Chapter Six - Twilight's Plight

"It's just..." Applejack began to respond, as the train continued its trip.  "The other ponies in this cart are lookin' at us a lot more now, and a few seconds ago I saw a group of 'em walk out the front and back doors.  And I might be crazy, but it feels like we've been slowin' down since that happened."

"No, you're right!" Twilight said urgently, setting her book down.  "The cart has been losing momentum."  She leaned her head toward the window.  "And it's because... we've arrived?"  Sure enough, through the window, Twilight could see the Crystal Empire in all its glory.

"Shoot, that's a relief," Applejack sighed, sinking into her seat.

"I don't get it, though," Twilight said as the train pulled into the Crystal Empire station.  "We shouldn't have gotten here this early, should we?"

"Oh, Twilight," Applejack said, giggling, "you always overanalyze everythin', don't ya?  We're here, ain't we?  Obviously it took as long as it took."

"Yeah, you're right.  I must have fallen asleep," Twilight replied, smiling, as they began to walk to the exit.  Out on the platform, workers wearing the Crystal Empire emblem were already unloading the Zap Apple crates, and Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were waiting nearby to greet Twilight and Applejack.

"Twily!" Shining Armor shouted, but he grew quiet after realizing that Twilight and his wife were going through the motions of their usual greeting.

"Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs awake!  Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" the two shouted in unison, performing the corresponding literal and symbolic motions.

"It's so good to see you both again!" Twilight said, embracing her brother.

"We're both so glad you could make it," Cadence replied.  "And thank you for handling this delivery personally, Applejack, it really means a lot!"

"Shucks, I'm happy to do it," Applejack replied, tipping her hat.

"Well, we should get back to the castle," Shining said.  "We've got a big night tonight."

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, tilting her head.

"Well," Cadence replied, "we've gotten word today that your four friends, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash will be joining us later this evening."

"You're kidding!" Twilight replied.  "I thought they were all busy!"

"Well, we may have insisted a bit," Shining replied, blushing.  "The six of you have done a lot for us, and it seems like every time you've been here, it's been to save our butts or promote them."

"The Games Inspector," Twilight said, grinning at the memory.

"Right.  So this time around, you guys are free to relax and enjoy everything our kingdom has to offer, and tonight we're throwing a big celebration in honor of everything you and your friends have done for us!"

"Sounds great," Twilight replied.

"Darn tootin', can't wait!" Applejack added.

...

"Let's see," Twilight said to herself, rummaging through her saddlebag.  She had just gotten settled into her usual guest room in the Crystal Palace, and had decided to use her remaining down time before the celebration began to continue working on her addendum to the Elements of Harmony reference guide.  "I'm almost positive that I packed it," she said, sighing, as she looked through the contents of her bag for a third time, and finding no trace of the addendum.  "Could I really have forgotten it?  For that matter, the book I had brought with me seems to be gone as well.  Strange."

"Twilight!" Applejack shouted, opening her door.  "Everypony's here, the party's starting!"

"Excellent, I can't wait to see our friends!" Twilight replied, trotting after Applejack.  "I'll search for my things later," she thought, closing the door behind her.

...

After putting several corridors between Twilight's room and themselves, Applejack and Twilight found themselves in the grand dining hall.  The room was sculpted from marble with large archways that provided a view of the horizon outside, but that wasn't what got Twilight's attention.

Happy birthday, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash shouted in unison, posing beneath a large banner that said the same.  Shining Armor, Cadence, and the Princesses, Celestia and Luna applauded.

"Surprised ya, didn't we?" Applejack asked, throwing an arm around Twilight's neck.

"It's... my birthday?" Twilight asked, cocking her head and eyebrow.

"Well duh, of course it is!" Pinkie shouted, skipping towards them.  "Don't tell me you forgot your own birthday!"

"I'm not surprised," Spike said, walking up behind them, a party hat strapped to the top of his head.  "Twilight would forget her mane if washing it wasn't written down on at least one checklist."

"I guess with everything else going on, I did kinda forget," Twilight said, blushing.

"Enough talk, let's PARTY!" Pinkie shouted as everyone in the room cheered and the festivities commenced.

...

Difficult as it was to do, Twilight finally tore herself away from the wonderful celebration to search for a restroom, having had her fill of apple cider.  As she searched the winding hallways, she realized that spending even a few minutes away from the others was difficult.  The party, up to that point, had been filled with dancing, singing, a variety of games, and even a rather elaborate fireworks show that lit up the night sky and filled the entire horizon outside of the dining hall.  More than anything, she had been glad to spend the evening with her friends and family, the ponies that she loved most.

"Hmm," Twilight grunted, stopping in front of a closed door.  "Maybe there's a bathroom in here.  I certainly hope so, I don't want to miss another minute of the party!"

"Twilight!" a voice called out, causing the unicorn to turn away from the door.

"Fluttershy, is something wrong?" Twilight asked.

"Well, it's just that you looked like you were about to open that door," Fluttershy replied.

"Well sure, I'm just looking for the little filly's room," Twilight replied, smiling.

"I know, but you've never been in there before, and you shouldn't open doors to rooms you weren't invited into.  You know, when it isn't your own house," Fluttershy replied, her eyes shifting to the left and right.

"How do you know I've never been in here before?" Twilight asked, frowning, and turning the knob.

"No!" Fluttershy shouted as the door swung open and Twilight gasped.  Through the doorway, Twilight beheld... nothing.  No floor, no walls, no ceiling, just an endless black void.  Fluttershy hurriedly slammed the door shut.  "Oh, what did I tell you?" she said, reciprocating Twilight's frown.

"I... don't understand.  What was that?  What is this?" Twilight asked, sinking into a sitting position.

"What do you mean, darling?" Rarity asked, walking up behind them.

"This door," Twilight said, turning the handle again.  This time, Fluttershy remained silent.  "Look inside!"

"Well now," Rarity said, peering through the doorway next to a stunned Twilight, "the room is rather bare, but I see nothing particularly out of the ordinary."  Sure enough, the second time that Twilight opened the door, the site that greeted them was a small, unfurnished, unpainted room.

"This isn't right," Twilight said, breathing heavily.

"Whadaya mean, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, joining the three of them, with Rainbow Dash and a bouncing Pinkie Pie behind her.

"This room," Twilight replied, pointing towards the doorway.  "There was nothing there a second ago."

"There's nothing in there now, silly," Pinkie replied, smiling.

"No, I mean there was just... emptiness," Twilight replied.

"It's still empty," Rarity replied, gesturing towards the bare room and rolling her eyes.  "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"The train," Twilight continued, still staring into the empty room.  "We arrived here way too early.  And my books are gone.  And all of you being here?  That makes no sense!  I know for a fact that you all had other things going on today!"

"Well sure," Applejack replied, nodding.  "But we dropped everything to come and celebrate your birthday, Twi!"

"Yeah, Twilight," Pinkie exclaimed, embracing her friend, "we all love you!"

"I wouldn't forget my own birthday!" Twilight shouted, wriggling free of Pinkie's grasp and putting a few feet between her and her friends.

"What are you saying?" Fluttershy asked, tilting her head.

"I'm saying... I don't think any of this is real!" Twilight replied, taking a small step back.  Her friends all looked to one another, and began to laugh.

"Oh Twi," Applejack said, shaking her head, "that's some imagination ya got!"

"Yeah, quit overthinking things, egghead," Rainbow agreed.

"Especially since we've still got more partying to do!" Pinkie shouted, throwing a cluster of streamers into the air.

"No, I need some time to think," Twilight replied.

"Oh, but we insist," Rarity replied as all five ponies began to approach her.

"Pinkie worked really hard on the decorations, you can't just skip the party," Fluttershy replied, frowning.

"Stay back, I mean it!" Twilight said, raising her voice to a shout.  Suddenly, Twilight's vision blurred, and for a brief moment, she found herself reclined in a chair, a glass dome above her head.  Just as quickly, she saw the hallway again, and her concerned friends staring at her.  "What... what was that?" Twilight asked.

It happened again.  She returned to the chair, saw the dome, and heard a voice echoing in the distance.  "Begin Phase One," it said.  Twilight tried to respond, but her voice did not come.  She returned to the hallway.

"Someone's tampering with it!" Applejack shouted, scowling.  Her accent had vanished.

"Tampering with what!?" Twilight shouted, sweating and growing pale.  She returned to the chair, her vision much clearer this time.  She attempted to move, but found herself strapped down.  Her hooves... were not hooves.

She gasped as she saw a pair of strange, fleshy hands, similar to Spike's own, but softer, attached to her wrists and strapped to armrests.  Through the glass, she could see a room constructed of metal.  An elevated platform was above her, upon which stood several blurry figures wearing white coats.  Her vision was still somewhat hazy.

"What's the meaning of this!?" she shouted, although it was not her own voice.  Indeed, it was not even her that was shouting, though the voice felt as though it came from her own throat.  It was a man's voice.

"Begin Phase One," another voice replied, beyond the glass.

"Are you people insane!?" the voice shouted from the mouth that Twilight perceived as her own.  "The compound is unstable!  It isn't ready for testing, and even if it were, I did not volunteer!  The mental effects alone could-"

"We all have to make sacrifices, doctor," another voice beyond the glass interrupted, its tone dripping with sarcasm.

"I know my rights!" the voice replied, its hands and legs now visibly struggling.  "I didn't consent to this!  I demand that you release me this instant!"

"Begin Phase One," a voice repeated.  The small chamber in which Twilight was imprisoned began to fill itself with some sort of gray cloud that was thick enough to obscure the rest of the room.

"No!" the voice screamed, thrashing in his restraints.  "Please, I'm begging you!  I have a family!  Let me go!"  As Twilight's nostrils were filled with the thick cloud, she found herself unable to breathe.  The voice screamed.  At that moment, everything went dark.

Twilight inhaled deeply, suddenly finding herself able to breathe again.  As she felt the blood rushing to her head, she realized that wherever she was now, she was upside-down.  Her eyes began to adjust, and she realized that the room was not completely dark, being dimly illuminated by several green glows.  As Twilight's vision focused, she realized that they were pods, and that they each contained what appeared to be a living creature.

Some had the outline of ponies, others did not.  The row in front of her extended for as far as her peripherals could see in both directions.  She recognized them as being the same type of pod Princess Celestia had been imprisoned in by Queen Chrysalis a year before.  The pony in the pod directly before her, she recognized.

"Applejack!"  She struggled a bit, realizing that not only could she not move her head, but the rest of her body was restrained as well.  She was in a pod, herself, and the damp, foul-smelling air conveyed to her that only her face was currently exposed.  Her pulse quickened, and her breathing became erratic, as she felt as though something was trying to push her out of the pod without success.

"Are you awake?" a low, throaty voice asked.  Its source was behind her, but it echoed towards her from every direction.

"What!?" Twilight gasped, her eyes jolting in every direction as she tried to perceive the source.

"Where..." the voice said, as Twilight bit her lower lip.  "Where..." it repeated, seeming to be speaking from beside her now.

"Where!?" it shouted as a pair of glowing eyes darted in front of Twilight's face, a monstrous jaw visible beneath them.

"Where what!?" Twilight screamed, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, before slowly opening them again.

"Where are the Elements of Harmony!?" the strange creature bellowed, its lower jaw swinging so violently as it spoke that it looked as though it might dislocate itself.  Twilight felt her skin contract against the bones in her face, which had begun to ache.  She shut her eyes again, and once again, she found herself reopening them.  She couldn't take her eyes away from the thing, no matter how much she told herself she wanted to.

"I see," she sighed, exhaling deeply.

"You see?" the voice hissed, narrowing its gaze.

"I find myself wanting to answer you," Twilight explained, a small bit of force returning to her voice.  She took a deep breath and gulped before continuing.  "There's something in the air, something that must be lowering my inhibitions, and causing me to experience a strange sort of uneasy familiarity with you, in addition to a gripping fear.  I know myself well enough to realize that this is not a natural reaction."

"Hm!?" the voice grunted, stepping back.

"And the feeling is diminishing now that you've moved back, confirming my hypothesis.  I suspect that your body is emitting some sort of pheromone.  I'm thinking that if I spent enough time around you, and I hadn't figured out what was happening, eventually I'd wind up agreeing with every word you say," she continued, as the creature tilted its head and straightened its posture.

"What's more," Twilight continued, "this pressure I'm feeling from you?  I recognize it as unstable magical energy.  I suspect that while your body is attuned to the properties of magic, you lack the ability to use it in any focused or constructive way, the end result being the destructive force that you can emit.  What are you, exactly?  I've never seen anything like you before."  Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Well now," the creature replied, a small grin forming on its face, "Twilight Sparkle.  I see that your reputation was not exaggerated in the least.  That you were able to deduce all of that in such a short amount of time?  You truly are a prodigy."  His voice was much more soft-spoken now, though its oddities and depth remained.

"It's a coping mechanism," Twilight replied, reciprocating the grin.  "Whenever I find myself in an unfamiliar situation, my first instinct is always to analyze it."

"Mine, too.  For the record, everything you've hypothesized about me is true," it replied.

"I also remember the abduction," Twilight replied.  "I've been imprisoned by the Changelings, haven't I?"

"Correct again," the man replied, nodding.

"So I repeat my previous question: what are you?  Do you have a name?" Twilight asked.

"Do I have a name?" the creature replied, turning his back on Twilight Sparkle and running a long claw against Applejack's pod,  "I suppose you've impressed me enough to earn a more polite introduction."  He looked toward her over his shoulder.  "My name is Delacroix.  I'm sorry to have awakened you from what I can only assume was a dream far more pleasant than my company, but I need you to answer my question."

"Delacroix," Twilight repeated.  "Since you're asking about the Elements, I'm assuming you had something to do with Applejack's and my kidnapping."

"And the other four, yes," Delacroix replied.

"Other four..." Twilight's voice trailed off, her eyes growing wide.  "The rest of my friends!  Where are they!?"

"Relax," Delacroix responded, turning away from her again.  "Your friends are unharmed.  That was the condition upon which Chrysalis agreed to lend me her power.  She's demanded the opportunity to eventually feed on all of you."  He gently patted Applejack's pod.

"So you're using her?  For what?" Twilight asked, baring her teeth.

"Nothing that concerns you," Delacroix replied, shaking his head.  "You've been removed from the final decision."

"An invasion..." Twilight gasped, the realization dawning on her.  "You removed us from Equestria so that we couldn't use the Elements of Harmony to stop a Changeling invasion!"

"You continue to impress me," Delacroix replied, shooting her another grin.   "You haven't figured out everything, but even so, I almost regret that you were eliminated before you knew what was really at stake.  Something tells me you might have stopped it."

"So why do you need the Elements of Harmony themselves?  Are you really that paranoid about them being used against you?"

"No," Delacroix said, laughing slightly, "I've felt the brunt of the Elements of Harmony once before, and can never be harmed by them again.  The six of you were removed so that your Elements would not harm my allies, and as for the objects themselves?  I need them for research."

"Research?" Twilight gasped.  "And are you suggesting that you're immune to the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yes," Delacroix replied.  "I... adapt well to external threats."

"Including magic..." Twilight surmised as Delacroix nodded.  "What could you possibly be?"

"There's no word for it," Delacroix replied, shaking his head, "and I've never bothered to come up with one on my own."

"And you're fine with me knowing all of this?" Twilight asked.

"Even if it looked like you were going anywhere any time soon," Delacroix replied, chuckling, "I would welcome the challenge that your impressive intellect would bring."

"And I guess that by now, you know I won't be answering your question," Twilight replied.

"No?" Delacroix asked, cocking his head.

"I can resist the effects of your pheromones now that I know what they are, and I know you can't harm me, because your ally considers me to be an indispensable resource," Twilight explained.

"All true," Delacroix admitted.  "Very well, I will find another way."  He shrugged, turning his back to Twilight.  "Looks like your pod is repairing itself, anyway."  Twilight gasped as she realized that some sort of gel was beginning to creep over her face, expanding and threatening to cover it.  Delacroix began to walk away.

"I saw it!" Twilight shouted, causing Delacroix to stop.  "I saw the dome!  I saw the white coats!  It was a laboratory, wasn't it?  What was all of that!?"

"Hmm, guess the pod dumped you into my memory while I was ripping it open," Delacroix replied, shrugging his shoulders again.  "I've enjoyed our conversation, Twilight Sparkle."  He gave her a small wave as the pod swallowed her face again, muffling her plea of "Wait!", and she found herself standing in the corridor again, the images of her five friends before her.

"I suppose there's no point in lying to you any longer," Applejack spoke, sans accent.

...

"All good?" Clarion Call asked as Delacroix stepped out of one of the many openings in the Changeling hive, and onto the dry, cracked dirt landscape that surrounded it.  The Hive sat in the center of a small island, with the circumference of a large castle, but a height far greater than any building.

"She wouldn't tell me anything," Delacroix replied, shaking his head.

"Whoa," Clarion gasped, eyes wide, "I never thought the day would come that a mare would be able to resist your abominable charm!"

"She's certainly unique, that one," Delacroix replied.

"So what now?  Did you say 'hi' to Queenie for me?" Clarion asked, smirking.

"I doubt she'll be pleased that I interrogated her food without permission, and I have no desire to explain it to her right now.  Drop me off in J'aggerdov's palace, then resume your search for the Alicorn Amulet," Delacroix commanded, stepping closer to Clarion.

"You got it, boss!" Clarion replied as his horn lit up and they vanished.