The Conquering of Love

by Littlecolt

Twilight Sparkle Ch 3 - Breaking Free

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Three - Breaking Free

Twilight stood over Spike’s unconscious body, staring at Princess Celestia in disbelief.

“Twilight Sparkle, I know you must have many questions, but they will need to wait,” the princess said hastily. She walked towards the two, her eyes trained on Spike.

“Stay back!” yelled Twilight. “Are you really the princess? If so, how did you get here? And how did you put Spike to sleep?”

“Yes, sleep magic is not usually in my repertoire, very sharp of you,” Celestia said. “But in this world, things are different. We’re only limited by your suspension of disbelief, so I pray you come to grips with this quickly, lest he awakens again.”

“My what, now?” Twilight asked, confused. “What do you mean ‘this world?’”

“Twilight, I believe you were warned earlier by somepony that something is very wrong, here. Pinkie Pie has been working with me on this problem. Unknowingly, of course,” Celestia said.

“Pinkie did say something about the colors being wrong, or ponies acting strangely. I think she said they were being ‘too nice’ or something,” Twilight recalled. “But the only strange thing here is you. How did you come from out of that gem? I’m so confused.”

“Twilight, I don’t have time to mince words, so I am going to try and do this as quickly as possible,” said Celestia with a grave look on her face. She stared deeply into Twilight’s eyes. “You will have to trust me. Please.”

Twilight sat down uneasily and nodded her head.

“Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, what is the last thing you remember about last night? Try to remember,” Celestia asked.

“The wedding had ended. We left in a carriage bound for Ponyville,” said Twilight.

“Is that what actually happened, or do you just assume that is what happened?” asked the princess. “Think hard, my student. Concentrate on it. Try to remember something about that carriage. Who were you sitting next to? What was the interior like? What sort of conversation were you having with the others?”

“Well, of course that’s what actually happened. I was sitting next to Flutter... or was it Rarity?” Twilight thought aloud. “Oh come on, Princess, you can’t expect me to remember every little detail!”

“I wouldn’t expect it? From Twilight Sparkle, my number one student, who has a memory like a painting? Who can normally recall even the slightest details, no matter how important? Of course I’d expect you to remember things like this from such an important night! I’d expect no less!” said Celestia.

“You’re right... why can’t I remember?” Twilight said.

“Twilight, I said I was not going to mince words, and I meant it,” said Celestia, a serious look in her eyes. “Your memories of last night are false. Please think slowly about the events of last night, and try to remember what happened. You may feel a sensation of magical energy welling up inside you, but you must resist it. If you can not contain it, we may lose our only chance to make right what has gone wrong.”

Twilight thought back to the night of the wedding. The attack by the changelings. The battle in the streets of Canterlot. And then, she remembered darkness. A flash of lightning. Her friends strung up from the ceiling in cocoons, feeding their energy to a single point... Chysalis, the changeling queen!

Twilight’s horn began to faintly glow. Her eyes went wide. Her pupils dilated. She breathed heavily as a surge of magic began to build inside of her.

“You must resist it, Twilight!” yelled Celestia. “You must hold it back and stay with me, for if you let it go, you will be torn away from me again, and we can not afford to let that happen!”

With this, the Princess placed her horn against Twilight’s, straining, their horns alight like fire as they fought together against the flow.

“This is your own doing, Twilight! It’s a defense mechanism! You must take hold of it! Only you can do it, you have to suppress it! If I have ever needed your magical talent to shine, now is the time!” Celestia yelled as her mane ignited in white flames.

Twilight heard the princess, but fell deeper and deeper into despair. She could feel herself being torn from the world. It felt like she was waking up from a dream. In her head, images of her friends flashed around her. They were in pain, crying out for her to fight.

“I can’t!” she yelled. “It’s too much!”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Applejack’s voice rang in her ears. “You’re the Element of Magic! Just grab this thing by the horns!”

“Yeah, give me a break, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash’s voice called out. “Magic is for you what speed is for me! If I can do a Sonic Rainboom, then you should be able to beat this thing, no problem!”

“You’re a shining diamond, Twilight!” yelled Rarity. “You must do this! You must!”

“I can’t! I just can’t!” cried Twilight, tears flowing from her eyes.

Then Twilight felt a pair of hooves wrap around her. It was Fluttershy. “It’ll be alright, Twilight,” she said calmly. “We all believe in you.”

Twilight embraced her friend and clenched her teeth. “I... will not... lose!” she growled. With those words, the energy that had been flowing outward came crashing back into her with a bright flash.

Celestia fell backwards. The white flames popped into the air as they vanished one by one.

The strength left Twilight’s legs, and she fell to the ground. She panted heavily for a moment before she was able to raise her head to make sure Celestia hadn’t been hurt.

“Princess...” Twilight huffed. “Are you... all right?”

Celestia smiled. “A little bit singed, but otherwise, okay. You?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” said Twilight, regaining her composure. “So how do we get out of here?”

“It’s easier said than done, but I think our first step is to get some rest, and then go see Pinkie Pie later on when she’s awake,” said Celestia. “I’ve been working through her, somewhat. That mare has quite a strange capacity for sensing things outside of reality. Even though you may not have realized it consciously, she’s the same Pinkie Pie, even in this dream world.”

Twilight laughed. “Pinkie Pie’s brain always was on a bit of a different wavelength, it’s true.”

Celestia smiled, and then her horn began to glow. Her body shrank down, and her mane pulled up into a shorter length. Her wings shrunk and vanished into her body, and her horn shortened to standard unicorn length. Even her cutie mark morphed inward until it was a simple, small circle, resembling an orange. She now stood at roughly the same height as Twilight Sparkle. To anyone who hadn’t seen this event, she would look like a typical unicorn.

Twilight blinked. “What was that? What happened?”

Celestia laughed. “A little illusion like this, I am at least capable of. Now I will not be recognized. This will make it a little bit easier to move around, and if you-know-who can somehow peer into the dream world, she will be no wiser as to my identity. This is why we had to move quickly.”

“Oh, I get it. A disguise! I like it!” said Twilight, mischievously. “We can tell everypony you’re my cousin... um... Twilight Orange?”

Celestia smirked. “Well, maybe we need to work on the name a little bit. But for now, we should rest and regain some strength.”

“Right. This way,” said Twilight, leading the princess up the stairs and into her bedroom.

“I have another bed, here,” said Twilight, pulling down a bed from a compartment where it had been stored in the wooden wall.

Twilight pulled a set of sheets and a blanket from the closet as well, and began to make the bed. “The last time it was used, though, was when Rarity and Applejack slept over. I hope there’s no pine needles...”

“Pine needles?” asked Celestia as she lent a hoof to Twilight. The two of them pulled the oversheet tight, tucking the corners in at each end.

“Yes, well, there was a bit of an accident involving a neighboring tree and a certain overzealous pony lassoing it through the window,” said Twilight as the two finished folding the top cover down and placing a pillow at the head of the bed.

“I remember that report. I don’t remember that part, though,” Celestia said with a smirk.

Twilight blushed and laughed. “Yeah, I sort of had Spike leave that part out when he wrote the letter... Oh no! Spike!” said Twilight as she remembered that he was asleep on the floor downstairs. She quickly went and fetched him, then placed him gently in his own small bed.

Celestia was already in the guest bed when Twilight slipped under her own covers and closed her eyes. Her mind was so preoccupied with thoughts swirling around, though, she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get much sleep yet again.

“Not that any of this is even real...” Twilight said quietly to herself.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” said Celestia, “we’ll get through this together.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” said Twilight as she turned to her other side.

“It’s all right. That was quite the ordeal you just went through,” said Celestia. “Just relax.”

Twilight sighed. “Why do we even need to rest and sleep in a dream, anyway? This is ridiculous!” she said.

“Perhaps you should make it so we don’t need to rest,” said Celestia. “It is your dream, after all.”

The thought hadn’t even occurred to Twilight. “How would I even do that?” she asked.

Celestia laughed. She got up from her bed and walked over to Twilight’s bedside. She laid her head down near Twilight’s and rested her chin on her front hooves.

“I have no idea! But I know you can at least relax. Just remember, I’m here with you. You don’t have to carry the burden on your own,” said Celestia as she raised a hoof and brushed Twilight’s bangs from her eyes.

Twilight smiled. It had been years since they’d spent time together like this. Even though Celestia looked different right now, she was still the same wonderful mentor that Twilight had come to love so dearly during her time in Canterlot. Just the fact that she was there beside her made Twilight feel at ease.

“Thank you, Princess...” said Twilight as she closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

Celestia smiled and closed her eyes as she fell asleep as well.

Comments

[Vidaldas]

link for the video with alternate ending plz

[Littlecolt]

950848

Click "Source" under the cover image.

[carlos_pony]

It looks like things are about to get real.
Nice chapter.

[EnderCrafter23]

953075Eeyup.

[Levana]

Perhaps when they have time to go to sleep, it's actually when the changelings are active most?

[Discord_Lexia]

Deus Ex Celestia

[Ravemastaj]

4818616
It would be more properly said:
Celestia Ex Quies
(I think, anyways - so many words for "fantasy" and "daydream" in latin...)

[kotor511]

We can tell everypony you’re my cousin... um... Twilight Orange?”

Honestly author, of all the name Twilight could have said, after being praised by Tia and all that... that's what she came up with?
...
Seriously?

I mean, aside from Twilights need to correct each and everyone if they give wrong definitions, names, explanations and so on, she sure as hell doesn't like someone else playing puns on her name...

And Twilight... Orange... where is the connection? For that matter why would she also call her Twilight?

That joke was just... bad and I doubt Twilight would have said that, if she's such a genius with words.

Anyway lets see where this goes.

[Eonflare]

Huh, kinda expecting her friends presence to make it worse, after all she did end in the caves (and henceforth here in the dream) because they all abandoned her at the wedding.

[Thegodhand]

I have no idea that happened in this chapter. Exploding with magic is a defense mechanism? Against what and how is that reaction meant to be beneficial? And what was going to happen if she didn't stop it, was she going to wake up or form a new dream or what?