Chapter 1: Pilot/The Colt that Lived
Princess Twilight Sparkle had the opportunity to see what the future would look like had it not been for Dash's sonic rainboom – and therefore the six ponies eventually becoming friends – with her own eyes. Her relief upon returning to her original timeline, however, was premature. Had she known what the future had in store for her, her heart would have ripped to pieces from the sorrow. While the Princess enjoyed having taught Starlight Glimmer a lesson in friendship and averting disaster, the events that would change Equestria as we know it forever were already in motion.
Princess Celestia was in her chambers, nervously tapping her hoof. Princess Luna sat beside her, occasionally drifting off into sleep.
"The Sleepers are prepared. Cadance is in Manehattan and received the invite. Shining Armor was with her. So far everything's under control," Luna reported. Celestia looked at her and stopped tapping her hoof, though the worried look on her face remained.
Suddenly, a scroll appeared in front of Celestia. She hurriedly used her magic to open it. Luna looked at it too.
"Shit," said Celestia. Luna bit her lip.
"Well, this isn't good. I'll call the Sleepers up," said Luna and drifted off into sleep as Celestia nervously destroyed the scroll and stretched her wings.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, some pony was anxiously awaiting Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. Pinkamena Diane Pie arrived to Twilight's castle with snacks, hoping she would soon be relieved of keeping Cadance's secret. Twilight complimented her and offered to cover it up so they don't get spoiled.
"Why would they get spoiled? We're all gonna eat them super soon!" replied Pinkie.
Applejack realized Pinkie didn't get the latest news. Before she came in, Twilight informed everypony that she received a telegram from Shining Armor telling her they have some business in Maretonia and thus will have to delay their visit.
"Oh, didn't anypony tell you? Shining Armor and Cadance are held up. They may not arrive 'til Saturday," informed Pinkie Applejack.
This information wasn't well-received by the beautiful pink pony, which surprised the other friends of Princess Twilight – as well as the Princess herself. But this confusion didn't last long. Unbeknownst to everypony in the room, Cadance and Shining Armor were already almost at the door of the castle. And though this would be received as good news by the six pony friends and the dragon, just a little north of Ponyville, two alicorns knew this to be a disaster.
In Celestia and Luna's castle, the chamber door opened and two ponies dressed as castle guards walked in. The guards then revealed themselves to be changelings and bowed down to the Princesses.
"We don't have much time," said Luna. "Is the plan clear to you?"
"Yes, Princess," replied one of the changelings. "Two Sleepers are already awake to cause the collapse of your designated buildings. The medical insiders will make sure some ponies who were nearby are taken to the hospital for observation and their injuries exaggerated for the public. Four of the Sleepers are waiting by the emergency exit closest to here and will escort you, ensuring you are not noticed outside of the castle."
"Good. Let's go," said Celestia.
The changelings turned into the two alicorn Princesses that stood in front of them. The real Princesses left the room. Soon, a loud sound was heard, followed by ponies screaming about a collapsed building.
Meanwhile, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor arrived in Twilight's castle and were welcomed by everypony, with Pinkie Pie and Princess Twilight being the most excited by their early arrival.
"Turned out we weren't needed in Maretonia until next week. And the summit we were supposed to attend today had to be rescheduled," explained Cadance instead of her usual hoofshake greeting with Twilight. The room was filled with excitement, and in Pinkie's case, slight relief, and thus no pony – or Spike, for that matter – noticed Cadance flash a sinister grin before they set off.
A scavenger hunt soon followed, and Pinkie Pie was keen to speed it up as much as possible. However, no pony was ever in more hurry than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were in that moment. The fate of Equestria might be decided by whether they make it to Ponyville in time. Discord was awaiting them, while also keeping an eye on Twilight and her friends from afar.
"Twilight knows."
Those two words spoken by Discord angered Celestia and Luna. The three sat down to discuss further action. Discord had tea ready on the table. The Princesses didn't touch theirs.
"You couldn't just kill her, could you," scolded Discord Celestia.
"Now, now, I don't want Equestria to perish almost as much as you do, but regicide isn't a crime taken lightly, is it? Sure, your precious Twilight and her friends can disappear King Sombra, but if a Princess who's done nothing wrong – at least in the eyes of the public – were to die by my hand, yikes! So let's skip this "Discord, you naughty boy" bit, because we all three know the only way I am directly getting involved in Cadance's death is as a last resort."
Celestia still looked at Discord angrily, but her sister took her hoof and gave her a calming look.
"Okay, Discord," said Luna. "Let's talk. How do we stop this now that Twilight knows?"
Discord concentrated into deep thought. Luna gave her sister a reassuring smile.
"Our problem with Twilight is that she's gonna want us to work this through as friends and all that jazz, without realizing the gravity of the situation, right?" spoke Discord after some consideration.
"That is right. Of course, if we were to do the job without her being anywhere near, she wouldn't be able to interfere, but we would still need to hide the reason why what happened happened," replied Celestia. "And now the plan of abortion is basically out. I'm sure Twilight would get to the bottom of it no matter what we do if Cadance survives but there's no baby."
"Discord," said Luna. "I hope you don't mean eliminating Twilight as well. She's one of the main threats to find out what's going on and lead the public to finding out we're killers, but surely a double regicide is no easier to cover up. Two Princesses gone around the same time raises questions."
"No one's killing Twilight, Discord," backed her sister up Celestia. "If you suggest that, you'll be the one dying today."
"No such thing, ladies," calmed the sisters down Discord. "I am all for keeping Princess Twilight Sparkle alive and well. But here's my thought process: this little development that happened today - with Cadance dodging your clever sudden summons and letting Twilight know she's expecting – is dangerous because we planned to do this with Twilight being completely oblivious. Now the scales are tipped against us because she thinks Cadance is pregnant. But we've heard that piece of news too, and look at us, plotting a regicide. If Twilight is no longer oblivious to the danger that awaits, the scales should more or less de-tip in our favor."
"We've discussed this, Discord, I don't think Twil--" started Celestia but was cut off by Discord.
"Our little Twilight would go all "friendship beats all" on our asses, I know, I know. But hear me out. Once upon a time, it would have been hard to believe Discord would one day know friendship, and look at me now, friends with the Princess of Friendship!"
"You're spying on her," interrupted Luna.
"Ah, sure, sure. Maybe not the best friend. But still, I've learned a lot, and I do feel like their friend in many ways. I may not be as crazy about it as Twilight, but I experienced it first-hand, and hey, Discord thinks friendship is not that bad an idea!"
"So your plan is to make Twilight experience the end of the world first-hand?" mockingly asked Celestia.
"Bingo."
"I don't understand," said Luna as Celestia facehoofed.
"I'm not suggesting we make the world end, that would, you know, end the world. Not a good plan. But need I remind you we have a freakin' dream-controlling Princess at our disposal?"
"You want me to make her dream the end of the world, I can do that. I can recreate the entire scenario where Cadance must not give birth and everything. But Twilight's a nut for friendship, once she wakes up, no matter what will have happened in her dreams, she will, as you said 'go all friendship beats' all on our asses', and we achieve nothing. Not to mention the suspicion that will fall on me because of the suspicious dreams."
"No, no, no, Princess Luna," smiled Discord. "I have thought that too. But there's two things we can do differently. First, Twilight must not realize it's a dream. We make her fall asleep in her castle. Her dream starts in the castle. Somehow, we show her what the end of the world looks like without her running into a situation where she'd encounter other ponies. We can use that magical map of yours. We unite her dream with somepony else's – just her dragon Spike would probably be enough – to lower suspicion further. Her dream ends with her returning from whatever horrible world the map shows her to her castle where she wakes up. She thinks she saw – not in a dream – what the end of the world looks like. Spike has been alongside through the ordeal. Boom, it's easier to make her understand it's one death against millions when the time comes."
"Discord, that's brilliant," excitedly complimented him Celestia and even blushed at her enthusiasm.
"Oh, that's not all. Here's the diabolical part. Twilight's all about friendship, right? Throughout the dream, we reinforce the "friendship is magic" idea. So much that she thinks Equestria was fated for destruction before, and friendship was what saved it. She doesn't see Cadance that much and hangs out with the other castle dorks all the time. We emphasize the importance of her connection with them, and when the time comes to choose between what she will see as almost certain doom of her friends – which we know is certain, but she will be harder to convince – or the death of someone she doesn't see very often anymore, at the very least, she will be easier to calm down after the fact. We do this, and Twilight Sparkle is not a threat to the plan."
"Discord, I love you, you evil bastard!" exclaimed Celestia, to which Discord smiled proudly and Luna giggled. "Luna, you're in favor?"
"Aye, aye," laughed Luna.
Discord's suggestion turned the mood around. Celestia noticed her cup of tea and happily downed it. Discord made more tea, and the three sat for a couple more hours to discuss specifics.
Rainbow Dash's first sonic rainboom was recognized to be the important event that started it all for the six ponies. Twilight's move to Ponyville was also brought up, but the sonic rainboom was the better idea as it allowed an easy way to illustrate the bond the ponies shared without any of them being present. Sure, the map's magic may just show Twilight her friends, but it would feel less genuine and raise the question why Twilight was the only pony sucked into the map's magic. Thus the idea of introducing time travel not only to the supposed apocalyptic future but also to the past Twilight already knew of was born. Eventually, the idea of "map's magic" was abandoned entirely in favor of an antagonistic pony with powerful magical abilities taking Twilight on a time-travelling trip. Discord promised to do a little snooping around and try to find an actual pony Twilight would believe to do so for the role. If possible, they'd get the pony to play along and act as if it was real even after the dream was over, further convincing Twilight it wasn't a dream. Celestia noted that in case Discord doesn't find an actual pony who would go along with their plan, they can always use Luna's Sleepers to "bring back" someone like Sombra.
The trio disbanded satisfied with the day's efforts. The four Sleepers that escorted the Princesses were instructed to escort them back as the sisters waved Discord goodbye. It was agreed to rendezvous in two weeks again, this time in Canterlot, so that the sisters don't need to go to great lengths to ensure Cadance doesn't realize they've left. Upon return, the Sleepers in the castle informed them the news of two buildings collapsing didn't go unheard through most of Equestria, as did "Princess Celestia"'s address to the nation. Cadance will probably understand who sent the fake Maretonia business and Manehattan summit invites, but she will think the Princesses were in Canterlot when she informed Twilight. That was enough for the new plan to work. Any proof that Celestia and Luna are following Cadance around was a dangerous weapon in Cadance's hooves.
The Manehattan summit was real, except that everypony invited was Luna's puppet – Cadance and Shining Armor were the only non-Sleepers that were scheduled to meet. The Sleepers were instructed to report that Cadance and Shining Armor were unable to attend, and the Maretonia business, which they didn't even have an exact idea of, was "resolved before the Princess could arrive", and reported as such in the papers to conceal Celestia and Luna's involvement in it.
Next week, Discord came to Canterlot to meet the sisters again, and this time, he brought a guest with him. Her name was Starlight Glimmer. The pony whose communist regime Twilight destroyed. She agreed to the trio's plan, and it was decided she will appear before Twilight as she's guest-teaching at the School for Gifted Unicorns. Luna had a sleeper working in the school's administration, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to remind Twilight about the sonic rainboom before the dream begins, not to mention the perfect opportunity to re-introduce Starlight Glimmer back into her life. The timing was perfect as Discord overheard Twilight heard from Shining Armor that Cadance is due soon after that. Luna commanded the Sleepers to ensure Twilight and the rest aren't held up in Ponyville and are able to go to the Crystal Empire where Cadance will be giving birth. Discord's ingenious plan was in motion.
Fast forward a week to the future. Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Starlight Glimmer arrive at the Crystal Empire. As the CMC are fooling around with Pinkie, and Starlight Glimmer is thanking Twilight for the opportunity to come with her for the twentieth time.
"It's nothing big. We're friends," replied Twilight with a smile.
"It is big. It is big for you, and you're sharing it with me. That means a lot."
The party is then greeted by Shining Armor himself.
"Twily! Am I happy to see you. We should hurry up. The doctor says it may happen as soon as tonight. Oh, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna also said they want to talk to you. As soon as you get to the castle."
Twilight had no idea what the Princesses could want from her, and was planning on saying hi to Cadance first, but was immediately greeted by them upon entering the castle. Before she could say anything, they dragged her off to a room and locked it.
"Um... Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. I--"
"Twilight," interrupted Celestia. "We have something urgent to discuss with you. Equestria is in trouble, and your help would go a long way."
"Uh.. Okay? I will get to see Princess Cadance, though, right?"
"Oh yes," said Celestia.
"This kind of is about her," explained Luna.
"Huh? I don't get it. Is she in some kind of danger?"
"My dear Twilight," Celestia looked her in the eye. "Alicorns don't get pregnant."
"What? What do you--? I don't understand," said Twilight looking to one Princess, then the other, hoping for some kind of clarification.
"It's a little known fact," explained Luna. "It was rarely mentioned, since there were those who thought this makes Princesses inferior in some ways – or unnatural. It's been used by those who sought to take power from the Princesses as an argument to rally ponies to their cause. But over time it died out as common knowledge. It became thought to be an old mare's tale – and later disappeared even as such. Almost no one knows that."
"But Cadance..."
"It's been prophesied, and we know this from long ago," started Celestia, "that one day an alicorn will become miraculously pregnant, but the creature she gives birth to will be pure evil and destroy Equestria as we know it."
Twilight visibly had trouble taking this information in.
"Even when we were fillies, this was a dying legend," said Celestia. "But it's something we were interested in, and, I'm not proud of this, but I used the argument that someone like Luna would have to be the one to give birth to the demon colt spoken of in the prophecy to convince the castle dwellers that it's better to have her banished."
"You guys are joking, right?" panicked Twilight, forcing a giggle. "Cadance is pregnant with some demon spawn? That's a pretty dark joke."
"It's been said that an alicorn had gotten pregnant once before," said Celestia. "They aborted the baby a couple weeks before she was due. It was all a black, glittery ooze that melted all it came in contact with. The mother herself was terrified. The nation were not comfortable with something so bizarre and wanted her banished. She accepted that without a hint of reluctance, and no one ever heard from her again. We aren't even sure how much or what parts of this are true, but alicorns don't get pregnant, Twilight. It's not just Princesses not having time due to busy schedules, it's anatomically impossible."
"We need you to talk Cadance into an abortion," said Luna. "We'd prefer to do this without any harm coming to her. But if we force her, we fear that in her disturbed state, she'll make it public and cause an uproar. We don't need that. Cadance was foolish enough to announce this to everypony. It's a tough task now whatever approach we take. However, if we could persuade her to get an abortion and play along with some "complications" story, we could avert the demonic birth disaster and the backlash from the public."
"What. The. Fuck."
Celestia looked at Twilight in an affectionate manner.
"I know it's a lot to take in. And it's certainly a tough task. But I believe my best student has what it takes to complete it."
"My head's about to explode. I don't care about praise right now."
The two sisters comfort the youngest Princess for a while until she calms down.
"I'm gonna do it," said Twilight. "I'll talk to Cadance. But I don't promise anything."
She left the room, and the sisters followed after her. Twilight saw Shining Armor coming out of Cadance's room and put on a fake smile.
"How is she?" asked Twilight. She couldn't hide concern in her voice, although Shining Armor had no idea what the real reason for that was.
"Don't worry, Twily, everything's okay. She seems excited."
Twilight entered Cadance's room. Celestia and Luna stayed behind.
"Heh-heh, uh, hi, Cadance."
Cadance wasn't at all "excited" as Shining Armor described her. She looked at Twilight with pure rage.
"Those bitches told you something, didn't they?! This is my baby, no filthy scum like those two can say anything about him. I love my baby. It's none of their business. It makes me sick that ponies like that exist."
"Uh, Cadance?"
"Screw you, Twilight. You're with them, aren't you. I expected you of all ponies to understand. I guess friendship is too different from maternal love for you to understand. Why don't you go play with your precious friends. Because when it comes to being MY friend, apparently, you're a useless, worthless waste of space."
Twilight looks back through the crack in the door at the Princesses.
"Wow."
"I am going to be a mother soon, and my baby will grow up to rule Equestria, and will be the greatest pony that ever lived."
"Boy," said Celestia. "That nutjob is not even listening. I wonder if the demon thing could have done this."
"Very possible," said Luna. "After all, he keeps me out of her dreams. I would venture a guess he's able to control other parts of her psyche too."
"Cadance, listen to me. Let's just talk about this," tried reasoning Twilight.
"You pathetic puppet!" screamed Cadance, her face contorted and eyes bloodshot. "You miserable tool. Celestia's whore."
Cadance's horn started glowing black. With each insult, it glowed brighter and brighter. Cadance then doubled over in pain, screaming at the top of her lungs. Celestia and Luna stormed in.
"Damn, don't tell me it speeds up its gestation by feeding off hate," realized Celestia.
The other ponies soon rushed to the room too, including castle guards, to see if Cadance is okay.
"Giving birth really hurts, heh heh," tried to cover up the truth Twilight.
"The jig is up, Twilight," said Celestia. "Everypony, beware, Cadance is not pregnant with a pony. She's going to give birth to a powerful demon that could destroy all of Equestria."
Everypony was in disbelief. Cadance screamed in pain a little more, than started cursing everyone in the room, albeit her speech became completely unintelligible. Her horn glowed so strongly, the whole room filled with black light. The other Princesses were too late.
The black light got so strong everypony had to look away, and when they looked back, there stood a creature, half colt half rabid dog, all black save for the green-glowing eyes and teeth. Saliva dripped from the massive muzzle. The creature looked at a castle guard and jumped. Its swift paw slashed the guard's stomach open. He fell down and writhed in agony. Luna flashed Celestia a look and received a nod of approval. The guard needed immediate medical attention, so Luna drifted off to contact the Sleeper doctor she had stationed in the main castle of the Crystal Empire. Celestia cast a shield to protect everypony. She signed in relief when the monstrous thing tried to attack again but couldn't penetrate the shield.
"I won't be able to do this forever. We need to do something. Now."
Applejack dragged Pinkie Pie and the CMC out of the room. Cadance, who was lying motionless in her bed since giving birth to the creature, now sat up.
"Come here, my baby. Mommy loves you. Mommy will protect you from these bastards."
The creature hopped into Cadance's lap, its drool dripping all over Cadance.
"Let's kill them all, my baby."
The Sleeper doctor that Luna called came into the room and started patching the guard up. Everypony stood frightened and knew something has to be done. Twilight looked at Celestia.
"Rarity, Princess Luna, it's up to us. While Princess Celestia is casting the shield, we have to attack it. The three of us stand a better chance."
"Don't forget me," said Starlight Glimmer.
"Starlight--"
"I'm going to help, Twilight. I owe you."
Princess Luna nodded and got ready to jump out in front of Celestia's shield. Rarity looked worried, but eventually let Twilight know she agrees with a nod.
"On my mark," said Twilight. "Go!"
The four ponies jumped out of their safe zone and started shooting spells out of their horns at the black monstrosity. The creature seemed to be tickled by it. He turned around giggling, then tapped his paw against the floor in Rarity's direction. The tiles cracked and pushed up, knocking Rarity over.
"Rarity!" exclaimed Twilight, continuing to shoot spells at the creature.
"Kill them all, baby! Yes!"
"Cadance, listen! I know you're in there somewhere!" cried Twilight.
"Cadance!" yelled out Shining Armor as the hellish beast leaped over to Rarity. Rarity rolled out of the way of his first attack, and Twilight continued shooting spells at him. The creature came face-to-face with Rarity, and she froze with shock. "Cadance, what do you mean kill us all? You know I love and support you. This is my baby too."
Cadance looked confused.
"Yes... hold on, baby. Come meet Papa first. Sorry, I forgot, ah, my husband," said Cadance in a weird throaty voice, calling the monstrous spawn and Shining Armor to come to her. She got out of her bed and urged Shining Armor to come out from beyond Celestia's shield. "Come here, love, the whole family united, no pony can stop us!"
The creature left Rarity alone and hopped over to Cadance and jumped onto her, clinging to her neck and drooling all over, its green glowing eyes looking directly at its supposed father. Shining Armor gave Celestia a tap on the back and left the area protected by the shield. Twilight looked back at him. He pushed her closer to the shield.
Cadance trotted over to Shining Armor in her impatience. She hugged him, and he hugged her back. The creature wrapped its front leg over the back Shining Armor's neck and started drooling even harder.
"Now, baby," said Shining Armor, "go kill them!"
Twilight, who was still in front of the shield, shocked by this development, bounced back behind Celestia, and Starlight Glimmer grabbed Rarity and scuffled behind the shield as well. The spawn jumped forward, prompting Luna to hide too.
A sound of flesh being pierced echoed through the room. Shining Armor stuck his horn into Cadance's throat and through her skull. Cadance's face froze in a monstrous grin, not that different from the way she looked these last few minutes, but now with an empty gaze.
"Baby..."
Shining Armor sobbed. His tears dripped down and mixed with the blood dripping out of his wife's neck. Some of the blood flowed down his face.
"Now, Twilight!" instructed his sister Shining Armor.
Twilight, although shocked, realized Cadance's death would distract the black creature, and perhaps even weaken it. She cast a spell out of her horn, attacking it, Princess Luna and Rarity followed. The creature seemed to react to it this time. It screamed and rolled around in pain. It got up and slashed up the furniture in the room. It smashed a hole in the wall. But the spells were hurting him. Celestia stopped casting the shield and joined the attack. Rainbow Dash quickly flew over the room and detached the chandelier, which fell onto the creature, then started throwing pieces of sliced up furniture at it. Black liquid started pouring out of the creature, which they understood to be its blood. The combined attack of the six ponies finally killed it. It died with an awful shriek and turned into a black smoking puddle. Twilight rushed over to her brother still crying his eyes out with his horn still piercing the pony who was once the love of his life. Everypony else looked over the terrifying scene.
"Give the guy some hypnotics, and I'll talk it over with him in his sleep," instructed the medic Luna. "The guy impaled his own wife. There's a need for suicide watch if I ever saw one."
Author's Note
I thought I'd give writing MLP:FiM fanfiction a chance. I text-posted this on reddit but seems this is the better site for it.
In case someone thinks they missed an episode or something, Sleepers are my own invention. If I'm up to write more chapters, I will elaborate on them more. Basically, they are changelings who serve Luna, and whenever they're not carrying out her orders, they sleep so Luna can easily contact them.