Even though Twilight forgave her friends, they still carry the guilt for abandoning and not listening to her.
It's been a few days since the Canterlot Wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. But the wounds are still fresh on the minds of everypony. The Mane 6 complete their community service to clean up from the attack. They then return to Ponyville where they intend to make things up to Twilight, meanwhile, Shining Armor is on his honeymoon with Cadance but is not able to completely enjoy himself as the words he said to his sister still haunt him. Meanwhile, Queen Chrysalis plots her revenge on them for her defeat.
Applejack felt herself hit the ground hard. She was unable to hold back her tears and looked up at her attacker. Twilight Sparkle glared down at her, no friendliness in her eyes. Applejack gave her a pleading look.
“Please Twilight! I’m sorry!” Applejack begged.
“Sorry? You think sorry is enough for what you and the others did?” Twilight roared. “You abandoned me! For somepony you had just met!”
Applejack had no retort. She and her friends as well as Princess Celestia and Spike had all walked out on Twilight after the unicorn accused Princess Cadance of being evil. Twilight hadn’t had proof though and her brother Shining Armor angrily told her off and banned her from the wedding altogether. Instead of comforting her friend, Applejack told everyone to leave. She’d been angry after all the hard work she’d done for the wedding of Twilight’s brother, only for Twilight to make such a scene being possessive of Shining Armor, or so they'd thought.
“Twilight, I got no excuse,” she said. “I was mad at ya for making those accusations that made Princess Cadance cry, and after all the work we did for her and your brother’s wedding! I thought you were in the wrong!”
“While I wasn’t!” Twilight reminded her. “Cadance was a fake! You should have listened to me!”
“Yeah, I should have,” Applejack said.
Twilight then took Applejack in her magic again and threw her against the wall nearby as well. The Earth Pony grunted, she was already quite battered.
“You and the others can forget about being my friends!” Twilight said coldly. "In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't come near me again."
She then turned and walked out of the wedding hall. Applejack weakly reached out, tears escaping her eyes.
“Twilight… I…” …
“AJ wake up!” somepony said.
Applejack felt herself being shaken and opened her eyes. She was in her room in Canterlot Castle with Rainbow Dash, her roommate, looking down at her with concerned eyes that were visible from the moonlight outside.
“You okay?” Rainbow asked in concern. “You were talking in your sleep."
“I had a bad dream,” Applejack confessed. “Twilight was throwing me around with her magic and saying I was no longer her friend.”
Rainbow gave her a look of sympathy then said, “That’s the third bad dream you’ve had in four nights.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘Twilight forgave us just let it go.’ She too was feeling guilty over how she had walked out on their friend after her brother banned her from the wedding for her outburst against ‘Cadance’.
Applejack recalled her first dream two nights ago.
Everypony walked into the wedding hall only to find Twilight Sparkle’s lifeless body.
“Twilight!” Pinkie screamed with tears forming. “No! What happened?”
Cadance suddenly entered the room, laughing evilly. She then turned into her true form.
“With the Element of Magic dead, I can freely conquer Equestria!” the Changeling Queen said. “Lower your shield Shining Armor!”
The groom, under her mind control, did so, his eyes glowing green as they watched in horror.
In another dream, Applejack saw her sister being held captive by the changelings.
“Applejack, help!” Applebloom screamed.
Applejack gasped and began running to her sister. "I'm a coming Applebloom!"
But the insect like creatures drained her love and the young filly fell to the ground weakly. She vanished with the changelings and was replaced with Big Macintosh and Granny Smith as well as Applejack’s parents. They all looked at her in scorn.
“You turned your back on a friend that needed comfort!” Bright Mac said angrily as he pointed a hoof at her. “That’s the most dishonest thing anypony can do!”
“I’m ashamed of you, Applejack!” Buttercup said as she looked at her daughter.
“Darn tooting! You’re a bane on this family!” Granny Smith said.
“Yep!” Big Mac agreed.
The words hurt Applejack perhaps more than anything the changelings could have done and she teared up again.
"I'm sorry everypony!" She sobbed.
"Nothing you do can make up for this!" Bright Mac shouted. "You are the worst apple alive today!"
Applejack sighed at the memories of those nightmares. Rainbow Dash put a hoof on her.
“Why are you the one having nightmares, AJ?” the Pegasus asked.
“Probably cause I’m feeling the most guilty,” Applejack said. “I mean I’m the one that told y'all to go and check on the princess rather then comfort our friend when she needed it.”
Rainbow Dash looked down. “You may have told us to do it, but we choose it ourselves. We all thought she was just being possessive of her brother and mean to the bride! Of course, that probably doesn’t excuse our behavior.”
“It sure don’t,” Applejack said. “We were putting ourselves before our friendship with Twilight. I mean you had the chance to do a Sonic Rainboom and show off your flying to the Wonderbolts as well as all of Canterlot and I had the chance to make up for the loss at the Grand Galloping Gala when I wanted to sell a bunch of apple products.”
Rainbow nodded sadly. “Yeah we were being pretty bad. We gave that imposter the benefit of the doubt but we didn’t do the same for Twilight. We’re lucky she’s so forgiving. I mean, we really crossed the line here.”
“We sure did,” Applejack said with a sad nod. “And we still have a bit more of Canterlot to clean up from the attack. I feel like such a rotten apple. My pa called me that in my last dream. This whole mess was my-”
Rainbow Dash put a hoof over her mouth. She shook her head.
“OUR fault,” she corrected her.
Applejack nodded slowly and looked outside. It had been five days since the attack happened and they quickly got the wedding back on track. Princess Cadance had assigned them to community service when she learned the truth of what happened. Applejack’s family had returned to Ponyville without her. Twilight hadn’t been required to stay in Canterlot since only her friends had community service as this whole mess was their fault for not listening to her. But Twilight had stayed to help repair her home regardless. The only difference was she was being paid by Princess Celestia for her efforts.
At least most of the damage was repaired, just a few more buildings needed patching up.
Applejack remembered when they’d had dinner with Celestia the night after the wedding.
Flashback:
They’d just finished their first day of community service and been invited to the castle to dine with the Princess. The ruler of Equestria sat at the head of the table with Spike at the other end and Twilight on the princesses right. Celestia looked at her student with remorse. All the others showed their sadness in their own ways. Rarity had not brushed her mane as she usual did and it looked rather ordinary and flat. Pinkie's mane had deflated, while the others were merely silent.
Finally the silence was broken when Celestia spoke.
“Once again, Twilight I’m very sorry for not listening to you,” the alicorn said bowing her head.
“You don’t need to keep saying that, Princess,” Twilight said with a small smile though her eyes still showed her sadness.
“But I feel I must. Those words I said to you were so cold,” Celestia said guiltily. “And you had already gotten quite a verbal beating from your brother.”
She sighed, and levitated a chest up onto the table before Twilight.
“What’s this?” the unicorn asked.
“Your reward,” Celestia said offering a small smile. “For saving my kingdom. A thousand bits.”
That was four times as much as all of them had gotten for defeating Discord!
“Oh Princess Celestia you don’t need to...”
“Please accept it,” the princess said with pleading eyes. “It will make me feel better. And you did save a member of the royal family as well.”
She then sniffled, tears escaping her eyes. Then she let out full on sobs.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight gasped in concern and got up from her chair and wrapping her hooves around her mentor.
“Oh Twilight, I just can’t be strong right now!” Celestia cried as she used her wing to hug her student back. “I could have lost you! The queen could have killed you when she had you alone! I could have lost Cadance as well if she'd been left in the caverns! I love both of you so much! You are like a daughter to me, yet I chose to comfort my adoptive niece instead! Then I just told you you had a lot to think about and then a real wedding to put together instead of apologizing first thing!”
The others watched with equal sadness.
"That wasn’t your fault,” Twilight said. “You were under the effects of Cadance’s love spell when it spread over Canterlot!”
“Actually it was bad script writing!” Pinkie said breaking the fourth wall angrily for a moment. “Those above wouldn’t let us get a good apology in! Damn you writers!"
The others didn't hear her speak out into the world beyond the humble screen. Pinkie's mood soon returned to somber.
Celestia managed a smile though her tears still flowed. “I’m just glad you’re alright now Twilight! I’ve lived a thousand years but this is one of the greatest mistakes I feel I’ve ever made right after banishing my sister and not being there for her.”
She also thought of another pony that she'd failed who had yet to return. Sunset Shimmer. Celestia only hoped that would turn out for the best as well.
Twilight said nothing, unable to think of any words that might comfort her mentor.
"Twilight, darling, I feel I simply must do something to make up for how badly I treated you!" Rarity said earnestly as she approached her friend.
"Me too," Applejack said.
"Me three," Rainbow Dash said.
"Um, me four?" Fluttershy said.
"Me five!" Pinkie said with none of her usual cheeriness.
Spike didn't say anything but nodded.
Twilight sighed as she pulled away from her mentor. She wanted to tell them it wasn't necessary but seeing their sad faces knew she needed to let them try.
"Alright, just don't go overboard," she said. “One gift will be enough, I think.”
She hesitated for a moment and then hugged Applejack. The cowponys mouth fell open.
"I don't blame you for what you did, Applejack," Twilight said. "Like I said yesterday I would have walked out on all of you too if you'd accused Cadance of being evil without proof."
"You knew her though, you would have been comforting a longtime friend. We were just looking out for our own interests," Applejack said as she slowly returned the hug with a sigh. “We can’t change the past, but we can better the future. I swear as an Apple I won’t rest until this mistake is rectified! Honest Honor!”
Applejack sighed once again. Today was her last day of community service where the repairs around Canterlot would be completed. When she got back to Ponyville she’d make things right with Twilight. Get some of her best apples and make Apple Pie, maybe even cider as well. It might not be the best this time of year but it would probably still be good. She could even make sure Twilight gets the very first flask of cider. Whatever it took to get over this awful feeling of guilt. The hug from Twilight had helped but didn’t absolve her of it.
She knew her friends were all feeling the same way as well, and Celestia, Shining Armor and Spike too.
Applejack and Rainbow made their way to the breakfast table where Celestia, Twilight, and the others were all waiting for them. Rarity had still not brushed her mane in its usual style and let it hung plain these past few days.
“Rarity, you don’t have to stop being beautiful with your mane just cause you’re feeling guilty,” Twilight said to her fellow unicorn. “I know how much you love looking your best!”
“Indeed, but I feel so ugly right now,” Rarity said. “I was tempted to cut my mane all the way down or have you throw mud at me! This will just have to do for now. Until I feel I’ve made amends for what I’ve done, my formerly beautiful mane will be just plain. You can call me Plainity from now on!”
She stopped and giggled. “Ooh Plainity! That’s good, I’ll have to remember that if I ever go undercover somewhere! And with my main like this it would certainly be plain.”
Twilight sighed. “Alright have it your way, Plainity. But I’m not throwing mud at you!”
“But I deserve it!” Rarity exclaimed dramatically.
Twilight ignored that and looked at her other friends. “Are any of you feeling better today?”
“A bit,” Rainbow Dash said. “Still pretty unawesome but I’m just glad this is the last day we have community service.”
“I second that!” Pinkie Pie said with a just a little cheer. Her mane had returned to its puffy state and she had a smile. “Come on girls we can’t stay sad forever. Twilight doesn’t want that does she?”
“No, I don’t,” Twilight said hugging the pink pony next to her. “I want all of us to be able to move past this. I know it won’t be easy. But we have to try.”
Celestia nodded grimly. “If your friendship does break apart, then the elements of harmony will no longer be able to function. Finding new bearers will not be easy.”
Twilight looked at Applejack. “We can’t let that happen.”
The Earth Pony nodded with the others. Before they could say anther word though, the door to the dining room opened and Princess Luna entered looking very tired. She yawned as she sat across from her sister at the other end of the long table.
“I hope everypony had peaceful dreams,” the princess of the night said.
“Not really,” Applejack said. “Had my third nightmare in four nights.”
“I didn’t sleep too well either,” Fluttershy said. “I saw myself being mean like I was after the assertiveness seminar with Iron Will. Though it was me being cruel to me, telling me I’m an evil mare.”
“I know how you all feel,” Luna said. “I still carry the guilt of betraying my sister, and I will for the rest of my life. We all make mistakes, and we must work to rectify them. Many ponies were terrified by the attack and are having nightmares of the changelings. I’ve been battling many nightmares from ponies that were in Canterlot.”
“That’s our fault then,” Rarity said. “If we’d-
“Blaming ourselves is not going to change anything. We all made our mistake of not listening to Twilight,” Celestia said. “There is no changing the past. Unless we used time travel, but that is a forbidden spell with good reason. If I were to go into the archives and send myself back a week to warn myself to listen to Twilight, who knows what could happen? Cadance might still be left in the caverns and we might not find her in time.”
She sighed. “We must carry on.”
Luna nuzzled her. “I wish I’d been up during that time of the day. I could have helped you take on the queen, Sister.”
Celestia nodded and returned the nuzzle. “I’m sure we would have triumphed together, even without the elements. But nopony lost their lives, for that we should be grateful.”
They ate their breakfast and then Twilight and her friends went to their community service. Twilight used her magic to fix a window on a house. Rarity used her own to remove the scratches and spruce up the garden in front of the house, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy lifted a new roof on. Finally, Applejack hammered the last nail into the roof and Pinkie applied a final bit of paint to the tile. Around them other teams did more or less the same things.
“Phewie! All done!” the cowpony said.
“And perfect if I must say so,” Rarity said with a smile before remembering her current bed head state. “Unlike me.”
“None of us are perfect, Rarity,” Twilight said.
“Yeah, you can admire the fanciness of this here place but I’ll be glad to be back in little ole Ponyville soon,” Applejack said.
“I suppose it will be good to be home,” Rarity said.
“You sure you wanna face your customers looking like that though?” Spike asked his crush.
“Oh, it’s not too bad is it?” Rarity asked.
“I think its fine,” Applejack said. “Of course, fashion ain’t my cup of tea. But you don’t look bad Rare. At least not by my standards. Looking plain is fine!”
“Oh, thank you Applejack,” Rarity said with a bit of sarcasm.
“I miss all my animals as well,” Fluttershy said. “I just hope the sitter didn’t mind the extra time she had to spend with them.”
“We still have to do one more thing though,” Pinkie Pie said.
They all looked down except for Twilight.
“The public apology,” they said as one with remorse.
They made their way back to the castle where Celestia planned to hold a gathering and apologize to her citizens. Since they were responsible somewhat, the Mane 5 intended to apologize as well.
…
And so Princess Celestia gathered every pony in Canterlot for a royal announcement. A large portion of the population assembled in the hall. Celestia stood at the head along with the Mane 6 and Spike.
“Today, the repairs from the changeling attack have been completed,” Celestia said. “I am pleased that no pony lost their lives in the attack. We did have injured but thankfully no casualties.”
There was a joyful cheer. Celestia smiled for a moment but then bowed her head.
“But I must apologize to all of you. I have a responsibility to protect this city and the rest of Equestria, but I failed to see that the Changeling Queen had disguised herself as my darling niece Princess Cadance. One little pony, my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, saw there was something off about Princess Cadance. She tried to warn us at the wedding rehearsal, but we coldly walked out on her, thinking that Cadance’s behavior was the result of stress and she was being possessive of her brother Shining Armor.”
Gasps and mutters of surprise and outrage filled the room.
“Twilight Sparkle saw the princess was a fake?”
“Maybe she should lead us instead!”
“They walked out on her? Some friends!”
“How could they dismiss a friends concerns like that?”
The words were heard by the Mane 5 and Celestia who felt a fresh surge of shame and remorse.
“Everypony please!” Celestia put a hoof up. “Yes we all made a big mistake that day. Had we listened to her and I had questioned Cadance or seen the signs perhaps we could have averted this disaster and nopony would have been hurt. I can only ask your forgiveness as monarch and promise to try and do better in the future. The same goes as a mentor to Twilight whom I value very deeply and am ashamed to know I hurt.”
Celestia barely managed to maintain her regal posture before turning to the Mane 6. “Now, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would like to say a few words as well.”
She stepped out of the center and Applejack stepped forward.
“We also wanna apologize to y’all for the damage we caused. We should have listened to our friend Twilight and been there for her. I’m the Element of Honesty and believe everypony should own up to their actions and be truthful. I thought I was doing the honest thing going to comfort a pony that had just got her feelings hurt. But I was a fool and fell for the lies of that imposter.”
She then looked at Twilight. “I failed as a friend and an element, as well as a big sister. My younger sister Applebloom was put in danger here and things could have been a lot worse if the changelings had been after something else besides love. I’m lucky to have such a forgiving friend in Twilight. But speaking honestly, I don’t feel I deserve her forgiveness.”
Twilight smiled in appreciation at the first few sentences but it faltered at the last one.
“I abandoned her for somepony I just met, and I failed to uphold a promise I made to her a while back on taking a friend’s concerns seriously,” Applejack continued. “I… don’t feel I deserve her forgiveness, even if she’s given it to me. But I can’t turn my back on her and ask her to find a better friend, as that would possibly destroy the bond of the elements of harmony which Equestria needs! Therefore, I feel must earn the right to call her my friend again for myself! I must own up to my actions and make amends. I’m sorry I let y’all down that day, but words aren’t enough I know. I hope to be able to make up for it someday soon.”
Applejack stepped back and let the next pony come up. Rainbow Dash walked on the floor rather then fly.
“I’m the Element of Loyalty, but I was loyal to myself on the day of the wedding and invasion. I just thought about doing my part where I could show off my stuff. I’m sorry to you everypony, and especially to you, Twilight. I know you’ve probably received a lot of apologies over the last few days but like Applejack says words aren’t enough. Action is the only way to fix this mistake. I promised your brother that I would never abandon you again! And I intend to keep that promise as the most loyal pony!”
Twilight managed a smile again. Now it was Rarity’s turn.
“I am the Element of Generosity, but I chose to be generous and give a bride the benefit of the doubt. Yet I did not extend the same courtesy to my friend,” the unicorn said as she looked at Twilight. “You are the most wonderful friend a pony could ask for, Twilight. You have a pure heart that is perhaps… no, even more generous than mine by the fact you forgave us even after what we did!”
Rarity’s eyes let out a small bit of tears as she said those words. “I only hope that I prove myself worthy of your continued friendship as we go on more adventures together. You are a pure sparkling diamond while I’m one that’s been tainted with dirt that I will strive to clean off!”
Pinkie Pie’s turn was next. “I’m the Element of Laughter, and I wanted to make sure everypony had a good time at the wedding. Yet I didn’t try and cheer up Twilight and along with the others went to cheer up that mean imposter. I guess we were all party-poopers even we tried to make sure it was perfect. I hope all of you are happy right now since your homes are all fixed and throw yourselves a big party when you get home!”
Then Fluttershy who cringed at the heavy crowd but took a breath knowing she had to own up to her actions. “Um, I’m the Element of Kindness…” she said looking down at the ground. “But I was not kind enough to support a friend when she needed it. I’m sorry, to all of you and especially to Twilight.”
She looked her friend in the eyes. “I hate the fact that I hurt you and I feel like a worse monster then I was to Rarity and Pinkie Pie back when I learned to be assertive from a certain… somepony.”
That was a small lie as it had been a minotaur that taught her but that didn’t matter right now. Fluttershy’s eyes teared up as well before she took her place back with her friends and Twilight watched sadly.
Spike tried to come forward but Twilight pulled him with her magic and shook her head.
“You were the saddest about leaving me,” she said. “And you’re a baby dragon. You’re the most bound to make mistakes.”
She came up and faced the gathered ponies.
“I am relieved everypony is safe now that the changelings are gone,” she said. “I know my friends have made a mistake. But the one who is truly to blame is the Queen of the Changelings. She is a creature of manipulation and trickery, please don’t blame my friends for falling for her treachery. I didn’t make my accusation with proof when I tried to expose her. I’ve always prided myself on being smart and resourceful but I did not investigate and find real evidence to support my claims. I recently solved a mystery of another sort with those methods but my anger toward the imposter and fear for my brother’s safety blinded me. But in a way, what happened was a good thing as it allowed me to bring the real Princess Cadance back to us. Everything worked out in the end. I know these wounds will take a time to heal, for all of us. But they will in time, I know.”
As Twilight concluded her speech the crowd cheered.
“Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!”
“You’re our hero!”
“I love you, Twilight!”
The unicorn blushed at those words but couldn’t identify the source.
“Thank you everypony for your forgiveness,” Celestia said. “Now please, let us go back to enjoying life in our wonderful city! New threats may emerge, but we have these little ponies to deal with them, even when they or even I might not be at our best! Love and light will always conquer darkness in the end! Princess Cadance and Shining Armor’s love was what stopped the invasion, and it was all thanks to Twilight Sparkle that she was found! She’s the true hero today and I couldn’t ask for a better student.”
That returned a smile to Twilight’s face. The ponies facing them nodded and gave an “Aww.” Then slowly began to leave the hall and make their way back home or to their everyday lives.
The Mane 6 and Spike watched them all go then turned to Celestia.
“I hope you all have a pleasant train ride back to Ponyville,” the princess said. “It was a truly marvelous wedding and you all did wonderfully in your parts. You also did an equally wonderful job on your work repairing the city. For that I thank you all my little ponies.”
They beamed at her.
“If you need anything at all, Twilight, you have but to ask,” Celestia said. “Now, return home with all haste. I’m sure your local friends and family miss you. Also, I will expect a report within a week from all of you on what you’ve learned from this experience.”
They bowed and made their way to the train station. As they walked, Twilight looked at her friends. There was silence.
Then Applejack spoke. “Twilight, are you sure you’re not feeling even a little angry at us, Sugarcube?”
Twilight looked down. “A bit,” she admitted. “You were right, what you all did was pretty horrible and could have easily led to our friendship being destroyed. But like I told Shining Armor, I was afraid I’d lost you when you left. I don’t want to cause that by not forgiving you. I’m still mad at you though, at least a-“
“Don’t even say a little!” Fluttershy said as she looked with angry tears in our eyes. “That was one of the single most cruel things I’ve ever done!”
“Most uncouth of me,” Rarity agreed. “You should be mad at us, Twilight!”
“But I don’t want to,” Twilight said.
“No pony can help the way they feel, Twi,” Applejack said. “But actions are another matter. We all have a lot to make up for and we will strive for it when we get back to Ponyville.”
“I’m gonna throw three parties tomorrow for just the seven of us!” Pinkie declared. “A victory party, an apology party, and a my friend’s brother got married party! You’re the guest of honor Twilight!”
The unicorn smiled at her.
“We’ll all bring a batch of ‘I’m sorry’ gifts,” Applejack said.
“Sounds like a good way to start,” Twilight agreed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you girls.”
“Me neither,” Spike said. “I bet the libraries got a bit of dust so I’ll have to clean up. Then I’ll make your favorite dinner, Twilight!”
“Oh, thanks Spike!” Twilight hugged her assistant.
They got to the train and boarded it, happy to be going home to Ponyville. This had been perhaps the most guilt ridding of their adventures so far but they would pull through, somehow.
The Mane 6 arrived back in Ponyville. Applejack immediately heading home with Rarity tagging along. Since her and Sweetie Belle’s parents were out of town yet again, and Rarity had had to do community service cleaning up Canterlot, Sweetie Belle spent a few days at the Apple Farm. They found their siblings both at their clubhouse with Scootaloo as well.
“Applejack you’re back!” Applebloom exclaimed as she saw her big sister and ran to hug her.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle said in a similar tone before her mouth fell open at the sight of her sister. “Uh, what happened to your mane? It looks a bit…”
“Plain,” Rarity guessed.
“Yeah,” Sweetie replied in confusion. “Are you trying to look less fancy? I thought you loved that?”
“I do,” Rarity said hugging her sister. “But I did something rather terrible at Canterlot and just don’t feel like making myself beautiful.”
“Terrible?” Sweetie questioned.
They hadn’t had the chance to explain what went on to their sisters during the wedding. Relaying the story, their younger sister’s mouths fell open as they heard with Scootaloo.
“But how could you just not believe Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She’s the smartest pony there is in Ponyville, maybe even all of Equestria. Or one of them at least!”
“Yeah, and she was the only one who ever gave Zecora the benefit of the doubt!” Applebloom said pointing a hoof. “Aside from me, I guess! And I lasted long enough to get to know her! Twilight didn’t cave to what you and the others were saying until she saw what she thought was proof that Zecora was evil!
“You’re right,” Applejack said. “We were blind. Just like we were then.”
“And we put you both and everypony else in danger!” Rarity said with tears in her eyes. “Can you ever forgive us?”
Sweetie Belle frowned. “I suppose since we didn’t really get hurt. We took shelter with some other foals behind a barricaded door. But it sounds like you have a lot to think about!” she finished pointing a hoof.
The mares looked down at the words which mirrored the words they’d heard Celestia tell Twilight behind them as they left her.
“Yeah! You should never ignore OR abandon a friend like that!” Scootaloo put in. “Not much loyalty in that! I can’t believe Rainbow Dash didn’t stay! I’m very disappointed in her!”
Coming from Rainbow’s biggest fan, that hurt. Good thing the Pegasus wasn’t there to hear it.
“You’re all right,” Applejack admitted as she took her hat off some tears of her own forming in her eyes. She always tried to be a strong mare that cried on the inside, but even she couldn’t keep her tears in all the time. “I failed as a friend and a big sister that day.”
Applebloom sighed. “I guess I can relate since we did something pretty bad ourselves with the whole Gabby Gums column not long ago, hurting ponies’ feelings. We were so excited that ponies liked it but that doesn’t excuse what we did. Still, I don’t want to stay mad at you, big sis. It hurt a lot seeing you mad at me during that incident.”
She walked over and hugged Applejack again.
“Thanks, Sugarcube,” Applejack said. “And trust us, we have been doing a lot thinking since what happened.”
“Indeed,” Rarity agreed. “About what could have happened if things went differently.”
Images of different things that could have happened ran through their heads. The queen and her hive winning the battle ran though their heads, evil laughter sounding. Then Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo being surrounded by changelings.
But worse still was the thought of Twilight not forgiving them like in Applejack’s dream.
“You betrayed me!” Twilight voice said in their minds eye. “I’d be better off without friends like you! You care more about selling your dumb dresses and apple treats then you do about me!”
Then they thought of the worst possible thing that could have happened. If they’d lost Twilight that day. If the queen had chosen to, she could have killed her. They thought of her body lying on a stone table surrounded by crying friends and family that had left her to such a fate.
Applejack and Rarity shook at the though of that and looked at the three fillies.
“We all made our own mistakes that day. Even if Twilight didn’t have proof we should have at least comforted her!” Rarity said. “Maybe told her how ridiculous and unsympathetic she was being to the bride’s stress! But not abandoned her like that!”
“We’re gonna make it up to her though!” Applejack vowed. “Whatever it takes!”
“Speaking of which, I need to get home and get started on her apology dress for tomorrow!” Rarity said.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle left together while Scootaloo went off on her own and Applejack and Applebloom returned to the farm.
Big Manintosh and Granny Smith were disappointed as well when they heard what happened.
“That was a mighty fool thing you did there, Applejack,” Granny Smith said.
“Yep!” Big Macintosh agreed.
“From the sound of it, things were a bit obvious with the way the imposter was acting,” Granny said. “And you hurt one of your closest friends, not to mention your neglect put lil’ Applebloom in danger! I’m very disappointed in you!”
“I know Granny,” Applejack bowed her head. “I made a big mistake, and I feel like a rotten apple. Ma and Pa would be ashamed of me.”
“Well, nothing to do but mare up and move on! Work to fix your mistake,” Granny Smith said. “You’re lucky Twilight Sparkle is so forgiving. Cause not many ponies would forgive a cross as bad as that!”
“You’re right about that!” Applejack choked out as she was unable to hold the rivers of tears back anymore. “I… I need some time alone!”
She ran to her room and slammed the door shut behind her, sobbing loudly into her pillow.
“Oh Twilight, I don’t deserve your friendship,” Applejack sobbed. “But I can’t break it apart either. If I did then Equestria would be vulnerable without the Elements of Harmony.”
She sighed as she felt the tears on her face. The guilt she felt was overwhelming.
“How can I ever make up for this?” Applejack asked, wondering for a moment. “I guess, all I can do is… try.”
She got to her hooves after a while and headed back into the kitchen. She had to come up with a good apology gift for the party tomorrow.
…
The Mane 5 and Spike, all tired from being up late last night, arrived at Sugarcube Corner at ten minutes to noon. Each of them had brought a gift for Twilight. The lavender unicorn was to come ten minutes later, as everypony wanted to be there first.
Rarity had sewn together an apology dress in a mix of white, pink and blue. It had teardrop designs embroidered into, and even a few real tears that were now dried up. Applejack had a basket of apples as well as an apple pie that she’d carved a sad face on. Fluttershy a vase of flowers and a bag of feed for Owlocious. Rainbow got Twilight a journal, as she knew Twilight had LOTS of books and didn’t want to risk getting her one that she already had. Pinkie got her a photo album in addition to throwing the party. Spike was of course making her her favorite dinner and doing whatever needed doing around the library.
Finally, Twilight arrived. She entered Sugarcube Corner and found the party, or three sets of parties. The Mane 5 and Spike stood in the center of the room and looked at their friend with forlorn expressions.
“Welcome Twilight,” Pinkie said much less enthused than she normally would be at a party. Of course, this being an apology party meant she needed to put on a sorry expression first. “Hope you’ll have fun at these three parties today.”
Twilight put on a small smile as she approached. “Thanks Pinkie.”
“Twilight?” Pinkie asked, looking her friend in the eyes sadly.
“Yeah Pinkie?” Twilight asked back.
The party pony sighed. “I know this party isn’t enough to make up for how we treated you at the rehearsal or even before that. But I hope it’s a step in the right direction for us to do what friends do. Have fun and show we care.”
“Indeed darling,” Rarity said. “I know you’ve probably had so many apologies lately, so I don’t wish to annoy you with many more. But you know that’s how we all feel right now.”
“I know,” Twilight said. “But I forgive you girls. And you Spike. You all did what you thought was right trying to cheer up somepony you thought had her feelings hurt by a jealous little sister and a party pooper.”
“You’re too understanding Twilight,” Applejack said shaking her head as she approached her.
“Applejack don’t be so hard on yourself,” Twilight said putting a hoof on the cowgirl pony.
“I can’t help it,” Applejack said. “I just feel so bad.”
Twilight gave her a hug. “We’ll get through this.”
“From now on whenever you have some concerns, we’ll listen to ya,” Applejack said slowly returning the hug. “We can’t make the same mistake again.”
“But what if we do?” Fluttershy asked.
“We’ll just work through it like we always do,” Twilight said. “No relationship comes without pain sooner or later.”
“True,” Rarity agreed. “After all, we’ve had our share of arguments these past couple of years. And before that.”
“Still, this is the worst thing I can recall doing,” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh. “Well, just work and try to make up for it right?”
“Right,” Twilight said. “I have to work on not getting so worked up as well in stressful situations as well. I know it will probably take some time but I’m sure I can do it… eventually.”
“Cadance could probably give you some pointers,” Spike said. “Remember how calm and nice she was when you worked with her putting together the wedding? The real her that is not that evil queen!”
“Yes, she was a true gem!” Rarity said. “I can’t believe I ever thought the same of the queen. You’d think I’d learn royalty wasn’t always nice after my encounter with Prince Blueblood.”
“Some things aren’t easy to learn Rarity,” Twilight consoled. “So are we just gonna keep feeling sorry for ourselves, or are we gonna get this Apology Party underway?”
“Oh yeah! Everypony ready?” Pinkie asked putting on a smile.
“Yeah!” All the others exclaimed as a bit of joy entered their lives thanks to the Element of Laughter.
They sung an apology song as music went.
“We made a big mistake, abandoning a friend when she was down!” Pinkie started the song and gave Twilight the photo album.
“Putting our work before her concerns and breaking a promise!” Applejack sang the second line and hoofed over the .
“Thinking of ourselves and the chance to show off our stuff!” Rainbow put in.
“It was a royal wedding and we were just so excited!” Fluttershy sang, giving Twilight the flowers and owl feed.
“The dresses I could make for royalty!” Rarity said as she levitated Twilight’s apology dress over. “But I wish I had not been so dastardly!”
“Now we all hope to make amends!” Spike said. “We’ll do whatever it takes.”
“So please accept our apology and forgive these friends for being such fools,” all of them finished.
“I already do,” Twilight said happily as she went over the notes from each of the gifts. “Thanks all of you. These will all be useful for keeping track of things like our memories together, feeding myself or Owlouious and sprucing up the library or me. I just hope we can have some peace for now.”
…
Far from Ponyville, however, on the edges of Equestria’s borders, a familiar villain looked across the land. The changeling queen heard the sound of hoofalls nearby and looked. She saw a changeling with red eyes, a rarity among her kind. There were ones that had purple eyes like Pharyx, but most of them looked the same. He, however, was her most intimidating and capable minion.
“You summoned me, Queen Chrysalis?” the changeling asked addressing the queen by her name.
“Yes, Captain Trikar,” Chrysalis said. “As you know, the recent invasion of Equestria did not go well. Thanks to that wretched little Twilight Sparkle! I should have destroyed instead of send her down to the caverns. I thought it might be amusing for her to kill the real Princess Cadance, why couldn’t she just do that! Well, I will make her pay for her role in defeating us! I want you to find her and bring her to me!”
“At once my queen,” Trikar said bowing and going off to gather a few changelings to help him.
Chrysalis looked back out across the land she’d failed to conquer. Canterlot was far away, Shining Armor and Cadance’s love wave had been strong and sent them miles away. Good thing changelings all had wings or they might have lost a large percentage or even all of their army.
“You just wait Twilight Sparkle, I’ll make you pay for ruining my plan!” Chrysalis said.
In a room in the resort town of Las Pegasus, Shining Armor lay in bed with Princess Cadance, his new wife. He’d had a great honeymoon so far over the last week since they’d gone from Canterlot. First, they’d traveled to Vanhoover and gone swimming in the nearby Luna Bay, now they were concluding their honeymoon with the most famous resort in all of Equestria. It had an epic ride there as well that was famous, and Shining had really enjoyed it… even it did cause him to nearly throw up. He wished he could get over his motion sickness already! Hopefully in a few years.
But despite the joy he was feeling now, he couldn’t help but be haunted by the events at the rehearsal.
Get a grip Shining Armor! He told himself. Twilight forgave you when you apologized! Let it go already!
That was easier said than done though. He’d need time. He pushed the guilty feeling aside and focused on the positivity of today. Riding the coaster with Cadance, her holding his foreleg as she screamed with both joy and fear, not to mention him managing to avoid throwing up on her, or anywhere. If the ride lasted even another minute though he might have. Well, he was happy as he had ever been… but also guiltiest than he’d ever felt.
Shining sighed as it came back after only a few seconds. He’d never expected this. The day he’d dreamed of since he first met Cadance and fallen for her at first sight as a colt. She’d been his first crush, but he’d never had the nerve to ask her for so long. He’d dated other mares in Canterlot a few times but they never made him feel as strongly as he did about Cadance. For so long he felt unworthy of her, since she was a princess and alicorn. Then when he became Captain of the Guard, he’d finally worked up the courage to ask her out and she’d said yes! They’d gone on a
But their wedding… oh the rehearsal. Why did Shining have to say those things to his sister? Had it really been him? Or the result of the queen’s mind control? He didn’t know. The pain his little sister had through, thinking he would never forgive her, then she’d been sent down to the caverns.
Come on already, he thought with a shake of his head. You would have forgiven her just as she forgave you!
He took a breath as he thought of how it might have played if Cadance had really just been under a lot of stress. He’d have found her in her room crying and talked to her. Maybe she would have apologized to them and convinced them to let Twilight back in. Not as Best Mare, but she’d still have been a part of the wedding. Shining took a deep breath. That could have happened if it had been the real Cadance. Though it was far more likely that Cadance and Twilight would have been completely on the same page and enjoying their planning together with Twilight’s friends just as they had in the preparations for the real wedding. If only the Changeling Queen had not decided to attack when the wedding was about to be prepared. Shining snarled. That insect was the real reason behind all this! If not for her Shining Armor could have been there as well and all three of them would enjoy putting things together for the big day! The queen had ruined everything.
Shining Armor remembered how it had really played out.
He didn’t find Cadance in her room as he expected with Celestia and Twilight’s friends.
“She’s not here!” Shining exclaimed as they looked inside.
“We have to find her!” Celestia said.
“I just can’t believe Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed.
“She completely embarrassed us!” Rarity agreed. “Such mean and unjust accusations, and no sympathy at all for the bride’s stress!”
“What a party pooper!” Pinkie snapped. “Never thought she’d become one!”
“And so unkind!” Fluttershy said.
“Hopefully once she’s had some time to think on her actions, she’ll realize her mistakes and apologize,” Celestia said. “I’ve never been so disappointed in her! She should know she can’t accuse somepony without proof, as I recall she told you the same recently Pinkie Pie!”
“Yeah!” Pinkie said. “Just wildly accusing like I did the bakers!”
“And a member of my family no less,” Celestia sighed. “Let’s just find Cadance and comfort her then we can get things back to normal. But I fear Twilight may have ruined the whole thing. She was what brought these two together in the first place. Well, we just have to push forward.”
They all went in various directions. Shining Armor fumed as he thought back to the recent events.
“She is evil!” Twilight pointed her hoof at Cadance, causing him to get in front of his fiancé.
Shining Armor just couldn’t believe his sister had said that. She’d loved Cadance! The way she started bouncing around after he told her that he was marrying her former foalsitter. How could she suddenly change her mind?
“She’s been horrible to my friends!”
Had it really been that bad? To make Twilight start to change her mind. Shining’s anger lessened and was replaced with confusion.
“She’s obviously done something horrible to her bridesmaids. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go…” Twilight turned to them after backing Cadance into a corner and spun her eyes around.
Twilight didn’t have proof that Cadance did anything, true. But… as Shining Armor thought back to what it might have looked like to somepony who might not be aware of his migraines and the fact that the spell hit him at that moment…
How would he have reacted if he saw somepony doing that to his sister? If he’d thought it had been ‘because’ of the spell? He’d be scared for sure, and angry, he might even attack the pony who cast the spell on her, just like he’d attacked a colt that he saw hitting her when she’d been a filly. She’d come to talk to him the night before and said something about thinking he was making a big mistake. Maybe she’d started to have doubts about Cadance then and wanted some reassurance? But the sight of him being apparently harmed.
Shining Armor sighed. “Maybe I went too far with Twilight.”
He debated, wondering whether to keep looking for Cadance or go back to talk to Twilight. He thought of his sister, she was probably feeling really guilty now! They’d never had a falling out like this, and she had a tendency to overreact to things! She might even think he…didn’t love her anymore!
Shining Armor galloped back to the hall, sprinting past the guards that remained behind at the door. He looked and saw… nopony there!
Where could Twilight have gone? Shining Armor looked at the nearby balcony and a feeling of dread coursed through him. Had Twilight?
He sprinted over and looked at the ground below. No body was on the streets. Thank Celestia. But his sister was still missing. He went over to the guards outside the door.
“Excuse me? Did my sister, the lavender unicorn come out?” he asked.
“No Captain,” they said. “We didn’t see her. We just saw Princess Cadance go back inside after you all left. She came out a few seconds later though.”
Shining’s eyes widened. Cadance had gone back in? Yet Twilight didn’t? His senses told him something was wrong. Could Twilight have actually been right? No, it couldn’t be! But… what if she’d really been brainwashing him? Ha their entire relationship been a spell?
Shining made his way back to Cadance’s room and saw her inside. She touched something on her desk and it lit up as she suddenly ‘changed’. She turned into a tall dark bug like creature. The device she activated revealed similar creatures looking at her.
What was going on?
“Everything is going as planned my minions,” the creature said. “Soon, we changelings will take over Canterlot!”
Changelings? Shining Armor had heard rumors of them from lands outside Equestria. Creatures that could assume the forms of others and feed off love.
“I will marry the captain of the guard, he is quite a handsome stallion. Not to mention to the biggest obstacle,” the lead creature said. “Once the ceremony is over his shield should be weak enough. Be ready by then!”
“We will, our queen!” the changelings in the orb said.
“His sister proved quite a nuisance since she knew the real Cadance,” the queen said. “But she’ll not interfere anymore!”
Shining Armor gritted his teeth. So this changeling had abducted his real fiancé and…TURNED HIM AGAINST HIS LITTLE SISTER!
Any anger Shining felt toward Twilight was gone now. His anger was at himself, and this monster! He snarled and pushed the door open the rest of the way, causing the changeling queen to jump.
“Where are my sister and the real Cadance?” he asked.
She merely grinned after quickly recovering from her surprise. “You won’t have to worry about them!”
Her eyes and horn glowed, Shining Armor tried to put up a shield, but her magic ripped it apart and continued on to hit him. He was a prisoner in his own body now.
Thankfully the queen was gone now, Shining Armor and Cadance had defeated her, thanks to Twilight finding Cadance in the caves. Shining went to sleep as he managed a smirk at that last thought. Hopefully he’d never see the queen anytime soon.
Unfortunately, he did in his dreams.
“Shining Armor! Help me!” A scream sounded as Shining looked around.
He was back in the wedding hall and saw Twilight being held in the queen’s green magic.
“Help! Don’t let her hurt me anymore!” she said helplessly.
In his terror, he forgot about her extreme ability to use magic.
“Please don’t hurt her!” he said. “Just let her go!”
She grinned. “Careful what you wish for!”
“Shining Armor!” Twilight screamed as she was thrown out the open door leading to the balcony and fell beyond it and down to the ground far below with a scream. “Aarghh!”
“No!” Shining screamed. “You!”
He looked back at the queen and saw Cadance in her place. She wore her wedding dress
“Just forget about her Shining Armor! Let’s enjoy our special day!” she said with a wicked smile.
Shining Armor glared. But then another Cadance appeared next to the queen.
“Yes, marry me Shining Armor!”
Then another. “I’m the real one!”
And another. “Marry me instead!”
“Who cares about your possessive little sister?”
Then Shining was confronted with his own reflection in a mirror wearing his uniform from the wedding. It lunged out of the glass and grabbed him.
“You failed, as both a husband and brother! You don’t deserve to have Cadance as your bride, and Twilight as your sister!” the reflection said. “Look what you did to Twilight.”
Shining then saw his sister crying. He was on a platform that seemed to be floating in the clouds.
“He’ll never forgive me! I don’t have a brother anymore!” Twilight sobbed.
“Twilie!” Shining yelled trying to run to her.
“Shining Armor!”
Cadance appeared behind him, trapped in a cage, her fur ruffled like it had been when Twilight found her in the caves.
“Help me!” she said with tears.
The queen laughed evilly. “Choose who to save, dear! Your bride… or your sister?”
“I love you Shining Armor!” Cadance looked at him desperately.
“You’re my BBBFF!” Twilight sobbed. “Please don’t leave me again!”
Shining looked between them.
“One mare lives, the other falls!”
Shining couldn’t decide as he continued looking. Then he formed a determined expression.
“I have to save both!” he said.
“Oh, but that is impossible!” the queen said. “You can only save one… or neither!”
She raised her holed hooves and either ends of the platform fell, taking Twilight and the caged Cadance with it.
“No!” Shining yelled as he heard both of them scream.
“Shining Armor!” a new voice called.
Princess Luna appeared now, the face of the evil queen vanishing as she flew in. White light
“Another nightmare?” she asked the captain of the guard.
“Its just a nightmare,” Shining asked before sighing in relief.
“You’ve had quite a few,” Luna said. “The result of guilt no doubt. I know how that is, I too did something terrible to my sister… long ago.”
Shining nodded. “I just… can’t seem to put this behind me.”
“It is in the past now,” Luna said. “There is no undoing it. But the important thing is, your sister forgave you. Just as mine did. My foolish actions as Nightmare Moon would have caused ponies everywhere to eventually die. They would have starved or frozen without the sun to warm them and provide nourishment for their crops. All because I resented the fact my night was scorned.”
“And I was angry at Twilight because she made ‘Cadance’ cry,” Shining said. “But was I really myself?”
“I can’t answer that,” Luna said. “Tell me, have you ever been… wrathful before?”
“Well, I did beat up a colt that hit Twilight when she was on the playground,” Shining said. “I was young and hot headed.”
“You got angry because your loved ones were being hurt,” she stated.
“Maybe it was really me then,” Shining looked down.
“You only saw your little sister being possessive from your point of view. Just as my sister only saw her… our niece having her feelings hurt. You and her are the least to blame I think. I would say that Twilights friends are the most to blame after the queen, of course Twilight is not blameless either. She actually apologized to the ponies of Canterlot before she returned home to Ponyville, admitting she should have gathered proof. All of you made mistakes that day. Just as I did when I became Nightmare Moon. I’ll never forgive myself for that. What I tried to do could have destroyed the entire world. But you are much more forgivable,” Luna put a wing on him.
“Thank you, Princess,” Shining smiled.
She nodded. “Morning is approaching. Goodbye, Shining Armor. I will see you soon.”
He nodded. Then the dream lit up brightly and Shining awoke in the real world.
He looked to see Cadance staring down at him. The crack of dawn filled their room as Celestia raised the sun.
“Are you okay?” Cadance asked. “Did you have another nightmare?”
“Yeah,” Shining told her. “Princess Luna was there again.”
“Many ponies were scared by the invasion,” she reminded him. “I had a nightmare where I was still trapped in the caverns and you were married to the queen.”
Shining shivered. “That would have happened if not for Twilight finding you.”
He sighed and sat up. “I know she forgave me but I can’t seem to let go of this feeling.”
She put a hoof on him. “It will take time. If you really want to make it up to her, even for yourself… why don’t we go and visit her? I’m sure Aunt Celestia won’t mind if we take a couple more days.”
“I think I’d like that,” Shining said. “I haven’t had the chance to really get to know her friends.”
“Let’s do it then,” Cadance agreed.
Shining got up and took a scroll from the desk in their room. He used a quill to write out a quick letter.
Dear Twilie,
I hope you have been faring well over the past week. Cadance and I are enjoying our honeymoon. Though what I did to you is still really haunting me. I need to come and see you. Hope that’s okay for me and Cadance to drop in on our way home.
Spike slept in his basket peacefully for a long time. He enjoyed it. The time where he could just sleep and not have to worry about doing all his duties as Twilight's Number One Assistant. Sometimes he just wished that his naps and sleeping could last forever. Yeah, he was lazy. But Twilight was a very demanding mare at times.
Soon the sunlight began to creep in and Spike opened his eyes a bit. He sighed. Soon he'd have to get up and start with his duties. They started the morning off watching the library and giving books to anypony that needed to borrow them. Then they would have a break time where they could meet their friends. Spike knew everyone was still feeling bad about what happened in Canterlot. They'd not talked about it in a couple days now since the three parties. They'd smashed piñatas that were made in the resemblance of the Changeling Queen, which all of them had happily destroyed as it was the closest thing they could have to getting back at her themselves. Unless she came back, but Spike hoped she wouldn't. Hopefully she'd realized she couldn't beat the ponies of Equestria and left to wherever she came from before.
Spike had done what he could think of to make up for leaving Twilight. He'd made her favorite dinner and cleaned the entire library when they got back. Twilight said she wasn't angry and understood that he didn't want to miss out the wedding, and that she had partly been to blame as well since she'd not acted rationally. Spike just wished there was something he could do to really make up for it, and he was sure the others did as well. But helping out around the library, parties, cupcakes, and gifts just weren't enough to make the guilty feeling go away and wash away their failures as friends. Still, Spike was grateful that Twilight was so forgiving. Things were going back to normal here pretty much.
Suddenly Spike's mouth opened and he burped out a scroll. The commotion was enough to wake Twilight who sat up in her bed with a sigh.
"Ugh! Who's sending us letters this early in the morning?" the lavender unicorn asked as she levitated the scroll in front of her and looked at its contents. For a moment she looked annoyed and half asleep, but her eyes soon widened and she gasped in delight. "Shining Armor and Cadance want to stop by on their way back to Canterlot!"
"Oh, great!" Spike said as he slowly got out of bed. "It will be nice to have them over. Maybe Shining and I can play Ogres and Oubliettes like we used to! Big Macintosh is my usual partner these days."
"I'm sure Shining would like that," Twilight agreed. "I hope he's doing okay! Luna said that he was having nightmares before we left Canterlot."
Spike looked down. "He's probably feeling just as bad as we are."
"He shouldn't though! If anyone's the least to blame out of all us it was him!" Twilight said. "I mean he might have been brainwashed."
"But what if he wasn't?" Spike asked. "What if he said those things himself?"
Twilight hesitated then said, "Even if he was himself I was way out of line! He was just trying to protect who he was thought was Cadance. I don't blame him! At the very least the queen probably had to erase parts of his memories whenever he spotted something that would give her away."
Spike nodded. Twilight then got off of bed and hugged her number one assistant.
"I know you probably want to make up for it. But let’s just put it in the past, please Spike! I had to spend an hour with Rarity to get her to clean her mane yesterday but she still insisted on wearing a goth outfit to make herself look like a bad mare for three days!"
"Leh!" Spike exclaimed in disgust for a moment. "Well, she'll probably still look beautiful!"
"She does!" Twilight managed a smile. "I was worried with her not looking her best she might drive her customers away! Shouldn't let her guilt get in the way of her business."
"You're right!" Spike said.
"Let’s just carry on," Twilight said. "This hurt and guilt will be around for a while. But I enjoyed the party all of you put together. It might not make up for it, but it did give me a good time. Especially when I shot that piñata that looked like the queen! I wish I could have done that to the real her!"
She took a scroll in her magic and used black ink to quickly draw a picture of the queen's head before blasting a hole right between its eyes. Twilight then glared at it before taking a breath.
"Ready to start the day?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah!" Spike said.
They headed down and took showers, then had breakfast before opening the library. A few ponies came in and checked out some books. Twilight read to pass the time and Spike swept or organized the books that were returned.
Finally, the time came for their break and they headed out to Sweet Apple Acres.
They soon found Applejack bucking trees with Apple Bloom. The young filly gasped as she saw Twilight and her number one assistant.
"Twilight, oh Twilight are you okay?"
Twilight was surprised as Apple Bloom ran over and hugged her. "I'm fine Apple Bloom."
She looked at Applejack who just barely managed a weak smile. Twilight then looked at the younger sister. "Everything is fine between me and Applejack."
"Even after she and the others-
"Yes, I'm not mad at them," Twilight assured the filly.
"You're a real nice pony you know that, Twilight?" Apple Bloom said.
"I try to be," Twilight replied. "Just don't be too hard on your sister. She did what she thought was right when under the assumption I did something wrong."
"Even so, my heart wasn't in the right place," Applejack said. "I should have at least comforted you instead of walking out to check on somepony I barely I knew who turned out to be a real monster. So, Twilight, what brings you by? I'm just about done bucking for the day so we can hang out and do whatever you want."
"Well, there is something I'd like to talk to you and the others about,” Twilight told them.
"Yeehaw!" Applejack managed some enthusiasm before looking worried. "It’s not a bad thing, is it?"
"No, not at all!" Twilight clarified, hoping to ease her friend’s concerns.
The cowgirl pony let out a breath of relief. "Well alright then! Just give me a few minutes then we can round up the others.”
"I'll get Fluttershy," Twilight said. "She can tell Rainbow Dash if she's up the sky."
"I'll get Pinkie!" Applejack volunteered before looking at a few more trees. "As soon as I'm done."
"And I'll get Rarity!" Spike blushed before running to find his crush.
...
About half an hour later they were all at Sugarcube Corner.
"So, what's going on Twilight?" Pinkie asked with a smile.
They kept silent about the wedding rehearsal, not wanting to mention it any more than necessary as they'd already apologized around half a dozen times each by now. Everyone looked normal, except for Rarity who was now wearing a dark colored goth collar with her mane in a pony tail. After her first day back, a customer had looked at her and said she must be the most unfashionable pony in all of Equestria due to her mane's current state. That had forced her to change her method of hair related atonement to a goth style. She even wore a shirt with the words, I've been a Bad Pony on it.
As she looked at the new display, Twilight sighed. "Rarity, you can lose the atonement attire now!"
"No darling, it’s staying on for at least three days or until I do something worthy of seeing myself redeemed!" Rarity objected.
Twilight groaned, this was going rather far. But then it was the drama queen among them after all. "Well, Shining Armor is going to be on his way back to Canterlot soon and he and Cadance want to stop by!"
Everypony's eyes widened.
"Oh, we must give them a royal welcome!" Rarity exclaimed before looking at her current wardrobe. "Maybe I should consider a different attire in the presence of the princess! She may not be Celestia but she is a very lovely and important pony nonetheless!"
"We'll create a banner like we did the time the parasprites invaded!" Pinkie said. "Hopefully nothing bad happens this time!"
"Eh, we just defeated those changelings!" Rainbow Dash scoffed.
"Nothing's gonna happen!"
"Um, we didn't really do anything," Fluttershy reminded her. "It was all thanks to the Princess and Shining Armor... oh and Twilight of course."
"Oh yeah," Rainbow acknowledged. "Man for once we didn't really do anything."
Twilight just smiled. "We may have saved Equestria twice together but we can't do it everytime I guess."
"Well, it should be dandy to have your brother in town and get to know him better," Applejack said. "You made him sound like a real great stallion when you told us about him in that song before we left."
"He is," Twilight said. "Most of the time at least."
She cringed as she recalled his reprimanding her, as well as him beating up a colt that hit her on the playground when she was a filly. His wrathful side was not a pretty picture when he got provoked. But she loved him as a brother and he loved her, she knew. They didn't often fight, but they'd always forgive each other when they did, just like she and her friends.
"We'll give them the best welcome possible," Twilight stated. "I'm sure a few citizens won't mind right?"
They soon stood in front of town hall. Though some of the ponies, having heard or been there themselves during the invasion, looked at many of the Mane 6 with distrust and narrowed eyes. Twilight was the only exception.
"We will be having a very special set of guests coming in a couple days!" Twilight spoke. "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, the former captain of the guard and now her prince!" This caused many ponies to murmur excitedly at the prospect of a royal visit.
"We will need decorations put up!" Twilight said.
"And outfits!" Rarity added.
"Cakes and sweets!" Pinkie said.
"I can help out with the meals!" Applejack offered.
"I'll make sure the weather is nice and clear!" Rainbow promised.
"And I can gather flowers for Princess Cadance!" Fluttershy said.
One of the ponies glared at them, and pointed a hoof. "Do you really deserve to help out after what you did?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Several angry ponies agreed, some even threw fruit at the Mane 5, with Rarity receiving a tomato in the face.
"Oh! Please! Oh!" Rarity begged.
"Hey cut that out! Ow!" Rainbow Dash yelled and growled as a pebble was tossed at her by a unicorn.
"You're the most unawesome Pegasus in Ponyville!" the unicorn shouted.
Ouch. That hurt Rainbow’s ego.
"Some Element of Kindness!" an Earth Pony called at Fluttershy who sniffled.
"Enough!" Twilight said putting up a shield around herself and her friends. The projectiles were not aimed at her, though a few lay at her feet. "My friends are sorry for what they did! All of you have a right to be angry but they have done much good for Equestria! They helped me defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord! Are you really gonna stay mad at them forever knowing they were the ones who saved you before?"
The ponies looked at them, some expressions softening. Rainbow Dash and Applejack glared at them and had to resist the urge to fight, knowing it would make them look worse than they already did.
"We get we made a mistake, and we've spent all this past week regretting it," she said.
Rarity wiped off the tomato from her face and frowned at the crowd but admitted, "I suppose I deserved that."
"We are all very sorry," Fluttershy said. "We can't erase our past mistake. But we can try our best to make sure you are safe in the future."
The mob nodded in slight satisfaction and agreeing to help.
"Everything will be fine girls," Twilight said to her friends. "It just needs time."
They all nodded.
"Guess one little thing can cause a real upset huh?" Applejack said. "Your parents sure weren't happy about it either."
Flashback:
It was the day after the wedding and the Mane 6 had just fished their first day of community service to help Canterlot repair the damage. Twilight had gone to see her parents whom she hadn’t seen in a while.
“Where were you during the first wedding when the imposter was in Cadance’s place, Twilight?” her father Night Light asked.
“I was… trapped in the caverns beneath Canterlot,” Twilight told them.
“What?” Twilight Velvet exclaimed.
Reluctantly, Twilight told them about the events that had led up to that. How she’d become suspicious of Cadance, and tried to tell everyone at the rehearsal but Shining Armor just berated her and left to check on Cadance with her friends and Celestia following suit. Then she was sent down to the caverns where the real Cadance was.
Twilight Velet glared at the other five mares. “You abandoned my daughter!?”
The Mane 5 as well as Spike looked down at the table.
“YOU THINK A SIMPLE APOLOGY IS ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR THAT?!” Velvet roared, her horn light up in a lavender aura much like her daughters. “My Twilight could have been killed! My son was brainwashed! And from what my daughter said it was PRETTY OBVIOUS that something was off with the pony you thought was Cadance!”
“We thought it was just stress!” Rarity defended herself. “I-
“You must have been the most gullible quintet of mares in Equestria then!” Velvet snapped. “I was expecting better from Twilight’s best friends!”
“Mom!” Twilight tried to speak up.
Velvet merely glared at her daughter and silenced her before turning a much fiercer gaze at the others. “If Twilight was still living under my roof I’d forbid her from seeing all of you after that!”
A chill ran down all of their spines at that. Velvet then turned to Spike with a look of disappointment.
“And you… you’re supposed to be her number one assistant!” she said. “I know you’re a baby dragon, but I’m very disappointed in you.”
“I’m sorry… Mom,” Spike said.
Velvet sighed. “I know that it was an important event and to be put in charge of putting it together is a great honor. But you are all entrusted with the Elements of Harmony. You are supposed to be the first line of defense against powerful enemies like this! You should not put anything else above your friendship and listen to each other when they think something is off.”
“You’re right Mrs. Sparkle,” Applejack said getting off her seat at the large dinner table. “We let Twilight down thinking she was possessive of her brother. I swear though, we won't let her down like this ever again!”
Velvet glared at her. There was a moment of silence and the elder mares hoof struck the younger one’s cheek.
“Mom!” Twilight exclaimed.
“You had better not,” Velvet said looking away.
Applejack rubbed her cheek painfully. “I deserved that.”
“I daresay we all do,” Rarity said before walking forward. “If you wish to give me a nasty bruise then…”
“Once was enough,” Velvet stated. “And I don’t really feel better.”
Night Light didn’t say anything, but his expression was one of equal disappointment. Not exactly a great first impression from their daughter’s friends.
End Flashback:
“They’ll come to forgive you in time,” Twilight assured them. “You are all great ponies, no matter what.”
“Thanks Twilight,” Applejack said as she hugged the unicorn. “I don’t know how, I don’t when. But one day we will make up for this. You forgive us, but we haven’t forgiven ourselves yet and nor has the rest of Equestria or your parents. We’ll change that somehow. But I think we’ve felt sorry for ourselves long enough.”
“Indeed, time to put this sorrow behind us,” Rarity agreed as she removed her goth collar and shirt before summoning a hairbrush and returning her mane to its normal elegant state.
Spike’s eyes lit up with hearts as he looked at her usual beautiful form that he loved most of all.
“Yay! Time for a let the happiness in party!” Pinkie announced happily as she appeared to pull her confetti canon out of thin air. “And soon we’ll have a Your Brother’s Here party for Twilight! What should we do? Oh how about the Sisterhooves Social?”
“Um, those are for sisters,” Fluttershy said.
Applejack thought for a moment. “You know, we could have a little sibling social that doesn’t have to be sisters only. Kinda unfair for the stallions to be excluded from the socials.”
Rarity wasn’t usually interested in the sisterhood socials, but she’d begun doing them for Sweetie Belle. And she’d do this new one for Twilight as well.
“I’ll have to set something up with Sweetie Belle but I’m sure I can make it and have some fun,” the fashionista said.
“Maybe I should see if my brother can come,” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash shivered at the thought of that. “Eh, Zephyr Breeze? Good thing I don’t have a brother or sister then! Cause I don’t want to be around him if I can help it! Uh, no offense.”
“None taken,” Fluttershy said. “My brother is a bit of a… well.”
"I know," Rainbow said.
And so, they had a welcome party to put together for the upcoming royal visit.
The Mane 6 sat in the spa which quickly filled with water in the tub. They sighed as the warmth soothed their muscles and minds. They'd been hard at work all day getting ready for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's visit. A banner had been put up reading Welcome Newly Wed Royal Couple that had been adorned with hearts on either end of it. They would be arriving tomorrow and all of the ponies in town were looking forward to it.
Twilight just hoped that everything would be alright and that Shining Armor wasn't being too hard on himself. Her friends were starting to move on from their pain at least, even if not everypony was forgiving them right away. Twilight admitted to herself, despite forgiving them, she now felt a little shaken as the time they all walked out on her went through her mind as well. A small bit of anger was in her heart still, but she pushed those feelings down as best she could.
They are your best friends, she reminded herself. You will always have your ups and downs, this was probably the lowest point, and there might be another one like it. But we will pull through, because we share a special connection through the Elements of Harmony.
She knew it was true. They’d been connected since the day they all got their cutie marks.
"Everything looks good for the welcome and now we can just wait until they arrive," Twilight said.
"Indeed, my outfit is ready as well," Rarity said proudly. "Pity none of you wanted to wear anything."
"We didn't have to when Celestia came to Ponyville for that little social gathering," Applejack reminded her.
"Yeah, if we didn't need to wear anything for her then, we probably don't for Twilight's brother and new sister-in-law!" Rainbow Dash agreed.
"The baking is all done too!" Pinkie said. "Wish I could eat em right now! But Mrs. Cake said no!"
Twilight forced a smile, remembering how Pinkie took a bite out of every pastry and treat there the day before the parasprites invaded. That pony almost always thought with her stomach, and her very silly party loving brain.
“You can’t eat them before the guests arrive, Pinkie,” Twilight said.
"Well, Applebloom and Big Macintosh both agreed to be a part of our Siblinghooves Social," Applejack said.
"Too bad none of my siblings are close enough!" Pinkie lamented. "Hey I got an idea! I could be Rainbow Dash's sister for a day!"
She pulled the Pegasus closer and hugged her tightly. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth.
"Please tell me Zephyr Breeze isn't coming," she asked Fluttershy.
"Oh um, he said he's actually busy," Fluttershy said. "Getting his stuff moved back into our parent’s house... again."
Rainbow sighed in relief. "Guess I can come after all."
Pinkie smiled and hugged her tighter, nearly choking her. "Good! Honorary sisters for a day!”
“You know, we’re kind of all sisters in hoofs!” Rainbow said. “Being the whole guardians of harmony!”
“I bet Scootaloo would have liked to be your honorary sibling for a day as well,” Applejack said looking at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow chuckled. “Probably. You know she is pretty cool for a filly. I wouldn’t mind having somepony to call a younger sibling. But I’m good doing this with Pinkie. Not like we have to fly together, right?”
“Didn’t plan on that in our game,” Applejack said.
Spike looked at Twilight. She was like a big sister to him, he’d always considered her that. Shining Armor was like a big brother to him as well. But he was a dragon, they were ponies. They could never be full siblings cause of that. Sometimes Spike wished he’d been born a pony, as Twilight’s real little brother. Of course, if that was the case his whole life would probably be different. He wouldn’t be Twilight’s Number One Assistant and probably going to school somewhere else, either to Celestia’s school or something else. Spike just didn’t know. He sighed.
They finished their relaxation at the spa, and Rarity came out looking nice and lovely as she usually did.
“Feels good to actually look beautiful again,” the white unicorn said.
“I know,” Spike gazed at her with hearts in his eyes. “You are always beautiful Rarity!”
“Thank you Spike,” Rarity gave him a smile.
…
Twilight and Spike returned home and checked on the guest bed they’d gotten out for Shining and Cadance when they arrived as the sun set.
“Okay, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about sound proofing spells since we don’t have a spare bedroom for them to…” Twilight cut herself off.
“For them to what?” Spike asked unsure of what she meant.
“Nothing,” Twilight said. “Something you’ll learn about when you’re older. Let’s just have dinner. They’ll be here tomorrow.”
…
Rainbow Dash flew to her parents’ house in Cloudsdale. She hadn't been there in a while, since her parents tended to stay in the cloud city while she spend most of her time in Ponyville. It was partly cause, she missed them, they were her Number One Fans after all, ever since she'd been a filly. Of course, whenever they cheered for her, she felt really embarrassed and as such made up her mind to not tell them when she did become a Wonderbolt. Their overenthusiasm would embarrass her in front of the whole crew when she became one. But right now, she needed somepony that would treat her differently.
She worried though, would even her parents be mad at her? Maybe, but she had to tell them at some point, rumors would likely reach them eventually... Rainbow just hoped that that wouldn't be the case when she became a Wonderbolt. Good thing her parents were bigger fans of her then the Wonderbolts and didn't keep track of their daughter’s favorite flight team. Bow Hothoof, her father who’d given her her signature rainbow mane, and his wife Windy Whistles were ecstatic to see their daughter as she stepped onto the clouds outside their home.
"Rainbow Dash!" they greeted enthusiastically.
"Hey Mom, Hey Dad," the Pegasus said politely.
"We're so happy to see you!" Bow greeted. "It’s been so long! You really need to visit more often! How's our future Wonderbolt doing? Did you…"
Rainbow Dash blushed. "No not yet,” she answered honestly before her ears drooped. “And afraid I’m not doing the best I suppose."
Windy put a hoof to her mouth. "Oh, what's wrong dear? Is Zephyr Breeze giving you trouble?"
"No," Rainbow said before proceeding to tell them about the events in Canterlot.
They were shocked and her mother put a hoof over her mouth as she heard the whole event.
"I can get it if you're disappointed in me," Rainbow Dash said. "Everypony has been so far. Some even threw rocks or other stuff at me."
"We are disappointed in you," Bow answered. "But we see that you are very sorry as well. We weren't there but we heard about the invasion and are glad you and all your friends made it out unharmed."
He pulled her into a hug.
"We love you as your parents, and your biggest fans," Windy said. "But even we know you aren't perfect. Everypony makes mistakes. But your father is right, we are glad you and all your friends are alright."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "No thanks to me this time though. Lots of ponies had their houses damaged or love drained right out of them."
Windy put a hoof on her. "But they are alive at least. You helped rebuild some of those homes as well. You'll get your chance to shine again soon, I'm sure. Come on, lets make your favorite dinner while you're here!"
Rainbow chuckled. She ate with her parents and thanked them for their support. Once they were done, Rainbow Dash flew to her house over Ponyville.
…
Rarity was also at her parent’s house, which she had moved out of a couple years ago when she first began her fashion business. Her parents did wear clothes often, unlike most ponies.
"I know what I did was wrong,” Rarity told them as tears flowed from her eyes. “Sweetie Belle could have been hurt along with all the other ponies presents. I'm the worst big sister in all of Ponyville!"
She put a hoof to her head dramatically.
"You're not," Sweetie Belle said. "You just make a few mistakes here and there. We all do every now and then."
"Yes, but you learn from them," their mother, Cookie Crumbles said. "And you both can grow more beautiful from them. Just like cooking, it takes time to perfect an art."
Rarity sighed. Her mother and father were both rather patient ponies, and could eat just about anything. Even breakfast that was burnt and inedible to other ponies. Her standards were higher than theirs though and she could only tolerate the best. "I don't know if I have though."
"Just try dear," Cookie Crumbles said hugging her.
"Indeed, you made a mistake my love," her father Hondo Flank told her. "But it is quite an honor to be selected to make a princess’s wedding dress.”
"And Sweetie Belle is just fine," Cookie agreed. "Right Sweetie?"
The filly nodded. "And I did have fun being a flower filly for Princess Cadance... twice! Of course it was scary the first time when the invasion happened. But I also danced with Spike at the party and we had a good time!"
Rarity smiled, recalling the brief dance and time she'd had with Fancy Pants as well. His wife Fleur had been injured fighting off some of the changelings so he had to come alone and she'd been more than happy to fill in for her as Fancy's dance partner for the night. Though she did wish she had a stallion of her own. Hopefully that would happen sooner or later, she'd find her Prince Charming and live happily ever after.
She'd been eager for that, and even taken the bouquet as Princess Cadance threw it, shoving the other bridesmaids out of the way. She felt another small surge of shame, there were times when her vanity and selfishness came out like when she'd neglected Sweetie Belle, and Twilight. That had happened twice now, with Rarity choosing to be at the Upper Class Party rather than Twilight's Birthday, and most recently with the wedding. But it was thrice if she counted the time she and all her friends fought over the ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. She really needed to work on not putting her work and fashion creations before her friends and family.
"Thank you for understanding all of you," she said.
"We love you Rarity," her father said. "And we are very proud that you actually got chosen to be a royal dress maker even just briefly."
"You always dreamed of that when you were a filly," her mother said. "This is one big step toward becoming the designer for Celestia herself."
"We'll see," Rarity said. "I am honored that I got to do that. But I can't let that get in the way of my friendships, or my family. I'm going to do better in the future and try to never neglect those things again for the sake of fashion!"
They smiled at her.
"That's our little filly, a creator of beautiful things with a heart just as beautiful," her father said kissing her forehead. Rarity smiled. "Thank you, Father, Mother. I needed this today. We maybe different from each other but I love you both." …
Applejack sat at the dinner table with her family. Granny Smith made Apple Pie for desert and she was looking forward to it.
"How is everything with you and your friends Applejack?" Granny Smith asked.
"Everything’s just dandy!" Applejack said. "We got together at the spa and relaxed once we were done.”
"Nopony gave you trouble today?" Big Macintosh asked in concern.
"Nah," Applejack shook her head.
"You know, you could always press charges on those whipper snappers that attacked ya yesterday!" Granny Smith said. "You may have messed up but two wrongs don't make a right! We really could use a Sheriff around here you know! Somepony whose job it is to enforce the law rather then having us civilians enforce it ourselves!"
"It’s okay Granny," Applejack said.
"No, it’s not! I know you messed up but that was no reason to have stuff thrown at you!" Apple Bloom objected.
"Well if anypony else attacks me, I'll send them to Canterlot with a darn good charge," Applejack promised. "Don't worry. Me and my friends are done feeling sorry for ourselves. We've wallowed long enough."
It was true. Applejack felt she still needed to do something good to make up for her past mistake, to Twilight in particular. Next time there was something bad happening, she vowed she'd be there for her friend.
"So, how was school Apple Bloom?" she asked her younger sister hoping to change the subject.
"Fine," the youngest apple said. "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are still jealous that me and my friends got to be Royal Flower Fillies!"
"Those two uppity fillies need to have some good spankings," Granny Smith said. "Filthy Rich should spend more time with his daughter! Maybe he could shape her to be a better pony. Can never figure out why he married that wife of his. Spoiled fits her to a tee, but don't tell any of this to anypony else!"
They all laughed. Things were getting back to normal between them and their families. Applejack just wished her parents were here enjoying their time together as well. But she was grateful to be part of a such a great family, and have such a wonderful band of friends. Now tomorrow they’d have visitors coming.
…
Little did they know though, another set of visitors were coming. A group of changelings led by one with bright red eyes moved through the orchards, finally coming to Ponyville.
“Just you wait Twilight Sparkle,” Captain Trikar said as he saw the Golden Oaks Library. “You will soon pay for ruining our queen’s plan.”
The group of changelings gazed at the little town from the cover of the apple orchards. They'd been working for a few days now, trying to find out as much as possible about their quarry, Twilight Sparkle. It hadn't been hard since they'd gone back to Canterlot first and come across a newspaper with the headline A Royal Mistake?
They picked up the newspaper which showed a picture of the five mares that were Twilight’s friends and Princess Celestia looking sad. Turning the next page Trikar found a picture of their quarry as well text that gave him exactly what he needed, where unicorn lived. A library here in Ponyville.
"Alright everyling!" Trikar said to his subordinates, addressing them as changelings did to each other. While ponies said everypony, changelings said everyling. "We need to find the Golden Oaks Library where the unicorn who ruined our invasion lives! Transform and fan out!"
The changelings all did as they were told, turning into mosquitoes, forms that would allow them to be small and hard to notice. Fortunately, there weren't any ponies out at this time of night, they were all likely in bed. Still Trikar flew down low.
The library had to have a sign out in front of it, right? Could there be more libraries in town? It was unlikely. Trikar looked for a time, flying between the houses in his small current form. He found nothing for around half an hour of looking through the town but eventually he saw something... big.
A dragon appeared in the town suddenly and blew a stream of red fire into the sky.A dragon, here in Ponyville? That was not a coincidence. Trikar smirked in his mosquito form and flew in that direction. Confirming his suspicions, the dragon vanished as quickly as it appeared. Though a light shined in a nearby house and a green unicorn with a harp cutie mark stepped outside to look. Trikar and the other changelings still disguised as mosquitoes flew toward where the dragon had been a moment ago. But the unicorn didn't see them, or anything for that matter. She closed the door after a moment and vanished back into her home.
Once they were certain the coast was clear, Trikar turned back into his regular form, quickly followed by the other changelings. He looked at the building in front of them. It was a tree and had a sign with a book and words reading Golden Oaks Library out in front.
"Good work," he praised the changeling that had found it and alerted them.The changeling grinned while another stepped forward eagerly.
"Let’s break in and take that unicorn!"
He transformed into a yak that would be able to break the door down easily. The yak blew smoke from its nostrils and kicked the dirt preparing to charge.
"Wait!" Trikar put a hoof up.
The changeling turned back to its true form and looked at him.
"We need to be subtle about this," Trikar told him. "If we create a lot of noise, we'll draw attention and ponies could see us making off with her.Then a search party will be sent out. We can't lead them back to our queen!"
The reckless changeling hissed angrily. Trikar meanwhile looked at the door and spotted a keyhole. He then turned to another of his minions.
"Transform into a key!" he ordered.
While they usually preferred living forms, changelings could also turn into inanimate objects like rocks and keys if necessary. The changeling he commandedstepped forward in front of him and Trikar enveloped his red magic around him. The changeling then transformed into a black key that levitated as Trikar held it in his magic. He tried inserting it into the keyhole, but it didn't fit. The changeling that turned into the key, however, could see the keyhole's shape thanks to the aura keeping it levitated which also gave a small amount of light. It shifted the keys shape ever so slightly and Trikar tried again.
That got it in, but it still wasn't the right shape to unlock the door… yet.
Another quick flash from the transforming key and... done!
Trikar turned the key once again and it opened with a soft click. He withdrew the key which turned back into a changeling.
"Small forms again!" he ordered.
They turned back into their mosquito disguises and slipped through the small opening in the door. They flew up the stairs of the library and saw her sleeping in her bed. There were two other beds in the room, one small basket with a baby dragon inside, and the other large enough for two ponies but was currently unoccupied.
Twilight shifted a bit and muttered in her sleep. "No, I don't want to hate them!"
She was obviously having a dream of some sort. Trikar smirked as he returned to his true form and reached for her.
...
Twilight found herself in a dark place that reminded her of the caves beneath Canterlot. She soon saw mirror image of herself, one that glared at her with anger.
"You should hate them!" the other Twilight told her.
"But I don't!" Twilight insisted.
"But you do feel resentment toward them for not taking your worries seriously... again! Don't you?" the other Twilight asked.
"Y-yes," the real Twilight said, unable to deny this was how she felt.
She'd forgiven her friends, as well as her brother and mentor when they apologized to her after the changelings were blown away and Cadance took back the love energy she'd spread among them. But as time went, Twilight had been unable to stop a sore feeling from filling her heart afterwards. They were her friends, the ponies that were supposed to have her back! And her brother and mentor! How could they do that? Sure, her accusations had been wild and without evidence but had it really been necessary to ban her from the wedding and walk out on her? Not to mention she’d thought that her brother had disowned her altogether.
"They are supposed to care for you," her hateful reflection told her. "Yet they completely brushed aside your concerns and thought you were being possessive!"
"Well, maybe I was at first!" Twilight countered. "When I was mad at my brother for not telling me he was getting married! I was jealous, and my friends weren't there to see me talk with him!"
"You have every right to be angry with Shining Armor!" Hateful Twilight said. "You have every right to yell at them all for abandoning you when you could have been killed! This is grounds for ending friendship for good, and you know it! Do you really think you can trust them after they left you for their own desires to be in the wedding?"
Twilight clenched her teeth, the area around her seeming to grow darker.
"Who are you?" she asked after a moment. “This is just a dream, isn’t it? It's not real!”
"Of course it’s a dream. But that doesn’t mean its not real," the other Twilight said. "I am a part of you! The darkness in your heart. Everypony has it, but few… only the most powerful magic wielders who experience pain can have it emerge. You once believed that you could be powerful on your own, withoutfriends. I can give you that power. Just give into your anger, unleash it! You don't need the elements of harmony anymore if you do! Turn your back on your so-calledfriends like they turned their back on you!"
"I... I..." Twilight stammered.
She had always believed that studying magic was the key to success, not friendship. Until she faced Nightmare Moon with her friends. Could this really be true? Had Celestia misled her? Even the princess wasn't infallible, the recent events had proven it.
"They made a promise to take your worries seriously," her inner darkness reminded her again. "Yet they did not do so this time. You could have been killed when they left you had the queen decided to do that. You were lucky is all. She just wanted to toy with you and have you kill Cadance.
Twilight felt regret and looked down as she recalled ramming into her former foalsitter and attacking her before Cadance explained herself.
“Why not use this opportunity to take all the power for yourself?” Dark Twilight said. “You have the most love out of all your friends, and could even turn the populace against Celestia now. Admit it, part of you was glad when the ponies threw fruit and other things at your so called ‘friends’.
Twilight looked at her darkness which was taking on a different form. Her coat was now a darker shade of purple from Twilight’s and the dark blue part of her mane had turned black, though the reddish pink highlight in the middle remained the same.
“Embrace your anger toward your false friends, Twilight. Together you and I are all we need. With Spike perhaps,” Dark Twilight said. “He is a baby dragon after all and can be forgiven more easily. Besides we would need an assistant still. We could even take on a new form together. I think we could call it… Midnight Sparkle!”
Twilight shivered. This darkness was trying to tempt her to become a pony of darkness like Nightmare Moon did for Princess Luna. The darkness around her seemed thicker than ever but-
“No! I won’t do that!” Twilight spoke defiantly as she glowed with light that countered the darkness. “I LOVE my friends. Yes, what they did was grounds for ending my friendship with them! But they are the only friends I ever had, aside from Shining Armor, Cadance, and Spike! Yes, abandoning me for somepony they just met was going too far! But I would have that if they’d been the ones who suspected something and I didn’t! Besides, if I turn my back on them, Equestria will be left defenseless without the Elements of Harmony! Even if I am a bit angry still, I understand why they didn’t believe me when I made my accusations. And I know they are sorry!”
Her darkness glared at her and she continued to glare at it with defiance.
“I’ll NEVER HATE THEM!” Twilight declared as the light shining from her glowed brighter and the area filled with it.
“We’ll see,” The darkness within her said as it began to be overcome by the light. “If your love ever escapes you, we’ll see!”
And with that, Twilight opened her eyes, feeling a sense of triumph. But it was short lived as she saw not the inside of the Golden Oaks library with Spike sleeping in his basket beside her bed. She seemed to be… trapped in something. Something that was flying! She couldn’t even move! Then she glimpsed the black creatures carrying the thing holding her! Black bug-like creatures that she’d seen not too long ago! Changelings!
She’d been abducted in her sleep! She tried to say something but couldn’t, and as soon as she awoke, she went back to sleep.
…
Trikar smiled. They’d opened the door to the balcony of Twilight’s room, grabbed her, wrapped her in a cocoon and then taken off while leaving one of their members disguised as her to buy time. No way they’d be able to tell the difference in time before Queen Chrysalis’s new plan was put into motion.
Spike slept soundly as a baby dragon, which he of course was. He enjoyed his naps and always hated when Twilight got him up early which he was sure was going to be the case when he woke up the next morning. But strangely, she did not. He heard her get out of bed and opened his eyes as he was already stirring, but strangely, she didn't say 'Spike time to get out of bed' and merely walked down to the library's main area downstairs. He lay there peacefully for a while, glad for the extra sleep.
Down in the library below, 'Twilight' used her green magic to levitate a book to read.
"Okay, just lay low and read since this is a library. Nothing suspicious about that. Unless this Twilight has some sort of engagement coming up today?" she said.
She then recalled the many decorations that they’d seen last night around the town. There must have been something going on, either last night and the decorations weren’t taken down yet or it was something going on today.
"Hmm, I only need to pull this off for one day really. By then Twilight Sparkle will be in the clutches of our queen," the changeling said.
...
Finally, Spike woke up and looked at the clock. "Wow, Twilight's never let me sleep in this much! I like it!" he said. "But I think I've probably stayed in bed long enough. I'm getting hungry!"
He got out of bed and trotted downstairs. There was only half an hour left till Shining Armor and Cadance arrived at the train station and the girls had all made plans to be there to welcome them. He soon came into the kitchen and found Twilight down there.
"Morning Twilight!" he greeted happily. "I sure slept in nice!"
"Oh, morning," she said looking at him.
He noticed she didn't call him by his name, Spike felt that was a bit unusual but didn't think on it too much.
"I think I just need a quick breakfast and then we should go and see the others to get ready for Cadance and Shining Armor's visit!" Spike said.
"Visit?" Twilight questioned.
Spike looked at her in surprise.
"Oh, I just got so involved in reading this book that I completely forgot!" Twilight said in a dramatic voice that reminded Spike a bit of Rarity.
"Well, no need to worry. Sometimes it’s nice to just forget things!"
Spike said cheerfully. "No pony is perfect Twilight! Besides we already took care of the preparations so we just got to meet them!"
"Great," Twilight smiled.
Spike smiled. He made himself some eggs in the kitchen of the library and then cleaned up the dishes.
"Alright, lets head out, shall we?" Spike said.
"Let's!" Twilight agreed.
They headed out the door and Twilight went in one direction but Spike stopped at the sight and called out, "Uh Twilight, the train station is that way!"
Twilight giggled. "Oh, how silly of me!"
Spike frowned. Something seemed off with her. Maybe she was just stressed from all the things that had happened. She had admitted she felt a bit of resentment toward everyone on the train ride home. Spike knew everyone had their reasons for doing things, but that didn't excuse them dismissing and abandoning Twilight without any sort of comfort. He just hoped she wouldn't get all worked up like she did in the smarty pants incident.
…
At the train station, the Mane 5 had only ten minutes till Shining Armor and Cadance were supposed to arrive and one of them was not present.
"Where is Twilight?" Applejack asked. "She should be here when her brother and sister-in-law arrive!"
"It’s not like her to be late," Rarity noted. "I was expecting her to check in on the town!"
She didn't come to check on everything in the morning one last time either.
“Maybe she’s trying to loosen up a bit,” Rainbow Dash suggested. “I mean, not that we were blameless… at all. But if she’d thought a bit clearer and not gotten worked maybe things could have been different. Maybe she decided she needs to just stay calm and cool. She already checked off all those things yesterday! Doing it again is just overkill!”
“Maybe, but that’s how she works,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe we should go and check on her to make sure she’s coming?” “We better hurry if that’s the case,” Rarity said.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure she’s on her way now!” Pinkie Pie said happily.
At that moment, Twilight appeared with Spike at her side.
“See? Told you!” Pinkie exclaimed before greeting their friend. “Morning Twilight!”
“Uh, morning,” Twilight replied.
“We were just talking about coming to get you,” Rainbow Dash told her. “Didn’t see you run a final check in the morning.”
“Oh uh, I just felt everything looked good and I got wrapped up in reading,” Twilight said.
That made sense. Twilight did love reading after all.
“We’ll have lots of fun at the siblinghooves social soon!” Applejack said. “I had an idea for a little competition between Shining Armor and Big Macintosh. A brother sister ponyback carrying race! Each brother has to race while carrying his little sister on his back!”
“Seems rather undignifying,” Rarity muttered. “If I had a brother I doubt he would agree.”
“You sure Shining Armor will be able to even stand a chance against Big Mac?” Spike asked. “I mean, Shining’s pretty strong for a unicorn being captain of the guard, but Big Mac is one of the biggest Earth Ponies I know!”
“I figured it would make things fairer if he has both me and Apple Bloom on his back,” Applejack said.
“It… uh… sounds fun,” Twilight said with a bit of a blush.
“Meanwhile, I’m sure I can entertain Princess Cadance with some fashion,” Rarity said. “We need her to appreciate the beauty of Ponyville and not just the ruffian parts.”
“Ah come on Rarity, there ain’t nothing ruff about a race or having fun with your little sibling. Sweetie Belle rides on your back every once and a while,” Applejack reminded her.
“I only have her do that when necessary,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, it's always fun holding the foals!” Pinkie said.
They waited for a few minutes and soon the train appeared. The doors opened and the first ponies off the train were…
“Twilight!” Shining Armor happily waved as he got off and saw her and her friends.
“Hey Shining Armor!” Twilight waved back sheepishly.
Her friends all looked at her. She seemed a bit bashful in their eyes. They knew the most recent events hadn’t been the best sibling time for either of them. But she should still be happy and not nervous.
Cadance then approached her new sister-in-law with a smile and began the chant and dance.
“Sunshine, sunshine! Lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”
Twilight didn’t respond, her eyes only widening.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.
Cadance’s eyes widened. “Twilight, that’s the chant we did for so long! You remembered it in the caverns and knew it was me when I showed it to you!”
Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed as he recalled the reverse had happened when Twilight first saw the fake Cadance. A terrible feeling crept over him, but he had to make sure.
“Has Twily been acting weird at all today?” he asked her friends, hoping they would be more alert than they had been at the wedding.
They gazed at him and had a sinking feeling at what he might be implying.
“She didn’t wake me up for a long time,” Spike said.
“She didn’t run a final check on the decorations,” Rarity added.
“She didn’t seem too happy to see you when you got off,” Rainbow said.
“And she didn’t know about the rhyme despite the fact I saw her perform it with the fake Cadance,” Shining finished, his feeling confirmed.
They all glared at ‘Twilight’ who cringed fearfully.
"You're not my sister!" Shining Armor roared.
He lit up his horn and shot a beam of lavender magic that matched his real sisters magic. The beam hit its target and knocked ‘Twilight’ down. She quickly turned into her real form. A black changeling that looked indistinguishable from the others that attacked Canterlot just over a week ago.
"A changeling!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Aah!" Pinkie screamed.
"Oh no!" Rarity exclaimed.
Fluttershy and Spike’s mouths hung open in shock.
The changeling, realizing the jig was up, made to run. But Shining Armor was quick to take action and caught him in his magic.
"Oh no, you're not getting away!" Shining growled as he brought the changeling inches from his face before saying in a dangerous tone. "Now, where's my sister?"
Under the death glare that was even worse than the one Shining gave the queen before he and Cadance banished her and the hive, the drone cracked. "She's on her way to Queen Chrysalis right now! Our queen intends to make her pay for ruining the invasion and use her in a new plan."
Shining Armor's glare turned to a look of concern. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both grabbed the creature and restrained him.
"Chrysalis huh? Well, now we know the name of the changeling queen that tricked us into turning our backs on Twilight!" Rainbow Dash growled.
"That's not really important, Dash," Applejack said. "Twilight's been taken!"
"Oh, she must be so scared!" Rarity exclaimed.
"And she might not even think we'll be coming for her!" Fluttershy said sadly. "We let her down once and now she's been taken again!"
"You didn't know last time!" Cadance reminded them.
"You're right Princess! But we know she's been ponynapped this time!" Rainbow Dash said. "We aren't gonna leave her! Come on, let’s go and save her!"
She then glared at the changeling as she kept hold of him. "Where is your Queen Chrysalis now?"
“On the border of Equestria on the route leading to the Undiscovered West!” he answered.
Rainbow Dash grinned and spread her wings. “Then that’s where we’re going! As soon as we get you locked up somewhere!”
"We need to tell Princess Celestia about this!" Shining Armor said.
"He's right!" Cadance agreed.
Shining then turned to Spike. "Spike, send a letter quickly!"
Spike pulled out a scroll and began writing as Shining spoke.
"Dear Princess Celestia, its Shining Armor. Cadance and I are in Ponyville but we discovered a disaster. My sister Twilight has been abducted by the changelings and one was here in Ponyville posing as her! We are with Twilight's friends and plan to go to save her but need a squad of guards here to take the prisoner to Canterlot!" Shining said, making it clear and quick.
Spike wrote and then sent the letter. They only had to wait for a minute before a quickly reply came bearing only three words. "I'm coming now," Spike read.
They all looked up at the sky. Even from Canterlot they were able to make out the princess’s chariot a few minutes later as it was pulled by a squad of Pegasus guards. She was coming herself to save her student.
"Hang on Twily," Shining Armor spoke into the wind as he turned west. "We're coming for you. We won't let you down this time."
Celestia soon arrived in Ponyville with her guards. She levitated a familiar chest over.
"You brought the Elements of Harmony?" Rarity asked, remembering it from last time. The chest was just as beautiful as before.
The princess nodded. "Even though Twilight has been captured we might be able to use them once we rescue her. I thought it might be a good idea just in case we ran into a tight spot. But without her we won't be able to use them. Still, best to be prepared."
Everypony nodded and Celestia opened the chest, levitating each element bearing necklace out and putting it around the neck of the pony who represented it. She hesitated as she looked at the last remaining element that was the crown of the magic.
"Somepony will at least have to carry this for the time being until we get Twilight back," Celestia said.
"Let me!" Spike volunteered.
Celestia nodded and put Twilight's element on his head. She then looked at Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. The captain and new prince was still restraining the changeling that had been impersonating Twilight.
"Take that changeling away!" Celestia ordered. "Put him in Tartarus!"
"Yes, your majesty!" the lead guard saluted and moved forward with the other three to do his duty.
"I will be accompanying the others this time," Celestia said. "I will return here when my student is rescued."
"Are you sure that's wise Princess?" Shining Armor asked.
"Canterlot will be fine for a time," Celestia said. "Besides, this is my chance to truly make up for the mistake I made at the rehearsal."
All of the ponies and dragon that had been there felt the same way. If only they'd listened to Twilight and seen the signs rather than being so focused on their wedding assignments things could have been different.
But now they had a chance for redemption. They'd save Twilight and show they were still her friends and family, and that they cared about her. Even if they’d made one of, if not the worst mistakes of their live. For Celestia of course, nothing would top Luna’s horrible transformation into Nightmare Moon, then there was her failure to teach Sunset Shimmer to accept friendship, and most recently leaving Twilight behind when her student needed her comfort. She'd gotten lucky with that one at least. Twilight hadn't been hurt or turned on her because of what Celestia did. But now she could make up for it.
"Alright! A Royal Escort Mission!" Rainbow Dash said. "Can I get some armor of my own sometime?"
Celestia chuckled. "We might be able to arrange that sometime, but I think you would be weighed down a bit by it. I have been thinking of adding some mares to the royal guard. Stallions are stronger but everypony deserves an equal opportunity."
She then turned to Princess Cadance. "If you wish to return to Canterlot where its safe Princess Cadance then I-“
"No! I'm not leaving my sister-in-law to those creatures!" Cadance declared. "She saved me from the caves beneath Canterlot and freed me when I was trapped. Now it’s my turn to return the favor! Besides I might not have as much magic power as you but I still have more than the average unicorn."
Celestia nodded. It was true, her niece did have much more magic power. Not anywhere near as much as Celestia herself though. She’d likely never develop the kind that allowed her to live forever, which came from Celestia and her sister’s power over the sun and moon, but that was probably for the best. Celestia had lost many ponies she cared about over the thousand years she’d ruled. Immortality came with a heavy price, fortunately she had a solution to it. Twilight. That unicorn represented all her hope and plans for the near future. But until then Celestia would do her duty as princess and protect her subjects.
"Very well then. Let us be off to the border before the undiscovered west!" the ruler of Equestria said.
"We need to be quick, the changelings had a big headstart!" Rainbow Dash said.
"You're right," Cadance agreed. "Would be better if we fly."
"Indeed. But we can't leave anypony behind." Celestia gazed at the others. “We need all the help we can get.”
"So what do we do?" Spike asked.
"I think I have an idea," Celestia said. "As I recall, Twilight once used a spell on you that allowed you to grow wings Rarity."
She gestured to the white unicorn who recalled that as well along with the others.
"I can do the same on all our non-flying members. If you would all step forward."
Shining Armor, Rarity, Spike, Pinkie, and Applejack all stepped forward while Cadance, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hung back.
"Not you Spike," Celestia said to the baby dragon. "This spell only works on ponies or creatures that don't have wings... and never will. You will eventually grow your own so it will have no effect on you."
"Oh," Spike looked down and went back to the winged ponies.
Celestia then looked at the other four and lit up her horn. This was a difficult spell to perform on even a single pony, but Celestia possessed much more magic power and experience then Twilight. All of the ponies that didn't have wings grew them. Each had their own unique pattern that matched their coats. Rarity had the same set of colorful wings she did during the day of the best young Flyer's Competition, Pinkie Pie had white, pink and blue wings, Shining had purple, blue and gold, and Applejack's were orange and black.
"Whoee! Never thought I'd get the chance to soar through the skies like Rainbow Dash!" Applejack exclaimed as she tested them.
"Oh I considered having Twilight make these again at times!" Rarity said as she admired her own wings.
"Whee!" Pinkie Pie flapped hers and did a backflip in midair.
Shining Armor flapped his, his eyes focused westward. "Focus everypony! We have to save Twilight!" he then looked at their baby dragon friend and levitated him up onto his back. "Hang on Spike!"
Spike did so.
"Right, let’s go!" Celestia said.
All of them flapped their wings and headed west to save their friend, sister, and student.
…
Queen Chrysalis waited at the border of Equestria and the Undiscovered West. She stood in a large open field with a forest to the north and a mountain to the south. She waited for a long time, until finally they appeared. A group of five changelings, led by Trikar. It took her only a second to realize the sixth had likely taken Twilight Sparkle’s place in… wherever she had lived. Chrysalis knew Twilight was originally from Canterlot but not much else aside from the fact that she was a student of the princess and the sister of the stallion that Chrysalis had hoped to marry. She’d had her sights set on Equestria for a while and sent her drones to find out about its military, learning of Shining Armor and finding him attractive… for a pony. She could have used him to bring a new generation of changelings forward and have him protect the hive with his shield spell, or perhaps their offspring would have done that. No matter, she would soon have her revenge.
The group of her minions that returned landed, setting the cocoon holding their captive down as they did so. Chrysalis grinned evilly.
“Good work Captain Trikar,” she praised looking at her most loyal and capable soldier.
“Thank you, my queen.” Trikar bowed.
Chrysalis then walked toward the cocoon with her prisoner inside. “Now…”
She smashed open the cocoon and quickly changed her form before ordering, “Blend in with the surroundings!”
The five changelings transformed into twigs or rocks and Chrysalis assumed a new form as well. That of Princess Celestia, she quickly put on a smirk that could pass for a kind smile, if barely.
Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes and looked to see her mentor.
“Prin-princess Celestia?” she asked, still dazed and not entirely thinking clearly.
“Yes, Twilight, it's alright,” Chrysalis said softly with Celestia’s voice. “You’re safe now.”
Twilight formed a smile of relief, thinking her mentor had saved her. But then ‘Celestia’ grinned evilly and opened her mouth while also returning to her true form. Chrysalis drained the love Twilight felt for her mentor, which appeared as a pink light that shined from Twilight’s heart. However, a small amount of red was laced with the pink, and affected the taste. Twilight collapsed, weakened from having her love drained. Chrysalis, however, was intrigued with the taste, and with it came flashes of memories associated with the love… as well as…
“Mmm, loved for a mother figure mixed with resentment,” Chrysalis said. “Her love is strong but she can’t help herself from feeling ill toward Celestia… and her the others as well.”
She could see the wedding rehearsal in her minds eye. That terrible moment when Twilight’s friends, Celestia, and Shining Armor all left her. Even though Twilight’s love for them was strong, she still felt the sting of betrayal.
This gave Chrysalis an idea.
“All of you copy one of these forms!” she said to her minions.
She turned into Applejack, then Rarity, each of Twilight’s friends one by one. The five changelings each turned into one of those ponies as they saw Chrysalis’s form change. Chrysalis herself meanwhile, took on Shining Armor’s form after she showed the others. Twilight soon woke up again. She saw her brother and pony friends before her, but her sharp mind recalled what happened last time and she narrowed her eyes.
“You’re… you’re not them!” she said. “You’re a bunch of phonies!”
Chrysalis merely grinned with Shining Armor’s mouth. “Even if that’s true, your so-called friends didn’t seem like real friends at all! Why would they abandon you for somepony they just met? Would a real friend do that?”
“I…” Twilight hesitated, the words sinking in.
“The answer is obviously no!” Chrysalis pressed. “They were only using you for their own benefit. They wanted to be friends with royalty over you! They don’t truly care about you. Friendship is a lie and a weakness.”
“No!” Twilight shook her head.
“Yes,” Chrysalis said. “It failed you that day.”
“I… I didn’t deliver it right!” Twilight countered.
“Don’t be so easy on them,” Chrysalis told her, taking her chin with Shining Armor’s hoof. “You were correct, that’s all that matters. Doesn’t matter how well you deliver it. The end result justifies the means! Your friends don’t deserve you and you deserved better! Come comfort at least! I, Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, can make it better for you Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight glared at her with hatred. “You’re the one that’s responsible for this whole thing! You tricked my friends and brother with your fake tears!”
But that was all Chrysalis needed. “Now!”
She and all the other changelings opened their mouths again and drained Twilight’s love with six times as much force as before. They’d caused her heart to become filled with hatred on top of the love. That would bring the resentment she felt toward her friends to the surface, true Chrysalis was the one she truly blamed but everyone else played a part, there was no denying that no matter how much Twilight wanted to. This time, instead of pink, the emotions they drained were bright red for the most part, a bit of pink love laced in. The changelings all returned to their normal forms and Chrysalis’s magic turned red for a moment as she took in the hatred that was directly primarily at her, but couldn’t help but aim itself at the ponies who let her down in Twilight’s heart. Chrysalis then lit up her horn and took Twilight as well as her minions in her aura which was still red. She gathered a bit of the hate mixed with love from each changeling and then thrust it back into Twilight who gasped. Chrysalis’s aura then turned back to her normal green and she sent her magic into the unicorn who was too weak to put up any sort of resistance. Twilight’s eyes glowed green as her brother’s did after Chrysalis put him under full mind control after Shining Armor saw her true form. Now she would do the same to Twilight and control her. The unicorn plopped to the ground on her hooves.
“Now, you will make your so-called friends pay,” Chrysalis said.
“Yes,” the brainwashed Twilight agreed, her teeth gritting and her glowing green eyes narrowing. “They will suffer for leaving me behind and doubting me!”
Chrysalis then turned to her elite members. “Get some sleep all of you! We will need our strength for the next part of my plan! I was going to use her as a hostage to force Celestia to hand over Equestria. But we’ll see how she likes fighting her own student!”
Trikar and the other changelings laughed.
“Soon we will have Equestria for sure!” Trikar said. “Nothing will stop us this time!”
The Mane 5, Celestia, Cadance, and Shining Armor (with Spike on his back) flew westward. They just hoped the changelings hadn't have moved to another location already. Thankfully, Celestia was able to cast a speed enhancing spell that allowed the less athletic of their group to fly at a speed almost equal to what was required for Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash sighed as she had to keep from going her full speed (which in her current enchanted state was enough to constantly do her special move).
Finally, they were getting close to the border. However, they were surprised when they saw a group of black bug-like creatures moving them. All of the changelings flew above the treetops, and two of them carried Twilight by her hooves. "Well well," Queen Chrysalis said as she saw them. "Here I was planning to go back to Canterlot and take you down like before Celestia. Then I would dispose of Luna as well. But it seems I'll be spared the flight for at least one princess!"
"Release my student now, Chrysalis!" Celestia ordered. "We have the Elements of Harmony this time! As soon as we free Twilight we'll be able to use them! If you surrender now, we won’t harm you or your minions!"
Chrysalis merely grinned. "I don't think so! I have-
"Hang on Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said as she dove toward her friend, not noticing the green faintly glowing eyes from this distance.
Rainbow Dash charged at the two changelings holding Twilight and knocked one of them off while the other lost its grip on her and she fell with a scream.
"Twiley!" Shining Armor called in concern and flew down on his conjured wings.
Spike clung to Shining Armor's neck as the stallion managed to catch his (or their) sister by the waist before she could hit the ground. The other changeling managed to steady itself.
Shining Armor flapped his wings as he neared the ground with Twilight and held her closely.
"You're safe now Twiley. I got you," he said as he gently put her on the ground. "I let you down once, I-
He broke off as he and Spike looked into her eyes as she turned to them not in appreciation but hatred. Her eyes were green, just like his had been after Chrysalis completely brainwashed him. Chrysalis had claimed to Celestia that it was a long-lasting healing spell that would be active for the duration of the wedding. But that had just been another lie.
"You let me down and now you'll pay!" Twilight snarled.
Her horn lit up and she shot a beam of her lavender magic that matched Shining's own at him. Shining Armor had no time to recover from his surprise before the beam hit him and knocked him back. It caused a stinging burn on his chest. Spike meanwhile, flew off with a grunt as he rolled on the ground, Twilight’s element crown falling as well.
"Shining Armor!" Cadance exclaimed in surprise from above.
"Spikey Wikey!" Rarity said in almost the same tone.
While she wasn't in love with the baby dragon, she did have a soft spot for him and knew of his crush on her. If he were older, maybe.
"Twilight what are you doing?" Fluttershy asked in frightened surprise.
"Taking my revenge on the brother that disowned me!" Twilight said with an evil laugh. "And all of you are next!"
Their mouths fell open as they heard this.
"My word what did they do to you?" Rarity exclaimed.
"They've brainwashed her like Shining Armor!" Celestia realized aloud.
"That's right!" Chrysalis said. "Now you can't use the Elements of Harmony! I'll destroy the rest of you and then Equestria will lose its head ruler and the greatest weapons at its disposal. I'll keep them as well once we deal with you to make sure no pony uses them again."
Cadance gritted her teeth. "That's never gonna happen! We'll get Twilight back and then stop you just like before."
Chrysalis scoffed. "As if. Get them!"
The heroes charged the villains. Celestia shot a beam of her golden magic at Chrysalis who countered with her own green beam. Celestia struggled, her head sweating. Chrysalis wasn't as strong as she had been during the fake wedding. But she still possessed much of that strength, possibly from draining another creature’s love. Maybe even Twilight's own. Her power as it was now, was just enough to keep Celestia's at bay. The gold and green beams pressed against each other for several seconds, pushing back and forth but not more than a few inches.
Seeing this, both opposing monarchs broke the spell lock and resorted to quick bursts of magic. Multiple beams shot between them and they blocked with shields, canceled each other out in a shower of sparks, or flew to avoid. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie began taking on the changelings just as they had in Canterlot. Applejack and Rarity both fought with their hooves, with the unicorn shooting a blue beam every so often as well. She wasn't as skilled as Twilight in that regard unfortunately, and these changelings, being part of Trikar's eliteguard, were much more formidable than the mere drones the heroes had fought in Canterlot that formed the backbone of the changeling army.
Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack lashed out with their hooves, the unicorn had some skill in the event where she might have to defend herself and Applejack was a natural bucker with her hind legs which she focused her kicks with. Pinkie also blew her confetti cannon as well but the changeling put up a shield that blocked the blast and sent it back at the Party Pony. The two changelings grabbed their hooves and hit them before throwing them to the ground. The three of them tried to flap their butterfly wings but the changelings all shot beams through the lovely wings, which vanished upon being hit with the magic. Rarity was just thankful that she wasn't high up in the air this time and about to fall to her to her death, but this wasn’t much better.
The group of changelings that came to Ponyville had consisted of six members, one of which was captured, but the same went for Twilight, who was unfortunately now on the changeling’s side. With Chrysalis among them, the changelings forces numbered a total of seven. But with the addition of Spike, Celestia, Shining Armor and Cadance, they numbered at eight. Unfortunately, Fluttershy wasn't a fighter at all so she didn't really count. She'd been lucky in Canterlot and happened to trip a lot of changelings or had her friends watching out for her.
One of the changelings advanced on her with soulless red eyes. She shrank into a ball, having a horrible feeling that she could not reach this changeling with her kindness. But it was all she could try to do as she couldn't bring herself to hurt another creature.
"Please, surely we can find some other besides violence," Fluttershy said as the changeling bared down on her.
He merely growled.
"Leave her alone!" Spike shouted as he put himself in front of the timid Pegasus, Twilight’s element in his claws.
Spike held the star themed crown out of the way and blew fire at the changeling, but Trikar vanished as the green inferno flew where he'd been a moment ago. Spike looked around in confusion.
"Where'd he go?" the baby dragon asked.
Suddenly a winged cockroach flew onto Spike's nose. He yelled and made to swat at it but it turned back into Trikar who forced the baby dragon to the ground by standing on his head. He forced Spike's face to the ground to disable his fire breath and then took Fluttershy in his magic.
She was lifted into the air and then hit the ground with a pained cry.
"Weakling," Trikar smirked sadistically.
Fluttershy teared up at those cruel words. It was also true, she was weak. She could at least stand up to bullies but not put up a real fight.
Up in the sky, Celestia as well as Rainbow Dash and Cadance battled their own opponents. Celestia and Cadance shot magic from their horns at the changelings, with Cadance managing to overpower the one attacking her. Rainbow Dash also managed to land a solid hoof strike to the head of the changeling that she fought. The two of them then flew beside Princess Celestia who was now panting along with Chrysalis ahead of them.
Unfortunately for the heroes, down below the other changelings had managed to overcome their opponents and trapped them all in slimy green goo like what Chrysalis did to Cadance after the Mane 6 left to get the Elements of Harmony.
"Eww!" Rarity exclaimed as she struggled to try and free herself from the substance to no avail.
The only pair on the ground still fighting were Shining Armor and Twilight. The younger sister sent a lavender beam at her older brother who blocked with his shield. The matching lavender magic hit each other.
"Please stop, Twiley!" Shining Armor begged as tears flood his eyes. "I don't want to hurt you! I don't want to ever hurt you again after what happened!"
She hesitated, his words seeming to reach her for an instant. Shining Armor's mouth fell open. If he could get to her then he maybe-
Before he could say anything else though, the other changelings struck him all sides. Shining Armor groaned in pain as their blows landed with force that was sure to give him bruises. He fell to the ground and was then thrown next to Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack then held in place with the goo as well.
Now only Rainbow Dash and the two Princesses remained fighting up above.
"Fire!" Trikar ordered pointing upwards. "Aid the queen!"
All the changelings below fired beams of magic up into the sky which caught the three flying ponies by surprise. Cadance was hit first and went down with a cry. Rainbow Dash managed to dodge a few beams but was quickly hit soon after wards and followed. Celestia put up a shield while still flying, but Chrysalis flew around her and shot the princess in the back.
All of them were dragged to join the others and held in place. Chrysalis grinned.
"Excellent," she said in triumph. "Now, it’s time to end this. Twilight dear?"
"Yes, your highness?" Twilight asked as she stepped forward, her glowing eyes flashing.
"Finish them!" Chrysalis ordered.
All of Twilight's friends and family gasped. She was going to make Twilight kill them!
"As you command," Twilight said stepping further forward and lighting up her horn. She charged her magic to bring it up to a fatal level. "Who shall taste my magic first?"
"Twiley don't!" Shining Armor yelled in fright.
"No!" Spike screamed.
"Please don't!" Fluttershy begged.
"Twilight no!" Rarity screamed. "Don't do this!"
Applejack looked at her friend. "Twilight, I know no amount of sorry will erase what we did at the rehearsal and you have every right to be angry with us. But this is going too far and you know that! I wish I could go back in time and change it. But you said yourself that if it hadn't gone that way things might not have worked out for the best. Like you wouldn't have found Princess Cadance in the caverns!"
Twilight hesitated as all their words seemed to reach her ears.
Chrysalis growled. "She has a strong mind, I didn't drain enough love to keep her permanently under my control or weaken her over time! Twilight, they abandoned you! They don't deserve your love anymore!"
Twilight's glare returned and she looked among them, trying to determine who to start with. However, her hesitation and Chrysalis’s words caused everypony to feel a spark of hope!
“Twilight’s still in there!” Cadance shouted. “We have to reach her!”
"Everypony speak!” Celestia ordered. “Twilight please you have to fight her! I know what I did at the rehearsal was wrong. Even if you accused without proof and Cadance was my niece, I should have known you wouldn't have reacted that way without good reason. I should have stayed and talked to you."
"We love you, Twilight!" Applejack said. "Chrysalis may have manipulated us true, but we are at fault too for not listening to you. If we'd done that when you first voiced your concerns and not ignored all the signs, you might not have been so stressed and gathered some proof!"
The cowgirl pony looked down. "If you want to punish any of us, punish me first. I told everypony to leave and check on the fake princess. I thought leaving you to think on what you did was the right thing to do after you made her cry, but I was wrong."
Twilight looked at her and saw the guilt on Applejack's face. Her friend was afraid, but also sorry.
“I would have forgiven you Twiley,” Shining Armor reminded her. “If it had really been Cadance under stress, I would have come back after realizing I went too far. I might not have let you be Best Mare but, the wedding wouldn’t have been complete without you. I failed you as a brother then.”
"We all failed you, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said sadly. "I wish I could say that we'll never do that again but who knows?"
"We have to hope for the best though," Fluttershy joined in, her own tears visible. “We promise we’ll try!”
"Remember all the good times we had Twilight!" Pinkie called with a smile that quickly vanished as she put on the tears. "You really want to never have those again? Cause this is probably the worst ever way to go!"
"Twilight, you are the best sister-in-law I could wish for," Cadance spoke. "Please, come back to us."
"You are my faithful student," Celestia said, managing a smile. "The best I've ever had in a thousand years! Few have been as magically gifted, smart, and kind as you. Please, don't succumb to the darkness like my sister and another student did!"
"Shut up! All of you!" Chrysalis yelled impatiently. "Finish them Twilight Sparkle! Finish them and you can have your revenge! Then you can be the ruler of Equestria yourself under my supervision as we bring changelings and ponies together in a great and glorious future! One where ponies will give us love and also fight alongside us! We will conquer or lands as well!"
Twilight's face scrunched up in disgust. Her forehead sweated as she recalled all her memories. Both the good and the bad. She remembered hanging out with her friends. She also remembered all the times they had fought, such as over the ticket, Fluttershy being mean (which she'd heard about from the yellow Pegasus) after the assertive seminar, Rarity and Applejack during the sleepover, and worst of all the recent abandonment.
All those things hurt, but for all the pain they'd gone through. Twilight knew the good far outweighed the bad. She loved them, even after what happened. True she'd grown resentful after that and even when they apologized after the love wave. But they'd all come for her! That meant they still cared for, and they'd just said they loved her even after she'd just attacked them and was about to do this.
"No!" Twilight exclaimed and with a surge of willpower broke free. The green glow in her eyes faded, and she redirected her magically charged horn toward Queen Chrysalis, the one responsible for all this heartache in the first place. Chrysalis's eyes widened as the fatal lavender beam shot at her. Time seemed to slow down for her as she was sure this was the end.
"My Queen!" Trikar exclaimed as he threw himself in front of her. His body was hit with the powerful beam of light and he fell back.
Chrysalis gasped as her most loyal and capable minion was brought down.
Twilight immediately ran to her friends and freed Celestia first. The two of them then did the same with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The three royals stepped forward while Twilight began to free the others. Chrysalis stood there in shock for a moment then regained her composure and growled, knowing that without Twilight's and Trikar's support she and her remaining minions were at a disadvantage, especially with the Elements of Harmony there. Spike quickly handed over Twilight’s element and they all turned to face their enemies.
"You may have defeated me today, but I will be back someday! Equestria will be mine!" Chrysalis announced before ordering her minions. "Retreat!"
They all transformed into small bugs and vanished from sight. They flew off, living to fight another day. But the heroes stood firm and united as they watched.
"You will never take Equestria, Chrysalis!" Celestia vowed to the air. "Not while I'm around!"
She let out a breath of relief, hoping they wouldn't see that enemy again for a long time. They'd deal with her if she ever came back. But for now, Twilight was safe and that was all Celestia cared about.
She turned to her student. “Are you alright, Twilight?”
“Yes Princess Celestia,” Twilight said as she walked to her mentor and nuzzled her. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Of course, Twilight,” Celestia said, able to feel a bit of pride in herself for the first time in over a week. “I couldn’t leave my student captured by those creatures, could I?”
“Nor could we leave our friend,” Applejack added.
“I could never abandon my sister if I knew she was in danger,” Shining Armor said.
Twilight smiled at them, but it soon faded. “I’m… so sorry for what I almost did!”
Applejack walked forward and put a hoof on her shoulder “Not your fault Twilight! She brainwashed you! Just like she did your brother!”
“But it was the feelings of resentment I had toward you all that enabled her to do that!” Twilight objected.
“It's only natural for you to feel that way after what we did!” Fluttershy said.
“It would have been enough to destroy even the strongest of friendships!” Rarity said. “But you are still willing to forgive us even with that resentment.”
“Yeah, we don’t hold it against you!” Rainbow Dash said. “We got no right to when we know for sure you were mind controlled.”
“Don’t you dare start feeling guilty about it, Twilight!” Pinkie said. “Pinkie promise me you won’t! Cause we’ve had enough guilt here!”
“Yeah, it's time to let love light your way again!” Cadance said.
Twilight was silent for a moment. “You’re right. And this just proves that… despite what happened, I can still count on all of you to be there for me. We’ll definitely have bumps in the road that will test our friendship, but as long as we forgive and come for each other we’ll always pull through.”
They nodded and all shared a group hug, the guilt of the past events gone. They were ready to face whatever might come in the future.
“Let’s go home,” Twilight said.
They began the walk to the nearest train station to do so.
After a time of walking, the Mane 6, Spike, Shining Armor, Cadance, and Celestia all returned to Ponyville safely by train. The passengers on board were all surprised to see the ruler of their country on board withthem. When they got off and walked into town, they saw a crowd outside of the Golden Oaks that included Princess Luna, Twilight and Shining Armor's parents, and reporters from Canterlot.
"Twilight!" Velvet cried out as she saw her daughter coming.
"Mom?" Twilight questioned as her mother nearly tackled her in a hug. "Dad? Princess Luna? What are you all doing here?"
"We came as soon as we heard!" Night Light stated. "Word traveled around Canterlot pretty fast when Celestia announced she had to go and save her top student."
"Seems my sister as well as Princess Cadance, Shining, and everypony else succeeded," Luna said with a smile.
"Yes," Celestia said. "We managed to free Twilight and sent the changelings that abducted her away."
"Wonderous news, Princess!" the reporter said coming forward putting her microphone to Celestia's mouth. "Please tell us everything!"
Celestia smiled softly and proceeded to tell the story with the help of Twilight's friends and family. They’d noticed that the Twilight they interacted with before seemed off and then when Twilight didn't know the rhyme, they knew something was really off. They exposed the changeling and learned Twilight's location. When Celestia arrived, they went off. Twilight then guiltily told them how she had almost killed her friends while under the queen's control (which caused them to gasp). But their words had gotten through to her and caused her to break free of the spell.
Twilight Velvet hung her head as she heard and the story and looked at her daughter's friends. "I'm... sorry. To all of you, especially you Applejack. You all risked your lives to save my daughter and I'm grateful to you for that. I should never have hit you before. I was justso angry when I heard what happened but you clearly regretted it. Can you ever forgive me?"
Applejack smiled at the older mare. "Of course, Mrs. Sparkle. We all overreacted during that whole incident with the wedding. We forgot the lessons we’d learned, and even who we really were it seems."
Then somepony came forward, the Mane 6 were surprised to recognize him as one of the ponies that threw fruit at them, landing a tomato strike on Rarity. He looked at her in particular with remorse.
"I'm sorry," he said. "You all saved Equestria twice before. Guess even great heroes make mistakes every so often."
"It’s alright my dear stallion," Rarity said smiling at him forgivingly. "None of us claim to be perfect.”
The stallion looked at them for a moment then said, "Hail Princess Celestia! Hail the bearers of the Elements of Harmony! Our heroes today!"
"Hail Celestia! Hail the Elements!" other ponies echoed and bowed.
The princesses, Mane 6, Shining Armor, and Spike all smiled. They'd managed to repair things with the rest of Equestria it seemed now. Everything could go back to normal for them, or at least most of them. Shining Armor was a prince now so he was expected to take on some new duties. But first...
"Well Twiley I know this visit didn't start out exactly how we hoped. But I think we still have time for at least a couple days, right?"
Shining Armor asked turning to Celestia.
The head monarch nodded. "I think we all earned a little break after the recent adventures."
"Yeehaw! No we can do that Siblinghooves Social we planned on!” Applejack flailed her hooves excitedly.
“Oh, I’ll have to get Sweetie Belle!” Rarity said.
“Siblinghooves Social?” Celestia asked.
“Oh, a little name we came up with for a gender neutral get together,” Applejack said. “Usually its Sisterhooves Socials that are only for teenage mares and fillies. But we decided we’d make a little different thing for Shining Armor and Twilight just this once.”
“So, any pair of siblings can join?” Celestia asked looking at her sister.
Luna returned the look. “You’re not thinking of…
“Why not?” Celestia asked. “I’ve missed all of my royal duties today as it is! Might as well have some fun?”
“Hmph!” Luna huffed. “You probably have it easy compared to me!”
Celestia scoffed. “Easy? I doubt that!”
Luna frowned at her. It looked like there was going to be a bout between the royal siblings then and there before Cadance intervened.
“Now now, Aunties! We just got out of a fight! No need to start a new one,” Cadance said putting a hoof on either of the taller alicorn’s shoulders. “Let’s just have a little fun before the day is done. I think we all earned it.”
“You’re right,” Celestia agreed. “I’ll so have a big pile of paperwork tomorrow!”
Everypony laughed.
"We're glad you're safe, Twilight," Night Light said hugging his daughter. "Now that that's all settled, we can probably head back to Canterlot. Hope to see you all again soon!"
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash waved. “Hope next time goes better!”
“If there’s even a next time at all!” Pinkie said. “Probably offscreen… or offpage!”
“What’s she even talking about?” Spike asked.
“No idea,” Applejack said. “Not like we’re in a show or book, right?”
“Nah!” Rainbow dismissed. “She’s just being her silly self.”
“It would make a lovely story though,” Rarity said. “Maybe you could write one Twilight?”
“I have wanted to try my hoof at that,” Twilight said.
Pinkie just winked ahead.
Twilight Velvet and Night Light left to return to Canterlot. Meanwhile, Celestia joined the Mane 6 and everypony else at Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity had to go and retrieve Sweetie Belle from their parent’s house as she was staying there right now. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash decided to pair up together since they were both Pegasi and had known each other since childhood so they could count as substitute sisters. Fluttershy honestly preferred Rainbow Dash over Zephyr Breeze as well, at least Dash was dependable.
"Man! I'm starving!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Haven't eaten since lunch on the train and that was hours ago!"
They were all quite hungry themselves. The sun was getting close to setting.
"Alright, we'll eat and then have a game before dark!" Applejack stated.
"Oh no need to be afraid of the dark!" Cadance exclaimed. "Not with the ruler of the sun here!"
Celestia chuckled. "I suppose the sun can stay up a little longer if need be."
"Ponies do need their sleep though," Luna reminded her.
"It won't be for long. And even once it goes down there is always camping!" Rainbow said.
"Ugh!" Rarity exclaimed. "That is so dirty!"
"Oh loosen up Rarity! The most games are often dirty ones!" Applejack said.
"I haven't been camping in years!" Twilight said. "We took occasional field trips at the School of Magic."
"Yeah but knowing you you had your nose in a book the whole time," Shining said.
"Yeah," Twilight admitted.
"Well I think I'd enjoy a night of camping!" Cadance said.
"That sounds exciting!" Celestia exclaimed. "Better than spending the night safe in a secure castle!"
Luna looked away. “I prefer a nice relaxing time. Enough excitement in the dream realm!”
"Sorry Sister but tonight we’ll be having some exciting fun!” Celestia said. “What’s the game?”
“Well…”
Applejack explained and Luna blushed as she heard.
“Oh no! There is no way I would ever!”
After a bit of convincing, she partook. They ate dinner and then headed to the racing path Applejack had put together through the orchard. All the younger siblings were on the backs of their elders, with the exception of Fluttershy being on Rainbow’s back. Twilight was on Shining Armor, and Applejack and Apple Bloom were both on Big Macintosh’s. Cadance decided to join as well and had Pinkie on hers since both of them being pink could pass as sisters if Pinkie had a horn and wings.
“This is so undignified!” Luna said from Celestia’s back.
“I think its quite fun, like old times when we were fillies!” the elder sister said looking at Luna. “Of course, you are a bit heavier now.”
“And you should probably lay off on the cake!” Luna teased in return. “It’s a wonder you don’t get fat!”
Everypony laughed as Celestia blushed.
“Even we royals have a sweet tooth,” she admitted after a moment. “And you have your favorite moon pies.”
“Ooh! I think I can make some moon pies and a big chocolate cake after this!” Pinkie Pie said on Cadance.
“That would be welcome!” Celestia smiled.
“Can I request strawberry shortcakes?” Cadance asked.
“Sure thing my temporary big sister!” Pinkie answered giving the princess a hug from behind.
“Guess we have to work up an appetite after dinner!” Shining Armor said. “Ready Twiley?”
Twilight smiled and looked around at Applejack and the others. “Run run run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me! My brother’s captain of the guard!”
“And my brother’s the strongest stallion in all of Ponyville!” Applejack argued.
“Well not to brag but I have the longest legs and biggest body structure out of all of you here!” Celestia smirked.
“Let us please move onto the main event!” Rarity said before turning to Spike as Sweetie Belle clang to her. “If you would please Spike?”
The baby dragon nodded and raised his flag. “On your mark! Get set! Go!”
All of the siblings (or temporary siblings in two cases) took off. Celestia had the long legs which propelled her ahead of Cadance, Rainbow, and Rarity who were either weighed down by their large sibling or just not fast runners in one case. But unfortunately for the monarch, Shining Armor and Big Macintosh were both in much better shape from their occupations as soldier and farmer respectively. The two brothers carried their sisters with strength and speed. They appeared evenly matched. Big Mac’s strength was immense and allowed him to carry both his little sisters without being too hampered. But Shining Armor only had one sibling on his back and was faster. Spike sighed, recalling times when he’d thought of the two as his own brother and sister. But they didn’t have him on Shining’s back with them.
Shining Armor and Big Mac raced each other, with Shining Armor and Twilight inching forward. Celestia and Luna were back behind, followed by Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Rainbow and Cadance meanwhile, lagged behind under the weight of their riders.
“Uh, why’d I agree to this?” Rainbow asked as she struggled.
“Sorry,” Fluttershy said.
“Come on Big Mac you can do it!” Applejack said encouragingly ahead.
“Put some speed in!” Apple Bloom added.
Big Mac gritted his teeth and tried to do so but his primary strength was… well, physical strength. Shining Armor’s specialty of course was defensive magic, but he was pretty fast in his own right. Big Mac managed to go faster, sweat pouring down his brow, but then the weight of his sisters proved too much and he fell to the ground. Celestia soon managed to overtake him with Luna.
But Celestia wasn’t nearly fast enough on her hooves to catch her own captain. Shining Armor and Twilight crossed the finish line.
“Yeah!” Shining exclaimed.
“Wahoo!” Twilight said as she jumped off Shining’s back. “Who’s the fastest big brother?”
“I am!” Shining said as he hugged her. “You’re the best and most magical sister ever, Twilie! I love you, LSBFF.”
“Love you too, Shining,” Twilight said as she hugged him back. “Everything bad is in the past now. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just worry about the future!”
“You’re right,” Shining said. “Whatever the future holds, I want to have a long and happy life with you and Cadance in my life.”
Twilight hoped for that as well. Celestia and Luna made it to them, quickly followed by the Apples, and then Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and finally Cadance and Pinkie. They set up a campfire as well and enjoyed themselves around it. Pinkie left for a while but soon returned with...
“The cake and pies are here!” Pinkie announced as she returned from Sugarcube Corner.
Celestia grinned eagerly and licked her regal lips. It was her favorite cake, chocolate with pink frosting. Luna also became entranced at the sight of moon pies and Cadance licked her lips at the strawberry shortcakes. Pinkie had gotten a full course of sweets of various brought out for the party.
“Victory and family love party!” Pinkie cried out as she blew her confetti canon.
Everypony laughed and began munching on the sweets. They’d saved Twilight, and other ponies had forgiven them. The Mane 5, Celestia, Spike, and Shining Armor had all redeemed themselves. Now they could just enjoy themselves for a little while.
Celestia and Luna left the next morning for Canterlot to resume their royal duties. Shining Armor and Cadance, meanwhile, spent the time with their sister and sister-in-law respectively, as well as her friends. They spent the next two days in Ponyville going around each of the places Twilight’s friends worked.
Rarity was happy to outfit both royals with new garments. She gave Cadance a lovely blue red, purple, and yellow striped dress and Shining Armor a blue suit.
“This is beautiful Rarity!” Cadance said as she admired herself in the mirror. “You really have potential as a seamstress! I think you’ll make one of the biggest fashion companies in all of Equestria someday!”
“You really think so, Princess?” Rarity asked.
Cadance smiled. “Yes, I do.”
“Oh, thank you!” Rarity almost fainted then and there but Shining Armor held out a hoof to catch her. Rarity blushed at him, slightly wishing he weren’t already married, before turning to Twilight. Spike frowned as he wished he could catch her like that.
“You know, since your brother is married to a princess, you are a minor royal now too!” the white unicorn told the lavender one.
Twilight chuckled. “Uh, I guess.”
“There is no guess darling! Princess Cadance is Princess Celestia’s… oh and Princess Luna’s… niece! That makes you and your brother their niece and nephew in law!”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wow! I never thought of it that way but yeah you’re right, Rarity! Gosh that means I’m actually part of Princess Celestia’s family now!”
“You should get an outfit to look the part now!” Rarity said. “I’d be happy to design you something fit for royalty!”
Twilight blushed. “I suppose if she ever wants me to take a part in royal duties like my brother.”
“Oh, she has something planned for you,” Cadance said. “One day, you’ll play a bigger role then you probably ever imagined.”
Twilight looked at her new sister-in-law. “What do you mean? I’m already a bearer of the Element of Magic which is more than I ever thought I’d be.”
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Cadance said.
Twilight allowed Rarity to make her a dress that she could use if Celestia ever needed her to look the part of a royal family member, or royal at all. She had no idea when she might use it. Twilight then had to conjure her bits to pay Rarity for the outfit which was probably the most expensive she’d gotten yet. Good thing she’d gotten a big payout from Celestia for saving the kingdom before leaving Canterlot. Twilight then led Shining Armor and Cadance across town. They’d already seen Sweet Apple Acres of course in the race last night. They also went to Sugarcube Corner and tasted some of its many sweets and desserts, met Fluttershy’s many animals (which Cadance was quick to befriend in many cases). The birds who’d sung for the wedding perched on her happily like they had in the preparations. Shining Armor also had a hoof wrestling contest with Big Macintosh, which he managed to last about five seconds longer in then most stallions. Rainbow Dash of course lived in the sky above Ponyville. Cadance could fly of course but Shining Armor, Spike and Twilight had to take her balloon up to see Cloudsdale. It was a wonderful time together though.
Finally, after two days of spending some much needed time together, Shining and Cadance had to return to Canterlot.
“It was nice to hang out with you and your friends Twilight,” Cadance said. “Next time I hope that we can have some one-on-one time.”
“I’d like that Cadance,” Twilight said. “It’s been so long since its just been the two of us.”
Both of them silently hoped that when that time came, they’d be without any dangerous enemies.
“We’ll see each other again Twilight,” Shining Armor assured her. “I know we haven’t really spent much time together ever since you moved to Ponyville.”
“Cause of the plot not including you!” Pinkie muttered to herself and out the fourth wall.
“But I’ll make sure to write more!” Shining Armor finished.
“I’ll hold you to that BBBFF,” Twilight said. “I look forward to seeing you both again soon!”
Her brother and sister-in-law got on the train and she and her friends waved as it sped off toward Canterlot. Little did they know they’d be seeing each other again sooner than they thought.
…
In the Changeling Kingdom, Chrysalis had returned to her hive where the rest of her swarm retreated after their defeat in Canterlot.
“I apologize for my brother, your highness,” one of the changelings, Pharynx said.
“Never mind that,” Chrysalis dismissed. “He will be back. There’s no way he can survive long without the hive and love. One weak changeling is of no consequence. In the meantime, I need to come up with a brilliant plan to conquer Equestria.”
Pharynx bowed and walked off. She thought for a moment and turned to her other officers in the army.
“I need more intel,” Chrysalis finally said. “Send a drone to Ponyville, as well as one in Canterlot! I want to keep an eye on every important pony that poses a threat! We will learn as much as we can about them! It may take a few years, but striking fast has not served us well in attacking this land. We will be patient and when the time comes, launch an attack that the princesses and the bearers of the elements will be helpless against!”
“Yes, Queen Chrysalis!” one of the others said.
“We will succeed! The love of Equestria will be ours!” Chrysalis said before laughing evilly.
Her hive quickly joined in with the laughter.
…
Little did Chrysalis or anycreature else know though, she was being watched by another, far more wicked and powerful villain. His crystal ball showed her face to him as she laughed. His blue hoof touched the table the ball lay on.
"You have some potential, Chrysalis,” the great and terrible villain said in a deep male voice. “You might even be useful to me when I'm ready to make my move to retake Equestria."
He was a tall blue goat with a gray beard and blood red eyes. Grogar, an ancient villain that had been around for many millennia and once ruled Equestria, glared into the ball. He’d lost much of his power during his battle with the unicorn Gusty the Great who’d taken his Bewitching Bell. But his strength had finally returned. Not as much as it once was but it would suffice for now.
“I will have to keep an eye on other potential minions that could come along,” Grogar promised. “Soon, in another two decades or so. I… Grogar, will reclaim my rightful throne and rule this land with a hoof of darkness!"
The wicked goat sorcerer laughed in a tone far more menacing than Chrysalis and her changelings, his red eyes gleamed. He got up from his chair and began walking out of the lair that resembled his own head. He expected to be gone for a long time. At least long by pony standards, to him it would be the relative blink of an eye. But when he returned, he'd be ready. He’d waited many millennia for the time to strike. It was almost within hoof’s reach. Until then he’d keep an eye on Chrysalis, the monsters of Tartarus and anything else that cropped up. Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, any who stood his way would fall when he was ready to begin.
