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Prologue566 words
The Arrival723 words
First Meetings824 words
Ponyville551 words
Canterlot and suspicions about Cadence1,243 words
The False Queen2,166 words
Aftermath1,406 words

Canterlot and suspicions about Cadence

Boarding the train, I waved to the ponies of Ponyville (no pun intended), before stepping in and taking a seat with the six ponies I knew to be the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.

We sat in silence as the train began moving along, before Pinkie Pie decided to break the silence.

“So, Knighty, what do you think of Ponyville, and Equestria in general? Is it cool? Is it funny? Is i-“

The hyper party pony was quieted as Applejack put a hoof over her mouth.

“Now, now, Pinkie. Don’t want t’ scare ‘im any more than he is now. He’s scared enough as it is,” the cowpony said, chastising her friend.

“Oh! Sorry, Knighty! I get SUPER hyper sometimes,” Pinkie apologised.

“It’s okay,” I said.

While we waited for the train to get to Canterlot, I busied myself by looking out the window, admiring the scenery and wondering what the rest of Equestria is like.

But before long, the fatigue that I had powered through for so long finally caught up to me, and I fell asleep.

“Hey, look, we’re almost here!” Twilight exclaimed.

Shaken from my slumber, I look out the window, seeing a majestic-looking castle attached to a mountain.

“Huh. That’s a beautifully designed castle. While the Pale King’s palace certainly had better architecture and defenses, this castle is still well designed. And protected,” I said, analysing the castle’s architecture and design.

“Yep! Before construction began on it, Princess Celestia brought together some of the smartest and brightest architects to help design it. It took years to complete, though, since it wasn’t just a castle, because it was part of the city of Canterlot,” Twilight explained.

Both of us were interrupted, though, when Pinkie shouted, “We’re here!”

“Ah, it’s good to be back in Canterlot. Still so beautiful,” Rarity said, as we exited the train.

“Twily!”

Turning my head in confusion, I saw a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane embrace Twilight.

“Shining! It’s so good to see you!” Twilight said.

Then, a pink pony with a horn AND wings came up.

“Twilight!” She shouted, overjoyed.

“Cadence!” Twilight said.

Running over to each other, they did a strange sort of... greeting.

Confused, I piped up.

“What was that?”

Bewildered at where the voice had come from, the two new ponies looked down and saw me.

“Oh, who are you little one?” Cadence asked.

“I.. just call me Knighty for now. Normally I’m just called ‘the Knight,’ but that would sound like I’m a ‘snob,’ as Twilight over here put it,” I replied.

“Well, aren’t you cute? You’re so tiny!” She da’awed.

Surprised, I feel my cheeks heat up for some reason.

“W-well I’m a-a young bug! Don’t b-blame me for b-being so tiny!” I sputter.

Cadence just giggled, while the girls hooted with laughter. Even Shining Armor was amused, and I could hear him snickering.

“Oh, lord....” I moan.

Later, as I walked to the throne room to meet the other princesses, I ran into Cadence again.

“Ew, a bug! Someone get rid of it!” She screeched.

“I beg your pardon!” I said indignantly.

“You’re disgusting, you have germs all over!” ‘Cadence’ said, before she trotted away, huffing.

‘That isn’t Cadence. I met her just earlier! She didn’t act like that!’ I thought.

Walking up to the doors of the throne room, I encountered two Royal Guards.

“Halt! State your business, creature!” They barked.

“I apologise for the inconvenience. I was here to meet the princesses to see if they could find me a way back home,” I explain, not intimidated in the slightest by these guards.

“Remain here. I’ll go check with the princesses,” one said.

“That won’t be necessary, Sergeant,” said a (strangely calming) new voice.

Knowing who it’d be, I turn around and kneeled before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“Your majesties,” I said out of respect.

“You may rise, young one,” Luna said.

Standing up again, I began to talk with the two alicorns about me and my past.

“I am what you would call a vessel. Me and my siblings were born and infused with the energy of the Void. We were created to contain a terrible evil, known as the Infection. The Infection was like both a mental condition and a virus. It got inside a bug’s mind, drove them insane, and in extreme cases, the Infection would actually manifest on the outside of the bug’s body as large sacs filled with the Infection, which would cause the poor soul to mutate. By then, all that’s left is a wandering husk bent on killing everything in it’s sight. I stopped the Infection once and for all, by destroying its’ source, the Radiance. By then, though, my home, Hallownest... was in ruins, and what little bugs that had survived the blight of the Infection were fading, as the number of bugs left kept decaying.”

Looking up at the princesses, I was shocked to see both were horrified at what had happened to my home.

Noticing the look on my face, the two princesses faces became those of sympathy and sadness.

“I am sorry for the loss of your home, young bug,” Celestia said, distress and sympathy in her voice.

“It’s okay, Celestia. My home isn’t completely gone. There’s still one town left in Hallownest, Dirtmouth. If the kingdom is rebuilt, that’s where it’ll begin,” I said.

Walking towards a window, I looked outside, chuckling when I see ponies frantically scrambling about trying to set up and obtain all the requirements for the wedding.

My face fell and I frowned as I saw Princess Cadence shouting at the ponies. Quite harshly, too.

Turning to the princesses, who had watched me the entire time, I voiced my concerns and suspicions about ‘Cadence.’

“Celestia, Luna, I have a suspicion that Princess Cadence may have been kidnapped and replaced with an imposter.”

Both princesses were taken aback. “Are you sure?” Princess Celestia asked.

“I’m sure. While I don’t have enough evidence to expose the imposter yet, I still have a bit of proof. When I first met Cadence, she was very kind and caring, and she... fawned over me when she saw me. She even said I was cute,” I said, blushing.

Hearing some snickering, I shot a glare at the two royals.

“Not. A. Word,” I snarled, embarrassed.

“Continuing on, when I was heading to meet with you, I ran into Cadence again. This time, though, she acted as if she never met me, called me disgusting, and demanded someone remove me from the castle. Not the Cadence I met just hours ago,” I said.

“There is a chance that she’s just nervous about the wedding and is strained. She also may not have recognised you in the hall,” Celestia said, seeing other reasons Cadence might have been so rude.

“Okay.... I’ll quiet down on the whole ‘Cadence is an imposter’ thing for now, but I’m going to keep an eye on her. You can never be too careful,” I said, backing off.

“Good. Now, why don’t you help set up the wedding?” Luna suggested.

‘Wait....’

Startling the princesses, I shouted, “I don’t have anything nice to wear! All I have is this cloak, and while it might look nice in terms of being a bug, you’re all ponies, not bugs,” I said, panicking.

Widening her eyes, Celestia turned to one of her messengers and shouted, “Send for the royal tailor! This Knight needs a suit!”

Author's Note:

I beat my goal of 1,000 words! Yay!

Anyone else see what’s coming? By the way, the panicking Knight was inspired by a Halo fic, where Spike is a descendant of the Sangheili. The scene I took inspiration from was when Spike panicked and said he didn’t have any nice clothes for Cadence’s wedding.

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