A Better World

Twilight's mind was a cacophony of questions. The rational part of her brain was desperately trying to organize them, but emotion overwhelmed her. In this universe, Princess Celestia had somehow... passed away. How was it even possible? She wasn't all powerful, but close. Celestia had lived for thousands of years, watching over Equestria and guiding it's peoples. Sure she had been captured and even turned to stone before, but she couldn't... she was immortal surely? But Twilight couldn't get around it. The proof was in front of her. In this world, Princess Celestia was no more. Twilight felt a wave of empathy for her counterpart in this universe. She couldn't imagine losing Celestia, a pony who was almost like a second mother to her. How had it happened? An accident, or had somepony... Twilight could only imagine a handful of ponies that could do something so vile.

Then there was the matter of her friends' counterparts. How could they all ascend to Alicorn status? In all her studies of magic, Twilight had never encountered anything that could make so many ponies into Alicorns. To her knowledge, the only way to become a true Alicorn was to achieve a deep connection to a powerful natural force. Princess Celestia was connected to the sun, Princess Luna was connected to the moon, Cadence had an innate connection to the force of Love, and Twilight herself had become connected to the force of Friendship. It was possible to become a pseudo-alicorn by stealing somepony's wings and using a potion to attach them to a new body. A few malicious unicorns had tried to do this by stealing Rainbow's wings. Attaching horns this way was far more dangerous, as the magic inside the horn could backfire and damage the new body severely. Even if either transfer was successful, the abilities of the new appendages would be extremely limited, because instead of tripling a pony's innate magic (to give the abilities of pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies), the pseudo-alicorn's original magic would be split in thirds, weakening them. Somehow, Twilight doubted that her counterpart would sacrifice her magic that way. So how were they able to...

"Your Majesties!" a loud, authoritative voice exclaimed, interrupting Twilight's train of thought. Cadence and Shining looked up from their food and turned to face the newly arrived guard. Twilight turned around to see that the guard was standing at attention.

"At ease. What is it Stone Wall?" Shining asked.

Stone Wall dropped his salute and relaxed his posture. "Your presence is needed in the court room to give judgement."

Cadence sighed and gave Twilight a knowing smile. "Not much else to do around here now that everypony is happy these days. I suppose boredom is better than the alternative." Twilight nodded, not knowing how to reply. She swallowed her emotions, and followed her brother and sister-in-law out of the dining hall.

They made their way through the castle until they reached the Crystal Court. Twilight had been there during session only once, and knew that the citizens of the empire would come to Princess Cadence and her brother with their grievances and concerns. The problems presented could range from a fight between two market vendors over space to a marriage on the edge of collapse. Whatever it was, Cadence would provide calm and impartial counsel for the conflicting parties to resolve the issue.

Cadence took her position on the crystal throne and Shining stood to her left. Twilight stood to the right, wondering what issues this world had to deal with. If everypony was happy, then why would Cadence need to hold court?

"Bring the prisoner in!" a guard yelled. The huge crystal doors of the throne room slid open and two guards trotted forward, dragging a small, unconscious black figure in chains. It was a changeling! The sinking feeling in Twilight's stomach intensified.

"We caught him near the western border hiding in one of the ice caves." one of the guards said.

"Has it said anything?" Cadence asked in a bored voice.

"It said it's name was 'Thorax'. Claimed it didn't like to steal love like the rest of the changelings and wanted to be left alone." the guard replied, rolling his eyes. Twilight remembered Thorax from recent events in her own world. A few months ago, Thorax had befriended Spike and claimed he only wanted to make friends with ponies. Though he was initially rejected, Spike had gotten Twilight and the others to see past Thorax's species and declare him a friend. Twilight herself had made quite the speech that day. Thorax had later proved himself to be a true friend, when he risked himself to aid Starlight in rescuing everypony Queen Chrysalis had captured.

This Thorax looked a far cry from the one she knew. He was still in his original changeling form, rather than the transformed version Twilight saw after Chrysalis was defeated. Yet his wings shimmered, hinting that he had been giving away love rather than taking it. Twilight wondered why the guards would forcibly bring him here if he was hiding.

"-probably a spy or a scout." the other guard finished his report and went silent, waiting for the royals to pass judgement.

"What if Thorax is telling the truth?" Twilight said hesitantly, looking around the room.

She was met with confused stares from her brother and Cadence. Then Shining began to laugh. "A good changeling! Hahahaha that's hilarious Twi! I guess Pinkie's been rubbing off on you lately."

Cadence herself chuckled quietly at the perceived joke. "Well since you're our guest Twilight, you get to do the honors."

"The... honors?" Twilight asked.

Shining wiped a tear from his eye. "Twily needn't waste her magic. Besides, I'm not letting her catch up that easily!" he said jokingly. Shining's horn glowed bright blue as he channeled his magic. Then suddenly, the magic turned smoky black and blasted toward Thorax. As soon as the spell hit him, Thorax instantly disintegrated, leaving nothing more than a pile of dust. "Well that puts me at 257!" Shining grinned.

Twilight was utterly shocked. Her brother had just... but he wouldn't, no it had to be a mistake... maybe she was just seeing things or it was just an illusion spell of some kind.

"Well that's another one of those pests dealt with." Cadence sighed. "Honestly these court proceedings are such a formality. We should really just let the guards deal with things like this."

"Y-you just..." Twilight stammered trying to wrap her head around what she had just seen. Her brother had committed murder, killed Thorax in cold blood. How was everypony acting so nonchalant? Was this the norm in this twisted world? Twilight had made a decision. She had to find her friends, and get back to the mirror as fast as possible.

The doors to the throne room slammed open and a haggard looking guard galloped in. "Sir! We've caught five intruders in the castle! There's something weird about them... I think you should see for yourself."

Shining nodded. "Bring them in." Twilight felt her heart skip a beat as the guards brought their captives inside. All five of her friends were unconscious and bound tightly, floated in green and blue auras by the guards.

"We found them near the grand dining hall, sneaking around under a stealth spell. Lucky for us it dissipated at that moment and we were able to apprehend them. They put up quite a fight... took ten guards to finally subdue them. But they look a lot like-"

"Like younger versions of Twilight's friends." Shining finished. "Are they changelings?"

"No sir, we tried using a reveal spell on them. If they were changelings they would've gone back to their original forms." the guard answered.

Twilight was barely able to keep herself together. Maybe she could still get them out of this without a fight. The ponies in this horrible world thought she was a princess after all. But if Shining or Cadence or anypony made one move to harm her friends, Twilight kept herself ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Interesting." Cadence put a hoof to her chin in thought. Suddenly her eyes widened, as if a revelation passed over her. "Shining, where did you say you met Twilight today?"

"The museum room wh- the mirror!" Shining realized.

Twilight lit her horn and fired a stunning spell at pseudo-Shining, hitting him squarely in the chest. He fell over like a sack of potatoes. She turned toward Cadence, with the same spell charged up. For a moment she hesitated, looking up into the face of her former foal-sitter. Cadence didn't have the same problem. Energy whipped around her horn and crackled toward Twilight.

A flash of blue streaked across Twilight's vision, before her whole world faded to darkness.