A meeting at the lonely apple

"Look to the hill!" shouted Ivy upon reaching the borders of Ponyville, many ponies looked out their windows for a few seconds, before dismissing the cries and closing them again. Those on the street, however, looked up to see several blue-grey blurs in the trees, before bursting from the canopies. Ivy tried her best to count the changelings, but they kept coming and were darting around in the sky.

Many of the ponies who had looked from their windows moments before heard the screams and buzzing and came out into the street. many of those immediately retreated back into their homes, but one, a mint coloured unicorn, began to gallop towards Ivy "Ivy!" she yelled, struggling to be heard.

She had been, Ivy turned her head, before darting into one of the houses, Tracer and the unicorn in tow. Before closing the door, she hesitated and glanced outside, indeed, most of those in the swarm were closing on the door, Ivy's suspicions were confirmed, she closed, locked and bolted the door, before turning towards the two guests in her house.

"Who's this, Ivy?" the unicorn smiled, gesturing towards Tracer.

"Oh, that's Tracer, he's a-" She hesitated, and noticed Tracer running a hoof along his throat, "-Friend, I met him in the forest, just now,"

The unicorn glanced mockingly between them both, "Is that so? I wondered why you kept slipping away."

Both Tracer and Ivy began to speak in unison "Wait what? No! It's not like," they stopped and glared at each other.

"Aaaaw, you two are so cute," The unicorn teased.

"Shut up!" They said to each other... Ivy inhaled and exhaled heavily, to calm herself down.

"Ok, you done?" she asked Tracer, who nodded. "Ok, well, Tracer meet Lyra, Lyra, Tracer."

"Hello Lyra," Tracer extended a hoof.

"Also, changelings, in case you forgot," Lyra tapped a hoof five times, and nodded as a Changeling threw themselves against the door.

"Yeah, thanks, Lyra," Ivy tapped her own hoof.

Tracer just stared, surprised at the Unicorn.

"Tracer?" Ivy glanced at him.

"How, huh?"

"What?"

"Damn good timing."

Lyra laughed, "You know what, I can see why you like him, Ivy"

Ivy glared at her "Shut up. We're friends, that's all."

"Oh come on! I saw it in the way you looked at him just then."

"Yeah! I like him, he's a friend!"

Lyra raised an eyebrow "oh really? Ivy? Yeah, like Discord likes Celestia 'as a friend?',"

"Lyra..."

"Or, princess Twilight Sparkle likes Rainbow Dash 'as a friend?',"

"Lyra..."

"Or, Octavia Harmony likes Vinyl Scratch 'as a friend?',"

"Lyra..."

"Or, Fluttershy likes Angel Bunny 'as a friend?',"

"Whoa."

"Or..."

"Ah, mares?" Tracer began, the door shook as a changeling outside threw themselves at it.

"...Rarity Belle likes-"

"Lyra!" Ivy shouted.

"Yes?"

"I told you about those magazines."

"It's not a magazine."

"Still, every possible couple is in there, I'm sure there is one of me and Tracer, but it's not grounded, got it?"

"It's not a-"

"Lyra!"

"-magazine, it's a-"

"Lyra!!!" Ivy screamed, Tracer also tried to, but his voice doesn't do that.

"Oh, ok."

"We need to-" a thud at the door

Ivy looked at Tracer "anyway, Tracer's right, we have to get out of here"

"Any secret passages? Or tunnels, that you know of, preferably one that would get us closer to Canterlot?"

"Why Canterlot? I had bad experiences in Canterlot with Changelings," Lyra asked nervously.

Tracer looked at her, his face suggested he was trying to remember something "Lyra Heartstrings? Sorry about that, might have-" realizing what he was saying, he immediately stopped himself, "-ah, nevermind. We need to go to Canterlot because, well, it's complicated."

Lyra looked at him suspiciously "Ok... Explain?"

"Ok, I'm going to show you something, promise you wont freak out" Tracer looked at her, stern faced.

"I promise, no freaking out," Lyra made a mouth zipping motion.

Tracer dropped his disguise, "here it is, don't worry, I'm not one of, them."

"Lyra? Are you ok?" Ivy looked at her friend, whose eyes had become wide with shock.

"Yeah," Lyra stepped back "yeah, just fine."

"Well, she's taking it better than expected," Tracer said to Ivy when the door to the back room slammed closed. Tracer sighed "She's gone."

"Good job," Ivy glared at Tracer

"Sorry! I told her to not freak out," Tracer coiled back.

Ivy knocked on the door "Lyra? It's ok."

The door opened after about a minute of trying to persuade Lyra to get out of the room.

"So, you're a changeling, what were you gonna say?" Lyra asked the changeling.

"Well, I am rouged, but, I'm still connected, partially, in the back of my mind. What I'm saying is, I can know their plans by thinking about it,"

"and what is their plan?" Lyra asked.

"well, let's just say we need to warn Celestia."

"They're going to attack Canterlot!?" Ivy's eyes widened "Celestia's calling a council in a few days, all the world leaders will be there!"

Tracer turned away, "And here is where I make my choice, fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi. Canterlot or the Changeling race."

"What?" Lyra stared at him, head cocked "Canterlot of course!"

Tracer sat down, his head dropped "I wish it were that simple," he said slowly "once we lived among ponies as equals."

Lyra caught an angry look from Ivy "sorry, Tracer, I didn't mean to-"

Tracer shook his head "sorry? Sorry? I'm beginning to think sorry is the master key in pony language."

"Apologies are, the greatest virtue." Ivy tried to find words of wisdom.

"No, far from it."

"Apologies, rebuild bridges."

"Apologies only cure guilt."

"Apologies remove, ah, antagonism?" Ivy fumbled her words.

"Only hope can start a broken heart, Ivy." Tracer had little of this problem, he stumbled less now than before.

"Is.  Your heart broken?"

"Only hope." Tracers' sadness became anger, he growled "only hope..."

"It's true." Lyra smiled.

"What?"

"What he says, it's true."

Tracer chuckled "well, I hope so."

The ponies smiled "so, what were you saying?" Ivy urged him to continue.

"I was saying I could either help Canterlot, or help the Changelings,"

"Are you still on our side? Tracer." Ivy became cautious.

Tracer smiled "of course I am, but if I destroy the Changeling mind, we'll be free, but I will have to leave Canterlot to fend for itself."

"Why don't we just, you know, write a letter?" Lyra asked.

Ivy cocked her head "do you really think the Ponyville post is running right now?"

Lyra smiled awkwardly "well, no, to Canterlot, I guess."

Ivy ran a hoof through her mane and sighed "now, how are we going to get to Canterlot?"

"No idea" Lyra perked up, revelling in her glorious display of unhelpfulness.

Ivy buried a head in her hoof "thanks, Lyra, that's really helpful."

"No problem," she chirped "I'm here all week." She looked to the side and smiled.

"You will be if we don't find a way out, and I'm not particularly happy about repopulating Equestria with you two," his voice became quieter, he no longer addressed the mares "if only you were Luna, maybe, or Fleur, or..."

Lyra's jaw dropped "really? Now is the time you choose to fantasize about-" She hesitated "Stallions! I swear to Celestia one day I'll," she stopped herself.

Tracer snapped back into reality "hm? What will you do?" he caught annoyed glances from the two mares "what did I do? Was it something I said? Don't look at me like that!"

The mares shook their heads in unison "I guess you're right," Ivy sighed "I still don't know how we'll get to Canterlot."

At that point Tracer's eyes grew wide "I might just have a plan," he trotted to the far wall, a bookshelf was carved into the wall.

He picked out a green covered book, "Unicorn magic: the art of locomotion," he read the title aloud "teleportation?" he smiled, before opening the book.

Lyra glanced at Ivy, who smiled awkwardly "I thought you said-"

"let's not, start that, in the presence, shall we?" Ivy interrupted Lyra "that was just a bit of fun."

"yeah, but I've got to have a word with you later," Lyra glared.

"ok, ok," Ivy said, before turning back to Tracer "I don't think that's a good idea, teleportation is finicky at the best of times."

Tracer moaned "of course it is," he stopped, then put his hoof to the page "but it's all we have right now, so it's our best shot."

Lyra grumbled "just a bit of fun," before she realized what they were talking about "whoa, teleporting to Canterlot! from here! You're crazy!" she exclaimed.

Ivy was too busy looking down at the book to notice Lyra "however,"

"a psychological interference, when focused, can significantly increase the possible load, the range and the reliability of a teleportation spell, a weak interference, such as that from another Unicorn, could allow for two to four ponies to be carried, while a strong interference, from an Alicorn or an incredibly strong Unicorn, could move fifty to one-hundred ponies. Even more can be moved by interference due to spirits or star-beasts, even some towns were said to have been accidentally teleported by unicorns during Discords reign," Tracer read aloud "so, if I infiltrate your brain, I should be able to get us to Canterlot, who's the more powerful of you here?" he asked the mares.

Both the mares said the others name in unison.

"well then, this might be more difficult than expected, don't worry, I wont look at anything in there," Tracer gave a mocking smile.

Ivy raised a hoof, "I am more powerful than Lyra, at least in locomotive fields of magic, I specialize in telekinesis and illusion, but I did study Teleportation and," she paused "in Canterlot academy."

"well, you're our best shot, try not to teleport us into the floor!" Tracer joked, his horn began to glow.

Ivy felt him this time, it felt like thousands of worms wriggling into her head, she focused, which seemed easier than normal surprisingly. The familiar buzz of teleportation magic bounced around in her head, she closed her eyes and pictured their destination "Here goes nothing!" she thought, before letting the spell go "or rather, here we go, into the nothing."