Shining continued to advance through the system of caves created by the Wraith in Cadance’s mind in order to make her relive that painful memory that was being imprisoned by Chrisalis so she could take her place and feed from the love Shining felt for her. The white unicorn ran as quickly as possible, while searching for his beloved.
"Cadance!" he called. "Cadance, where are you?!"
He followed Cadance’s cry until he found a chamber where Cadance was there, sitting crying.
"Cadance" he said, smiling. "Finally, I found you. I..."
But he didn't finish, because, when Cadance turned to him and saw him approaching, she rose up immediately and said with fear in her voice, as she stepped back:
"No! Stay away! Don't come close to me!"
"Cadance, what's wrong?" Shining asked, not understanding what was going on. "It's me. Shining Armor."
"No, you'll not fool me" Cadance said, continuing to retreat. "You're not Shining Armor."
"What are you saying?" Shining asked. "It's me."
"No, you're not" a voice said.
Shining turned and faced a second Shining, who appeared nearby, saying:
"I'm Shining Armor."
"No" a third Shining said, also appearing. “I am.”
"No!"
When the real Shining found himself, he was seeing about a dozen of Shining Armors, all looking alike. However, Shining managed to realize all those Shining Armors had devilish smiles and a greenish aura in their eyes, the same aura that the Changelings had. He realized that Cadance should be being plagued by those Changelings who pretended to be the stallion she loved. He had to convince her that he was the real one and that he was there to save her.
"Cadance, don't listen to them" Shining said to her. "I'm the real Shining."
"No, you’re not" a Changeling said. "I am."
"No, I am."
"It's me!"
"You're wrong!"
Hearing all those Shining Armor saying to be the real one, Cadance was so confused that she covered her ears with her hooves, not wanting to hear them anymore.
Shining realized that if he wanted to convince Cadance he was the real one, he had to tell her something that only two of them knew about each other, something about their background, a moment that meant so much to both.
"Do you remember our first date, Cadance?" he asked, raising his voice as much as he could so she could hear him. "I took you to all my favorite places in Canterlot. That bookstore where I used to buy books to read to Twily, that antique shop. Blue’s family’s restaurant."
Cadance, listening what Shining was saying, put down the hooves to be able to hear him better.
"I remember exactly what you ate back then like it was yesterday" Shining continued, smiling before those past memories. "It was a salad, tomato and daffodils sandwich. You ordered the same as me because I made it sound so delicious."
Upon hearing that, Cadance stood up and began approaching Shining with a atonic air, ignoring the other Shining Armors who tried to convince her that they were the real one.
"And when you told me that Twily had told you how I obtained my Cutie Mark, you said it was an act of sheer bravery and love. When you said that, I blushed a lot. I felt embarrassed for your compliment. But nothing compared with the end of that day, when I took you to my special place, a place I've never shown to anypony else before you."
Cadance, continuing to hear that, began approaching Shining at a rusher pace. He continued:
"I took you to that place on the mountain where we could see the whole city, including Princess Celestia raising the moon. In fact, I carried you there, at some point, because you started feeling tired. There, I declared my love, offering you that blue lily as a sign of our eternal love. And then you kissed me and I felt that kiss was the sweetest kiss I've ever received."
Finishing, Shining saw Cadance right in front of him, watching him. He could see the brilliance that was in her eyes. It was the same that she had when she looked at him with affection and tenderness. He realized that she had finally recognized him.
"Shining..." she said.
"Yes, Cadance, it's me" Shining said.
And so, Cadance gave to Shining a kiss on his lips, a kiss that Shining responded with one of his own. While they were exchanging their passionate kisses, the Changelings who pretended to be Shining to trick Cadance started disappearing one by one until none was left. The loving pair finished their love caresses and Cadance said to Shining:
"I love you, Shining."
"I love you too, Cadance" he replied.
And a white light appeared and overshadowed everything. Shining returned to his body and aroused, while he saw Cadance also rising up.
"Cadance, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied.
Cadance looked around and noticed her true self that was outside of the Mirror Realm.
"Wait, that's me?" she asked.
"It’s your true self" said Shining. "The Wraith brought your reflection, that is you, here to suck your positive emotions."
"Wraith?" Cadance asked, confused.
"It's a long, complicated history" Shining said. "But, in short, all this is the work of one of the villains of the solitary of Tartarus. He's trying to break free from the prison where Mirror Coat put him. Wait, that reminds me. Now you're free, his power must be weakened. We can defeat him and arrest him. Come on, Cadance."
And he began to run towards the place where Golden Paladin and Mirror Coat were fighting the Wraith.
"Shining…" Cadance started, but without effect.
She smiled, realizing that was really Shining, and followed him.
The Lord of Chaos and Fire Punch saw them and the later said:
"I can't believe that idiot was able to break Cadance free of the Wraith’s influence. Looks like our friend is not so powerful as he seems to be."
"We all have our faults, Fire Punch" the Lord of Chaos replied. "You should know that. Even I have a flaw or two. However, as I said before, it doesn't matter that Shining managed to release Cadance. At this point, the Wraith should already have enough power to leave the Mirror Realm and haunt Equestria once again."
And he gave a devilish laugh.
Mirror Coat tried to fight with everything he had. Now that the Wraith had caught Golden Paladin, his power had increased immensely, as well as his speed, something that was beginning to frustrate the General of Knowledge.
It was then that Mirror Coat noticed that the Wraith’s movements had been slower a bit, wondering if Shining managed to release Cadance. His answer was answered when the two began to arrive.
"I see that you managed to do it, Prince Shining Armor" Mirror Coat observed, while Shining and Cadance approached.
"Yes, and now he's not feeding from Cadance’s positive emotions" Shining said.
"That's good, but it doesn't solve our situation" Mirror Coat said, making a gesture to Golden Paladin.
The couple was stunned when they saw Golden Paladin, the leader of the Generals of Order, under the influence of the Wraith.
"Oh no!" Cadance exclaimed, not wanting to believe.
"The Wraith got him?" Shining asked.
"Unfortunately" Mirror Coat answered. "That bastard became even sneakier."
"This is the result of centuries stuck in a mirror" the Wraith replied downing to a few centimeters off the ground. "Now that I have the General of Peace under my power, there's nothing you can do."
"You want to bet?" Shining asked.
And he and Mirror Coat fired their magic beams, but the Wraith managed to stop them with a simple movement of arm, much to the shock of the two unicorns.
"You ponies are so naïve" the Wraith said. "I am now too powerful for you can hurt me. In fact, I'm powerful enough to be able to escape from this prison and finally get a decent meal."
"No!" Mirror Coat exclaimed, starting to charge his horn with magic to stop him.
However, the Wraith held his hand and released a quantity of energy that threw Mirror Coat, Shining and Cadance against the floor. The Wraith laughed and said:
"There's nothing you can do to stop me. Even you can't stop me now, Mirror Coat. Not when I'm in my best shape."
He approached the nearest mirror and touch it with his hand. It began sinking in the glassy surface. He was beginning to cross the border between the pony world and the Mirror Realm.
"What do we do now?" Cadance asked.
Mirror Coat began thinking in all possibilities, but he couldn't find any plan that would work. They couldn't stop the Wraith. Not while he had all that power under control.
But, suddenly, he had an idea that maybe could work.
"I had an idea, but it can be risky" Mirror Coat said.
"What do you mean with risky?" Shining asked.
"If it doesn't work, we will only strengthen him even more" Mirror Coat answered.
"What?!" Shining asked.
"It's the only way" Mirror Coat said. "Besides, we don't have any other choice."
"What are you thinking, Mirror Coat?" Cadance asked.
"Princess Cadance, you must use your magic in the Wraith" Mirror Coat said. "You may be just a reflection of the true Cadance, but you still have the same power as her. Feed him with positive emotions until he can't take it anymore."
"I see" Cadance said. "That will make him to lose control and his own power will turn against him."
"Precisely" Mirror Coat said. "But, as I said, if it doesn't work, we will only be strengthening it even more."
Cadance mused for a moment and then nodded. He turned to the Wraith that was starting to go through the mirror to the pony world. She called:
"Hey, Wraith."
He turned to her who replied:
"You're not going to leave without a goodbye gift, do you?"
And, having said this, she launched against him a magic beam from her horn, hitting him.
"Have you lost your mind, young princess? Don't tell me those moments under my influence have damaged your reasoning. You're just giving me more power."
Cadance continued with what she was doing, while the Wraith, with satisfaction, absorbed all that magic. The princess of the Crystal Empire began to reach her limit and ended the magic beam, kneeling on the floor by exhaustion.
"Wow, what refreshing" the Wraith said, apparently unscathed. "But now, if you excuse me, I have new places to go, a lot of power to collect and a lot of misery to spread."
And he laughed as he went back to the mirror and starting the process to free himself. But it was then that he felt something weird inside. All the energy that he had stolen, all the positive emotions from his victims, seemed to be starting to burn within him, as if it was burning him from the inside out.
"But what's happening to me" he said, as he carried his hands to his stomach. "What is this?!"
"Apparently, you haven't changed a bit, don’t you?" Mirror Coat said, approaching with Shining and Cadance behind. "You bite off more than you can chew."
"You..." the Wraith said, while trying to deal with the pain he was feeling. "This is your work?!"
"Let's just say you are reaping what you sow" Mirror Coat answered. "I'm not the one who defeated you, Wraith. It was your unreasonable greed and gluttony. You could have rejected that amount of power Princess Cadance gave you, but you ignored your own limits and now you're about to lose everything... again."
The Wraith tried to do something against Mirror Coat, but the pain he was feeling was preventing him from do it. The heat was increasing every time and he could feel his body starting to sag. The only way to survive that was releasing all the power he had acquired, but he would be imprisoned. But, if he didn't it, he would surely explode. He had no other choice.
He lowered his hood and started kicking for his mouth all the energy he had stolen. The energy, that took the form of white smoke, started coming out and headed to its respective owners. Most started heading to all ponies present in the Crystal Empire that the Wraith had attacked. A bit went to Cadance, which began to shine and then disappeared, having returned to her true self, and another bit was for Golden Paladin, who awakened and stood up, feeling a lot of headaches.
Seeing that everything had returned to normal, Mirror Coat invoked the cell blaster and advancing to the Wraith, which was lying on the floor, helpless, he said:
"This is a lesson to you, Wraith. It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. Until you learn to control your own nature, you will never be able to overcome me."
And he started to suck him into the life cell in the cell blaster and, when the process ended, Mirror Coat put it in the prison-book.
Twilight and Blue waited in the throne room, where Gleaming Shield and Star Knight played happily. Those two foals loved when they played together.
It was then that a mirror appeared and, from it, Mirror Coat, Golden Paladin and Shining appeared.
"Fortunately, you arrived!" Twilight exclaimed, going to embrace her brother.
"So, how'd it go?" Blue asked.
"We captured the Wraith" Mirror Coat announced.
That caused an immense happiness to Twilight and Blue Sword.
"Yes, although I haven't done much to help" Golden Paladin replied, in a somewhat cold way. "Actually, I just messed up more than I helped."
And, having said that, he went out of the throne room, leaving Twilight and Blue speechless.
"But what's the matter with him?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing, Your Highness" Mirror Coat replied. "Let's just say that this mission has affected Golden Paladin a lot that usual."
"Wow, I never thought anything could affect the General of Peace" Blue said.
Seeing how Golden Paladin had left the throne room, Shining realized that, while he was under the influence of the Wraith, he had surely revived their worst memories, such as Cadance. What memory could be so terrible to be able to affect the General of Peace like that?
Shining's thoughts were interrupted when Mirror Coat asked him:
"Prince Shining Armor, do you want me to bring you back to the Crystal Empire with your daughter? I assume you want to go home to see your wife."
"Of course, Mirror Coat" he replied. "Please."
He waved and then he invoked another portal that would lead Shining and Gleaming back to the Crystal Empire. Using his magic, Shining took her little filly and prepared to cross the portal.
"Give my regards to Cadance, BBBFF" Twilight told to him.
"Yes, my friend" Blue said. “Mine too.”
"I will" Shining said. "Bye."
And so, Shining and Gleaming passed through the portal to the Crystal Empire.
Golden Paladin had left the throne room and went straight to his room. He got in there. Golden Paladin’s room was lit by a yellow light and it could see some armor against the walls and some weapons and shields hung on the walls too. His four-poster bed was made of golden metal and near his bed, was a table with two chairs, where there was a chessboard.
The General Peace walked to the table where the chessboard was and with a sudden sweep of foreleg, he overthrew the chessboard and the pieces to the floor, full of rage. Then he heard a knock on the door and it opened revealing to be Heartbeat.
"Hello, Goldy" she greeted him. "Can I come in?"
"Go away!" he exclaimed, with abruptness. "I don't want to see anypony right now."
Normally, it would think that it would be some kind of retaliation on Heartbeat’s part, maybe a cry or an outbreak of anger, but she, surprisingly, remained peaceful. She advanced into her older brother’s bedroom. Seeing her coming in, Golden said, keeping his blunt tone:
"What are you doing? I told you to leave!"
"I know what's going on with you, Goldy” Heartbeat said, approaching." Mirror Coat told me what happened in the fight against the Wraith."
"Mirror Coat should worry about sticking his nose in books from his library instead of sticking it in the others’ affairs" Golden Paladin said.
"That’s right, Goldy, free all the anger you feel" Heartbeat said, putting herself ahead of Golden Paladin. "Release all your frustration. You're going to feel a lot better."
"What are you talking about?" Golden asked. "I'm fine. In fact, just peachy.
"We both know that's not true" Heartbeat said. "And it's time to let your heart speak for you."
And she put her hoof on Golden Paladin’s shoulder. Feeling Heartbeat’s touch, Golden Paladin felt its empathetic effect, something that brought up emotions that he sought to hide.
Tears came to Golden Paladin’s eyes, starting his sad cry. He sat on his bed while he let their sadness coming out.
"It's all my fault" he said. "It's all my fault. If I had been stronger. If I had finished with everything when I could. Maybe none of this would happen with us... with the Light Kingdom... with her..."
Heartbeat sat next to her brother and embraced him, saying:
"That's right, release everything, Goldy. I'll be here for you. I will collect your pieces. Don't worry."
And so, Heartbeat continued to comfort her heartbroken older brother.
In Tartarus, the Lord of Chaos seemed to be on the verge of having another one of his bursts of fury that he used to have when one of his plans failed. Fire Punch was aware of this and had already put himself in a position where he could defend himself.
"I can't believe ... that the Wraith also failed to me" the Lord of Chaos said. "One of my most terrifying villains."
The Lord of Chaos pressed his hand with an angered strength. Fire Punch was shaking just imagine what could happen.
However, much to his surprise, the Lord of Chaos started laughing and, when he stopped, he said:
"It doesn't matter. Because this failure will only increase even more my desire for revenge. Furthermore, at least one satisfying thing for me happened with this plan. It seems that our dear Golden Paladin isn't the same foolproof General. That means that things in the near future will be able to work in favor of me."
And he laughed.