19 years later…
Within Canterlot Castle there is a corridor dedicated to holding major historical events in the form of stain-glass windows, and in this corridor was a lone alicorn; Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She had pink fur, mane and tail of light-yellow, darker pink and purple, with most of her wings having a purple hue, and she wore a dark-pink shirt and yellow pants, like in her mane and tail. The alicorn princess wasn’t wearing a gown or fancy dress as her aunts would as she felt more comfortable in casual clothing, regardless of what tomorrow was.
Cadence, as she normally likes to be called, was standing in front of a window showing a group of six mares defeating a recent threat to Equestria. A passerby would think that she was gazing at nothing and simply facing the window, but in truth she was staring at one of the mares; a unicorn with a lavender coat and dark-blue mane and tail.
She placed her hand on the image of Twilight Sparkle with a loving smile, a smile only a proud mother could give. “Oh, Twilight, you have no idea how proud I am of you. But I’m afraid that following tomorrow our bond will be tested to the limits.” She muttered. Of course, a passerby wouldn’t realise that the pink mare wasn’t Cadence at all, but Queen Chrysalis of the Asgard Hive. Contrary to what many still believe, Changelings are very kind and loving creatures with only a few bad apples - some of which are queens, sadly.
Chrysalis was knocked out of her musings when a sudden announcement rang through the Hive-mind. {It’s her! It’s the princess! She’s alive!!} the excited Changeling proclaimed, causing everyone that the queen brought to Canterlot into an uproar. It took her nearly five minutes to get her subordinates to calm down enough to be professional.
It wasn’t until she put a hand to her chest did Chrysalis realise that she’d gotten excited as well from the news of Twilight being in the city. Needing a way to calm her racing heart, she decided that some fresh air would do her some good and walked to the nearest exit. Once she got outside though, she was met with a big surprise.
“Cadence!” shouted Twilight, surprised and excited to see her old foalsitter.
Chrysalis stood stock still, shocked to see her disguised daughter face-to-face, completely ignoring the odd song and dance she was doing. A thousand thoughts ran through the Changeling Queen’s mind; ‘why was Twilight here in the first place’ or some other variant of the question being the primary one.
It seemed that she’d been standing there silently for too long as Twilight timidly asks, “Cadence? Are you okay?”
Blinking a few times, 'Cadence' shook her head a bit before she replied. “Oh, I’m sorry Twilight, but you just surprised me for a moment. I didn’t know that you were coming.” She stepped closer to the smaller mare and pulled her into a tight embrace. “I’ve just… missed you so much.” she whispered.
Twilight tried to return the hug as best she could, but she had to speak up. “Missed you too, Cadence, but... could you loosen up a bit? I can’t breath!”
Chrysalis gasped and released her daughter, though she kept her hands on her shoulders. “Oh my gosh! Are you alright?” she asks worriedly.
“Yeah, I’m fine. No harm done.” Twilight said with a smile, causing her disguised mother to sigh in relief.
“I’d hate to interrupt, but I should be heading back to my post.” Said the stallion standing a few feet behind Twilight. He wore a variant of the Royal Guard armour that was mostly purple with gold edges, signifying him as a high ranking official. “Why don’t you go on and catch-up and I’ll meet you at the rehearsal this evening?” he suggested.
“Good idea Shining.” Replied Twilight. “It’ll make it easier to check up on what my friends are doing while we’re together.”
“Alright, see you girls then.” With that, Shining Armour stepped towards the cloaked queen and gave her a kiss on the cheek before teleporting to where he was presently needed.
The two mares stood silently for a moment as Chrysalis took notice of the younger 'unicorn's attire; a blue tank-top with a white trim that had her cutie-mark on her chest and dark denim jeans, before she placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s have a walk around the castle while we chat.” She suggested, walking back inside with her daughter in tow. After a bit of walking, Chrysalis finally started the conversation. “So what exactly are you doing here? You mentioned something about your friends, right?”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, Princess Celestia invited us to help the wedding preparations. Applejack’s working on the catering, Pinkie Pie’s setting up the after party, Rarity’s making the dresses for yourself and your bridesmaids, Fluttershy is going to have a song-bird orchestra, and Rainbow Dash will perform a Sonic Rainboom after you and Shining say your ‘I do’s.”
“That’s interesting. So what’s your job?”
“I make sure that everything is perfect for your wedding.” Twilight smiled warmly, until she groaned and put a hand to her forehead.
“Twilight? Are you alright?” Chrysalis asks worriedly.
“I’m fine, but since we got to Canterlot I’ve been hearing this weird buzzing in my head. It’s starting to get a little annoying.”
“Hmm… let me try something.” Chrysalis swapped out the hand Twilight still had on her forehead with her own and lit her horn in a green glow, but she wasn’t using a spell. {Attention all Changelings! Cease all communication through the Hive-mind. Use electronic communicators from now on.} Though they were a little confused by their queens sudden order, the Changelings complied and switched communication methods.
Twilight instantly noticed the buzzing disappearing from her mind as ‘Cadence’ removed her hand. “Wow. Thanks Cadence, that was a real help.”
‘Cadence’ gave the young mare a loving smile. “Anything for you, Twilight.” She said as they continued walking. After a while, she spoke up again. "Though I must say that I was really surprised when I saw you earlier; I had no idea that you were coming."
Twilight frowned a little. "Well, neither did I. My friends and I only got the letter this morning from Spike and it took us by surprise." She said, then took on a thoughtful expression. "Though now that I think about it, I never got any prior letters from my parents or Shining that told me he was getting married, and whenever I asked him why he changed the subject until I got distracted when he asked me to be his best mare." Twilight paused before making a downtrodden face as she grumbled, "Which I fell for like an idiot."
Chrysalis frowned as well, but for different reasons. "That's an odd thing to do considering how close you are. I'll go talk to him about it and see what his reasoning was so that we can get it sorted out." Though she most likely won't actually do that, believing 'what's done is done', she needed to say something so that Twilight doesn't blame herself for something that's not her fault.
The disguised Changeling Princess smiled up to the mare she didn't know was her mother. "Thanks Cadence, that would be great." Twilight said as she opened the door to the castle kitchens.
Luckily for Twilight, all the jobs her friends were assigned to passed with flying colors and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what Cadence said. The intellectual unicorn had this odd feeling that those words held much greater weight than she would have thought. Regardless, it was evening and they were rehearsing for the wedding, which was completed without a hitch moments later.
After the rehearsal, everyone had gone to their rooms to rest for the night and be ready for the big day tomorrow. And big it will be…
Hidden inside a cave that overlooked the grand city of Canterlot, a squadron of Changelings garbed in grey and black assault armour waited, the orange/red lenses of their helmets glowing brightly in the darkness. They checked their equipment every few minutes, making sure that everything was in perfect order and would not malfunction. Concussion grenades, flashbangs, plastic rifles, at least twenty-one tranquilliser darts in each magazine… Yes, all good.
Two Changelings stood guard close to the cave’s mouth, giving them a view of the shield protecting the city they were going to attack and the night sky.
“The world looks beautiful at night, doesn’t it?” one asked his partner, his voice distorted to sound somewhat deep and mechanical.
“Yeah, it sure is.” The second answered back, his voice sounding exactly like the first one. “It’s a shame that we’re gonna attack innocent ponies.”
The first Changeling sighed. “Look, don’t think too much on that, okay? The Queen doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, but it can’t be avoided, so we do what we can to make sure that at least no one dies. Besides, ponies are the most xenophobic species on the planet; they’d be slaughtering each other if it weren’t for the princesses being hybrids of all three tribes. So don’t pity them too much.”
The second Changeling only nodded, his partner having a point. Even if they explained themselves or tried to make peace at some point, there was a higher chance of them being killed on sight rather than shaking hands.
After a long moment of silence, the second Changeling spoke up. “Hey, do you think it’s true? Is Princess Twilight really alive, and in the city?” he asks.
“I hope so. It would really lift everyone’s spirits at the Hive to have her back after so long.” Replied the first, a smile hidden behind his mask.
“Not slacking off now, are we?” a new and different voice questioned, startling the guards. They whirled around and had to raise their heads to meet the gaze of the large Stormcast Eternal that was leading their squad.
“N-no, my Lord! Not at all!” they said together, quickly and nervously saluting.
The Stormcast chuckled, an action that’s quite unnerving with their emotionless face-masks. “At ease soldiers, and don’t worry about it; it’s fine.” He said, making them calm down.
“What do you think, my Lord? Do you believe the princess is alive?” one of the guards asked.
The giant warrior raised his head up to gaze at the night sky. “I do not believe Princess Twilight lives; I know she does.” He put his hands behind his back as he took a deep breath and released it. “I can feel it.”
Seeing that their commanding officer wasn’t leaving anytime soon, the two guards turned back around and just enjoyed the starry sky as they thought of what could happen after the events of tomorrow.