Twilight’s eyesight blurred. She could barely hear the shouts emanating from her friends as she was stabbed through the back. She felt blood trickle from the chest wound made by the intruding creature’s spear-like tail; a pool of the red substance was forming under her, but she hardly noticed it. She heard a muffled sound of something cracking and somepony screaming in rage. She felt magic covering her and muffled sound,”It pierced through her heart! I’m going to have to...” Twilight blacked out.
Twilight eyes opened. She found herself standing in a large white void. She looked down and rubbed her hoof along the wound caused by whatever that thing was. She blinked in surprise when she found that there was no pain,”Am I dead?” She asked herself. She looked up, her eyes scanning the void, until she saw a large, glowing figure. The light emanating from it caused her to shield her eyes,”Celestia?” She walked slowly towards the thing. The thing held it’s appendage out for Twilight to touch. Twilight reached her hoof out and the thing grabbed it with an eagle’s talon. Twilight blinked in surprise, then she followed the claw up the arm to reveal a long snake-like body, and the smiling horse-head of Discord.
“Hello Twilight. Yes, you are dead, this is the Afterlife, and I rule it.” Discord said with a very toothy grin.
“No.” Twilight whispered, then she shouted,”Nononononono. No!” She was stomping her hooves repeatedly,”This is not happening! I am not dead! This has to be a dream because the universe is not cruel enough for you to be the ruler of the Afterlife!” She pointed her hoof into the draconequus’ belly,” It. Just. Can’t. Be. True!”Twilight was in tears now. She removed her hoof so she could cover her face,”Please, Luna, save me from this nightmare.”
Discord gave an amused chuckle,”Oh, Twilight! You so crazy!” He petted her head with his lion paw,”You are dead, remember? Some monster decided it would be fun to attack you while you were negotiating trade with the griffons!” He knelt down beside the alicorn,”But your friends thought the creature wasn’t very nice and made short work of it! You should have seen them, they were brutal!” His head leaned down to Twilight’s ear,”But if you don’t believe me, well, maybe you should believe somepony more boring and terrible” He snapped his fingers.
Twilight heard a growling sound from her right,”No,” She whispered to herself as she turned and saw a black figure wearing a red cape, silver barding, and a red tipped horn on his forehead,”You’re dead.”
Black smoke surrounded the king,”... Sparkle.” Sombra merely growled, his eyes glowing with dark magic,” I’m going to make you suffer eternally!” He charged towards Twilight.
Twilight’s horn glowed, ready to fend him off with a magic bolt, but he merely disappeared in a puff of black smoke before he could attack. Twilight frowned,”That’s not going to convince me!” She shouted. She turned around, expecting to see her hated... acquaintance but instead saw a light blue unicorn with a long white beard. He wore a bell covered cape and a bell covered hat,”Starswirl!?”
“Hello Twilight. I’m sorry I had to meet you like this, when it you were so young.” Starswirl said,”I hoped you would live longer...” He shook his head as he disappeared.
Twilight growled,”Okay, Discord, you made your point!” She shouted up,”But I don’t want to live with you forever!” She sat down and sighed sadly.
The Spirit of Chaos appeared and wrapped his arm around her,”Oh come on, Twiley! We get to be together for all eternity! We’ll be two peas in a pod!”
Twilight turned and growled, “I want out.” Her ears drooped and she closed her eyes and said,”I wish I could be with my friends. They must be so grief-stricken.”
Discord looked down on the little princess,”... You know, I could help you get your life back.” Twilight looked up and cocked her head,”Tell me, do you have any regrets?”
“A few.” Twilight frowned,”But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I can’t help you if I don’t know more about what you regret, although maybe I could guess.” He snapped his talons once more.
The sound of a hysterical young mare resounded through the void, causing Twilight to look to her left side and see: herself, as a unicorn, shouting at Cadance, or rather, the disguised Chrysalis. As she began to see and hear what the visions were saying, she also remembered how she felt when she did these things.
“You’re evil!” shouted the unicorn to her former babysitter. She leaned up close to the alicorn’s eyes and smiled. She had just said what she wanted: what this pony did to her friends, her brother, to her! Her friends may not care, but she wasn’t about to let this primadonna insult them! She noticed the crocodile tears of the mare before her, and watched as she ran out of the room, with Twilight giving one more shout of “EVIL!”
“Ah, this scene! I wish I could be there in person! I mean, after this little episode, your friends, Celestia, and your brother left you! I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to break you six up!” Discord said with a smile,”And the best part is? Only Applejack gave a rather small apology! Is that why I see a tint of regret in your eyes?” His face leaned in on Twilight’s snout.
“They didn’t need to apologize. After all,” Twilight looked up at the Draconequus,” It’s Chrysalis’ fault, not theirs or mine. The fact that we had to save Equestria from a swarm of shapeshifters kind of makes that little episode look really small.” She chuckled,”Well, my friends and I thought that, but my brother, being just as dorky as I am, kinda had a breakdown before the real wedding started. You should’ve seen him! Poor guy was groveling at my hooves and giving apology after apology!” She closed her eyes as her tune changed from one of amusement to one of sadness.”I don’t think he’ll ever forgive himself.” Twilight sighed.
“Oh, but that’s not the whole thing, is it?” Discord asked.
“No.” Twilight frowned,”I did that without thinking. If I hadn’t had let my emotions get the better of me, and if I had actually gathered sufficient evidence, I would have stopped the Queen earlier, saved Cadance earlier, and I would’ve saved all those ponies lost at the siege of Canterlot.”
“Well,”Discord chuckled,” That’s all I need to hear!” he snapped his talons with that little warning.
“Wait, what!?” Twilight said before she felt like she was taken to a different place.
Twilight immediately found herself staring into Rainbow Dash’s face in the Carousel Boutique. Twilight looked around, trying to figure out why she was here and what exactly was going on. Dash, on the other hoof, was simply laughing her flank off.
“Oh, that was priceless! Pinkie, I hope you make another one of those!” the pegasus said after breathing in.
“Wait, everypony, what’s going on!?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, no! That sugar high was worse than I thought!” Rarity ran over to Twilight,”You’ve lost some of your memory!”
“Sugar high?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I gave you an experimental pie to taste and the next thing we knew, you ran a marathon, read several books, and created a statue of yourself which you titled ‘Twitok the Barbarian,’ all in the span of twenty minutes!” Pinkie said, before giggling.
Twilight blinked, then she gasped when she realized just exactly where and when she ended up. She trotted her hooves in place,”Uh, I got to do something about this!” She turned to a panting Spike, who she remembered had followed her all throughout her sugar high, and said,”Spike, I need you to stay here for a bit!” She ran out the door and sped back to her library.
Twilight quickly closed the door on her library, making sure no one was here. She turned and, as she expected, Discord was there, casually laying on the floor.
“Welcome, to one day before you got the invitation, and the point in time where you can start changing things.” Discord said with a smile.
“No. I’m not changing the future!” Twilight shouted.
“But Twilight! I’m giving you a chance to live again! A chance to stop your death by giving out better evidence and stopping Chrysalis before her minions could hurt ponies. You could save Cadance earlier! And you could make your brother feel better about himself” Discord frowned,”Wait, I know what you’re thinking: you try to change this one little incident, and all of Equestria will perish.” Discord threw his arms up in a dramatic fashion,”Ponies will die, civilizations will be wiped off the map because of this one little change!” Discord relaxed his arms and he knelt down so that his eyes met Twilight’s,”Well, let me give you a little bit of reality: that won’t happen. Why? Because you’re just not that important.” Discord sighed,”But if you want, I’ll give you my word that nothing bad will happen when you change the way you catch the Changeling Queen.”
“I don’t trust you.” Twilight growled.
“You don’t have much of a choice.” Discord said with a grin.
Twilight sighed,”Fine, I’ll do it, if only to not have to be with you for all of eternity!” She turned, and was about to walk away when she noticed she still had her wings,”Why do I still look like an alicorn?”
“Oh, that’s because that’s the way you are now, and that’s how you and I will see you, but everypony else here will see you as the way you were.” Discord answered before disappearing behind Twilight.
Twilight sighed as she trotted out the door.
Twilight had spent the rest of that day going over her plans. She knew exactly what each step of her plan is going to be. When the time of the picnic came, she quickly grabbed a shocked Spike and threw him onto her back. She sped out the door and towards her destination.
“Whoa, Twilight! Please slow down!” Spike cried out as he was flapping in the breeze,” I just wanted to sleep in today.” he whined.
Twilight couldn’t hear him, for her mind was somewhere else, namely, on the exact time of arrival for the invitation. She remembered that it happened during the morning, just after the picnic started, so she hoped that bringing Spike along will quicken the delivery, allowing her more time to focus on-
“Watch out!” Spike yelled. Twilight looked ahead, but it was too late as she slammed right into Fluttershy. They tumbled around a bit before stopping, with Spike landing on the grass beside the two ponies. Fluttershy made a weak moan that might have been an ‘ow’ while Twilight shook her head.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Fluttershy, I wasn’t paying attention!” Twilight quickly reached her hoof out to the downed pegasus.
“It’s okay, I forgive you.” Fluttershy answered weakly as her hoof to Twilight’s and let herself get picked up.
“I forgive you too, thanks for the apologies!” Spike said, his mouth muffled by grass.
Twilight quickly turned and picked Spike up with her magic,” I apologize to you too, Spike.” She said as the dragon spat out the bits of earth,then he breathed out green flame and two letters came out. Twilight quickly grabbed the letters in her magic and opened the first letter,” ‘You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor!’ This is it!”Twilight jumped up, surprising the rest of her friends,”My brother is getting married! This is just what I needed!” She gave the second letter to an astonished Rarity,”Here, read this, I gotta go prepare!” the purple unicorn galloped off.
The others looked at each other with puzzled looks.
Later on, Twilight and her friends go on the train, and Twilight sat alone, looking out the window. She had a smile on her face the entire time.
Applejack went up to her,”Twi, Ah think we need ta talk.”
Twilight turned to AJ,”Talk? About what?”
“Well, you’ve been acting weird since yesterday,” Dash chimed in.
“Yes, first you were hold up in your home, then you ran off with Spike for no apparent reason, and now you’re being unrealistically happy about your brother getting married to somepony without telling you first!” Rarity said.
“Well, can’t I be happy about my brother getting married?” Twilight asked them.
“Yeah, but even Ah’d be a little peeved if it were Big Mac in this position!” Applejack replied.
“Well, I-” Twilight’s answer was interrupted when a brown unicorn stallion with graying hair came into the car.
“Excuse me, does anypony know where I can find a ‘Twibright Spark?’” The unicorn said.
“Hmm, he sounds familiar...”Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin in thought.
“Excuse me everypony!” Twilight quickly got up and trotted over to the stallion and followed him into an empty car.
“We’re not done, Twi!” Applejack shouted towards her.
After Twilight entered the car, Discord changed out of his unicorn state back into his original form,”Yeesh,” He cricked his neck,”How do you ponies live like that day after day?”
Twilight ignored the question as she was looking back towards the door,”I’m sorry, my friends, but this is something I need to do without your knowledge.”
“Oh, yes, because making them think you don’t trust them anymore is the best way to do things!” He patted her on the head,” I’m proud of you!” He then cocked his head,”Speaking of freaking out your friends, what is with that smile?”
Twilight growled at Discord’s previous comment. She really wanted to seal him back up at that point. She thought about his second question,” It’s because I want them to realize that I’m okay with this marriage so that way they’ll believe me easier when I say Cadance is an imposter. I failed the last time because I was so angry when I started off.”
“And are you sure this’ll work?” Discord asked.
“I hope it will.” Twilight answered.
“Well, now’s the perfect time to continue your plans, because we’re here~” Discord sang before teleporting away.
“Already?” Twilight looked out the window and noticed the barrier passing through her. When the train finally stopped, she sped out, leaving her worried friends behind her.
“Alright, I need to head off and find Celestia, but first I need to find some random off duty guards,” Twilight said to herself. She trotted around until she happened upon four guards at a table,”There!” She walked towards them and cleared her throat to gain their attention,”I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s personal student, and the Princess had just given you the order to search the underground crystal mines!”
The guards looked at each other skeptically. One guard, a unicorn mare, looked at her,”Crystal mines? Why does the Princess want us to look there on our break? Where is that anyway?”
“Are you questioning Celestia? Do you want me to bring her down here and make you explain to her why you won’t obey her orders?” Twilight glared at her.
“No, I’m just curious.” The guard scooted away abit.
“Good. Now here’s the map, the entrance should be that a way!” Twilight pointed North.
“Right!” The guards saluted. They picked up their helms and trotted off.
When they left out of earshot, Twilight said to herself,”Good, now Cadance will hopefully be saved by the time of the rehearsal. Now I need a word with Celestia.”
Twilight walked into the observatory room, where Luna had just relieved her sister of watch,”Princess Celestia? Can I have a word with you?” Twilight walked up to the sun princess.
“Of course, my faithful student, you know I’m always here to listen to you.” Celestia knelt down to Twilight’s level.
“Well, have you been able to talk to Cadance?” Twilight asked.
Celestia shook her head,” Regretfully, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to see her. Why?”
“I think the Cadance in this castle is an imposter.” Twilight said with a straight face,” and the real Cadance is trapped somewhere else.”
Celestia cocked her head,”What makes you think that, Twilight?”
“Well, she’s been acting like a real jerk, and she and I didn’t do our secret hoofshake, but I’m not entirely sure. Twilight looked into her teacher’s eyes,”You know Cadance better than I, so if I’m right, you’d know it, wouldn’t you?”
Celestia sighed,”Well, sometimes ponies act differently under stress, but I’ll consider your theory, Twilight. I’ll keep a close eye on my neice when we do the rehearsal later on tonight.”
“Thank you.” Twilight bowed and headed towards the door.
“Oh, Twilight? Talk to your friends, they told me about how you’ve been acting lately.” Celestia frowned.” And check the gardens, I think Discord is on the loose again and he pranked me.”
Twilight sighed,”I will, Princess.” She closed the door behind her,”But not now, they can’t help me here.” She walked off, then she turned to the window,”Discord, please don’t mess with the timeline!” She growled.
Discord’s voice came from his image,”Oh come on! I only turned Tia’s shower water to strawberry syrup once because I couldn’t resist doing it! I won’t do it again!”
Twilight facehoofed,”Why don’t I believe you?” She headed off. Now she can wait for the rehearsal.
Twilight stood near her brother. She caught the looks of her friends, who were still concerned. She knew that they are probably a little angry that she seems to keep ignoring them throughout the day, but for her she needed to stay away from them. She couldn’t just say she was from the future, or else she’ll get institutionalized, or worse. She watched as the Not-Cadance walked up the altar and gave the guard captain a false smile. Twilight’s horn glowed. She needed to do this fast. Hopefully Celestia won’t stop her. She fired a beam of energy at the imposter, causing Chrysalis’ body to come forth from Cadance coat.
The entire room, except for Twilight, gasped in shock at the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis looked over her body, then turned to the purple unicorn,”You little scamp!” her horn glowed a deep green as she prepared to attack Twilight, before getting intercepted by Celestia’s magic.
“Where is my niece?!” Celestia growled, her horn charging up a beam
“Oh, you’ll never find her!” The Changeling Queen said with a laugh.
“I beg to differ!” A very weak Cadance came into the room with two guards.
“What!?” Chrysalis shot a death glare at Twilight,”You!” She was promptly knocked down by Celestia.
While this was going on, Discord’s voice spoke in Twilight’s ear,”Excellent, you succeeded. Enjoy your new life, Sparkle.”
Twilight blinked, and she found herself back in Golden Oaks. She was in her bedroom, but she noticed something off,”Where’s Spike’s bed?” She looked at the foot of her own bed, and found nothing. But there was something else that was wrong, something she wouldn’t have noticed normally. She looked at her sides and noticed two limbs missing,”Where are my wings?” Twilight looked around,” What happened? Maybe I should ask my friends.” She said to herself. She headed down the stairs, walking by the dustier-than-normal books. She opened the door and walked out into Celestia’s sun. She didn’t notice anything too odd in the town;the inhabitants acted pretty normal. In fact, everything was normal: the sky had few clouds, foals were playing their games in the streets, and Rainbow Dash was napping on a raincloud.”Rainbow! Maybe she knows what’s going on!” Twilight ran up to the area where Dash was napping and shouted,”Rainbow Dash!” No answer.”Rainbow Dash!” She shouted harder, but still no answer. “Hey, Rainbow Danger Dash, are you listening?!”
“... I hear ya, I just don’t care about wimps like you. Now leave me alone before I do something you’ll regret.” The pegasus on the cloud growled, without even looking at the unicorn.
“What?” Twilight blinked,”What’s her problem?” She asked no one in particular. She turned and looked at the Carousel Boutique,”Maybe Rarity knows what’s going on.” Luckily for her the shop was open, so she just walked in. She saw Rarity working on a dress.
Rarity looked up,”Welcome- oh, it’s just you, Twilight.” She gave an unamused frown.
“Rarity!” Twilight didn’t notice the white mare’s scowl,”What’s going on? Why is Rainbow Dash mad at me? And where’s Spike?”
Rarity sighed as she put away her dressmaking glasses,”To answer your questions in order: I was in the midst of my job until you interrupted me with questions, Dash is probably still mad at you for being such a boring twit, and Spike’s been gone with Celestia’s new student for quite a while.” She turned and went back to work,”Now go away, I’m busy!”
Twilight backed away,”What?” She turned and walked out the door,”Why are two of my friends so... persnickety.” She said with sadness,” and what did she mean by ‘new student?’ Spike’s always been loyal to me! Even if Celestia got a new student, she wouldn’t be able to pry him off of me, what happened here!?” Twilight looked around,”Applejack might be mad as well, and Fluttershy would be too nice about it, so I’ll ask the happiest pony in existence what’s going on!” She was about to head towards Sugarcube Corner, but she was stopped by a pink figure.
“Did you need me for something, Twiley?” Pinkie Pie asked in a happy tone, while tilting.
Twilight wasn’t shocked. She had grown somewhat used to Pinkie’s rather unorthodox entrances. The unicorn simply smiled,”Oh, Pinkie! No matter what happens, you always seem to find a reason to smile! Tell me, what’s happened to my friends? And why did Spike leave? And give me the details.”
“Well, you kinda alienated your friends and you were kinda being a bit of a jerk. Celestia also got mad because you lost your spirit and took away Spike from you, saying something about failing. Hard.” Pinkie said,” Now, Applejack and Rainbow Dash want to kick your flank, Rarity wants nothing to do with you, and Fluttershy is very, very disappointed in you.” Pinkie patted Twilight’s back,”But don’t worry! You still got me!”
Twilight froze, her bangs covered her eyes,”Thanks Pinkie.” She quietly said.”I got to go. There’s something I need to do at home.”
“Need me to come with?” Pinkie asked.
“No, I need to be alone.” Twilight slowly walked away.
“Okay, but if you need me, I’ll always be here!” Pinkie waved good bye as Twilight left for Golden Oaks.
Twilight walked into the Library and closed the doors behind her. She looked up into the ceiling and shouted,”Are you having fun yet, Discord?! Happy that I’ve turned into a worthless mare with no friends, no life, and no future!? You’re laughing at me now, aren’t you!?”
The room disappeared into a white void. Discord appeared behind Twilight,”But Twilight! I thought this is what you wanted.” Discord whirled around Twilight’s head,” Becoming a mare who played things safe, by planning ahead. Sending guards out into the Crystal Empire instead of herself, cowering behind warriors when things got rough. A mare who never did anything dangerous, and was never, ever wanted.” Discord gave a malicious chuckled,”And the worst part is? She forgot about her friends as well.”
“Send me back.” Twilight simply said with a glare.
Discord blinked,”But you’ll die!”
“Better to die as I was. That mare back there had no spirit; she lacked any sort of passion, will, or faith in her friends! I refuse to turn into that pony!” Twilight shouted
Discord sighed,”Very well.” He snapped his talons,”I’ll send you back to the rehearsal.”
Twilight stood in front of the double doors. She knew exactly what she needed to do. It was reckless and stupid, but it needed to be done. She caused the doors to swing open with her magic. She pointed at the thing that was not Cadance and said,”I’m not going to stand next to her!” She turned to the shocked looks of the others,” You have to listen to me! She’s evil!” She ran up to Chrysalis in pony form,”She’s horrible to my friends, did something to the bridesmaids and made my brother’s eyes go all,” She somehow managed to jiggle her eyes, which she figured came from being with Pinkie for so long. She looked straight into the disguised Queen’s face and gave a smile. Not a smile of malice, but a smile of hope, of knowledge that her life, and her friends, will go right this way, even if her friends would be mad at her for a bit after this.
She still had that smile as she woke up on the hospital bed, feeling her wings on her back once again. She also wore a bandage around her chest.
“Ah, you’re awake, Miss Sparkle!” The royal doctor stood in front of her,” I just wanted to tell you that you’ll make a full recovery!”
Twilight chuckled,”Good!” The chuckle then became a loud, hearty laugh
The doctor smiled, having seen this reaction coming from patients with near-death experiences before,” I think I’d better leave, a group of ponies want to speak with you.” He stepped to the side as the door burst open and the rest of the mane six plus Spike ran into the room, saw Twilight and gave her a big hug.
“Oh, Twilight! You’re alright!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Don’t worry about the thang that got ya! We took care of it!” Applejack said
“Thanks everyone.” Twilight said with a smile,”By the way, I think I need to tell you all a little story.”
Author's Note
Once again, this fic has been based upon the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Tapestry." Yes, I did this because Q is in that episode and it gave me food for thought.
