//------------------------------// // Oh, Sh... by Taranth // Story: Magic of Love: A Twidance Prompt Collab // by ArguingPizza //------------------------------// by Taranth ~~~ "Well, I have to say, you'd probably have to be the most inept changeling I've ever encountered." "Ahaha, very funny, sweetie, now please..." "Do I look like I find anything about this funny?" The Princess of love circled the stallion in her bedroom, and indeed, there was not even a hint of a smile on her face. To all appearances, he was Shining Armour, prince of the Crystal Empire - although the 'armour' he currently wore was less 'Shining' and more 'hobbles, hoofcuffs and a horn ring', as well as somewhat panicked expression. "You're right, this really isn't funny, so please take this off..." He tried to paw at the magic-blocking ring on his horn, but with his hooves bound together, he left himself completely unbalanced, falling flat on his muzzle a few moments later. He started trying to stagger back up, but a pink hoof slammed into his back seconds later, driving him back to the ground. "The 'I came home a day early' ruse? Honestly, every couple in Equestria knows that one by now." Cadence hissed, a rather unusual sound for anyone who knew the princess. "And you have all the discipline of a little filly on her first heat. You're years off trying to impersonate someone like my husband." "W-what?" "I mean every bit of offence when I say this - even if I wasn't just lowering your guard, I wouldn't even call that kiss cheating, you're so inexperienced." She made a show of wiping out her mouth, spitting to one side. "I suppose that's why changelings have to hypnotise their prey, hmmm?" "I-I'm not a changeling!" The stallion whined, his eyes now clearly wet with tears. "Let me go!" "Hmph. And even if my Shining lost every last bit of his marital skills, he wouldn't have lost his martial - really, you get that distracted I could sneak that gear onto you? You didn't even notice your hooves were bound until I had the horn ring on you! Shining would have had me pinned before I had them within five feet of him. I should know." She smiled, then, but it wasn't a nice one. "I... I..." "But if you were really Shining..." She leant down, lips right against his ear, whispering with a dark, and yet almost sensual confidence, sending a shiver down his spine, "You'd know the safe word. Pops those restraints right off." He froze for a heartbeat, then blurted, "Windigo!" "Oooh, you know the factory default, maybe you aren't that inexperienced," Cadance mocked. "Banana!" "You're thinking of Auntie Celestia." "Crystal! Heart!" "Oh, come on, a safe word has to be something you'd be unlikely to say in general conversation..." "Sunshine! Ladybirds!" Cadance paused, slightly taken aback by those guesses, but rallied quickly. "You won't guess it. But are you ready to give up, now?" 'Shining' slumped. "I... alright, I'm not Shi... Shining Armour. But I'm not a changeling!" "Oh? Well then, I guess you won't mind if I do this then..." Cadance charged up her horn, focusing on the spell. It was a reasonably complicated piece of spellcraft, but she had learnt it well - experience was a harsh motivator - and it took her only seconds to bring it together. The invader flinched backwards as her pale blue aura lashed out, shredding apart all changeling magic, revealing... ...Shining Armour, still tied up on her floor. "Huh." Cadance tilted her head, frowning. "L-look, I'm sorry, this w-wasn't what I meant to have happen..." "Yes, I imagine you didn't intend to get caught." He winced again. "Please, just... just let me go, I'll leave... pretend this never happened..." "Really? Because if you're not a changeling looking for food - because it's blatantly obvious you wouldn't have had a chance at kidnapping me - you're something else who thought it would be a lark to just come in and have a fling with the Princess." "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't think--" "Because I am a married mare. And I love Shining very much. As the princess of love. Do you have any conception of what that means?" "I do, I do, and I'm sorry, I was stupid, please just let me go!" The stallion was completely in tears now, babbling on her floor. For a moment, the sight of her husband so weak and miserable tugged at her heart - but hardened it again, moments later, as she realised she was being manipulated by this impostor. "Your magic isn't changeling, but I do know some other tricks too. Let's see, how did this go?" She closed her eyes again, bringing forth the next spell. This one was far more complex than the previous, and far more powerful, as her horn grew brighter and brighter, multiple coronas lighting up as the spell came together. Her prisoner thrashed suddenly, words spilling forth as he tried to escape. "No! No no no, please don't, please, don't do that, I'll leave, I'll go, you don't want to do that, it'll ruin everything, just let me go and I promise you'll never have to see me again! please just don't--" "Disjunction." Magic broke. At the edge of the spell's effect, the lights in the room dimmed. The crystals in the walls grew dull and lifeless. For a heartbeat, Cadance felt her body lurch, as the natural magical flow simply stopped for an instant - extremely unpleasant, but not harmful. But the true target of the spell beneath her screamed, snapping back from its current form to another in an instant... Then, a split second later, with a flash of purple light, it vanished - the magical restraints having been similarly disrupted by the spell, and falling to the ground in a pile as their occupant disappeared. Cadance sat down heavily, trying to catch her breath from the strain of the incredibly advanced spell, and make sense of what she had just seen for that tiny moment. A familiar figure. Purple. A streak of pink. Wings. Horn. Capable of transformation equal to or better than a changeling. "And you have all the discipline of a filly on her first heat." Capable of infiltrating the castle and acting just like him, right up until the bedroom... "Sunshine! Ladybirds!" Capable of recognising a disjunction spell. "Do you have any conception of what that means?" Capable of teleporting within a second of being struck. "...please, don't do that, I'll leave, I'll go, you don't want to do that, it'll ruin everything..." And a scream, not of physical pain, but of loss, despair, heartbreak... "Oh, Twilight... why would you... what have I done?" Cadance collapsed to the floor, covering her muzzle with her hooves, and wept.