkie’s hair was deflated and she was having trouble keeping even a little bit happy at the present time, though she was being comforted by Fluttershy.
Applejack was the only one that had taken the whole ‘fate of Equestria’ in any sort of context or meaning; though the fact that both Shining Armour and both Princess Twilight and Luna were coming down meant that this is a big deal. She still had her doubts that Celestia was actually in any form of danger, but deep down, she was concerned.
The door swung open revealing Shining Armour, devoid of his armour, followed by Luna and Twilight, the latter devoid of most of her jewellery aside from the slippers.
“I still think that you should be coming Princess” Shining said in annoyance.
“All will be revealed in a minute captain” Luna commented, she looked amongst the gathered ponies “And all of your friends are here. Excellent”
“Give me a minute” Twilight said as her horn was bathed in a rich purple aura. The casted spell bathed the library in an eerily purple light “there now no pony can hear us”
“Ah’ forgive me for saying but what the hay is going on here?” Applejack asked as Luna tutted as her horn began to flash periodically.
Seconds later a blinding light of pure blue stunned all that were gathered.
“What the hay?” Applejack said “what’s going on here? Since when Twilight did you get so tall? Or wings for that fact”
“They all remember yesterday yes?” Twilight said as Luna nodded in agreement at her statement.
“I was hoping that I could perform the full reverse, but with Cele’s capture and time running out. Who knows what could happen if she wasn’t here”
“Wait a second Twili’ what’s going on? And why did I think that Celestia was you and you her?” Shining asked shaking the confusion out of his head.
“Every-pony will you please sit down, for I am not going to repeat myself” Luna said.
Pinkie somehow pulled out a large beanbag and a bag of popcorn. Rarity on the other hoof summoned up her ‘sofa’ and allowed Shining to sit next to her; the others just sat on the floor; Though Rainbow Dash kept herself hovering instead of sitting.
“Right then, where to begin?” she asked casually
“How about what’s it like to be a princess for a day Twilight?” Pinkie said shoving a hooffull of popcorn into her mouth
Twilight chuckled
“Well then, sounds like a beginning” Twilight said
~-~-~
“Rise and Shine. Time to get the buck up” a colts voice said slamming his holey hoof into the sleeping mare. She blinked a few times before looked up, bleary eyed at the creature before her.
Rich blue eyes, black Carapace, insect wings, Swiss cheese legs, bent proto-horn and fins at the back of head running down to the nape of the neck. Celestia’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the changeling before her.
“Trixie recommends that you get up lest you want to annoy them more so” a mare’s voice said from across the room. Celestia complied and got to her hooves
“Yeah that’s what I thought” it sneered walking out.
”Okay, where the buck am I now?” Celestia asked wincing in pain at the rough treatment she had been given.
“Trixie does not know the answer to that particular question” a Light blue mare with even light mane and tail replied, though she had twigs and leaves jutting out of the mane.
“Wait, your Trixie yeah?” Celestia asked
“Glad to see that your memory is as good as ever Celestia. Trixie does not approve of the situation that she finds herself in, but we are in this together now for the time being” she said walking to the thin membrane that separated them.
“I think I know where we are and if I'm correct then I know that Twilight will be coming” Celestia stated “Problem is the timeframe”
“Why do you think that my dear?” another voice said from the other side of the membrane. Celestia looked to see another Mare flanked by a pair of changelings. Though for some reason, Chrysalis was the same size of them and not as large as she was during the invasion months prior. She actually looked younger than she did before as well. “Like it? Because this was the result of that little blast back that trollop Cadance and Shinning did” She said snarling.
“They shrank you?” Celestia asked
“Far form that actually. They basically shrank me in all of my power and title” she explained, the pair of changelings broke the membrane separating them from Trixie “now I need to rebuild my little empire” she said walking up to Trixie, fangs gleaming in the green light.
“What are you going to do to her?”
“Why feed on her of course. I am starved after I carried you away from your precious little town” Chrysalis said bluntly, burying her fangs into Trixie’s neck. A blood curdling scream came from the mare for the length of the feed until she passed out from the pain. Chrysalis backed up, wiping away some kind of pink liquid from her fangs. “Refreshing. Did you know what happens to ponies that I feed on multiple times without letting their emotions recharge?” Chrysalis asked Celestia. The white mare shook her head not knowing the answer.
“No? Shame, well to be honest, they first grow to love the lack of emotion. Then well, these two are prime examples” she said running her hoof over the flank of one of the colts “the body of your precious ponies goes comatose for days on end from constant feeding to try and replenish the lost emotions. We simply use this time to enhance them so to speak” she said waking through the barrier as though it was nothing. “Now since that you were foolish enough to swap forms with your student Twilight, you are now vulnerable to this process of feeding”
“I'm warning you Chrysalis, back off” Celestia said taking on a defensive posture.
“Oh how pathetic” Chrysalis said. The changelings either side of her, crash tackled Celestia to the ground, one biting into her neck, causing her to scream before trailing off. Her whole body didn’t respond to any of her commands as the Changelings got off her slumped form “Like the feeling, new addition I made to them since the Canterlot invasion, paralytic venom”
“You monster” Celestia stated; As her jaw went numb from the venom, She never felt the twin needle like punches into her neck, only the odd sensation of her body slowly and oddly going drunk. She heard some kind of soft singing from chrysalis
Hush now, quiet no, time to rest your weary head
She never heard the end of the lullaby as her mind slipped into unconsciousness
~0~0~
“Wow, so Twilight, you get to rule for two days and Celestia becomes a no-pony for two days?” Pinkie asked bouncing at the end of the hour long Q and A following the story.
“Yeah basically” Twilight said, she didn’t have her torc or crown on, but kept the shoes on in case she needed them. Also they were so comfy.
“Well in any case, you can fly now, which is AWESOME!” Rainbow said, emphasizing on the awesome part.
“No it’s not ‘awesome’ Dash” Twilight stated, putting her hoof down hard onto the wood, causing it to buckle under the force. “Sorry but it’s not. If we don’t find Celestia before midnight tonight, Luna might not be able to reverse the effects. The Spell was botched enough as is”
“What do you mean botched?” Shining asked.
“Yah mean ta’ say that because of the first time we see you get drunk, no offence princess to you, but they casted the spell shortly after ah dropped you off?”
“My memories and Celestia’s never transferred over correctly. So yeah it was botched” Twilight admitted, she looked over at Ditzy who was still eating her muffin. The second one she had pulled out of nowhere “Ditzy, in which direction did you see this mare carry Celestia away?”
“Umm, from what I could see, it was heading in the direction of the place beyond the everfree?” Ditzy said. Twilight rolled her eyes.
“That’s well over a Days flight from here. There is no way that we can reach her now” twilight said in defeated, slumping into the beanbag that pinkie had summoned up. “I'm now stuck like this”
“That might not be the case, remember the spell was supposed to revert after two days” Luna stated. She looked over at Twilight, who was being comforted by Shining Armour “It was a fail-safe...“
Twilight looked up at her and then thought about something for a minute. The idea struck her like a tonne of bricks.
“Fail-safe, sister that’s it” Twilight said getting up and walking over to Luna.
“It is?” Luna said confused.
“Yes. Failsafe! As in my first and only spell that I created! The Failsafe spell, after Discords return to power, I created it to undo all magic in a certain area and change nature back to how it should be” Twilight said, her horn beginning to cast said spell.
“And if it doesn’t fix it?”
“Then we wait” Twilight said as the spell reached its pinnacle. In a shower of blinding purple light every pony was again blinded.
After the light show finished up every pony blinked a few times to get the glare out of their eyes.
“So did it work?” Luna asked looking around; she was the only one standing up. Every-pony was casted into bookshelves, and thus, making a huge mess all over the place.
“Urgh; Pinkie Pie would you get of me please!” Rarity complained pushing the pinkie party pony off her. Pinkie apologized and giggled as she got to her hooves.
“Twilight?” Shining said next, his bubble shield had prevented most of the books falling onto him.
“Am I back to normal, please tell me I'm back to normal” Twilight asked, her magic casting aside the various volumes that had landed on top of her. She looked around and noticed that everything was now taller than before. Not by much but it was better than looking over ponies.
Rainbow sniggered and then burst out laughing alongside Pinkie Pie.
Luna tried to contain her own laughter as well as Rarity. Shining Armour was shocked and Fluttershy was giving them all a mean look.
“What happened?” Twilight asked
“Your fail-safe worked....sort of” Luna admitted “your you again yes....But you didn’t purge everything from yourself”
“What do you mean?” Twilight said. She looked down to see that she was now her natural size like before, however the light purple metal had shrunk with her. Looking to her sides she noticed that she still had the wings of a Pegasus, though the primaries were now a rich white colour instead of matching her own coat. Her tail and mane were still ethereal in nature and her horn longer and much more slender than it was before but still, her size had reverted.
“Sorry, but looks like your failsafe sort of worked” Luna said walking over to the dejected Alicorn.
“This still has the problem of where Celestia is at the moment” Shining stated
“Maybe” Twilight said slumping into the beanbag again “why can’t I just have two days off like was supposed to happen”
“I do not know. Anyway I am needed back at the castle” Luna said. In a flash of midnight blue she vanished.
“I'm hungry for some dandelion sandwich’s anypony else up for lunch?” Twilight asked
~0~0~
Twilight and the group left sweet apple acres full and content from the huge meal that the family had put on. Shinning had taken it upon himself to watch out for Twilight. Sure she was capable, but he was concerned. His mind was confused as well. Though he didn’t voice it, his mind still registered Celestia as his sister alongside Twilight, with Luna being the sole ruler of Equestria.
“Something is up Shining. I can tell by the way you’ve been looking at me” Twilight asked. Her friends had long since gone home to their various homes or jobs. “Don’t bother. I know what’s wrong, they know it, I know it and so do you”
“You do?” Shining asked
“Yeah. Celestia, you’re not the only one seeing her as a sister are you?” Twilight stated, she kept walking as Shining stopped in his tracks
“Wait how did you...” Shining asked stunned.
“Know?” Twilight said, looking back she pointed up towards the sun “he said so. I never lost the link to the sun that Celestia had. We share it now for some reason that he is not divulging”
“Share the link to the sun? You’re kidding me” Shining said laughing it up. Twilight gave him a death stare
“Nope; now the issue is that, he kind of messed with my fail-safe spell to actually do this” she said “Yeah this is permanent now. He linked us both to him; we share the Celestial bond that holds him here. Secondly he thought that Celestia could learn a little humility about ‘growing up’ with family”
“What?”
“Yeah, he was a being dick basically” Twilight said flatly
“No matter, I have my Twilight back. And that is all that matter to me at the moment”
“Nice to be back, sort of” Twilight said “BBBF”
“Yeah BLSFFF; Wait what’s that?” Shinning asked pointing out a figure staggering out of the forest edge with a second one shortly after. A beam of pure gold magic shot from the first into the forest, igniting parts of the foliage with flames.
Shining bolted towards the mares in trouble as a pair of changeling burst from the forest, one on fire screaming and the other pouncing towards the white one.
The white mare shrieked in terror as the Changeling bounced harmlessly off the shield thrown up by Shinning, who had intercepted the charging changeling.
Shining recognized one of them as Celestia, as for the other he didn't recognize her.
“Sup Tia” he said smiling at the pair.
Twilight ran up to the pair, recognizing one as Trixie and the other as Celestia
“Tia’!” Twilight exclaimed. Celestia gave a weak nod, as Twilight turned around. Her mouth twitched as her mane and tail ignited in pure flames.
“No-pony-harms-my-sister” she said in a tone that reverberated.
The two changelings raised an eyebrow at the Alicorn before them. As she began to create a massive Inferno around the two escapee mares and the one called Shining armour, they turned tail and fled in fear.
The last thing to go through their heads before the inferno caught up with them was ‘oh no not again’ before the pair were incinerated to pure ash and the intense pain shooting through the hive mind.
As the inferno died down, Twilight was panting heavily as Shining stoped his shield spell that had protected himself, Celestia and Trixie from the blow back.
“Okay, mental note, don’t piss you off” Celestia stated helping Trixie up off the ground. "So I'm in trouble now? even though i was kidnapped?"
"Yes and no. If you were to explain to everyone that has been affected then and only then i think we can forgive you. isn't that right Shinny?" Twilight stated looking at her brother who's expression of was a combination of awe and shock. "Besides, 'he' wants and explanation more than we do"
Celestia swiftly realized that the day off, had swiftly become something that she was now dreading the most.