Twilight does(n't) like books
« I wrote this because I’m just too bad and unable to draw it. »
***
Twilight does(n’t) like books
A day that is going to be perfect
The royal wedding was so much more work than usual. But Twilight was more than happy to do her share in the preparation. And with the help of her team, she was sure to meet, and even surpass, the expectations that anypony could have.
She giggled a little at the thought that it was her own brother, no less, who was getting married. He had always been the pride of the family and proving himself worth of that pride once again. In a way, she would have liked to be as successful as he had been. And he told her many times that she had, in her own way. But it wasn’t the same. She had created « Everything must sparkle » and the business was so good that she even got a contract with the royal palace. But she was still somepony. Somepony without a cutie mark.
Somepony whose brother was captain of the royal guard and about to marry a princess, which was enough to allow herself to giggle a little.
She looked at the room. It was perfect. Every little corner had been cleaned and was shining as i fit was new. The palace was already beautiful in normal times, but with the wedding coming, it had become just amazing.
"You’ve done a great job here sis‘." Said a voice behind her.
She turned back and saw Shining Armor looking at her with a smile. So he found some time to see her. She felt overjoyed at that thought. With the wedding and the protection spell, she thought they couldn’t even see one another during the whole event.
"What do you think honey?" He asked to his bride.
"Oh, yes, it sure is… nice. But you should clean it once again, to be sure. I think I saw some dust left somewhere."
Shining Armor was about to defend his sister’s work, but Twilight had already bowed down and said:
"We will, everything is going to be perfect princess Mi Amore Cadenza."
The princess seemed to stop noticing Twilight’s presence and told Shining Armor he had to come with her elsewhere for something more important than domestic duties. He accepted and told Twilight that they would see another as soon as possible. She smiled and encouraged him to concentrate on his duties and let her manage the rest.
As soon as they had departed, she stopped smiling. She tried to force herself to, but just couldn’t. When Shining Armor had told her about the wedding and Cadence, she thought it would be the best thing ever. But since then, Cadence, or as she liked to be called, princess Mi Amore Cadenza, always left her with the deep feeling that something was very wrong. Like a bad taste in the mouth that just won’t go away.
But nonetheless, she had done her very best to hide her mixed feeling about the pride, in fear her brother wouldn’t understand it. Heck, even she couldn’t understand it. She had nothing objective against the princess. She never harmed anypony, she took good care of her brother. She even did her best to help him with the headache from the protection spell.
It was already late, so she gathered her team and thanked all of them for the good job, then told them to go back home and prepare themself for the next day, the big day. She knew it would have been useless to try to clean the room one more time, it was clean as it could be, well, probably cleaner to be exact. And the thought that the princess would be furious to learn that she hadn’t been obeyed was just so pleasant she almost was hoping for it to happen. Even i fit meant losing her contract with the palace.
Yes, something felt very wrong.
She went back home herself. Not withouts making a large detour to make sure she wouldn’t go anywhere near the big libraries of the palace. There were a lot of them, so she had to walk a lot to evade every one of them. It was the price to pay for her to work there. Well, in a way, she could have just not come at all and let her employees handle things for her, which is what they actually proposed her to do. But at the beginning, she thought it would be a good opportunity to be near her brother. You cannot be right all the time… So at the moment she had no other choice but to escape any contact with the libraries. And any book or written stuff to be exact.
Well, she was able to handle the view of writing, like notes or signs, as long as it was a little away, but books just scared her to death. It was a phobia she had never been able to overcome. It didn’t matter how hard she tried, the look of a book had always put her in the worst possible state even since she was just a very little filly. It happened one day her parents told her. It just… happened. She was gone for a day, nopony knew where, and after they found her again, in the middle of the street playing beeing princess Celestia and able to raise the sun, which was a game almost every unicorn has played once in her life, she had the bookophobia. She consequently hadn’t been able to learn neither how to read nor write and had to stay away from books, and make detour to stay away from libraries. But she eventually found the door to go out of the palace.
The streets of Canterlot were full of ponies. It seemed the wedding had attracted just about everypony from all over Equestria. Suddenly, she saw some fireworks coming from a large group of ponies. Twilight was curious by nature, so she went to see what was going on.
In the middle of the group was a little stage and on the stage a light blue unicorn with an even lighter blue mane who was practicing magic for everypony to enjoy. Even if everypony didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as they should. A large part of the crowd seemed outraged by the light blue pony who didn’t seem to care whatsoever. In fact, the more the crowd was growling, the more the unicorn seemed to enjoy herself doing magic tricks.
Twilight, her, was just amazed by all the tricks of the unicorn. It was no secret for anypony that knew her that she enjoyed watching other unicorns practicing magic. She knew some, of course, like any unicorn, but not more than levitating stuff, which she was pretty good at. But what the light blue unicorn was doing was way more than simple levitation. For a moment, Twilight let herself dream she was that light blue unicorn. She dreamed she was able to show off her incredible magic abilities. Even if she disliked the idea of upsetting the crowd. In fact, her crowd was enjoying the spectacle and everopony was cheering for her and her magic. Twilight’s magic. That sounded so delightful. And then she came back to reality. But never having been able to read books, she hadn’t been able to even hope developing her magic abilites. She was just Twilight, the non so magical unicorn with no cutie mark. She sighed, and then remembered that being Twilight was a pretty good thing and that she had to go to bed too to be ready for the very next day, for the wedding.
She went home and, when in her bed, just told herself:
"Tomorrow is going to be perfect."
But her hearth was screaming something else she just refused to hear. By chance she fell asleep very quickly, which solved the struggle. Another one was about to start she had just no idea.
The day that is going to be perfect
The wedding really was incredible. Joy was overwhelming, And the big moment arrived. Her little period of glory too. Cadence, well, princess Mi Amore Cadenza had, for some reason, accepted to let Twilight be her brother best mare. So she got to stand in front of the whole Canterlot elite, near the captain of the royal guard and, even more important at her eyes, just some hooves away from princess Celestia herself. Twilight knew she should just do her duty and not show any misplaced pride, and she was doing a pretty good job at that, but she hoped for a look, just one look from the princess of the day. At that moment, she felt that strange feeling once again. Something wasn’t right. Something was very wrong. She felt danger, she felt her horn hurting like it was going to break, she felt losing contact with reality and the shadow taking control of her vision.
She came back to reality; Shining Armor was looking at her, with a worried face. The whole crowd was looking at her too, with a lot of upset faces. The princess was looking at her, with an undetermined face that Twilight interpreted as disappointment. Twilight understood she had been supposed to give the rings and had zoned out just at the wrong moment. In panic she tried to give the rings but let them fall on the floor. She panicked.
"I’m sorry! She said while beginning to cry."
And without letting her brother or anypony a chance to stop her, she ran and fled the room. It couldn’t have gone worse even in her worst nightmare. At least she thought it couldn’t. But the accident probably saved her. And all of Equestria by the way which is worth making an embarrassing mistake some pony would say.
At the moment she didn’t know any of that. And she wasn’t in the palace anymore when the protection field broke down. She didn’t even notice at first. She didn’t see princess Mi Amore Cadenza revealing her true nature. Neither did she see Chrysalis, with the help of a brainwashed Shining Armor and a whole army of changelings, overpower Celestia and begin her conquest of Equestria.
She did see, one the other hoof, a changeling crash right before her on the street. She didn’t understand but was afraid of that thing. She understood even less when the thing changed into Shining Armor right before her eyes, smiled at her with a very unfriendly smile, and then began to attack her.
She evaded the assault and began to flee. That’s when she noticed it wasn’t just one creature. There were changelings everywhere. Canterlot was falling, the guards were unable to stop them. Everywhere, ponies were screaming and fleeing. Her parents. Twilight had to go make sure her parents were safe. Why not Shining Armor? He was captain of the royal guard, she was sure he would be able to defend himself. In fact, she hoped he would come to their rescue, hers and their parents rescue. But she had let the rings fall on the floor. But that had no relation to what was going on… She understood she was lost, both mentally and physically. She saw some changelings coming in her direction and searched for somewhere to hide.
That’s when she saw the caravan. A simple little caravan that was standing in an alley. She trusted her instinct and rushed into the caravan to escape the changelings. By doing so, she woke up Trixie.
The great and powerful Trixie
"What could be so important that you disturb the sleep of the great and powerful Trixie?"
Twilight tried both to explain what was going on and understand what the unicorn just told her, which gave time for Trixie to speak some more:
"And what do you think you’re doing in Trixie’s amazing and beautiful caravan? You should fear Trixie’s wrath and go away before the great and powerful Trixie decides to show you some of the incredible great and powerful Trixie’s magic!"
And at that moment, Trixie made some firework explode. Inside the caravan. Which didn’t prove to be a great idea. As soon as she recovered, Twilight screamed:
"We have no time, the city is falling, there are those creatures everywhere, we must hide!"
The light blue unicorn laugh at her with disdain.
"You should learn that the great and powerful Trixie never hides. The great and powerful Trixie fears nothing because nothing is as great and powerful as the great and powerful Trixie."
The thought that the creatures could not be the most annoying thing in town crossed Twilight’s mind. But nonetheless she tried to stop Trixie to go out of the caravan, but failed. Out were three changelings waiting to attack.
Twilight thought this was the end of both of them, but this was counting without Trixie which proved to be very efficient, mostly because she wasn’t aware in how much danger they were at the very moment.
"So you three petty little things think you can try and harm the great and powerful Trixie? Don’t make me laugh!" (which she did) "The great and powerful Trixie will give you a lesson and heroically protect the pony that wisely decided to ask for the great and powerful Trixie’s help, knowing the great and powerful Trixie was, well, great and powerful…"
Maybe Trixie noticed that both the changelings and Twilight were watching her oddly. Or maybe she just forgot what she wanted to say. In any case, she decided to act and made a rope appear and tie the legs of one changeling. Another one attacked, but was stopped by a strike of lightning. The third one ran away.
"You see, weak and pathetic little pony, those creatures were no match for the great and powerful Trixie."
Twilight didn’t know what to answer, if she had to get angry for being called weak and pathetic or amazed by the magic she just witnessed. The changelings didn’t let her the time to decide. The third one which had fled had alerted all his friends and more than forty of them appeared on the roofs and around the caravan.
"There is more?" Screamed Trixie, realizing the situation was actually not as good as she thought it was.
Twilight thought of running away when she heard Trixie telling her:
"Come with Trixie and witness!"
And without waiting for Twilight who barely made it in time, she rushed into the caravan, closed the door and performed a new spell. “Her” spell. The one she knew she couldn’t control, but always got her away of similar problems.
The caravan grew six legs, went forward, went backward and suddenly began to ran way faster than any changeling could run or fly.
Watching their escape by the window, and even if violently shaken by the running of the caravan, Twilight felt the danger fading away. And once again she thought of her parents and of Shining Armor. She thought that, even if she didn’t know how, she had to go and help or save them.
"Thank you Trixie…"
"My name is the great and powerful Trixie and you may address me as such."
Even when tossed from one wall to another, Trixie was able to be a pain.
"Thank you, great and powerful Trixie…"
"Well, that’s nothing my weak and pathetic companion. What I did was nothing."
"… but maybe you could stop your caravan so I can go and rescue my parents and my brother. They are still somewhere in Canterlot. I have to go and help them."
"The great and powerful Trixie can’t do that."
"What? Why? Asked Twilight. Is it because you think it’s too dangerous?"
"No, the great and powerful Trixie does not fear danger. The great and powerful Trixie will have you know that the great and powerful Trixie has once vanquished an Ursa Major!"
"So why won’t you help me save ma family?"
"Because the great and powerful Trixie… doesn’t know how to stop the caravan."
She said it with so much pride in her voice that it seemed like she considered it to be a good thing. And in fact she did, because it was proof in her eyes that her magic was incredibly powerful, so much that even she wasn’t able to stop it.
And so the caravan kept running. They escaped from Canterlot and kept going forward without knowing where they were heading or what was happening back in Canterlot. The night passed, and then a whole day of running. They both went asleep and in the middle of their sleep, they suddenly felt a big shock and both woke up.
They had stopped. The caravan had headed right into a big tree which had been converted into a house. They were in Ponyville and they had just destroyed a wall of the library.
From surprise to surprise
A book fell before the hooves of Twilight, who then screamed in horror and hurried back out of the caravan into the street of the little town. It was the middle of the day, there were a lot of ponies around, who were watching the strange spectacle of the crashed running caravan and the very afraid purple unicorn.
"What’s going on here! Asked a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. What do you think you’re doing here, crashing into the library and stuff, not that I like books, I’m no egghead, but still…"
"Rainbow Dash, stop it. You see that she is terrified." Said another pony, an orange earth pony with a cowboy hat.
"Oh okay Applejack. But if they try something strange, I’ll just “bam”, and then loop around and “boum”! Said Rainbow Dash while picturing every exclamation with some big gestures."
"Oh my, are you alright dear?" Asked yet another pony, an awesome, magnificent white unicorn. "How can we help you?"
Twilight looked around, saw no more books, so she calmed down a little. Her pragmatic side took the initiative and the picture of Canterlot invaded by the strange creatures was too fresh in her mind to let here forget about what was important.
"Listen, everypony. This is an emergency. We just come from Canterlot and…"
"Canterlot! Canterlot! Oh my, I always dreamed of going there. The glamour, the…"
"Let her speak!"
That was the mayor of Ponyville. She had used such an intonation that everypony stopped speaking and started listening to what Twilight had to say. Then Twilight started explaining that something went wrong in Canterlot, that they could barely escape after the invasion began. When she had finished, she looked around, and just realized the sky was blue and the sun just shining in the most beautiful way. She so asked:
"Does anypony have any news from Canterlot? Did princess Celestia repealed the invasion?"
The mayor advanced in Twilight’s direction.
"No, she began. They haven’t had any news from Canterlot. Not a lot of ponies have. Come with me."
And she began to lead the way to the town hall, letting Twilight follow her under the very curious eyes of all the ponies gathered there. In the crowd, Twilight saw one more pony that attracted her attention. That pony, in contrary of everypony else, looked away when Twilight glanced in her direction. She was white, with a pink mane. Beside her was another pony, a pink one, an earth pony, who smiled and made a little hoof’s sign in her attention, like a welcome. Twilight felt a little better at that sight, but had to follow the mayor and lost track of the two ponies.
The mayor and Twilight made it into the town hall. Inside was the most surprising of all the sights. Eight bat ponies, the royal night guards of princess luna, were standing in a corner, wearing everything but a smile on her faces. They were just waiting, which was almost impossible to understand, because of the other thing that was surprising, and surprising is way too much of a weak term for that, in the room. On the floor was a pony tied up with ropes, just lying and waiting. That pony was neither an earth pony, nor a unicorn or a Pegasus. It was an alicorn. It was the princess of the night. It was Luna.
Twilight looked once again at the bat ponies. They weren’t moving or trying to help the princess. Were they traitor? Little did she know that Luna had asked them to accept to let the Ponyville ponies tie her up. They followed the order at the only condition that they would be allowed to watch over the princess safety all the time that she would be kept in the ropes.
"That pony… what is your name by the way?"
"I’m Twilight Sparkle."
"What did you say?" Asked the mayor, who was a little shaken by all the emotion, like having one of the two royal princesses tied up in her town hall.
"I’m the t to the w…."
"Ah yes, Twilight. Your name is Twilight Sparkle. Sorry, but the events have been a little… strange around here lately."
Twilight couldn’t agree more.
"So." continued the mayor, "You can confirm that creatures that aren’t ponies have invaded Canterlot?"
"Yes, I saw them. They weren’t ponies, but they could take the shape of ponies. One transformed into my own brother right before my eyes."
And saying that, she reminded of Shining Armor and began to cry.
"Free her! Told the mayor to the few ponies gathered in the room."
The bat ponies didn’t let any pony else approach the night princess and freed her themselves with all the attention and diligence they could have for the task.
"Princess Luna, I’m… I’m terribly sorry, I don’t know what to say…" began the mayor to apologize.
"There is no need for that, madam Mayor, for we know how hard it can be for our subjects to have faith in us after what we did and what we had become."
Even when trying to sound friendly, Luna’s loud voice made her sound like she was yelling at everypony.
Then Luna turned to Twilight and asked her about her story, form before the wedding to her arrival in Ponyville. When Twilight was finished, Luna began to think. The silence began to be a little oppressing. Finally, she asked Twilight to go upstair and wait until she would be asked to come back.
She accepted and went upstair inside a room that she thought was empty. The she fell on the bed and began to cry slowly and quietly. She had have too much emotions and she was still a little exhausted. That’s when she noticed a purple and green baby dragon in the corner of the room.
Even with no chance of success
"I wasn’t crying I swear!" Said the baby dragon, very clearly lying about that.
"Me neither!" Lied Twilight, without even knowing why.
They both watched one another for a little while, not knowing how to react. The baby dragon was the first one to speak again:
"Maybe I was crying a little, but I had something in my eyes, that’s why."
"Don’t bother with that, it doesn’t matter, does it?" Asked Twilight.
"Well, no, it doesn’t, but I wasn’t crying."
"I believe you. What’s your name?"
"I’m Spike!" Said Spike with proud. "I’m a dragon!"
"Well, I can see that."
Then, Twilight learned how Spike got here. How he was hatched from his egg by princess Celestia herself, raised in the Canterlot castle, not able to see anypony but the few very close to the princess, and how he was sent to Ponyville a little before Canterlot was overflowed with changelings.
"You think the princess knew what was going to happen?"
"Well." said Spike, "I don’t think so. But she sure has strange ways to solve problems. I remember when Discord came back, that was something! Celestia and Luna had to give her best to defeat him once again."
"What will happen now?" Asked Twilight.
"I don’t know. I’m just a baby dragon after all. I wish I was all grown up, then I could really help."
"Well, you’re helping me right now." said Twilight.
She was smiling. She liked that little dragon. He had… something.
"Hey, you’ve got no cutie mark!"
And then, she wasn’t sure she liked him that much.
"No, I haven’t, that’s very nice of you to point out, thanks a lot!"
"You don’t have a special talent."
"Oh yes I have. My special talent is getting in trouble and meeting strange people. In just a couple of days I’ve wrecked the wedding of my brother, experienced the invasion of ma city, met the most crazy magician there is, seen a royal princess held hostage by her own subject and met a dragon. I don’t know what else could go crazier right now."
As soon as she said those words, the pink pony from the crowd, the one who smiled at her, Pinkie Pie herself, entered the room by the chimney and began to welcome Twilight into Ponyville. As words do not exist to describe how crazy it was, we will just say that Twilight was proved very, but very wrong in her latest statement.
The noise of the welcome party of the sole pony made the guard come.
"Hey, why interrupt the party?" Asked Pinkie Pie. "What are you doing?"
She continued to scream, and laugh, and yell, as the guards dragged her away from the town hall. Another guard said to Twilight:
"Your presence is required by the royal night princess."
Twilight followed the guard, herself followed by Spike.
The princess was discussing with mayor, who was visibly trying to persuade her to change her mind.
"It’s impossible your highness. The guards won’t even be able to know who is an enemy or an ally."
But Luna had taken a decision. She looked at Twilight with a very deep glance.
"Madam Mayor, we will do it. We won’t run, or hide and we won’t abandon neither Equestria nor our subjects who live in Equestria. For the better or the worse and even with no chance of success, we will fight!"
She then turned completely in direction of Twilight and looked at her directly in her eyes.
"We will fight, and you’re going to help us."
What is needed
Twilight was waiting for the plan to be explained. More ponies had been gathered in the town hall. There was the blue Pegasus with the rainbow mane, the orange earth pony with the cowboy hat and the beautiful white unicorn. Spike was also with them. Nopony was talking, waiting for sompony to explain what was going on. Luna finally came to them and began to talk about her plan.
It was pretty simple in fact. The sun guards were still fighting around Canterlot, and quickly losing against the changelings. The night guard, unable to know who to fight as there were only sun guards on the battlefield, was holding back, awaiting orders.
Luna was going to order a full attack with all the army at her command and some reinforcements, mostly from Cloudsdale as other cities were invaded by changelings. She was to attract the attention of the changelings and their queen.
During this time, Trixie, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack were to infiltrate the palace and find the elements of harmony and free princess Celestia. Then, with the elements and both the power of Luna and Celestia, the order could come back in Equestria.
That was the plan. There was no chance of success and Twilight thought the others were crazy to accept the mission, and the night princess was even crazier to give such an important job to some ponies she barely knew.
"Two of my royal guards will accompany you to help you in your task. You were the only volunteer for a dangerous mission. Now that you know what is awaited from you, you have the possibility to decline it. There is a chance, in fact, that you won’t be able to come back."
As soon as Luna had pronounced those words, Rainbow Dash began to speak:
"Running away? Never. Don’t worry your highness, we will show those changelings what ponies can really do!"
Applejack also told what she thought:
"I agree. There is no point in fleeing. Our problems won’t just disappear if we did. I’ll do my best. Heck, I’ll do more than my best!"
"Well." began Rarity, "I’m not one to agree for violence. But I’m ready to give everything I possess to help the other ponies. You can count on me. I just hope it won’t be too… dirty."
"I’ll stay with Twilight." Said Spike. "If she goes, I come with her."
Everypony looked at Twilight. She felt no pressure. She already knew what she wanted to do.
"My parents and my brother are still in Canterlot. I have to rescue them, and if that means finding the elements of harmony and rescuing princess Celestia, then you can count on me too."
Trixie had watched the other talk. When everypony turned to her, she began to smile.
"The great and powerful Trixie has no intention to go into Canterlot. The great and powerful Trixie doesn’t see the point of going for a mission that is more than sure to fail. The great and powerful Trixie will stay in Ponyville, for the moment."
Twilight didn’t know if she should feel sorry or relieved than Trixie wasn’t coming. The others should have felt the same way, because nopony stopped Trixie from leaving the town hall.
The meeting was over, the plan decided, everypony went out to prepare themselves for the big mission coming. But Twilight went to Luna to ask her a question:
"Your highness…"
"Please, call us Luna."
She didn’t expect that.
"Luna, I have an important question to ask you…"
"You want to know why we have chosen you and the others for the mission of finding the elements and rescuing our sister, don’t you?"
"Yes."
Luna sighed.
"We won’t lie to you, Twilight, the mission has about no chance of success. But we won’t accept to do nothing when all of our subjects are threatened by those… things. We have chosen Rainbow Dash because of her performance at the young flyer competition. She is one of the best there is and we feel she has the look of a real warrior. We have chosen Applejack because we find in her eyes the very same strength that we could find in our sister eyes. Finally, we chose you because you know the palace and you will be able to lead the group easily. And you’re Shining Armor’s sister, which can be of use if you were to encounter him. It may not be the answer that you expected, Twilight Sparkle, but it is the only one that we have to offer you."
"Thanks… your highness."
Twilight walked away. She felt bad. Not because of the reason that were given to her. But because she hadn’t called the princess Luna as she asked to be called.
"Twilight Sparkle!"
That was the princess calling. Twilight stopped.
"Twilight Sparkle. The time is a very dark one. So maybe we should just tell the truth. We chose you to go too because of two things. First, because of your name, as this is a twilight. Second, because you don’t have a cutie mark, which means nopony knows what your special talent is, not even you. This is an element that is unpredictable and while we face a certain defeat, we need unpredictability to be part of our plan. If we want to be honest with you, Twilight Sparkle, our only hopes hold entirely on you and you alone, and your lack of a cutie mark."
Twilight didn’t know what to say. She was surprised. It was unexpected, she hadn’t thought of that.
"Was us being honest with you of some help?"
"Yes it was your majest… Luna. I won’t disappoint you, I swear!"
They both smiled and even laugh a little. Twilight knew that it was totally unreasonable to rely on unpredictability, but at least now she had the most important thing to be able to accomplish anything she wanted.
She had some hope.
You’re (not) alone
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and two very quiet bat ponies began their journey to Canterlot. The train took them not far away from Canterlot, where they were able to witness the horror of war and the battlefield. Little did they know how heroic the resistance had been and still was, and how many brave ponies had given all they had to try and protect Equestria and the other ponies.
They couldn’t stop and began walking. When the night came, they established a camp, the last one before going into Canterlot and the palace. They spoke a little between us. Rainbow Dash was proposing to just go and face any enemy that would go in the way. Applejack was for hiding until they had recovered and saved the princess and Rarity thought showed them some spy costume she had designed when preparing for the mission.
Suddenly, the saddle sack of one of the bat pony began to move on its own, like it was alive. Everypony backed up in fear when the saddle sack opened to let pinkie pie’s face appear.
"Surprise!" She screamed very quietly, as if she was conscious screaming could have led some changelings to know of their presence.
"Pinkie Pie?" Asked Rainbow Dash, not believing her eyes.
But Pinkie Pie didn’t wait and opened the other saddle sack, putting Fluttershy out of it.
"But, what, when… how did you do that?" Asked Twilight.
"Oh silly, answered Pinkie Pie, I just used my hooves, right?"
Fluttershy backed away a little and said:
"Uh, sorry, we wouldn’t want to bother you. We were just, uh, coming to wish you good luck, but we are going to go now…"
"But Fluttershy." said Pinkie Pie "We are not here to wish them good luck. Well, we wish you good luck, that’s right, but that’s not why we came here for, even if we do, that’s just not the main reason, you understand me right?"
No they didn’t.
"Well, we came to help you!" And she almost forgot not to scream that, which made her statement less than a good news.
"Come on Pinkie, you’re a good friend and all, and I know you just want to help, but you just make way too much noise. Told her Applekjack."
"Well, what about that?"
"And Fluttershy? Look at her, she couldn’t be more terrified!" Said Rainbow Dash.
"Pinkie Pie, dear, I fear that, for once, and I can’t believe I’m going to say such a thing, but I’ll have to agree with Rainbow Dash." Said Rarity.
"Well, we are going with you anyway." Answered Pinkie Pie.
Then, she went and grabbed Fluttershy and, making her voice sound like hers, without fooling anypony, said:
"Yes, I want to come, I’m ready to defeat the changelings all on my own!"
"Pinkie Pie, stop that." Asked Applejack.
Pinkie Pie stopped and then wait two seconds before telling:
"This is a no possible mission thingy, right? Then what would the difference be if I went to accompany you? Who knows, maybe it’s going to be fun."
Nopony could believe she just said the mission in the heart of the enemy lines could be fun.
"But what about Fluttershy, you can’t force her to come." Said Rarity, almost begging.
"Oh, I’m not the one who told her to come with you, right Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy didn’t answer right away.
"Well, Fluttershy?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"She is right, Pinkie Pie wasn’t the one who asked me to come. It was princess Luna who asked me."
She said that so weakly the others almost, but only almost, didn’t hear her.
"But, you know, I don’t want to bother you, I’ll just leave." Continued Fluttershy.
"Wait." said Twilight, "If the princess believes in you, you have to come."
"You’re sure? I’m not really cut out for missions. In fact, I shouldn’t have come at all."
But Spike came at her side and pushed her forward.
"Come on Fluttershy, he said, there is no going back now."
That’s how Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came with the rest of the group for the mission. And, in the end, everpony accepted it even more easily because they were all relieved to have more friends to endure what awaited us with them. That’s when Pinkie Pie said:
"And I came with a the most genius battleplan!"
The epic pony war
At dawn, the sound of the assault of the royal night guard woke up the whole group of ponies.
"We don’t have much time." said Twilight, "We have to go."
And they went. They had all agreed for Pinkie Pie’s plan. Why? Each one had her own reason and the bat ponies just stayed quiet.
The plan was simple. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack were going to distract the changelings while Fluttershy, Spike, Twilight and the two bat ponies were going to infiltrate the palace. In other word, Pinkie Pie had just taken the plan from Luna and put into the same exact plan. That way, the distraction had been doubled.
And, in fact, it could have worked.
Pinkie Pie was amazing at attracting all the attention and escaping all the assault of the changelings. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were fighting so well they could even hope to defeat all the changelings by themselves, if they weren’t that many of them. Rarity was incredibly efficient in the smartest way and went from disguise to disguise that well that the master of disguise that were the changeling began to fight one another in the confusion.
In the same time, the little groupe led by Twilight was about to enter the palace when they saw two changelings guarding the door. They began discussing what detour to make to not set the alarm, when they heard:
"Do not worry, for the great and powerful Trixie is here!"
And Trixie sprung in front of them and began to assault the two changelings with lightning and fireworks and, eventually, overpowered the two changelings.
"Well." said Trixie, "There is no need to thank the great and powerful Trixie, all Trixie did was what every heroic and fearless amazing pony like Trixie would have done. You’re welcome."
Twilight thought of strangling the bragging pony. But the apparition of a great number of changelings, attracted by the noise of Trixie’s magic, stopped her. That’s when she understood that the infiltration had failed. And so had the mission.
On the brink of destruction
All was lost, but the ponies weren’t ready to go out without a fight. The two bat ponies told Twilight something:
"You find the elements, the princess is counting on you."
"And you?" Asked Twilight.
"We will do what needs to be done."
And they attacked the changelings. Fighting heroically. Trixie had bagun to try and flee, but all escape were closed, so she began to fight as well as she could. Fluttershy had hidden herself in a bush and began to discretely flee. She knew she was being a coward, but the fear was just too much to handle. She wasn’t ready. She saw a butterfly flying in front of her and, by instinct, began following it.
Twilight tried to pass, but she was blocked by changelings too. Spike tried to help her, but being only a baby dragon, he wasn’t very successful in his brave attempt. He fell unconscious right in front of Twilight, as well as the two bat ponies. Feeling that all was lost and totally surrounded, Twilight screamed for help like she had never screamed before.
Just as a changeling sprung on her, a rainbow just fell on it and knocked it down on the ground. That was Rainbow Dash, who, seeing that Twilight was in trouble and fast enough to come help her, has decided to make her last stand right there.
"Well, it was a no chance of success mission after…" she said with a smile, trying to comfort Twilight even in the worst situation possible.
Another changeling attacked and Rainbow Dash threw im away. Another came for Twilight, but Rainbow Dash was faster. Twilight didn’t know what to do. She had nothing. Whe didn’t know how to fight and whe hadn’t any strength to use. She couldn’t do any useful magic, as her levitation was even too weak to even move a changeling. She felt useless. She watched her blank flank one last time ans sighed.
"I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, princess Luna, I’ve failed. I’m no good."
"Well, I’m no good either you know!"
That was Rainbow Dash speaking.
"I even got kicked out of the young flyer school. But right now, it doesn’t matter if we are good or not, we just have to do our best. And right now, I could really use your help."
The words initiated some sort of sparkle in Twilight’s mind. That was hope coming back. No, that was something more. The sensation that she was more than she could ever be. The sensation that she hadn’t to do something because it was her duty to, but for another pony and with another pony.
"We need a miracle! Said Rainbow Dash, also feeling the end coming."
Twilight let her instinct guide her and sprung on Rainbow Dash’s back.
"What are you doing?" Asked Rainbow Dash
"I’ve got no idea." She answered.
And at that right moment, when the changelings were going to knock them out, they both disappeared.
Who the buck do you think we are?
They reappeared almost one thousand hooves up in the air, both very surprised to be there. But gravity took its very simple right and dragged Twilight very fast to the ground as Rainbow Dash, still shocked for having been teleported, began instinctively flying. And then heard Twilight screaming.
"We need a miracle." Rainbow told herself.
And then she dived. Faster, and faster. She just wanted to save Twilight. She thought of nothing else. And what had to happen happened. The sonic rainboom. The one she had abandoned the idea of doing for the youg flyer competition. And a signal to all ponies everywhere that the tie of the battle had changes side.
But for the time being, Rainbow Dash was focusing on Twilight. She had been able to catch her and take her to a place without changelings up in the palace, the throne room to be precise. Rainbow looked at Twilight but didn’t know what she was seeing. Twilight’s horn was glowing with a white and hot light. Her eyes were white too. Something was happening, she just didn’t know what.
"So you’re the one who did that little trick in the air? How funny. But your path stops right here."
Rainbow Dash turned back just to face Chrysalis.
"I’ve overpowered Celestia, soon all of Equestria will fall. You just have gained a little bit of time, that’s all. What do you even expect to do now?"
A magical blast exploded right in front of her.
"You may have defeated our sister, but you won’t ever defeat all the ponies of Equestria."
Luna turned to Rainbow Dash:
"We will take care of that thing, you take care of Twilight."
Luna turned back just in time to counter a magical ray from Chrysalis and both began to battle.
Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to do. She tried to speak to Twilight, but the unicorn didn’t even seem to be able to notice her presence. And even when as brave as she could be, Rainbow knew she had little chance against Chrysalis.
"If only the others were there." she said.
And rightfully so, because Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack came from the door or the throne room.
"Rainbow Dash, that was amazing! Said Applejack. All the changelings are in panic and… What is happening to Twilight?"
And just when saying that, they saw Luna fighting Chrysalis. But the fight was already over. Luna, totally exhausted, tried one last attack that Chrysalis countered. Then, the changeling’s queen aimed and fired a magical beam that took down the night princess.
Laughing, Chrysalis turned back to the five ponies in the room.
"So, she said, what are you going to do now that both of your princesses have been defeated?"
But as soon as she had said that, they all heard the voice of Spike:
"Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, you will never guess what Fluttershy and her critters friends have found."
And they all saw Spike running into the throne room holding Fluttershy over his head and followed by a bear, a panter and three kittens. In the hooves of Fluttershy where five ancient stones.
Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes saw they stones and the white glowing around her horn took possession of her whole body. The light became overwhelming. A warm and violent sensation of power went through everypony in the room.
Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy felt a new energy into their body. The necklace of the elements of harmony appeared on the neck and the tiara on Twilight’s head. And for the first time, Chrysalis stopped to laugh. She said something that couldn’t be heard as the noise of magical power was covering everything and everypony. A magical and spiraling rainbow appeared and literally mowed Chrysalis, before spreading over all of Canterlot and then Equestria, forcing the changelings away.
The light of power began to disappear and the six ponies returned on the floor.
Twilight does(n’t) like books
As Twilight opened her eyes, she saw the faces of her five companions, and Spike, and the two princesses. She awoke and asked:
"Did we do it, is Equestria free?"
"Indeed you did," answered Celestia. "Everything is well, thanks to all of you."
Twilight was overjoyed. And even more as she discovered a cutie mark on her flank, composed of five stars around a sixth bigger on with twelve branches. She had saved Equestria and earned her cutie mark. This was just too perfect. She began to jump around in joy.
But then, she noticed a pony watching the scene quietly, who seemed very sad. It was Shining Armor. Twilight went to him and hugged him with all her strength. Surprised, he finally hugged her too.
"What is happening to you? Aren’t you happy?" Asked Twilight.
"I am, but I’m ashamed. I wasn’t able to protect Equestria. I failed. And even now, I don’t even know where the real Cadence could be. I think I should resign as captain of the royal guards."
"You know." said Twilight, "It doesn’t matter if we are good or bad. We just have to do our best. And I know you did, and you will always do. That’s because you shouldn’t be ashamed, and that’s why I love you so much."
"Thanks little sis’."
"Well, you are, after all, my BBBFF! I will go seek the real Candence. We will find her, I assure you. And when we do, I’ll make sure with my team that the palace is proper enough to hold your wedding."
"Your team? You’re going to continue into the cleaning business now that you’ve got your cutie mark?"
"Well yeah, but I’m probably going to move to Ponyville. There are some very interesting ponies there. But for now, let’s find your bride."
And she went ahead out of the room, just to come face to face to Trixie.
"So, Twilight Sparkle, how does it feel?"
Twilight didn’t understand the question.
"Well…" she tried to answer, "It’s great, thanks, the day couldn’t have ended better for me."
"No, you don’t understand Twilight Sparkle. How does it feel to be in the presence of the great awesome and powerful Trixie, savior of Equestria and anypony who inhabits it? Do you feel honored?"
"Trixie, what? When… How…?"
"Trixie knew seeing the great and powerful Trixie was going to leave you speechless. Now it’s time for the great and powerful Trixie to go. To our next meeting Twilight Sparkle. The great and powerful Trixie blesses you with the honor telling you farewell."
And Trixie left running covered in her escape by a magical cloud of dust.
"Why is your friend running away?" asked Pinkie Pie, hanging from the ceiling.
"I don’t know. I think I still have a lot before me to learn and many adventures to live."
But she suddenly thought of something. She ran to the nearest library of the palace and tried to face a book. She came back livid in the throne room.
"No." she told everypony, "I’m still afraid of books."
Celestia came to comfort her:
"That is something we will try to solve. But right now, don’t you have somepony you’re supposed to go seek for?"
"Oh, yes, that’s right princess."
"And we are coming with you Twilight!" Said Applejack in the name of the five ponies.
So they all went together to face off destiny, wherever it should take them.
And where it should take them, they just had no idea…
THE END
