What’s that sound?
It’s so loud!

I’m headed for a BREAKDOWN!

Next Day – 7:00 AM

Twilight awoke to a feeling of comfort she hadn’t felt in a very long time. However, the memories of everything came back to her very quickly, darkening her mood. As she lay there, she realized that she was up against something warm, and that something soft was draped over her. She heard and felt something shifting position nearby, and she in response opened her eyes. Cadence’s smile filled her vision, and Twilight felt her emotions well.

“Good morning, sleepyhead” Cadence said.

Twilight’s response was to latch onto Cadence with a hug and start crying, pent-up emotions coming out all at once. She stayed like that for around five minutes, safe in the embrace of one of her oldest and closest friends.

“I’m so sorry I thought you were evil until I blasted off Chrysalis’ disguise” she whimpered. “I was so deep in darkness that I was ready to kill you without a second’s hesitation.”

“It’s alright, Twilight” Cadence soothed her. “The Changeling Queen fooled everyone. I’m just glad she didn’t get the chance to seriously hurt you.”

Twilight allowed herself to relax in Cadence’s arms (forelegs; whatever). She sighed, stretching out her wings and… She stopped, looking back and discovering that yes, the wings she grew during the initial stages of her Nightmare transformation were still there, the feathers being the same shade of purple as her coat, with black tips. She moved them around a little, folding and extending them, twitching the feathers, and giving them a light flap.

“I thought they were part of the dark transformation…” she muttered.

“That may have been what brought them out,” Cadence replied, “but you already had the potential to become an alicorn before you… gave your heart to Darkness. Celestia was going to wait until you mastered your fifth S-rank spell before she told you how to ascend ‘properly’.”

“Is that how you, Celestia, and Luna became alicorns?”

“No; we were born like this. You are the first pony in history to ascend to alicorn-hood instead of being born as one. I… just wish it had happened under more positive and joyful circumstances…”

Twilight cast her eyes down at that, dark thoughts swirling within her head.

“You need to talk to them, Twilight” Cadence said. “All of them. Otherwise, those dark thoughts will stay there inside you, worsening over time like an infected wound. You could end up holding onto poisonous hatred for the rest of your life, which could be a very long time, considering…”

“…”

“Please, Twilight. Promise me that you’ll at least talk to them.”

“…Okay” Twilight murmured.

“C’mon; I’ll fix you something for breakfast first. …Fair warning: you’re gonna need to eat more food from now on, now that you’ve got those wings; alicorns have the highest daily caloric requirements of the four races, and the bigger & more powerful they are the more they need to eat. If you could see how many sweets Celestia can eat without gaining a pound…”

-----SCENE BREAK-----

8:35 AM

Twilight shuffled her forehooves awkwardly as her mother and father walked into the room. Velvet looked at her daughter, thankful to not currently see any anger in her expression. She was still haunted by the memories of everything that had happened yesterday – seeing her baby girl using dark magic, becoming a sadistic killer, gaining wings by having them rip their way out of her back, transforming into a new Nightmare, torturing the Changeling Queen. And the things she’d said… When Twilight had forced Chrysalis to assume the forms of her mother and father, they’d gotten off relatively easy – accusations of favoritism toward Shining Armor, pointing out how they never tried to get in contact with her after her move to Ponyville, followed by quick and not-that-messy deaths. Cadence had confirmed to Velvet and Nightlight that Twilight was only a little angry with them, and could not bring herself to hate them. Still, that little bit of anger was enough to warrant this meeting.

Nightlight spoke first. “Twilight, sweetie… I think the first thing I should tell you regards you saying how you felt that we were favoring Shining Armor over you. To be honest, Shining has, on more than one occasion, confessed that he felt that we were favoring you over him.”

Twilight’s eyes widened just a bit.

“My mother called it a normal sibling thing” Velvet continued. “She had the same issue with her little brother growing up; each one thought that the other was the favorite and they were being ignored in comparison. It led to them not speaking to each other for 12 years after she’d moved out on her own; it took my grandmother a lot of time and effort to clear up everything and get my mom and uncle to reconcile. …We never favored either you or Shining, Twilight. We love you both equally, and I’m so, so sorry that we accidentally gave both of you any impressions otherwise.”

“We… don’t have such an excuse, however, for not keeping in contact with you” Nightlight said sadly, as he and his wife hung their heads. “There was just so much going on – our second honeymoon, the drama with my brother, and a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’… Plus, we knew you needed to learn to stand on your own, to make new friends…”

“But we still should’ve at least written you letters, checked up on you…” Velvet added.

“…I’m kinda guilty in that department, too” Twilight replied. “I didn’t even remember to write to you about my new friends until a week after we’d saved the day, and even then I only wrote to you once about it. I’ve been down in Ponyville for so long and I only tried to contact you three times. And when we were here in Canterlot for my 20th birthday, I forgot to invite you! I… I forgot you, too. I’m so sorry.”

They (cautiously) approached her, and she hugged them. Relief swept over them knowing that their daughter still loved them and had forgiven them. After a few seconds, they got a slight surprise as she used her new wings to hug them along with her forelimbs. Velvet repressed a shudder at the memory of her little girl’s wings bloodily bursting their way out of her back; now was not the time for such dark thoughts. Their baby was an alicorn now (albeit a small one); they would get used to that sooner or later. For now, though, she was their Twily – nothing more, and nothing less.

-----SCENE BREAK-----

Throne Room
10:15 AM

Celestia looked up from the stack of paperwork that yesterday’s incident had necessitated, and as she saw Twilight walking in, wings folded to her sides and a stone-neutral expression on her face, she knew that the conversation she’d been dreading had arrived. She stepped down and walked toward Twilight, meeting her halfway. They looked at each other, Celestia with nervousness, guilt, and sadness, and Twilight with a failed attempt to hide her anger behind an expressionless mask, the look in her eyes making it abundantly clear that she was very upset.

“T-Twilight, I…”

“Don’t” Twilight interrupted, holding a hoof up. “No amount of fake apologies could ever make up for what you’ve done to me.”

“They’re not fake! I am sorry, truly! I never meant to hurt you, Twilight!”

“Liar!!” Twilight screamed. “I was just a tool to you! You used me as a weapon to help your precious sister, and then to deal with whatever other threats popped up to threaten your reign!”

“I never gave you any tasks that I didn’t think you could handle. And I never thought of you as ‘just a tool’! I’ve always loved having you as my student, and I have never stopped caring for your well-being and safety! In my 3,200 years of life, you are only the second student I have ever taken! I failed to stop the first’s fall to darkness 500 years ago, and now I came horrifyingly close to losing you in the same manner!”

“You have lost me! I refuse to call you my teacher any longer!”

Celestia stepped back from hearing that, as if the words had physically struck her.

“I trusted you!” Twilight continued. “I idolized you! But you didn’t have faith in me! You never took any of my warnings seriously! I… All I ever wanted was to impress you! To ensure that I truly earned the right to be your student! But it became more; you were there for me when no-one else was, you m-made sure I ate right and got sleep instead of letting my studies keep me up all night, you p-praised me when I did well, you taught me things even more important than magic, you were there for me where my parents couldn’t be! And then you just turned around and abandoned me!! You… Y-You…”

And then Twilight said four words. Just four simple words. But the way she said them, screaming them out as tears streamed down her face, along with the words themselves, were enough for Celestia to fully realize just how badly she’d messed up, enough to break her heart as she realized Twilight’s motivations, her own feelings for her, and what she had done to the girl who was so much more than just her student:

“YOU WERE MY MOTHER!!!”

Celestia could barely breathe, and soon tears came to her eyes as her already-crushing guilt magnified tenfold. In an instant, memories rushed through her mind: playing with little Twilight in-between study sessions, sleeping next to a curled-up ball of purple fluff to keep the little one’s nightmares away, seeing the look of joy on the little filly’s face as she mastered a new spell… Her rear legs fell out from under her as she finally realized that she did love Twilight as a daughter… and now, her mistakes had ruined that irreparably.

‘Twilight…’ she thought. ‘I… By Father, what have I done?’

Before Celestia could say anything, Twilight turned and ran, ignoring Celestia’s desperate pleas for her to stay. Twilight teleported out, reappearing on the far end of the hall outside the throne room, near the exit doors… and directly in front of five shocked young mares. Twilight and the group very quickly recognized each other; she wiped the tears from her eyes and scowled at them, while their expressions quickly became ones of guilt, regret, and sorrow; Pinkie’s mane & tail were still flat and straight, as they had been since the incident at the interrupted wedding.

“Twi…” Applejack started, removing her hat. “We’ve been lousy friends…”

“Damn right you have” Twilight snapped in reply. The others bowed their heads in shame.

“We abandoned you when you needed us” Rainbow Dash said. “Betrayed you…”

“Yes, you did.”

“We s-should’ve listened to you,” Fluttershy continued, “considering your t-track record with these kinds of things.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“W-We let the chance to participate in a royal wedding blind us to a friend in need” Rarity lamented.

“Yes, you did.”

“We were horrible to you” Pinkie whimpered. “And… we’re so, so sorry.”

“…Apology not accepted.”

The five gasped in shock, their hopes dashed.

“T-Twilight…” Pinkie whimpered. “You’re our friend! We love you!”

“Oh, really?” Twilight retorted. “I find that pretty damn hard to believe after all you’ve done to me! Over a year of time together, all the adventures and mishaps, all the times we helped each other, and you throw me out just like that!”

“We were just doin’ what yer brother told us to!” Applejack replied. “An’ besides, you came in actin’ like a madwoman, hootin’ & hollerin’, sayin’ stuff that sounded totally crazy without any proof to back it up!”

“I know I should have brought proof” Twilight replied. “And I know I flew off the handle. Those were my mistakes, and I acknowledge them. But that doesn’t excuse you walking out on me, abandoning me, going ahead with the wedding without me! And all the other things you’ve done to me before the wedding over the past year, taking advantage of me, refusing to take me seriously unless the world depends on it! Actually, not even then! And… w-what if I had brought proof? I bet you’d have all still sided against me!”

“No, we wouldn’t have!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “If you had brought proof, we would’ve sided with you even if Celestia herself didn’t!”

“Lies!! You never believe anything important I say until things are already going to hell all around us! You were supposed to be my friends! You were supposed to have my back against anything and everything, no matter what! Why didn’t you?! Why did you leave me all alone?!?!”

“Because we were short-sighted, insensitive fools who don’t deserve to have a friend as wonderful as you!!” Fluttershy wailed, finally speaking up.

There were no words for the next several seconds, only Fluttershy’s sobs and Twilight’s gasps for breath. The others were in full agreement with Fluttershy’s summation, too ashamed to even look Twilight in the eyes anymore.

“We don’t deserve you, Twilight…” Rarity said softly in an utterly defeated tone. “We are horrible friends, who have given you far more pain and unhappiness than pleasure and joy. But we swear, on our very souls, to change our ways however necessary. We will do anything you want. …We will always love you, Twilight, but… if you wish to never associate with or even speak to us again, we understand…”

“…It… It is going to take a long, long time before everything is right between us” Twilight finally said. “Before you all can earn back my trust and friendship. Years, even.”

“We’ll do whatever is necessary, even if it takes until we’re all old and gray and half-dead” Rainbow Dash replied. “You’re worth it… even if we’re not.”

-----SCENE BREAK-----

12:06 PM

Twilight and the girls had departed on mostly-neutral terms, they giving her the space she needed. Now, she lay in her room in the castle, pouring over a book on proper wing care that she was going to need to memorize thanks to her new appendages. She was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sighing, she got to her feet and walked over, opening the door…

“H-Hey, Twily. Um…”

…and then slamming it in her brother’s face the instant she recognized him.

“Okay” she heard him mutter. “Plan B, then.”

Before she could process what he said, Shining Armor appeared in the middle of her room in a bright flash of light, stumbling a bit.

“Gah…” he muttered. “Teleporting always gives me a headache, even for only a couple meters.”

“What do you want, Shining?” Twilight said coldly.

He flinched at the harsh tone, but managed to collect himself. “I came to try and make things right between us, Twily.”

“Don’t call me that” she snapped. “You don’t have the right to call me that anymore! I refuse to allow it! …You actually think that anything you say or do can patch things up between us, after what you did to me?! If so, than you are sorely mistaken!”

“Twilight, please! I screwed up! I should’ve been more alert, should’ve noticed that Cadence wasn’t acting right!”

“That’s not the issue here! I know that you couldn’t have done that, because a Changeling’s mind-altering spell physically prevents its target from doing that! But it only affects how the victim sees and thinks of the caster! It does not affect how they treat others! So you can’t blame Chrysalis for all of the things you said and did to me!”

“I wasn’t going to! I treated you horribly. I’m your big brother, and I’m supposed to look out for and support you. But I didn’t. I chose that… insect over you. And I’ve been disgusted with myself ever since.”

“Oh, boo-fucking-hoo. Pity yourself for your stupidity all you want; it won’t change a gods-damned thing between us. I idolized you, I did everything for your sake, and you threw me out like garbage! Just as you’ve always done! Every time we did things together as kids, you couldn’t wait to just get it over with and go do what you wanted, without me in tow! They were some of the best times of my life, but to you they were just an annoyance! And when I moved to Ponyville, you didn’t come to see me off! And during all my time there, not once did you even try and contact me! The girls didn’t even know you existed until we got the invitations! And then you exiled me, your baby sister, from the most important event of your life! When I burst in there, you were all just going right the hell ahead without me! You didn’t care! You never cared!! You never really cared about me, so why the hell should I give a shit about you?! I no longer consider you as my brother!!”

Shining staggered back, tears coming to his eyes, as he looked into the eyes of his little sister, his Twily, and saw nothing but pain and hatred directed at him. “I… I…”

“Get out” she interrupted.

“T-Twily-”

“GET OUT!!!”

Shining’s military training was the only thing that gave him the reaction time necessary to cast a small Shield spell to block the ensuing blast of magenta-colored attack magic. She fired a few more blasts at him as he telekinetically opened the door behind him, stepped out, and ran like hell, the door swinging closed in his wake. Twilight stood there, panting, tears in her eyes and a look of fury still on her face. Then she collapsed atop a nearby cushion, buried her face in it, and cried.

Why had that hurt so much? She hated him now… didn’t she?

-----SCENE BREAK-----

3:15 PM

Twilight lay on her suite’s bed, wings and mane splayed out, helping herself to a box of chocolates; Cadence hadn’t been kidding when she’d said alicorns needed to eat more, and more often, than the other three subspecies. The day’s events weighed heavily on the new alicorn’s mind, leaving her to sulk as she ate.

“Twilight?”

She lifted her head and looked behind her, to see Cadence walking in. The older alicorn hopped up on the bed and curled herself up next to Twilight, draping a wing over her; Twilight let out a sigh as the comforting gesture from her honorary big sister eased some of her tension. She made no objection as Cadence helped herself to one of the chocolates. For the next few minutes, they just stayed like that.

“Shining and I have decided to postpone the wedding for a while” Cadence finally said. “After everything that’s happened, regarding the Changelings and… you… we felt it best to give everything time to settle down.”

“…I see” Twilight said in a neutral tone. “That’s understandable.”

“I’d… like you to be my Maid of Honor when the time comes.”

“…I can’t do that, Cadence.”

“What?” Cadence’s head rose. “Why not?”

“I can’t stand to be involved in anything related to Shining Armor, especially if it’s something meant to make him happy. …He came by to try and apologize to me a few hours ago. I rejected his apologies. And I shot at him – tried to kill him. It didn’t work, thanks to his talent with Shield spells, but… It hurts too much to be around him. I’m still too angry at him. I still hate him. I won’t stand in the way if you want to pursue a relationship with him… but leave me out of it. Otherwise I’ll probably end up murdering him right in front of you, and that would ruin your wedding day all over again, now wouldn’t it?”

Cadence let out a sad sigh as she hugged Twilight, feeling the urge to weep at a once-strong bond ending up so utterly broken. “I’m sorry” she whispered.

“Don’t apologize. You’re one of the few who did nothing wrong, who aren’t at fault. You were trapped underground, Spike was too afraid of Shining, Celestia, and my so-called ‘friends’ to go against them, and Luna was napping. …If I don’t see Spike soon, could you maybe find him and let him know what I just said, and thus that I’m not angry at him?”

“S-Sure… I, ah… heard about your meeting with Celestia, and then with the girls…”

“…Is that so…?”

“I checked on Celly. She’s… absolutely devastated. All the guilt and regret over everything that’s happened was magnified by what you said to her. And she’s also been dwelling on all the times her ‘failures’ have endangered her subjects and the kingdom – Nightmare Moon, her fallen student half a millennium ago, Discord’s release, the Changelings, your Nightmare… She’s coming to think that she can’t adequately protect and rule her subjects, so she’s… she’s considering abdicating the throne – stepping down as Princess.”

At this, Twilight went from lying on her side, eyes half-closed, to sitting up with eyes wide from shock. “What?!” she whispered out, too shocked to yell.

“Her confidence in her judgment and in her ability to rule and protect Equestria has been pretty much shattered. She thinks that the kingdom would be safer under the command of Luna and the Royal Court. And… her heart is broken from realizing the full weight of what you meant – what you mean – to her, and what she did to you. She-”

But before Cadence could say anything more, Twilight stood up, her magic enveloping the both of them. There was a flash of light, and they both disappeared.

Just Outside Celestia’s Private Chamber
Four Seconds Later

Cadence and Twilight reappeared on the luxurious carpet just outside a door with a picture of the Sun etched into it. The door was open a few inches, allowing Luna’s incredulous voice to ring out.

“You cannot be serious, sister!” the moon goddess shouted. “You have been a Princess presiding over Equestria ever since you and I defeated Discord 1,300 years ago! You cannot just throw that away because of one mistake!”

“I have made far more than just ‘one mistake’, Luna” Celestia replied. Her mane and tail were limp and still, and the colors were slightly dulled. “I ignored the resentment and darkness growing within you until it took mind of its own and transformed you into a daemon, costing us 1,000 years. I failed to prevent – nay, caused – the fall of my first student” the mental images of a pink-furred unicorn stallion with a crazed look in his eyes, dark magic swirling around his body, and a book bound in dragon hide and written with gryphons’ blood flashed through her mind. “I did not notice the seal on Discord weakening until he was already loose. I failed to notice that Cadence – my own flesh-&-blood, one of the purest-hearted ponies in the world – was replaced by a cold-hearted shapeshifter until Twilight forcefully revealed her. And I let down Twilight – my student, my ward, my daughter – such that she surrendered to Darkness just as you did 1,001 years ago.”

“You are only highlighting the bad that has happened under your reign while ignoring or dismissing the good” Luna said. “Technological advances, reducing the once-ubiquitous racism between the three subspecies to only 1,000 or so stubborn old holdouts with no real power, gender equality, vastly improved education, increased life expectancy, peaceful contact and trade relations with the zebra tribes…”

“And yet, three times my failures have nearly led to the loss of all of that.”

“Celestia!”

The two sisters looked up in shock as Twilight walked in.

“What are you thinking?!” she said. “You can’t just abandon the throne because of me! The entire Equestrian government is built around you; if you quit, it could collapse! And so what if you made mistakes? Every leader does!”

“But most leaders’ mistakes don’t endanger the lives of millions!” Celestia replied. “Every time a major threat to Equestria comes along, I do things catastrophically wrong! I’m not cut out to defend Equestria from those that threaten it.”

“Then change things up a little regarding your and Luna’s duties” Twilight suggested. “Right now, and since she came back, you’ve had her handling night-time duties while you handle things in the day, regardless of whatever happens during those times of day. But Luna has a better mind for tactics, strategy, and all things war-related than you; let her handle defense and military, while you focus on the other things.”

“I am in agreement with Twilight Sparkle, sister” Luna said. “Your skills in handling threats to our kingdom are commendable when the threat is overt, but spotting and dealing with subtle threats are more my forte. I’ve actually been meaning to train and implement a special-forces and investigations branch that would be in charge of ferreting out hidden enemies and conspiracies, and they would also be used to closely monitor any other seals keeping dark entities at bay, so we wouldn’t have a repeat of Discord.”

“And maybe we could add a few royal psychologists,” Cadence added, “so what happened to Luna and Twilight won’t happen again.”

“The people are scared right now” Twilight said. “If you step down from the throne now, they might see it as abandonment. It could make things much worse, maybe even incite revolt. Give it a few years with some changes to the system, see if things stabilize and turn out okay, before you go making such a humongous decision.”

Celestia was silent for about a minute. “…All right” she said. “We’ll try your suggestions. …It seems you three are already wiser than I.”

“More like we have the benefit of a somewhat-objective viewpoint” Cadence replied.

Celestia then looked at her former student, who looked back with a mixture of various emotions.

“Twilight… I can never apologize enough for what I’ve done… You are the closest thing to a child I’ve had in my entire life, and I took you for granted. …I’ve had far more faith in you than you think, but I should’ve made that clearer to you. …And I should’ve had more.”

“…I should’ve given you reason to” Twilight admitted. “I do have the tendency to fly off the handle when things go even the slightest bit wrong. I guess this was a ‘Colt Who Cried Wolf’ scenario, huh? It… It still hurts, a lot. It’ll take a long time for things to be fully right between us, Celestia… but it’s possible. Don’t give up on me.”

Celestia nodded. “I won’t. I swear it.”

-----SCENE BREAK-----

Wrap-Up

Things gradually settled back to normal in Canterlot over time. Five months after the foiled Changeling attack, Cadence and Shining Armor were properly wed; Twilight chose not to attend the wedding.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie worked tirelessly to earn back Twilight’s trust and friendship. Little by little, the shattered bonds were repaired. It took over two years of work, but eventually their friendship was as strong as it had been before, if not stronger.

Five years after the Changeling Incident, Celestia received a present from Twilight… on Mother’s Day. That same day, Twilight finally forgave her old mentor, though she declined the offer to resume her position as Celestia’s student, having learned quite a bit on her own without a teacher’s help.

18 years after the Changeling Incident, Night-Light suffered a heart attack. It was touch-and-go, but he survived and made a full recovery. During the brief period where they thought he wouldn’t, Twilight and Shining had a long, long talk. Emotions ran high, words were exchanged, and tears were shed… but in the end, they buried the hatchet, and Twilight finally forgave her brother after nearly two decades of anger and grudge.

A mere four years after her imprisonment, Chrysalis was ‘freed’ by Ouranos, the Father of All Alicorns and one of the ‘four elder gods’ with the power capable of breaking her seal. Her body was too ravaged to remain in the material realm; he escorted her to the afterlife, to Purgatory to work off her sins for however many decades or centuries it would take to purify her soul sufficiently to ascend properly.

END.

Author's Note

And that's that for Breakdown.