Falling Into the Unknown

As soon as the train rolled to a stop in Canterlot, Azure and Amber were following me as I jogged off of the train and through the streets. Most of the ponies in the streets stopped to look at us as we went by, but we ignored them in favor of heading straight to the castle.

Two minutes later, we finally arrived at the gates, guarded by two guards.

“Halt!” One of them said. “What is your reason for being here?”

I walked up to him and stared him in the eye. “Tell Celestia that Tyler needs to see her right fucking now. It’s an emergency.”

One of the guards recognized my tone and ran off while the other kept an eye on me. A full minute later, the guard returned, out of breath.

“Throne room… Three minutes from now… Just go in…” He said slowly, out of breath.

I rushed past them, running through the hallways, Azure and Amber right behind me. I must have looked absolutely ridiculous: I held about twenty papers in my hands, with my rifle slung behind me, and my backpack, with all its contents, sitting tightly against my back.

Within a minute of running through the halls, with Azure shouting directions, we came to a halt outside of Celesta’s throne room. The two guards at the entrance slowly opened the doors for us, and we strode in.

All three of us walked in. Amber and Azure gave a bow, while I simply nodded.

“Greetings, Tyler Maddox.” She said. “What are you here for?”

“These.” I said, tossing the papers at her, as she caught them in a golden glow. Her facial features quickly registered a mix of shock, anger, and dismay, before she set them down on the ground and shook her head.

“Where did you get these?” She asked.

It was a quick answer. “Inside of the raider’s headquarters. We took it down, and got over here as fast as we could.”

“There are three ponies I know of that fit the description of the ‘Controlled’ pony, and only one of them has the initials ‘P.B.’” Celestia said. “It’s my nephew, Prince Blueblood. Weak willed and corrupt. The only reason he is around is because I had a pony seventy years ago who did many good things, and I rewarded him. Sadly, he had children, and Blueblood is one of them.

“As for who is the ‘Controller’, I can only make general guesses. There are five ponies that are close to Blueblood, and only three of them are mares. Two of them arrived in the past few years, so that narrows it down to two choices.” She finished.

“Who are they?” I asked.

Celestia was quick to answer. “One is a pegasus named Spring Song, who is a childhood friend of his, and moved here recently, and one of his only ones, for that matter. The second one is his personal assistant, a unicorn named Cold Front.”

“Which one is most likely to be the ‘Controller’?” I asked.

“Probably the unicorn.” Amber suggested. “You need a horn to control and channel magic, and she probably needs to have him under a spell, so a unicorn is a good cover for that, if it even is a Changeling.”

I was in full detective mode now. “The letters stated that they ‘had her under control’, and that she needed to obey them to ‘keep certain beings alive’. Therefore, it is probably a Changeling with either unusual ties, or we are dealing with something truly strange here.”

“I know where she and Blueblood are right now.” Celestia offered. “If you wanted to ‘take care of it’, I wouldn’t mind. He has been a problem for far too long, and he needs to be bucked down a notch.”

“I wouldn’t mind. Where is he?” I said, happy to take down the guy who had done all of this, including the pony controlling him.

Celestia smiled. “Eager, I see. He’s in the mansion two blocks to the south, and one to the east. Amber and Azure know it as ‘Blueblood’s Vanity’.”

Azure nodded. “We definitely do. The moron has it coming, all right.”

“Well, let’s get going.” I said, gesturing towards the door. “After you, Azure.”

We quickly journeyed out of the castle and into the city. As Celestia had said, the mansion was very visible: It was the only building within several blocks to have a massive spire rising off of the top of the two-story structure.

We formed up outside of it, many ponies glancing at us with curiosity. However, with Azure and Amber there in guard armor, if not the helmets, calmed them down at the site of me quite a bit.

“So, what now?” Amber asked.

“We enter.” I said.

I went up to the door and opened it, Azure and Amber following behind me. The hallway led twenty feet before opening up into a small room with a staircase. Doors lined the sides of the hallway, but we ignored them, and went for the staircase. The faint sound of talking could be heard from the second floor, and I pulled my Sa-58 off of my back, gripping it tightly.

The voices were easily audible as we walked slowly up the stairs, not making a sound.

“-But I don’t see why I have to give them more!” A male voice was saying. “The last shipment didn’t go through, and I don’t think I can keep up the ruse for much-” The voice was cut off suddenly as a cyan flash lit up part of the hallway.

“Now, will you do what I asked?” A female voice said.

“Yes, Cold Front.” The male voice replied monotonously.

“Christ, he’s definitely under some sort of spell.” I whispered.

Azure snorted softly. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” He said sarcastically.

We crossed the top of the stairs and continued down the hallway. Sounds of walking came from behind a door ten feet away, so Azure and Amber crossed to the other side fo it, while I stood beside the doorframe.

“Ready?” I said, eyeing the closed door.

“Ready.” Amber and Azure said simultaneously.

I gave the door a massive kick. Being that it was not designed for that kind of punishment, it immediately broke through the area where the knob was and flew to the side, barely on its hinges, a visible dent in it. Two unicorns stood in the center of the room. One, a mare, was white with a multishaded violet-purple mane. The second one, obviously Blueblood, was simply standing there with green-hued eyes.

“Get down on the ground!” I yelled. The mare immediately ran for the window. I attempted to fire a shot, but the two bullets I fired missed her, and she broke through it.

“Snap him out of it!” I said to Azure, pointing at Blueblood. He walked over to the prince and, almost happily, slapped his horn with his hoof. Blueblood’s horn immediately emitted green light as he screamed out in pain, putting a hoof to his head.

“What was that for, peasant!” He yelled.

“Snap out of it. You were in a Changeling spell.” Amber said. “Now shut up while Azure and I escort you to Princess Celestia for questioning.”

“What did I do?!” He gasped.

“Plenty of things. For now, follow us or we will force you to.” Azure curtly said.

“I’ll chase after the mare.” I said, moving to the broken window.

There was little glass in it after she went through. It in distance, a block away, I could easily see her distinctive mane in what little crowd there was, trotting away at a brisk pace. I stepped through the window and pushed off, landing ten feet below and absorbing the shock with my knees. I quickly began running towards her. Many of the locals seemed to recognize me from Princess Celestia’s announcements, so I was quickly able to move through the crowd.

Once she spotted me, she ran faster, pushing through the crowd, who stared first at her, and then at me, rushing along, twenty feet behind her.

She couldn’t match my speed, and she knew it, so, instead of doing the reasonable thing and teleporting away, she turned down a random alley. I turned it just in time to see her jump on top of a crate and on top of a roof. Clambering up, first onto the crate, and then onto the two-story house, I quickly spotted her and followed, awkwardly running along the slightly sloped rooftops.

At the end of the block, she slid down the surface off the roof and onto the street ten feet below, shocking the ponies down there. My fall seconds later didn’t help it. I ignored the ones giving me odd looks and settled for chasing her down another alley, which had a sharp turn further on.

I turned the corner and found her ten feet away, facing a blank wall.

“Don’t teleport.” I said, causing her to whirl around. “If you try, I shoot off your horn. Now, just what are you? And who?” I questioned, aiming my rifle menacingly.

“I- I am Cold F- Front.” She said, stuttering.

“What are you?”

“A pony.”

“Why are you working for the Changelings?”

Suddenly, it was as if a dam had burst. She started crying, and I had to strain to make out what she said.

“They have most of my family!” She said through sobs. “They taught me a spell that I had to use on him, and what to say. I tried to go back on it, but they said they would drain my foals!”

I shook my head. “I’m afraid I am going to have to take you in.”

She looked up at me, almost pitifully. “Promise you will do your best to help them?”

“I promise.”

She wiped off her face with her hoof and spoke up again. “In my house is a bit of information on where their hive is. Use it, please. I will follow you back to the castle, but please use it!”

“I will.”

Fifteen minutes later, after I had taken her to the castle and met up with Azure and Amber, I told them the entire story.

“That’s awful.” Amber said. “What are we going to do about it?”

“Go to their hive and kick some Changeling flank.” Azure said.

I held up a hand, causing them to pause.

“We still need to get the information. She told me where her house is, so we go in, take the documents, and tell Celestia.” I said.

“Sounds good.” Amber said, moving towards the door. “Let’s get moving.”

Five minutes later, after walking a short distance to her house that she had described to me and entering, I gazed upon a thin stack of papers on what looked like a desk.

“Found them.”