Chapters "Are you sure?" A distressed Princess Cadence asked a certain draconequus. Discord nodded before he glanced at Princess Celestia, Luna, and Shinning Armor.
"I'm sorry Cadence, I'm sure." Discord replied.
"Do you know what we have to do?" Sinning Armor spoke up.
"I don't know , but I do have an idea..." Discord said as he thought.
"Anything to keep Twily safe." Shining confirmed.
"Cadence!" Discord exclaimed as he turned to the pregnant alicorn.
"Yes?" She replied.
"You have to talk to her...I mean, you're he sister-in-law, plus this predicament might have a weakness to what you do best." Discord gestured t the Princess's flank.
"You mean...?" Candace began." You mean the thing that could possibly get rid of this magic , is Love?"
Discord nodded.
Luna, who had been quite silent through the conversation, finally decided to speak up. "But who in Equestria hath shone feeling to Twilight Sparkle? I have herd of no such colt."
Cadence smiled. "Because there isn't a single colt in all of Equestria , who holds these special feeling toward Twilight."
"Your point is?" Celestia spoke up.
"You see...Twilight acted a little...well lets call it silly, when we spoke of her dancing in the human world when she first went." Cadence said knowingly.
"Maybe she met someone?" Shining suggested.
"Well, I only know one pony to see." Discord stated simply.
"Yes, good idea!" Cadence said.
The Princesses gathered into a triangle. Their horn began to glow and a bright glowing orb of light appeared in the center of them, followed by a even brighter light. Everypony was forced to shield their eyes.
When the light was gone, a cyan alicorn stood umidst the princesses.
"How many time to do I have to tell you Discord?! That's not funn-" The alicorn stopped mid-sentence when she saw where she was. "Oh..."
"Harmony, we need your help." Cadence said.
"Okay, I have a few questions to ask..." Harmony began. "One: What's going on? And two: Is somepony in trouble?"
"Yes Harmony..." Celestia said. "And it is of great importance that we save Twilight."
"Twilight's in trouble? How?" Harmony asked.
"See, Twilight is the Princess of Friendship, and we've discovered that she is missing Love..." Cadence explained. "And the magic that has come to grow inside Twilight is taking advantage of that."
"What kind of magic?" Harmony asked.
"You see, is somepony has no Love/Friendship in their life, the pony might be consumed by this magic. Twilight has no Love, so this magic has started feed on her empty heart." Discord explained.
"So, how long has she been exposed to this magic?" Harmony inquired.
"We don't know..." Celestia replied. "But we do know that it was just gotten strong enough to an imbalance."
"Okay. What do ya need my help with?" Harmony asked.
"You are connected to the Elements, is there a possibility that you could give us some of Twilight's memories?" Cadence said.
"Yes I could, but Twilight would want all boys to leave the room..." Harmony looked at Shinning and Discord.
"Say what now?" Discord asked.
"Ahem..." Harmony gave him a look.
"Oh...well sorry ." Discord replied. The draconequus snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving Shinning Armor.
"Shinning Armor, could you please excuse us?" Celestia asked.
Shinning shook his head violently. "Sorry what was that, I was a little too lost in thought."
Celestia smiled. "Could you please excuse us?"
"Oh, yes your majesty." Shinning Armor replied as he left the room.
Harmony turned to the other three mares in the room and said. "What memories would you like?"
"The ones that show Twilight in the human world." Celestia replied.
"Okay..." Harmony said. Her horn began to glow, and suddenly the Element of Magic appeared.
In a flash of magic, the element turned to pictures, memories of Twilight with six girls, dancing in a room filled with other...creatures.
"So these be humans?" Luna asked he sister, who in reply simply nodded.
The princesses continued to watch memories from both of Twilight's trips to the human world. At the conclusion of Twilight's memories from the first trip, Cadence began to notice something.
"So this is Twilight dancing?" Cadence said, holding back a fit of giggles.
Harmony began to giggle. "Yes, she's dancing with her boyfriend!" The cyan alicorn said in a silly voice.
"Oh stop it Harmony..." Cadence said. "I'm sure their just good friends."
"It's pretty obvious to me that they are not just 'Good Friends'." Harmony stated. Cadence looked at her. "Oh I see that you know it too."
"N-no I don't." Cadence said in a weak defense.
Harmony scoffed. "Oh please, I'm not that stupid." She muttered under her breath.
During Twilight's second version of memories, Cadence noticed Twilight become a little excited when 'Applejack' mentioned this boy that Twilight had danced with during her first trip. Cadence started to feel suspicious.
But, when they were starting to deal with the Dazzlings, this boy lashed out at Twilight and accused her of being his enemy. Seeing this broke Cadence's heart and her suspicions.
After the girls battled the Dazzling and win, Cadence watched them embrace. This brought her suspicions back, and even made them stranger when they got pretty close to one another.
After the memories ended, the princesses started to talk.
"I think we found what we're looking for." Celestia stated.
"And to think, what would've happened if that 'Trixie' girl hadn't ruined their moment." Luna thought out-loud.
"But it just proves that someone does love Twilight, but the real question is: Have the Spirits let Twilight love him back?" Cadence wondered.
"What Spirits?" Harmony asked.
"Well...They are known as the Spirits of Odio et Concordantia." Cadence replied.
"Spirits of what now?" Harmony asked.
"Spirits of Odio et Concordantia." Cadence repeated. "You know, that magic that we were talking about?"
"Oh!..." Harmony thought for a moment. "So how do you know what kind of 'Spirrts', have gotten to Twilight?"
"Do you remember when I said that they had just become strong enough to be an imbalance?" Celestia asked. Harmony nodded. "Discord is able to sense whenever a magical imbalance has happened. When he found out what it was, and who it had found to consume...he informed us immediately."
"But didn't Twilight's friends, as well as you Cadence, point out that she was acting 'silly' as Cadence put it, and seemed to have a crush in the boy?" Harmony asked, gasping for air afterward. "Wouldn't that show signs of affection, especially since they almost kissed?!"
"Well..." Cadence thought for a moment. "she does have a good point."
"Well DUH?!" Harmony said.
"Yes!" Cadence exclaimed. "I do remember her asking who he was!"
"Who was that?" Twilight asked, her cheeks still a little pink from embarrassment.
"He's a knew member of the castle guard; Flash Sentry I think..." Cadence said tapping her chin in thought. "Why? Do you know him?"
Twilight turned away from them. "No exactly." Her tone and facial expression said otherwise, and Cadence, as well as Twilight's friends weren't buying it.
"Ooooh, some pony got a crush on the new guy." Applejack taunted.
"N-no! No I don't!" Twilight defended, starting to walk faster.
Rarity trotted up next to her. "Oh she does! She absolutely does!"
"Don't reticules..." Twilight said walking even faster. "I don't barely know him, he just -" Twilight was cut off by one of Pinkie's so-called 'Hunches', but Cadence couldn't help but get the feeling that Twilight had found someone special.
Harmony pretended to gag. "EW!!!"
Luna giggled. "Oh please Harmony! As if thou hast not dreamed of one day finding your own special somepony."
"Have you been reading my diary, you little-... I mean...I don't know what you're talking about, that stuff is SO gross!" Harmony said giving a nervous laugh.
The other three broke out in a fit of giggles at Harmony little out-burst. Harmony joined in just for the fun of it.
"Wait..." Harmony said. "if Twilight missing Love, than how does she love her friends? How does she love her family? How does she love you?"
"Bacause Twilight has spent over eighteen year without True Love ..." Cadence explained. "You know, the type you think is SO gross Harmony?"
"Urg..." Harmony groaned. "But this doesn't make sense."
"How so?" Celestia asked.
"Well...alot of ponies spend many years without True Love , and they don't get 'infected'." Harmony replied.
"Well...the Spirits prefer to feed on alicorn hearts. Because they are more powerful." Celestia said.
Harmony nodded, she understood that. Alicorns were extremely powerful. There was a sudden knock.
"Came we come in now?" Discord asked, clearly annoyed by the wait.
"Yes Discord. You and Shinning Armor may come back in." Cadence replied.
"Good." Discord said. He and Shinning walked back into the room and sat down.
"So? Did you come up with anything?" Shinning Armor asked hopefully.
"Yes...ish." Harmony replied.
"Yes-ish?" Shinning repeated.
Cadence sighed. "I have to talk to Twilight, before it's too late."
Princess Twilight Sparkle paced uncontrollably around her personal train car. She had just received a letter from Princess Cadece that said:
Dearest, Twilight
Something of extreme importance has come up, and I need you to be here as fast as possible.
See you when you get here.
Yours, Cadence.
Twilight had gone into 'Super Ultimate Panic Mode' after she read this. She kept stating her worries to Spike, some included: "What if Sombra is back?! What if Cadence is having trouble with her foal?! What if..." Twilight couldn't seem to come up with other things that she was extremely worried about. Spike had started to grow weary of Twilight's constant
sentences including the words: 'What if'.
Spike sat at the window, staring at the scenery shooting by. A loud clip-clop of hooves could be heard, even over the loud train sounds. Spike couldn't take it any longer.
"TWILIGHT!!!" The baby dragon yelled.
The lavender alicorn froze, staring at him. She made no movement for a minute or two before she glared coldly at him. "What?!"
"Would you pleeeeaaaase stop the pacing?" Spike complained.
"Spike! There is something extremely important, and very bad going on in the Crystal Empire! I can't help but worry about Cadence, I do hope she's not already having trouble with her foal." Twilight sighed. "She's only two moths along, I would hate for something to happen to ether of them."
"Twilight, what did I tell you?" Spike asked. "If there's something wrong, we'll cross the bridge when we get to it."
"Okay..." Twilight said. The alicorn took a seat next to Spike, her heart pounding so hard she swore he could hear it. Suddenly, she realized something.
"Spike! It has to be her foal! She didn't ask of my friends to come, which means it's a family thing!" Twilight exclaimed.
Spike slapped his claws to his face. "Oh! I give up!"
The train suddenly came to a screeching halt...literally. Twilight raced out of the train, looking around madly to try and find Cadence. Spike raced after her, only to slam into her hind leg. Twilight raced throughout the crowd of ponies and toward the castle, Spike struggling to keep up.
"Twi...light...wait up!" Spike huffed from behind her.
Twilight levitated the dragon onto her back and continued her gallop. She skidded into the thrown room, only to be surprised by the sight of Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Harmony. Along side them was Shinning Armor and Discord.
"Huh?" Twilight said as she trotted up to them.
"Twilight, um..." Cadence stuttered. "how about you walk with me?"
"Cadence! Is the foal fine? Are you having trouble? What's the extremely important emergency?" Twilight panicked.
Cadence giggled. "I'm fine Twilight, there nothing is wrong with the foal."
Twilight let out a long and relived sigh. "Okay."
"Come walk with me Twilight." Cadence said. Twilight joined her sister-in-law as they exited the room.
The mares stopped at there castle balcony. Cadence smiled at Twilight.
"Tell me Twilight...what do you see?" Cadence asked.
Twilight looked around the entire Empire before turning back to the pink coated alicorn. "I see a kingdom who's ruler cares about everypony, and wants everyone to be happy."
"Look closer." Cadence instructed gently.
"Twilight looked down beneath them. She saw ponies leaning happy lives, in harmony with on another. Something that caught the most of Twilight's attention, was a crystal pony couple walking side-by-side. The smiles on there faces put a warmth inside Twilight's heart. A warmth that felt so familiar.
"I see a empire filled with Hope and Happiness and Love." Twilight as she watched the couple blissfuly.
Cadence could tell that her point was beginning to sink in. "I know... watching them makes you feel so warm, doesn't it?" She asked.
Twilight nodded. She knew this feeling all too well...in a good way. She knew it all.
The silence. The feeling. The warmth. The sound of two hearts beating. Sometimes the silence was awkward. Sometimes the feeling was that of embarrassment. Sometimes the warmth made your heart melt. Sometimes the sound of two heart beating...was the sign of Light and Love.
Twilight shook herself out of her stupor. "Anyway..." her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Why the questions."
Cadence wrapped a wing around Twilight. She pulled the alicorn into a tight embrace. "Twilight...?"
"Yes?" Twilight replied with a smiled.
"Listen." Cadence said. The pink alicorn gestured to her chest. Twilight genlt placed her ear against Cadence's chest and listened.
Heartbeat.
"It's your heat." Twilight stated simply.
"Yes, it is." Cadence said. "Oh! Now what do we have here?" The alicorn placed a hoof over Twilight's chest and felt her heartbeat.
"Your heart beats too." Cadence said. She smiled as Twilight suddenly looked confused.
"I know but...what point are you trying to make?" Twilight asked.
"Let me answer with a question." Cadence said. "Look at my cutie mark, and tell me what you see."
Twilight looked at Cadence's cutie make for a few seconds and then looked back up at her sister-in-law. "A heart."
"And what are heart usually use to symbolize, Twilight Sparkle?" Cadence asked.
Twilight thought for a minute. "Love?"
Cadence smiled and nodded. "Love." The alicorn pointed the couple Twilight seen. "Twilight...I know many ponies who have the wonderful gift of Love. But out of all the ponies I know, only one does not."
"Who?" Twilight inquired.
Cadence turned to Twilight with a look of seriousness. "You."
"Me?" Twilight repled. "I have Love."
"Yes Twilight you do. But are we talking about the same Love?" Cadence asked.
"I..." The lavender alicorn's cheeks turned a bit red.
Cadence giggled a little before turning back out to the Empire. "Twilight...do you love somepony?"
"It depends on what kind of Love, because-" Cadence gave Twilight a knowing look. "No" Twilight simply responded.
"Now here's another question: Do you Love somebody ?" Cadence asked.
"No" Twilight replied. The lavender alicorn didn't look like she was kidding.
Cadence frowned at this. "Are you sure?" She asked worriedly.
"Yes." Twilight replied.
"Oh." Cadence sounder a little depressed. "Okay then." Cadence's head hung in defeat. She know it was too late for Twilight to Love someone.
Twilight stared as Cadence walked to leave her alone on the balcony. Twilight suddenly gasped in realization with a happy smile gracing her lips. "Cadence!" She called.
"Yes?" Her sister-in-law replied with a twinge of hope in her voice.
"Actually...I do Lov-URG!" Twilight suddenly cried out in pain as she collapsed on the floor, her eyes wide.''
"Twilight!" Cadence exclaimed. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Twilight winced strongly as her coat faded from lavender to a menacing purple. Her cutie mark changed as well; the beautiful pink six-pointed star that once occupied her flank, was now a deep red with five lavender stars surrounding it.
Twilight cried out as her wings became that of a bat pony. She winced again, tightly shutting her eyes but when she opened them, they flashed red before retuning to normal.
"Cadence! What's happening to me?!" Twilight cried out in agony.
Cadence gasped "I was right... it is too late.
Cadence galloped into the Crystal Thrown Room in a panic.
"Twilight is gone!" She exclaimed.
"What!?" Shinning relied.
"She turned deep purple, acquired bat wings, and her cutie mark changed from pink and white, to red and lavender!" Cadence said.
"How...?" Celestia started before her eyes widened in terror. "Oh no!"
"It must be too late!" Luna exclaimed.
"What are we going to do?" Shinning Armor asked. The stallion looked up the Discord. "Got any ideas?"
"No." Discord said flatly.
"Gee, thanks for showing some encouraging attitude." Harmony said sarcastically.
"We need to remain calm." Celestia said.
"Remain calm?" Spike said. "Twilight just turned into that...Thing , and you want us to stay calm?!"
"When you panic, your mind doesn't function properly." Luna replied.
"Did you get her to say anything Cadence?" Celestia asked.
"Almost..." Cadence replied. "She was about to say something when she dropped to the ground and started to changed!" Cadence breathed heavily.
"Cadence you can't stress." Shinning said.
"I know but...Twilight's turning into a...a...thing , and I can't stand idly by and watch my sister-in-law, live miserably without Love, and possibly soon without Friendship." Cadence said.
"She's got a point." Discord stated.
"Well duh?" Harmony replied.
"You know, sometime you can be really annoying." Discord glared at Harmony who smirked.
"I know." She replied.
"I might have an idea of what too do..." Celestia said.
Twilight awoke on her bed, her head hurting. She had no clue what had just happened, but judging by that fact she was in her bed she thought it was a dream.
Why does my head hurt so badly? She thought.
The alicorn got up and got out of bed, her hooves making a 'KLOMP' sound as they hit the floor. But what frightened Twilight most, was that as her hooves hit the floor, dark magic shot out from under them, and turned her room from a beautiful crystal blue, to a dark blackish-purple.
Twilight walked over to her vanity and gasped. She was a dark purple alicorn with bat-like wings. her cutie mark was a red six-pointed star with five lavender stars surrounding it.
She almost fainted.
"What's happening to me?!" Twilight yelled at particularly nopony. As she stared into the vanity, she noticed that her eyes flashed red for a second before returning to normal. This freaked her out more. Twilight raced out onto the balcony and took flight. when she thought she was far enough away, Twilight turned and gasped. her castle now consisted of the dark purple crystal. Twilight down to the front of the castle, when her touched the ground, it began to shake.
"Ahhh!" Twilight screamed. She galloped away from the castle and into Ponyville. Ponies looked upon her with horror, some screamed while others ran away and hid in their homes. Twilight tried to calm them down, but nopony would listen. Outside her castle, dark crystals grew from the grown, forming a wall around the castle. Twilight was rely scared when Mayor Mare called some guards.
"Get that monster!" The Mayor yelled.
"Miss Mayor! It's me Twilight!" The alicorn yelled, but avail.
With that, Twilight fled from Ponyville and the pursuing guards.
when she arrived at her at her only hiding place, she saw a wall around the castle, and in front of her was a large crystal gate. Maniacal laughter suddenly came from no where, and the guards continued to chase her. The purple alicorn raced throughout the gates and inside her castle where she hid in the thrown room. The guards stopped at the gates because open them, there seemed to be a spell on it.
Back in the thrown room, Twilight hid behind her thrown.
"Aw...poor Twilight Sparkle..." An unfamiliar female voice said. "So confused. So lost. And, so...scared ."
The last word sent shivers up and down Twilight spine. She peeked around her thrown to see a pitch back alicorn mare with red eyes, and a deep purple mane. She had no cutie mark though, and she didn't need one to scare the day-lights out of Twilight.
"W-w-who a-are y-you?" Twilight asked shakily.
"Oh, don't be scared." The mare said. Her voice sounded caring and motherly, and Twilight didn't like one bit.
"You didn't answer m-my question." Twilight sounded a little braver this time.
"Don't you see? I'm your friend." The mare replied.
"I don't recognize you..." Twilight said.
"I'm only one here who doesn't fear you." The mare said. "Now why don't you come out?"
"I d-d-don't trust you." Twilight said.
"It's okay, I don't want to hurt you." The mare said.
Twilight shook her head carefully. Suddenly, Twilight felt herself be lifted by a aura of black magic. The mare set Twilight down in front of her.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked.
"My name is Shadow. And I have some news for you." Shadow said.
"What? Do you what's happening to me?" Twilight inquired. The, she suddenly noticed something. "Your an alicorn!"
"Yes I am." Shadow replied.
"But how...?" Twilight asked.
"Because Twilight..." The mare looked at Twilight evilly. "I'm your Shadow."
Twilight gasped. The mare spred her wings, they also were bat-like, the spines of her wings were black like her coat but the webbing between them was deep purple. Twilight hadn't even noticed that the mare had her mane and tail style.
"And yes...I do know." Shadow replied, beginning to approach Twilight.
Twilight backed away. She had to be dreaming.
"You see...I'm not inly your shadow, I'm what your turning into." Shadow said.
"I don't understand." Twilight said.
"Oh you will." Shadow said. The black mare teleported onto Twilight's thrown. "I am the spirit that's feeding off of you."
"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.
"Well...you're cursed, you might as well know why." Shadow said, lunging on Twilight's thrown in a very un-lady-like manner. "Your heart is full of Friendship..." The mare gaged at the word. "But, what we noticed, is that your heart doesn't contain Love..."
"So that's what Cadence was trying to..." Twilight trailed off. Now she understood what Cadence was trying to say. "Wait...'we'?"
"Yes 'we', I'm not the only spirit feeding off of you, I'm the 'leader' you could say." Shadow replied. "Anyway, we only feed off of alicorns though."
Twilight was getting scared, she knew Shadow was going to say something really bad soon.
"We feed off of one of two things; A pony without Friendship. Or a pony without Love." Shadow said. "You don't have Love, which made you a target. The more we feed, the stronger we get, the more we change you and your form."
Twilight was waiting...she knew something was coming, the main catch.
"But...we like to be fair..." The mare chucked. "sort of..."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"As we get stronger, the more you falling in love gets harder..." Shadow explained. "By the time you look like me, falling in love will be impossible...Forever."
Twilight gasped.
"You have so much magic inside you, it will take a little more than tree years until we gain complete control, but until then, falling in love will be quite difficult." Shadow said. "But...incase you loose track of how much time you have..."
Shadow used her magic to produce a deep purple rose, with dark magic radiating off of it. She levitated it into Twilight's hooves.
"A reminder..." Shadow said.
Twilight looked at the rose curiously "How does that...?"
Twilight cut herself off as she saw Shadow's eyes begin to glow a violent purple. The mare began to rise into the air, a dark magic aura began to swirl around her.
"This rose will bloom until your twenty-first year, then it will began to wilt. If you have not fallen in love, and gained his love in return...you will be doomed for all * eternity*."