Domain of Friendship

by Cold Bolt

Episode 5-3

"Twilight, darling, you've hardly touched your food...!"

It was evening the second day, and nine ponies were gathered in an auxiliary room of the castle set up as a private dining hall. A buffet table stood parallel to the one at which the ponies sat and ate, chattering happily as they awaited the festivities of the following morning.

At least, most of them did.

Twilight stared dejectedly at her plate, which only held a meager helping of food in the first place, and listened idly to the conversations going on around her.

"Wow, Tank." Fluttershy stared at his plate, piled high with shrimp and scallops. "I had no idea you liked seafood so much."

"I mean, I didn't before, to be honest." Tank shrugged, adjusting the fork strapped to his hoof via an elastic band before poking a peeled shrimp with it and chowing down. "But hey, if this is the closest I'm gonna get to eating meat again, I'll take it. Doesn't hurt that the castle cooks are fantastic, either."

"I'll say!" said Pinkie, noisily shoving the contents of her heavily loaded plate into her mouth. "This shtuff's delicioush~"

Scarlet's brow furrowed as she watched the carnage unfolding before her. "Pinkie, I watched you scoop a hoofful from every tray onto your plate without actually looking at any of it. Do you even know what most of that is?"

Pinkie swallowed an impressively large bite. "Does it matter?"

Scarlet opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out at first. "For some odd reason, I find that logic difficult to refute..."

Rarity, however, was focused on the sullen mare beside her, giving her a comforting rub. "Twilight...?"

"I'm fine," said Twilight as she nudged Rarity's hoof away.

"I don't know who you think you're fooling by saying that," Rarity replied. "You've been clearly miserable for a day and a half now. This business with your brother - "

" - isn't something anypony can fix," interrupted Twilight. "He's made it clear he doesn't care about me anymore, and nopony can force him to."

"Nopony but you, perhaps," said Rarity. "So he's been brushing you off all this time. Just as we've been telling Fluttershy, you need to be more assertive! You need to stand your ground and force him to notice you!"

Twilight sighed again. "I don't see what good it'll do."

Rarity smiled. "Do you know what I think?"

Twilight tilted her head, genuinely curious.

"I don't think he's stopped caring about you at all, darling. I think he's being evasive," said Rarity. "I think he's hiding something from you because he's afraid, and I'd be willing to bet it's something that will be healthier for the both of you once it's out in the open."

Finally, Twilight looked at least somewhat hopeful. "How sure of that are you?"

Rarity glanced away briefly. "Well, perhaps not as much so as I'd like to be, but I don't see what you stand to lose in trying... and if it might get you your dear brother back, isn't it worth the risk?"

Twilight took a deep breath and glanced down at her food. In a flash, she began scarfing down the contents of her plate as quickly as she could, wiping her mouth with a napkin once it was empty. "You know what, Rarity? You're right - it is worth it. Don't wait up for me if I'm not back by bedtime; I'll see you girls tomorrow." Without another word, she leaped out of her chair and bolted from the room, several heads turning to watch her go.

Biting her lip, Rarity turned to the rest of the group, her eyes eventually settling on one of them in particular. "Waterwing, dear, would you...?"

Waterwing drained the last of the water in her glass, then set it down and nodded. <I'll make sure she's okay!>

Rarity nodded as well, watching as Waterwing fluttered along after Twilight.

Tank quirked an eyebrow and quietly slipped out of his chair.

---

Shining Armor paced back and forth in the ornate foyer of his home, staring at a wall-mounted clock nearby, a spell charging in his horn. "Come on, let's get it right this time..."

"Shiny!"

The front door suddenly burst open, a purple unicorn dashing through with a blue pegasus hovering over her like a feathery balloon.

"Wh - !" Shining whirled around, staring for just half a second too long before looking back at the clock. "Blast!" He quickly loosed the spell, a bolt of pink light flying straight up to disappear through the ceiling. It flew higher and higher, aimed directly at the very top of the city's spherical shield... which shimmered and brightened a fraction of a second before it struck.

Shining growled. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I want to talk to you, Shiny," said Twilight. Her eyes watering, she sat down on the entrance rug as Waterwing landed softly beside her. "It's been so long! I missed you. I want to know how you've been doing all this time, and I want to hear all about you and Cadance! And..." She paused to wipe a tear from her eye. "...and I want to know why you're avoiding me like this."

Shining huffed. "There's nothing to talk about. I've been doing my duty to my country, which is exactly why I don't need distractions."

"Distractions?" Twilight echoed. "Is that all I am to you anymore? What happened to the Shiny who played with me all the time when we were foals, who said he'd always look out for me? 'Like a good big brother should,' you said! You said that!" She shivered as she felt a reassuring hoof on her back. "And now all I am to you... is a distraction?"

"My duty to my princess and my country comes first," said Shining coldly. "That's what being captain of the guard means. All else is secondary to that, no matter how anypony feels about it. Not even family."

"But there's no need for this," said Twilight. "You don't have to close yourself off like this to do your job. You never did."

Shining shook his head. "You underestimate the burden on my shoulders, and you continue to waste my time. If this is all you came here for, I suggest you leave now before I'm forced to remove you myself." With that, he turned his back on her.

Twilight buried her face in Waterwing's shoulder and sobbed, even as a gentle pair of wings draped around her. "...not my brother..."

Shining flinched. "What?"

"You're not my brother!" shouted Twilight. In a voice so quiet only Waterwing could hear, she added, "...not anymore."

The air in the room turned deathly still.

Eyes clenched shut in an effort to hold back her tears, Twilight trembled. She trembled so much, she wondered if she would have fallen over if not for the pony at her side. Her heart ached, and her mind raced...

Waterwing glanced up at Shining Armor, who stared at them over his shoulder. A chill crawled down her spine at the sneer on his face.

"So... you saw through my disguise after all."

With a glow of his horn, the front door slammed shut, locking with a metallic click. The noise startled the two mares, who jumped as their attention snapped to it.

Twilight blinked, her disappointment replaced with confusion. "W... What?"

"I should have known I wouldn't be able to fool his dear, sweet baby sister." Shining's voice was thick with scorn as he approached Twilight and Waterwing, huddled together on the rug. "Do you have any idea how much incessant prattle about you I had to listen to? Every breath he didn't spend on his precious Cadance or the usual 'oh, you will never get away with this' nonsense..." He waved his forehooves mockingly as he said this. "...was wasted worrying about his little 'Twily.' If I didn't need him conscious to keep up that blasted barrier, I'd have shut him up long ago."

Waterwing slowly shook her head. This must have been what Cadance had been warning them about, right? They had to escape and warn her, now!

She let go of Twilight and rushed over to the door. Despite her fierce rattling of the handle, it held fast. She reached up to undo the lock, only to find that in place of a deadbolt, the door featured a brass mechanism with no knob or handle on it; clearly, it was intended to be manipulated by magic she didn't have.

"Who... Who are you?" Twilight's heart hammered in her chest as she stared down the strange figure she now knew wasn't Shining Armor. "What have you done with my brother?"

The door rattled of its own accord behind Waterwing.

The imposter's sneer returned. "Oh, you'll be seeing him soon enough. Can't afford to risk my secret leaking to the princesses, you see; if they discover my plans before I'm ready, it'll ruin everything."

Before either of them could react, the imposter's horn lit up, this time in an eerie lime green. Rings of green flame erupted along the floor around both mares, portals that swallowed them both without hesitation.

As soon as he was alone in the room, the green glow of the imposter's horn subsided as the portals vanished. With a click, the door unlocked once more.

---

From his hiding place beneath the front steps in the shadow made by the setting sun, Tank gasped as the door slammed shut.

He held his breath for a moment, ears perked in the hopes of picking up the rest of the conversation... but no sound pierced the now closed door, and none of the windows were open. After about thirty seconds, all he got for the effort was a rattling noise as someone inside attempted to open the door. Scrambling up the steps, he yanked and shoved the door several times himself, to no avail.

Backing up a bit, he began pacing in front of the building, looking for an alternative... and quickly finding one in the form of a raised window on the side of the house, overlooking a narrow alleyway.

As he pondered how to reach it, his heart tripped on a beat as he felt an unfamiliar magic surging inside the building. Gritting his teeth, Tank leaped from wall to wall, scaling the rough brick until he could just barely hook his forehooves onto the windowsill and scramble for purchase.

By the time his grip was solid enough to look through the window into the foyer below, the magic had dissipated. Twilight and Waterwing were nowhere to be found; Shining Armor stood alone, facing away from the front door, which emitted a soft click that only barely registered in Tank's ears.

Tank carefully let go of the windowsill and dropped, all four legs bending to cushion his fall as he landed back in the alley. Wiping the sweat from his forehead in an attempt to look casual, he trotted up to the now unlocked door and gave it a swift knock.

In seconds, he was face to face with a scowling Shining Armor.

"Hey, have you seen Twilight?" Tank scratched his head. "She said she was coming to talk to you."

Shining Armor huffed. "She already left. You just missed her."

"Ah, geez. That's fine, I'll go find her myself." Tank paused a moment. "Was anypony else with her?"

"No. Why?"

"Uh, no reason."

"Is that all? I'm busy."

Tank waved a hoof. "Yeah, yeah, sure. You get ready for your big day tomorrow and all. See you."

Before he could even turn around, the door had already slammed in his face.

The moment his hooves hit the cobblestone street, Tank took off at a gallop back toward the castle.

---

"What."

In a secluded side room of the castle, Cadance gave Tank a flat stare.

"Look... I'm sorry for the shock and all, Princess," said Tank, "but you asked me to report anything suspicious, and I'd say that more than qualifies."

"I hope you realize the gravity of what you're suggesting," warned Cadance as she began pacing back and forth. "If your accusation is false, it could land you in prison for a good long time."

Tank grimaced.

Cadance raised a hoof to her chest, took a deep breath, and let it out as she waved the hoof forward. "But I can't ignore the possibility that you're right. It just... doesn't make any sense."

"Hmm..." Tank rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "But weren't you saying something earlier about his abrupt change in demeanor? If he's a shapeshifter or whatever, that would stand to reason."

Cadance shook her head. "But he's been renewing the shield over the city all this time. I've watched him do it. How would a changeling be maintaining it like that?" She sighed. "And that also leaves the question of how they got to him in the first place."

Tank's ears folded back. Cadance was right; even after what he'd seen and felt, there were too many pieces of the puzzle that still didn't fit.

"We can't know for sure yet," he admitted, "but the first thing we need to do is find Twilight and Waterwing. We don't know what kind of danger they're in."

"I was just going to say that," said Cadance. "But if it's really him, then we can't risk pulling too many guards from their patrols to search the city or he might catch on."

Tank nodded. "Then we'll just have to do what we can and hope it's enough. We'll get to the bottom of this thing, Princess."

Cadance gazed out the window. "I certainly hope so... for all our sakes."

---

The first thing Twilight noticed as she awoke was the dizziness.

She felt as though she had just gotten off a particularly intense carnival ride, and raised a hoof to her head as she tried to get her eyes to focus... only to quickly realize there was apparently nothing on which to focus them. A jolt of panic shot through her system at the thought that she might have been blinded, only to quickly subside as she told herself she was probably just someplace dark.

After a moment of slow breathing to let the dizziness pass, Twilight's horn glowed for a moment before emitting a bluish-white flame, which took up residence in a lazy orbit around her head. Instantly, the area around her illuminated. "I'll have to thank Scarlet for that one later. Way better than a plain light spell..."

Surrounding her were the dusty granite walls of what appeared to be an old mine. Tiny colorful fragments littered the floor beneath her hooves, and she lifted some in her magic for a closer look.

"Crystal shards..." she whispered. "This is... an old crystal mine? Am I somewhere inside the mountain?"

She wasn't entirely sure why she felt the need to be quiet; there wasn't a soul in sight. Then again, perhaps that was the problem.

From a ways off, she heard the sound of frantic hoofsteps on stone. Whirling around to face it, she planted her hooves and glared into the darkness, ready to give her would-be assailant what for... but her expression softened as a familiar blue pegasus skidded to a stop in front of her.

<Oh thank goodness,> signed Waterwing. <I'm so glad I found you! It's way too dark and scary in here...> Newly blessed with the ability to see her surroundings, she glanced around. <Um, where are we?>

Twilight bit her lip. "I... think we might be inside the mountain."

Waterwing blinked. <Huh?>

"This is an old crystal mine," explained Twilight. "There used to be deposits of magic crystals in here, but the mines have been depleted for so long that most ponies don't even know they're here anymore."

Waterwing gasped silently. <But... if ponies don't know about the mine anymore, then...>

"...then we don't have much hope of rescue," Twilight finished bitterly. "That imposter must have wanted to be absolutely certain we wouldn't be able to stop the wedding."

<But can't you teleport us back out?>

"I could teleport myself back, in theory..." Twilight shook her head. "But it's a risky prospect when you don't know the distance involved, and we have no way of knowing how deep we are. Plus, if I did, I would be leaving you by yourself in the dark."

Waterwing unfurled her wings as though to suggest it anyway, but shivered again and quickly changed her mind. <So... which way do we go?>

The corridor split in three directions, including the one from which Waterwing had emerged. Twilight spent several moments glancing between them, entirely at a loss... until her ears suddenly picked up a noise she hadn't noticed before, as strange as it was faint.

"I hear... ticking," she said finally.

A hoof frantically tapped her shoulder.

Waterwing bit her lip. <Do you think it's a time bomb?!>

"I don't think it's a time bomb, Waterwing."

<It could be a time bomb! How do you know it's not?>

Twilight sighed. "The imposter has been working hard to stay under everypony's radar this whole time. If he wanted to kill us, he would use something a lot more subtle."

Waterwing blinked. <Oh. Um, that's a good point.>

"C'mon," said Twilight, stepping forward and motioning for Waterwing to follow. "If nothing else, it might at least be a clue. Let's go."

Author's Note:

The pacing of this chapter feels a little odd to me... Comments welcome.

Comments

[bonberjean]

I think the pacing is okay.

[Reykan]

Eh, was kind of enjoyable(if a little bland) until the empty settings were handed out. Not my thing.