Fangheart rolled over in his sleep, pinning back his ears, and pulling the rug he'd used as a makeshift blanket over himself.
The sound of a slamming door roused him immediately.
He bolted onto all four legs, and stood in a defensive stance, his hooves spread apart from one another to widen his center of gravity, his eyes wide, his nostrils flaring as his mind began working into high gear. He heard someone say, "This is bad. This is very, very bad."
He shook his head, and told himself, "It's just Twilight." He lay back down on the floor, and pulled the rug back over his side, closing his eyes. He couldn't dismiss the frantic discussions taking place downstairs, and he finally sat up when Twilight lay down on her bed.
She took a deep breath, and, employing a sound to rival his mother's voice, began to sing. He would have taken no shame in telling his mother to her face that the unicorn who had bested her on the field of battle sang like an angel, despite the sentence to the dungeon it would've earned him.
Her voice seemed to fill the world, gently lifting it into another plane, one that her mind was better projected upon. Her sorrows flooded the air, saturating it with pain, but beautiful nonetheless. "I have to find a way, to make this all okay," she sang, her many thoughts flowing from her tongue, and into the room.
She moved to gaze out the window, and softly sang, "I can't believe this small mistake, could have caused so much heartache." And then, a question she delivered unto the world, one which had no answer, "Oh, why? Oh why?" She let the question hang in the air, before adding a bit of momentum to the melody, "Losing promise, I don't know what to do. Seeking answers, I fear I won't get through, to you."
"Oh, why? Oh, why?" she repeated, and set her head down on her mattress, hiding it beneath her forelegs. She sniffled once, and looked up at Spike, who had made his way to her bedside, and asked, "Oh, Spike, what've I done?" She promptly threw her head down, and began to cry.
Fangheart poked his nose over the side of the bed, and stood up. He lifted himself onto the mattress with his hooves, and lay down next to the sobbing unicorn. He looked up at Spike, and asked, "What happened?" He draped his right wing over the pony next to him, and ran a hoof through her deep blue mane, his eyes directed at one of the stars on the bed.
He wasn't okay. He had no other words to describe his current state of mind. He wasn't happy, nor was he angry. His throat was choking up, and he perceived the world in a way he never had before. He was sad, sorry, maybe even depressed. He... felt... badly, very badly, like everything was bad.
It was like when his mother had died, but with less rage involved. There was nothing to be angry at, nothing to direct any false emotion towards. No lessons from his mother had prepared him for this. He didn't understand how to operate in this situation.
He couldn't hide from his mind's pains anymore. He felt... He felt sad, very very sad, despite the fact that he had no truly personal reason to feel anything.
He shook his head, closing his eyes, trying to force his own thoughts away. He was a changeling. He couldn't feel anything. He could only follow instructions. He was emotionless, he had to be. He tried to cling to those thoughts, like a poor butterfly caught in a hurricane.
He was a changeling, dammit, not capable of what he was sure he was doing. He wasn't a pony. He couldn't feel emotions. He couldn't feel sorry for a pony. He couldn't possibly be hurt by words. Words had no power over changelings. Words carried no threat, so why was he in pain?
He had to accept it. He was sorry. He hurt for the poor unicorn beside him. He felt sad for her. He cared about her struggles. He wanted her to be happy. He felt her pain. He felt.
He wrapped his forelegs around the unicorn, and set his head against her neck, tears welling from his eyes. He said, "I... I'm sorry."
That was such a foreign thing to him. Apologies only got so far with changelings, and it was the kind of thing a rebellious infiltrator would say just before it lost its head. But, while it felt so strange, he meant it. He could sense the meaning he put behind it. He felt genuine.
He smiled a bit, and nuzzled Twilight's neck, no longer acting on his mother's teachings, not following instructions, not acting for the sake of feeding. He was simply reacting to the world, by acting upon what it made him feel.
He felt... free. He was scared, because he didn't know what this new and diverse world would throw at him, or what he'd do when it all happened, but he felt happy, relieved, enlightened. He wasn't bound by the changeling code, like a computer, but free to do as he pleased, like a pony.
He began to cry, and sniffled. "I... I feel sorry," he said, softly, as though it were a well guarded secret. "The Twilight I know doesn't give up. If you'd given up after my mother imprisoned you, the entire world would be different. If you'd given up, my mother would be in charge of everything, and, knowing what I do now, I wouldn't want that."
"You've done so much good for this world, for your home, for your friends, and for your people. As someone whose never had or done any of those, you are amazing, Twilight," he said, and gently placed his nose against her neck. "You can fix this, Twilight, or I'm not my father's son."
The unicorn's sobbing lost momentum, and she looked up, still covering most of her face with her hooves. She sniffled, and shook her head. "I can't. I don't know how," she insisted.
"Did you always know how to defeat my mother? Did you always know how to use magic? Did you always know how to be you? You can't know everything from the get-go. You have to use what you do know to figure it out. I don't know much about you, Twilight, but I know that you know a whole lot of things, so I have no doubt in my mind, that you can fix this," he told her.
He looked down, and added, "And if you can teach a changeling to feel, then what can't you do?" He sighed, and shook his head slowly. "That's not relevant. The point is, that if you've done so much, what's stopping you from trying at this?"
Twilight set her front hooves on the windowsill, and looked down at the street below. "I... I just can't..." she said.
Spike walked over to the sulking unicorn, and placed one of his claws on her shoulder. He told her, "He's right, Twilight, you'll figure out a way to fix this. These are your friends, and we're both here to help you."
Fangheart sat down to the left of Twilight, and wrapped his wing around Spike, hugging the two other creatures toward him. He added, "Because that's what friends are for. Goddess, I sound like a pony, but it's true."
Twilight looked up from the window, and turned around, a look of solid determination on her face. "You're right, guys," she said, and hopped onto the floor, only to tell Fangheart, "And we'll discuss how much I told you so about changelings feeling later."
The pegasus blushed madly, and glanced at Spike, who was tapping his claws impatiently as he waited for him to get moving. He hopped off the bed, and followed the duo downstairs, a smile on his face. "She never told me that it was possible, merely insisted on questioning my conclusion," he muttered to himself as he spotted the spirit gems. He skirted against the wall, not wanting to go near them.
Twilight walked up to the fireplace, above which sat a picture of her surrounded by the same ponies she's taken the train with the previous day. She smiled up at the picture, and said, "And they mean more to me than anything. My friends." She was surrounded by a bright white glow, against which both Spike and Fangheart raised a limb to block.
"Twilight? Are you alright?" Spike asked, straining his eyes against the ever brightening glow.
"I've got it," Twilight declared, "I know what to do." She turned around, and made her way upstairs, returning with a bejeweled chest.
"You do?" Spike asked.
"What does the problem have to do with those? Are you getting rid of them?" Fangheart added.
Spike slapped his forehead with a claw, and asked, "Did she seriously not explain this to you?"
The two males looked up at the unicorn as she placed the five necklaces in the chest, and the crown on her head. She said, "These are the Elements of Harmony, and if you'll just read this book-" She levitated a book in front of the pegasus. "-you'll understand quite a bit about them. Basically, my friends and I are the six embodiments of the Elements of Harmony, generosity, honesty, laughter, kindness, loyalty, and magic."
Fangheart took the book, and held it under his right wing, which he folded against his side. "Elements..." he said thoughtfully, and looked down for a moment. "The Elements of Harmony. My mother was so worried about them that she tried to antagonize you, and nearly had your friends convinced that you were being possessive of your brother, who then revoked your invitation."
He thought for another moment, and added, "The whole point was to render the Elements of Harmony useless, and ensure that none of the other bearers would look for you after your outburst. The plan was to turn the others against you, and thus, face no resistance when she finally had Shining Armor." He looked back up, and blinked at the unicorn.
Twilight was staring at him, a small hint of discomfort in her eyes. She said, "I... wasn't aware that Chrysalis even knew about the elements. She acted very little like Cadance, and her plan only worked through dumb luck."
Fangheart couldn't help but laugh, and fell onto his back. "No, no, the entire point of acting strange around you was to tip you, and you alone, off. She had the perfect excuse for being strange to your friends, the stress of arranging a wedding. But she needed to single you out, and acting unlike Cadance was the perfect way of doing that," he said.
Twilight gulped, and said, "We were..."
"Playing right into her hooves, the whole time," he finished. He sat up, and pointed a hoof at the box full of gems. "My mother's worst defeat aside, you still have a plan to finish."
Twilight nodded, and said, "Anyhay, I may not be able to remind my friends of who they are, but I can show them what they mean to each other. They'll find the part of themselves that's been lost so they can help the friend they care about so much." She looked back and forth between the two boys. "Fangheart, can you carry this?" She set down the chest on his back, and marched towards the door. "Come on, guys."
Fangheart dragged himself towards the duo, who had already flagged down Fluttershy, and collapsed under the weight of the elements in front of the cottage. He wheezed, "Nope... Not strong enough." He glanced at Spike, who was giving him a raised eyebrow. He just asked, "Can you carry this?"
Spike took the chest from Fangheart's back, and pulled out the necklace with a butterfly on it. He presented it to Twilight, who then attached it to Fluttershy's neck. The gem changed color, and the pegasus's eyes went wide as various images flashed across them. Her cutie mark changed from a set of three balloons, which he could have sworn belonged to Pinkie Pie, into three pink butterflies.
Fangheart made his way to the back of the cottage, maneuvering carefully around forest animals, some of which he'd never seen before, and began untying a bound Rainbow Dash. He paused when he heard Twilight singing again.
"A true, true friend helps a friend in need. A friend will be there to help them see," Twilight sang, before prompting Fluttershy to pitch in, "A true, true friend helps a friend in need, to see the light that shines from a true, true friend."
Fangheart finished untying the cyan pegasus, and asked, "So... Do ponies rehearse these songs?"
Twilight addressed Dash, and sang, "Rarity needs your help-"
"No one ever told me that ponies simply burst out into song," Fangheart interjected, then ran to keep up with the others, who had all left the cottage.
"-She's trying hard, doing what she can," Twilight sang.
Fluttershy pointed at the checkerboard clouds, singing, "Would you try? Just give it a chance. You might find that you'll start to understand."
Rainbow Dash was already level with the clouds, and flying through them, dissipating the collections of water vapor and dust. A smile formed on her lips, and she flew forwards, flapping her wings in such a way that when she stopped, a small vortex of air carried on in the direction she was facing.
"A true, true friend helps a friend in need. A friend will be there to help you see. A true, true friend helps a friend in need, to see the light that shines from a true, true friend," Fluttershy and Twilight sang. The latter placed the lightning bolt necklace on Rainbow Dash, who went still as her element changed color, her cutie mark changed, and her eyes flashed with images.
The cyan pegasus pulled herself off the ground, and asked Twilight, "Um... What just happened?"
Twilight shook her head, and said, "There's no time to explain, but we need your help. Applejack's trying to make dresses."
"Say no more," the pegasus said.
The day went on like that, with the group running back and forth through the town, gathering their friends, and reassigning them their proper cutie marks. Fangheart simply did his best to keep up, humming to himself the song they were singing.
When the group returned to the library, Fangheart sat down in the center of the room, and tried to catch his breath. He watched the six mares and Spike gather around a book in Twilight's possession. He stood up, and stood next to Twilight so he could see the book.
Twilight wrote on a blank page of her book, reciting her words aloud to the group, "From all of us together, together we're friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end." As she set her quill down to mark the period, closed the book, and set it down, her friends came in for a hug.
The star on her crown began to glow, and the other bearers all took a step back. The glow's intensity bore down on all in the room, and each of the other element blasted beams of their corresponding colors towards Twilight, next to whom Fangheart was standing. The beams met around the two ponies, and a white ball of energy formed.
There was a collective gasp, the sound of wind rushing by, and a truly blinding light.
When the light died down, Pinkie, Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Spike, all looked around frantically for the absent pair of ponies.