//------------------------------// // Twilight: End of the Line // Story: Game of Worlds // by DualThrone //------------------------------// Silence filled the throne room at Lepinora’s announcement. “Ponyville is under attack,” Twilight repeated. “But… who? Why?” “Atermors, Princess Sparkle,” Lepi said. “Specifically, the mutated spawn of the magical plague they use as a weapon. Apparently, this ‘Vorka’ has altered the plague so it’s more virulent and powerful, which is why the plague-spawn could already be present in high enough numbers to attack.” “With respect to your agents, Lepinora, I can’t see how that’s possible,” Nightmare said. “No matter how quickly they gathered Twisted, even the Emperor of All Maladies lacks the precise control of magical flow to mass-teleport such creatures by the hundreds of thousands. They would have to haste-infused and run the distance, and such things take time.” “With respect, Empress, wouldn’t the involvement of this ‘Vorka’ change things considerably?” Tetti inquired as she got up from her throne. “He can alter a magical plague considerably. Wouldn’t it be fairly simple to engineer a magical means of mass-teleportation that works through rune-craft? I myself have devised such constructs and they’re very simple to operate.” “The only consistent truth of Vorka is that he cannot be trusted,” Nightmare said. “He throws monkey wrenches in anything he’s commissioned to do unless closely watched or highly motivated. This truth isn’t easy to learn because he’s very cunning about how he sabotages to inflate his own ego; only I and a few others fully understand his treacherous tendencies. When he was creating night-infused soldiers for Luna, he had both an exquisitely intricate challenge before him and a nightmare glaring malevolently over his shoulder constantly, and he created a race that was a significant alteration while keeping the basic universal fertility among the other pony races, a task that I understand to be extremely difficult.” “Well yeah, it’d be difficult as hay,” Dawn said. “Just maintaining…” “So how does him being treacherous scum amount to his involvement making little difference?” Lepi asked. “Any rune-based shortcuts he’d have made would rebound horribly upon whomever tried to use them, his version of teaching inferior creatures not to rely on shortcuts,” Nightmare said. “And it’s possible that he booby-trapped the plague itself somehow, because a magical disease that mutates and twists its victims into tortured husks is something he could do in his sleep while hogtied to the front of an express train.” Twilight heard Rarity gasp behind her and there was another long silence. “Tortured husks?” she said quietly, more calmly than she felt. “This sickness… it twists ponies into tortured husks?” “Sadly, yes.” Nightmare came off the covered throne she’d been using. “Or at least that’s what Vorka would want them to believe. Exactly what Vorka’s plague does is something that only Vorka knows. Tricking a superior like Canceros into using a flawed plague would be like catnip to him, and if I know anything about him at all, he is fundamentally incapable of resisting the urge to flaunt his intellect and cunning. He’s far too old and cautious to be destroyed by his ego.” Reaching Twilight, she leaned down and met her eyes. “But he can be anticipated by it, and the atermors have no idea what awaits them at your home, Twilight.” Twilight swallowed a little, unsettled by Nightmare’s closeness but unsure about why; her actions about the Guardian and ever since she met them in Maredusa’s cavern had made it clear that there was nothing to fear from the self-proclaimed Dread Empress. Burying the question in the back of her mind to be considered later, she took in a breath and looked into the turquoise draconic eyes. “Who do you mean? I have confidence in Trixie to watch over Ponyville in my stead, but she can’t possibly stop an attack by herself.” “Admittedly, we can’t state as a fact that Celestia called on him to help Trixie Lulamoon protect Ponyville, but it would perfectly reflect the Sun Princess’ tendencies,” Lepi said as Nightmare backed away, yielding the floor to the tattooed mare. “Calling out the Royal Guard would be one of her first initiatives, and your adoptive brother is their captain.” Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Shiny?” “I’m sure he is, but we tend to call him Shining Armor,” Lepi smirked at her. “Pounds to pudding, the atermors are currently bouncing off of one of his village-sized shields. Or unexpected resistance has temporarily deterred them; the situation is potentially very fluid.” “Fluid?” Applejack repeated. “Meaning, the situation is changing so quickly and unpredictably that we can’t be sure what’s happening right now and what is likely to happen soon,” Lepi said. “My report is that an attack is in progress, but that report is old enough and vague enough that it could mean one of numerous things.” “So first it was a for-sure thing that some spawn or the other were attacking, an’ now it ain’t so for-sure?” Applejack gave Lepinora a deadpan look. “Got some swampland ta sell us next?” Lepi’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” “Ah think you’re tryin’ ta sell us a load of…” “It’s a metaphor Lepi,” Tettidora interrupted. “An oblique reference to a con artist selling something that’s actually worthless. Another variation refers to selling a bridge, in which case it’s the con artist selling something they do not own and thus cannot sell. Simply put, she’s caling you a liar.” “Colorful.” Lepi shrugged. “Yes, there is an important point I’m not covering, but it’s something that requires a… delicate approach.” “Something you’re afraid will send my big sis into a nervous breakdown.” Everyone turned to Dawn who was giving Lepi a cocked-head furrowed-brow frown. “This big plan of yours has something that’ll hit Twi hard enough that you’re sure she’s gonna freak.” Twilight frowned at her twin. “Huh?” “They’ve been juggling this plan thing for a bit now, and the math just came into focus.” Dawn gave her an apologetic look. “Don’t feel bad, sis, you’ve been distracted with some big stuff where my only distraction has been a lot of nice firm plot.” She looked at the changelings and Nightmare. “I’m right, aren’t I?” “You are our guests, and two of you are Celestia’s own daughters,” Queen Chrysalis said evenly. “And matters of emotion are vastly more significant when positive emotion is as important to your health as food and drink. Distressing a guest is at best a faux pas, at worst a severe breach of courtesy and hospitality.” She sighed and came off her throne to stand next to Nightmare, sweeping her gaze over all of them. With the queen standing closer, Twilight could see the tiny signs of worry in her expression. “None of us believed we’d enjoy your company before reunion, so your arrival in Scarabi has caught us woefully unprepared to handle an issue we believed would be resolved by the time of our first meeting.” Twilight swallowed hard. They’re treating this like having to tell me Mother or Luna died suddenly. But that can’t be, because that’s not an issue that’ll resolve itself in a certain time frame. “What issue is that, Queen Chrysalis?” Barely had the question been asked when a surge of magical outflow nearly knocked her off her feet. She stumbled at the surge of magic, as strong and hard-hitting as if it was a solid intangible wall of force, before another surge caused her to fall to her knees. She could see that the surge was affecting Chrysalis and Nightmare the same way, both visibly staggering as they turned to face the direction of concentration, just a few meters in front of the raised dais. Looking in the direction of the thrones, she caught the expression on Tettidora’s face: the pigtailed changeling was looking shocked, but in the way of someone who knew exactly what was happening. With a crackling sound, a circle of greenish magic flashed into existence. Another crack brought a circle of intricate runes, followed by another circle. The pattern of circle-rune-circle repeated until there were four containment circles and then a pillar of green flame exploded out of the center and surged towards the ceiling, noticeably doing no damage to the stained glass high above. Out of the pillar of green fire, Twilight could vaguely make out a winged pony stumbling a few steps and then falling forward, coughing noisily. Another crackle and the circles and flame flashed out of existence, revealing a pink-coated mare with a tail Twilight knew well, a cutie mark as familiar to her as her own, and a melodious femininity to the wheezing coughing that she hadn’t heard in years, but remembered as if it was yesterday. “Blast… you… Tettidora...” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the mare that Twilight knew as Cadence, the pony she regarded as the best foalsitter in the history of Equestria, managed through her fit of coughing. “That… was… not… stable… and safe!” “S… sorry…” Tetti managed, actually turning pale. Cadence coughed a few more times before clearing her throat and getting to her feet, her back still to Twilight. “Well, you ought to…” she paused and her head tilted. “I’m a little upset with you Tetti but you look like you’re about to keel over on the spot. What’s wrong?” “T...  T…” Tetti managed to gesture weakly with a hoof towards Twilight and Cadence turned around. Time seemed to stop as Twilight met the pair of soft violet eyes that had always looked into hers when she’d scraped a knee, gotten a bad grade, was lonely for her parents, or when her foalsitter had given her a warm hug on general principle and saw the stunned expression on Cadence’s face. “T… Twilight…?” “C… Cadence?” Twilight said, feeling as stunned as the other alicorn looked. “Twilight!” She abruptly found herself being crushed against Cadence in a joyous embrace. “Dear Aunt Tia, I’ve missed you!” Twilight returned the embrace, inhaling the familiar scent of the minty shampoo Cadence had used on her mane for as long as she could remember, smiling broadly despite the questions frantically pounding on her consciousness, demanding to know how her old foalsitter was here and why she knew Tettidora well enough to use the diminutive of her name. She ignored her inquisitive nature for the moment, because the closest thing she’d ever had to a big sister was hugging her and it’d been years, and it was like nothing had really changed in all that time. “I’ve missed you too,” she choked out as Cadence let her go. “What are you doing here?” “Getting help for Ponyville from the most reliable of all sources, the one thing you can always count on when things seem bleak.” Cadence sighed and stepped in to hug her again, this time more gently. “I don’t know what to say right now, Twilight. This is the moment I’ve dreaded for years and had hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with, or at least that I could deal with in under pleasant circumstances and ease you into it. You’re like a little sister to me, just like Aunt Tia was like a mother to me for most of my life, and… you deserve much more than what I can give you right now. A long explanation, lots of hugs, your favorite ice cream… something.” Twilight pulled away from her and stared. “What are you talking about?” “I’m talking about a fear of hurting and disappointing you as severe as your fear of disappointing Auntie Celestia,” Cadence said. “You, Aunt Luna, and Aunt Celestia are just as much family to me as my actual family is and this was a conversation I wanted to have much later and under much different circumstances.” She gestured at the changeling royals and Nightmare. “Not in a throne room with Tetti and Lepi and…” “...Mother?” Twilight only managed to turn partway around at the single word from Pinkie when she felt a leg drape over her shoulders and Pinkie’s quietly compassionate self was standing beside her, looking at Cadence. Cadence sagged. “That obvious?” “I have three sisters,” Pinkie said simply. “And I’m the second-oldest.” Cadence blinked, evidently surprised out of her nervousness and hesitance. “How did you…?” “She’s Pinkie,” Dawn said, walking up to stand on Twilight’s other side. “Even Twilight’s given up trying to figure it out.” “I have three sisters,” Pinkie said. “I recognize a sister talking to her sister. It’s not really mysterious or difficult to understand.” There was a pause. “Twilight?” Twilight swallowed and shakily turned away from Cadence to look at a pair of the most compassionate blue eyes she’d ever seen. Pinkamena met her eyes for several moments before giving her a hug. “She’s like family to you, and now this.” She turned around to look at Cadence. “Why?” “She wasn’t given a choice.” Queen Chrysalis slipped off her throne and walked over to stand beside Cadence. “If anyone in this room is to blame for this situation and for your pain, Twilight Sparkle, it would be me. As much as my daughter has been old enough to make her own decisions for many years, that you and all of Equestria knows her as Mi Amore Cadenza is entirely my doing.” Twilight barely heard her. Her logical mind was taking in the data and processing it and tapping on the back of her mind for attention, but the rhetorical tapping was nothing against the roaring truth: Cadence, the mare who raised her as much as her adoptive family had, the mare who’d dried tears, helped her with homework, celebrated her acceptance to Celestia’s school, played with her, read with her, hugged her, healed her, loved her, came up with that silly and playful way they greeted one another with her, had been pretending the entire time. Whoever the mare in front of her was, she wasn’t her Cadence; her Cadence, her heart screamed to her, would have never misled her. “Twilight.” Her voice. It was Cadence’s voice, the right tone, the right pitch, the right timbre, the right cadence, but it simply couldn’t be her voice because this mare talking to her, putting one hoof on her shoulder, gently lifting her head, looking at her with the same combination of steady firmness and affection the way Cadence did. Because Cadence would have never deceived her like this mare had. “Twilight, I know that look,” not-Cadence said. “Right now you can barely hear me because your panic and hurt is screaming for attention. Your mind is running in circles, inventing a dilemma to resolve, fixating on it, and trying to resolve it when it simply can’t be resolved.” “Y… yes…” Twilight managed. Cadence hugged her. “Then I have just the thing.” She let her go and turned. “Tetti, please come with us. Everyone else, I need to speak with Twilight on my own, with Tetti’s help. Please” “Sorry sugarcube, but that ain’t gonna happen.” Twilight heard the solid hoofsteps of her farmpony friend as Applejack came up and stood next to Dawn. “We’re her friends,” Rarity added, coming up on Pinkie’s side. “Our friend is traumatized and to be perfectly blunt, darling, I’m not sure being alone with the one who traumatized her is best.” Cadence looked between them and then smiled broadly. “Friends indeed. But I wish to speak with her alone because making peace with another pony isn’t a done by committee or group effort. I need my younger sister with me because I don’t speak genius, and she does.” Twilight looked at the pink-coated alicorn, cataloguing her movements, the subtle twitches of her expression, how she held herself and spoke, and compared it to her memories of her foalsitter. My Cadence would have never deceived me like this and yet… She gave her head a shake, trying to push back against the tide of emotion. Being hurt and angry won’t help. Data will. Information will. “Girls, it’s alright,” she said. “It’s great that you’re watching out for me but… she’s right. And if she’s here to get help for Ponyville…” She shuddered, grit her teeth, pushed on. “We’re on a time table. Cad… um, whoever you are, lets get to it.” Twilight let ‘Cadence’ close the door behind them before she turned around and thrust her face up to a scant few inches from the slightly taller mare. “Who are you?” “My birth name is Chidinida,” ‘Cadence’ said. “But until six years ago, I had no idea that my name wasn’t Cadence. I thought my only family was my two aunts, that the closest thing I’d ever have to a little sister was you. It was more than a little strange to find out that I had a complete family, a father, a mother, three sisters, and that the title I received by virtue of being adopted by Aunt Tia was always my title by birth among a race of ponies I never even knew existed.” “How can you possibly not know that you’re a… a…” Twilight gestured roughly towards Tettidora “...completely different race of pony that eats love?” “It’s called a ‘guise lock’,” Tetti said. “A last resort, normally, for a changeling parent living under a guise to make sure their foal remains in the appearance of a pony until they can learn how to form and control the guise voluntarily. It’s very, very difficult magic, the kind that maybe six or seven changelings in our entire race can perform safely. Did you by chance meet a doctor named Ratchet Limb on board the carrying rig?” Twilight thought back and nodded. “And she mentioned something called a ‘guise lock’ in passing.” “She’s one of the few. Mother and I are two others, which is how no one, not even Chidi herself, knew she was anything other than a pink alicorn with a pretty mane and a compulsively warm personality.” Tetti smiled at Cadence. “In retrospect, that her cutie mark ended up being the Crystal Heart surprised exactly no one.” “The Crystal…?” “A historical artifact of extraordinary power associated with love magic,” Tetti said. “I’ll be glad to share my research sometime, but the Heart is beyond reach and thus has no bearing on anything that’s going on right now. The point is that loving and being loved has always come natural to Chidi, as you can attest to, so there was never any real danger to her in the plan Mother devised.” “Before we go any further about that, though, you know why I wanted to take you someplace quiet with just us, and a pony very much like you in her love for books and empirical fact.” Chidinida reached out and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I know you’re hurt by not being told. I know you feel deceived, and like I’m suddenly a stranger to you. But remember what fear is. Fear is…” “...the mind-slayer,” Twilight finished almost automatically. “Pain is the thought-killer. Hatred is the intellect-destroyer.” “Yes.” Chidi smiled. “Remember that phrase you found in an old philosophy book? The irredeemable…” “The irreducible fact of actual reality.” She had to fight not to smile. She’d always liked Cadence as a foalsitter but an almost adult pony sitting on a couch with her the entire night actually taking her seriously when she started to babble about intellectual things far beyond her ability to really understand made her adore Cadence. Cadence had later given her a beautiful new copy of the book the phrase was pulled from, “Conjectures and Refutations” when she was accepted into Celestia’s School. She’s eagerly devoured it and read it over and over again; it wasn’t until later that she appreciated the subtle message her foalsitter had intended, in the aftermath of a very severe nervous breakdown: nothing chased away bad thoughts like good thoughts, and the good thoughts that helped her the most were a good, thorough, application of fact and reasoning to a problem. First fact: Chidinida’s mannerisms are identical to Cadence’s mannerisms. Second fact: her cutie mark is the same. Third fact: subtle details of biology and environment means that scent is as individual as blood vessels in the eye. Fourth fact: in every measurable way, Chidinida and Cadence are identical. First derivation: Chidinida is Cadence, or at least the only Cadence I’ve ever known. She could feel the pain and panic swirling in her thoughts quieting like a physical sensation, and this encouraged her to push onwards. Fifth fact: Lepinora  logically stated that there’s no compelling reason for a changeling who can assume any shape they wish to copy the shape of another pony. Sixth fact: Lepinora admitted to breaking this maxim purely as a favor to a friend. Seventh fact: Doctor Ratchet Limb spontaneously mentioned this spell called a guise lock. Eighth fact: both Tettidora and Doctor Limb said or implied that the spell is used for foals. Second derivation: there is a plausible possibility that a foal could grow up without being aware of anything but their guise. She raised her head from her pose of thinking and looked steadily at Cadence. “What do you look like under your guise?” Cadence smiled faintly. “I thought you’d ask that, although I hoped you wouldn’t. I’m afraid you’ll be somewhat disappointed.” She bowed her head and tendrils of the brilliant viridian energy that appeared to signify changeling magic gathered around her horn, were held for a moment, and then released as a gentle cascade of green flame that swept down over her features, “burning” away the guise as it went. When it was through, Chidinida raised her head again with an identical smile. “See what I mean?” Twilight could. Her pink coat had been replaced with the waxy black sheen of a changelings’s supple chitin, the magenta streak in her mane had become a rich green-blue, and her wings had the softly furred appearance of moth wings, but there was otherwise no difference. Her height was the same, her build, her face, her muzzle, her legs, everything was exactly the same as her alicorn guise. Even her violet eyes lacked the slight vertical elongation of a changeling’s pupils and as she smiled, she lacked the small fangs that all other changelings had. “I…” “It turned out that if you keep a changeling under a guise-lock for over twenty years, especially a changeling with a strong sense of purpose and inherent comfort in her own skin, they become the guise,” Tetti said. “It’s been literally hundreds of years since it last happened, so none of us had any idea of the spell’s singular drawback.” Chidi laughed softly. “It depends on how you see things Tetti,” she said, notably without the light vibrato. “I may appear deformed in relation to other changelings but I have to work really hard to be disappointed that the only thing that’s changed about the pony in the mirror is her coat and mane. I don’t even really notice the wings; I’ve never been all that much of a flier.” “You’re not deformed, Chidi, you’re a freak,” Tetti informed her, but with a grin. “Of course I am,” she said cheerfully. “The first changeling princess to live in Equestria for her entire life since Queen… um… Pupa, I think.” She turned to Twilight. “I promise you, Twilight, I’m not playing some elaborate trick on you, switching to a different guise so I still look like the Cadence you grew up with. I am, and will always be, that Cadence even if my family calls me ‘Chidinida’.” Twilight took in a breath as the roar of fears and hurt faded entirely. One and the same. She couldn’t explain why but something, whether some innate sense of magic or just the sheer impossibility that one pony could copy anything this perfectly, made her believe it: this ‘guise lock’ magic was so comprehensive that instead of Chidinida being also Cadence, Cadence was also Chidinida. She forced herself not to smile and instead assumed what she hoped was a stern and serious look; based on how Tetti and Cadence were trying not to giggle, her success was limited. “There’s only way one to prove it.” Cadence looked oddly at her before understanding dawned, and she smiled broadly. “I was afraid you’d forgotten or outgrown it.” “Nope.” Twilight stepped forward and faced her old foalsitter, still in the form of Chidinida, and started the just-for-us-two thing Cadence had come up with for them. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and give a little shake.” And then they were hugging each other tightly and Twilight discovered another thing she was certain differed from other changelings: Chidinida was soft. It wasn’t just the pleasant softness of a pony’s coat but wool wrapped in cotton wrapped in silk stuffed with clouds for good measure. She found herself unconsciously pressing into that feeling of impossible softness and Cadence giggling as she did. “One of those odd paradoxes that come from being a race that consumes a kind of magic in our daily diet,” she said as she let Twilight go. “Chitin as supple and soft as chamois leather, and as strong as iron plate. Love is part of my special talent so the duality is a bit more… pronounced.” Twilight looked curiously at her. “So it’s like wearing armor all the time?” Cadence considered this. “Well, not quite…” “Um, sis? I know this is really, really important to you but unless I miss my guess, you didn't decide to use my experimental teleport runewell on the off chance Twilight was here and you could hang out.” Tetti said. “I think it had something to do with evil creatures coming to kill innocent ponies, and how you were against that happening.” Cadence frowned at her but sighed and nodded. “I’m a little bit more than mildly opposed to evil creatures killing innocent ponies Tetti,” she said mildly. “But yes, that’s why I risked that unstable…” “I swear I had the amplitude flux contained!” Cadence grimaced. “...unstable magical experiment of yours. The situation is about as bad as it could possibly be. We had allies of a sort show up claiming to be there to aid us, and then they disappeared into the Everfree just prior to an open attack by the atermors themselves. The atermors used a large-scale spell that induced extreme drowsiness and then summoned some kind of towering shadow-beast into the town square.” “A klesae?” Twilight said, remembering Spite’s description of the creature that had attacked Rainbow Dash. “One of the word components to their summoning sounded vaguely like that, so it probably was.” She closed her eyes and a pained looked came over her features. “Shiny was holding a shield against the shadow when Aunt Celestia arrived.” The expression and the dead tone of Cadence’s voice made Twilight’s stomach twist. “Is she… OK?” “She will be,” Cadence said. “But right now she’s catatonic, in a state of profound shock although Redheart assures me she shows no signs of being in any danger. With her disabled, Aunt Luna gone, and the Elements of Harmony scattered between here and wherever Loyalty and Kindness went, there’s exactly one pony in all of Equestria with enough sheer magical strength to deter the atermors--and the last they saw, I was in Ponyville.” “What happened to her, Chidi?” Tetti asked, her eyes going wide. “She’s Celestia, the embodiment of the sun and all of its fierce destructive power! How could the atermors even touch her?” “They didn’t.” Cadence looked up. “She was the embodiment of the sun and all of its fierce destructive power. She was also crushed with despair over her helplessness, in terrible emotional pain over what was happening to her little ponies, and then a letter arrived from Spike telling her where her enemy could be found. She burned white-hot like her sun and her wrath made no distinction between atermor, klesae, buildings… or ponies. She could not hear Trixie pleading for her to stop and so…” “...you did the only thing you could.” Tetti sank to the floor, ending up sitting on her rear and looking stunned. “How’d you get close enough?” Cadence gave her a sad half-smile. “I’m the Princess of Love. I’ve lived in Equestria my entire life drowning in love energy, and quite a bit of it was directed at me personally. Until a few years ago, all that energy did nothing but accumulate and when the moment arrived, I had an ocean ready to drown a campfire.” Twilight pulled away from Cadence, staring at her. “You hurt...  my mother?” Cadence visibly wilted underneath her horrified gaze. “I had no choice,” she said in a suddenly small voice. “She’d lost herself in her pain and rage. Ponyville was burning, Shining’s shield was failing, the fire of her fury was starting to inflict burns through two barriers, and she couldn’t hear us trying to snap her out of it. If Shining’s shield had cracked under the barrage, she… she would have…” Her voice got so small Twilight had to strain to hear her. “...she would have killed over a dozen ponies he was sheltering. I… I had to do something or she would have never been able to forgive herself. I only had one option, the most desperate and terrible weapon a changeling has.” ...although we feed passively, there is a way for a changeling to use their natural magic to directly transform life energy into love energy and consume it; it kills very swiftly and any creature being ‘induced’ as it’s called is helpless to stop it. Unbidden, the memory of Queen Chrysalis’ explanation in Maredusa’s home came back to her. “Inducement?” “Induction, but yes.” Tetti grimaced. “Fortunately, Mother’s explanation was incomplete. With extremely fine control, it can be used to disable instead of kill. Induces enough of a shock to send an ordinary pony into a near-coma state but an alicorn like Celestia would be less endangered.” Twilight acknowledged her with barely a nod, still focused on the wilted Cadence. “So you… hurt her.” Cadence swallowed hard, but nodded. “I did. The situation was like when you had a panic-surge when earning entry into Aunt Celestia’s school, and Aunt Celestia gently suppressed you. But the Princess of the Sun is orders of magnitude stronger than a filly panic-surging the roof off a classroom, so a touch on the shoulder had to be orders of magnitude stronger to snap her out of it.” The mention of her panic-surge, even though it was nearly twenty years ago, made her shudder. Immersed in magic, flailing around, reaching out for somepony to grab onto, recoiling as they were turned into potted plants or fled, all-powerful and completely helpless. The feeling of horror at Cadence saying that she had to hurt Mother turned into a feeling of echoed horror, a sort of sympathetic shadow as her imagination treated her to a taste of what it must have been like for any pony to watch Celestia surging wildly with pain and rage. She felt herself echoing Tetti’s gesture and falling back onto her flanks as the sheer enormity of what her old foalsitter had done sank in: she had watched a pony strong enough to vaporize all of Ponyville with barely a thought completely lose control, and had walked straight into the inferno. “I understand,” she said after several moments. “You said that she’ll be OK?” “Nurse Redheart believed so,” Cadence replied, inflating a little. “But the tragic moment with Aunt Tia is only a small part of the danger at hand. I know I said I would explain everything to you, about Mother’s plan, about why I lived guise-locked for so long, about when we all hoped would happen before I explained everything to you, but Tetti is right: evil things hang over Ponyville and I didn’t come all this way to visit family. Would you be upset with me if I deferred once again?” “No,” Twilight emphasized it with a shake of her head. “I think we should go back to the throne room so the girls can hear about this.” She got up and threw her hooves around her foalsitter. “Thanks for this. I’ve missed you, Cady.” “No more than I’ve missed you Twiley,” Cadence said, hugging her close. During the short walk from the room they’d spoken in to the throne room, Twilight had calculated the rough odds of a group hug, stunned surprise, or some combination of the two when they entered; finding the girls so spellbound by a story from Lepinora (complete with almost comically dramatic gestures while the changeling princess hovered in midair) that it took them a minute to notice her entering came as something of a surprise. That Pinkie was the first to notice and stop just short of knocking her off her feet with enthusiasm came as no surprise at all and moments later, she found herself surrounded by her friends who were all staring at the extremely alicorn-like form of Princess Chidinida with open surprise. “Whelp, saw this one coming from a hundred miles away,” Dawn commented after about a minute of this. “I didn’t think she’d be a mutant but I dig the wings.” Twilight heard the light thwap of her sister being lightly smacked on the head. “Don’t be rude, Dawn!” Rarity admonished in her best scandalized-lady voice. “I think the difference is simply marvelous. Not that there’s anything untoward about…” “Rarity, you don’t need to make caveats,” Lepi said with a smirk. “We get it, ya like how my big sis looks like some freak combination of changeling and alicorn but you’re not casting aspirations. I think she looks pretty cool too. Moving along?” Rarity coughed delicately and Twilight knew her well enough to easily imagine the light blush without having to look. “Yes, well… an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.” Chidinida gave Rarity a very Cadence-like level look. “You get to call me ‘Your Majesty’ or some variation once. After that, I’m either ‘Chidi’ or ‘Cady’ or if you want to be really formal, ‘Cadence’.” She looked passed them to her family with a smile. “Only my birth family calls me ‘Chidinida’. Speaking of my birth family, where is Father?” “Attending council,” Queen Chrysalis said. “I’d planned to join him but then I received word that Thryssa’s interception of Princess Sparkle and her party was successful and he assured me that he could deal with the routine business while I saw to matters at home.” She gave a fond sigh. “Auron is such a dear. I wish you could stay the eve so he could join us for dinner but I take it you came on an urgent errand, Chidi.” “Yes Mother,” Cadence said as she walked over to the previously-covered throne that Nightmare had occupied, now vacated and uncovered, revealing her cutie mark carved into its head with exquisite detail. “Lepi’s probably already told you that Ponyville is being attacked.” “I recieved reports to that effect,” Lepi said. “With no agents in place in Ponyville itself, I had to draw conclusions using fragmented information. My conclusion was clearly wrong if you felt safe leaving Ponyville to bring word personally.” “Yes and no.” Twilight saw Cadence’s gaze sweep over to her and her friends. “You’re wrong that Ponyville is being attacked at this exact moment, but right that it was attacked just yesterday and we’re expecting another attack by tomorrow at the latest. I had Doctor Whooves doing a…” “Oh, Time Turner?” Pinkie piped up. “He’s back from Trotsford?” “I think he would have arrived just a couple days before Carrot Top brought the matter of her plagued carrot crops to Trixie’s attention…” “Plagued carrot crops?” Applejack’s tone and expression were suddenly alarmed. “Whatcha mean?” “The main way the atermors’ plague spreads at first is magically tainting cropland and infesting the produce with the sickness,” Nightmare said. “The secondary spread comes from blood and vomit touching the caregivers, and then finally by bites and scratches from those twisted by the plague’s transformative properties. I take it that this Carrot Top grows a considerable amount of carrots?” “Sugar… Ah mean, Empress…” “Nightmare, please.” Nightmare smiled faintly. “Although I’m not offended to be referred to as ‘sugarcube’.” “Nightmare, Carrot Top’s ta carrots what the Apple family is ta apples,” Applejack said. “Just the Ponyville farm supplies a quarter o’ Equestria’s carrots. If they got somethin’ inta her ground…” “...the tainted crop would have made it to at least a quarter of their plates in short order.” Chrysalis shook her head. “And so we have the explosion, especially if they did as Nightmare has conveyed to us before and tainted as much variety of crop as they could. It’s apparently their way, to infest as much ground as possible as quickly as possible.” She paused and furrowed her brow. “Although wouldn’t they have tainted Sweet Apple Acres as well?” “I imagine it was too much of a risk,” Tetti said. “Apples are a crop that requires regular care and constant inspection of the trees as the fruit gets ripe enough; root vegetables are hardier and require less care. The plague is laced with Void energy and shrivels crops slightly, enough that the tainted fruit would have been noticed and destroyed before it was distributed if an apple but not necessarily if a carrot.” “And as I hear it, they were recently chastised by taking too many risks, their efforts halted by their intended victims catching them in the act, burning the tainted crops, and throwing the atermors that didn’t flee into the bonfires.” Nightmare tapped her chin with her hoof. “At least this Carrot Top noticed something amiss and had Trixie look into it. So what followed?” As Twilight listened with steadily mounting disbelief, Cadence detailed what happened to the first colt victim, the ‘Quarantine Flag’ nailed to the door of the Carousel Boutique (drawing an aghast exclamation from Rarity), the Cutie Mark Crusaders encountering examples of the ‘Twisted’ in the Everfree and then the four strangers from elsewhere. She mentioned being summoned by letter with Shining Armor, conveyed what Lord Bloodwynd and his cohorts said about the plague and atermors, and the entire encounter with the atermors and their klesae in the middle of Ponyville, ending with her meeting the disguised changeling agent at the Golden Oaks library and teleporting to the palace through Tettidora’s long-range transport spell. “So my agents are showing some initiative of their own,” Lepi commented when Cadence had finished. “Good. By this time tomorrow, critical infrastructure should be well on its way to secured and we’ll have regulars in place bracing the Royal Guard.” “I’m happy to report that we should be in better position than even that.” Twilight reflexively gave Princess Thryssa a bow, followed by her friends, as the tall and well-armored princess strode past them. “Hello little sister.” “Hi Thrys,” Cadence smiled and exchanged a light sisterly nosing with her elder sister before Thryssa took her throne to the right of what was presumably King Auron’s throne. “As I was saying,” Thryssa continued, “we should be in even better position than simply securing infrastructure and bracing the Royal Guard. “The sand drakes that are bringing the wounded to the Hospitaler Refuge were able to cut a half day off the run by a quick jaunt east to one of Maredusa’s tunnels, so we can start movement immediately.” “Um, excuse me?” Twilight raised her hoof. “Infrastructure secured? Regulars bracing the Royal Guard? Start movement?” Her brow furrowed. “Are you moving an army into Equestria?” The five royals and Nightmare looked at each other before four of them looked at Queen Chrysalis. The changeling queen took a breath and stood. “Princess, we have no hostile….” “Your Majesty, you’ve already settled that question.” Twilight interrupted her. “Moreover, Luna ensured that a message would get to me, and one of the things she said was that you would help us. What I mean is, how will you send an army to Equestria? I’ve only see the Red Mambo and the carrying structure was not nearly enough to transport any kind of army I’ve ever seen.” Chrysalis smiled and looked to Lepi. “Lepinora, if you’d illustrate while Thryssa explains?” “Sure.” Lepi got off her throne, lighting her horn as she did, and Twilight immediately recognized the visual style of her construction from her work on the out-of-control carrying rig. In the empty space between where they were standing and the dias with the thrones, Lepi’s magic drew a deft outline and then lines started to flow in. A mountain rose on the right side of the map and shining white Canterlot flowed out of it, rendered in photographic detail. Ponyville, Apploosa, Baltimare, Stalliongrad, Manehattan, and the network of roads, rivers, forests, fields, and other terrain rose from the flat surface and with them came a thick line delineating Equestria’s borders, right down to the unusual hook in the northeast that partly curled around the borders of the Provinces. By this point, Twilight could tell that her friends were not so much seeing exactly what Lepi was drawing, as they were seeing the changeling princess recreate a highly detailed map from memory, without any sort of measuring tools, and throw in exquisite details with an unconscious casualness. The Everfree Forest unfolded with the ruins of the castle in the center. The city-mesas of the Griffin Provinces rose out of their arid surroundings like pillars of civilization. The twisting and towering mountains of the Dragon Lands flowed from Lepinora’s “brush” and after them, the dunes of the Eastern Barrens with the majestic black walls and palace of Scarabi standing sentinel over it all. “That Tharalax would betray us was always a given,” Thryssa said. “The net of outposts stretched across the Barrens, and Lepinora and Ratchet Limb secretly accompanying the carrier, were just the most direct measures we took in preparation for the inevitability that we would have to commit armies to defending Equestria instead of just some soldiers and spies. The first, and most important, element arrived just after we took you into Mardusa’s tunnels.” She reached out over the map and pointed at a place in the Everfree where the silvery line of the Friendship Express ended, and from Lepi’s magic, the shape of another airship flowed into being. It had the basic appearance of the Red Mambo but there was something about its design and shape that immediately struck Twilight as different than the airship they’d traveled in. The vague feeling solidified when Lepinora increased the scale, showing blackened armor plating, fully-enclosed cowlings with distinctly different air intakes, and rounded edges that stood out against the flowing angles of the changeling airship. Most distinctively, there was a flag flying from the top mast of the ship with a pink taffy candy against a creamy beige background. “I feel like I owe you a small apology Princess Sparkle,” Lepi said. “I strongly implied that our understanding of flying machines was based on Equestrian designs. That is true so far as it goes, but incomplete. This ship is the Black Mambo and is the basis for the Red Mambo that you sailed to Scarabi on, and it is neither Equestrian nor from any place in our entire world.” “The same is true of its owner, although you wouldn’t know it to look at him.” Thryssa smiled fondly. “But anyway, this is the first element of our initiative to shield Equestria from whatever these various Evils are planning. It’s a highly capable warship with the long guns required to fight at great distances, but as with any war machine, it’s the ponies that matter and not the machine itself. On board is the First Tantalus, a hoof-picked unit combining the regular army with the two Guards and led by my executive officer, Sugary Market.” Twilight stared at the finely-rendered image of the Black Mambo for several seconds, even unconsciously moving around the construct to see it from another angle. “So you have a warship hovering over the terminus of the Friendship Express,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that’s going to be noticed eventually, even though most pegasi don’t fly over the Everfree.” “The atermors took care of that issue for us, both in keeping the local pegasi close to home and seeing to removing Princess Celestia from the fight,” Thryssa said. “There will be no real obstacle to the Black Mambo sailing to Ponyville and providing aerial support while the First Tantalus protects Ponyville proper.” “What about the other cities?” Cadence asked. “The teleportation spell that Tetti used you as a guinea pig for--I’m sure she’s very, very sorry--can be easily scaled up and used to move soldiers from Scarabi directly to rally points near the major cities. A scale test just two weeks ago demonstrated that it can safely move a hundred at once if a fifth circle is added, and each hundred will have at least a dozen trained in how to duplicate and power it.” Thryssa nodded to Lepi and small markings of five radiating circles appeared within easy walking distance of each major city. “We estimate that three hundred per hot spot will be enough and that leaves a very considerable reserve of militia.” “Three hundred?” Twilight gaped at her. “To protect cities that span acres and have populations of tens of thousands?” Thryssa looked up from the map with an expression so venomous that Twilight found herself taking a step back. “Equestria is fortunate that my mother is a better pony than I am, and that I am a dutiful daughter,” she practically snarled. “The three races cast us into the cold, Princess, and if I had my will Equestria would weep blood for Celestia’s lack of vision. You do not seem to grasp the kind of sacrifice we’re willing to make for you, Twilight Sparkle. Three hundred is not enough for victory, but enough to die where they stand to…” “Hogwash.” Lepi didn’t speak particularly loudly but her interruption made Thryssa stop immediately and look over at her youngest sister in visible surprise. “Thryssa, I’m an artiste so I love the drama just as much as the next overwrought actress,” Lepinora continued, “but you’re being absurd sis. The butcher bill from getting cracked in the skulls, run through, claws sliced off, and beat to hell by magic isn’t even going to hit the double digits. You know, and I know, and everypony in this room knows that if trying to subdue most of the Elements plus a couple of bodyguards doesn’t end in a mass grave, controlling city streets ain’t gonna either.” “Not even the double digits?” Rarity repeated. “But… all those… and the blood on my blade…” “Ask Tetti,” Thryssa said, smirking a little at Rarity’s confusion. “But I hear the hardest part of inventing that guise was making it so that the normal ways to kill don’t work right.” She took in a breath and sighed. “I apologize, Princess Sparkle. Sending soldiers into harm’s way when I have grave doubts about hazarding ourselves for Equestria is… well, it doesn’t bring out the best in me. We already sacrificed lives to maintain a charade of cooperation with Tharalax, not that it slowed down his rush to betray us even slightly; endangering more for the nation that cast us out is an unpleasant prospect.” “I’m sure that sending soldiers into danger is always unpleasant,” Twilight pointed out. “This is much more so.” Thryssa looked down at the map again. “I have no dislike for our sister races of pony, just the nation we’re risking ourselves for. Celestia was explicitly warned that being so cavalier with Equestria’s warrior caste would result in just this situation, and yet we’re pulling her marble-white plot out of the fire anyway. And yet at the end of all this if all returns to the way it was, our queen will be a mere servant to the Sisters instead of their equal.” She looked back at her mother who gave her a look of stern disapproval, evoking a slight chastised canting of her ears before she turned back to Twilight. “But this is not the time or place for my issues and I apologize for getting distracted by them.” “It’s fine,” Twilight assured her. “I’m sorry for being incredulous about your force disposition. It just… it surprised me. I counted well over a hundred soldiers that came to restrain us so roughly triple the number to protect a city as to abduct a few ponies--us bearing the Elements notwithstanding--came as a bit of a shock.” “The two tasks are nothing alike,” Thryssa said. “Killing or disabling you would have been simple but we could not harm you and expect goodwill afterwards. Those twisted by this plague can only be killed, and that is much easier to do. Moreover, my intelligence indicates that the atermors have no tactical vision, and Chidi’s account bears this out: they broadcast their intent and location like a brass festival, and stayed to fight after it became clear that they’d lost. Whatever my gloomy opinions on the casualties they can inflict might be, they will follow the line of most expectation into the greatest possible resistance. Their route may be so predictable that we need not harm them at all, and keep them in place until they can be cured..” “Lord Bloodwynd assured us that it’s incurable,” Chidi said. “I’m sure Ersari believes that,” Nightmare said from where she was lounging in Auron’s throne. “The jei and jeikitsu have both been actively hunting atermors for millennia and have seen all they can do. But they don’t know Vorka and his tendency to spoil plans for his own amusement. I won’t say that they are wrong, merely that they might be wrong.” “We can only hope so,” Thryssa said. “My soldiers have a great deal of endurance b ut unless some other solution is devised, there may come a point where the only thing we can do to halt the spread will be to consider lethal action. ” “It cannot come to that, Thryssa,” Chrysalis said. “I will not have my people killing the sick and innocent especially when we hope to be seen as their lost brethren come back to save them..” “Cut the head off the snake.” All heads turned towards Rarity. “Puppetmasters that are dead don’t pull their puppets’ strings,” she continued, her tone as casual as if she was discussing a dress with a client. “It’s how we were instructed to deal with magi who could summon things: ignore the puppets, cut the head off the master.” “Kryssa and Anori were able to kill them by smashing their masks,” Chidi offered. “Or at least, they seemed to be killed when the masks were smashed.” “That would be because they were proxies,” Nightmare said. “Granted, even using their proxies to show up in person is reckless for them, and very strange, but at least their had the sense to use constructs instead of be literally there. Be aware, Princess Thryssa, that if you attempt to cut the head off the snake, you have to track down the actual snake instead of killing scraps of Void.” “You and I can discuss that later,” Thryssa said. “Specifically, a method that can be used to track them.” She turned back to the map construct and gestured with her hoof towards Scarabi, Lepi constructing a model of the Red Mambo to float above it. “As your party is aware, Princess Sparkle, we have a second airship at our disposal that’s been modeled on the Black Mambo. It’s been modeled primarily around speed rather than engaging other airships at range although a you can well imagine, such a capability is moot unless enemy military airships exist--and none do.” “She’s a mighty fine ship,” Applejack said. “Looked pretty new.” “It just underwent complete trials three months ago so yes, it’s quite new.” She stepped back from the table and looked towards her mother, who slipped off her throne and took her eldest daughter’s place. “Princess Sparkle, I regret that your welcome to our kingdom was not all we wished it to be,” she said. “I far more deeply regret the lives lost and the crippling injuries inflicted on loyal changelings--my people--during an attempt to forcibly abduct ponies who are not and will never be our enemies, all of them Elements of Harmony, two of them the children of Princess Celestia herself. The futility of pretending cooperation to a beast like Tharalax and his master makes it ache all the deeper; the price of shielding our true home through cunning schemes designed by our most faithful ally,” she nodded towards Nightmare, “is grievous and will get worse. And so we must save who we can and to that end, I wish to ask your help.” “Sure thing, yer Highness,” Dawn said cheerfully. “What can we do ya for?” Chrysalis looked genuinely taken aback by the instant response and Twilight saw her gaze flit between the rest of them. Based on her smile, Twilight was sure that the rest of the girls were giving her the same nod Twilight was, and the physical sensation of gratitude spilling from the changeling queen simply confirmed the happy response. “I admit what I wish to ask of you is… partly personal,” she said. “I would ask you to travel north in the Red Mambo to the Dragon Lands and check that all is well with our… with my sister, Thalia. She’s our ambassador to the dragons and the last message she had delivered worries me a great deal.” “For reasons beyond that she’s family?” Twilight said. Chrysalis grinned a little. “That’s actually quite low on my list of concerns. After I watched Thalia have a full-scale shouting argument with a dragon over a diplomatic matter and watched her back down a creature twenty times her size, most of my fears for her safety were quieted, although I’ll always worry about her relish for picking fights.” She smiled fondly before the smile melted again. “What has me deeply concerned is her missive about the situation in the north. She reports that the apparent strategy of the Evils involves a single being, an individual she described as a child that’s not a child. She didn’t clarify what she meant, and with her tendency to regale with me unnecessary detail about everything, that worries me.” “I’m surprised there’s anything a single evil can do about dragons,” Dawn said. “I mean, Spike’s not much in the muscle department but he’s a smart little bucker and ya gotta work hard to do even minor cosmetic stuff to him. What the hell can just one of these Evil things do to a whole nation of dragons?” “I’m afraid you’ve only met idiots like Tharalax or weaklings like Lashaal, and heard me speak of others,” Nightmare said. “Any Evil with the skill to pull off a child that’s not a child, using a mrotal that fragile as an anchor or vessel, is old and dangerous. Taking on dragons isn’t a feat for the weak or stupid, so it’s certain that whoever’s orchestrating this entire chess game wouldn’t have entrusted it to another Tharalax.” “You’ll be accompanied by some of the Throne Guard, and I will speak with Maredusa to see if she’s willing to shadow you,” Thryssa said. “This will be in addition to Aunt Thalia’s guards and my aunt herself. I hope it goes without saying that there’s no obligation on your parts to…” “Yeah, yeah, no onus, whatever,” Dawn said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Clearly you don’t know what this lot does in their spare time. Wandering face-first into every problem that comes our way is how we take a break from boring old rationality.” Twilight heard Rarity treat Dawn to another light smack on the back of the head as she gave Queen Chrysalis and the other royals a smile. “We recognize there’s no onus on us to help you, Queen Chrysalis, but my sister’s right: heading off danger is what we do and have ever since we thought we were saving Equestria from a mad moon goddess. We’d be glad to check up on your sister, especially because it sounds like a good bet that if we make some progress in the Lands, it’ll be a setback for these Evils as a whole.” She looked over at Chidinida, who had resumed what Twilight was sure was the form more natural to her than her changeling shape. “As much as we fear for Ponyville… it’s clearly in good hooves. Both in Trixie’s, and in Cadence’s.” Cadence beamed at her. “Thank you, Twilight.” “Yes, Princess Sparkle, thank you.” Chrysalis smiled and inclined her head to her. “I understand that the Red Mambo needs to be refitted and fully inspected before it can make the jaunt north, so please accept our hospitality and the free run of Scarabi during your time here. I’d also be honored if you would join my family and our other guests for dinner this evening.” “We’d be delighted,” Twilight smiled.