Stripped of her place as best mare at her brother's wedding, Twilight comes across her old friends from Canterlot.
Twilight Sparkle is not in a good place. Shunned and abandoned by her friends, her mentor and even her family for a thoughtless outburst at the wedding rehearsal. But she still has friends in Canterlot, even if she forgot about them.
Oh yeah, and somepony should probably do something about that whole changeling issue.
For centuries pegasi, unicorns and even the occasional earth pony have dreamed and wondered what it would be like to fly into space, watch our planet from above and dance between the stars. It was one of the few conversations I’ve had with Princess Luna after her return, and one of the even fewer that managed to coax her from her shell. It was then that I realized a common and understandable misconception.
When ponies talk about space, they always talk about Inner Space.
Due to the magical bonds to our planet’s sun and moon – which are, admittedly, vital at their relative sizes – the outer atmosphere of our planet actually ends beyond its satellites. It is theoretically possible to reach the moon with nothing but a very long rope and a good sense of balance. The air would be thin but breathable and chill but not freezing.
This isn’t news, but it is understandable that even hard scientists don’t like to remind themselves that they live on what is pretty much a giant space-time anomaly. Science has learned to use all the right formulae, and then conveniently forgotten that our whole planet is the exception, not the rule.
In other words, Inner Space is that fun, floaty place where the sun warms your back while you watch your home from so high above that even dragons look like ants.
Outer Space is a cold, unforgiving b**** that kills you the moment you turn your head. Literally.
I’ve done the math. Double- and triple-checked it. There’s a cold that seeps into every fiber of your body even through the best heating charm, a pressure that makes every beat of your heart feel like it is your last and so much nothing all around you, so vast and lonely that it feels like nothing and nopony else could possibly ever cross your path again.
I have never been to Outer Space, but it can’t be much worse than what I’m feeling as I sit on those steps to the dais after my brother’s wedding rehearsal. And I know that it sounds rather cold and analytical for somepony just having the worst in a series of nervous breakdowns and ‘little episodes’, but that’s just how my brain works. Not even five minutes and my mind already went through the dozens of mistakes I made, scores of ways I could have, should have acted instead… and has now apparently moved on to fancy similes and metaphors.
Being a genius really isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. And it certainly isn’t the same as being a smart pony, sometimes.
Speaking of mistakes I’ve made, I can hear hoofsteps coming closer and from the corner of my eyes I can see a glimpse of the pony I least wanted to face right now. She is walking slowly, maybe not to startle me or maybe just because she doesn’t actually want to be anywhere near me. My chest tightens and I keep my head down as she puts a hoof to it to either push me down, or maybe as a comforting gesture, choking out the only words I could say in this situation.
“I’m sorry!”
“Y–“
I think Cadence was trying to say something, but I’m already teleported halfway across the room and galloping hard to cross the other half. Maybe she wanted to comfort me, or condemn me, but I honestly couldn’t say which would have hurt me more right then.
I thought I’d already cried through all the tears I had left. Just another error to add to the list for that day, I suppose.
I run through the hallways of the castle without a clear goal, vision blurred from tears. Apparently suddenly getting my body moving like that sent my mind back to work as well, because now it’s going through all the things I messed up for another round of guilt and self-loathing. It’s hard to believe I burst into my brother’s wedding rehearsal, screaming that his bride was evil. Not just his bride, but one of my oldest and best friends, practically my sister.
Or maybe it isn’t that hard to believe. Just incredibly stupid in hindsight. Of course Cadence was stressed; she hadn't just been organizing a wedding, she had been organizing The Wedding, the event of the year if not the century. And instead of seeing that and trying to help, I put my old foalsitter on the same pedestal I do Celestia, when I myself have acted far worse over far less; a surprise test, a late friendship report or apparently my brother’s fiancé being a little mean and irritable before her wedding.
Something about that last thought makes me slow down, turning the old circling thoughts and emotions off the already beaten, beating-myself-up path in a new direction. Yes, the Smarty Pants incident was shameful and possibly dangerous, but it also led to our first combined friendship report; my friends promising to never again take my worries lightly, unfounded as they may be. But isn’t that exactly what they did not even a whole day ago, when I told them about my suspicions? They all but laughed me off, and now I have yet another mental breakdown and screw-up, another ‘little episode’ to show for it. Thank the stars that I only crashed the wedding rehearsal and not the actual ceremony.
Still… My friends ignored my worries yet again, all of them. All five were there and composed the friendship report together with me. Spike wrote it down and sent it, and Princess Celestia read the finished version. All those ponies (and dragon) who just left me without another word, except for the ones who did speak and whose words cut me deep even now.
The Princess was right. I do have a lot to think about, but not what she probably meant. That part is easy: Cadance is in the right, I’m in the wrong, and once the wedding is over I will have to do my Harmony-darn best to give a proper apology to my then-actually-legally-sister (in law). What is going to take a lot more soul-searching to figure out exactly is where I stand now with pretty much everypony else.
Somewhere along this line of thought I must have run out of tears and slowed down to a light canter, because now I can actually see the hallways around me again. It seems I already made it near the castle gates, coming from the west wing. Just around one more corner and I should be able to see–
“Come on, girls, let’s give that Princess a piece of– ooof”
Well, I certainly did not see that coming, literally. Butting heads with another unicorn is always a sharp spike of pain, followed by relief that nopony lost an eye, followed by more pain and nausea. I groan and shake my head, trying to make out who exactly I’ve just ran into. Another pony I’ll have to apologize to today, it seems.
“I’m really sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and–“
“Twilight Sparkle? You old so-and-so, what are you doing here?! I mean, duh, of course you are here for the wedding, but what are you doing here instead of fussing and worrying about your best mare duties?”
I blink a few times, trying to focus on the blue figure in front of me, too stunned to even react to the unintentional reminder of my situation. The spots disappear and I can see the mare clearly, though it helps only somewhat. I know I’ve seen her before and for some reason it feels like I should remember her, but even her name evades me.
“Uhm… Colgate?” I venture.
“Pfffft, I can’t believe you still remember that old nickname.” Minuette – of course now I remember her name – giggles and pulls me up to my hooves, giving me the most earnest and cheerful grin I’ve seen since… a mare I’d rather try not to think about right now, even if I’m failing miserably.
“Oh dear, what’s wrong?” Another mare my age – Twinkleshine my brain helpfully supplies, this time before I can make a fool of myself – walks past Minuette and gives me a look full of concern. “Did you hurt yourself? Are you feeling dizzy?”
I quickly shake my head. “No, I’m just… ooooh…” I stumble a bit, holding my head. Okay, now I’m dizzy, but that’s mostly my own fault. “I’m just… not in the best mood. It’s nothing you have to worry about.”
“Nothing we have to worry about my flank.” A third mare steps up to me and this one I recognize immediately as Lyra Heartstrings.
...because she lives five houses down the road in Ponyville. One of my childhood friends and I didn't think to visit her even once. I am a horrible, horrible pony and, in my personal opinion even worse, I am a horrible friendship student.
“That's right. You're our friend and you're obviously down, so it's our sacred duty to cheer you up.” Minuette cheerfully twists the dagger, with only the best intentions I'm sure. Lyra and even Twinkleshine give a determined nod.
I stare at them for a moment and deflate, giving a resigned sigh as I hang my head. “If you want to. But you're wasting your time. And didn't you say something about seeing a princess? You really shouldn't give up on something like that just to try and make me feel better.”
Lyra smirks. “Well, I was rather looking forward to decking a princess in the face. Guess it can’t be helped.”
“You… what?” I look up, my brain locking up at the thought. “What?”
Twinkleshine blushes and glances away. “We… may have been on our way to commit high treason.”
Lyra snorts and nudges her. “Come on, Shine, you make it sound way worse than it is. We were just going to yell at her for a bit, vent a little. What do you expect to happen, that she curses us and sends us to some dungeons below the castle nopony knows about?”
“I even prepared a speech. With little notecards.” Colgate levitates a small stack of cards into my face, poking my nose with them when I don’t react immediately.
I sigh and wrap my own magic around them, glancing up to read the first one. I blink and blush, flipping through the next one and then the rest, unable to keep down a small giggle as I read the one about… I mean, where would you even get that idea?
“See? Notecards and checklists. If anything can cheer up Twilight Sparkle, it’s library humor.” Colgate’s grin widens and she moves in to give me a side-hug, completely ignoring personal space or my feelings. How dare these mares cheer me up from a perfectly good bad mood.
“Because we’re your friends, silly.” Lyra joins the hug from my other side, smirking at me. “Oh don’t give me that look. I live with Bon Bon, I know an ‘I’m trying to be grumpy so stop being so nice’ face when I see it.”
They push me forward, ushering me towards the castle gates. “There’s only one thing you can do with a pony like that. Lots of sugar and friendship. Dosage depends on the situation, but I think for you we’ll need nothing less than Donut Joe’s Finest.”
“And lots of friends.” Colgate agrees, blindly reaching out with a foreleg to grab a mare from a passing group of castle staff. “Change of plans, Lemon, we’re going out.”
Lemon Hearts – got it on the first try this time – struggles to get out from Colgate’s grab, only to find herself floating several inches off the ground in a clear blue aura. “Colgate, set me down! I don’t have time for your jokes, you know I need to oversee hey is that Twilight?”
So now we’re apparently on our way to Donut Joe’s, four mares dragging me along and chatting and acting like my entire life didn’t come crashing down around me less than fifteen minutes ago.
“Remember that time Lemon Hearts got her head stuck in that beaker?”
“One time! Mess up Valiant Wind’s Wonder-Vacuum spell one time and you never hear the end of it!”
We all break into a giggle fit, thinking back to the old days as we sit over a box of donuts in a corner of Donut Joe’s. The shop is pretty much empty aside from us. According to Joe everypony is either at the wedding or having their donuts delivered to spend the day at home crying over their lost chances of wooing Cadance, Shining, both or of just attending the festivities.
Between catering for the wedding, deliveries and the combined cholesterol of both, Joe claims that he is making a figurative and literal killing. Enough to get all of his foals through college if he had any.
This is the third time since we ordered our selection of fried treats that my thoughts drift back to the wedding and I don’t even feel a twist in my gut anymore. It’s even more surreal than sitting in an empty donut shop. I even feel good enough to ask a question I’ve had on my mind.
“So… what was up with the whole ‘yelling at royalty’ thing anyway? I mean, what reason would you have to be angry at Cadence?” I make a vague gesture with my apple fritter.
Lyra snorts. “That royal brat laid us off, that’s what.”
Twinkleshine clears her throat and draws circles on the table with a hoof. “It wasn’t that bad… Apparently she gave our spots as the bridesmares to somepony else.”
“Oh, it totally was that bad.” Minuette frowns for maybe two seconds, but against her usual demeanor she might as well have pounded both hooves on the table. “She simply sent a guard to tell us that she didn’t need us as bridesmares anymore. If Lyra hadn’t pinned the guard to ask him some questions we wouldn’t even know why she did. Even Blueblood has better manners than that.”
“Oh… I see.” This time I do feel the familiar pain in my chest again as I remember who Cadence gave those spots to. “So… how did you get to be her bridesmares anyway?”
Lemon Hearts smirks and buffs a hoof against her chest. “Well, there are some perks to being the head event manager for the castle. Like knowing all the Princesses personally. I would have asked to join as well, if I wasn’t so busy organizing the wedding.” She slumps down a bit. “Princess Cadence seemed really excited when I suggested my friends as her bridesmares, too… I just don’t know what went wrong.”
“Hey, hey, it wasn’t your fault and nopony is blaming you for what happened.” Lyra pulls her into a light hug, looking at me as she attempts to change the topic. “So, that’s what we were doing, but what about you, Twi? What does the best mare do away from the wedding rehearsal crying her eyes out?”
You know what? Changing the topic was a great idea! So great in fact that I think I’ll try it too. “Heeeyyyy… So, where’s that other pony? Moondancer! She was part of our group too.” I force a grin that probably looks even more fake than it feels. And it feels pretty fake. The girls don’t look much better though, squirming in their seats and avoiding eye contact. “…Right? Don’t tell me she went to yell at Cadence, too.”
...oh. Evidently that was the wrong thing to say, because the awkward looks intensify. The whole table is one big Awkward Zone. This seems to happen a lot to me. Maybe I should just call it the Twilight Zone... I've always dreamed of having a thauma-scientific concept named after me, might as well start with sociology and work my way up.
"Girls, where is Moondancer?" They entirely fail to meet my eyes. "Oh stars... something happened to her, didn't it? And it's probably my fault, too."
Hit the nail right on the head, it looks like. Welcome back to the Twilight Zone. Maybe I should make up some catchy theme melody for it.
...nananana-nananana nananana-nananana Twilight! Catchy, but maybe a bit too energetic for the situation. Where were you when I was charging at a deranged alicorn?
Minuette finally sighs and stands up, picking up her last donut in her magic. “Well… I guess it’s better if we show you.”
~~~~~
I’m a horrible friend I’m a horrible friend I’m a horrible friend I’m a horrible friend I’m a
“Wow, this place is even more run down than last time I was here.”
horrible friend I’m a horrible friend I’m
“When was the last time somepony mowed this lawn? Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of flower.”
a horrible friend I’m a horrible “Don’t touch it, that’s poison joke.” friend I’m a horrible friend where did she even get poison joke I’m a horrible friend I’m a
So, yeah, that one time I left Canterlot to save the world from an ancient evil alicorn – without a proper theme song – and skipped my friend’s party in the process? Turns out that party was a bit more important to her than I thought, and me being too busy and stubborn to attend kind of a little completely broke her faith in the magic of friendship and turned a young mare trying to come out of her shell into a stubborn misequis and eternal student who avoids all but the most necessary contact with other ponies. Good going, Twilight.
“Ooops, my bad!”
Oh right, and her house is a mess. Minuette’s attempt to cheerfully knock at the door turns into cheerfully knocking through the door. At the very least it seems to have gotten Moondancer’s attention, because after a moment she opens what’s left of her door and looks the girls over. “What is it? If it’s another invitation to a party, I told you I don’t–“
“Don’t do parties, we know.” Lyra interrupts her. “We’re not here for ourselves this time.”
They step aside to reveal an entirely unprepared me. I stare like a deer under strobe lights for a few seconds, before I manage an awkward Twilight smile and a little wave. “Uhm… hi?”
Moondancer looks me over, turns around and slams 68% of a door in our faces.
“That went about as well as I expected.” I mutter, hanging my head.
“It’s not your fault, Twilight.” Twinkleshine sits down next to me to give me a hug.
Lyra opens her mouth. Twinkleshine looks up to glare at her. Lyra closes her mouth.
“Okay, so maybe it was technically your fault.” Twinkleshine continues, rolling her eyes. “But you had a good reason not to come. You were on a mission from Princess Celestia herself to defeat Nightmare Moon! If you hadn’t gone, we might have never seen the sun again!”
“…actually, Princess Celestia told me that Nightmare Moon was just an old breezie tale and that I should get out more to make friends,” I mumble, staring down at my hooves. “Technically, the only reason I went to Ponyville that day…“ was to help organize a big national event, attended by ponies I didn’t even know, as a favor to a princess.
I know exactly how Moondancer felt that day, and realizing why I do feels almost worse.
I think one of the girls is saying something, but the static in my ears is drowning it out. The edges of my vision are blurring and going black, Moondancer’s door the only thing clear in my tunnel vision. For once I am fully aware that I’m having one of my ‘little episodes’ and I don’t care. The only thing important right now is somehow, in some way fixing my mistake with Moondancer.
I drag myself over to the door, breaking down in front of it. I think I’m saying something or shouting, and it might even be somewhat coherent.
“-light? Twilight!”
“-on Moonie, open the door! This is-“
“Carry her inside before-“
~~~~~
I wake up in my bed, at least until I realize that it isn’t my bed at all. Going by the color scheme of the sheets it’s probably Moondancer’s. Another thing I’ll have to apologize for.
Somepony clears their throat and I slowly turn my head to see Moondancer sitting on the floor against the opposite wall, forelegs crossed as she glares at me. “Oh great, you’re awake…”
I try to say something, cough and swallow before trying again. “How long was I out?”
“About an hour.” She huffs and snorts. “Minuette and Lyra locked me in here and said they’re not letting me out until I talk to you.”
I nod. I know for a fact that Moondancer knew at least five spells to unlock that door even before I left Canterlot.
Moondancer narrows her eyes and I decide not to notice how red they are or the damp spots in her fur. “You hurt me, you know. I was finally feeling that I could put myself out there at least a little bit, that I had value. That other ponies might like me and want to be my friends! And then you didn’t show up, left town without even saying goodbye… I thought we were friends!”
She got up to walk over at some point and is yelling right at my face by the end of her speech, openly crying angry tears. I blink away the tears in my own eyes and swallow again, still feeling dry and sore. “Would… would it help if I told you that I got a lot of that feeling back today?”
She blinks, then narrows her eyes in suspicion. “How bad?”
I crack a weak smile. “Disowned by my family, friends and Equestria itself and constantly reminded that I’m a terrible friend for the last two hours?”
She stares at me for a moment, then turns around and begins pacing back and forth, muttering and grumbling under her breath. I watch her and slowly pull myself into a sitting position, so I don’t leave any more tears and snot on a pillow that is already pretty ruined for anything but a thorough drycleaning. With emphasis on the ‘dry’.
We remain like this for a few minutes, completely silent aside from Moondancer’s occasional muttering. Finally she straightens up and takes a deep breath, turning away from me and towards the door. Three seconds of rather impressive spellwork and the door opens.
Moondancer steps halfway through, then stops and turns her head, speaking in a half-whisper. “Don’t hurt me again.”
I give a silent, serious nod, watching her return it hesitantly and then walk out of the room.
The somber mood doesn’t last long, because as it turns out Colgate and Lemon Hearts went out for necessities while Moondancer and I were ‘imprisoned’ and unconscious respectively. ‘Necessities’ being everything necessary for a slumber party that would make Pinkie Pie proud and then some. Apparently the Royal Event Manager has not only a ridiculous salary, but an even more ridiculous budget, including a fund for ‘personal impromptu festivities’.
Moonie – as Minuette insists we all call Moondancer, no matter how much she protests – actually pulls out a copy of Slumber 101 and we decide to educate her on all the reasons why that book is not fit for practical application, then do everything in it anyway. The whole time the mood is tainted with a bit of awkwardness and nervousness, but it slowly fades over the course of the evening. There are still arguments and Moonie is maybe a little too enthusiastic in beating me down with pillows and then beating me some more while I flail and beg for mercy from the fluffy assault.
…in short, it’s the best time I’ve had all week, and it would probably be even if my week hadn’t been pretty rotten from the moment I got that wedding invitation. In fact, the wedding and afterparty is happening at roughly the same time as our sleepover, and I don’t feel like I would rather be there than here for even a second.
~~~~~
Moondancer and I are designing a flying machine. Lemon Hearts is humming and working on some snacks and drinks for our group, Twinkleshine is setting up the frame for the prototype with the help of Lyra who is wearing a quartet of back-mounted tentacle claws that are surprisingly agile and skilled at the manual labor she is using them for. Colgate is building in random parts into the construction that make no sense yet work flawlessly.
“Twilight Sparkle!”
I blink and look up to see Princess Luna leaning over the edge of the sun. The inner edge, that is. This must be a dream then. That would explain how I’ve been staring at the sun without going blind.
I blink. Well, now I am blind, naturally, because I thought about it. Blinking once more fixes the issue neatly and I can focus on Luna and her not-blinding sun again. Or maybe it is supposed to be a moon, I think, and the day is suddenly a night.
Oh right, Luna. She looks rather agitated, so I decide to wave at her. Hello, Princess Luna. Wait, this is a dream, I can just use my mouth-noises. “Hello, Princess Luna!”
“There is no time!” She shouts back. “They’ve infiltrated the castle, captured me and who knows whom else!” Black silhouettes form behind her, starting to drag her back into the sun. “Beware of the impostor! The changeling queen is–“
That’s as far as she gets before she is dragged, presumably out of my dream, by the silhouettes. One of them grabs the edge of the sun and pulls it out of existence with a comical pop. Say what you want, but that shadowy enemy force has a certain sense of style.
I gasp and jerk awake, sitting up on my sleeping bag on the floor of Moondancer’s living room. I take a moment to get my bearings, listening to confirm that, yes, the sounds from outside are of ponies celebrating in the distance. Definitely not an invasion.
I look around at the sleeping forms of my new old friends all around me, lighting my horn and casting a few wards around the house just to be safe. Then I yawn and drop back down, rolling over and closing my eyes.
I already ran off to save the world once and left them behind. Equestria can wait a couple more hours.
“Welcome to the Starswirl the Bearded Wing of the Canterlot Archives.” I smile and turn around to the… one ponies with me. The moment I mentioned changelings Lyra gasped and dragged Minuette off to get ‘the books’. I don’t know what books she meant but apparently Minuette does. Which isn’t all that comforting, the more I think about it. Lemon Hearts went off to get us some snacks for researching. Moondancer ran off between the bookshelves with a squeal faster than you could say ‘Starswirl the Bearded’, literally. Which leaves me with Twinkleshine, who is not a morning pony.
So, yeah, basically talking to myself.
I smile and roll my eyes, giving Twinkleshine directions to the kitchen the archivists use and its state-of-the-art coffeemaker. Then I head into the archives myself to start researching. Luckily, I like doing research.
“We’re back!”
I look up from the book I was going through at the sound of Minuette’s voice. That was fast. A glance at the window tells me that no, it wasn’t, I just really like doing research.
I stare at the small stack of books that Minuette is holding up like they're the key artifacts in a grand quest for world peace. Which it might be, actually, but she’s doing a silly heroic pose and everything.
I take the books from her and look at the titles. “Minuette… these are rulebooks for Ogres and Oubliettes.”
“They’re not rulebooks for O&O, silly. They’re content books.” She beams at me like… well, like a dentist’s assistant, I suppose.
I rub the spots from my vision and look at the books again. “Day of the Swarm? Nobodies Army? I haven’t even heard of these.” The second one has to be bootleg, because that definitely can’t be grammatically correct. Though it’s really well done if it is, with the professional binding and illustrations of… a black-masked pony under a large cloak?
“They’re sequels/additions to the Bards of the Badlands set. Not nearly as popular, and really hard to get your hooves on for some reason.” She hums thoughtfully. “Though I think we might know the reason now. Anyway, guess what these are about.”
I go a few pages back from where I opened the book and gasp. “Changelings?! But how-?”
“No idea how they get their info but D.B. Yearling is one of the best O&O authors out there. They make content about all kinds of exotic creatures and obscure myths, and the research is always spot-on. Or at least as spot-on as can be expected if there’s barely any actual facts to research.”
“But still, what are the odds of finding that information in… in a game?!” I wave my hoof about, trying to make sense of it. Yes, it’s a book, and I respect books, but it’s a book about play-pretend. The stuff my brother and his friends always did in the basement and didn’t let me play with them. Something about being too young and a filly, but I know it’s just because of that one session where I completely broke their game with a level four illusionist.
“Like I said, it’s full of obscure stuff you’d barely find anywhere else.” Minuette shrugs and gives me a smile. “Twinkleshine plays a deer cleric sometimes, and when was the last time you saw a deer in Equestria?”
I sigh and nod, giving her a smile. “Well, it’s not like we have any better leads so those will actually be pretty useful, I suppose. I’ve never even heard about changelings, so I doubt that much of what else we’ll find will be any more trustworthy. At least unless Moondancer found some sort of biology textbook or traveling report.”
“I didn’t.” Moondancer says from behind me, stepping around a bookshelf with a pile of books in her magic. “But I found a whole bunch of books without any title at all. Even if we don’t find anything in them, at least we can bring some order into this mess. I swear, it’s like nopony has done any sorting here since before Dewey Decimal was born.”
We all giggle and take a stack of books each, everypony finding a spot of their own where we can research individually. I look over my friends with a smile, then take the first book from the stack, frowning over the complete lack of marking besides a generic (and completely wrong for that matter) sun symbol on the cover before I start to flip through the pages.
~~~~~
We set up a whole camp in the back of the Starswirl Wing and spend almost a full week there before we’re apprehended by a quartet of guards. The generic, white-and-blonde kind that’s barely distinguishable from each other. Except that they’re not actual guards, of course.
The leader steps forward. “Twilight Sparkle? Princess Celestia asked for you. If you and your friends would accompany us to the Eastern Study.” I have to admit, he’s probably a better guard than most I’ve met so far. Still…
I look them over once, lighting my horn faintly. “Sorry, but if your Queen wants to talk I would like it to be somewhere more private.” I enjoy watching them try to hide their reactions for a second, then add, “It’s the armor by the way. Royal Guard armor doesn’t just make them all look the same, the enchantment also includes a small beacon. It’s weak, but also made so almost any unicorn can sense the signal with minimal effort, to prevent pretty much what you’re doing right now.” Just like the weather schedules the weather offices hang out and other simple ingenuities, they’ve become so common that nine out of ten ponies completely forget about them until it’s too late. Still, it would be a bother to have the real guard suddenly become suspicious and attack each other just when I’m finally prepared to resolve the situation myself.
The squad leader narrows his eyes at me just as Lyra and the others join us, Lyra looking the guards over as well. “So these guys are changelings? They don’t look anywhere as freaky as in the pictures. They look kinda bland to be honest.”
Well yes, they are disguised as Royal Guards.
The leader hisses at us and bursts into green flames which burn away his armor, fur and mane along with part of his legs. Three more bursts of fire and we are facing four ponies clad in black chitin, with solid blue eyes, fangs, forked tongues, ragged bug wings and holes in their legs. Four of my friends instinctively recoil in shock and I have to admit that I do the same, which is why I can’t fully appreciate the menacing grin on Lyra’s face.
“You know, the mare I share rent with over in Ponyville is a really awesome filly…”
There’s a flash of golden magic and every pair of eyes in the room except hers is drawn to the giant flyswatter made of golden magic hovering above Lyra.
“…but she can really freak out about bugs and creepy-crawlies.”
As a student and believer of Friendship and Harmony, I shan’t repeat what happens over the next minute.
The five of us stare at Lyra and the pile of twitching, mangled and probably mentally scarred changelings on the ground in front of her.
“That was…” I start.
“Kind of excessive.” Lemon Hearts finishes.
“Kind of impressive.” Moondancer counters.
“Needlessly violent?” Twinkleshine offers.
“I think the leader is trying to get up again.” Minuette notes.
I turn my head away and shield it with a foreleg, waving it to try and disperse the wave of heat.
“Yeah, I thought that was pretty stupid of him.” Minuette nods.
Lyra looks up with slightly crossed eyes, blowing out the small trail of smoke rising from her horn, then turns around proudly. “When Bonnie says ‘It’s still moving, kill it with fire!’ she means kill it with fire.”
“I can’t believe you used a fire spell in a library.” Moondancer huffs, looking around and apparently still deciding whether to be annoyed or relieved that none of the books got damaged.
“With Twilight around?” Lyra smirks. “She’s a mad scientist living in a literal tree filled with books, along with a dragon. I don’t think I could singe a book with her around even if I tried.”
Well, that’s kind of rude of her to just assume. Just because her logic is sound. And completely correct. I still stick my tongue out at her and blow a raspberry.
“Uhm, not to interrupt…” Twinkleshine points at the unconscious and now slightly charred changelings. “But weren’t there four of them?”
Lemon, Lyra and I glance at the trio of changelings, then exchange looks. “Uhm…”
“I’m pretty sure I found the last one.”
We look over to Moondancer and see her dragging a rock about the size of Spike out from under our main table. She hits it with a light zap and the rock yelps, bursting into flames to reveal the last changeling. The intimidation factor is somewhat smaller than the first time, due to various reasons, not the least of which is that the changeling is curled up and cowering, trying to hide its head under its holey forelegs.
“Did it seriously try to disguise itself as a rock in a library?” Twinkleshine raises an eyebrow.
The changeling raises one leg slightly to peek out at us, muttering in a surprisingly pony-like voice. “…I’m good at rocks.”
Lyra steps up to it, poking it with a hoof and getting a squeak-hiss in return. “Alright, bug. We have some questions and we better get answers fast. Do you have a name or should I just keep calling you ‘bug’?”
The changeling shivers and tries to make itself even smaller, looking up at us with big, fearful eyes despite the complete lack of pupils. “M-my name is Thorax. Please don’t bring out the swatter again.”
I decide right then and there that this changeling is either the single worst or best infiltrator in their entire hive.
~~~~~
Whichever he is, five minutes later we follow him around as his ‘prisoners’ through a system of caves filled with undisguised changelings. We agreed to give him that bit of success in return for letting us meet with his queen on my own terms. Well, letting me meet her, but the girls made it pretty clear that I would have to trap them in a pocket dimension to get rid of them now. It’s as sweet and heartwarming as it is annoying and I will have to give them a big hug later both as thanks and to alleviate whatever trauma they’ll probably take from this.
We actually don’t have to walk long because it turns out their hive is literally right below the castle, in the caverns under Canterlot. It’s really not a good week for my opinion of Celestia and her defense and security detail.
We end up in a large cavern illuminated by crystals in the walls and ceiling. Changelings are everywhere, except in a large empty space in front of a crude crystal throne. We walk to the middle of the free space and I step forward, addressing the large black and green figure on the throne. “Queen Metamorphosis, I presume?”
“Queen Metamorphosis was my late mother. I am Queen Chrysalis, but you can address me ‘Your Majesty’.” The figure stands up and steps forward until she’s close enough that I can get a decent look at her body. She has the figure of an alicorn, if a rather starved slim one, and she might be quite beautiful if she didn’t look like she hasn’t put any effort in her appearance over the last decade. The madness in her eyes doesn’t do her any favors either.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I’ll admit my information might be somewhat outdated.” I dip my head respectfully. No reason to make her try to kill me before I tell her to do exactly that.
“It is impressive that you know even that much.” Chrysalis raises an eyebrow. “Your reputation precedes you. Alas, the details of your relationship with Princess Cadenza didn’t. You almost ruined my plans back then. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have my guards simply kill you right here and get rid of a nuisance.”
“There is only one good argument I can make.” I take a deep breath and raise my head, determined not to give her any more opportunity to do just that. “I challenge you to a Duel Of Queens!”
Chrysalis’ eyes narrow. “Quite impressive what you know indeed. Are you aware of what you are demanding?”
I nod. “A battle to the death, one on one.” I ignore the shocked gasps of my friends behind me. This is why I didn’t want to tell them my plan. “Any changeling can challenge the Queen to a duel, if they believe themselves a stronger and better leader, so the hive is always as strong as they can be. I may not be a changeling, but the concept holds up.”
Chrysalis smirks. “Very well, if you wish for a pointless death. There is just one minor fact you got wrong.” A solid buzz rises in the cavern as the changelings all start to advance on us. “A Duel Of Queens is not one against one. A powerful queen is useless if her subjects resent her, as is a powerful challenger. It is my army against…” She chuckles and looks over my five friends. “…yours. Though only the Queens try to kill each other, usually.”
“Uhm…” I glance back at my friends, but only for a second before I have to focus on Chrysalis again, the changelings on her side giving us lots of space to fight and only advancing from behind me. The Queen seems rather confident in her power compared to mine, which is good.
“Don’t worry Twilight, we got this.” Minuette proclaims cheerfully, then mutters just a tad too loudly. “…I hope.”
Lyra huffs. “Come on girls, we’re the brightest and best of SGU. Minuette, do you still have a teleport key on your LARP gear? You know which one.”
“Wait, you don’t mean…”
Chrysalis tosses a green fireball towards me and I have to jump to the side to dodge. Her attacks are as powerful as they are casual, while my own magic bolts hit her shield without effect. On the bright side, while we both know that she’s just toying with me that means she’s actually leaving me enough room between her attacks to keep an eye on my friends. I suppose she is mildly curious what they will do as well.
There is a flash of light blue magic from the group and I see Minuette standing up onto her hindlegs, cackling maniacally. She is wearing a long white doctor’s coat and goggles, holding an oversized drill in each foreleg and an oversized toothbrush in her magic.
“Tremble before the ultimate terror, the Mistress Of Screams, Colgate!”
I blink and nearly run straight into Chrysalis’ next attack. Luckily she seems just as stunned as I am.
Colgate grins and looks over the changeling army, the drills starting to spin with a loud mechanic whine. “I see lots and lots of holes!”
The changelings collectively back away. I can’t blame them.
Behind Colgate, I can just barely make out Lemon Hearts asking Lyra. “I thought those drills were made of styrofoam.”
Lyra nods and grins. “They are. But those bugs can sense emotions, remember? It’s all about intent.” She smirks. “And I know only one pony who gets more into character during games than Minuette.”
Moondancer frowns. “Still, that bought us a minute, maybe. What are we going to do when they get over the initial shock?”
Lyra’s grin turns slightly manic. “The question isn’t how fast they’ll be back. It’s if they retreat faster than we can chase them.”
“Lyra, what are you-?”
Lyra’s horn flashes and two of the giant flyswatters appear above her, following as she charges at the army of changelings with a mad cackle. “LYRAAAAAAA… HEARTSTRINGS!”
Okay, definitely have to finish this before the girls get themselves killed. I turn to Chrysalis and brace myself, charging my horn up with magic until I have a sparking double corona. “You really think you can beat me in a duel of magic?!”
“How cute.” Chrysalis effortlessly charges her own horn with a confident grin. “I have gathered more than enough love by now to rival both Celestia and Luna in power. This will be over in a blink.”
I let loose my magic and it crashes into hers, the beams meeting in the middle. My beam is pushed back in seconds, almost back to my horn before I collect myself and push her back again. Chrysalis’ eyes widen in surprise and she amps up the power causing both beams of magic widen in diameter, but while it wavers back and forth a little the purple magic holds its place about halfway between us.
“Impossible! You cannot possibly have that power!” Chrysalis’ face twists into a grimace and she puts in another burst of power.
I don’t reply. I’m too busy gritting my teeth and trying not to show the pure agony going from the tip of my horn down to every last hair in my tail. You don’t appreciate pain until you have to keep every cell in your body from disintegrating through sheer willpower.
With a primal yell Chrysalis puts on a last burst on power and it finally becomes too much. The thin conical layer of my magic that had been concealing her attack up to my horn is all but obliterated, followed closely by my body, making me scream in pain until my entire sense of self fades.
~~~~~
I slowly open my eyes and stand up, looking around at the void of stars.
I yelp and almost drop the book. Finding the journal of somepony else with apparently close connections to Princess Celestia was a surprise. Suddenly finding that pony addressing me would’ve been a shock. Seeing their words just appear on the blank page of the journal I’d been making notes in quite frankly scared the manure out of me.
‘I… I’m sorry? I didn’t know that this journal was enchanted.’ I look my own writing over and blush. Something about the change in situation makes me instinctively write the way I would talk, instead of the calm and somewhat analytical writing I normally employ in my own notes.
‘Well, now you know.’
I wait for a bit, but apparently that’s all she has to say. Still, the last day has shown me to reach out to ponies, not just the few friends I somehow managed to make already.
‘My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?’ Stars, did I just sound like an annoying little filly on the playground? The lack of inflection in this strange type of conversation really makes it hard to sound cool.
‘I’m Sunset Shimmer’
That’s it. She doesn’t even bother with punctuation anymore. Still, I want to at least make one more attempt to reach out to her.
‘Uhm… that’s a nice name?’ One desperate attempt, it seems. What’s next Twilight, ‘I really like your mane’?
The pony on the other end is quiet for long enough that I just give up and close the book. Which makes me yelp and actually drop the book as it starts to flash, buzz and vibrate like a giant drunk firefly. It hits the table and opens to just the right page, because of course it does.
‘You’ve really never heard of me?’
‘I’m afraid this is the first time I hear your name. I’m sorry?’ That actually makes me wonder. If this Sunset Shimmer is important enough to have her journal placed in the Starswirl Wing and is still alive, even, why has Celestia never mentioned her before?
Two hours and several pages later I know all about how Celestia is a complacent, egocentric know-it-all who railroads and stifles her students and denies them what they deserve. I can’t say that I agree with her but after my recent experiences I can’t completely disagree with her either. 'Stop believing in those old stories, Twilight. It’s not like I have a maddened sister bent on world domination, and if I did I’m sure these ancient artifacts will accept the deep bonds you’ve made with some ponies you met less than 24 hours ago.' It sounds incredibly petty thinking about it like that, yet if anything had gone just a little differently I might be dead now.
One way or another, I make friends with Sunset Shimmer rather easily. We’re both prodigious magic students on a mission and technically my mission is also driven by revenge. And as much as she tries to act like a cold arrogant jerk, I can tell that she desperately craves this voice from home. I can’t even imagine living in a world without magic, much less for over two years.
I keep her updated as we find out more about changelings, including her in the brainstorming sessions, though I do my best to keep her more abrasive nature from my friends. And it’s good that I did include her.
‘Do you trust me?’
‘As much as I have ever trusted a book.’ To my friends from Ponyville it would probably sound like a joke, but I think that Sunset is similar enough to myself to see what level of trust is really implied here.
‘This idea if yours is not going to work. Even if you manage to get to the changeling queen, how do you expect to have any chance of fighting her?’
‘...I'm sure I'll figure something out. She has to have some weakness.’ I grimace at seeing my complete lack of a plan on paper.
‘She's going to kill you, Twilight. It's a fight to the death, for heaven's sake! You're not going to survive this fight and then what are you going to do?’
I wilt and look away, ears drooping. It's really not fun to have the flaws in your plan spelled out like that. Literally spelled out. You can try to ignore somepony telling you about them, but these messages don't just magically disappear if you read them.
‘...I might have a way you could stand a chance against her, maybe.’ Sunset is quiet for a moment then continues. ‘You can't tell any of the others about this. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's for their sake, not mine.’
I frown slightly. I do trust her, but I also trust my other friends… ‘It'll depend on what you're going to tell me.’
‘What do you know about alicorn ascension?’
I blink and involuntarily tilt my head in confusion. ‘Alicorn ascension? That's the first time I ever hear about something like that.’
There's a pause, long enough to make it feel awkward. Welcome back to the Twilight Zone, in today's episode we'll say something stupid to an interdimensional alien in a magic book, apparently.
‘What did you think where Princess Cadence came from?’
I lift my quill. I drop my quill. I feel stupid for a bit, then write. ‘Princess Cadence was turned into an alicorn?!?’
‘Well, she's certainly not Celestia's secret love child.’
I feel like I'll need stronger tea if I want to make it through the rest of this conversation. Particularly since the last of my current cup went flying across the table in a rather impressive spit-take. Only my magic and well-honed librarian reflexes save Moondancer and her own stack of books and notes.
I thank Lemon Hearts for the refilling my cup, then take the teapot from her and down the entire contents, soggy tea leaves and all. Then I ask if she can make a stronger batch, please.
I look back down to see that Sunset has taken the time to write down some more of what she knows, like how Cadence used to be a pegasus from a small village by the coast. Things her former foalsittee and future sister-in-law didn't know. Things her prospective husband probably didn't know, though whether that's because she didn't tell him or he just forgot is equally possible. He tends to forget small details like that, or like letting his close family know he is getting married.
Focus, Twilight. Conversation now, kicking your stupid brother later. ‘How do you know all that?’
‘Because I don't just take no for an answer, and if I do I want to know all the facts. Celestia is acting all nice and sunny, but she's really just holding everypony back to keep them in their shadow. Bet you that even Cadence wouldn't be an alicorn if not for the fact that she was completely under the old mare's radar until it was too late.’
I frown slightly, but hearing things like that about my mentor really doesn’t faze me as much as it should, anymore. Partially because I’d been hearing stuff like that from Sunset for over two days now, partially because after the week I had I’ve pretty much run out of panic attacks to have.
But still, it’s not like Celestia is trying to keep everypony down and in her shadow like Sunset says. Sunset, the Princess’ personal student who I’d never even heard about until a few days ago. Or Cadence, who is an alicorn Princess but spends her time as a foalsitter and occasional ambassador to countries that are either small and inconsequential or already on good terms with Equestria. Oh yeah, and then there’s Princess Luna who literally went insane from having her spotlight constantly stolen by her sister.
I really hope Sunset or Cadence won’t turn into a she-demon corrupted by dark magic trying to kill me.
No, Sunset wouldn’t do something like that.
‘Anyway, I’m basically gonna need you to die.’
My eye twitches. I may get rid of my panic attacks someday, but this eye tic will stay with me until the day I die. Possibly some time beyond that. Hopefully some time beyond that, should I actually consider Sunset’s plan.
‘Please…’ I take a deep breath. ‘elaborate.’
‘Okay, so you know about Starswirl the Bearded, yes?’
I give a calm and collected answer that’s totally not three pages of fanfilly gushing over the greatest unicorn wizard of all times.
‘…I’ll take that as a yes. What you probably don’t know is that he was actually studying alicorn ascension at one point in his life, along with the Elements of Harmony. I found one of his old journals hidden in the forbidden wing of the library. Apparently he figured that if anything can make ponies ascend, it would be those powerful magical artifacts tied to Harmony itself.’
My eyes widen slightly and I lean closer to the book, not wanting to miss a single word of this lesson, even though the words wouldn’t be going anywhere. You never know. It’s a magical history lesson about Starswirl!
‘It’s not just a spell he never managed to complete. It’s the one spell he never managed to complete, or at least as far as I know.’ She pauses a moment and I can practically hear the smugness through the pages. ‘Now guess who got two thumbs and figured it out?’
‘You got thumbs? No, wait, priorities. You figured out a spell even Starswirl didn’t?!’ I don’t want to sound as incredulous as I probably do, but… just… that!
‘Well, not the spell exactly. I’m not sure there even is one. I figured out where he went off on wrong assumptions though.’ Another pause. ‘Or at least that’s my own assumptions. It’s not like I had the time or the means to test it before I jumped universes.’
I narrow my eyes and smirk. ‘So that’s your evil plan. You’re just looking for some innocent, naïve and incredibly powerful filly to use as a guinea pig.’
‘Pretty much, yeah. So… yay for science?’
I roll my eyes and smile. ‘Yay for science. Now what’s this about me dying? That was a joke, right?’
‘Uhm, yes… kind of… not really. You really do have to die, but I hope that you, y’know… get better? A short death. Practically a nap.’
I let the awkward silence linger for a bit, partially because I really don’t know what to say about that. Especially since we both already established the day before that we are both crazy.
‘So, you know, I think Starswirl’s (and Celestia’s) big mistake in the theory was trying to find a way to transform a ‘common’ pony into an alicorn. Which I’m pretty sure doesn’t work. At all. Even if you managed it, a regular unicorn’s body and possibly even their mind just isn’t able to hold all that magic and everything else that comes with it. They’d deteriorate and die within weeks, if they didn’t go mad first.’
I follow that train of thought. ‘So when you talk about dying in this context, you actually mean… getting rid of the old body? Reincarnation?’ I frown. ‘But then we’d have more than just three alicorns in all of Equestria, especially over so many centuries.’
‘True, it’s not quite that easy. Starswirl talks about something he calls Alicorn Potential. He couldn’t really measure or quantify it, but he could at least more or less prove its existence. The more Alicorn Potential a pony has, the less magic do they need to jumpstart the ascension… going from impossible amounts of magic to simply ridiculous amounts of magic. So he was right in trying to use the Elements of Harmony, he just went the wrong way… completely the wrong way, actually. I think he wrote the only spell for them that’s guaranteed to be non-lethal.’
‘So I have to get myself killed, and do it with enough magic that it could power at least one ancient artifact.’ I groan. ‘And the Elements are in a secure location that only two people can reach. So unless we want to free Discord (again) and ask him nicely to bring us the artifacts that imprisoned him (again), we’ll have to find another way. Do you have any good news?’
Sunset draws one of those things she calls a ‘smiley face.’
‘Well, you were planning to go up against a monarch with probably enough magic to level Canterlot and challenge her to a battle to the death.’
‘Gee, don’t you just love silver linings.’ I grumble and turn to a new page, then start making plans and calculations on how to steal as much magic as I can from the queen of deception without her noticing.
~~~~~
I’m floating through the void into the regular plane of existence, the continent of Equestria stretching out below me. Some instinctual part of me knows that I am going to gently float down as an ethereal image of my cutie mark before reforming as an alicorn right in front of the palace, in the middle of the street and in front of surprised guards and stunned citizens. I will look regal and majestic and will be entirely too late to help my friends that are probably at a mad queen’s mercy right now.
I strain my mind to angle myself downwards straight at the palace, increasing the pressure and intensity until the metaphorical bubble I’m in pops and my essence is shot straight down towards the Canterhorn.
It’s amazing what you find when you go looking for things that ponies have forgotten about. Like the fact that ponies used to mine crystals from the cave systems inside Mount Canterhorn. That was long enough ago that the crystals have already regrown for the most parts. Magically conductive crystals, building a system of leylines the size of the mountain, more or less.
Chrysalis’s villainous monologue in front of my captured and bound friends is interrupted as crystals all over the cavern start to glow with… well, me. Beams of magic shoot out towards a point halfway between them, growing into the pulsing shape of my cutie mark which flashes and disperses to reveal my new body, complete with an imposing set of lavender wings I immediately spread for effect before the ethereal glow around me fully fades out.
I open my eyes, looking straight at Chrysalis. “I know it is rather unorthodox, but… Queen Chrysalis, I challenge you to a Duel Of Queens, again.”
Queen Chrysalis stares at me, in what seems to be equal parts shock and disgust. Her changelings seem mostly too stunned and confused to move. Whoever loses a battle to the death doesn’t usually come back for a rematch, for obvious reasons.
I turn to my friends and walk up to them with a gentle smile, my magic cleanly dissolving the green gunk they’d been bound with. I pretend not to notice their tears of relief at seeing me alive.
I can’t help it. “I told you girls not to come along.”
Minuette snorts and giggles, soon followed by Lyra, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. “Yeah, you sure did. Serves us right, huh?”
“You, you… you jerk!” Moondancer screams and lunges at me, hitting me in the chest a few times before she breaks down sobbing. “You promised me, damnit! Stop doing stuff like this… to me…”
I wince and wrap my wings around her to calm her down, blushing a bit both at the unfamiliar feeling of giving a winghug and at the fact that it doesn’t seem to help much.
Dang it Moonie, I haven’t even had this new body for five minutes and you’re getting snot and tears all over it.
The girls all shuffle their hooves and look away awkwardly. The Twilight Zone transcends even death. Luckily, Twinkleshine quickly finds a new conversation topic.
“Uhm… I don’t want to interrupt, but…” She bites her lip, nervously pointing at something behind me. I turn my head slightly to see Queen Chrysalis charging her horn with more and more magic, mindless rage written across her face. Apparently playtime is over now.
Yeah, that’s probably somewhat important. I watch with casual interest as she releases the magic in a massive beam strong and wide enough to completely obliterate me, my friends, any changelings unfortunate enough to stand behind us and probably a good part of the cavern wall as well.
It’s a beautiful sight. Powerful, yet with a simple elegance. No spell is ever actually raw, magic needs a spellform to have any effect. Even wild magic does, making up its own spellforms on the fly. As a student of magic, I know that… but now for the first time I can see, really see it.
A light tug on the spell matrix here, a small twist there, and the massive beam of ‘raw’ magic turns into a swarm of little butterflies of green fire, fluttering all around us. My friends let out small gasps of surprise and wonder, turning their heads to watch them. I carefully let go of Moondancer and fully turn towards Chrysalis, slowly striding towards her and batting away smaller magic blasts with a simple movement of my horn.
The Queen hisses and growls at me, slowly but surely backing away to keep her distance. She looks around frantically and roars, “Don’t just stand around there! Get her! Kill her!”
With a deafening buzz the swarm of changelings takes air to charge at me, their number enough that they’re filling the air both to the left and right of me, black over black. A small tug of my magic and the butterflies float back over and around me to face the attack. I don’t turn my head or break eye contact with Chrysalis even as green fire flashes all around me and changelings are blasted back into their fellow changelings to crash down in a tangle of holey limbs.
“What kind of trickery is this?! Turning my own magic against my hive!” Chrysalis growls and snarls, her eyes glowing as she casts a completely different kind of spell. It’s something I was somewhat expecting and somewhat prepared for, even before I could really see it the way I can now. In fact, I was hoping for it.
Sunset told me that this was the craziest part of my plan, and I keep that in mind as I willingly open myself up to a mind control spell just so I can try to hijack and ride it back into the mind it was sent from. It’s an incredibly stupid idea, but it works, somehow. Our eyes flash green and purple as my own magic overcharges her spell and for just a few seconds I feel everything she feels and vice-versa. Then the spell collapses and we both with it.
I groan and push myself up again, feeling about ready to lose my lunch. Luckily – I suppose – my lunch has been disintegrated along with the rest of me not too long ago, so there’s really nothing left to lose. Chrysalis seems to have it even worse, maybe because she couldn’t brace herself for it.
I force myself to straighten up and not stumble too much as I walk over to her, standing over her just as she manages to get up onto her knees. She looks up at me and I see some real fear in her eyes, under the madness and rage.
She does her best to gather herself, baring her fangs at me. “What are you waiting for, pony? You don’t have the guts to–“
The rest of it is unfortunately cut off as my magic lances into her chest and stops her heart. It probably wasn’t important. Chrysalis would probably agree, if she wasn’t falling over onto her side with her eyes wide open in shock. And death. Mostly death.
One alicorn, two alicorn, three alicorn, four alicorn… I ponder the irony of counting by this method for another alicorn, then tilt my head down and aim. A spark of magic jumps from my horn into Chrysalis chest and her whole body twitches before jerking up, taking a deep, shuddering breath.
She holds a hoof to her chest and greedily takes deep breaths with wide eyes, glancing up at me. “What… you…”
“Killed you.” I nod. “For about six seconds. I suppose that makes us even now, if you want me to kill you again. Or are you willing to surrender and accept my victory?”
Her eyes narrow and she hisses at me, trying to get up until I place a hoof on her chest and push her back down. I had expected this, too. I sigh and gather my magic, watching her as I shape the spell to end this once and for all.
My magic hits her chest one more time and she tenses, staring up at me for several moments in anticipation of my final strike. It takes her almost a minute until she realizes what I have done and her eyes slowly widen as she struggles to believe it. “You…”
I pull my hoof away and step back, nodding gravely. “It was only a few seconds, but I felt it. That hunger… the more love you steal, gather, devour, the worse does the hunger get, doesn't it? And as the queen… it slowly drives you insane.”
She gets to her hooves and looks down at her stomach, putting a hoof against it before she looks up at me again with tears in her eyes. “But… how…?”
“I’m not Cadence, but the source of the problem is connected to both love and magic.” I give her a sad smile. “I think it’s a genetic defect that was passed on and spread through generations of changelings until it became the norm for your species. All the love you collect is converted into magic almost immediately. Your power grows indefinitely but the hunger remains… and the more magic you have, the faster does it convert any new love and makes you crave more.”
“Then… you can…?” She chokes and gestures over to all the other changelings around us with a trembling hoof.
I blush. “I want to run some more tests until I can make permanent solution and make sure that it doesn’t do more damage than it helps. But yes, I think I… we can treat them, every last one of them.”
That does it. Chrysalis tackles me and breaks down crying, muttering incoherently in between sobs. I smile awkwardly and rub her back with a hoof. At the very least, it seems that I have won this battle for good this time. There’s still a lot of problems to unravel and loose ends to tie up, but those are all just technicalities. I’m pretty sure the worst that can happen now is miscommunication and the changelings having to make amends with whatever ponies they took hostage.
I duck into a shadowed alcove and pull the cloak around me, holding my breath until the pair of guards passes and I can allow myself to relax a little. Just because I know what I need and where it is I can’t get careless. I was already almost spotted twice already since I arrived, and I’m not about to let myself get captured now that I've almost reached my goal.
Down one more short hallway and I’m at the small, inconspicuous door to what I remember to be a small study. I attempt a lockpicking spell, but it turns out the door is already open. After the last two years I can’t even say if that hints at a trap or if ponies are really that trusting and naïve. Maybe both.
I slip into the dark room and quietly close the door behind myself, then light my horn to shed soft orange light around myself, casting deep shadows around the room. A slim pedestal stands right ahead of me, a light crown resting on it with a star-cut amethyst as the centerpiece. The Element of Magic. I lick my lips and carefully step forward until I’m right in front of it, reaching out hesitantly with a hoof to–
“Just out of curiosity, what are you planning to do once you have it?”
I yelp and spin around to face the intruder while taking a step away from them, which leads to my flank bumping right into the pedestal. I let out another undignified yelp and quickly pounce it, wrapping both forelegs around the toppling block of marble to keep it from falling over and just barely catching the tip of the crown with my teeth.
I hear a melodic giggle from behind me and my face flushes as I remember that I’m supposed to be one of the greatest mages of my time which means using telekinesis should have been in the scope of my abilities. A lavender aura surrounds the crown and pedestal to gently pull them out of my grip and set them down again. I spit a little and stick my tongue out at the taste of cold metal and magic the crown left in my mouth, then turn around to frown at the pony.
I have to admit, seeing an alicorn about my own size and age standing across from me, wings spread and decked out in full royal regalia, leaves me speechless for a few seconds. I have more than enough experience in disrespecting authorities, though, so I shake it off quickly enough.
“You promised me not to tell anypony.”
Princess Queen (Doctor Princess Queen) Twilight Sparkle gives me a sly grin. “And I didn’t. But you weren’t really going to cross over into your home dimension and not even say hello, were you?” I glance away guiltily and she frowns. “Really, Sunset?”
“I didn’t want any trouble…”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh yes, because nothing says ‘no consequences’ like stealing a priceless and powerful magical artifact right out of the castle. If that was the reason, you wouldn’t have come over the moment the portal opened when we'd have three whole days to track you down again.”
She got me there. “I… I guess I didn’t feel up to facing anypony from home. Like I’d either break down crying or punch them in the face the moment I see them.”
“So, which one is it going to be?” She smirks and raises an eyebrow.
I take a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. “N-nothing, for now… No promises if you bring Pr- Celestia into this, though.”
“I told you, I’m the only one who knows that you’re here.” She lights her horn and two seat pillows appear, one right behind me. I sit down nervously, still tense and ready to hightail it out of here any second.
“So, this was a trap after all?” I look around cautiously, glancing back at the crown.
Twilight frowns at me. “If you hate conversation and socializing that much, I suppose. You helped me more than I can ever repay, and I’ve never even seen you. I barely know anything about you, the you you are now, not that rebellious teenager from thirty moons ago.” Only thirty moons on the other side of the mirror, at least, but we both know what she means. She glances past me towards the crown. “Besides, I really was curious. What would you want the Element of Magic for? It doesn’t work without the other five, and the world I assume you would be taking it back to doesn’t even have any magic in the first place.”
“It doesn’t work here.” I mumble. She already knows what I was trying to do, so I might as well come clean. “If one of the Elements is separated from the others, and I mean really no-dice whole-other-dimension separated, you can unlock its power without any other prerequisites.”
She nods. “I see. But wouldn’t it go dormant again when you take it back to Equestria? And over there it might be useful, but from what little you said about those humans’ technology a single source of magic would only get you so far.”
I fold my ears back and look away, not saying anything. I’d mostly ignored the flaws and risks in my plan, primarily because I just didn’t have any better options.
“Soooo…” I venture eventually. “I guess you’re a Princess of Equestria now. Or are you Queen of the Changelings?”
“Both, actually.” Twilight rubs her neck. “Though I’m not going to act on it, now that this whole mess is sorted out. I’m not a ruler, and I don’t want to be either. I’m either gonna move back to Ponyville to try and patch things up with my friends there, or I’ll let Spike handle the library in Ponyville and buy myself a house here in Canterlot, keep in touch with my other group of friends properly this time… or maybe I’ll just do both and move between Canterlot and Ponyville. It’s not that far, even less once I figure out how to use these things.” She spreads her wings and bends them forward slightly to look them over.
I stare at them, giving a wistful and maybe slightly bitter smile. “Yeah… must be great to have everything and not even need it…”
Twilight stares at me for a moment, then suddenly perks up. “Ah, that reminds me. I can’t believe I almost forgot…” She gets up and walks right past me, towards a back door behind the pedestal. Halfway through the door she stops, looking back at me over her shoulder. “Are you coming?”
I blink and get back to my hooves, cautiously following her into the next room. It’s completely empty save for some spell circles laid into the floor and five other unicorn mares each wearing a necklace around their neck and forming a circle.
Twilight takes the last remaining spot, levitating the crown with the Element of Magic onto her head. “I found Starswirl’s journal that you were talking about and made a new spell… several, really, but this one seems the safest for its purpose.”
My eyes widen as I realize what she is talking about and I look around at the necklaces again. “B-but… they’re not the Bearers, right? Are they even going to work?”
Twilight giggles. “They’re the Elements of Harmony, based on the power of friendship. What could be a better symbol of that than spreading that magic and sharing it with more ponies. Trust me, they’ve all shown the virtues of friendship in abundance.”
She looks at each of the other ponies in turn. “Colgate, who always wants everypony to have the brightest smile they can. Lyra, who doesn’t hide anything of herself from anypony, no matter how strange some of her interests may seem. Lemon Hearts, who loves to provide the best for ponies. Twinkleshine, who is always there when you need an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. And Moondancer, who made the effort to open herself up to us and managed to forgive me and stand by my side even after I’d failed her.”
I look around again, panicking just a little. “B-but… are you sure this is okay? You’ve heard what I did, how I am. What if Celestia was right? What if I’m really not ready, what if I’ll never be? What if I don't deserve to be?!”
“Then that’s a problem we will handle if it comes up.” She giggles. "Besides, if you really go mad from power I'm pretty sure we can handle one more deranged alicorn. All in a day's work for Doctor Princess Queen Twilight Sparkle."
The necklaces and crown start to glow and flash as their Bearers are lifted up into the air. Twilight looks at me with white glowing eyes full of power and smirks, saying the last words I’ll hear in this life.
“Anyway, I’m basically gonna need you to die now.”
