The Reception's Back On

by sister_mike

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle couldn't believe her eyes. There, standing in the room, looking completely unharmed and conscious, was her brother. Something bright green shimmered to the left, just out of her peripheral vision. She stepped into the room.

Shining Armor turned around as Twilight and the others stepped into the room.

"Oh no," he said, "you found me."

He took an odd step towards Twilight, almost like he stumbled, but like he had done it on purpose.

"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't you want me to find you?! Are you ok? What happened, where's Cadance? Where's Celestia, Chrysalis?" Twilight asked, a million different questions coming to her head.

"Cadance is right here," Shining Armor said. He motioned to the left.

Twilight turned to see what the green shimmer had been. Cadance was imprisoned in a green crystal. It was different from the other cocoons, but a green stream still oozed from it.

"Have you tried to free her?" Twilight asked.

"Of course," Shining Armor said, "but it's not like the other cocoons. It's special."

Twilight walked up to it. Cadance looked like she was sleeping. No terrifying look on her face. She wondered how long she'd been in there, how long Chrysalis had been impersonating her.

"Twilight, you need to leave—now," Shining Armor said. There was an odd pain in his voice. Twilight turned back and looked at him. He was awkwardly shifting his weight from side to side. He looked like he was sweating, like he was nervous.

"Shining Armor, what's going on?" she asked.

"You need to leave me—now. Run, get out of here," Shining Armor said.

"Why? Tell me what's going on! Where's Chrysalis, do you know? We have the Elements of Harmony and—"

Shining Armor suddenly made a lunge towards Twilight, as though he was going to take her down. Titan Wings jumped in between them, but Shining Armor had managed to control himself.

"Stand down Captain," Titan Wings said, "Though you are not the captain of my Princess's troops, I respect you. Do not cause a fight."

"I can't help it," Shining Armor said, shifting his weight again. He kept looking at Twilight, as though he were trying to find a way around Titan Wings to get to her. "Chrysalis put a weird spell on me; she's kept me normal and conscious, but cursed me so that as soon as I saw Twilight Sparkle, I would be programmed to go after her—and kill her."

Twilight and the girls gasped.

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, taking a step back.

"Chrysalis—she's just having fun, torturing me. She keeps me in here, so I can stand by helplessly and not be able to free Cadance; she's using Cadance as leverage on me. At first she had us locked in part of the dungeon, and was just torturing me, letting me know that I failed in protecting Equestria. But when you escaped, it made her angry—very angry. She knew you would come and try to find me—us—and so she moved us into an easily accessible room. She put a spell on me, so that my mind is still conscious and under my control, but my body isn't. It's programmed to go after Twilight once I saw her and to not stop until I take her down. It's like an itch that I can't control. I was hoping you would go and fight Chrysalis first so that the spell would be broken—but she knew you would be able to sense me and would come after me.

"Once she would have me dispose of you, she is going to imprison your friends again and harvest their energy, and then she plans to brainwash me into using my barrier spell over all of Equestria again, so that the other creatures do not attack Equestria and retaliate as she tries to take over their lands as well," Shining Armor explained.

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. Chrysalis was more evil than she had thought. Torturing Shining Armor for fun, making him consciously kill his sister beyond his control.

"Shining Armor, you can fight it, I know you can," Twilight said. She wanted to take a step towards him, but he got on his hind legs and whinnied. He huffed at Titan Wings and made a move to get around him, but Titan Wings held his ground.

"I'm sorry Twilight—I'm trying, but I can't—"

Without warning, Shining Armor faked a move to one side and then charged past Titan Wings and ran towards Twilight. Rainbow Dash dove down in front of Twilight, but Titan Wings quickly recovered his position and tackled Shining Armor to the ground.

"Go Twilight Sparkle, run! Get out of here!" Titan Wings shouted, struggling to keep Shining Armor down.

"Come on Twilight, we need to get out of here! We need to defeat Chrysalis in order to save your brother," Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack began to nudge Twilight towards the door, as the others ran out and Shining Armor fought to get up and run after them.

"Just don't hurt him!" Twilight cried, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

"Use your magic to lock the door behind you," Titan Wings shouted.

"But what if he—" she started.

"Do it!"

Applejack pushed Twilight out of the room and shut the door behind her.

"Do what he says Twilight and do it fast; it won't be long before the changelings are onto us. We need to get into that ballroom and destroy that ponyquin—that'll get Chrysalis's attention and then we can fight her," Applejack said.

Twilight nodded, tears streaming down her face. She could hear Titan Wings and Shining Armor fighting in there. She performed the spell, her cries becoming more and more vibrant.

"Come on Twilight; once we defeat Chrysalis, everything will be fixed. We need to get to that main chamber and get her attention," Rarity said.

"Yeah, let's go take out that fake pony-thing and take this changeling down!" Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight nodded, and tried to wipe her tears away. Her friends were right.

"O-ok," she said. "Let's go take that thing out."

Comments

[ctzmsc3]

"It was different than the other cocons" - Not "different than". Use "different from".

[themanesix]

wow.......thats just cruel Chrysalis