The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish

All of a Flutter

Twilight Twinkle woke up late, and in hindsight realised that was probably not the best. She looked around, and saw Twilight Sparkle and Spike's beds were empty. She slowly made her way out of bed, ignoring a few small aches that still remained in her body, admiring the sounds of a Saturday morning. The calm, the peace. She quickly made her way downstairs, and found Twilight actually eating breakfast. As she walked past the mare, the word 'yellow' suddenly appeared in her mind. She looked over to Spike, who was also eating breakfast calmly. She selected a bowl, some cereal, some milk, and began eating. The word 'yellow' kept repeating in her head. It was halfway through her breakfast that she noted Twilight was staring at her. For a few moments she continued eating, before staring at Twilight.

"Grace period's over, then?" she finally said. Twilight nodded, and Twinkle realised the reason she'd been thinking of the word, 'yellow'. Twilight had a notebook sitting next to her.

"There are a few questions I wanted to ask you," Twilight said calmly, "Nothing about the future, just a few things that are confusing me."

Twinkle stared at her. Her vague sense of unease wasn't helped by the awkward smile on Twilight's face. She recognised that one instantly. It was, in a sense, the reason she'd been unable to make herself explain her actions to Twilight. That earnest, eager smile. Twinkle forced down her concern.

"I see" she said quietly, scraping a hoof against the table.
"Most of them are related, though, and I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have organised them better, instead of putting them down in a stream of conciousness."

Twilight frowned and examined her notebook, her face wrought with a variety of emotions. One of which looked like irritation.

"Well, I suppose the first question I have would be, could you explain what actually happened during the situation with you and... what was her name... Midnight?"

Twinkle bit her lip, and smiled.
"That's an easy one," she said, "She's an altenate dimensional counterpart from me, with... issues."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Issues?"
"No," Twinkle shook her head, "Issues. The italics are important."

Twilight just stared at her. "Alternate dimension..." she said quietly. Her horn glowed and a quill began moving across the notebook. She looked up at Twinkle.

"That's really the only question I have from before this week that I can remember right now,"
She frowned and looked down at the notebook.

"So, what exactly was the situation with that pony who said he was your father?"
Twinkle found herself smiling nervously, "That's... I'm honestly not sure, really. I mean, yes, he was my father, but he shouldn't have been here, literally shouldn't. I just found him wandering around Ponyville the other week, with no memory of me, or his life."

She paused for a few seconds. The only sound was Spike calmly eating his way through some instant popcorn.
"Long story," Twinkle frowned, "Don't know all of it, but I'm sure I'll find out the whole story soon enough."

Twilight just stared at her. Twinkle stared back.
"Discord" she said. Twilight's mouth dropped.

"He gets free again? What happened? Did we fight, or did somepony free him?" then she shook her head.
"No, no. Don't tell me, I don't want to know that."

Twinkle just nodded. "You'd never believe me if I told you."

"I wouldn't believe somepony if they told me I was going to become a Princess," Twilight said, rubbing a hoof against her head, "I think I'm honestly beginning to hate time-travel."
She sighed, looking down at the notes.

"Okay, why do you now look like an eighteen year-old, instead of a twenty-something year old?"
Twinkle's mood changed in an instant, her mouth dropping quickly, and she looked down at her hooves again.

"That's..." she looked at Spike, who had paused in mid-mouthful and was staring at her, "That's simple enough. A spell I had cast on myself when I was younger finally wore off."
Twilight stared at her. "I see."

Twinkle couldn't help going further, "I may have cast it on myself in an attempt to gain wings. Instead, well... I aged by four years. Went from being twelve to being sixteen, and I managed to damage my relationship with my mother at the exact same time."
Twilight frowned, "I see" she said again.

She paused for a moment, looking like she was about to say something else. Then she looked down at the notepad with determination on her face, before looking back at Twinkle with an expression of curiosity on her face.
"Can you explain exactly why, over the last few days, everypony in town has said they had almost the exact same nightmare, most of which centers around you?"

Twinkle felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.

*****

Half an hour later, and everypony had been gathered in the library, or rather, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had been gathered, and Trixie had been woken up. Rainbow Dash had been too busy preparing for the water gathering, while Fluttershy claimed she had the Pony Pox, which had been noted by all as unusual, given Fluttershy's usual good health rating. (It should be noted for posterity that Twilight Twinkle could recognise Pony Pox on sight, and had simply shook her head. Clearly, she had said to herself, Fluttershy had never tried to skip school when she was a filly.) Pinkie Pie was handing out snack foods to everypony, though due to time and budget constraints, Pinkie was handing out pretzels instead of pastries (Partially because it was before lunch-time, and because of an unaired and completely mutual distrust everypony had of Twilight's oven.)

"So, why are we here?" asked Rarity.
"It's about these nightmares you've been having," Twinkle said, before glancing at Trixie, who looked confused.

"I haven't been having nightmares," Trixie mumbled, "I've just been having really awesome dreams."
"Which nightmare's are these?" Applejack asked, "'cuz I have a lot of nightmares."

There was a quiet pause, as everypony in the room looked at Applejack, trying to figure out what to ask.
"It's about the one everypony's been having. The one that's making it impossible for you to look at me," Twinkle said calmly. Rarity smiled nervously.

"You wouldn't happen to mean the one where you're on a violent rampage?" the fashion designer said quietly. Twinkle nodded.
"The one where you keep hurting everypony? I thought that was just because I'd eaten too much cheese," Pinkie said, as everypony ignored Rarity's startled yelp.

Twilight stared at Twinkle. "That was a dream, right?" she said slowly, and slightly louder than she should have.
Twilight Twinkle stared at them.
"No. It was, I am ashamed to say, all too real."

She thought of how to phrase what she was about to say.
"There are... things," she said, "dark things, that dwell outside of what we might call the conventional realms of existance. Sentient ideas, violent phrases, hunter-seeker metaphors. Creatures of the abstract. Some of them are relatively harmless, like Discord, but there are others..."

She looked at the faces of the five ponies, and one dragon, staring at her.
"The entity you knew as Nightmare Moon was one of those, and it was drawn to Princess Luna's emotional turmoil, her anger and resentment."

"We know that," Spike said. Twinkle nodded at him.
"Nightmare Moon was not the only one of her kind. There's a whole species of abstracts who would be drawn to strong negative emotions, then feed off of them. And... one of them managed to find me."

There was another pause.
"It waited inside me, for a long time, until I had one truly awful day, and it managed to get a hold of me," she looked down at her hooves again.

"And a pony who I will never be able to repay saved me. Or at least I thought she had. Then it turned out her sacrifice had been for nothing."
She looked about. "And for a few months, stuck here in the past, I had assumed that was that, that I was me once more. And then a few days ago, I couldn't sleep. So I went for a walk, and got attacked on the edge of the Everfree by a plant I should've recognised."

"The Black Mercy," Twilight said. Twinkle nodded.
"And of course it showed me all my deep down dreams, even a few I thought I'd gotten over, which was pretty much all of them. And then the dreams ended."

Her expression went cold for a moment, "So, because of the emotional trauma of being dragged out of my little dream-land, this Nightmare, Nightmare Eclipse," she paused to let the temporary mirth at that situation sink in.
"Nightmare Eclipse returned. And proceeded to hijack my body and throw my... essence out of me, before proceeding into Ponyville to hurt everypony she could find, just because she knew it would hurt me."

"I suppose that would explain why all these shared dreams have the common imagery of being attacked by her," Twilight frowned, "But why do we not remember it?"
Twinkle stared at her, "Because it didn't happen."

There was a chorus of confused noises. Twinkle ignored them.
"After being tossed out of my own mind I found my way back, and wound up inside Trixie, of all ponies."

"What?" Rarity asked.
"I asked her, since apparently when you're a free-roaming non-terminating essence fueled mainly by the thought of righteous anger, you still can't possess ponies unless they let you."

Everypony turned to stare at Trixie.
"Not like that," Twinkle frowned.

"So, what happened next?" Spike asked.
"Well, the combination of Trixie and I, who for posterity's sake, if nothing else, needs some kind of cool nickname, kicked Nightmare's flank. And then we tore it out of me and sealed it inside a children's story book. But not before blasting it with a dozen mind-wiping spells before it went."

She sighed, "And then I got to see the aftermath of what was done using my body. I got to see every injury, bruise and broken limb. And worse, I saw..." she blanched.

For a moment, she fought down numerous urges, before finally managing to say, "I saw a truth. That what had happened could not be allowed to happen. So Trixie and I gathered up all the discarded magic we could, and used it to rewrite time. What she did never happened."

Twilight frowned and raised a hoof, evidently planning to point out how little sense that made, and decided not to bother.
"If I had to guess, I'd say the reason you keep seeing glimpses of this is because of some sort of... I don't know, temporal feedback, or something. I'm not an expert on this sort of thing. Now, Dinky on the-"

She stopped dead, and buried her face in her hooves.
"You didn't hear that," she muttered.

"So, Trixie could, in theory, take on a semi-demonic thing and win?" Trixie asked. Twinkle looked up at her.
"No. You'd have become sandwiched under a piano before you could've cast your first spell. Remember what I said after you switched my mind and Rainbow Dash's?"

Trixie paused for a moment. "Yes. That was an unusual comparison" she deapanned.
"So, whatever this Nightmare did," Applejack spoke up, "Is it the reason mah brother ain't been sleepin' well?"

Twinkle went silent. For several seconds she said nothing. This seemed to be validation for Applejack. Twilight was still staring at her.
"Twilight," she said calmly and quietly, "You are absolutely certain the Nightmare's gone from you?"

There was a small pause before Twinkle spoke. "Yes. But if you want to make absolutely sure, there is a way you can tell."

*****

Twilight quickly led everypony down to the basement, where she more-or-less shoved Twinkle into the strange device that she'd used to analyse Pinkie Pie, who merrily pointed this out.
"But if it's designed to see if Pinkie Sense exists, how can it detect a Nightmare, Twilight? I mean, unless i-" Twilight stared at Pinkie Pie.

"It can do other things, Pinkie Pie" she said, "It's a scanner. It is designed to scan. Scanning is what I designed it for."
Twinkle stared at the odd beeping instruments, and realised where she'd remembered it from. She'd seen it when she was five years old, just half an hour after getting her Cutie Mark.

After a few minutes of careful scanning, Twilight made a small 'hmm'.
"Okay, from what I can tell there's nothing to indicate there was a Nightmare lurking in you, although admittedly I'm not sure how a 'abstract entity' as you put it would show up according to these instruments. Aside from some dietary concerns, you look perfectly healthy."

"Good to know," Twinkle smiled, trying not to stare at the machine, remembering spending her first Nightmare Night in it. She also remembered how it had shut down trying to scan her magical potential, complete with almost comical clouds of smoke, regrettably only a few seconds before the loud 'pop' noise, a louder clanging noise, and the almost comical plumes of smoke. If they had been in a well-ventilated area, it might have been funny.

"Sorry," Twinkle said as they stood outside, while Spike, being smoke-proof by nature, opened every window in the building.
"Forgot that it does that" Twinkle added, while Twilight muttered under her breath.

"It survived Pinkie Pie but it can't survive you?"
"Pinkie's too... Pinkie for a machine to scan. It can't make sense of her, whereas I'm just brimming with magic."

"To be fair, Trixie understand the machine's pain. Talking to you feels a bit like jumping into a raging stream sometimes."
"Really?" Pinkie Pie said, "'cuz I've fallen in rivers before and I'm not soaking wet like I was when Rarity and I went on that trip-"

"Anypony got any more questions?" Twinkle asked, as Pinkie continued her oratory behind them.
Everypony exchanged glances, before Rarity looked at Twinkle.

"Why tell all of us, if none of it happened?" she asked.
"Maybe I just needed to tell somepony" Twinkle smiled, "And besides, you did deserve to know most of what happened."

She frowned, "Actually, 'deserve' might be the right word, but I did think you needed to know what happened. If only to put your minds at ease."
"My mind really ain't at ease" Applejack muttered, "An' ah have enough nightmares already without worryin' about time-travelling ponies doing who-knows-what to time on a whim."

"I would like to point out that it was a one-time thing," Twinkle said tersely, "I cannot rewrite time every single day. I couldn't even do it when I'm at full strength, which I'm going to admit is actually a relief."

Everypony stood there silently for a moment. "Well," Rarity said, "I suppose that does explain our shared nightmares, and I suppose I can take some relief in knowing what I keep seeing when I go to sleep."

She smiled an uncertain smile, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go catch up on some work I have to do. At my store. On the other side of town. Yes, I'll just go work on my back-orders."

And with that she walked away incredibly quickly. Applejack just nodded, and quietly walked away, and Pinkie, once she noticed everypony else was leaving, bounced away, talking about different types of fish-names as she went.
Trixie was just staring at Twinkle. "What was it like?" she asked quietly.

Twinkle stared at the strangely eager look on Trixie's face, and faltered.
"It was... strange." Trixie's expression changed to irritation.

"I'm sorry," Twinkle said, "But there isn't really any common frame of reference for what happened. As far as I know, no two ponies have ever been mind-merged before. I mean, we could hear each other's thoughts, but sometimes there were moments where our minds... overlapped, while still being seperate."

Trixie stared at her, then something occured to her, "How come only you remember these events, anyway?"
Twinkle tilted her head back and forth, "Because I caused them? I don't know. Maybe it's something to do with my being outside of time, I'm not sure. But Princess Luna said she remembered, apparently because of being an alicorn."

Twilight just raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing. Trixie, meanwhile, just rubbed a hoof against her chin.
"Interesting," she muttered. Then she looked at the library, smoke still drifting lazily out into the spring air.

"Trixie has a lot to think about," she said quietly.
Twilight and Twinkle stared at each other.

"You know," Twinkle said quietly, "This isn't how I expected today to go."
Twilight just nodded, "I can tell."

A thought seemed to occur to the unicorn, "Did something seem... 'off' about Applejack to you?"
"Yes," Twinkle said, "There is something bothering her. But let her think of a way to phrase it herself, Twilight" she added once she saw Twilight's expression shift.

Then a thought occured to her. "Wasn't there something we were supposed to be doing today?" she asked. Twilight's eyes went wide.
"Rainbow Dash!" she yelped, "The water supply!"

Twilight turned to the library. "Spike! Can you find the anemometer for me?"

*****

As it turned out, they were several minutes late to meeting Rainbow Dash on the practice field, and needless to say the mare was irritated, though she quickly cooled down once Twilight set up the anemometer, and her gaze returned to examining the numerous pegasi of Ponyville. Twinkle looked around, and noticed, hiding far away from everypony else, a quivering mass of yellow that was Fluttershy, who it seemed had be successfully de-poxed. Then Twinkle's gaze was drawn to what appeared to be a pony-shaped mass of muscles.

"What?" she asked. Spike just snorted.
"Yeah, that's Snowflake," he said, evidently trying not to stare. Any further discussion was interrupted by a pale purple pony with mint-blue hair approaching Twilight and the anemometer. Twinkle wasn't sure, but her name was either Flitter, or Cloudchaser. It wasn't helped by the fact that Cloudchaser (or Flitter) was standing right next to her sister, and even with the different hairstyles and Cutie Marks, they were still difficult to tell apart.

"What exactly does this machine do?" Cloudchaser or Flitter asked.
Twilight's face immediately glowed as she smiled the smile of a Twilight Sparkle about to impart knowledge unto others, and she quickly described what the anemometer did. The fact that everypony in the crowd looked increasingly confused from the word 'go', along with Twilight's truly adorable glee as she spoke, was truly heartbreaking.

Flitter, or Cloudchaser, turned to Twinkle and Spike. "What does it do?"
"It tells you how fast you're flying and how strong-" dragon and pony stared at each other, since neither had actually been expecting the other to speak, "- your wings are" they finished.

There was a light smattering of appreciative 'oohs' and 'aahs' from everypony, as Twilight frowned.
"That's exactly what I said," she muttered. Twinkle just stared at her, and tried to smile warmly. Then there was a cough. Twilight's head shot up, and she suddenly looked alarmingly like a teacher who'd just caught a student doing something wrong.

"Was that you again, Thunderlane?" she demanded, as she lifted a can of disinfectant spray above the crowd. Twilight Sparkle wielding an aerosol based item almost caused the entire crowd to part around Thunderlane, a boxy stallion with an impressive mohawk.

"It wasn't me!" he declared, and pointing a hoof at a mare standing next to him, who looked alarmingly familiar somehow, "It was Blossomforth."
"Don't worry, Twilight," Rainbow Dash declared as she floated over to the crowd, "Thunderlane's just cooking up an excuse to spend tornado day in bed."

Considering Rainbow Dash's statements when they'd arrived over what she was going to do to anypony who was mad enough to dare 'dash' her ambitions of breaking the world record for wing-power, along with making Ponyville look bad, she seemed to be handling this conclusion rather well. Then a cruel look passed across her face.
"Why don't you get over here and be our first test flier, Thunderlane?"

'Or maybe she isn't', Twinkle thought.
The stallion did so, but not before glowering at Blossomforth with a truly impressive Glare. He lined up a small distance away from the Twilights, Rainbow Dash and Spike. As he did, Twinkle was quite certain she heard another cough.
Thunderlane shot through the air, rushing past the anemometer, causing a small fan of it to spin. Twilight examined a small dial on the device.

"We have nine point three wing power" she declared. There were impressed mutterings from everypony, along with a truly impressive "YEAH!!!" from Snowflake, which knocked a few ponies off their hooves.
"Not bad," Rainbow Dash shrugged, "Not bad."

The mare made her way over to the starting line, and flexed. There was a sudden burst as she rocketed forward in true Rainbow Dash style. For a few seconds all Twinkle could see was a blurred outline of Rainbow Dash everywhere she lookeded. And spots. Twilight looked particularly dishevelled as she examined the anemometer.

"Sixteen point five wing power!" she announced. Twinkle considered pointing out Rainbow Dash hadn't been going at her top speed yet to the crowd, and that if she'd gone much faster there would have be a re-enactment of what happened to Twilight's scanning device, only the anemometer was not as likely to start billowing smoke everywhere.

What followed was an interesting look at the speeds of everypony in Ponyville, such as Cloud Kicker's impressive twelve, or Raindrops and her much less impressive six point seven, or Flitter and Cloud Chaser's exactly identical tens. Even Snowflake, with his alarmingly tiny wings, managed to get a three point four. Eventually, there was only one pony left to fly. And that pony was of course none other than Fluttershy, who had up until then been quietly minding her own business. She slowly made her way toward the starting line, occasionaly checking her wings to see they were still working. And then she started to fly.

For a few seconds. Then something happened and the pegasus just wafted past the anemometer, which barely seemed to move. Twilight paused before cautiously examining the meter. Rainbow Dash approached with a look of concern on her face. All three of them stared at the reading from Fluttershy's attempt, and winced at what they saw.
Nought point five.

Three mares, each of whom in their life had personally faced down a god of chaos and lived with their sanity intact, suddenly looked up at the innocent, hopeful smile on Fluttershy's face, and all three felt their souls shrivel and their courage flee. There was probably a special sort of pit in Tartarus for ponies who did what one of them would have to do, and if there wasn't, there was about to be.

Twinkle felt a hoof nudge her. "Tell her" Twilight whispered.
"No, you tell her" Rainbow Dash said between gritted teeth.

"No, you" Twilight responded.
For a moment, the three mares stared at each other, and turned to look at Fluttershy, who was still smiling. The words 'this isn't fair' came marching through their minds. After a few moments they seemed to come to a mutual unspoken agreement to tell her as a group, which in a more accurate way meant Rainbow Dash would handle it.

"Great job, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash said slowly, smiling awkwardly and shifting about in mid-air. When she spoke again, it sounded as if she was fighting herself to get the words out.
"You measured... nough point five" Rainbow Dash said.

There was an awkward pause, as Fluttershy's mouth twitched ever-so-slightly. It was the exact sort of pause that was just waiting for someone to say the exact wrong thing.
"Nought point five?" Spike said, his voice sounding much louder than it had any right to be at that moment, "Isn't th-"

He was interrupted by a royal blue hoof suddenly hitting him in the side.
"Oh, sorry Spike" Twinkle said, staring down at Spike, though he didn't seem to notice the glower being aimed at him. This might have been because Fluttershy had suddenly started glancing around her, terror evident on her face.Then she turned and ran. Rainbow Dash quickly took after her. Regrettably, everypony else had suddenly become aware of Fluttershy's breakdown, and were trying to look inconspicous (and failing miserably). As a result, what Rainbow Dash said next was heard by everypony.

"So some punks poked a little fun at you and you got stage fright, big deal. You aren't gonna quit because of that, are you?"
Fluttershy's answer was an emphatic "YES!" Rainbow Dash looked like she'd been kicked.

"But I need you!"
Fluttershy continued sobbing, "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. I- just - don't have the courage right now..."

And at that she continued fleeing, leaving Rainbow Dash looking furious at herself. She slowly walked back over to Twilight, as everypony else suddenly found themselves suffering a sudden attack of memory, and began training again. Rainbow Dash glowered at the world. Then she looked at Twinkle.

"So, gonna tell me how badly I bucked that up?" she muttered. Twinkle stared at her, and to where Fluttershy had run off.
"You tried, Rainbow Dash. Well, at least, it looked like you were trying."

Rainbow Dash's ears twitched. "What does that mean?" she hissed.
"Well, you don't really seem to have given Fluttershy much tought. You've known her for years, you must have known she's got confidence issues, and yet from all appearances you don't actually seem to have paid any thought to whether Fluttershy thinks she can, you just dragged her into this thing."

"Maybe that's because I've seen her flying. I know she can do this if she stops tripping over herself!"
Twinkle shook her head. "We all know that, Rainbow Dash. Even Fluttershy knows that. But you didn't offer to help her. You just say you 'needed her'. Tell me, Rainbow Dash, do you really think this tornado needs, really needs Fluttershy's contributions?"

Rainbow Dash bristled, and then suddenly looked around, and deflated, "It's not like that. I... Fluttershy would never volunteer for this sort of thing. That's why I pushed her into this, because I want to show her that she can be just as good as everypony else. I mean, yeah, it's great if she believes in herself, but she needs proof that she can be awesome even when she's not looking after animals."

She looked down at her hooves. "I believe in Fluttershy, is all. And I am trying, you k-... why are you smiling?" she asked, glowering at Twinkle.
The mare looked at Rainbow Dash. "Because. Now you're acting like the Rainbow Dash I knew."

Rainbow Dash blinked in irritated confusion. "That's... good, right?"
Twinkle nodded. "It's good. And I wouldn't worry about Fluttershy. Just focus on making sure everypony else is ready."

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, then a thought occured to her. "If you're from the future, don't you know how this is gonna turn out?"
Twinkle paused, and tilted her head. "I might have heard the odd story."

"So, are we gonna succeed?" Rainbow Dash asked, before frowning, "Actually, never mind that, is Fluttershy going to be okay?"
"Well," Twinkle frowned, "I can't tell you about the first one, but as for your second question: No. She's going to be better than okay. She's going to be superb."

Rainbow Dash nodded, taking this in her stride, "Alright then."
She turned to look at the assemblage of pegasi, who were still praciticing, and her face became set with determination.
"Alright, you foals! Time to really start working out!"

*****

The day progressed, and once everypony was too tired to continue working out Rainbow Dash called it a day. The three ponies and Spike all looked at the notes.
"It's not a bad start," Twilight smiled, "If everypony keeps up like this, making and moving that tornado should be child's play."

Rainbow Dash nodded, "Provided everypony's there."
Then they remembered Fluttershy's absence. Rainbow Dash sighed. "I really thought she'd come back, you know."

Twilight and Rainbow stared at Twinkle, who just stared back.
"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Twinkle said.

"I don't get it," Spike muttered. All eyes turned to him. "I thought Fluttershy could actually be a fast flyer, like what you told me about the whole thing with Discord."
Twilight looked down at her hooves, and then at Rainbow Dash, and then to Spike.

"I've been trying to understand what happened there," she said quietly, "I think though, Fluttershy's uncharacteristic speed then might have just been because of Discord tampering with the laws of physics."
"Really?" Twinkle asked, "Or do you think perhaps it was just Fluttershy ignoring all her usual hang-ups, in order to help her friends?"

Rainbow Dash just stared at Twinkle. "Let me guess, in your time, Fluttershy's managed to get past all that."

Twinkle stared back. "No. She hasn't. I don't... I don't really know Fluttershy's history. She barely mentions any of it, or even gives oblique hints, but I think... I think there are reasons why she lacks confidence, and it's not my place to speculate on them, but... in my time, my universe, she's on top of them. She hasn't gotten rid of all of them, but she is more sure of herself. That's not to say she changed completely, there are still moments where she still mumbles and mutters her way through conversations, moments when her essential Fluttershy-ness breaks through. It's just that she doesn't see giving into her fear as an option any more."

"Why not?" asked Spike. Twinkle looked at him and smiled.
"Spoilers, Spike."

Rainbow Dash just snorted. "Nice speech, but it doesn't change the fact that she's still a nervous wreck right now."
Twinkle just shrugged. "Good thing she's got friends, then."

Rainbow Dash said nothing to that, just nodding.

*****

The next morning, everypony returned to the training field, ready to continue practicing, and for a while, everything seemed to be going well.
"This is gonna be crazy awesome!" Rainbow Dash grinned, "We're gonna smash that record!"

Suddenly, there was a small uproar as a squirrel rushed into the area, heading for Twilight before chittering away.
"What did he say?" asked Spike. Twilight glanced sideways at him.

"Do I look like I speak squirrel?" she hissed. Then Spike noticed something.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing a short distance away, to what turned out to be a rapidly approaching Fluttershy, a determined look on her face. The mare landed on the starting line, and braced herself, before shooting forward.

She rushed past the anemometer, which squeaked pitifully as she did. Twilight examined the dial, followed by Twinkle followed by Fluttershy.
"Two point three," she gasped, "Two point three?!"

She looked like she was about to curl up into a ball and cry, "That has to be some kind of mistake. I worked so hard!"
Rainbow Dash tried to give Fluttershy a hug, while Twilight just tried to look supportive.

"Fluttershy, that's a huge improvement!"
"You did awesome!" Rainbow Dash added.

Twinkle nodded, "Pretty sure that's an improvement of... I don't know, about three hundred and fifty percent? Maybe three sixty."
Fluttershy didn't seem to care.

"I thought I'd gotten over my nerves," Fluttershy whispered, "But they still got the best of me! There's no way I'll fly with ten wingpower tomorrow."
Rainbow Dash just smiled gently, "So you won't fly with ten wingpower. Every bit counts" she added, trying to sound helpful.

"How would you feel if everypony was flying with ten wingpower and you were only flying with two point five?" she asked quietly.
"I'd be happy that I could fly at all" Twinkle muttered to herself, before noticing the confused look on Spike's face. Evidently the little dragon was about to 'correct' Fluttershy. Suddenly, her leg jabbed out, jolting the oblivious Spike.

"Oh. Sorry about that, Spike" she said as he glowered at her. Then she turned back to Fluttershy, who was still quivering.
"You were at nought point five yesterday, Fluttershy. The fact that you've improved this much in one day is really impressive."

Fluttershy broke out into sobbing again. "It's humilating!" she wailed. She shook her head and looked at Rainbow Dash.
"I'm sorry, I just can't do it." And with that, she disappeared again, leaving everypony staring at Rainbow Dash, who just stared at the retreating form of Fluttershy. Spike, meanwhile was checking the list of ponies.

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash," he said cheerfully, "You've still got plenty of wing power for your tornado. You'll be able to lift tons of water up to Cloudsdale."
Rainbow Dash's entire body language told Twinkle that the last thing Rainbow Dash was thinking of was the tornado. She sighed and pulled her sports cap over her face.

"If only there was some way to lift Fluttershy out of the dumps," she sighed.
Twinkle looked about, "Well, somepony could talk to her."

Rainbow Dash turned to look at her. Once again, the crowd of ponies in attendance started finding their hooves really fascinating.
"Yeah. Guess somepony should" Rainbow Dash said. She looked about at the dozens of ponies all trying to look like they weren't paying attention.

Twinkle and Rainbow Dash stared each other down. "I'll go" they both said, before glowering at one another.
"No, I'm going" Rainbow Dash said. Twinkle raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, I'll help you."
"No, I'm going alone. I don't need your help."
"Fluttershy does, though."

Rainbow Dash paused. "Fine, fine, we'll go talk to her together then."
The two set off toward Fluttershy's house, but not before Rainbow Dash stared at the assembled pegasi, who were still staring.

"I don't recall telling anypony to stop" she said calmly. There was a sudden flurry of activity as the speedster and Twinkle walked away.
"You're not gonna make one of your speeches, are you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'll try and make it a small one," Twinkle said, which got a very tiny smile out of Rainbow Dash.

*****

Once they arrived at Fluttershy's house, they encountered a problem.
"Go away" they heard her cry out. Rainbow Dash and Twinkle exchanged glances.

"Come on, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said, "You know we aren't going to do that."
There was a moment of silence.

"We just want to talk to you" Rainbow Dash said. There was a tiny sniffle.
"Look, Fluttershy, I get that you want to be alone, but that's not really going to help anypony."

"Neither is my pathetic wing power" Fluttershy mumbled.
Rainbow Dash and Twinkle exchanged glances, and Twinkle was fairly certain that if it was any other pony, at any other time, Rainbow Dash would've smashed the door down, even if that did run the risk of a frying pan to the face.

"Fluttershy, can you please just open the door? It's kinda stupid just standing here talking to a door."
There was a pause. A few seconds later the handle slowly turned, and the two mares looked down to see an unbelievably angry Angel staring at them, though when his eyes turned to Twinkle there was a noticable element of concern, or possibly alarm. Then he slammed the door shut.

"I hate that rabbit" Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. There was the sound of hoofsteps, and soon every curtain in Fluttershy's house was pulled shut. The two mares looked at each other.
"Guess Fluttersy doesn't want to talk" Twinkle said, nudging the door with her hoof. "And he's locked the door."

She tilted her head to the side. "I've never been locked out by a rabbit before"
Rainbow Dash just snorted, and reared. Then a small blue light shot from Twinkle's horn, followed by her calmly opening the door. This had the unfortunate side effect of meaning Rainbow Dash's attempt to kick the door open failed, and she fell over.

"Maybe tell me the next time you're gonna do that?" she snapped. Twinkle sighed, and then looked at the one-rabbit barricade in their way. She looked at Angel, stared him right in the eye.
"Your loyalty to Fluttershy's inspiring, fuzz-butt, but here's the thing: We said we were going to talk to Fluttershy. We are going to talk to Fluttershy."

Angel glowered at them with all his lapine might. Rainbow Dash stood up at her full height, a steely-look in her eyes.
"Rabbit. Move."

Angel paused, and then slowly stepped out of the way, giving both mares a look that indicated he didn't care about the size differential between them, and that the minute he felt it was time for them to leave, he was going to make them leave.

The two mares walked past him, up to Fluttershy's room, where the mare was sitting on her bed, not moving.
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash said, quietly, as she walked over to the bed and sat next to her. Twinkle stood by the door, resisting the urge to try and hug Fluttershy.

"Rainbow Dash" she mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't want to talk to anypony. That's okay, we'll just sit here, and not say anything then."
Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow Dash, then over to Twilight Twinkle.

"But she's standing up" she said quietly, pointing a hoof at Twinkle.
There was a pause. "Sorry" Fluttershy muttered, "I was trying to make a joke."

She looked up at Rainbow Dash, "I'm sorry I won't be able to help with the tornado, Rainbow Dash. I know how much it means to you."
Rainbow Dash's expression was difficult to determine, but eventually she just gave a small smile, "It'll work out, Fluttershy."

"I don't understand why you thought I could help, though" Fluttershy said, "Even with all that exercise, I'm still a lousy flier."
Twinkle gave a small cough, "Fluttershy, you can't really expect to just become an awesome flier in the space of one day's worth of training. The fact that you managed an improvement of three hundred and sixty percent is still really impressive."

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves, contemplating this for a moment.
"Okay, so you aren't particularly fast, and are in fact slower even that that really disturbingly muscled guy, but... but..." she frowned as she realised something, "I was going somewhere with that."

Fluttershy looked up at her for a moment. "You said I was stronger than I thought. Do you really still believe that?"
Rainbow Dash turned to look at Twinkle.

"No" the royal blue mare said, "I don't believe it. I know it. We all do."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Fluttershy, I'm not asking you to help with the tornado. I just want to make sure you're going to be okay. I was wrong to force you into joining in, but I... really did think you'd be great at it. And I still do. But..." she slid off the bed, and walked over to the window, opening the curtains.

"I'm sorry I put you through all this, Fluttershy. I swear I didn't know you'd get this upset."
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, as warm sunlight made its way into the room.

"That's okay," she said, "I really do appreciate that you thought of me. Even if I am completely unsuited to weather production."
Rainbow Dash shook her head, "Fluttershy..."

"If it isn't too much of a problem," she said quietly, "I wouldn't mind some time alone right now. There are some things I'd like to think about."
Rainbow Dash nodded, "Alright. You know where I'm gonna be all afternoon."

And with that Rainbow Dash walked out of the room and down the stairs. Twinkle lingered and stared at Fluttershy.
"Of course, it is possible that the anemometer really did get it wrong. Maybe you just didn't go fast enough because you didn't feel the need to go faster."

Fluttershy stared at her, before Twinkle shrugged, "But what do I know? I'm not a physicist or a physchologist. I just know stuff."
And with that she left, with a pointed slam of Fluttershy's front door from a certain irritated rabit as she left. She paused, and stared back at the small cottage, before continuing back toward the training fields.

*****

The rest of the day went without incident, save the occasional argument between Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane, who Rainbow Dash seemed convinced was out to sabotage her record-breaking attempts via coughing, leaving the Twilights to wonder if it wasn't an idea to interevene before somepony ended up in hospital, though fortunately nothing came of it. Eventually they wrapped up for the evening.

"Okay, everypony, go home, get some rest, and show up here tomorrow at..." Rainbow Dash leaned over to Twilight, "When exactly?"
"Half past eight A.M., if you could."

This produced another enthusiastic 'YEAH!' from Snowflake, and everypony soon went their seperate ways, prepared for whatever the morning would bring.

Twinkle however, couldn't help but notice Thunderlane and Blossomforth hadn't been the only ponies coughing. She also couldn't help but notice Twilight's remark regarding their chances of success, which caused a small pang of dread, especially once she saw Twilight's completely innocent expression.

"Twilight?" she said icily.
"Yes?"

"Please, in the name of sanity, stop doing that."
Twilight blinked. "Stop doing what?"

"Stop doing that. You might as well have said 'nothing can possibly go wrong', or just zapped half of the team with some spell that turns ponies into... cantelope!"
Twilight stared at her for a moment. "Honestly, Twinkle? What possible harm could come fro-" A hoof jabbed into her mouth.

"Stop it!" Twinkle yelled, not caring that she was getting strange looks from some ponies.
"Stop tempting fate, Twilight! Seriously! Stop it!"

Twinkle continued staring at her, "Alright, alright," she said eventually. The two began walking back to the library, Spike following behind them carrying the notes and the anemometer.

"But I can't wait to see the look on your face tomorrow if this goes smoothly."

*****

The next morning, the Twilights and Spike woke up early to set up a larger anemometer at the town resevoir. Shortly after the arrival of most of the pegasi in town, Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts appeared. Twinkle noted Rainbow Dash didn't even seem to have any reaction to the mare's appearance, something that striked her as curious, and also incredibly alarming. Instead, she worked on enervating all the fliers, and managed to do that quite well.

"Are we ready to do this?" she declared.
"YEAH!!!" Snowflake declared, which seemed to be the general consensus of the crowd. Then Spike noticed something. Thunderlane wasn't there. Immediately Rainbow Dash's mood soured.

"Lazy Thunderlane," she grumbled, "Where is he?! He's been trying to get out of tornado duty the whole time with his fake coughing all all. Rumble! What happened to your lazy brother?!"
All eyes turned to a small slate-coloured colt.

"He's got the feather flu," the colt said, "He's down at Ponyville hospital."
Then there was a nervous noise as Spike examined the checklist of ponies in attendance.

"He's not the only one."
Careful examination prooved that no less than eight ponies had managed to come down with feather flu, and with each one Rainbow Dash's hopes sunk further. Twilight meanwhile, carefully calculated how much wingpower had been lost from those eight ponies.

"Oh no," she gasped. Rainbow Dash leaned in toward her.
"Don't tell me we won't be able to break the windspeed record?!" she asked nervously.

"No," Twilight said, to which Rainbow Dash sighed, until Twilight added, "You might not have enough wing power to create a tornado powerful enough to lift the water to Cloudsdale!"

At this, Rainbow Dash fell backward, managing to slam into Twinkle, who noted the mare was slightly heavier than she looked. For a few moments she just lay there, staring into the sky.

"Well..." Spike said nervously, "Should we pack up?"
Rainbow Dash got to her feet, her jaw clenched.

"No, of course not," she frowned, "Forget the record. Cloudsdale still needs water!"
She turned to face the crowd of pegasi, and placed a set of goggles over her eyes.

"Okay, everypony!" she declared, "Let's give it all we've got! On the sound of the horn, we take off!"
Spike walked over to a medium-sized large horn, as Twinkle handed Twilight a pair of goggles of her own.

"You're gonna need it" she pointed out. Twilight took them, and then tapped a small switch on the device, before nodding to Spike, who blew into the horn. As he did, every pegasus in Ponyville, both amazingly small and freakishly large took to the air, and began flying in a circle. As they did, wind began to pick up, and the needle of the anemometer began to move.

"You really think they're going to make it to eight hundred wing power?" Spike yelled.
"I sure hope so!" Twilight said in response, staring as the needle began to climb, and the wind began to increase. In quick succession, the reading went up to five hundred. Then Twinkle noticed a familiar pony trying to make her way through the sudden wind.

"Twilight!" she declared, "Look!"
It would perhaps have helped if she'd used a hoof to indicate what exactly Twilight was supposed to be looking at, but she was using those to maintain a grip on the device.

"Fluttershy?!" Twilight said, "What are you doing here?"
Fluttershy's response was difficult to pick out over the roar of wind, "I figured, even if I couldn't help Rainbow Dash out, the least I could do was offer moral support!"

"That's nice of you!" Twinkle said, not entirely sure if she'd heard Fluttershy correctly.
"She sure could use it, considered eight pegasi are sick with feather flu!"

"Oh no!" Fluttershy gasped, "That's terrible news!"
Twinkle, meanwhile, was keeping an eye on the team of pegasi, several of whom seemed to be faltering. And then, almost suddenly, they were scattered in every direction. Most of the pegasi landed relatively softly. Rainbow Dash, however, did not, managing to collide with a tree.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twinkle called out.
"Are you okay?" Twilight added. There was a low groan from the speedster.

"I'm fine!" said Rainbow Tree. Twilight looked over to the anemometer, as the needle quickly sank back to zero.
"You were so close to the eight hundred wing power minimum," she said, her voice filled with regret, "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash."

The mare ripped herself out of the tree and marched over toward Fluttershy. "We've got to try again!" she declared, taking off into the sky.

"But you've already pushed your crew to their limit!" Twilight said, glancing at the sprawled forms of a dozen pegasi, none of whom seemed to suffer any serious injuries. She grabbed Rainbow Dash's tail in her magic, and dragged her back to the ground, causing the speedster to yelp slightly.

"If you break apart again, somepony could get hurt! You should quit it, it's not safe!"
Rainbow Dash looked at the varied pegasi, most of whom were now back on their hooves, and groaning slightly. She scowled.

"No!" she declared, cold determination in her voice as she grabbed Twilight and shook her, "One more time! I've gotta know we gave it our all!"
She turned to the assembled ponies, "If I'm going down, I'm going down flying! C'mon ponies, let's make this happen!"

This got another enthusiastic 'YEAH' from Snowflake, and a few cheers from everypony else. Twinkle just raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash's declaration.

"Now there's a pony I'd follow," she said to herself. Spike blew the horn, and the assembled pegasi took to the air again, going much faster than before. Quickly, the Twilights, Spike and Fluttershy were all clinging to the device, as above Rainbow Dash shouted instructions to her fellow pegasi. Twilight stared at the read-out with growing trepidation.

"Seven hundred and fifty wingpower!" she yelled.
Spike yelped out, "That's when they fell apart last time."

Fluttershy whimpered, as the wind stung her eyes. Twinkle noted the probably demonic rabbit Angel clinging to her mane.
"I'm too nervous to look!" the pegasus declared.

"Seven hundred and ninety five!" Twilight announced, cautious optimism in her voice, "We are so close!"
Above them, the water swirled, as a dozen blurs swarmed around it, Rainbow Dash's voice faintly audible over the roar of the wind. Twilight and Twinkle stared at the read-out, which had now fixed, aside from the occasional twitch. Then they looked at each other, and the same thought crossed their mind.

"Fluttershy, we need you!" Twinkle said.
"I won't make a difference!" she wailed.

"You will!" Twinkle retorted. Fluttershy stared at her.
"My measly two point three wingpower is still too little!" she said, tears being ripped from her eyes by the wind.

"I don't know if they've got any more in them!" Spike helpfully declared.
"Fluttershy," Twinkle said, ignoring the wind and speaking softly, "You can do this. You are one of the strongest mares I have ever met. You are one of the most awesome ponies I will ever know. Remember what I said? I still mean it. You are strong, and even if you don't believe that, just believe in yourself, just for five minutes. You can do this!"

Fluttershy's eyes darted from Twinkle, to Twilight, to the tornado. Twilight nodded. Fluttershy stared at her, and then looked up at the tornado, and gulped. She took a pair of goggles Twilight floated to her, and slowly made her way to the edge of the tornado, setting down Angel before she went.

Twilight Twinkle did not usually see herself as a vindictive mare, but seeing the little rabbit get blown away was actually kind of funny, if cruel. Then she heard a startled yelp as Fluttershy was dragged into the tornado.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, and the anemometer started moving. Twilight and Twinkle's eyes went wide as they noticed the tell-tale sign that Fluttershy was supplying a touch more than a mere two point three horsepower.

"She's doing it! Seven ninety eight!" Twilight declared triumphantly, "She surpassed her best wing power numbers!"
"Of course she is!" Twinkle yelled over the wind. She was fairly certain she was laughing, perhaps even manically. Then, the anemometer began to beep loudly, as the tornado went faster, and faster, ponies beginning to drop out of it one by one. Then, it happened. The water beneath the tornado ripped into the air, and shot up into the sky, heading toward Cloudsdale.

Twilight started hugging Twinkle and Spike in excitement, "She did it! She did it! They all did it!" she beamed triumphantly. Spike quickly broke off to blow the all-clear horn, and a dozen pegasi sighed and cheered with relief. Strangely enough, Snowflake did not make his feelings known this time. Rainbow Dash stood looking triumphant, until she looked around, and then up, to see Fluttershy still flying rapidly in circles. She quickly rushed up to the mare to tell her the good news, while Twilight continued dancing and cheering. Twinkle put a hoof on her shoulder, and Twilight looked about, grinning nervously.

"Guess you were right," Twinkle said, before pausing, and adding, "More or less."
Twilight looked at her, "Did you know Fluttershy would show up?" she asked.

Twinkle smirked. "Yeah. Of course I did. I just didn't think it would be that impressive."
She looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was passing off the praise to Fluttershy, and gave a small laugh.

"You know, when I first saw this Rainbow Dash, I was amazed. She was almost nothing like the one I knew. Brash, arrogant, crass. But now look at her. She's really improving."
Twilight just grinned. "I think you had a bad first impression. Rainbow Dash isn't the Element of Loyalty for nothing, you know."

Twinkle just grinned, "I am aware of that. I am also aware of how much deeper Fluttershy's capacity for compassion goes. More than even she is."
Twilight stared at the mare, and noticed an odd look in her eyes, and a strange edge to her smile.

"Twinkle -"
"Let's hear it for Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash declared, at which point everypony, Twinkle included, began cheering.

With the water safely delivered to Cloudsdale, everypony turned and headed toward Ponyville for the celebration party. As they did, Twilight stared at Twinkle, who had gone back to smiling, joining in with the congratulatory chanting.
"Fluttershy, Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!"

Twilight felt a growing amount of disconcertion, and made a note to ask Twinkle what she'd meant later on. After the party of course. Suspicions were no excuse to ruin a good party.

'After all, she's 'my' daughter,' she thought, 'What could she possibly have done that was so awful?'

*****

The Crystal Empire, twenty-two years from 'now', one universe away.
(Three days after Nightmare Eclipse's attack)

Among the great horrors of everyday tragedies, seeing a grown-up cry was one of them. Seeing Fluttershy cry, by general consensus, was considered a top contender for Worst Thing You Will Ever See. Somehow, the sight of Princess Mia Amore Cadenza not crying at the sight of her daughter not moving was almost, if not exactly, as bad. It was the utter silence, which seemed to absorb all other noises, including the slow rythmic beat of princess Shining Sapphire's heartbeat being monitored.

A few short hours after the incident, Cadance has recieved a notification, and had instantly blasted her way through the air, leaving Shining Armor and a dozen stunned archaeologists wondering what had just happened. She had flown at ludicrous speeds back to the Crystal Empire, and with none of her usual decorum or restraint had demanded to see her daughter. The doctors carefully explained that even with the best of their skills, the young mare's survival was a fifty-fifty chance, even before they mentioned she had gone into a coma.

And so it was that Shining Armor finally returned to the Crystal Empire some hours later to find his wife sitting, immobile and just... staring at their daughter. She hadn't said anything then, and he hadn't even known what to think, just nodding as the situation was described to him.

Unfortunately for Shining Armor, while his wife was an alicorn, and could go without rest or sustenance for some time if she chose, he was just a unicorn, and needed sleep, and food. Every now and then a member of the hospital staff left a cup of tea near the young princess in case Cadance felt the need to drink, but nopony ever saw her drink any. Regardless, the cup still seemed to drain, which satisfied the hospital staff.

And so for two days she sat, staring. At about seventeen minutes past eleven, she was aware, vaguely, at least, of Shining Armor's entrance into the room, and of a faint nuzzling on her cheek.
"Cady..." she heard him say, before the silence reasserted itself. What could he say?

"I can't," she whispered, "I still can't believe it."
She looked at him, "Somepony hurt our daughter, Shining Armor, and nopony will tell me why. Nopony seems to know. And it's my fault."

He looked startled. "How can you say that?"
"Because! I was the one who said she'd be alright if we left her on her own! I could have protected her! Should have! I'm her mother. It's what I'm supposed t-to do!"

She suddenly felt like her legs were going to give out. Fortunately Shining Armor stepped in and allowed her to lean on him.
"And I can't even help her. All my powers, all my knowledge. And all I can do is stare, and watch our daughter slip away."

There was another absence of noise. "I can't do anything and I just feel so... so useless!"
She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and she felt the warmth of Shining Armor's fur against her. He still said nothing, and he didn't need to.

"Apparently she managed to wield the power of the Crystal Heart," he said quietly, trying to change the conversation. A smile briefly flickered across Cadance's lips.
"She was always smart."

"Like her mother, then."
There was another bout of silence. "She had a coltfriend" Cadance said, in the quiet.

"Really?" Shining Armor said, in an unsurpised fashion.
"Lovely young stallion by the name of Whisper Wind. You know, Fluttershy's son."

Shining Armor frowned, and then nodded, "Guess that would explain why he kept visiting her."
"He was going to move in, she said. They had it all arranged. She's in love with him, Shiney."

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow.
Cadance paused. She considered telling Shining Armor the truth, and a small battle raged inside her, until she eventually reached a decision.

"There's something I should probably tell you about you Whisper Wind."
For a moment she said nothing, trying to think of the best way to phrase what she was about to say.

"He's... not exactly an average pony" she said haltingly.
"Okay..." Shining Armor said.

"In fact, he's... well, he's-"
Any further discussion was forestalled by a pony knocking on the door. Both ponies looked up to see a pony dressed in the livery of the Guard.

"Your Highnesses!" he saluted, "There is a situation outside."
"A situation?" Shining Armor asked, "What is it?"

"I think, sir," the stallion said, "It would be best if Your Highnesses were to see for yourself."

*****

The guard led them to a shocking site. Standing in front of the Crystal Palace were a group of ponies, staring defiantly at the guards surrounding them. It was a bit uncertain whether the guards were trying to stop anypony attacking them, or prevent them attacking ponies. Guarding was being done, and that was good enough for them.

The reason they were guarding them was because of who the ponies were, or more accurately, what. There were uniformly charcoal grey, with bright blue eyes that seemed to lack irises, and translucent wings that glinted in the sunlight. They were Changelings.

One of them, the one that seemed to be the leader, was carrying a large... something, on its back. In all, there were approximately twenty of them, and they looked nervous at the sight of Shining Armor and Cadance, and not without reason. However, the leader bowed.

"Your Highness, Princess Mia Amore Cadenza, and Your Grace Shining Armor, of the Crystal Empire," he said, in a voice that did not seem to suit his muscular frame, leading onlookers to wonder if it actually was his voice, especially since it sounded like he wasn't used to using it, "I humbly request sanctuary, and assistance."

Cadance frowned. "Assistance?" she asked, walking over to the lead stallion. The smaller changelings shuffled together, still looking nervous, though their leader seemed unafraid.
"What assistance are you asking for?"

"Medical aid, and protection," he said calmly. Cadance looked at Shining Armor, and wished she hadn't, not that she could blame him for what he seemed to be thinking, even if she didn't approve of it.
"You... don't seem to require medical aid" she commented. She could have sworn she saw a curve to the changeling's mouth.

"My... troops are not the ones who require the aid," he said, and at that his horn glowed, and the strange thing on his back moved. Several parts moved, and Cadance releasied she'd been staring at a pile of blankets, wrapped around a pony.
Or at least, what was left of a pony. It was another changeling, taller, and with notable rusty-brown hair. His eyes were closed, and his breathing incredibly shallow, which might have had something to do with the massive amount of injuries to his person. From the looks of it, somepony had been venting their frustration upon him.

Cadance stared at the prone pony, and then, she noticed something. A faint spark in him that seemed to be keeping him alive. It was love. And then, and she wasn't quite sure how, she recognised how it was. She instantly wheeled toward one of the guards.
"Show these ponies to the hosptial. Tell the staff to use whatever means they know of to keep this young stallion alive."

Shining Armor stared at her, "Cady, should we discu-"
"No. No discussion. We're helping these ponies, Shining Armor. Understand?"

He stared at her. For a minute, Cadance found herself actually hoping he argued, or got angry. Instead he just nodded.
"As you wish."

Cadance smiled at him, and he gave a weak smile back. Then she turned to the lead changeling.
"Now then, what's this about 'protection'?"

"Because her higness is doubtless following after us, and will stop at nothing until she has reclaimed her son, and achieved what she sees as her rightful vengeneance upon you and your husband."

Author's Note:

It is with a heavy heart I must announce that while I have returned, we have now entered the final part of the story.
And because I love ominous foreshadowing:
The Wedding is coming.

Comments

[Lux Aeterna]

"Spoilers, Spike."

I'm sorry but..
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb7zez0Jy21rbehg6o1_500.png
it's just so fitting...

[fuckyoudeletemyaccount]

2645325arch.413chan.net/Yup-(n1294879490184).jpg

[CryoKing96]

3340898 vanilla was not Twinkle's kid. He was one of Pinkie Pie's. just helping out his 'cousin'.

[Dorath]

Some of them are relatively harmless, like Discord,

Discord? Eraser of ponies? Harmless??