There was a shift going through reality, as if somepony had flipped a switch. Suddenly, Twilight found herself not in control anymore, but standing in a building she barely knew, facing somepony who for all she knew might want to kill her. She could feel the seconds creeping by while she was doing nothing, painfully aware of how obvious it would be to Cadence that they knew something was off.

Why hadn’t they listened to Vi? Why hadn’t she listened? She had thought it wouldn’t matter. But it had mattered, and now it was too late.

Everyone in the room was deadly silent. That was, everyone except Cadence.

“Is something wrong?” She asked, sounding surprised. “Did something happen, Twilight?”

“No,” she could hear Vi say, “everything’s fine.”

... Vi had lied.

And for a few seconds, that was all Twilight could think. It was as though a law of nature had just been violated.

“... Yeah,” she eventually stuttered, “everything’s okay. Are you coming to get us?”

“I... am,” Cadence said slowly. She shook her head. “Twilight, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Twilight and Applejack said simultaneously.

“Can you teleport?” Vi’s voice whispered. Twilight hadn’t even realized that the filly had climbed out of her bed and was now standing beside her.

“Only myself,” she replied, but Cadence was standing just two steps to the side, and Twilight had spoken so quietly that she had no idea whether the filly had understood...

“Twilight,” Cadence repeated, “you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“Didn’t you hear Applejack?” Twilight held against her, saying the first thing that came to mind. “Element of honesty?” Halfway through, she realized two things. One, she was still trying to pretend, and two, it would never work. “She said everything’s fine, and she wouldn’t lie, would she? Right?”

“Twilight, there has been a threat made against the city,” Cadence said, and she didn’t sound threatening, only worried. “There is a large forcefield covering all of Canterlot, in case you haven’t noticed. Shining is worried, and I know Celestia is worried, too. And now you’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost. I need you to tell me what’s going on.”

“No point,” Vi said. “Stop trying, Twilight. Cadence, can you prove that you are the real Cadence?”

Before Cadence could answer, the door to the bathroom was opened, and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie stepped outside. One look onto their faces made it clear that they had overheard the conversation. Rainbow walked across the room in quick steps, positioning herself next to Twilight.

Cadence’s gaze trailed between them. Was it... surprised? Calculating? Afraid? Twilight wasn’t sure.

When she spoke, it was slowly, as if she was carefully pondering every word.

“You want me to prove that I’m not somepony else?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, “yes, we do.”

“Okay. You can ask me something that only I could know.”

“Um...” Even though it was an obvious idea, Twilight had nothing prepared, but it wouldn’t be hard to come up with something. “... at what age did we first meet? How old was I?”

“Two.”

“Okay. True. When is my birthday?”

“It’s... May twenty-sixth.”

“Also true. And... and at what time did you always come to our place?”

“That was...” Cadence’s voice trailed off, and a small frown formed on her brow. “We didn’t have a fixed time, did we?”

“No.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, though her heart didn’t seem to have gotten the message quite yet. “No, we didn’t. Okay. You’re you.”

“Yes, I am. Now, will you tell me what’s going on?”

“I probably just made a big fool out of myself,” Twilight murmured, but compared to how she had felt a few seconds ago, that prospect now seemed fairly harmless in comparison. “Shining Armor has been acting strange towards Fluttershy, and we thought... uhm, this might sound extreme, Cadence, I’m sorry. But... we thought there might be something wrong with him, and perhaps... perhaps you were the reason.”

Cadence’s reaction was not what Twilight had anticipated. She took another step into the room, and for a moment, Twilight was convinced that she was evil after all, that she had found some way to answer Twilight’s questions even though she wasn’t real, and that she was just about to drop her façade and-

“Shining has been acting weird? How?”

Twilight couldn’t talk. Her nerves were running on overdrive, and she wasn’t sure what sound would come out of her mouth if she opened it now.

“He’s kicked me,” Fluttershy said, now walking towards Cadence. “He was checking on how I’ve been doing with the choir, and suddenly, I was even looking at him when it happened, he kicked me.” She tilted her leg to show Cadence the spot. “You can still see it. It really hurt. And it was so... unlike him, and afterwards, he didn’t apologize or explain anything, and while it happened, for a moment, he looked really weird, and... and... I didn’t say anything, and he didn’t say anything either, and we... I mean us here, we just... we thought that might mean...” Her voice trailed off.

But Cadence didn’t laugh, didn’t sound relieved, didn’t provide an explanation.

“He’s done something... similar, a few days ago,” she said instead. “We were at dinner, after work. I wasn’t looking at him when it happened, but I heard him scream. But it didn’t even last a second, and then he looked at me and said he’d dozed off and imagined something. It was odd, but I didn’t think too much of it.”

“So it’s him,” Rainbow asked, “him, not you?”

“We never concluded it was Cadence who was controlling him,” Vi reminded her. “That was just one theory.”

“I don’t think anyone is controlling anypony,” Cadence replied. “I live with him, remember? He hasn’t been acting differently, aside from that one time. It was probably just a side-effect of his spell.”

“But side-effects don’t work like that,” Twilight said quietly. “I’ve overworked myself dozens of times. You get headaches, you get tired, but you don’t hallucinate. You certainly don’t lose control over your body, not even for just a second.”

Cadence gave Twilight a thoughtful glance. “You know more about this than I do... I’ve never really pushed myself too far with a spell.”

“Let’s just get Shining,” Vi said. “Cadence. We should notify Princess Celestia, get Shining here, have her check everyone, and then we’ll see if something’s wrong or not.”

“Yes,” Cadence said numbly, “yes, you’re right. Let’s do that. Come on.”

She pulled the door back open, and Twilight, Vi, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie Pie all followed her outside. Through the hallway, onto the courtyard, and towards the castle.

“Iron Lance!” Cadence called towards the first guard they saw. “Where is Shining Armor?”

The guard turned around, taking off his helmet as they approached.

“Princess. Twilight. I have not seen the captain today, princess. But he should be on duty, guarding the walls on the south entrance.”

“Thank you,” Cadence said, “come on, girls!”

Cadence broke into a gallop, and the others followed suit. Soon, they were at the spot they had arrived at the day before, and just like then, at least half a dozen guards were stationed here now.

“Everypony!” Cadence demanded. “Where is Shining Armor?”

“He is at the south entrance, princess,” the closest guard replied. “Do you want me to call him?”

“Yes! Yes, I do. Tell him I want to see him immediately.”

Three of the guards saluted and galloped off.

“If I may... princess,” Rarity said, panting for breath. “I don’t think I have been to the... south entrance. How far is it?”

“Only a minute,” said Cadence, “they’ll be back in no time.”

And they were.

“The captain is not on his position, princess.”

Twilight could feel a bag of ice falling into her stomach.

“He’s not-...” Cadence appeared to feel similarly. “Well, then what are you waiting for?! SEARCH FOR HIM! All of you! Ask everypony you see! Search the castle! Tell Celestia! Find him!”

“Y-yes, princess. At once, princess. You heard her!” The guard turned around, snapping at the others, “The captain is missing! Find him!”

But Shining Armor remained missing.

It was half an hour later. They were gathered in the throne room, once more facing the ruler of Equestria. Cadence had told her everything that had taken place this morning, and Twilight had added in the rest, including their trip to the lake at midnight on the day before, what they had concluded, and what they had decided to do.

Seconds passed by, while Celestia’s mane swung softly in the non-existent wind.

“Please wake up Princess Luna,” she said eventually, addressing one of the two guards in the room. “Tell her what has happened and that she is to meet with Cadence and the others in her chambers.”

The guard saluted and walked off immediately.

“Have you searched for him with all personnel we have?” she asked the other one.

“Yes, your highness. We have covered the Castle grounds, and have extended our search to the other royal buildings. He was present an hour ago, but no-one has seen him disappear.”

“I see... thank you.” She turned towards the group. “Shining Armor appears to be taken from us,” she said, and any hopes Twilight might still have held that she would magically solve everything disappeared in an instant. “We will try our best to find out what happened, and to get him back.” She walked down the stairs, halting in front of them. “This must not be disclosed to the public. We will decide how we announce it in good time. Cadence, I am sorry I have let this happen under my watch. I hope you can accept my apology. Regardless, I must ask that you discuss further details with Princess Luna. For now, I need to talk to Twilight and Vi. Everyone else, please leave the room. Gold Plates, please escort them to my sister’s chambers.”

It was unlike Celestia to give orders with such rigidness, and perhaps that was the reason that nopony even questioned her decisions. Twilight and Vi exchanged glances, both of them looking equally confused and equally frightened.

As everyone had left, and the big doors to the throne room had closed, Celestia gave a very long sigh.

“I feared of this,” she said, now in a different tone. “Twilight, I want you to know that what happened is my fault, first and foremost, and you would be unwise to blame it on anyone else.”

“Your fault, princess?” Twilight whispered. “But why?”

“Because had I told you before what I will tell you now, none of this might have happened. Instead, I decided to trust things would work out regardless – and in doing so, I brought much greater harm upon us. Please, do not ask further questions, Twilight. I will explain, and you will understand everything.”

She took a deep breath, then she turned towards the filly.

“Vi,” she said, and in doing so emphasized the word in a strange way, “Luna is guarding the dreams of everypony in Equestria. Every single one. The moment a pony steps beyond the veil of dreams, her mind is an open book to my sister. And yet, she has never seen yours until four months ago. Whoever you are, you were not born here. You must either be from Medonia, or from Lûn.”

“Lûn,” Vi said quietly.

“Then I am even more impressed than I was before. A traveler, or a group of travelers, crosses the Red Planes about once every other year, but far fewer make it through the Shrouded Forest. You are the first since Luna has returned to my side, and you are the youngest pony ever make it here on her own. Unless you have been with others who haven’t finished their journey.”

“No,” Vi murmured, “just me.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said to her, “I should have known that Luna would notice, but I... it just didn’t cross my mind. I swear. I’m sorry.”

Vi briefly looked at her, nodded, then turned back towards the princess.

“You think me naive,” Celestia said. It was a statement, not a question.

“I thought you must either be naive or playing us,” Vi replied. “I didn’t know which of those two it was.”

“It was neither. I had no hidden plan, but neither was I unable to think of the apparent weaknesses in my response.” She made a pause, and her voice changed to a more compassionate tone. “... I was once like you, my little pony. Cunning. Planning. Always trying to outsmart my enemies. Tell me, have you read the history of Canterlot?”

“Most of it.”

“Then you have read how I defeated Nightmare Moon. How I prevented conflict with the Minotaurs from escalating. How I defeated Discord, the most powerful being in this world... twice. How I have driven out the changeling queen. Beat Tirek. How, under my rule, this kingdom has lasted for five-thousand years to date. Tell me, how have I done this? How have I won again and again, even though it appears I am no smarter than my opponents?”

“I don’t know, your highness. The books didn’t give me an answer. Maybe you had plans that were kept secret, plans that didn’t make it in the books?”

“Fair guess,” Celestia said, “but I didn’t.”

“... then... Twilight and I talked about this once... perhaps... the universe itself... is biased in your favor. Is that it?”

Twilight was looking at her mentor, who slowly bowed her head.

“Yes. It is the world itself that is on my side. To protect my subjects from evil, what I need is not to be cunning, but to be good. To have a kingdom where nopony is starving, where everyone gets help if they need it. To lead an empire that only ever fights to protect itself. An empire whose only reaction when faced with a threat is a simple defensive measure. The shield might not protect us, but my narrative will. Whoever we have been facing, and however smart her schemes might have been, they would all have failed, because nature itself would have crossed their plans. Unless...”

“Unless we mess it all up by doing schemes ourselves,” Vi finished her sentence, and Celestia nodded.

“But we didn’t have any bad intentions!” Twilight protested. “All we did was trying to figure out how to... to stay safe. To protect ourselves. That’s all you wanted, right, Vi?”

“Yes,” Vi said, “yes, I wanted to do the right thing. But I guess it’s not so much about intentions as it is about looks? The simple is rewarded? Or perhaps even naivité?”

“Imagine a children’s story,” Celestia said. “The villain threatens the city, using schemes and treachery. The heroes band together, defending their home in good faith. The heroes will win, every time. But when you go out at night, scheming on your own...”

“But why?!!” Twilight’s gaze flipped between Cadence and Vi. “Why would the world work this way? That’s... that’s... that’s... stupid!”

Celestia looked at her.

“I have no idea,” she said. “I am old, Twilight, and I could tell you more about history than anypony else. But as for the why... why the world works the way it does... I have no idea. I have no idea who is writing the rules. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Will knowing about this hurt our narrative?” Vi asked carefully.

“Telling you about this is what I fear will hurt,” Celestia said quietly. “Mere thoughts do not seem to matter... when I followed the rules as I understood them, thinking of my own actions as silly has never seemed to reduce their effect. And effective it is. I have come out victorious in situations that would seem hopeless to a bystander.”

“I am... very sorry,” Vi murmured, “about my role in this. I didn’t know.”

“Like I said,” Celestia repeated, “I am to blame for this, not you. I understand everything you did, and I know that all of it was only to help. I should have told you, and I didn’t. I am responsible for what has happened to Shining, and whatever might happen to him in the future, if it has not already. Nonetheless...” Her voice got firm. “... you know it now, and I trust that you will act on it in the future.”

“I will. As well as I can. I promise.”

Twilight just nodded.

“Who do you think took him?” Vi asked. “Shining Armor?”

“Canterlot has many enemies...” Celestia said vaguely. “We don’t yet know who did it.”

“Do you think we’ll get him back?”

“I hope so. We will follow any lead we have.”

Twilight’s eyes trailed between the two, her left eye twitching.

“And what will happen to me? I came into Equestria uninvited, after all.”

“Anypony is welcome,” Celestia declared. “I am happy that you chose to live here, and I hope that, in time, you’ll trust me enough not to fear I might oppose your stay. Twilight, will you still let Vi live in the library after today?”

“Uhm... yes.”

“Then, from now on, you can consider yourself not just a citizen of Equestria, but a citizen of Ponyville.”

“Thank you, princess. There is... one more thing I want to ask of you.”

“Yes?”

“You know more than I do. If my request is foolish, please don’t think poorly of me.”

“Ask away, please.”

“The rules we all must follow... I aspire to learn them better, so it will help me make wiser decisions in the future.”

The silence that followed after these words was palpable. For over ten seconds, Celestia just stood there, looking at the filly in thought. But eventually, she nodded.

“I will write you a summary,”

“Thank you.”

“What happens now?” Twilight asked after a brief pause. “There’s no wedding anymore, so...”

Celestia bowed her head. “It would not be wise for you to stay in Canterlot for longer. Luna and I will organize the search for Shining Armor. For now, all you can do is to go on with your life. If you and your friends don’t mind, Twilight, I will organize for the train to take you back to Ponyville within the hour.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay. ... Where are the other girls... and Spike?”

“They are with Luna. Come.” Celestia made for a door at the side, and Twilight and Vi followed. “I will take you to her, afterwards you can go back to your room and prepare for your ride back home. Oh, and...” She turned around. “I trust both of you with what I told you today. But knowledge can be a burden...”

Twilight sighed. This was going to make things so much more complicated...

“We won’t put it on others who don’t need to know,” Vi said, and Celestia nodded.

“Do as you think is best. Like I said...” She opened the door, leading them into a section of the castle which Twilight hadn’t been in since she had moved, “... I trust you to make your own decisions.”

Author's Note

“Look.” Rarity pointed upwards. Following the direction with her gaze, it took Twilight a few seconds to see what she was staring at.

There, surrounded by endless blue, was a lone comet, slowly sailing across the sky. The sight wiped the food from her mind immediately, and left her staring at the sight in fascination.

“Strange... there have been no comet showers sche-”

But the words got stuck in her throat as she saw the second and third comet emerging. There were three, and then there were four, and then seven, and then more than she could count. Single, white lines against the heaven, all flying in the same direction and gradually, gradually increasing in size.

The sight was unlike anything she had ever laid eyes on before, a beauty that was as majestic as it was ephemeral. A hundred lines, a thousand lines, slowly, slowly sailing across the horizon. Twilight could feel the tears coming out of her eyes before she registered the fear. But then everything was drowned in fear. She wanted to wake up, to understand why it was just a spectacle, and she wanted the world to slow down, to give her time to understand.

“Twilight, what is happening?”

Around the outlines of the first comet, barely visible to the naked eye, emerged a few, tiny sparks of fire. And Twilight knew what would happen next. For a few seconds, just a few seconds, the other comet began to erupt sparks, piercing dots of orange into the blue, until it spread matter of moments, lighting the entire sky on fire, drowning everything in a light that was too bright to see.

“Take my hoof,” Twilight shouted, and it was the last thing she could say a sea of screams emerged around them. It took two, three seconds, then she could feel the grasp of a limb around her own, squeezing it so hard that it hurt.

Blinded by the light that came through her closed lids, Twilight wrapped her other hoof up around her eyes, turning the color of the world from white to a bright red. There was no seeing, or hearing, or feeling. The only sense that was left to her was through the magical plane, and so she threw her mind outward, constructing a colorless image of the chaos around her.