Old Wounds, New Scars

by CoverArt

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Princess Luna, Drama, Changelings, Princess Cadance, Queen Chrysalis
Length: 5656

This must be a test. Me? Princess Cadence, make peace with changelings, especially her? After what they've done to me? Ridiculous!

They're all crazy. Those filthy changeling monsters just stroll into the court claiming peace, and everypony is believing them! Even Aunt Luna and Celestia! Well, not me. I know firsthoof what kind of monsters they are. They kidnapped me and nearly killed me on my own wedding day and expect me not to hate them? This is just a ruse, they're planning something bigger I know it. I'll get to the bottom of this and prove to everypony they can't be trusted and I was right. I know I'm right. Right?

Published 2016-11-20 08:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-06 05:41:59 UTC

Prologue

This is it. My perfect day. Days of planning, of organizing; days of therapy, all leading up to this, my wedding day. Nothing is going to ruin this for me, not like last time. Aunt Celestia and Luna made sure of that, doubling security around Canterlot and the castle, as well as making sure somepony I trusted was always with me when Shiny wasn’t around. I might have minded the lack of privacy if it wasn’t for my anxiety. If he hadn’t known better, Shiny probably would have left me the day after the whole fiasco, crying and jumping at everything. He acted, and probably still is, so strong for me, but I know he’s having the same issues as me, I see him shaking in his sleep, unfortunately for both of us, there is only so much Aunt Luna can do when the nightmare is as psychological as it is with us. All of this because some damn parasites wanted a little food.

I bring my hoof down onto the makeup table due to that last thought, though I quickly take a deep breath. Making comments like that is unbecoming of a princess, let alone the Princess of Love. I take a couple more breaths before I finished putting my makeup on. Not too much makeup; I know that I have a very good natural look, though some accents never hurt. I put a little blush on just as I hear a knock from the door.

“Come in,” I call out. I quickly look myself over in the mirror, making sure everything is perfect, as I watch Aunt Luna walk into the room through the reflection.

“You look lovely in that dress Cadence,” the lunar alicorn smiled. I smile back at her via the reflection.

“Thank you Auntie, Rarity, one of Twilight’s friends’ made it for me. The other one was… well…” I shudder. I feel a hoof on my shoulder and relaxed a bit.

“Don’t think about it my niece, bad memories are just that, memories, they can’t hurt you now.”

“Yea, you’re right Auntie, thanks,” I start to check myself over once more when my eyes seem to catch a flash of green. My eyes widen a bit before I come to my senses and shake my head slightly.

‘Calm down Cadence, you’re being too jumpy.’

“Come on Cadence, we shouldn’t keep your audience or, more importantly, your husband waiting,” She walks to the door and holds it open for me. Satisfied with the way I look, I turn away from the mirror and trot out the door with Aunt Luna. We walk down the hall to the Ceremony Hall, Aunt Luna was nice enough to use her magic to make sure my dress trail didn’t drag a lot. I glance at the guards lining the hall, double the normal amount. I wonder if it was just to make me feel safer. The Changelings were gone, sent to the Badlands where they belong. We made huge advances in Changeling detection, thanks in most part to Twilight as well as a couple captured bugs. I don’t know what happened to the parasites after we were done with them but I can only hope they were squashed.

‘Gah, stop thinking like that Cadence.’

We stopped in front of the large double doors as two guards block our path. It’s mandatory for everypony going into an event to be scanned via the Changeling detecting spell. There are a few kinks that need to be worked out, like the fact it’s slightly painful, though it’s tolerable, at least to ponies.

“Wait one moment your majesties,” The guard says, lighting his horn. He starts the scan and I feel magic wash over me. Hmm, no pain, I guess Twilight managed to work out the kinks. I’ll talk to her about that at the reception.

The guard nods and steps out of the way, “Thank you your majesties, you’re free to go, and congratulations on the wedding.”

I smile and thank him as he uses his magic to slowly push the doors open, giving Twilight’s little friend Fluttershy time to start up her bird choir. As I hear the choir start up I slowly stroll in. I see the seats filled to capacity to either side of me but I don’t take my eyes off of the handsome stallion in the tux ahead of me. I step up to the alter and take my place across from Shining Armor, behind him Twilight smiles at us, as I’m sure her friends are doing behind me. I glance up as Aunt Celestia takes her place at the podium, she smiles at me, but something feels off, it isn’t her normal warm smile. It’s different, but I can’t put my hoof on it. I chock it up to anxiety and imagination though. At least until I see another flash of green in my periphery.

I quickly turn my head to stare at my soon to be husband, who seems to notice my strange behavior.

“What’s wrong Cadence?”

“I-I don’t know, something just feels really wrong, maybe we should have the guards check the room, just in case,” I suggest. Something just feels really off.

“I’m afraid that won’t work Cadence,” Aunt Celestia says, still smiling that same smile, it’s starting to creep me out actually.

“W-why not?”

“Because, we’re already here,” ‘Celestia’ replies, except in the echoing, unnatural voice I’m unfortunately all too familiar with. My eyes widen and I jump back from the alter as ‘Celestia’ bursts into green flame and is slowly replaced by the source of all of my anxiety and fear, Queen Chrysalis. It takes all of my willpower not to faint or scream on the spot.

“No! Not again! Guards! Get her!” I scream. But I start to notice another, very grim thing, none of the guards, nor anypony was moving, not even Shining, Twilight and her friends, or Luna. I look around frantically, only to see every one of my friends and family start to transform into a changeling.

‘No! They have everypony! I have to get out of here! NOW!’

I spin around and attempt to gallop out of the room, though I don’t get far. Chrysalis stepped on my dress trail, causing me to trip and fall. Within moments she had me hovering in front of her, unable to move a single muscle of my body.

“Oh dear, before you go, don’t you want to hear what happened to all your precious friends and family? It’s quite a thing to hear,” She gives an evil laugh and starts to project Shiny and the other’s voices.

I feel the color drain from my face as I listen. Listen to their scream, their cries of agony. They begged for the Changelings to stop, some even begged for the Changelings to just kill them.

“No! Stop it! Please, I’ll do whatever you want! Just stop hurting them!” I start to sob, unable to listen to this any longer.

“Oh don’t worry Cady, they’re suffering ended a while ago, these were just recordings,” The monster proclaims, giving another cackle. “I just wanted to get as much love from you as I could before we dispose of you.”

She puts her horn to my neck, the tip is razor sharp. I struggle to get out of her grip, there has to be something I can do, anything. But there is none. Chrysalis won. My family and friends are dead, and I’m about to die. Equestria belongs to her.

She shoves her head up, and everything turns black.

I wake up with a scream, covered in sweat and tears rolling down my face. It’s only a dream, I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it does. Shining jumps up at the sound of the scream, looking around for any intruder. At the same time, two guards burst into the room, looking for the same. I just sit there, sobbing my eyes out. Soon I feel a pair of forelegs wrap around me.

“Was it the dream again, Cadence?” Shining asks me, though he knows the answer already, it’s always the answer.

“Y-yes, I can’t take it anymore Shining! It’s been two years! The same dream every other night,” I cry.

“How far did she get this time?” He asks, knowing that depending on the night I wake up at different sections of the dream, but she never actually killed me in the dream.

“It was worse than ever. She actually k-killed me, she shoved her horn right into my throat,” I state, shuddering.

“Maybe you should talk to Princess Luna again,” He suggests. I don’t expect him to fully understand my problems, he tries to, and I’m glad for that but his problems stemming from the wedding have been taken care of. Mine have been lingering. But, maybe he’s right, this dream was slightly different than normal, maybe it would be worth asking about.

“Yes, maybe you’re right. We can ask her in the morning at breakfast,” I nod as I lean into him more, feeling a bit safer from my own head with him.

“It’ll be ok Cadence, you’ll get through this and I’ll be right here for you the whole time.”

“I know Shiny, thank you, I don’t know what I would have done without you, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We share a kiss before we lean back into bed to, hopefully, get a dreamless sleep.

One Bad Morning

I wake up a few hours later, thankfully because I felt the sun on my face and not because of another nightmare. At least I hope I’m not in another dream. I slowly shake Shiny until he wakes. He shakes his head a bit and looks at me with a knowing look, as he lit up his horn, using his magic to give me a pinch on my leg. The small, sharp pain, while annoying, makes me give a huge sigh of relief. I smile at him and say thank you. This is the only way I can truly be sure I’m awake, unfortunately; you can’t feel pain in dreams according to Aunt Luna.

I crawl out of bed with Shiny and head to the bathroom to get myself presentable for breakfast with my aunts. It wasn’t a huge deal if I showed up straight from bed but knowing my luck some important thing would come up in the middle of breakfast and I’d look like trash. Plus, after that nightmare last night, I could really use a nice long, hot shower. That’s exactly what I take, sans long, I’m only in the shower for about fifteen minutes’ max before I give it over to Shiny. Unlike me, he has to go to the guard house and help train them, as he’s been doing for a while now. The invasion showed just how ill-prepared Equestria was to fight against a hostile force. Sure, Twilight and her friends can shoot weaponized harmony at a baddie or two, but against an army? I shudder as the screams from the nightmare echo in my head.

I shake my head a bit and finish brushing my mane. I turn my head this way and that, making sure it’s all just right before I nod in satisfaction. I slip on my regalia quickly and trot over to the bathroom door. Poking my head in I say goodbye to Shiny and, of course, tell him I love him, which he happily replies back. I close the bathroom door again and head out of the bedroom, the two guards on either side of the door follow a few steps behind me. As much as his title would say otherwise, Shiny doesn’t receive guard protection as he’s not directly in charge of anything but the guard forces in the joint Crystal Empire- Equestria alliance. Though being a highly trained guard meant he really didn’t need protection.

I chuckle at the thought of Shiny having to deal with guards watching over him as I enter the small dining room me and my aunts use for breakfast. Aunt Celestia is already sitting down munching on a muffin, Aunt Luna is probably still waking up from her nighttime duties. Of course, she couldn’t help me, though. I know it’s not her fault, but I get cranky when I don’t get enough sleep, meaning I’ve been cranky for a good two years. I hide it well from my subjects and aunts, though, or at least I think I do, for all I know they could just be pretending not to notice. Knowing my aunts, the later was probably accurate.

“Good morning Cadence, how did you sleep?” Celestia asks me, giving her usual small smile. I give one back and open my mouth to answer when she hits me with a knowing look, of course, she knows.

“You know Alicorns aren’t supposed to be all knowing, right?” I say with a sigh.

“It doesn’t take special powers to see that you’re tired Cadence.”

“Unfortunately, you’re right, but you know I haven’t slept well in ages.”

“Yes, but this time seems different, did something different happen in your dream?”

“I’m curious about that too dear Cadence,” came Luna’s voice from the entrance to the room. She trots in with a look of concern.

“What’s wrong sister? Were you able to see something in her dreams this time?” Celestia asks standing up. I too look over to her, wondering the exact same thing. If she was able to see in my dreams, then maybe she will be able to help me now.

“I saw all of it this time, Cadence, I must say how sorry I am you have to go through that, if there was any way I could help I would, I was honestly surprised I could even see it this time.”

“It’s alright Aunt Luna, I know you tried everything you could, it’s just something I have to deal with.”

“So what was different this time Cadence?” Celestia asks me.

“Well, simply put, it ended, like it played through the entire thing, instead of me just waking up at some point in it.”

“Hmm… we should discuss this when we get a chance, it might mean someth- yes?” Celestia cuts herself off and glances at the entrance to the room. Aunt Luna and I turn around to see a guard standing there, at attention.

“Your Highnesses, your presences are requested in the throne room as soon as you can.”

“My court will begin in an hour or so, surely it can wait,” Celestia, waves her hoof dismissively.

“Your majesty, I was told it was a matter of great diplomatic importance.”

Celestia looks at me and Luna, we each give a little nod and she concedes.

“Alright, we shall be in the throne room in a few minutes.”

“Yes your majesty,” The guard says before disappearing.

“This has to be some sort of trap,” I point out to the two. Celestia just sits there contemplating what this could be about. Luna, however, started walking towards the door.

“The best way to deal with an unavoidable trap is to spring it.”

“You’re right sister, let us deal with this before anything happens,” Celestia nods as she gets up and walks to her sister. Making their decision, I go to join them, no sense in sitting it out, besides there hasn’t been a take over Equestria scheme in a while so we’re overdue.

We walk out of the room, our guards falling in behind us, including the guard that let us know of the audience. It doesn’t take long for us to enter the throne room, the dining room was put just a short walk away from it so that my aunts could go have a quick lunch or dinner in between courts. We stop at the doors, prepared for what lies inside. Aunt Celestia looks and me and Luna, we both nod, prompting her to enter. She casts her magic, lets it envelop the doorknob, and pushes the door open.

Nopony was inside.

“Well, at least they’re polite enough to wait outside for us,” Celestia comments as she goes over to the throne and sits down. Luna and I sit to either side of her, and our two guards stand on either side of us three.

“They may enter when they wish,” Luna announced. A few moments later the doors opened to reveal our guest walking in.

My eyes widen and I gasp sharply. As far as I can tell my aunts have a similar reaction but I barely notice. All I’m concerned with is the feeling of years of therapy and family support shatter. She’s back. That’s all I manage to think before my brain stops working and I black out.

Hopeless Horizon

Hopeless Horizon

I wake up in my bedroom gasping. I look around, searching for her, for Chrysalis. Thankfully, I’m completely alone. It must have been a nightmare. That’s good I guess. I can have other nightmares now too… great. I sit up and quickly put my hoof to my head, feeling slightly lightheaded. The door opens and my aunties both walk in, strange.

“Cadence, I’m glad you’re awake, you gave us quite a scare,” Aunt Celestia tells me with her usual calm smile.

“Yes, the way you shook and twitched was rather fun-scary,” Aunt ‘Luna’ adds. I narrow my eyes at her slightly before I address Aunt Celestia. Celestia had looked at ‘Luna’ while I did, looking back as I spoke up.

“What happened Auntie? I had another awful dream. Chrysalis came back!”

“Well, Cadence… it wasn’t a dream. She came back, but she actually came to arrange peace between our nations.”

“Are you kidding? After everything that parasite did? You should have locked her in the dungeon. Or better yet, to save on the taxes, just execute her!” I nearly shout, my anger taking over. Celestia gasps hearing this while ‘Luna’ glares. ‘Luna’ is the first to respond to me.

“Don’t call m- them parasites. They only do what they need to survive. Perhaps an invasion wasn’t the best way, but I did what I thought was best for my hive!”

I knew it. I glare at the imposter and immediately send a magic bolt at her. It nearly got to her before it impacts a golden shield, cracking it slightly.

“Cadence! There was enough power in that bolt to kill a normal pony! I know you dislike Chrysalis but this is not the proper way to act, especially for a princess,” She nearly growls at me. Her tone and glare causes me to shy back a bit, my ears flatten against my head.

“I do believe we’ve seen what we came here to see sister, even if it’s disappointing,” ChryssaLuna says to Celestia, much to my confusion.

“Wait, isn’t she Chrysalis?” I question them, both angry and confused.

“No Cadence, she isn’t. We just wanted to see your reaction to her being in the same room as her. Admittedly, we’re disappointed but we understand.”

“How dare you trick me! Do you really trust that monster over me? Your own niece?”

“Cadence, you know it doesn’t have anything to do with that. You have to understand this is a time where we can’t afford anything to go wrong. A peace treaty with the changelings is important for the safety of Equestria.”

I groan in frustration and stamp my forehoof. I would be lying if I said I didn’t understand. Peace with them would be beneficial, seeing how they are the only faction Equestria is at war with. But I know them, they can’t truly be wanting peace, there has to be some sort of plan. Of course, Aunt Celestia and Luna don’t think the same way though. They’re trusting to a fault at some points. I sigh and look down at my hooves.

“Yes, I understand, I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“It’s alright, we understand, we hope you’ll come around but until then, Luna will stay with you until dinner.”

My ears perk up, unsure if I heard that right. I know I shouldn’t complain, it makes sense really. I’m a threat to the peace conferences, better to politely ask me to just stay in my room than risk something happening. That still doesn’t detract from what this really was.

“House arrest? Really? You can’t trust me that much?”

“Please Cadence, it’s not house arrest, you know that. You can still have people visit you, still send letters and what not, and after the conferences are over for the day you can venture wherever on this side of the castle. It’s hardly house arrest.”

Again, I sigh, knowing she’s right, it’s best for everyone that I stay away.

“You’re right… again. Fine, I’ll stay here. This is all just really hard for me.”

Celestia drapes her wing over me, reassuringly.

“Thank you Cadence, Luna is going to talk to you about your feelings towards changelings, if all goes well, you might be able to come to a couple of the conferences. Believe it or not, Chrysalis wants to apologize to you for ruining your wedding day.”

“Not for kidnapping and mentally scaring me?” I raise an eyebrow at her. Celestia sighs and frowns slightly.

“She deemed it a necessary evil to help her hive. For all she’s done, she has claimed most of it as ‘for the hive’s survival.’”

“Oh ‘for her hive’s survival.’ Right. And I’m the Queen of Great Bittain.”

Celestia sighs again and begins to walk to the door, “Hopefully, we can work this all out. Unfortunately, I have to go to the peace conferences, I’ll talk to you later, I love you Cadence.”

“I love you too…” With that Celestia leaves and leaves me and Luna to ourselves. I take a deep breath and begin to pace a bit. I just need to get my head around things. I know the changelings are up to something, they’re masters of deception and lies, they can even fool Celestia and Luna, but not me. I know not to trust them.

“Cadence, would you like to talk about all this? I might not be Celestia, but I can still help with your feelings,” Luna speaks up, looking at me with a look of concern. I turn to her and give a glare.

“No, you’re not Celestia,” She visibly flinches, “In fact, I’m not even sure if you’re Luna, how do I know you’re not a changeling or even Chrysalis in disguise?”

“That was extremely rude Cadence… As for your other concern, I know that you’ve been having nightmares every other day for two years, involving Chrysalis disguised as Tia ruining your wedding and capturing and killing your loved ones. All of this we only found out fully today, as before I was never able to see your dream. Does that satisfy you?”

She says the last sentence with a bit of venom, my temper seems to be doing wonders for me today. I slump down onto my belly, as my ears flatten against my head.

“Yes, I’m sorry Auntie. I shouldn’t have said that…”

“No, you shouldn’t have, but I understand, this is a lot for you.”

“I think I should probably rest, try to calm down before I do something we all will regret.”

“Wouldn’t you rather talk this through Cadence? It’s important that you talk about your problems so you can start to overcome them.”

“I’m sorry Auntie, I feel I should just avoid all of this until after they leave, then I really can’t worry about anything,” I say, though in the back of my mind I know that the bugs are trying something. Just what that is I have no clue of yet, but I’ll find out, “Besides, with the nightmare last night I didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

I go over to my vanity, where I keep most of jewelry and makeup. I slip off my crown and place it down right next to the box where Shining and I keep our wedding rings. Luna gives a small sigh and nods. I start to get into bed as Luna heads for the door.

“Have a nice rest Cadence, I shall talk to you soon.”

“Thank you, Auntie, I’ll talk to you later.”

I pull the covers close as she closes the door. Unsurprisingly, as soon as my head hits the pillow I am out like a light.

I fly high above Equestria. I miss doing things like this, flying above everything, my problems becoming as small as the ponies below me. Ever since becoming a princess I haven’t been able to do this without having a fully armed escort. It really ruins the point of why I do it. But somehow I managed to get them to back off for now, which is good because I need some ‘me time’. I seem to be flying over Ponyville today, hmm, that’s odd, I don’t feel like I’ve flown that far. I shrug it off, it isn’t really important now. Though what is important is the cloud heading for me. It looks like it drifted from the Everfree forest if the wind was to be believed. Thankfully it wasn’t a storm cloud, those could be dangerous, no this was just a normal wild cloud, meaning while I couldn’t break it I could fly through it easily enough.

I enter it, keeping my ears listening for any sign of another pony who might be flying by. While I don’t hear anything, it does seem to be a lot bigger of a cloud than I thought it was. Already half a minute in and I’m still not out. I speed up to get out of the cloud faster, no pony should be in a cloud like this for too long, or they might become disorientated. Thankfully the cloud seems to be thinning out, letting me see the beautiful-

Fire!

Ponyville was engulfed in flames. Huge plumes of black smoke filled the air. The sound of the wind is replaced with the sounds of screams coming from the small town. My eyes widen and I swoop down to try to help any way I can.

As I got closer to the town the heat came close to unbearable, almost every house and building was on fire or crumbling. In the streets ponies run about, looking for safety, and some running away from black forms with bug-like wings and horns… changelings. I squint my eyes in anger, how dare they attack Ponyville? How dare they think they could get away with this? No, they weren’t going to get away with this. I swoop down into the street and light my horn. Good thing Shiny taught me some offensive spells. I start to launch bolt after bolt at the changelings, knocking them away, probably killing some, but at this point, I was past caring.

After a few moments of this, it seems they finally take notice of me interrupting their attack and they shift their focus to me. A few fly up towards me, sending beams of magic at me. I easily bring up a shield and block the blasts. I send two bolts at the ones that fired at me, sending them into the fiery remains of a house.

I feel something brush against my wings. My eyes widen and I spin around to face the changeling that somehow got behind me. Something seems wrong though, like I’m lighter, or just off balance or something. I look over my shoulder and my pupils turn to pinpricks. I don’t know how I’m even flying. It’s not like I even have half a wing or one wing, they’re just gone, completely. Of course, because the world hates me, as soon as I notice this I start falling. I scream as I look down to the fireball below. I can feel the heat intensify as I approach. I close my eyes tightly.

“ENOUGH!”

The heat disappears and I feel myself stop falling. I slowly open my eyes, confused as to what happened. I find myself in a twilight void. I look over my shoulder, and to my relief, I see my wings, completely intact. I sigh loudly.

“Do not worry Cadence, it was all just a dream,” A familiar and regal voice soothes me. I turn around, a mix of gratefulness and anger. I’m thankful she rescued me from the nightmare, apparently, but why was she spying on me?

“I’m sorry, did you think you could escape from talking by sleeping?

“No auntie, I was just hoping you wouldn’t come into my dreams this time.”

She rolls her eyes, “Well it’s a good thing I did, wasn’t it?”

“Perhaps…” I sigh. Luna tilts her head slightly, looking for more from me.

“Thank you, Aunt Luna,” I say as if I am a foal who was forced to apologize for something.

“Now, is this what you fear? The changelings will betray this peace and attack our little ponies.”

I huff and look away a bit. Of course she would think of the most obvious thing, not what’s important here.

“Please Cadence, tell me, what is important here? I want to understand.”

“Them…” If the dream world works the way it seems then I just think of the scene and…there. The void disappears, returning to the scene of a burning and destroyed Ponyville. Now, however, Luna and I are at the edge of the town, in front of the Castle of Friendship. It matches the town in destruction. The entire world shifts, moving us almost instantly to the castle’s map room. Inside we arrive at my worst nightmare, frozen in time.

Twilight, her friends fighting Chrysalis and her drones. And losing. Applejack is on the ground, several drones pinning her down, the look on their faces showing how much effort they’re putting in just to keep the farm mare down. Her face, however, is similar, the main difference is the look of desperation. If she didn’t get these changelings off her, more would come and overwhelm her. Unfortunately, more drones were feet away, none of them playing for prisoners.

Rarity is in the far corner, several changelings closing her in. She holds scissors, knitting needles, books, it seems like whatever was in the room at the time, in her magic. She’s in the middle of tossing one of the books at one of the drones. It might slow it down but it wouldn’t stop any of them, and she knows it. The look on Rarity’s face was pure terror, plain and simple. Tears and mascara run down her face. As far as she was concerned, she was going to die, afraid and away from her friends.

Rainbow and Fluttershy are together in the opposite corner to Rarity. Fluttershy has her back to the fighting, bawling her eyes out. She should never have been in this situation. Rainbow stands in front of Fluttershy, trying to defend her friend as a group of magic bolts are a mere moment from impacting her. She has her eyes closed, her mouth open in a scream, defiant till the end.

Pinkie is the saddest sight. She lies against a wall, a scorch mark on her chest. She shows no sign of movement, even in the frozen time. It seems she was taken by surprise when Chrysalis came in. Even now she was smiling, staring off into space.

Twilight is on the table, her face filled with anger and sadness. She is face to face with Chrysalis, their horns locked together. Chrysalis has the same snide, manipulating smile she always has, though it seems this time there’s a reason for it. While she keeps Twilight busy with her horn she is bringing a knife to Twilights chest. Just like that, Chrysalis wins.

Luna looks around the scene, her ears flat against her head. Not much can phase my aunts, but this is definitely one of them. After a few moments, she looks to me.

“I think I have some understanding, I’m sorry these are in your thoughts Cadence.”

“I know it will happen if we don’t act Luna, I just know it,” I turn to her tears in my eyes. She puts a wing over my back.

“It won’t Cadence, Tia and I won’t let it happen.”

“How do you know Chrysalis isn’t tricking you?”

“Cadence, we-“

“She’s done it before! She can do it again!”

“You’re right Cadence. Tia and I got fooled. But we’re not the same ponies we were. We know she can trick us now and we’re on full alert.”

I sigh, of course I trust my aunts with this, but what if they can’t see it in time, it already seems like that, that means only I’ll be able to see the ruse, which I can’t do from my room. As much as I hate the idea, I have to play nice with the bugs while I find out their plot. I don’t want to have to lie to my aunts, but what other choice do I have? It’s in everypony’s best interest.

“You’re right auntie, I trust you and Aunt Tia,” I wave my hoof across the room, “You can see why I might have doubts, but I know you two are smart enough to not be fooled again.”

She smiles and gives me a hug, I didn’t realize it until now but I really wanted one of them.

“Thank you Cadence, with luck, this will end smoothly and we’ll be able to show you that the Changelings can be reformed.”

Fat chance. I give a smile.

“Hopefully Aunt Luna.”

“Now why don’t we return to the waking world and put this,” She motioned to the room, “behind us, it’s close to dinner after all.”

“Of course Auntie, I’ll see you soon.

With that I closed my eyes, ending the dream.