Chapters The day Twilight saved love
A loathsome day in Equestria
It was a loathsome day in Equestria. Everything had gone wrong for Twilight, from the burnt toast in the morning to the coffee she had just spilled on the new book she had just book as a replacement for the one she actually wanted but was out of order. Also, the air was cold, the rain outside was making fun of her and she couldn’t remember where she had left the keys of the castle.
She did the only thing she could in such circumstances:
“Spiiiiike!” She called.
“Yes, I’m here, me, Spike, ready to serve.” replied the dragon while running into the room.
His sight seemed weird to Twilight for a moment, as if something was off, but she was wise enough to know it was just her mind playing tricks on her. That or Spike had grown quite a bit lately, in which case she would have to throw him a party to celebrate. She knew she should really take more time for her assistant.
But for the time being, she had to focus on the important things:
“Spike, glad you’re here. I feared you had already left to see tonight’s big hoofball match with Big Mac.”
“Nope, I haven’t left five minutes ago.” Spike replied. “I’m right here in front of you.”
“So, here is what I need your help for…” Twilight began.
“You need vacations!” Spike interrupted her.
“What?”
“You need vacations. You haven’t taken one in ages. What about the crystal empire? I’m sure it would be perfect.”
Twilight looked at Spike. Or more precisely, through Spike because she was thinking about that new idea of taking vacations and her eyes must have been really tired due to how weird Spike was looking. In fact, there was something really weird:
“Didn’t we go to the beach two weeks ago?”
“Hum… sure, yes, of course.” Spike responded. “But it doesn’t count, because it’s not the crystal empire. You need real vacation. Like in the crystal empire.”
“Yeah, you’re right: maybe I could go back to vacation. I mean, things are pretty slow lately, so I guess it wouldn’t matter too much. I could use the occasion to visit Trottingham.”
“No, not Trottingham! The crystal empire. I… I heard there is an outbreak of ponysiatis in Trottingham, they are under quarantine. Can’t go there.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that. I hope they are alright. Well, I guess I should take the time to go visit my parents in Canterlot. They will be so happy to see me!”
But Spike didn’t seem ready to let her go see her parents. The weird looking dragon jumped on her and grabbed her head, catching instantly her full attention:
“You are going to take vacation to the crystal empire, understood?” Spike ordered. “You go tonight, I’ve already reserved your seat on the train and prepared your luggage.”
“Alright, alright.” Twilight replied. “If it’s that important to you Spike, we can go to the crystal empire.”
“Good.” The dragon responded, getting off Twilight. “Once you arrive, you have to immediately take contact with a very good friend of mine. He is a royal guard in the palace. His name is Flash Sentry, please remember it. He will explain everything.”
Twilight gasped. Her whole body shivered, trembled, and the ground disappeared under her hooves as she descended into an invisible slide covered in honey straight in the direction of a bright and welcoming light surrounded by delightful slow songs whispering to her ears and gently caressing them with a tickling feeling that found its way right to her stomach.
“Twilight Sparkle? Are you alright? Please be alright!”
Spike’s voice, distorted by her feelings to the point of feeling like that of a stranger, reached Twilight and brought her back to reality.
“I’m going to see him again!” Twilight giggled. “But no! I can’t. He probably doesn’t even remember me. And what would I tell him? Oh no, this is a disaster. What am I going to do? Spike, what should I do?”
She turned to the dragon on her side who was just too confused to know what to respond. Instinctively, he just said:
“I’m Spike.”
“I know!” Twilight suddenly shouted. “I should have done that so much sooner. I’ll ask Cadance for advice. She will know what to do. It was so obvious. Oh thank you Spike, you’re the best. Let’s go immediately.”
Once again, the dragon was too confused to know what to respond, so he just said:
“Yes, I’m Spike.”
At that moment, the sound of the main door opening reached the room and, alerted by that sound, Spike suddenly panicked.
“I’ve got to go. Don’t forget: go to the crystal empire, find Flash Sentry.”
Spike then took a grappling hook from under his back, shot the roof and disappeared through a window, just before innocently reappearing through the room’s door.
“Hey Twilight. I won’t bother you too long, but I’ve forgotten the chips in my room. Can’t watch hoofball without chips, right?”
Twilight looked up, to where her assistant had disappeared, then back to the same assistant that had just entered, then decided that Spike had the right to act as weirdly as he wanted and that it was probably just another dragony thing she would never understand.
“So you’re staying here to see the match? What about our journey to the crystal empire?”
“Our what now?” Spike asked.
Twilight decided not to insist. If Spike wanted to stay, it was his right. He had probably planned not to come from the very beginning anyway.
“As you wish, I understand.” Twilight replied.
“You do?”
“Of course. Now, please excuse me, but I don’t want to miss my train. Have fun with you hoofball match, okay?”
“I sure will…” Spike replied, while watching Twilight leave.
He made a first movement to follow her, but then stopped. He turned back, made a new movement toward the kitchen and stopped again. Words were echoing into his head. Crystal empire, journey, understand. Well, he certainly didn’t.
The growling of his stomach decided for him. He shrugged his shoulders and went to grab his chips.
The day Twilight saved love
“Twilight!” Cadance greeted her sister in law, “It’s so great to see you again!”
Both alicorns approached each other and then playfully sang their little routine, ending up with the usual little shake. Then, Cadance dismissed the guards to allow them both to talk privately.
“So, what brought you here? A new adventure? Can I come with you for this one?”
Twilight laughed. She had almost forgotten how prone to action Cadance could be.
“I’m sorry.” She replied. “I fear there is nothing going on in Ponyville just as in the crystal empire. No, I came because, well… it’s kind of difficult to say. I mean, it’s very personal and I’m a bit ashamed to bother you with such thing. It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it…”
Cadance smiled and put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Would it, by any chance, be about a stallion?”
“No, yes, I mean I don’t really know…”
“You’re in love!” Cadance exulted and kept repeating while jumping around the room. “You’re in love. You’re in love. Twilight has a special somepony.”
“Stop it! It’s not like that. Well, it is exactly like that, but… you know what I mean.”
Cadance stopped her teasing and came back to comfort Twilight.
“Please excuse my behavior. I do not want to make you feel bad. I just wanted to release the tension. Ponies think love is something that must be taken very seriously and they forget to smile and become ashamed of their own feelings.”
Twilight smiled. She was feeling a bit better. Those were the kind of words she had wanted to hear without even knowing it. Suddenly, being in love felt like a very simple matter.
“Do not worry.” Cadance said. “I know exactly what to do in such circumstances.”
A grin had appeared on her face and for a moment, probably due to a reflection of the outside light, her eyes had turned sort of green.
“Really?” Twilight replied. “That’s great! So what, should I do? Do I go speak to him?”
But Cadance interrupted her by putting her hoof on her mouth. She went to a closet and grabbed a red robe with white fluffy trims that she put on, then came back to Twilight.
“First, you will tell me the name of the one you love.”
For a second, but a second only, Twilight saw two magical violet flames coming out from Cadance’s eyes. The illusion, of course, didn’t last.
“His name if Flash Sentry. He is one of your palace’s guards.”
Cadance’s grin widened. And illusion or not, her eyes were definitely green.
“One last thing before I solve this situation: does he love you too?”
That question had been bugging Twilight since so long. She remembered the first time she had bumped into him and how gently he had been looking at her. Still, that didn’t mean he was in love. Or her whole adventure in the human world, and how he had accepted to dance with her, but still, she didn’t know if it meant he was in love with her. Or the second time she had bumped into him in the palace, and he had just walked away. How does one know if somepony else is in love?
She had no idea.
“Well…” Twilight began.
The rest of her sentence got covered by a huge explosion that blew a huge hole in the wall and a series of smaller explosions that filled the room with smoke.
Twilight felt a hoof grabbing her own and a voice said:
“Come with me if you want to love.”
Twilight never really decided whether she would follow that new pony of not. She got pulled away through the hole in the wall and found herself in a free fall on the outside, before bumping into the surface of the crystal palace and sliding on its surface at an ever increasing speed.
She saw a pony on her right, probably the one who had grabbed her, but also another one on her left.
“What are you waiting to shoot the zipline? We are going to crash!” yelled one of the two ponies.
“Because the damn thing doesn’t work, that’s why. I told you it was a bad idea!” The other one responded.
“I can’t believe this! Just give it to me.”
Twilight saw one of the ponies throwing some sort of machine to the other one, but kept being preoccupied by the ground that was approaching way too fast in her opinion.
“There!” shouted the first pony.
Both ponies suddenly grabbed onto Twilight and the three of them escaped the surface of the crystal palace to fly through the air on a zipline, only to crash onto and into some building in the city.
Twilight emerged from the wreckage and the dust. She quickly heard a pony sarcastically laugh near her.
“Ah ah ah… “come with me if you want to love”… You seriously couldn’t think of anything better?”
“Oh give me a break!”
Twilight saw them emerge from the wreckage too, yell at each other a bit and suddenly grabbing her once again and dragging her through the streets of the city, left, right, left, then left again, to finish into some basement in which the three mares disappeared.
Only then did the running stopped and Twilight could take a good look at the two other mares who had… kidnapped her for lack of a better word.
“Excuse me, but… would you mind explaining to me what is happening here?” Twilight asked.
“I’m so sorry Twilight.” one of the ponies replied to her. “But my friend here has simply decided to be paranoid and we are all paying the price…”
“Lyra!” the other pony shouted. “I am not being paranoid. Aren’t you supposed to support me?”
“And what did I just do? If I remember correctly, I was the one who helped you break into the crystal palace and kidnap my childhood friend…”
“Lyra?” Twilight asked.
She looked at the mare, but she looked nothing like her old friend. And Twilight had made sure to memorize photographs from her childhood for exactly such a situation.
“Oh right.” The mare who was naming herself Lyra said. “Wait just a second Twilight.”
And then both mares opened their pony costumes and came out of them, revealing their true identities, one of them being the Lyra Twilight could now recognize.
“Special pony suits.” The other mare said. “Only special agents from the former royal undercover specialists unit have access to them. It can be pretty surprising, I know.”
Twilight wasn’t so surprised. She had already seen one of her friend use such a suit, which seemed weird for some reason.
“Sorry Twilight.” Lyra said. “That’s Bon Bon, she is my best friend in the world and the reason you are here. Also, she likes to show off.”
“I do not show off!” Bon Bon complained back before turning to Twilight. “But the important thing is, your majesty, that we just saved you. We wouldn’t have had too if you had gone directly to Flash Sentry as I had told you to, so we weren’t quite prepared and have had to improvise.”
Twilight looked at the two mares and still couldn’t believe her eyes. She had to accept the fact she was in a basement. She had to accept the fact those two mares had dragged her there against her will and that one of those mares was one of her childhood’s friends and the other was… she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be.
“Let me present myself your majesty.” Bon Bon said. “Special agent Sweetie Drops, at your service.”
Alright. So the other mare was a special agent. It still wasn’t making any sense for Twilight. But at least it had become pretty clear she wasn’t under any threat of any sort. Those two were probably just fooling around in some crazy scheme of the sort that only ponies can come up with.
“Pleased to meet you.” Twilight finally replied. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I imagine Lyra has told you about me. So now that we all know each other, could you, please, tell me why you brought me here?”
Lyra sighed and went upstairs, telling that she wanted to prepare some teas and cookies to apologize.
“We are the Resistance!” Sweetie Drops triumphantly explained.
“The Resistance?” Twilight asked, raising her right eyebrow to heights she would have never guessed possible.
“We are an organization dedicated to stopping the tyrannical rule of princess Mi Amore Cadenza, also known as princess Cadance. We have discovered her plans to rid Equestria of love and we have made a vow to thwart them or die trying.”
How Twilight found the strength not to burst out laughing, she would never know, but it was hard.
“So you are saying that Cadance is evil and wants to destroy… love itself.” She giggled.
“It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?” Lyra rhetorically asked, coming back with the tea and cookies. “But here we are and Bon Bon is convinced there is a conspiracy going on, so she decided to form the Resistance and like the stupid mare I am, I accepted to follow her in this stupid adventure.”
“And how many of you are there in this Resistance organization?” Twilight asked.
Lyra laughed and answered:
“You are looking at the whole organization. Some sugar with your tea?”
“The conspiracy is real!” Bon Bon shouted. “I have an eyewitness in the palace. He saw the princess, Cadance that is, take the love out of several ponies. He told me everything and asked for my help.”
“Sure, of course.” Lyra responded, clearly used to ignore those remarks from her friend.
“Are you calling me a liar?” Bon Bon asked, grabbing Lyra and almost pressing her muzzle against hers out of anger.
“And why would I do that?” Lyra asked, caressing Bon Bon’s mane to tease her and show she wasn’t afraid. “So that you would show how childish you can be? I guess I succeeded.”
“Are you sure you two are friends?” Twilight asked.
The two mares looked at Twilight, and then at each other, only to have their faces turn red as tomatoes and quickly create distance between them.
“Of course. Lyra is my best friend. We just happen to fight from times to times, nothing serious.”
“Bon Bon is my best friend. She can be very frustrating, but I will always be her friend.”
Twilight would have pressed the issue further, but the three mares had to stop as they heard noise coming from upstairs.
And even more, Twilight recognized, in the middle of that noise, the voices of two ponies she knew pretty well.
One was nopony else but her big brother, Shining Armor.
And the other one was Flash Sentry.
The day Twilight saved love
“I’m sure your sister is safe, sir.” Flash’s voice said. “We will find her very soon.”
“And I want those who have dared kidnap her too.” said Shining’s voice. “I’ll teach them about trying anything against my little sister! They are somewhere here in the streets. That’s why I want to install my new headquarter in your house, to stay close to the search.”
Twilight realized that she was not only separated from Flash Sentry by nothing more than a few planks, but also that she was in his actual house. And in a second, the old walls of the basements turned into gold, the dusty shelves turned into a museum exposition about the marvels of Equestria and the dry and cold air happened to fill with scents and sounds of joy and pure intoxicating happiness.
“Alright.” Bon Bon, who had quickly analyzed the situation, said. “This place is compromised. We have to move. We will escape through the sewers, follow them to the waste reception center and disguise ourselves as homeless ponies.”
Lyra sighed, knowing there was no point to argue.
But Twilight decided it had gone far enough.
“What are you doing?” Bon Bon asked, panicking as she watched Twilight go up the stairs.
“I’m putting an end to this madness.” Twilight replied. “And you should come with me and apologize for all you have done.”
On the upper floor, Shining armor was transforming the living room into a proper headquarter with maps of the city all over and a whole intelligence center to filter the reports from the patrols he had dispatched all over the streets.
“I will find you Twilight. I promise!” he vowed.
“I’m sure you will big brother.” Twilight replied, emerging from the basement.
She startled Shining Armor who jumped on the living room’s table and, once he had recognized it really was his little sister, immediately hugged her, almost suffocating her.
“What happened?” He asked. “Are you hurt? How did you escape, where are your kidnapers?”
“They are in the basement.” Twilight replied. “They are just two mares fooling around. Nothing serious. It’s just all a big misunderstanding.”
She had just said those words that she saw Flash entering the room. Her eyes refused to look at anything else and her mouth refused to say any word that wouldn’t be dedicated to him and him alone.
Shining Armor had seen the guard too and ordered him to go with some other and arrest the two mares in the basement, which the guards did. A moment later, both Bon Bon and Lyra were surrounded by guards and under arrest.
“Twilight told me you aren’t dangerous. But you will still have some explaining to do to the princess. Also, you have a wall to help rebuild.” Shining Armor said.
“Excuse me…” Bon Bon replied. “But would you allow a mare some concern about her appearance and for her to go put on something decent if she is to meet with the princess?”
Shining Armor hesitated, as he didn’t want any more surprise, but Flash Sentry convinced him to grant the mare her wish, as he would personally make sure none of the prisoners would escape. So both Lyra and Bon Bon got to put on a dress, shoes, as well as earrings and, for Bon Bon, a bow tie.
As everypony was ready, they all went back to the crystal palace where Twilight separated from the others as she wanted to explain everything to Cadance and, as the same time, reassure her about her well being.
She found Cadance in her bed room, whose face lit up as she saw Twilight. A second later, both mares were hugging each other.
“I was so worried for you.” Cadance said.
“I’m sorry.” Twilight responded. “It was all just a silly misunderstanding. Please don’t be too harsh on the culprits. They didn’t mean to do anything bad. They were just mislead. You won’t believe this: one of them is convinced that you have planned to rid Equestria of love, can you imagine it?”
Cadance laughed, as did Twilight.
“Ponies are very surprising, aren’t they?” Cadance asked.
“They sure are. But you can’t be mad at them to try and do what they think is right. Even if they are wrong.”
“Wrong?” Cadance asked.
“Yes, you know, about the whole conspiracy thing with you getting rid of love. It’s ridiculous isn’t it?”
“You find it ridiculous?” Cadance asked.
“Of course. I know you would never do such a thing. It’s just absurd.”
“Is it?”
At this point, Twilight felt a shiver go through her spine. Cadance’s insistence was playing with her nerves. She couldn’t really understand it. Well, she did have an explanation for it, but she just refused to give it any more thought.
“You did the right thing, Twilight.” Cadance said. “It is very important for ponies to ignore what we are doing. It could become a problem: they wouldn’t understand. But you, I know you. You are smart, rational. You can help me in my endeavor.”
Now Twilight was sweating. She could hear Cadance’s voice, but the words weren’t making any sense.
“This is why you came to me, right?” Cadance asked with a comforting smile. “You wanted advices about love. You wanted a solution to the turmoil in your head. I’ve been studying love my whole life and I found that solution. I understand love, I discovered its true nature: it is a poison Twilight!”
But Twilight was trying as best as she could to convince herself she wasn’t hearing those words. And to not see the violet flames coming out of Cadance’s green eyes.
“Love is a destructive force. Because of love, Celestia almost destroyed both Equestria and another dimension. Love made changelings the creatures they are nowadays. All over Equestria ponies fight each other because of love affairs. Some end in tragedy and everypony turns a blind eye as if it were a fatality. As if it were normal.”
“Love isn’t a bad thing!” Twilight finally responded. “You were there: you saw how your love for my brother and my brother’s love for you saved us all from the changeling’s invasion.”
“Exactly!” Cadance replied. “Love is a weapon put in the hooves of thousands and thousands of ponies who have no idea how to handle it. So they get hurt, they hurt each other and they do not even understand why. You know I’m right. You know I’m saying the truth. You have seen it!”
“I… I…”
Twilight wasn’t prepared for that… debate. She wasn’t prepared at all for anything that was happening. She looked around, but saw no escape. And where would she escape to? She couldn’t just go to her brother and tell him that Cadance had turned evil. Because that is what was happening.
“You are evil!” Twilight suddenly shouted.
A silence ensued, because Twilight hadn’t prepared to say anything else and Cadance was waiting, until she eventually said:
“You disappoint me Twilight. I had really hoped you, from all ponies, would understand. But you are like all the others. You aren’t thinking rationally. You are blinded by your emotions.”
It was still hurting for Twilight to hear Cadance saying she was a disappointment. Even if she knew she shouldn’t feel hurt at all. But at the same time, rationally speaking, she was confused. She knew she hadn’t countered any of Cadance’s argument. She hadn’t even heard those arguments. She wasn’t acting rationally.
Well, she was, because Cadance’s eyes were green, and she had violent flames coming out them, and she had a mean grin on her face, so Cadance had clearly turned evil, but still…
“It doesn’t matter.” Cadance said. “You won’t stop me. But for now, let’s get rid of that love you have for this “Flash Sentry”. I’m going to save you, Twilight Sparkle, whether you want it or not.”
Cadance’s horn lit up, but Twilight reacted and created a shield around her. It would have worked, had Cadance used an attack, but her spell went right through the shield and into twilight’s mind, then to her soul. Twilight felt a violent pain all over her body and fell on the ground as a part of her was being ripped off. Images of Flash Sentry ran in front of her eyes, his smile, his eyes, his hooves for some reason, and then both the pain and the images disappeared.
Her love was gone. And all around, the room had been turned into the copy of a battlefield from the spell’s blasting effect.
“Nooooooo!” Twilight lamented.
But she stopped there. She wasn’t feeling any pain. She wasn’t feeling bad. In fact, she wasn’t feeling much. As if nothing had changed.
“Don’t you feel better now?” Cadance asked.
“I… I don’t really feel any different at all.”
Cadance smiled widely and suddenly started shouting for the guards to come help her. A second later twelve guards had entered the room, literally walking over each other as the door wouldn’t allow them to enter all at once, and Cadance ordered them to arrest Twilight for having tried to attack her.
The guards looked at the state of the room, deducted a battle had taken place and followed the order, ignoring Twilight’s shouting about their princess being evil and some other senseless stuff.
Shining Armor arrived too and immediately asked Cadance why his little sister was being taken to the prison.
“I’m sorry dear. The mares that kidnapped her must have used a spell or done something to her. She is convinced I’ve turned evil and she tried to attack me. I barely blocked her attack.”
Shining Armor looked at Cadance’s eyes, those eyes he knew so well. He wanted to protect his little sister the best he could, but there were those eyes and those he trusted more than anything. If Cadance said his little sister had attacked her, then it had to be true.
“Do not worry.” Cadance told him. “I’ll make sure to heal Twilight and bring her back to us. Leave it to me. I’ll succeed.”
Once again, Shining Armor trusted her and accepted to leave the entire matter into her expert hooves.
The day Twilight saved love
A bed made of hay. Walls of massive stone. A window barred by steel. And nothing else to eat than the bed.
Twilight was in jail.
“What am I going to do now?” she asked herself.
She had thought, for a moment, that her brother would come and save her, but if he had indeed come, it was only to tell her not to worry and that Cadance would take good care of her. So at that point, Twilight was also considering that Shining Armor might have turned evil too, even if she knew in her heart that it wasn’t the case.
And then there was that thing on her horn preventing her to use her magic. So no teleportation and no blasting off the door.
And even if she was able to come out of her cell, what would she do? Nopony was going to believe her. She hadn’t believed it herself.
“It’s hopeless.” she sighed.
“I wouldn’t give up hope right now your highness.” said a voice from the other side of the door.
Twilight knew that voice. Not very well, but she was certain to have already heard it somewhere.
“It’s me, Flash Sentry, you majesty. I’m with the Resistance. Give me just a moment and I’ll open that door.”
Twilight had forgotten about him, but it was making sense. She had been advised to go see him as she would have arrived in the crystal empire. Looking back, that’s what she should have done. But she couldn’t, because she was in love with him. A sentence that wasn’t making much sense now.
“Here, it’s open!” Flash triumphantly whispered.
The door opened and Twilight found herself facing Flash. He was looking at her and smiling with a dumb smile. And he was staying in the middle of the door. And he was still looking at her.
“Hum hum…” Twilight let out.
“Oh, yes, sorry…”
Flash Sentry stepped aside to let Twilight pass, looking away and badly hiding how much he was blushing. He then unlocked the magic inhibitor on her horn.
“We have to rescue Lyra and Bon Bon.” Twilight decided.
It was the only logical thing to do, not only because nopony else would believe her, but because she felt guilty for having had them arrested in the first place.
“We are here Twilight.” Said Lyra’s voice coming from the ceiling.
Twilight and Flash looked up, only to see Lyra and Bon Bon fall on them.
“Sorry.” Bon Bon said.
“How did you escape? What were you doing on the ceiling?” Twilight asked.
Bon Bon looked at Lyra and smiled, as Lyra looked at Bon Bon and smiled too. Both began to laugh.
“Thanks to Flash here, we were allowed to take some affairs with us.” Bon Bon explained. “So I took my acid launcher bow tie that helped us cut through the door’s lock, our invisibility dress to go unnoticed as well as our suction pad shoes to avoid bumping into anypony.”
Twilight was only now understanding what kind of special agent Bon Bon, or Sweetie Drops, really was. And she was impressed.
“What about the earrings?” She asked, out of curiosity.
“It’s a present from Lyra: I couldn’t leave them behind, now could I?” Bon Bon explained, looking with an accomplice grin at Lyra. “Also, I look good with them.”
“You say that, but you never put them on.” Lyra complained. “And those you gave me are itching.”
“You’re never satisfied. Can’t you at least once compliment me on something?”
“Do something worthy of a compliment and we will see. For example, why not begin with the cleaning?”
“I would do the cleaning if you let me do it, but every time I plan to do it, you’ve already finished it!”
“That’s because you’re way too slow, that’s why.”
“Oh I’m slow, really?”
“Yeah, you’re slow, and you snort when you sleep.”
It sounded like both of them were fighting, but Twilight could see the two mares looking at each other, and she could hear the accent of pleasure in every word they were throwing at each other. Once again, they were muzzle against muzzle, eyes to eyes, ready to brawl or to…
The obviousness of the situation hit Twilight so hard she almost fell to the ground, which interrupted the two mares and more than worried Flash Sentry.
“Are you okay?” They all asked her.
“You two are in love!” Twilight said, to them as well as herself.
Both Lyra and Bon Bon blushed, looked at each other, blushed even harder and looked away.
“No, I mean, no, you’ve got the wrong idea…” Lyra said.
“Exactly, no, I mean, it’s like that. I’m just… she is just my best friend, that’s all.” Bon Bon explained.
“Yeah, we are just friends. Simply friends. Only just friends.”
Twilight could have strangled them. Even Flash knew they were in love.
“You don’t understand.” Twilight explain. “Your love is the key! It is very unlikely that I could convince my friends to use the magic of friendship against Cadance, but the power your love possesses is enough to overcome her. I could clear the evil from her if only you recognize you’re in love and let me use it!”
“But we aren’t in love. Bon Bon doesn’t love me. She is just my friend and I’m very lucky to have her as my friend.”
But as she had said those words, Lyra saw something in Bon Bon eyes that she had almost never seen before: sadness.
“What?” Bon Bon responded. “Of course I’m your friend. I mean, even if I were to love you, I know that you wouldn’t love me. You’ve been talking about how stallions looked so much, it’s clear you wouldn’t be interested.”
“Stallions? What are you talking about? I only talked about them to find out what your… I mean how you felt… I mean I just wanted to know!”
Flash Sentry slowly came near Twilight and told her:
“They really take their time, don’t they?”
Twilight was of the same opinion. But watching those two mares looking at each other, talking to each other, overcoming the silly wall that had separated them for seemingly no reason at all, it was just a beautiful spectacle.
“Are you saying… You mean that you… all this time?” Bon Bon said.
“Why do you think I followed you everywhere in all those crazy adventures? I know friends are there for each other, but I followed you in Tartarus for ponies sake! Literally in Tartarus!”
“I know, I didn’t want you to come because I was afraid you would get hurt.”
“And that’s why I came, because I couldn’t stand the idea you could not come back.”
“You’re actually in love with me?” Bon Bon asked.
“I will never pardon my stupidity, but I love you more than myself.”
“I… I… I just don’t know what to say!” Bon Bon responded.
“That’s just like you. You don’t have to say it.” Lyra told her with a snarky grin.
But Bon Bon just jumped on her and kissed her during what felt like an eternity.
Mostly because Twilight wanted to go confront Cadance in order to put an end to her evil plans, and she was stuck looking at two mares kissing who didn’t want to let each other go for the rest of their lives.
And then, Twilight noticed that Flash was looking at her again, with tears in his eyes.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing…” Flash Sentry replied, looking away with a sigh. “Nothing at all.”
Twilight wasn’t blind. She knew perfectly what the look of that stallion meant. It was flattering even. But she simply wasn’t in the mood for that sort of stuff. There were more important things to take care of first.
And when she noticed that Lyra and Bon Bon had decided to not stop at just kissing, she took the initiative and interrupted them.
“You will have plenty of time for that, but not if we don’t stop Cadance right now. Are you with me?”
Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other, smiled confidently and said:
“We are ready!”
The day Twilight saved love
The four ponies arrived near the throne room where Flash had assured them Cadance would be. But in front of the door were about sixty royal guard fully equipped.
“How are we going to pass?” Flash asked. “I know those guys. They are the elite of the guards. We better find another way.”
“Or, we use a distraction…” Bon Bon proposed.
But nothing happened.
“Okay, bad timing.” Bon Bon explained. “Just wait for it.”
And at that moment a series of explosions shook the whole palace. Shining Armor came out of the throne room and immediately dispatched guards to go inquire, going himself with a patrol, leaving only four guards left in front of the door.
“Now what?” Lyra asked.
“Your earrings.” Bon Bon replied.
“What about them?”
“Throw them.”
Lyra didn’t discuss, took her earrings and threw them in middle of the four remaining guards who couldn’t react before a soporific gas enveloped them and put them to sleep.
“You offered me earrings that explode? Seriously?”
“Well, I had forgotten about your present, and I had those under my hooves, and you see…”
Twilight stopped the two mares quarrel, as it was time to go confront Cadance.
The four ponies entered the throne room, which was empty with the exception of the princess of love, on her throne, with her red cloak as well as evil grin on.
“Congratulation.” Cadance told them. “I see I underestimated you. But this ends here. I won’t allow you to block my path any longer.”
And her horn lit up in green to create a huge blasting laser that came crashing onto Twilight’s shield.
Having had her first shot fail, Cadance got up, opened her wing and gathered her magic to prepare a huge attack that wouldn’t be blocked this time.
Twilight saw it and gathered her own magic, just in time as her attack went crashing against Cadance’s, blocking her in the middle of the room. But already, Twilight could feel how much more powerful Cadance was. The power of evil was overwhelming, and slowly but surely, she was losing ground.
“Cadance, please, I know you think you’re doing the right thing and it makes sense in your mind, but you have to stop. Maybe your reasoning is partly right, or even fully right I don’t know, but you must see that hiding the truth from ponies and refusing them the right to choose is wrong. Surely you must see that trying to hurt me is wrong!”
“You decided to oppose me on your own free will. I gave you a chance to join me. You refused. Your plea is useless.” Cadance replied, intensifying her attack.
Twilight understood words wouldn’t be sufficient. She had to use magic.
“Lyra, Bon Bon, I need your help, now!”
Both mares, who had gone hiding, looked at Twilight and the huge rays of magic that were filling the room and threatened to destroy everything at any second.
“How?” They asked. “How can we help you?”
With difficulty, Twilight turned her head to them and told them:
“Just say it. Confess your love again.”
Lyras looked at Bon Bon and Bon Bon at Lyra.
“That sounds kinda stupid you know.” Lyra shouted to overcome the sound of the magic flows.
“Of course it sounds stupid!” Twilight shouted back, using her last strength to hold against the huge power that was overcoming every part of her body. “Love is stupid. And irrational. That’s the bucking point: otherwise it wouldn’t be magic!”
Bon Bon put her hoof on Lyra’s muzzle and asked:
“What do you say? Want to be stupid?”
Lyra laughed and put her own hoof on Bon Bon’s muzzle:
“With you: anyday!”
And in unison, they both said: “I love you!” and instinctively kissed.
An abrupt flow of magic enveloped them both and then exploded, simply blowing away the two alicorns attacks as if it had been a candle’s flame. A second wave of magic then took over, gentle, warm, so concentrated part of it became liquid and took physical form.
“No…” Cadance said, way too late.
The second wave of magic let out a blue ray of light, then a red one, then a yellow one and soon seven colors that mixed into one giant rainbow that journeyed through the room and slowly but surely enveloped Cadance who disappeared behind the lights.
The throne room’s door opened to let Shining Armor enter, bringing Lyra and Bon Bon back to reality. As they stopped kissing, they came back on the ground and the rainbow disappeared, revealing Cadance again who had fallen on the ground.
But before Shining Armor could react, Cadance got up.
Her eyes had come back to their natural color, there were no violet flames anymore coming out of them, but Cadance’s face was still looking angry.
“Great! Now you’ve done it!” Cadance yelled. “Do you know how long it will take me to regain power over the magic I need to deal with love?”
“You’re still evil?” Twilight asked, confused.
“Evil?” Cadance asked back. “I told you: love is evil. But no matter how many times I tell you, you won’t listen and you won’t understand. I am not evil: I am trying to save everypony. And you are trying to stop me from saving them: so you are the evil one here. And now, I’ll deal with you.”
Twilight was too exhausted to use her magic again. The magic of love wouldn’t work either.
She had lost.
And then Shining Armor got in the way.
“So you really want to rid Equestria of love.” He stated.
“Step aside!” Cadance ordered. “I’m doing it for the good of ponykind.”
But Shining Armor didn’t move.
“You could have begun with my love for you.” He told her.
“What?”
He made one step towards her and saw she made one step backward in response.
“I’m saying that if you really want to rid the world of every ounce of love, then there is no reason not to begin with your own husband. Or with your love for me.”
The more he was advancing, the more Cadance was backing away.
“I’m not… I never wanted to…I…”
She was at a loss of words. She could see a new flame burning in Shining Armor’s eyes, one she had never seen before and that was consuming her in incredible pain.
“But maybe you don’t love me anymore already. Or maybe you do. It doesn’t matter. Because I’m happy to announce you that you have succeeded, princess Me Amore Cadenza.”
He had emphasized every word of her true name and each had plunged into Cadance’s heart like knives. Out of breath, her back against the throne, Cadance lost control of her legs and fell on the ground.
Shining Armor came near her, looked at her right into the eyes and then slowly whispered into her ear:
“I hope you are happy: I do not love you anymore.”
And having said those words, he simply got up again and walked away, ignoring her imploring eyes, ignoring her tears and ignoring her screams of despair:
“Shining Armor, please, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry: don’t leave me. I love you! I still love you! I’ll always love you. I didn’t mean to… come back! Please come back!”
Shining Armor kept on walking, but a hoof stopped her. He looked at the pony who was blocking his path and saw his little sister.
“Don’t leave her like that big brother.” Twilight said.
“Why not? Why should I care anymore? She doesn’t want for love to exist, so be it. I don’t love her anyway: I hate her now.”
But Twilight simply hugged him and he felt tears coming out of his own eyes.
“Don’t you know, big brother? Hate is just another expression of love. Cadance is right: love can be very destructive and at this moment, you are destroying her. Don’t use love like that: it isn’t right.”
Shining Armor turned his head to Cadance who was still on the ground, slowly crawling in his direction, crying and imploring.
“How am I supposed to forgive her what she has done?” He asked Twilight.
“Isn’t that what love is for?” Twilight asked back. “The only question is: do you really feel nothing for her anymore, or do you still have a bit of love left?”
Shining Armor’s whole body shivered and he smiled.
“What would we become without you little sister?” He asked her.
“I love you too.” Twilight replied.
And she let Shining Armor go to Cadance, whom he comforted, and reassured of his love, a love he couldn’t get rid of even if he wanted. Because it was just how, deep down, things simply were.
“I guess it’s over then?” Bon Bon asked Twilight.
“Yes. You saved love.” Twilight replied. “Enjoy it.”
“Oh we will…” Lyra replied, grabbing Bon Bon’s leg and pulling her away only to begin a new quarrel about where they would pass their honeymoon.
Twilight watched them go away with just one thought in mind:
“Love really is a strange magic.”
The day Twilight saved love
“So, is everything in order now?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” Shining Armor replied.
“I’m really sorry about it all.” Cadance said on her part, still too ashamed to look at Twilight directly.
But Twilight hugged her again, as she had several times since their big battle.
“You are taking this way too seriously.” Twilight told her with a smile. “You were right on almost everything. Love can be very destructive and ponies do make too much of a big deal out of it all. Only the conclusions were a bit hasty: we need to study the magic of love the same way I study the magic of friendship. To know how to handle them, to enjoy the best aspect of them and limit or suppress the worst.”
“I will. I assure you I will.” Cadance said. “And I will write to you about everything I find on the subject.”
Twilight blushed. But she agreed.
Shining Armor decided to let the two mares alone and Cadance took the opportunity to make another confession to Twilight:
“Here is a first report I can make: A few weeks back, I had my first fight with Shining Armor. I can’t even remember what it was about. And then I became very afraid that I might lose him and that’s when I noticed how much a pony could suffer from being in love and how irrational it actually is. The lesson is, I guess, that love is very complex, can hurt a lot, but it’s worth it in the end.”
“There is still a lot to learn, but that’s a very good start.” Twilight replied with a smile.
At this moment, Flash Sentry entered the room and Cadance decided to leave Twilight alone with him.
“I am really sorry for what I took away from you.” She whispered in her ear before disappearing through the door.
Flash approached and sat at a certain distance from Twilight.
“Quite an adventure, wasn’t it?” He innocently asked.
“Yes. And you started it all, didn’t you?”
Flash nodded. But he had merely done his duty as a royal guard.
“Any regret?” Twilight asked.
Flash didn’t reply. He just offered a sad smile.
“You are a hero now. I hear my brother wants to make you a captain and form a new special unit of investigation that you would become the head of.”
Flash still didn’t reply. He couldn’t care less about being a hero, or being at the head of any kind of special unit. He could have been offered the world and still wouldn’t have cared one bit.
“Why don’t you say it?” Twilight asked him.
Flash looked at her and, from the color of her eyes, he knew what she meant.
“Because it wouldn’t make any difference now, would it? I mean, it’s gone, I imagine I will have to spend the rest of my life with that loss.”
They stayed silent for a moment. It had, indeed, been quite an adventure. A very weird one. And somehow an exhausting one.
“I would like to know.” Twilight finally told him. “I’m sorry if it may hurt you, but it is important for me too.”
Flash looked at her again and realized he couldn’t deny that request. In fact, he wanted to say it to her. He got up, went near her and whispered the three words in her ear, which hurt very badly and felt incredibly good at the same time.
“Thanks.” Twilight told him. “I did love you too, I truly did. It was crazy: any time I would think about you, it was like I was melting.”
“That’s pretty much how I feel.” Flash told her.
But there wasn’t much more to be said. They had saved love, at the price of their own.
It was stupid. So incredibly stupid.
Too stupid for Twilight to accept.
“You know…” She began.
She could see Flash’s hope from every single part of his body and soul. She couldn’t back down now that she had begun. And she didn’t want to back down:
“… I can’t make any promise, but… It could help Cadance in her study of love if, well, as a case study, if we were to hang around a bit, if that’s okay with you.”
Flash exulted, hugged her to the point of almost breaking her in two and, in a scream of joy, responded:
“I would love to!”
THE END
Author's Note
Yup, I like this story. It's stupid and corny, but so is the subject.
This is one of those stories that changed a lot during development. But in order to pass from "idea" to "actual story that is written in the real world", I had to make it way smaller and more focused on what actually mattered to me and ignore the rest.
