I've been waiting for you

I've been waiting for you
by neorenamon

"Well now that we know Discord has everything under control back home," hissed Twilight, "What shall we do about... those other little problems?"

"The race still needs to go on," said Celestia.

"RACE?!" asked Dash.

"Yes," replied Luna, "We were going to use a race over Ghastly Gorge to tell which of you was Rainbow Dash."

"That sounds..."

"Dangerous?" asked Celestia.

"Unnecessary?" asked Luna.

"AWESOME!" said Dash and Twilight as one.

Celestia sighed.

"Is something wrong?" asked Twilight as both she and Dash looked on with concern.

"It's nothing," she replied, "Things... have been just a little too overwhelming lately..."

"That doesn't sound like the only issue to us," said Luna.

"No, really," Celestia replied, "That's all."

Luna didn't appear to take her big sister at her word, but decided to let it go at the moment. Dash and Twilight looked at each other before the looked back at Celestia.

"It's us, isn't it?" they asked as one.

There was a long awkward moment before she finally nodded.

"Even with the differences in your appearances, I still cannot tell which of you is the one I truly love. And because of this cursed sex toy on me, I cannot be with either of you."

"I won't leave you," said Twilight, "and even if you did impregnate me, I'd still love you. No matter what our offspring would turn out to be like, I swear I'd love them just as much as I love you."

"I feel exactly the same," added Dash.

"One of us should go see what's going on with Shining Armor and the Crystal Empire," suggested Luna.

"Then I should go," suggested Twilight, "as long as my cutie marks are covered, I should look completely normal."

"And we should all get back ta tha farm," said Applejack to Big Macintosh.

He nodded in agreement.

"You should be as careful as you can be," said Zecora, "should more of those mysterious vines you should see."

"I shore reckon yer right," agreed Applejack, "We don' know if we all can protect the farm if'n those vines invade. While I hate the idea more than anythin, we might just have to get Granny and Apple Bloom outta there until we can git rid of them all. I jus hope they all don't get themselves a cravin' fer apples."

Big Mac nodded again. The two of them walked downstairs as they headed for the front door.

"Celestia needs her cloak so I'll just have to see what I can find over at Rarity's store," said Twilight evenly.

"What if Rarity notices the other cutie mark?" asked Luna.

"Oh, I'm sure I can come up with some reasonable story should it come to that."

"But what if Discord is really up to something and he's taking extra time to watch us as he claimed?"

"If that's the case," replied Twilight, "I'm not sure if there's much of anything we really can do. I suppose the best we can hope is that we can use the Elements of Harmony against him in spite of our... confused states."

"If I suppose we were Discord, that would be my ultimate goal in spite of claims to the contrary."

"That seems to make the most sense to me as well."

"I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there," said Dash.

"I was half expecting you to say something along the lines of kicking Discord's flank all the way to Germaneigh," said Twilight wistfully, "and not something so... thoughtful."

"Well, I am half you," she replied.

"In the meantime, we can search for Cadance while she sleeps," suggested Luna, "There are things Discord could have done to delay us, but he cannot totally hide her from the Princess of the Moon."

"If that's the case," said Dash, "Discord may well try something against Princess Luna."

"If he is up to that point, then he is ready to declare all out war against us."

"There is that," agreed Twilight, "Well, I'm off to see Rarity. Wish me luck."

They all nodded as she vanished in a flash of light.
...

Sweetie Belle was stitching the new cloaks for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Considering how well they were getting known about Ponyville, she knew it was time for an upgrade to their cloaks. That and the fact that the cloaks were in need of mending from long use and some abuse on their part. She was working to recycle the old special cloth from their cloaks in order to incorporate them into their new cloaks.

Then she heard a knock at the door. But she was busy, so she didn't bother to get it. Another knock was heard.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" called Rarity, "I'm busy, DAHLING! Go see who's at the door!"

She growled under her breath as she set her stitching aside. Stomping up to the door, she threw it open and asked loudly, "WHAT?!"

"Uh..." said Twilight, "Did I came at a..."

"No no!" she replied quickly, and then said softly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Please come in."

"I'm looking for another cloak like the one I bought for Princess Celestia earlier."

"Well Rarity is kind of busy," she replied, "Maybe I can help you?"

"That would be really nice of you, but you aren't busy, are you?"

"Oh, it's nothing I can't put off for a little while," she replied as she closed the door behind Twilight. As she walked by Twilight's flank, she glanced up and said, "Isn't that Rainbow Dash's cutie mark?"

"Oh, this?" she asked back awkwardly, "This is an April Foal's prank by Celestia..." She laughed nervously before she added, "I should really look into a spell better before I practice casting it for her."

"So it's like a temporary tattoo?"

"Oh, something like that..."

"That sounds so cool!"

"I think the spell only works on two ponies who already have cutie marks," said Twilight.

"Darn!" she muttered, "Well, follow me to the back room and we can look at the stock we have on hand."

"You should well remember what happened the last time you took a short-cut to getting your cutie mark. I'm sure you'll earn your cutie mark some day soon," she said in a supportive way, "Maybe you can get your cutie mark as a Cutie Mark Crusader?"

"How could I do that?"

"Well, you got Babs to form her own Cutie Mark Crusader group. Maybe you can help some blank flanks around Ponyville to get their cutie marks?"

"Hey!" said Sweetie Belle enthusiastically, "That's sounds like an AMAZING idea! I gotta bring that idea to the attention of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo!"

"Glad to help out," she replied as the two of them made their way into the back room.

There was dozens of outfits and pieces of outfits to look over, but Twilight was only interested in the large cloaks or other items what would cover her cutie marks. She figured that Sweetie Belle was good enough at sewing to add the leg straps to keep it from blowing around in the wind for her.
...

"Oh darling," moaned Cadance as Shining Armor massaged her flanks, "You've been so good to me..."

Discord appeared in a flash next to them.

"AH!" she cried, "You should warn a mare before you do that!"

"Sorry," he said, "I just dropped by to see how your new honeymoon is going."

"It's amazing," she replied, "but isn't it about time for us to go back to running the Crystal Empire?"

"OH don't you worry your pretty little head about that," he chuckled, "I'm taking care of EVERYTHING."

"Aren't you already running Canterlot?" she asked.

He snapped his talons and two more of him appeared.

"We are what they call gifted."

"Alright," she replied, "but I'm giving you 72 hours to stop this."

"You don't want to miss out on the giant buffet tonight," he mused, "I hear it's going to have some of the rarest delicacies available in Equestria around, and then you'll spend tomorrow kicking yourself in the flank for missing it."

"Very well," she said softly, "I'm sure we'll love it. Thank you."

"Your happiness is the only reward I want," he replied as he vanished in a flash of light.

"And I love you, honey-buns," said Shining Armor.

"Wow, that's only like the 75th time this hour you've told me that," she sighed, "It's starting to sound like..." Her eyes opened wide as she thought about what she was going to say. She looked back at him, and said, "and I just want you to know that I'm secretly a lesmarian who's in love with Twilight Sparkle."

He smiles and said, "Whatever you want, honey-buns."

She was starting to feel like someone was playing her for a foal. Getting off the table, she said, "Well, it's time for me to use the hot tub, sweetie. I know it's for mares only, but I promise I'll see you again real soon."

"I'll be waiting for you in our room, honey-buns," he said with a smile.

"I'm sure you will," she muttered under her breath as she left.
...

Shining Armor was really getting to be stressed out. His beloved mare was missing without a trace, and he just repelled a dragon attack from the Crystal Capital that no one saw coming. The Guards did their best to protect everyone, and the dragons did little lasting damage, but still the entire thing could have been avoided if Cadance was there and they could have cast their protective shield spell over the entire Capital complex. He sighed as he looked to the throne that Cadance normally sat on.

But a flash of light caught his attention, and he noticed that Twilight Sparkle had appeared. He immediately noticed that she was wearing a sparkling metallic green cloak that covered her from her neck to her tail all the way down to her fetlocks.

"Hey little sister!" he called, and then said, "What's up with the cloak?"

"What? I can't wear something gaudy once in a while?"

"I suppose," he replied, "but that's not you..."

"Rarity insisted this new look is 'totally you, dahling'," she said in her best impersonation of Rarity.

"Are you sure this isn't some April Foal's prank? I mean you look totally ridiculous."

"Well if she's pranking me, she's not trying very hard."

"So what can I do for you?"

"I'm here to find out about what happened with the dragon attack," she replied.

He got of his throne as he said, "Well, why don't you come with me and look for yourself."

She nodded as she followed him out to the balcony.

"Was there a lot of damage? Did many ponies get injured?"

"Well no one got injured directly," he replied, "but some of the Guards got hurt manning the defenses or trying to attack a dragon that was menacing their friends."

"How many dragons were defeated?"

"I saw several dragons go down," he answered, "but once the battle was over, we couldn't find any of them."

"That's odd, but I don't think dragons normally take their casualties with them," she mused as she scratched her chin with her hoof. She looked out over the city scape, seeing a few columns of smoke from various places, and a few cracks in some of the building scattered about the city.

Discord appeared in a flash of light between them and grabbed them with his forelegs. "Well, isn't this all kinds of special?" he asked as he hugged them both tightly, "But I've always had a soft spot for the love shared by two siblings."

"Hello Discord," grumbled Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle as one.

"Aren't you happy to see me?"

"We were just looking over the damage from the dragon attack," sighed Twilight.

"And I told you not to worry about anything," he replied, "I didn't want to distract you from that all so important work of yours down in Ponyville, with those little problems..."

Twilight cleared her throat loudly.

"Problems?" asked Shining Armor.

"I mean... you know... finding just the right place for the mansion..."

A freak gust of wind tore Twilight's cloak away as Shining Armor found himself looking at Rainbow Dash's cutie mark.

"TWILIGHT?!" he asked, "Just what aren't you telling me?!"

"It's nothing you need to worry about," she replied as she wondered where that gust of wind came from, "Certainly nothing more important that finding Cadance..."

"I'm sure that Celestia is just totally hard up to find her as well."

"Hard up?!" he asked, "What are you..."

"Nothing!" blurted out Discord and Twilight as one.

"Twiiiiiilllllliiiiiieeeeee..."

"Okay," she replied, "We have a few minor problems of our own. Discord kind of... put me and Dash together... our minds, hearts, souls, and goals. Dash is kind of an alicorn now."

"WHAT?!?!"

"And because of a cursed sex toy that someone mailed to me, Celestia now has... uh... she has..."

"I suppose you're going to tell me she has a COCK?!"

"How did you know?!"

"AH! I just pulled that out of my buttocks!" he groaned, "Wait?! She really has a COCK now?!"

Discord and Twilight nodded as one.

"Wow, my problems just don't seem so big anymore."