The evil laughter of the imposter who had taken the mantle of Princess Cadence filled the chamber as Celestia collapsed to the floor, badly hurt from the power struggle she had lost. You heard Twilight shout her name briefly but all you could register was the Princess of the Sun laying there in front of you. Celestia, the mare who had initially cared for you when you arrived in Equestria, the mare who you had grown to love more than a friend the longer you spend time with her, was now wincing in pain as she told Twilight to gather the elements of Harmony before losing consciousness.
All sound faded around you, replaced with a dull hum as the 6 ponies ran out of the room. Rarity had grabbed your hand with her magical grasp and dragged you out with them. The ringing in your ears stopped abruptly as you yanked your hand free of Rarity’s grip. The gesture caused her to stop in her tracks and turn to face you.
“Is everything okay, darling?” The alabaster unicorn asked.
“Go. Get the elements. I have to do something.” You said as bluntly as you could. Your emotions threatened to get the better of you but you fought them back. Save it for the Changeling Queen. You thought.
“Are you sure, dear? I would hate to see you taken captive by these—“ Rarity began to speak but you raised your voice to a scream.
“GO RIGHT NOW! BEFORE I LOSE WHAT LITTLE SENSE OF REASON I HAVE LEFT!” Your sudden harsh tone caused Rarity to flinch, her ears downtrodden as she turned to rejoin her friends. You only heard Pinkie Pie question the issue as you turned back and began walking towards the throne room once more.
———***———
The door to the throne room crashed open as you kicked it full force. Chrysalis turned to you, and an amused smile adorned her gaze.
“You were that ‘hoo-man’ that was with those ponies, were you not? You have one chance to surrender yourself to me.” The Changeling Queen demanded as you stepped forward. You raised your arm and pointed at her.
“You are going to pay in blood for what you did to her.” You loudly announced across the massive room. She looked taken aback for a second, but her surprise was quickly replaced with true, hearty laughter. She was unable to contain herself, and coughed several times trying to regain her breath before she looked down at you from across the throne room.
”You? Defeat me? Please. You do not even have any Magic, and your pathetic Princess couldn’t even stop me. What makes you think—“ Her words were cut off as you fully embraced your anger as the mention of your beloved Princess and let out a scream before charging across the room.
Chrysalis’ expression dropped as she enveloped you in magic and hurled you into the wall with a simple thought. Your back slammed against the stone wall with such force to crack it and blood came from your mouth as every drop of air was violently ripped from your body. You felt yourself get flung again and this time it was your left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. You could feel your bones fracture and your shoulder dislocate instantly.
With one final gesture, you were flung past the Queen and into the large plant archway that had been originally meant for decoration on the day of a big wedding. Your head crashed against one of the two flower pots present either side of the arch, and the pot shattered on impact. You rolled for several feet before coming to a halt against the wall in between two massive windows. You felt your consciousness fade as you could only gaze at the Changeling Queen in a fit of maniacal laughter.
D-Damnit. Of all times for me to be Magicless…
———***———
“Human?”
No response.
“Human? Can thou hear me?”
You began to stir.
“Kelton!” The voice shouted. You finally opened your eyes.
Before you was what appeared to be a large cathedral, with large doors made with red wood and decorated by gold studs running up and down the surface. Two pony statues sat either side of the doors, both adorned standard Royal Guard armor and both clutching spears in their hooves. You turned to follow the sound of the voice and saw a regal pony with a midnight blue coat.
“Princess Luna?” You asked.
“Yes, it is I. Kelton, you are not usually in the dream realm this early in the day, what happened?” Luna asked. You couldn’t help but feel a pang of annoyance at the question, considering her support could have been a game changer at the wedding. You tried to think of a way to voice your opinion, but the only thing that was flooding your mind was the fact that Celestia, and all of Equestria, was in grave danger. And you were powerless to stop it. You fell to your knees, tears beginning to well up in your eyes
“DAMNIT!” You screamed as you punched the cement ground as hard as you can, causing cracks in the earth beneath you. This was a dream, so fortunately it didn’t hurt at all.
“Of all the times!” Another punch, bigger cracks. “Why can’t humans be able to learn magic?!” You slammed the ground with both fists this time, causing the whole cathedral in front of you to shake.
“Kelton, calm yourself! Tell me what is happening.” Luna said sternly. Your eye shifted up and you jumped to your feet, getting in Luna’s face.
“What’s happening? If you were at the fucking wedding, you would know! The whole of Canterlot is getting invaded and Celestia is hurt and I can’t do anything to fucking stop it!” You go to punch the ground again, but Luna stops you this time with a magical grasp around your arm.
“It saddens me that I cannot be there, Kelton. I understand your anger. This was something that we were not expecting to have to tell you so soon, but thanks to Twilight and her research on your physique, we discovered that humans do indeed have the potential to learn magic.” Luna said. That got you to clear your head. You stopped and held your gaze with the Lunar Princess.
“Go on.” You said.
“The doors of that cathedral behind you can remove the blockage in your mind that prevents you from learning how to manipulate Arcane energy to your will, but there are some warnings in place, should you choose to pass those doors.” Luna said.
“Alright, I’m listening.” You replied.
“Magic is a force that takes its toll on the body, as well as requiring intense focus. In order to be great Wizards, ponies often have to train their physical bodies from a young age in order to handle more advanced spells. You have gone over 20 years without even being exposed to magic, so taking it into your body will leave you weakened for some time, perhaps a week or so, until your body gets used to it. Learning magic will be tough, and it will take time to refine your skills, but the time you spend with my sister can help that. Are you sure you are willing to take on this risk?” Luna asked.
“I am. I need to get back to the waking world.” You replied, turning around and approaching the cathedral.
You grasped the handles of the doors and began to push, they were extremely heavy, and at first, you couldn’t budge them. Eventually, the harder you tried, the more the doors moved. The wider the doors opened, the more power you could feel filling your body, as if you were literally pushing that mental blockage out. The doors finally swung wide open, and you could feel new energy rushing into you as you felt yourself begin waking up.
———***———
Your eyes opened as you felt blood run down your face. It seems the flower pot had cut open your head to a degree. You heard Chrysalis ranting about being able to take over the world or some shit, and you began to struggle to your feet. Your back and shoulder screamed at you to not move, but you pushed past your pain and picked up a ceramic shard from the flower pot as you stood.
Slowly approaching the Queen, gripping the jagged shard hard enough to cut into your hand and bleed, you stumbled forward. You raised your bleeding hand as you reached the Queen and jammed it into her shoulder. She let out a pained scream as a sickly green blood oozed from the wound created. You ripped the shard out of her shoulder and swiped it across her face, just grazing it and leaving a cut across her cheek, which also started bleeding. A massive pulse of energy surged from the room as the real Princess Cadence and her groom Shining Armor managed to literally use the power of Love to banish all the Changelings to a land beyond Equestria’s border.
You collapsed as your adrenaline wore off and and blood loss got the better of you. Your vision faded once again as you felt a deep, peaceful sleep envelop you.
Every part of you hurt. Your back, your shoulder, your head, your legs, it felt like you were on fire every time you drew breath. Your eyes slowly opened to the sight of several ponies gazing down at you, a blinding light coming from just beyond their silhouettes. Your vision was blurry as hell, and as you tried to sit up pain shot through your entire body, before a hoof pressed on your chest and forced you back down onto the bed.
Through your pounding headache, you managed to focus your vision enough to see the concerned face of Twilight, inches away from you.
“T-Twi?” You asked. She gasped when she heard your voice.
“Kelton! You’re okay!” She sighed in relief and pulled back from your face, you heard a few other voices all expressing their relief at your survival. You recalled the reason you had gotten injured in the first place, remembering that Celestia had been bested in a magic duel before you attacked Queen Chrysalis. You scanned the room and couldn’t see Celestia.
Panic spread through your mind as you sat up, ignoring your unyielding pain.
“Where is Celestia?!” You asked, not to anyone in particular, but to all who were present. Once again, you were pushed back into the bed, this time by Twilights magic.
“She’s fine, Kelton.” She said. Relief washed over your being as you sighed. Twilight’s tone changed “You, however… you almost died back there! What the hay were you thinking?!”
“Twilight, darling, calm down! He simply lost his cool after he saw what happened to the Princess.” Rarity said, placing a hoof on Twilights shoulder.
“Yeah, I reckon I’d’ve done the same thing, if I were in his horseshoes.” Applejack added.
Twilight closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She released you from her magical grasp and sighed.
“Fine, it just scared me. I never want to see my friends be put in danger like that. Especially with how hurt you were… I-It…” Tears began forming in her eyes. You sat up, wincing in pain as you raised your good arm to the purple unicorn. You pulled her in for a hug as she began to cry silently. You mouthed to the others that they could leave. They did just that and soon you and Twilight were alone in the room full of medical supplies.
“Hey, it’s alright. I’m alright. Did you guys even have any time to plan Cadence’s real wedding?” You said. Twi sniffed and pulled back to look you in the eye.
“N-No. We stayed here until you woke up. Princess Celestia was worried about you, Kelton.”
“Was she now? Well, I should go and tell her I’m alive then, huh?” You grinned your trademark coy grin.
“Nice try. You’re gonna stay here until we can get somepony to heal you. I’ll send her your way.” Twilight backed away from you and left the room.
“Shit. I hate being cooped up.” You groaned.
Author's Note
Most likely will not have many parts, but that makes up for the size of the chapters