"And so, by the power vested in me by the alicorn Faust, I hereby pronounce you stallion and mare. You may kiss the bride."
After the first wedding had been ruined by Queen Chrysalis' failed invasion, stopped only by the power of the bond shared between Cadence and Shining Armor, this second attempt at the wedding had nearly double the security. Heck, even the enigmatic Princess Starlight Waltz from the north had committed a small guard force, which had surprised even Luna.
As Shining obviously wasn't about to let this moment be sullied yet a second time, he pulled Cadence into a long and heartfelt kiss, one that lasted a good two minutes before either of them was willing to let go of the other. As such, it was Cadence who broke off their kiss.
"We're finally ma-", Cadence began, only to be cut off by a loud bang, originating from Pinkie's Party Canon. Celestia chuckled. I suppose Pinkie will be Pinkie, no matter what.
From Celestia's position above the altar, she could clearly see Twilight facehoof at Pinkie's usual antics, as Twilight so often did when Pinkie did something.... Pinkie-like.... in public.
"OH YAY," Pinkie Pie almost yelled as she bounded about Shining and Cadence, "Now I got to throw a 'You're Finally Married For Realzies Party!"
"Pinkie," Celestia began in as kind a tone as ever, "There will be time for your party later. For now, you have a proper party to attend to."
"But of course, your Princessliness," Pinkie said with a big smile on her face as she bowed low in a comical manner, sending gasps throughout the proper ponies gathered in the hall. Celestia watched as Twilight again facehooved, but she, Cadence and Shining only chuckled a bit.
"I'm sure that your party will be much fun," Celestia said, a kind smile on her face, "But that will be later. For now, would everypony care to join the bride and groom in the Royal Gardens for cake?"
The festivities that evening held in celebration of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding were both immense in scope as they were grand in nature. Whole tables of many different foods from all corners of Equestria, ranging from Manehattan-Style Cheesecake to Apple Family Cider, even some of Canterlot's finest bakers had supplied a whole assortment of goodies and pastries, all of which Celestia was digging into in as discrete a manner as possible. Oh my, when was the last time I had such fine cooking? Probably this morning, but sti-
Celestia was interrupted from her thoughts as she realized somepony was trying to talk to her. In an instant, she had spun around only to be greeted by Cadence and Twilight, both of whose faces were very blank, almost to the point that it gave the Sun Princess the chills.
"Twilight. Cadence," Celestia said, nodding to both of them in turn, "I must have been caught up in thought. Forgive me, but what is it you two were saying?"
This can't be good, Celestia thought inwardly.
It was Twilight who spoke first.
"After Cadence and Shining created that wave of love that got rid of all the Changelings," Twilight began, "I noticed that you seemed affected by it as well."
Celestia managed to suppress the look of shock and terror that wanted so desperately to grace her features and spoke. "Really, now, Twilight, that's impossible. That blast of love only affected Changelings."
Way to dig your own grave, Celestia thought to herself, realizing that what she'd just said could give her away. Fortunately, Twilight and Cadence didn't seem to notice.
"There was something else," Cadence added, continuing Twilight's train of thought, "After some talking between ourselves, Twilight and I noticed that, at least, for a small while after that wave of love enveloped you, that you had fangs. We talked to several other ponies, as well as Twilight's friends, and the ones who did manage to glance you also recall seeing fangs."
Celestia furrowed her brow. "Are you two sure of this? Are you really going to accuse your auntie of being a Changeling spy?"
"WHAT," Cadence almost yelled, taken completely aback, "I would never accuse you of that! Never!"
"What we're trying to say," Twilight stated, "Is that we're worried about you."
Celestia gave both Cadence and Twilight a warm smile. "I can assure the both of you that everything is fine. Now, I think it best that I retire to my chambers now. The sun will be setting soon. I'll see you two later."
With that, and before any further argument could be put forth, Celestia turned and made her way back to the Castle.
"What do you think, Twi," Cadence asked once Celestia was out of earshot.
"I think she's hiding something," Twilight replied. "Maybe being cocooned affected her more than any of us realize, even her."
Philomena watched Crystalia pace back and forth in her chambers, looking like she had just seen Celestia's ghost.
"They suspect the truth," Crystalia explained to Philomena, who actually was listening intently to her master's troubles, "I know they mean well, Philomena, but what if they put it all together? I was acting terribly unlike her during the wedding reception in the gardens when they questioned me. They saw what the wave of love did to me: what it revealed about me. This.... this is bad.... very bad...."
Philomena cocked her head.
"Maybe I could ask Crystal," Crystalia began, but quickly halted that train of thought, "No, she's too busy managing the Hive. No, I need to come up with a plan. Oh, what would my sister do? If she and I were younger, we'd probably blame either you or the butler."
Philomena was about to start screeching in Crystalia's ear, but a knock at the door halted her, and stopped Crystalia's endless pacing, rousing her from what was most likely growing paranoia and insanity.
Shaking her head, Crystalia approached the door. "Who is it?"
"Your sister," came Luna's voice from the other side, "Let us in at once, dear sister. Twilight Sparkle has spoken with me, and we're concerned about you."
"You haven't been acting like yourself lately," Twilight said from beyond the door.
Crystalia looked to Philomena, who seemed to somehow know what she was thinking, and she shook her head against it, to which Crystalia sighed. Looks like today is the day, then.
Taking a deep breath, Crystalia cantered over to the door as slowly as she dared. She placed her hoof on one of the handles, and looked at Philomena one last time. Philomena nodded in turn.
"Well, here goes everything," Crystalia whispered as she opened the door.
The ponies gathered on the other side of the door to the Sun Princess's Royal Chambers; Luna, Twilight, Cadence, Blueblood, and Shining Armor, all of them where shocked by what they beheld.
Standing in the door was a pony as tall as Princess Celestia. It had her mane, her tail, her horn and her fur. Her eyes looked just like those Luna had always seen and remembered, as did the rest of her, right down to the cutie mark. But there was one thing, one small detail that took all but Blueblood completely off guard.
The small, regal fangs.
Celestia looked at the assembled ponies, a sad smile on her face. "I'm afraid Princess Celestia isn't here right now. In fact, she hasn't been here for a very long time. But I have. My name is Crystalia, and I am Celestia's best friend."
The jaw of ever pony gathered dropped.