The Kaiju Heir

Chapters

A Bargain is Struck and Transformation
The Aftermath and Learning
Talks and Escape

A Bargain is Struck and Transformation

This was the end. Chrysalis had won and Twilight Sparkle, prized pupil to Princess Celestia, was bleeding on the ground from a definitely fatal blow. When the spear struck, she'd registered the cries of Cadence, her family and friends. No, not friends. She'd seen that something was wrong and tried to warn them only to be dismissed repeatedly and ultimately they turned their backs on her.

And now here they were, on the losing side of an invasion with the nation's greatest heroes either restrained or bleeding into the carpet. Celestia had been defeated and Luna and her Gaurd were already chest deep in changelings and trying to protect the citizens of Canterlot. Though with how things were going, it was a pointless effort. The changelings outnumbered the guards and had caught them by surprise. With the shield gone and their forces in disarray, there wasn't any chance of beating off this attack.

For Twilight however, all this felt like it miles away. Her head was growing lighter as darkness pressed in along the edges of her vision. This was the end for both her and Equestria and after letting out a tired sigh, she closed her eyes for what she believed would be the last time.

"IS THAT IT? ARE YOU REALLY GIVING UP?"

The deep, rumbling voice that echoed through her mind came so suddenly that Twilight let out a startled gasp as her eyes snapped open. Instead of seeing the throne room however, Twilight found herself surrounded by black mist. And shifting amongst the darkness were shadows and shapes that she couldn't make out. The only thing she could tell is that they were big.

"IKA'BROD, I DO NOT BELIEVE SHE IS THE RIGHT ONE TO BEAR OUR POWER." A second voice, one that was an octave deeper than the first, spoke as though addressing the owner of the first. The unicorn frowned as her anger rose.

"AH, LOOKS LIKE YOU EVOKED HER IRE XEN." The first voice said in a teasing tone and Twilight exploded.

"Of course I'm angry!!" She shouted at her unknown guests. "I don't know if you already know this, but I've had it up to here with all this disguising and hiding! My foalsitter was replaced by a changeling for who knows how long, my brother has been brainwashed by said changeling and to top it all off, my five best friends turned their backs on me when I tried to warn everyone that something up! And now I'm dying so if you want to talk to me about anything, you can either show yourselves or move along!"

There was silence for a long moment before the first voice finally spoke. "YOU HAVE MUCH COURAGE TO SPEAK TO US LIKE THAT." The voice responded, his tone radiating interest and respect. "VERY WELL, WE SHALL SHOW OURSELVES."

At that moment a powerful wind blew the dark mist away. The landscape was still black in color, but now Twilight could get a good look at her guests. And once she did, her jaw dropped. Big couldn't even begin to describe how massive these creatures were. All three of them were big enough that they made an Ursa Major look like a pet dog. Heck, she was willing to bet that if they stood straight at their full height next to the mountain, Canterlot would be level with their shoulders. And that was only a rough estimate.

Moving away from their height for the time being, Twilight then began to take in their features. Two of the creatures were bipedal with enough similar features that Twilight felt it was safe to say that these two creatures were related in someway. Possibly brothers. One was slightly taller than the other with a navy blue\purple body, two huge crystals on his shoulders and crystalline spikes running down his back all the way to the end of his tail. And on his head was a trident shaped horn that added to his ferocious appearance.

The second one, while shorter than the other, was very sturdy like a huge linebacker and practically radiated power like his presence alone demanded respect. His body was darker in color like obsidian and running along his back were three rows of jagged spikes that were also dark in color. And as the unicorn stared, she noticed slits in the creature's neck that she could only guess were gills.

The third however far differed from the other two and was hard to describe. The closest description Twilight could come up with was big, red and demonic. The the next thing she noticed was the aura the creature exuded. Where the other two inspired power and respect, this one inspired fear in a way that gave Twilight shivers. It didn't help much that the being was glaring at her with narrowed yellow eyes, so Twilight quickly turned her attention back to the other two and her awe quickly returned.

"What are you?" Twilight's question broke the silence that had descended as she took in their appearance. Her eyes and tone was filled with academic curiosity and wonder. "You two look similar to dragons, but you're definitely not dragons if your size and appearance are anything to go by. I've never seen or heard of dragons that have crystals on their bodies or gills. If they are gills."

There was a deep rumbling sound that Twilight quickly realized was an indulgent chuckle. "THEY ARE INDEED GILLS." The darker of the three answered. "BUT GIVEN HOW PRESSED FOR TIME YOU ARE, THERE ISN'T MUCH I CAN TELL YOU. IN ANSWER TO YOU'RE EARLIER QUESTION, WE ARE KAIJU. AND AS FOR INTRODUCTIONS, MY NAME IS GODZILLA AND MY BROTHER'S NAME IS XENILLA. AND THIS IS DESTROYAH."

At the reminder of her situation, Twilight quickly snapped out of hungry scholar mode. There would be time for questions later. That is assuming she survived this. Already, her vision was beginning to blur and fade. A reminder that she was on a time limit.

"Why are you here?" She asked, her situation not affording her time to beat around the bush.

"TO OFFER YOU A BARGAIN." Xenilla was the one to answer. "SHOULD YOU ACCEPT, YOU WOULD BE GRANTED OUR POWER, STRENGTH AND ABILITIES. IN ADDITION, YOU'RE ENEMIES SHALL BE DRIVEN FROM YOU'RE HOME AND YOUR INJURIES SHALL HEAL."

Twilight considered his offer as carefully as she could. One thing her father always taught her was that nothing ever came for free. You always had to give a little to get a little. And with an offer like this, she was certain there had to be a sizeable price.

"It sounds like a good offer." She said. "What do I have to do for it?"

"BY ASSUMING OUR MANTLES OF POWER, YOU ARE ASSUMING MY POSITION AS THE KING OF KAIJU." Godzilla answer.

"King of Kaiju? What does that mean?" Twilight asked.

"THERE ISN'T TIME TO GO INTO SPECIFICS." Godzilla answered. "DO YOU ACCEPT OR NOT?"

By this point it was impossible to see Godzilla, Xenilla or Destroyah's faces. The kaiju was right, specifics could wait for a different time when her soul wasn't entering into the afterlife.

"I accept."

The moment those words left her mouth, her vision was filled with white and a very different sensation flooded her body. It felt like the magic surge she experienced when she earned her cutiemark only this time it didn't feel like magic, but rather pure power, like a force of nature was pumping through her body. Then like the surge, it ended but not without a noticeable difference. Now Twilight could feel a core of raw, hot power beating and pumping like a heart. At that moment, she felt like she could do anything and when she opened her eyes for real, the first thing she did was smash the spear that'd impaled her so she could pull it out.

This of course drew the attention of everyone in the room, most notably Queen Chrysalis who whirled around from her place at the window to ascertain what had made that cracking sound. The moment her eyes landed on the staggering unicorn pulling out her crystalline spear however, her expression was one of shock before it quickly morphed into a furious snarl.

"You. You're supposed to be dead!" She hissed between bared teeth. Twilight shot the Queen a glare as she felt rage bubble up in her chest. And as this rage boiled, Twilight could feel a surge of power building up inside of her just waiting to break loose.

"Well I guess I'm more durable than you thought." She retorted and Chrysalis' eye twitched. With a flare of her horn she summoned a second spear, this one bigger than the first, aimed for a more fatal spot and launched it with a shout of 'DIE!' The spear flew at terrific speeds right for Twilight and despite the other's cries for her to run or get out of the way, the unicorn stood her ground and when it was close enough, she knocked it aside with her hoof.

Everyone gaped as they watched the projectile fly across the room and impact on the ceiling where Celestia's cocoon was with enough force to knock down the ceiling and the cocoon attached. Under normal circumstances Twilight would've been gaping as well in shock at her newfound strength, but at this moment she was too angry and the energy that she'd built up was ready to be released.

"My turn." Was the only warning anyone had for what came next.

For those who were outside of the castle, it was like a pulse that radiated from the castle, knocking ponies off their hooves or out of the air, picking up anything loose and sending it flying, pushing back and\or knocking over carts and wagons, destroying or damaging buildings and sending the changeling invaders flying. Some were killed in the blast, but some lived and ended up escaping carrying their wounded.

At the center of ground zero for the pulse was Twilight Sparkle. When the pulse was released from her body, there were similar effects. Her friends and Cadence, who'd been glued to the ground by some sticky substance, were pulled from their restraints and sent flying along with Shining Armor, Celestia's cocoon was ripped open and Chrysalis was thrown out the window. Before she could crash in the gardens below however, she regained control of her flight and flew up. Outside she was able to see the damage done by that one pulse and her retreating forces. Deciding that she didn't want to see what else the unicorn could do, she lit up her horn to create a flaming green portal that she retreated through before she closed it behind her.

Back in the wedding room, the Mane Six were climbing up from where they landed, their wobbly gaits showing that they were dazed from the sudden launch. Cadence was tending to her fiancée since he'd ended up banging his head which, while it resulted in a bleeding head, seemed to have cleared him of Chrysalis' influence. Though that didn't mean they weren't going to have somepony look at him to make sure it was all gone.

Out of all the ponies in the room, the only ones who weren't unsteady on their hooves or tending to someone else were Spike and Celestia. While Spike had been flung across the room and hit a wall, his draconic nature made him far more durable than the ponies. As for Celestia, her alicorn nature made her sturdier as well, plus the cocoon she'd been encased in had taken the brunt of the pulse. As the others were trying to help each other up and steady one another, these two were quickly making their way towards Twilight who even now was swaying on her hooves.

After that pulse left her, Twilight instantly felt exhausted and heavy. She'd held herself together until Chrysalis left but now that the threat was over, there was nothing stopping her from collapsing and taking a plain old nap. Just as she went down, she felt someone catch her head and when she looked up she saw Spike looking down at her. She mustered up a genuine smile. Even though he did walk out with her 'friends' after what happened, she didn't hate him or feel betrayed. He was her oldest friend\little brother\son and her Number One Assistant. Plus he was just a kid and Twilight felt she could forgive him more readily than her full grown adult 'friends'.

Coming up behind Spike she saw Princess Celestia. The Solar Diarch's expression started out as concern but it then morphed into a look of shocked horror. Twilight was confused. Why would her mentor be making that expression at her. Unfortunately she didn't get to ask as she began drifting into a more natural sleep than before. As she did however, she heard Godzilla's voice echo in her ears.

"SLEEP NOW AND WHEN YOU WAKE, YOU WILL BE FULLY REBORN AS A KAIJU. BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER TO NEVER LOSE YOURSELF IN YOUR ANGER AND RAGE. THE WAY YOU ARE NOW, IT IS VERY EASY TO CROSS THE LINE BETWEEN GAURDIAN OR MONSTER SIMPLY BY LETTING RAGE AND HATRED RULE. DO NOT FALL INTO THAT TRAP. GOOD LUCK."

Twilight could only ponder what he meant by that for a few moments before her mind faded into the sweet oblivion of sleep.

✴✴✴✴✴✴

In the wake of the invasion and pulse, relief teams were rushing around helping ponies and in some cases rescuing ponies that ended up under rubble or in similar situations. Amongst these were doctors and medics ranging from paramedics and doctors from various clinics and hospitals in Canterlot to medics from the Royal Guard and Wonderbolts. The castle medical staff were also packing up to contribute their own efforts when Princess Celestia herself burst in with her student on her back.

"I need a medic out here right now!" She shouted in a commanding voice that was rarely heard. As they were placing the unicorn on a gurney, Celestia continued. "She needs a full magic infusion now!"

Once that fully registered, everypony on the medical staff ground to a halt mentally and physically then turned to look at her as though she were insane. Magic infusion was a relatively new-ish and highly risky procedure. Even a partial magic infusion carried a number of risks and complications, the most common of which was the patient's body rejecting the magic that had been infused. Those that did survive the procedure would have their magic ability reduced to half of what it had once been with a very narrow chance of recovering their previous level.

And Celestia wanted them to perform that same procedure on her prized pupil. While none of them would say it out loud, they were all thinking the same thing. 'Surely she must be joking.' And yet when they turned to their ruler, her expression was one of grim determination that denied any speculations of insanity or jest. As the doctors prepared for the infusion, Princess Celestia's thoughts began to drift to her sister.

Around the time before Nightmare Moon, Luna had been studying and dabbling in dark magic. At the time dark magic was almost unknown. There were certain spells that were considered taboo, but no magic specifically designed for such spells and with how spotty information on the subject was, Celestia almost dismissed it as rumours and folklore. To this day, she wished that was true. When they encountered Sombra however, he wielded a powerful magic that he called dark magic. After Sombra's defeat, Luna started studying and experimenting with the dark magic, much to Celestia's displeasure.

Luna had reasoned that it was entirely possible to use dark magic for other less nefarious purposes and the only way they could do that was by understanding it's nature. And if it turned out that that wasn't the case, they would still know enough to counter it if they encountered it again. Though Celestia still disapproved, she couldn't argue with her sister on that point. Who knew when the next dark sorcerer would pop up and given how close their battle with Sombra was, she couldn't deny that knowing about their opponent's magic would be a major boon in that situation.

Unfortunately her dabbling in dark magic led to some distrust towards her from their subjects and despite her best efforts, Luna couldn't seem to regain their trust in their eyes. One thing led to another and things began to spiral out of control as the citizens fear, distrust and superstitious nature reached ridiculous levels. Around the time of Luna's transformation it had gotten to the point where ponies were locking themselves in their homes when ever the sun set and night came. Celestia believed that Nightmare Moon's reasoning for eternal night was that if they were so scared of the night than she would make the night eternal so that they wouldn't be so scared.

In the aftermath of Luna's banishment, Celestia and most of the populace blamed the dark magic she'd been studying. At the time, it was the only logical conclusion. Her first law that she drafted herself was to ban dark magic and it's usage. She didn't want any other families or friends to be hurt or torn apart by the foul magic. Now that her sister had returned however, Luna had been looking into getting the law repealed. This of course shocked Celestia and she was doing her best to resist her. She didn't want to lose her sister again.

And now it looked like she'd lose her student.

She didn't know how it happened, but after she came back to life she could sense an energy that shared numerous characteristics with that damnable dark magic. As they wheeled Twilight's gurney into an operation room to begin the procedure, she prayed to what deities she knew (including some that hadn't been worshiped for centuries) that the doctors would be able to drive out what corruption had taken her student. Taking in a deep breath and bringing herself back to the present, Celestia started to follow after the doctors when one stopped her.

"Sorry Princess but this is a very delicate procedure and for safety reasons, we can't let anyone except the doctors and nurses performing it in until we're done." He explained. "You'll have to wait out here."

Celestia nodded. There were things she needed to do out here anyways. There was only so much her sister could do in the way of reassuring the public and judging by the approaching voices, Twilight's friends, brother and her old foalsitter were coming to seek medical attention and would want to know what was going on with their friend\sister.

"Of course doctor." She said. "I leave her in you're hooves and I pray you will be successful."

The doctor only nodded and closed the doors behind him. The next moment, a red light over the door switched on, indicating that the procedure was starting and that nopony was to enter. It was out of the princess' hooves. All she could do now was wait and pray. In the meantime however, there were six mares and one stallion that were going to want answers and an entire city that needed reassuring. With these things in mind, the Solar Diarch took a deep breath and braced herself for what was coming. Little did she know that the future had much more in store for her than she initially thought at the time.

✴✴✴✴✴✴

Once the door was shut and the light turned on, the doctors and nurses could begin. For this infusion, they had four canisters of pure light magic but before they could start, an examination of the patient was in order.

"Doctor, so far I'm not seeing any sign of physical injuries or anything that would warrant a full magic infusion." A nurse by the name of Iris Song reported with a frown. The lead doctor of the operation, Goldenseal, frowned as well.

"Pull out our scanning equipment then." He replied. "Princess Celestia wouldn't request something like a full magic infusion without a good reason so maybe it's something we can't see. Like extreme mana exhaustion or something like that. I imagine that you can't drive off those bugs without any sort of side effects."

Iris didn't hesitate to pull out said items and had already begun scanning as Goldenseal continued speaking. As she looked over the data on her scanner however, her frown deepened.

"It's definitely not any sort of mana depletion. In fact it looks like it's........increased?" As she'd been speaking, more data scrawled across the screen and her scowl quickly morphed into a look of confusion.

"Miss Song? Is something wrong?" Golden asked with concern in his voice.

"I'm not completely sure." Iris answered. "According to these readings, it looks like Twilight's mana has no only increased, but it's also changing into something else. I've never seen anything like it before and going by these readings, I hesitate to even call it magic. It's so different and much stronger than any type of magic I've seen before, including dark magic. And it's all flowing from this core right around the heart and the way its pumping this energy around body, I'd almost call it a secondary heart."

Goldenseal frowned at this information. Iris Song was his best nurse and a jack of all trades as far as medical skills went. She knew various treatments from herbal to antibiotics and mundane to magical. She was also very tough and no nonsense though still very kind and caring when she needed to be and in all the years he'd known her, he knew there were very few things that could rattle or even startle her. So when everyone heard the shock and surpise in her voice, they gave her their undivided attention. For a few moments the other doctors and nurses were silent as they digested this information. Finally Goldenseal broke that silence.

"Let's take a sample of what ever it is then." He said. It was honestly all they could think to do in this situation and everypony instantly lept back into action. As they were taking the sample however, the machine exploded. This shocked even Iris since that device had been designed to withstand an alicorn's power. But before they could even speculate what had happened, Twilight began to glow as large amounts of intense heat poured off of her, making the ponies back up several steps as many of their instruments and the gurney she was on began to warp or melt. Then, to their surprise, her body began to change.

The unicorn grew to more than twice her size, about one and a half head taller than Big Mac as her violet coat darkened to black. Her mane and tail grew longer and spikier as they turned a shade of off white. The only part of her mane that retained its original colors were the two stripes of pink and purple. Her coat also grew longer and shaggier with the fur on her back being particularly spiky to the point where it was standing up on its own and turning the same shade as her mane. The most interesting transformation however were her hooves.

Her hooves first shifted colors from violet to black and then split into hoof-like claws. Four for her forelegs and three on her hind hooves. Slits then appeared on either side of the base of Twilight's neck, their purpose clear to anyone who'd ever seen a fish. Her flat teeth sharpened and her horn began to flatten against her head and changed to ivory as it morphed into a trident shape. Then to their complete shock, twin bulges developed on her back then exploded into a pair of wings. They were far larger than any pegasi's wings and were draconic in shape and as dark as her coat.

By this point, the light and heat had begun to fade until finally it ceased and then Twilight's eyes snapped open. Her eyes were now a brilliant orange-red with a dagger shaped pupil. At the sight of the eye, every doctor and nurse flinched back except Iris. Noticing the reactions of her fellow colleagues, she rolled her eyes in exasperation. She'd moved here to Canterlot in first place because she couldn't stand the dramatic over reactions of her cousins. Amongst her group, she was the only one who didn't make a fuss over everything.

Her first theory was the fact that she lived in the proximity of the Everfree forest but that quickly went out the window when she realized that they lived near the Everfree too and they still fainted in horror when ever one of the flowers had a broken stem. Now that doesn't mean she didn't love her family, but she quickly got sick of being the only one in their group with any sort of backbone. Now here she was again the only brave one while her collogues were cowering like foals in a thunderstorm. Needless to say, Iris Song wasn't pleased with the situation.

Pushing aside those thoughts however, she turned her attention back to the newly transformed 'unicorn'. By this point, Twilight had figured out where she was and had then proceeded to examine herself. Iris wasn't the only one who found this transformation fascinating, Twilight Sparkle herself was also curious about what her new form could do and found it to be a very interesting experience to have individual digits and wings. She'd observed Spike using his own claws long enough to know how they worked and while these claws were different from Spike's, they still functioned the same way so it didn't take her long to roll off the gurney and land on her claws.

The thud her landing generated made the other doctors and nurses flinch back, but Twilight ignored them in favor of the glowing canisters of magic. Approaching the canisters with the promise of sustenance within, she grabbed one and tore off the top with ease. She then stuck her muzzle in and began devouring the pure light magic like it was simply food and not something that could potentially short out a pony's magic system if taken in all at once without the necessary precautions.

As she observed this action, Iris theorized that the reason for this reaction was that because of the drastic changes made to her body within the last half hour or so, she required some form of sustenance and it seemed though the raw light magic that had been intended for the magic fusion were sufficient. As Twilight finished off the first canister and proceeded to do the same to the other three, Iris began to slowly and cautiously approach. This was a new, never before seen lifeform and she had a feeling that reacting suddenly and violently would lead to nothing but trouble. So she approached slowly and cautiously.

By the time Twilight finished her fourth and final canister of magic, Iris was practically right next to her. But before she could get the transformed mare's attention, one of the doctors ran up and struck her from behind with a heart monitor. Iris hadn't seen him coming until the last minute when she couldn't stop him in time and when the blow landed she had to resist the urge to face hoof at his (admittedly fear induced) stupidity. Not only did his attack fail, the damaged heart monitor only breaking apart on the former unicorn's back (undoubtedly the first thing he could grab for his spur of the moment attack), but he also drew the undivided attention of Twilight. The fool cowered under her orange-red gaze as though Nightmare Moon herself had returned.

As Twilight stared at the cowering doctor, she contemplated what to do. True he'd attacked her, but his attempt had worked just as well as a stuffed rabbit would on a bear and she wasn't particularly mad at him. But given how afraid he and the other ponies in the room were (she still hadn't noticed Iris Song) she guessed that another attack from somepony else wouldn't be long in coming. Plus, now that she'd eaten her fill, she had places to go and things to do. She'd never felt so free and alive before and she planned to enjoy that a little before escaping the city.

From where she was standing, Iris saw what was coming a mile away. Quickly she ducked and hid beneath the closest thing she could reach, the gurney Twilight Sparkle had been on. It had been slightly melted and warped by a combination of the earlier heat and increased weight of the pony that'd been on it earlier, but there was still enough room beneath it for the nurse to squeeze under for what she suspected was coming. True to her suspicions, Twilight Sparkle released another pulse from her body. This one was much smaller than the first one and was only enough to knock the ponies in the room off their hooves and into the wall knocking them all out cold.

With everyone sufficiently knocked unconscious, Twilight then turned to a particular wall that she was certain was an outer wall. Gathering hot energy in her throat, Twilight released a blast of neon blue at the wall which swiftly broke\melted under the torrent of power, exposing the operation room to the gardens outside. Since the this particular part of the gardens was a far corner with nopony about, it was easy for Twilight to jump the short distance to the ground (using her new wings as a parachute) and leave the castle grounds without anyone noticing. Well, almost nobody.

When Twilight lept out, Iris quickly crawled out from her hiding place and approached the now destroyed wall. Looking out she could see Twilight quickly leaving and was able to determine where she was headed. Then she lept out the window after the mare. The operating room, while on the ground floor, was a fair distance up from the ground. No matter, there were bushes nearby that Iris could jump towards and her earthpony nature meant that she was a little more durable than the other pony races though clearly not on the same level of durability that Twilight was on. After shaking off the leaves and twigs, Iris Song then took off after Twilight without hesitation.

Author's Note

Okay, a great start now a few things I'd like to say. First off, this is based off of Snow Ghost Pony's story Kaiju Rumble and written with their permission.

Secondly, you're probably wondering about Xenilla and what that is and where it's from. Well earlier I got in touch with another author, Tarbtano, about using that same name for another story that is far far faaaaaaar into the future, not because of writers block but because I'm still establishing the verse this story is going to be in. Needless to say, there's lots that needs establishing.

Anyways, Xenilla is the name that Tarbtano gave Space Godzilla in his story The Bridge, an amazing story and if you haven't already read it, I suggest you do that right now. I asked him if I could use his name in my story and he said that it was okay with them if I spread the name around. I just have to give credit where credit is due which I don't mind doing. So credit for Xenilla goes to Tarbtano and his story (seriously, go check it out). Xenilla x Blade Dancer 4ever!

Okay, a few more items on the docket here. In case you were wondering about Godzilla's appearance, it is more or less based on his appearance in the 2014 film because that film first got me interested in the classic Kaiju. I haven't really watched the old movies, but I have done my homework and I must say that this is awesome. If you don't like the way I'm portraying these Kaiju, than fine. I'm not forcing you to read this story. But please don't flame me in the comments.

The Aftermath and Learning

Shortly after the red light switched on, the doors to the infirmary burst open to admit a pink alicorn supporting her husband to be, despite his protests. Once the remaining medical staff saw the state of the Captain, particularly his head wound, they immediately stole him away from his fiancée and got to work cleaning and patching up his wounds. Following close behind the two were the rest of the Element Bearers. While they were no longer unsteady on their hooves, aside from the odd stumble, their expressions were ones of concern and Celestia could safely guess why.

"Princess, is everything alright?" Applejack was the one who voiced what was on everypony's mind. "Y'all ran out like a bat out of Tartarus. Is...is Twilight okay?"

"She is alive and well." Celestia informed them and the expressions on everyone's face were of pure relief. Then Applejack gave her an odd look.

"Ah'm sensing a rather important 'but' in there." Applejack started. "Where is she anyways and is she really okay?" Celestia stole a momentary glance of the operation room doors before turning back to the assembled ponies to answer.

"I'm not completely sure." The Solar Diarch confessed and the looks of concern returned to their faces full force. "Physically she's fine. Not one scratch on her as far as I can tell. But that pulse and the energy she's been radiating since share strong similarities with dark magic. Specifically, Sombra's brand of dark magic."

The assembled ponies were shocked to say the least. If there was one thing they never thought they would hear in the same sentence, it was Twilight and dark magic. Even pegasi and earthponies understood what dark magic meant. Rarity was the one with the most extreme reaction, the unicorn swooning and being caught by Applejack. The others had their own reactions to this but the more notable reaction was Shining Armor's. The stallion said nothing and instead turned his gaze to the floor and grasped the bed as tightly as he could. The only one to notice this was Cadence and in response, she laid a wing across his back in a comforting gesture.

"O-oh dear." Fluttershy whispered worriedly as she stroked her mane. "Is there anything that can be done?"

"I've already instructed the medical staff to give her a full magic infusion." Celestia answered, shocking the three unicorns and one alicorn. "She is currently in their capable hooves. Hopefully they'll be able to counter this before it's too late."

As she continued, she nodded at the OR door. It didn't take a genius to figure out where their friend was. As the rest of the Element Bearers turned towards the door in question, Celestia began towards the exit as she spoke.

"I wish I could be here by her side, but in the wake of this invasion, there is much to do." This drew their attention back to the Princess. "There are ponies who need reassurance and aid at this time and there's only so much that my sister alone can do."

The five mares shared a glance before Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared in front of Celestia, halting her in her tracks.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked. "I may have been a little wobbly earlier, but I'm whole and healthy so it's the least that I can do."

"Your offer is very much appreciated, but you do not need to do this." Celestia answered. "Don't you want to wait here for Twilight?"

"While the city is in such a wreak and there are ponies injured?" Rainbow asked in response. "I can't just stay inside and sit on my flank while there were folks out there that need help. Besides, this whole mess is partially my fault. Remember, Twilight kept telling us that there was something wrong and we just brushed her off? If I'd have been a more loyal friend and stuck by her even of I didn't believe her, then we'd have found her out and stopped the invasion before it started. Some Element of Loyalty I am."

Almost everyone's eyes widened as they remembered what she was talking about. The only one who didn't have this reaction was Cadence, who looked around the remorseful looks on her aunt, fiancée and Twilight's friends. She could tell that there was a story behind those looks, but this wasn't the time or place to inquire as to what so she held her tongue.

"You are not the only one to blame for what happened then." Celestia said. Internally, she swore that when she got the chance, she'd properly apologize to her student. "Do not feel the need to shoulder that burden. Remember, you had just met 'Cadence' so none of you could've known that she wasn't acting like herself. I on the other hoof knew her long enough that I should've harboured suspicions on Cadence's drastic change in personality. Instead I brushed it off as stress."

"But we still shouda had faith in our friend when she said somethin' was up." Applejack asserted. "Dash is right, this is as much our responsibility as it is yours. We'd like ta come help too."

"Indeed." Rarity concurred as she strolled past towards the door. "This our mess and we will help clean it up." The rest nodded agreement as they followed. As far as they were concerned, there was nothing more to say. They'd made their point clear and there was nothing short of a broken leg that could deter them and even then they'd still hobble out there. And so Celestia conceded defeat at the hooves of five determined mares.

As they filed out of the room however, a seventh joined. With his head wound cleaned and wrapped in bandages, Shining Armor jumped off of the cot that he'd been ushered onto while he'd been given treatment.

"Well since their going, I'm coming too." He declared. Instantly, Cadence reacted.

"Shiny! You've just taken a major blow to your head and you want to go out there already!?" She cried out with concern. "Have your brains already been scrambled!?! You should be lying down not running around like this!!"

Shining's ears pressed to his skull at his fiancée's tirade, but he didn't back down. "Cady, I'm fine. Really, see? I'm good." Shining answered as he trotted around to demonstrate he was okay. "Besides, even if I wasn't, this is my responsibility too. As Captain of the Royal Guard my duty is to protect and serve. Today I failed in my duty as a Royal Guard and as an older brother. I have to do what I can to help clean up my mess."

For a moment the two ponies stared at each other, communicating with their eyes. Cadence's eyes were filled with concern as she silently pleaded with her husband to lie down. Shining's eyes were filled with firm determination with regret mixed in. They stared at each other a moment more before Cadence finally relented with a sigh.

"Fine. If you're so determined to do this, I may as well come make sure you don't do any permanent damage to yourself." She sighed then pressed herself into Shining's side, laying a wing across his back to help support him. "But the second you start getting faint or anything, I'm teleporting us back here and you will rest." Her firm look then melted into a teasing smile. "I can't have my husband getting too brain damaged to say his vows now can I?"

Shining smirked as well. "We aren't technically husband and wife yet." He pointed out as they started for the door.

"With how close we were to the alter, I'd say we are." Cadence replied. As the couple walked out chuckling, Celestia couldn't help but crack a smile. When they disappeared down the hall, the Solar Diarch turned back to the medical staff still in the infirmary.

"When the procedure is complete, you will send a messenger?" She asked.

"Of course your highness." Came the reply. Celestia only nodded and left. Almost an hour later, the infirmary shook, knocking everyone off their hooves. Half a minute later, there was a sound almost like an explosion that came from the operation room Twilight had been taken into. Now came the hard part. Deciding who would go in to see what had happened.

✴✴✴✴✴✴

The palace grounds and gardens had been transformed into a sort of refugee camp. Tents dotted the area, some were makeshift infirmaries, some were set up by restaurants, diners, cafes and various other eateries through out Canterlot and were serving food for the ones that needed it. And the rest were for those who lost their homes in the attack. Upon seeing what was going on, the group instantly set about doing various tasks.

Rainbow Dash joined the ponies that were looking for missing ponies while Applejack returned to the castle to set up her own food tent. Soon she and the rest of the Apple clan that were in the city at the time were handing out Apple family food stuffs, most of which had been meant for the wedding. After all, there's no sense in wasting good food while there were folks in need. Rarity decided to lend what help she could at the medical tents and while she did cring and sometimes whimper at the wounds and injuries she saw, she soldiered on and continued to help.

Of course since she didn't have any medical training, she could only do mostly first aid and help wrap bandages. But that didn't mean she couldn't make the bandages look fabulous. Fluttershy of course started out tending to any wounded animal she could, but when she caught the attention of a curious filly who asked to help, more children joined in. Soon she had a small army of fillies and colts that were bringing her injured critters and helping her patch them up. By the end of the experience, there were several children that decided that they wanted to keep doing this with many of them (including the first filly) earning their cutiemarks.

Pinkie of course did what she does best. Make ponies laugh. And with the invasion that'd been dropped on their heads, ponies definitely needed a smile. And Pinkie Pie definitely delivered. Within ten minutes of entering the camp, everyone was noticeably cheerful. Shining Armor, and by extension Cadence, instantly made a beeline for the one tent that had Luna's cutiemark on it. And following close behind them was Princess Celestia. Upon entering, Shining stood as straight as he could and saluted.

"Captain Shining Armor reporting for duty Your Highness." He said, drawing Luna's attention from a dark figure between two of her thestral Guards. The first thing to draw her attention was the bandage wrapped around his head and she frowned.

"Captain Armor, while I am glad to see you, are you certain that you should even be here when thou hast such an injury?" She asked and Shining Armor almost sighed.

"With all due respect your Highness, I feel perfectly fine and I am ready to assume my duties." He replied. A smile spread across the Lunar Diarch's muzzle.

"There is no need to speak so formally with me." She said in a gentle teasing tone. "Thou art married to my niece so it is more appropriate for you to refer to me by name. I'm sorry I was unable to attend the ceremony for obvious reasons so how was it? Didst thou make your vows to each other whilst embroiled in battle?"

The pair had been about to explain their current status when she asked that last question with no small amount of excitement and they faltered.

"Wait what?" They asked simultaneously.

"Ah well, while I do enjoy a regular wedding just as much as the next pony, I find there's a certain romantic charm to making your vows spur of the moment during a life or death situation." Luna explained. "It just feels a little more exciting than when the characters would have a traditional wedding. So didst thou?"

Cadence and Shining Armor had no words at that moment and before they could come up with something to say, almost musical laughter interrupted them.

"Oh Luna, you've probably watched too much TV." Celestia said as she opened the tent flap and walked in. "And no, that's not what happened. If you'll come here, I'll explain."

As the princesses moved to the other side of the tent to talk in private, Shining turned to the two thestrals and the darker figure beween them. And now that Shining was looking, he saw that it was a changeling. Scowling, Shining Armor approached to get a better look at the prisoner. It was clear that the thing had taken a beating from something as it's shell on the back was cracked, one of its wings was missing and judging by the way it was sitting, it's right hindleg had been injured somehow.

While these injuries were interesting, what really caught Shining Armor's eye was the complete lack of restraints. Aside from the two guards on either side, there was nothing restraining the prisoner. No horn ring, no shackles, not even any rope. And even more surprising was that the changeling wasn't making any move to escape. At current, there were sixty ways that the changeling could use to incapacitate them all and escape even with the princesses inside the tent, yet it just sat there and met Shining's glare head on without wavering. This rankled the Captain of the Gaurd.

"Soldiers, good work bringing back a prisoner." Shining Armor said to the two thestrals. "But I hope you have a very good reason for why it isn't properly restrained."

The changeling bristled slightly at being addressed as an 'it', but didn't say anything. One thestral stepped forward, partially in front of the changeling, cutting Shining Armor off from the prisoner. The unicorn narrowed his eyes at the thestral as she saluted briefly.

"Sir, there was no need to restrain him because he came with us willingly." She explained, adding emphasis on the pronouns she was using for the changeling. Shining's scowl deepened and his eyes narrowed a little more at the changeling.

"Explain." He said shortly.

"During the battle, we were in a far flung almost abandoned area of Canterlot." The male thestral started. "At some point, we ended up near a condemned building and when that pulse suddenly came, it destabilized the building. We would've been crushed to death if Freowine here hadn't shielded us with his body."

"His kind are subterranean in nature, so he had a higher chance of surviving a massive pile of bricks being dropped on him." The female thestral picked it up from there. "Unfortunately that doesn't mean he's invincible. His shell was cracked, a wing was torn off, his hindleg was dislocated plus he got knocked out. So it was up to the two of us to dig all three of us out. When we got out and tended to his leg, we decided that we needed to take him to Princess Luna to decide what to do. And here we are."

Shining Armor took a deep breath and released it out his nose as a snort. "While I am glad that you two are alive, the prisoner is still not restrained. Have you already forgotten who you were fighting? Have you forgotten that they attacked us?!"

The male thestral edged a little closer to the now tensed changeling at Shining Armor's shout and his partner leveled a cool even stare at the unicorn.

"We are aware of that sir." The female thestral answered. "However, this changeling saved our lives and it makes little sense to punish a soldier for a choice his Queen made."

"But it still participated in the invasion." Shining countered. "And it's a changeling, a natural born liar and infiltrator. How do you know it didn't save your lives just to garner favor so it can spy on us?"

The changeling snorted. "Oh yeah, because it totally makes sense to risk my own life and end up losing my wing and in pain when ever I take a step all for a cover." He snarled. "That's my oh so brilliant plan. And by the way, the 'it' has a name and proper pronoun."

Shining Armor immediately rounded on the changeling and shoved his face into Freo's so he was glaring directly into his face. "Doesn't matter to me if you're a he or a she." He snarled lowly. "You're still a bug that took my fiancee and invaded my home. So I'll call you whatever I feel fits."

"So you're going to condemn a species based on your personal feelings?" Freo countered with his own snarl.

"If that's what it takes to keep the ones I love safe, than yes I will." Shining answered coldly.

"Do you know how much of an ass you sound?" Freo retorted angrily. Before that could go anywhere or Shining could have the chance to respond, they were both pulled away. Shining by his wife to be and Freo by the two thestrals. As she pulled him back, Cadence shot a withering glare at Shining Armor that shocked him.

"Cady-" he started only to be cut off but her cold admonishing tone.

"We shall discuss this later." Was all she said to him before turning to changeling who, oddly enough, was going through breathing exercises. She looked at him with a mix of questioning and concern then spoke.

"Um, is everything okay?" She asked. "Are you alright?" Freo took in a deep breath then released it.

"Sorry, just an allergic reaction." He explained. "I'm fine now."

Now everypony looked at him in confusion and they all spoke simultaneously. "Allergic reaction???"

"Yeah, pretty much." Freo said with a shrug. "It's a little bit of an explanation but first, what do you know about changelings?"

Shining snorted scornfully. "I know that they kidnap and replace ponies so that they can suck your love for that pony."

Freo took a deep breath before continuing. "There are so many things wrong with that, I almost don't know where to begin." He sighed. "For the sake of answering your question, I will ignore that but know that I intend to correct this misconceptions later."

"And I would be happy to hear them." Cadence said, further shocking Shining Armor.

"Thank you, your Highness." Freowine said.

"Please, don't call me that." Cadence said kindly. "Just Cadence is fine."

"Very well miss Cadence." Freo answered and Shining Armor stared at how casually his fiancé was acting around the thing that invaded their home. His look however was ignored as the changeling continued.

"Anyways, there is some truth to that, we do feed on love and other positive emotions. They are a very important part of our diet." He explained. "We do not however 'suck' it from anypony. We simply absorb it naturally and subconsciously the same way any species brings in air. Anyways, when we bring in emotions our bodies automatically separate them. Positive emotions are processed into a substance for us to eat and negative emotions are ejected. However, if a changeling receives a certain dosage of negative emotions, our bodies don't process it properly resulting in an allergic reaction."

"Hmm, fascinating." Cadence murmured in interest and wishing Twilight was here. "And I'm assuming that dosage and reaction differs from changeling to changeling."

"It does indeed Cadence." Freo confirmed and Shining bristled at the changeling's address towards her. But one look from his fiancee silenced him, and he sat back reluctantly as the changeling continued. "Mild reactions manifest as mood swings depending on the emotion or emotions present. For example, Captain Shining Armor here feels aggressive and since it was intense enough, I reacted in kind."

"I see. And what about more extreme reactions?" Cadence asked.

"Changelings that are more sensitive and have more severe reactions experience a complete 180 in personality depending on the emotion they have been exposed to." Freo answered. "It is temporary thankfully, but it goes without saying that collectors such as myself can't have this sort of reaction. That is why Equestria is such a wonderful place for us. Because you ponies are so happy and positive in general, that there's less of a risk of us having constant allergic reactions than in say the minotaur lands or amongst the griffins."

Freo then paused for a minute, the continued to speak. "It's also the reason for the invasion." He said and Shining perked up and glared at him through narrowed eyes. Freo could already feel the beginnings of another allergic reaction and squirmed in his seat as he fought it down. Noticing this and suspecting the cause, Cadence turned to the love of her life.

"Shining honey, I think you need to step out now." She said in a firm but gentle voice. Shining Armor reeled in shock.

"What!?" He shouted. "But Cady, I can't just leave you alone with a prisoner!" The words 'especially that prisoner' hung in the air.

"I'll be fine. Trust me, I can take good care of myself." She said kindly before her voice took on a firm edge. "You on the other hoof aren't helping here. I get that you want to protect me, but here your just making it hard for us to come to a peaceful resolve."

"Peaceful?! They attacked us!" Shining protested. "Worse, they took you from me and brainwashed me! How can you think of coming to any sort of peaceful resolve?!"

"Because nothing can be gained from holding grudges." A new voice answered and Shining swiveled around to face Luna and Celestia who had spoken.

"Indeed." Luna agreed. "And if it is in our power to extend the hoof of peace, than that is what we shall endeavour to do."

"Shiny, why don't you go take a walk to clear your head." Cadence suggested gently. "Maybe even go get some rest. We'll be just fine. Freo won't try to attack us and even if he did, I doubt that he would stand a chance against three alicorn princesses."

"She is correct, do not presume that we are weak. I myself can and have held my own against entire armies. A single changeling with little combat training wouldn't stand a chance." Luna reasoned. Shining was torn. On one hoof, he could see his ruler's reasoning, but on the other hoof he was loathe to leave his fiancée alone with the enemy. In the end however, he sighed in defeat.

"Fine, I'll go." He said reluctantly. "But on one condition."

✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴

Half an hour later, everypony was now settled. Shining had left as requested and in his place were Twilight's friends. Initially, Shining had wanted some guards to be with there in his place, but the princesses had rejected it. Instead of guards, the Element Bearers would be present and a rope had been secured around Freo's neck. This was acceptable for all parties including the changeling.

The five mares were brought up to speed on the situation and now here they were. While each mare had some negative emotions of their own, Pinkie Pie was more than enough to counter the feelings of anger, distrust, fear and disgust. And with everyone settled, Freowine could now begin.

"It all started with a cave in." Freo began. "We make our hives underground and while rare, cave ins can happen. Usually in really old caverns or caverns that weren't constructed properly. Other times they can occur as a result of disasters such as earthquakes and what not. Anyways, there was a cave in, but what made this cave in stand out was where it occurred. Within the rooms where we store our processed love effectively destroying much of our supply.

"Changelings can eat anything you see, from fruits and vegetables to meats like fish and pork but the most important food staple is processed love. We could survive famine and drought so long as we have a steady supply of love. Not indefinitely, but long enough. And unfortunately with our supply destroyed, chances were that some were going to skip meals or even starve until we rebuilt our supply. Things were looking pretty bleak for us until the wedding announcement.

"You see for changelings, there are three occasions when there's a bump in positive emotions, specifically love. Two of these are holidays, Hearthswarming and Hearts and Hooves. The third is during weddings. In addition, this is a Royal Wedding which is much bigger than a standard wedding. Yes there will be nobles there, but considering our situation it was worth the risk. We had planned on just sending a few extra collectors than usual, but Chrysalis had other plans.

"We have no idea what was going through her head when she decided to replace the bride and I'm no psychologist, but I think the stress of the situation got to her and she was desperate. I'm not saying you should excuse her actions, I just want you to understand the situation and hopefully find it in your heart to forgive her. We all admit she wasn't the perfect Cadence, but she was passable up until you girls, or more specifically Twilight, showed up."

"What!? Your going to go and blame this on Twilight!?" Rainbow instantly reacted and might've charged the changeling if Celestia's wing hadn't cut her off. Dash turned to shoot the Solar alicorn a glare and faltered and the sharp look she shot back. Reluctantly, the pegasus settled down as Freo continued.

"I'm not placing blame on anyone." He replied. "I'm simply giving you the facts as I know. You are all aware of changeling allergies, correct?" Everyone nodded. "Well Chrysalis happens to be one of the more severe cases. It doesn't take too much for her get an allergic reaction. At first Chrysalis resisted the negative emotions Twilight was directing to her which was relatively easy since the weren't very strong. But it still effected her behavior. It was Twilight's outburst at the rehearsal that pushed her over the edge. The original plan was to return Cadence that night with maybe a memory spell to prevent her from remembering the last few days.

"All of a sudden, that plan went out the window and the next thing we knew, we were invading. Even in the throne room, Twilight's hatred and anger was just feeding the flames and making things worse to the point where she struck the way she did. Under normal circumstances, Chrysalis wouldn't hurt a fly which is why we were stunned by her actions in the throne room. And for not stopping her, we are truly sorry."

As Freo apologized, he bowed his head low. The ponies weren't sure what to say or think. Ultimately, it was Applejack that spoke.

"Listen Freo, it not that yer not sincere. Matter of fact, that has ta be one the most sincere apologies I've ever seen." Applejack began. "It's just....Ah suppose it jus a little too soon. Maybe sometime in the future we'll forgive you, but right now we're trying to pick up the pieces of this 'impromtu' invasion."

"I understand and I won't expect you to forgive us so soon." Freo said understandingly as he raised his head up. A butter yellow hoof raised and everyone turned to the owner. Fluttershy touched at the sudden attention, but still stood her ground. She was no longer exuding fear, at least not in the quantities she had before. Now there was more curiosity and sympathy mixed in with fear.

"Um...while I do understand why you invaded, I can't help but wonder why you invaded." She said, putting some emphasis on the last word. "I mean wouldn't it have been better if you asked for help instead of sneaking in and attacking? You could've avoided a lot of problems if you'd just asked for help."

"You don't think we already tried. This was sort of a last resort." Freowine answered and everypony looked at him in confusion. "The first thing we did was go around to the different hives and request assistance. Unfortunately most of them didn't have much to spare and one out and out said no to our faces. Of course we weren't really expecting any help from her, she's a real 'strong survive and weak perish' sort of queen."

"Wait wait wait, hives and queens?" Rainbow asked in confusion. "Isn't Queen Chrysalis like the queen of changelings?"

Freo stared for a moment, then his cheeks began the bulge with a 'pffft' before he finally burst out in laughter so strong that he actually collapsed despite the pain he was in. It took a full five minutes for the changeling to collect himself and sit back up.

"Heh, I'm sorry really I am." I snorted still holding in his chuckles. "It's just the idea of one Queen ruling over all changelings is the most ridiculous thing ever heard. There are other Queens that rule over their own hives. Chrysalis is just one of the youngest of them."

The first to recover from their shock was Celestia. "Well then, all the more reason to try and establish peaceful relations."

"That actually wasn't exactly what I meant when I asked why you didn't get help." Fluttershy piped up. "But if you couldn't get help from the other hives, why didn't you come to Celestia and Luna in the first place? They may be kinda intimidating, but they're kind and understanding. They would've helped you."

While the two alicorns in question initially were surprised when they were described as intimidating, they rest made them smile kindly. Freo however didn't smile. Instead he looked over the ponies with a neutral expression on his face then sighed.

"Honest truth, we didn't come to you because we were afraid." He answered and Fluttershy cocked her head.

"Of the princesses?" She asked and Freo shook his head.

"No, we are afraid of ponies." His answer had everypony reeling in shock.

"W-why?" Luna stuttered her question even though she was the first to recover.

"Lots of reasons, but the most prominent one is pretty simple." Freo said. "For a nation that is known to declare the joys of friendship and love, this concept isn't often expanded past your species. In other words, ponies are Xenophobic. I can think of more than two dozen events where different, known species was treated unkindly or unjustly by your ponies. And that's just off the top of my head. For example, in a village not too far from here there is a zebra that was at first shunned and feared as an 'evil enchantress'."

The five Element Bearers winced as they recalled the event but Freo continued. "And for what reason did they have to fear her? What horrible crime did she commit that earned the fear of an entire town? Nothing. She had done nothing to nopony. The only thing that they ever saw her do was come into town and paw at the ground. Nothing unusual, frightening or even threatening. Yet whenever they saw her coming, they'd run to their homes and board up the doors. The only thing that set her apart from any other pony was the fact that she was different.

"Now granted, zebras aren't exactly common here in Equestria, but even still if the locals had bothered to do their homework or even talk to her instead of relying on rumors and hysterical hearsay, they would've known that she wasn't a threat." The five Ponyville residents hung their heads in shame and Freo's eyes softened. "The matter was resolved a long time ago and the zebra has since been welcomed as a friend and member of the community, but that doesn't change the fact that your ponies first reaction to a zebra was fear and I'm willing to bet that if things continued to devolve, she might've been run out by a mob or worse.

"Zebras are not only one of the known species of the world, but their also a species that closely resembles ponies the most. Now look at me, a changeling." At this point, Freo gestured to himself. "The only resemblance we share is an equine form. After that, there aren't any similarities. Can you imagine how your subjects would react to us even if we didn't invade? Heck, for all we know, you yourselves would sign the order for our extermination. Far better to live in the shadows of secrecy than be hunted into extinction in the light of truth."

There was silence for a long while as the ponies digested the points that he had pointed out. Finally, Celestia spoke. "Your points are very valid." She said. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't familiar with what you are describing and I'm so sorry that your species feels this way. I should've been more proactive in stemming such attitudes and for that I am sorry."

"There's nothing that you should apologize for." Freo answered. "No leader can control how their subjects think and behave."

"Still, it is my responsibility and I should've made an effort to address this issue." Celestia insisted. "Now because of what you've seen, we couldn't have settled this peacefully before it came to this."

"It isn't entirely your fault." Freo sighed. "Truth be told, Chrysalis fears ponies the most because of a personal experience she had when she was young. It's not my story to tell however, so I won't say more on the subject."

Before they could wonder what sort of experience could traumatize a changeling however, the tent flap flew open and Shining Armor returned pantin like he'd just run all the way there.

"Princess, come quick!" He huffed. "It's Twilight!"

✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴

Princess Celestia stood at the entrance to the operation room and just stared. When the word Twilight left Shining Armor’s mouth, no questions were asked. Celestia, Cadence and the rest of her friends immediately followed Shining back to the castle.

As they ran, Shining gave his side of the story, telling them how he'd been on his way to the castle infirmary for some pain medication when the door was suddenly thrown open by a very harried doctor who'd been about to come get Celestia. Shining Armor had offered to take the message instead and now here they were.

After hearing the doctors and nurses accounts of what happened, Celestia now stood in the doorway surveying the damage with a grim look.

“We must find her.” She finally spoke with finality. “Captain Armor, round up any guards that are available and sweep the city. We must locate and purge her corruption before she's too far gone.”

As Shining saluted and ran off to fulfill his instructions, Cadence turned to her aunt and gave her a look.

“Aunty, surely you’re being a little extreme.” She said. “This is Twilight, remember. Surely she can be reasoned with.”

Celestia shot her niece a look of her own. “There is no reasoning with dark magic.” She said coldly. Celestia then turned away to begin the search and from the looks of it, Twilight's friends would be joining in.

Cadence huffed and began trotting away to conduct her own search when she was stopped by a voice.

“Hey wait for me!” Cadence paused, turned around and waited for Spike to catch up with her.

“I'm coming with you.” He announced. “You're going to find her and I want to come. Besides, I don't think Twilight's had either. And there's something I'd like to say to her.”

Cadence smiled at the little dragon and levitated him onto her back. “Alright then, c’mon.” She said. “Let's go see Twilight.”

Talks and Escape

Despite the events of the day, the invasion and destruction of Canterlot, there were still a number of bars and taverns still open. And it was here that Spike and Cadence started their search. There were three reasons for this choice, number one if Twilight felt like she had a new leash on life and wanted to cut loose or do something different, than a bar or tavern would be a pretty solid place to start.

Reason number two, given everything that happened recently, getting rejected like that (Spike filled her in on that and Cadence felt like she'd be having words with her husband to be), having to search for a way out of the caves, almost DYING and transforming into something; Twilight might feel like possibly trying out the joys of strong drink. And third reason, it's the last place anypony would think to look for her. Anyone who knew Twilight like her brother, her teacher and her friends would assume she would hide at the library or the archives.

Maybe even Donut Joe's or her home in Ponyville. Even if they were assuming that she wasn't herself they'd probably check restricted or sensitive areas. Bottom line, chances were that nopony would think to check any of the bars or taverns until they exhausted all other options. Nopony that is except Spike and Cadence. And even if it didn't pan out, there were still one or two other options, but Cadence was confident that she was right. She could feel it in her gut.

Now Canterlot was a big city with lots of different bars and taverns, however through the process of elimination they were able to narrow it down. Since Twilight had just escaped the castle, Cadence highly doubted that she'd be at a place anywhere near the castle or even in her old neighborhood. This is Twilight we're talking about, she's too smart to let herself get caught or spotted by someone she knew.

Cadence also had the gut feeling that Twilight would want to leave Canterlot while she could so it would be a safe bet that she'd find a place near the train station or any roads leading out of Canterlot. Maybe even near the edge of the city if she was feeling particularly brave. The doctors and nurses did say that she sprouted wings. So, with these criteria in mind, alicorn and dragon headed out to find their friend.

The first two tries were a bust but finally at their third stop, a tavern call The Sea Dragon, they found her. Cadence didn't recognize the little filly she'd used to foalsit at first. She knew that she'd grown, but she hadn't expected her to be so big. The dark coat, red orange eyes and trident shaped horn had also made her do a double take, but looking beyond all that, she was still recognizable as Twilight Sparkle.

"Twilight!" Spike exclaimed, immediately launching himself at Twilight from Cadence's back and startling the transformed unicorn at his shout. Despite the distance, Spike managed to reach Twilight in one jump and latch himself around her neck.

"Spike! You're here!" She exclaimed in surprise as Cadence approached. At the movement, Twilight noticed the alicorn. "And Cadence too? What are you two doing here?"

"Looking for you." Cadence answered simply and Twilight looked unsure. "Don't worry, we won't take you back to the castle. I just want to talk."

"About what?" Twilight asked.

"Lots of things, though if you'd like, we can keep it more private." Cadence said as she gestured around, indicating the fact that they were at the bar in front. "Why don't we order some food and get a booth, my treat. Sound good?"

✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴

After placing orders for cheesy fries, some gems and a meat platter (Cadence gave Twilight a funny look when she requested it), everyone slid into a booth at the far corner of the room. Twilight slid in last after some trail and error getting in.

"Darn it, as if adjusting to my increased body mass wasn't hard enough, these wings are just seem to get in the way any chance they get." She grumbled as she finally settled into her seat. "I'm still trying to figure out how they work."

"Hmmm, well I don't know how much I can help you since mine are different, but I think I can give you some tips on how to keep them out of the way." Cadence hummed.

"That would be a big help." Twilight sighed in relief. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Well I was thinking we might want to catch up first. So how've you been?" Cadence asked casually.

The next few minutes were spent chatting and catching up with each other. When the food was brought around, Cadence finally decided to ask the question that had been nagging at her for a while.

"So Twilight, what happened to you?" She asked. "I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just curious. What happened?"

Twilight considered this question as she scooped up a slice of pork covered in a sauce and popped it in her mouth. "Well, it happened when I passed out....." She started.

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"....and when I next woke, I was in an operation room of the Royal infirmary." Twilight finished. "The rest I think you know. And since I've been here, I've been thinking about what Godzilla said before I passed out. I think kaiju, or at least his type of kaiju, can get angry easily. And considering how big they were, anger meant a lot of destruction. I may not be as big, but I'm willing to bet that I'm just as powerful so until I know more, I'll have to try to reign in my temper."

"Mmm, I agree." Cadence hummed thoughtfully. "I could even teach you some breathing exercises to help you calm down. So I'm guessing that your new species eats meat, correct."

"Yep. I may not know much, but somehow I instinctively know what I'm supposed to eat." Twilight shrugged as she much on a slice of turkey. "I think that may have been a last gift from the kaiju. I know that the kaiju eat meat, but I also know that they primarily feed on radiation. And from what I can tell about radiation, it's like Aether itself."

Cadence gasped. Aether was the rawest, most powerful form of magic known. Not even an alicorn command it's power. And apparently Twilight could eat it for sustenance.

"That's.... unbelievable." She said quietly.

"It sounds awesome!" Spike piped up. "I mean if can eat Aether, then what do you think you could do with it?"

"I have no clue Spike." Twilight said with a shrug. "And by the way, you seem pretty okay with all this."

The little dragon shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be?" He asked. "I mean yeah you look a lot different, but your still Twilight. Besides, you've always been okay with me being a dragon, so I see no reason why I shouldn't be okay with you being a kaiju."

Twilight pulled him into a hug, almost hiding him from sight with her bulk. "Thanks Spike." She whispered softly and Spike grinned as he hugged back.

"Hey, that's what friends are for." He said. "And besides, what would you do without your Number One Assistant."

Twilight let out a snort and Cadence smiled at the heart warming scene. She let them be for a little while before finally they separated from each other.

"So Twilight, I'd like to know if you're doing okay." Cadence broke the silence. "Spike filled me in on what happened at the wedding rehearsal and I'd like to know if you're okay."

Twilight chewed slowly as she gave the question some thought. A few minutes later, she answered. "Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about." She said. "I feel hurt and angry at them for just leaving me like that and I kinda wonder if they trust me at all. I do want us to be friends, but right now I don't feel like forgiving them just yet."

Cadence placed a hoof on Twilight's claw soothingly. "It's alright." She said gently. "I don't blame you. You don't need to forgive them right away. Take your time and eventually you will forgive them."

"And for what it's worth, I'm really sorry for my part in that." Spike said as he glanced away and fidgeted with an amethyst. Twilight smiled softly and reached over to him and placed her claw on his head.

"It's alright Spike." She said as she rubbed his scales. "I already forgive you." Spike's face lit up and Cadence smiled as well.

"Speaking of forgiveness, there's something I think you should know." The Princess of Love said.

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Twilight was quiet after Cadence explained what they'd learned about the changelings. By this point, the meat platter was empty save for a piece of chicken that Twilight was using to mop up the last of the sauce. Cadence's own plate of cheesy fries was also running low and Spike had only a few gems left. The table was silent as the kaiju continued to mop up sauce that wasn't there anymore. Finally Cadence spoke again.

"Listen Twilight, I don't expect you to forgive them right off the bat." She said. "Faust knows you have valid reasons for disliking changelings. But I don't want you to judge and hate their race. It's not healthy or fair. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and try to be understanding."

Twilight didn't say anything, just nodded then popped her chicken into her mouth and stood. "Well it's been nice catching up and I'm glad to see that you're okay." She said. "Anyways, I should get going before the search parties find me. I'd like to get out of the city while I can."

Spike nodded then scooped up the remaining gems and stuffed them in his mouth. The little dragon then jumped off his seat and took a position at Twilight's side.

"Okay, I'm ready." He declared and Twilight's eyes widened.

"Spike! You-!" She couldn't finish her sentence, but Spike knew what she was going to say and grinned.

"Of course I'm coming with you." He said. "I am after all your Number One Assistant."

Twilight blinked then scooped him up into a hug. "Thank you." Was all she could say.

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After a couple minutes of Cadence showing Twilight a breathing exercise and tips and tricks for her wings, they finally left. Cadence decided to stick around for a a few minutes and order another plate of cheesy fries and maybe a couple of drinks while Twilight and Spike went out the back. And with Spike settled on her back right between her neck and wings they were off.

However, no sooner had they walked out than Twilight suddenly found herself attacked. A blow from above surprised and slightly dazed her followed by a second blow to her chest. While the second strike barely hurt, it still managed to push her back a step. Looking up at her attackers, Twilight's vision went red when she came face to face with two of her former friends.

Now some might think that because of his age, Spike wasnt very smart. While there were some things he didn't know and a few words he couldn't spell, this wasn't exactly true. After all, there has to be some takeaway from being raised by the geekiest, smartest unicorn ever. Spike had seen Dash's divebomb just barely in time to duck out the cyan hooves that made a grab for him but not in time to warn Twilight before the pegasus ran right into her head due to momentum. Then right afterwards, they were pushed back by a buck courtesy of Applejack Apple.

When he saw the look in Twilight's face, he knew he had to do something. With how recent her change had been, she likely didn't know her own strength and with how mad she was right now, she could do something that she would regret. And so in the interest of breaking up the impending fight, Spike drew in a deep breath and released a big stream of flame between the two. Applejack reared and backed up and the sudden intense heat and Twilight, no longer able to see the earthpony, blinked as she snapped out of her red filled rage.

Without a word, she started down another path when Rainbow Dash went to swoop in again. But before she could get close, another blast of fire from Spike pushed her back and blinded her. When the fire cleared and she was able to see, they were gone.

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Rainbow Dash searched the alleyway and all attached alleyways but her search came up fruitless. Still wondering how something so big could just disappear, she flew off to rendezvous with the others to plot out their next move. Only when he was sure the coast was clear did Spike remove the newspapers he'd wrapped around himself crawl out from under the dumpster he'd been beneath. He looked around a bit to be sure before finally calling out the all clear.

"Alright, she's gone." He whispered just loud enough to be heard by the other two people hidden. The dumpster he'd hidden under groaned as Twilight shifted and began to climb out. The kaiju unicorn had jumped into the large trash receptacle and laid as flat as she could while covering herself with her wings. She didn't even need to move anything around to fit in as he weight effectively flattened everything in there.

As Twilight climbed out as quietly as she could, a large box near the dumpster opened, letting out a bright yellow earthpony mare with a purple and blue mane.

"Hey thanks for your help back there." Spike said and the mare nodded.

"You're welcome. I'm Iris Song. Pleasure to meet you." The mare introduced herself.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle." The kaiju introduced herself in response. "And this is Spike. Again, thank you for your help but we really should get going." Twilight said as she began to walk away.

"I know and I'd like to join you." Iris replied as she fell in step with Twilight who shot her a confused look of surprise.

"You want to come with us?" She asked. "Why?"

"Mostly for science." Iris answered then began examining the kaiju. "You fascinate me Miss Twilight. It's not every day you run into a new species and I want to learn just as much as you do. Plus, I know how to haul my own weight and if we need supplies, I can go into town to get some. Both of you would stick out like a sore hoof, especially you Twilight. But nopony would give me a second look. So what do you say?"

Twilight pondered this a bit. The mare had brought up some very good points and she supposed it wouldn't hurt. Plus they were a little pressed for time so she couldn't really think on it for too long.

"Alright, you can come with us." She said.

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"So now what?" Spike asked from his hiding place as they observed their obstacles. "How are we getting out of the city?"

Neither mare answered as they were still trying to come up with a plan. The train station had been out of the question and the roads leading out of Canterlot had blockades so their only option was over the edge but even that looked like it was impossible as there were guards patrolling the city limits. Still, it was their best bet to get out of here. Then Iris struck on an idea.

"What if you flew?" She suggested.

"Flying? I'm not sure." Twilight admitted. "I'm still kinda new to this so I'm not sure if I can keep us aloft for very long."

"You wouldn't need to fly for very long." Iris replied. "If you built up enough momentum and jumped at the right moment, then you could clear the patrols. After that, we could just glide down the mountain." As Twilight went over the math in her head, Iris continued. "Plus, I doubt they would expect to see you charging right at them and you would catch them off guard. And even if you didn't, with your added bulk plus momentum it would be like trying to stop a massive boulder."

"Hmm, that just might work, Iris you're a genius! Let's do it! Besides, what have we got to lose." Twilight declared as loud as she could without drawing unwanted attention.

Iris beamed at the compliment then followed Twilight as she trotted as far back as the alleyway would allow. Once they were as far back as possible, Spike settled into a spot in the hollow of Twilight's neck while Iris settled onto Twilight's back, stretching out between her wings and pressing as low as she could so she'd be more streamlined. The earthpony was pleasantly surprised to find that the spikes on the kaiju unicorn's back were softer than they looked, but they still poked and prodded her uncomfortably. Still, she bit the bullet and got herself a good grip on Twilight's back before nodding at the kaiju to let her know she was ready.

With her passengers secure, Twilight took a running stance and even pawed the ground a bit. And when she felt she was ready, she shot forward as fast as she could. While there was some added weight with the addition of Iris, she didn't falter. If she was still a pony, she likely would've collapsed under the weight, but now she was strong enough to take it and some. By the time they burst out of the alley, she'd built up for good momentum.

True to prediction, the sight of her barrelling right towards them made the guards falter. The only one to recover it time was a unicorn that hastily fired off a stunning spell that had about as much effect as a water gun would against an avalanche. The only thing the guards could do way get out of the way when she neared them and with a leap, she was in the air and gliding down towards the Everfree forest.