Unraveling a Rainbow

The veritable silence spoke volumes of confusion as the newest revelation in the series of absurd events unfurled in the emergency room. Abduction and subterfuge seemed to be the words of the day as another changeling had been unveiled after the Canterlot invasion. Another slew of questions of where, when, why, and how painted in hues of dusk and dawn slathered about the room as the diarchy silently gazed upon the shivering changeling in the corner. The other ponies had curiosity painted on their faces, but even Twilight Sparkle’s paled in comparison to the two royal sisters.

So many answers were needed immediately, most pressing the whereabouts of Nurse Heartthrob, but equally as critical was this new changeling’s reason for its actions against another of its kind. Twilight quickly remembered her clipboard to begin note taking immediately. This was the third different coloration of changeling they had seen today. Queen “Chrysalis” and her horde all bore the same dark green and blue features which, with the exception of Prisma, had led her to believe to be the homogenized color palette of the changeling species. Prisma was radically different enough to be an outlier if she truly was a changeling as well, but this newest orange development blew a hole clean through her observations. She had only mulled over the tip of her educated guesswork until her latest study was the first to break the silence.

“How?” the former nurse uttered as she gathered herself from the floor. “You should only have enough love to sustain yourself with those injuries.”

“Oh, so you have heard of me,” Chromina bubbled back as she shifted weight off her broken hind legs. “I just remember that particular shade of orange-ish amber really so I just guessed really.”

With a flick of horn, a patch of scales quickly scuttled from her barrel over to a large gash in her back leg held together by a mass of golden ooze. The area left behind by the shift in her silver armor bore a large circular scar filled with congealed gel which appeared to be the remnant of what would’ve been a lethal impact for any other pony.

“What kind of monster are you, Chromina?”

“Oh, so you do know my name,” she replied disinterested in the direction the conversation was going. "That's a shame, I was starting to like Prisma..." she trailed off in reminiscence.

"On second thought, I used to know a pony named Prism Dancer once. A showboating disco-obsessed jerk of a mule that one. Didn't even see me coming when I couldn't take his smug aura of self-importance anymore," she prattled onto nopony in particular. "I didn't even give him time to scream when I..." She chortled darkly as she closed her eyes to relive the moment.

"Oh, but I'm rambling about beating a dead horse who doesn't matter anymore. I'm used to my own name anyway so let's go just go with Chromina to make things easier for everypony plus one changeling," Chromina grinned happily upon seeing her audience's hearts sink at her nonchalance towards murder.

“No, no that’s not it. Even your magic should be limited by your emotional intake,” the changeling pondered aloud looking around the room.

"You're still on that?" Chromina complained seeing her misdirection fail. She heaved an exasperated sigh as she fell back on her bed.

“There is no pony here enthralled by you, was it the love you garnered as Rainbow Dash?” she pondered aloud pointing an accusatory hoof towards the other shape-shifter. Chromina idled away with a whistle enjoying her renewed lung capacity. She grinned waving a broken hoof at her new changeling comrade.

“No, no, it wasn’t directed love, it would only be enough to keep you in one piece…” she trailed off as she her face contorted in a way Twilight found oddly sympathetic, having worn the same frayed scowl many times. “Who is feeding you?”

Twilight recalled Cadence’s earlier stories of what she understood from changelings and love draining. Being the Princess of Love, she was sensitive to its emotional strength as it flowed freely between ponies. It was part of the reason she was replaced by Chrysalis in the beginning, her eye for love being a very real threat to the changeling’s infiltration plans. At least that’s what she could guess from what she was able to glean from her captivity and confrontation with Chrysalis. Twilight looked around the room for signs of mind control she had described earlier as “making the victim’s eyes go all wibbly-wobbly” during continual consumption. Her quick survey of her friends showed no signs of apparent control.

“Please, whoever it is, you must stop! Chromina deserves none of your compassion or pity!”

“Now now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, little one. If you say anything more, I might not give it back.” she warned pointing to her horn with crooked confidence. The other imposter replied with a confused frown.

“Wait, compassion?!” Twilight reeled back, “You can feed off that too?”

“Perfect…” Chromina sardonically huffed.

“Twi! You mean to tell me you feel sorry for this silver-tongued liar?” Applejack shouted in disbelief.

“Why didn’t I think of this sooner. Compassion is a form of love that is synonymous with kindness!”

“Sinno-what now?”

“Fluttershy!” Princess Luna grimaced as she turned to the silent pegasus.

Fluttershy had taken to a nearby chair a short distance from Chromina. Upon hearing her friends call her name, the timid mare pursed her lips and pulled at her mane to hide her face. Twilight rushed over to see the element of kindness, pale and sickly. Dark circles had formed under her eyes as she forced herself through overwhelming fatigue. She didn’t react in surprise or fear, it was a sadness akin to a filly being caught with her hooves in the cookie jar.

“Sweet Celestia,” Doctor Triage couldn’t stop himself from exclaiming as he approached the exhausted pegasus. “She’s even worse than when Captain Armor came in this afternoon. What is with everypony inventing new ailments to suffer from today?!”

“I don’t understand. You were feeding her your love?” Twilight managed to force out in a whisper, pleading for an answer.

Fluttershy bit her lip and looked over at Chromina. Their eyes met and for a moment, the only response from the shape-shifter being an aloof hoof wave before refocusing on more pressing matters. Fluttershy beamed as much as she could before drifting off into slumber. Triage and Salve quickly picked her up and carried her out of the emergency room. Chromina resumed her normal antics by sounding a loud ping from the cardiograph.

“Alright! Your attention everypony plus one drone. Your patient is running out of patience so I need your undivided attention right now!” Chromina called out to the group, clopping her hooves together.

Princess Luna stomped a hoof down, having held her tongue long enough.

“No, deceiver. I have endured your idle banter long enough. I will have answers from your impetuous mouth!”

“Yeesh, the midnight flank calling the carapace black,” Chromina quipped at the night princess.

“I am having difficulty as well, Pris… Chromina,” Celestia added, correcting herself. “With your health’s recent miraculous improvement, I must wonder if you were merely buying time to drain our dear Fluttershy using my good faith.”

“You’ve all been so stingy since Rainbow left the room and in my defense,” Chromina paused to point at the other changeling trying desperately to switch her form, “she did try to poison me. Try being the key word.”

Chromina sniffed the water, probing with her forked tongue around the rim as she got a feel for the impurities.

“Lemme give her a lump right upside the head for ya, princess,” Applejack requested with a low voice filled with livid anger.

The shape-shifter gargled for a moment before she spat it back out with interest and ran magic through her mouth clean the residual toxins out of her mouth.

“Oh ho ho! You insidious little physician. You managed to brew this up in ten minutes with makeshift ingredients? Color me impressed,” she lauded with a lip smack and rainbow mane florish. “I’ll have to knock a few points off for lack of foresight on your part for not having the proper neurotoxins on hoof, but I couldn’t have chosen a better drone to care for me.”

“Ngygh, guh… wha? Take care of you?” the would-be assassin snorted in incredulous disgust. “What makes you think I’d even consider helping you?!”

Chromina pressed a hoof up to her chin with an exaggerated, ponderous “hmmm” as she squinted her eyes in mock contemplation as she considered her planned reply.

“No, that’s the wrong way to go about this, little one. The real question is why you are here at all. There’s only a hooffull of reasons I can think of why a changeling like you would enter Canterlot right after a botched invasion,” she mulled over, enveloping the powerless changeling in a sanguine aura, to the chagrin of her onlookers, “but considering your disguise is a Cloudsdale field nurse, I suspect you’re part of some sort of first responder team, no?”

“Put me down!” the orange captive yelled helplessly thrashing around trying to break free of the superior magical grasp binding her. Realizing the futility, the indignant imposter crossed her hooves, looking away from her deductive inquisitor.

Twilight felt the urge to interrupt, but seeing the princesses barely holding back to hear the exchange, decided to wait to see where this was going. Perhaps they’d glean a little more information through this new turn of events if they could just bite back their words for a little longer.

“It makes no sense to needlessly risk blowing your cover to save a few scraps of food.”

“They are living beings you heartless monster!” Chromina’s captive shouted back.

“Which means you actually care about the ponies of Equestria,” Chromina added allowing a knowing smirk to creep across her face as she preyed upon the nurse’s concern.

“However, taking your recent actions into account, you aren’t so noble as to soar into ground zero because your conscience got the better of you. You must have had a very good reason for coming here, something you’d move the sun and moon for.” She paused taking a good look at admire her good hoof.

“Or rather, a special somepony…” Chromina beamed slyly, the undivided attention she’d garnered from the orange drone being the only answer she needed.

“And this special somepony would very much like to have his very special somepony back,” Chromina taunted her captive. “Or her, this is the modern reign of our beloved Princess Celestial after all.”

Chromina eyed the other changeling like a predator with a voracious appetite. A brief moment of silence followed as it became clear that her prey was a few steps behind in the exchange.

“Oh come on, don’t make me spell everything out for you,” Chromina sighed pointing to the gallery window catching their reflections. “Let’s see that pretty pegasus face of yours.”

The captive changeling horn glowed with power as a quick orange flare shot across her frame. Twilight and the others shot confused looks as the changeling remained unchanged. Orange flames shot around her again as she tried to become somepony else, each flare burning out faster and faster as her angered indifference gave way to panic.

“I-I can’t remember what I look like…” the hapless changeling trailed off in horror.

“Alright Celestia,” Chromina chirped happily to the sun princess, “Now that everypony plus one changeling understands the situation, I think now I can finally get the help I so desperately need.”

“What did you do to me?” the lesser changeling quavered, fighting with every iota of her being to conjure her natural abilities. Chromina only replied with a wry grin.

Twilight was torn by the sight. It was a changeling, one of the thousands of the love-stealing invaders deserving of nothing but contempt, however seeing her earnest struggle with her own magic gripped at her.

“Here’s my offer. I’ll give you your little pony identity you’re so fond of back in exchange for becoming my temporary primary care physician. As an added bonus, I won’t even overshadow your mind. You’ll have nothing to worry about! I’m practically the epitome of generosity.”

Grinding her teeth, Applejack couldn’t bear the two shape-shifters striking up stupid bargains when there were still missing mares while belittling Rarity’s element in a single stroke.

“I’ve had just about enough outta you two! If you think I’m gonna stand here and let you two just talk up a storm while our friends are—Mmrmph!” AJ choked as the cup of mystery liquid was thrust into her face and forced down her throat with sanguine magic. She coughed as she paled, realizing she was just poisoned.

“Applejack!” Luna gasped as she galloped to the farmer’s aid.

“Taste good? It’s really just a harmless sedative to you pony types, perfect for keeping insolent ponies’ mouths shut,” which to Chromina’s explanation, Applejack replied with a slow eye spin before passing out, “but to a changeling, that little mixture is enough to temporarily lobotomize us, cutting off our emotions. It’s such a great way to stop your enemies from using their love against you!”

Princess Luna and Doctor Triage tried rousing the unconscious farmer. Luna felt pressed her horn gently against Applejack’s forehead, probing her mind. Relief blossomed across her face as both she and the doctor confirmed she was asleep and out like a light. She slowly draped Fluttershy across her back while carrying AJ with her magic before shooting a damning glare back at the silver assailant. With her anger crystal clear, she left with Triage and Salve to find a vacant bed for the incapacitated elements.

“ENOUGH!” Princess Celestia boomed, stopping just short of the Canterlot voice while losing what little control she had over her mask. “I have been nothing but accommodating, but you have just crossed the line! You will cooperate with me Chromina, and you will tell me what you have done to Nurse Heartthrob!”

Chromina bellowed a hearty distorted laugh as she held the trembling changeling in her deep red grip.

“Must I explain everything? I thought at least you would be quicker on the uptake, your highness. This is Heartthrob,” Chromina replied dryly while dropping the orange changeling to her haunches. “And with my little assassin’s plans now foiled, I have all the cards I need to receive proper changeling care from her which means you can all get your loyal mare back sooner. That’s a win-win in my book.”

“That is assuming you don’t have any other leads on Rainbow Dash, which the fact I’m still breathing means you don’t. Anything else to add?”

The mentor and student were finding it equally difficult to tolerate Chromina’s repulsive presence, but the looks they exchanged both agreed she was right. Even though she was an unbearable, sneaky, untrustworthy, conniving beast, she was also the only lead they had on Rainbow Dash. Checkmate.

Chromina chuckled victoriously, licking her lips savoring its wonderful taste. “Perfect. Also, as a token of my good will,” Chromina added as her horn illuminated with her blood-colored magic.

Heartthrob coughed a sanguine vapor which shot back into Chromina’s horn. The changling erupted in orange flames as she took a more familiar shape. The frills running down her neck grew back to the ponytail Heartthrob sported along with her sleeker, longer frame and unfanged face. Her eyes shrank from her bugged orbs to her normal pony eyes, except her irises still glowed a luminescent orange rather than emerald green. Her wings shifted from her back to her sides sprouting faux-feathers while her horn coiled to a more familiar unicorn shape. However, the lovely powder pink coat did not return, her body still covered in black chitin, but the holes were gone. It was like a halfway Heartthrob, having almost the same shape, but lacking the proper coloration. Even though she didn’t see herself in the mirror, Heartthrob easily noticed the incomplete change.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Heartthrob buzzed with a despondent chuckle, her distorted voice still sounding like her changeling self. To Twilight’s and Celestia’s surprise, she turned to the princess of the sun and bowed subserviently.

“I apologize for my deception, your highness. I will answer whatever I am able to when you have me arrested, but if you would permit me, I humbly request…” she paused choking on her discomfort but continued, determined to press forward, ”I humbly request you do not have me detained until I have properly performed my duties as Chromina’s physician.”

Princess Celestia stared at the changeling who kept her nose to the floor. She offered no reply to the groveling changeling having grown weary of giving into the whims of the changeling holding everypony hostage in one way or another. Agreeing to this would play right into Chromina’s hooves without getting any information about their missing element.

Hearing no reply from her princess, Heartthrob lowered her head even further, pressing her snout to the floor waiting for a reply.

Twilight looked upon the pitiable shape-shifter with a healthy skepticism. She knew nopony in the room had any reason to believe anything she said. It must be so easy for changelings to prey on sympathy by borrowing the forms so easily. Twilight had already faced down Chrysalis cloaked as her favorite foal-sitter. She knew better to not be tricked by the wiles of the love-eaters around them.

“Please, your highness,” she weakly pleaded, choking back tears with nowhere else to go. “I know I’m not who you thought I was, but… I-I love being Heartthrob. I never want to be anypony else but her. Please…”

Celestia drew a long breath through her nostrils. ‘All cordial creatures,’ she exhaled under her breath. She reached down to lift the head of the quivering changeling to meet her eyes. She looked upon the tear filled pools looking back at her, expecting deception in her gaze, but all she was met with was the unfortunate truth of a frightened changeling.

“Of course I will allow it, Nurse Heartthrob,” Celestia answered with a warm smile.

Nurse Heartthrob beamed upon hearing her pony name. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” she replied with as much reverence as she could muster with a bow before recomposing herself to face her newly acquired patient. “Princess, if any color of my carapace changes for even a single second…”

“Spare the stupid theatrics already!” Chromina vehemently gagged from the bed. “I already told you I wouldn’t, Now move your flank over here already.”

Heartthrob reluctantly approached her rude patient’s bedside. They faced each other, staring straight into the other’s pupils. They nodded simultaneously signaling they were both ready before closing their eyes as their horns lit with magic power. A faint thread of light rose from each horn. A flow of orange and sanguine red wove between the changelings as they communicated secretly in plain sight. Chromina bore a strangely warm smile as Heartthrob remained solemn, her face glowering more as time drew on. It took nearly a minute before Chromina withdrew her from the link they shared. Heartthrob’s magic ebbed before returning to her horn, awaking her from the exchange.

“Not a single word,” Chromina warned Heartthrob.

Heartthrob didn’t open her eyes and mulled over the thoughts in her head. Without warning as if struck with an epiphany, the nurse whipped a strong hoof across the face of her patient as she panted heavily, eying the bedridden changeling with animosity.

“Okay, got that out of your system, good.“

“I don’t need your pity you despicable amalgamation!”

“Hey, hey! Doctor-patient confidentiality, or did you not understand the part about keeping your stupid mouth shut?” Chromina quickly spat in reply.

Her remark was met with Heartthrob’s glower towards her patient with cold resentment. Chromina huffed before laying her head down on the bed.

“We’re both getting what we want anyway. Now go do your thing, Doctor Heartthrob.”

Doctor Heatthrob quickly ripped Triage’s notes from her clipboard. She dispensed of the unnecessary details, which was all of it, and started a fresh page for their patient. She flipped through several pages, quickly scrawling the necessary preparations she needed to make and the materials she would need to begin the treatments. She returned the notes to Twilight who eyed it with curiosity.

“‘Precious gemstones such as sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds along with scorching sage and aetheroot,’” she quoted from the list more suited for a shopping trip with Spike. “What do we need all these for?”

“Dietary requirements for the rejuvenation and replacement of scales for her outer biotic armor layer,” Heartthrob replied matter-of-factly as she reached for what was left of the MT imaging film.

“She’s part dragon.”

Finally allowing herself to rest, Princess Celestia excused herself to her bedroom three hours late after speaking with Luna briefly about her actions against Chromina. Luna expected a verbal reprimand from her elder sister, but Tia was too tired to maintain the model elder sister role once they were alone. She reiterated her “all life is sacred” philosophy, but added, “it didn’t hurt to lightly kick it in the flank a bit when it gave you lemons like Chromina.” The two sisters vented frustrations and shared heartfelt laughs as Luna put her exhausted sister to bed.

Luna cherished moments like these the most: when the tiaras came off and they were just Tia and Lulu, two long-lived best sister friends forever, or for however long forever turned out to be. The fleeting moment quickly ended with Celestia resuming her usual demeanor.

“Luna, I must ask, why did you try to kill Rainbow Dash?”

“Tia, it wasn’t Rainbow Dash. It was a changeling. An unbearable, conniving changeling,” Luna replied, flopping herself to the foot of her sister’s bed face-first.

“Even so, the fact she was not does not justify your actions. There is already enough death in this world, we cannot allow ourselves to be so quick to add to its suffering. We are not goddesses.”

“You say that with such a straight face, sister. Though they do not admit it, our subjects already worship you as such, even more than they did a thousand years ago.”

Her sister frowned, averting her eyes remorsefully. Luna knew Celestia was sensitive about her place in the hearts of Equestria that had only been worsened with Nightmare Moon’s banishment. To everypony, Celestia was the immortal alabaster princess of peace who alone had held the sun and moon in her hooves. It had been the wedge between the two sisters that caused the Nightmare to arise in the first place.

“All the more reason we cannot allow ourselves to falter now. We must set an example for everypony, and actions like that will make them fear us for something we are not. Now tell me, what drove you to such extremes?”

Luna faltered as she sought the courage to answer her sister’s question.

“I stumbled upon her in the Dreamscape.”

“I see, so you knew she was posing as Rainbow Dash?”

“I only knew she was in the castle, I did not know if she had already taken her place, which was why I brought this,” Luna answered holding the Element of Loyalty aloft with her magic. “The elements do not resonate when separate from their bearers, so if it did not respond to Rainbow Dash in the infirmary…”

“Then Chromina would have already replaced Rainbow Dash, which would then prove she was a changeling imposter and you would kill her leaving us without any way to know where the real Rainbow Dash is, correct?”

Luna snorted in frustration as she chastised herself for her short-sightedness.

“Luna, please tell me that alone is enough to push you to such heinous actions.”

“It is not,” she replied, faltering uncharacteristically with concern. “It is what she is capable of that worries me. She bested me in the Dreamscape, much like how Chrysalis struck you down earlier today.”

“I was careless,” Celestia quickly offered in rebuttal, rubbing her horn. “I did not think changeling magic could be so… potent, but I couldn’t risk hurting anypony else there. You know how careful we have to be with our magic, sister.”

“Yes, but my encounter was slightly different.”

“Of course, you said you found Rainbow Dash within the vision correct? If I recall correctly, a pony’s dream can be tangled with another’s. There was no way for you to know if she somehow was holding her consciousness hostage. I believe retreat was the proper choice.”

“I had not considered that possibility,” Luna laughed despondently. “You think of me too highly, sister. My loss bore no such noble intention.”

Celestia cocked her brow in curiosity.

“When I faced Chromina, I held nothing back.”

With a quick burst of party poppers loosing streamers with as Pinkie’s slide whistle hit its highest crescendo, another Pinka-Polka-Pielooza drew to a close for the tenth time, topped with a bowl of fresh fruit salad from nowhere landing squarely circled in front of the excitable Nightstride. Many of the guards had been skeptical of the poofy pink mare as she made her own noisy sounds among the nightly rounds of the guarded grounds, but once she presented her framed letter of recommendation from Princess Celestia herself, they were eager to take a break to break down and party. The ones who recognized her were honored and thrilled to enjoy a personalized party hosted by the Bearer of Laughter herself.

“That was amazing!” the moori guard mumbled between munches. He delightfully sank his fangs into an orange, sipping the sweet juice with bliss bouncing between his eyeballs.

“I know! I never get a chance to mingle with moori since there aren’t any in Ponyville so this is so much fun!”

“Yeah,” he began as he peeled away the rind of his succulent orange, “we tend to stay around bigger cities with more night life, though I have a few friends who’ve taken a liking to daytime that live down near Hoovington.”

“I just wish I had known you were all so different before opening Glitter Blossom’s surprise party with DJ Pon3’s ‘Wubbable’…” Pinkie Pie added, clicking her forehooves together tepidly.

“No harm done,” Nightstride guffawed recalling the alarmingly loud dubstep suddenly booming from the courtyard. After that kerfuffle of nearly deafening poor Glitter’s sensitive ears, Pinkie decided to host invitational party breaks for the other members of the Lunar Guard, even if they weren’t moori. Since the shifts were rotating, she threw mini-parties instead, bringing the festivities to the guests near their posts so they could enjoy it to the fun-filled fullest. It was exhausting work opening and closing so many parties, but it was well worth it to see the happiness she shared with the guards who could use a fantastically fun fling from the silly filly herself.

“I’m just glad you didn’t run off after she flashed her fangs at you,” Nightstride continued while sizing up a banana. “Not a lot of ponies are comfortable around us, even though we’re pretty much pegasi with a penchant for fruit.”

“Are you kidding? I never turn any pony, griffon, manticore, hyrdra, or whatever if they’re up for a party!”

“You’ve thrown parties for manticores and hydras?”

“Well… no. But if they’re up for it, I am too!”

Nightstride laughed at her ridiculous honesty as he gleefully finished the last of his “party flavor”, the name Pinkie had lovingly punned her fruit salads for the moori guards. She took the empty paper bowl and placing it carefully with the rest of the mess from her impromptu party. Having worked her way to the western edge of the castle outside the Hall of Elements, she decided it’d be best to double back before trying to call it a night… or morning. She wasn’t sure what time it was anymore, not that it mattered.

“Thanks again for cheering me up tonight. Luna knows I needed it.”

After Pinkie had heard about Nightstride’s wingmare Dusky and her disappearance, Pinkie had partied extra-hearty for him, being in the same boat with Rainbow Dash. She knew better not to tattle about the shapey shifty parts of the tale, but she felt sharing sympathies would help break the ice a bit between them. Sure as her friend Shirley Sherbet, the little sadness was quickly forgotten for a fun-filled fifteen minutes.

“Yeah, me too,” Pinkie responded with the bubbly trailing into seriousness by accident, taking Nightstride somewhat off guard with how elated she’d been the whole night.

Pinkie Pie felt she needed to do something more for the lonely guard. She opened her arms, offering Nightstride a hug, who quickly reciprocated whole-heartedly. They both felt the other’s anxious worry for their friends through their interlocked forearms, making Pinkie realize her party still wasn’t enough. She couldn’t leave her new friend feeling all sad, she just couldn’t! Maybe she could sing a song super duper quick or another funderful party flavor fruit bowl would…

“Don’t worry, Pinkie, I had a blast,” Nightstride shushed with care, feeling fresh teardrops from the deflated party mare. “Everything will be alright in the end, I promise.”

Pinkie sniffled and tightened her grip.

After convincing Tia to let her raise the sun in the morning, Luna returned Loyalty to its rightful place next to the other elements before heading back to the medical wing, only taking a small detour to check on Rarity. Judging from the shreds of paper scattered about her room and the bottle of sleeping pills, it had been less than pleasant for the fashonista to fall asleep. She felt the urge to visit her dreams to check on her, but she needed to dispense with her nightly duties in favor of focusing her attention on more pressing matters. Any nightmares plaguing ponies in the Dreamscape would have to wait until the sleeping silver one in the real world finally ended.

The night pressed on with no rest for the small team of ponies working diligently into the approaching dawn. Per their written instructions, Twilight and Salve brought in an entire lab’s worth of alchemic reagents and equipment while Doctor Triage left to care for Fluttershy. When Luna asked Triage about it, according to the Doctor Heartthrob, the pegasus suffered from stage four emotional depletion, whatever that meant. More disconcerting than her condition was the fact for Fluttershy to drain herself so completely in a short time meant she actively pushed herself to shower Chromina with love and affection. Luna had so many questions for the pegasus, but just as the changeling doctor had predicted, she was too drained to be coherent even in her dreams. The changeling doctor never heard of anypony willingly exhausting their emotions of their own accord, but she guessed Fluttershy would likely be comatose for at least a day or two recovering her mental energy.

Luna watched with mild concern and curiosity as Doctor Heartthrob carefully fashioned a tall cylindrical pod using her orange spittle. Barring her disdain for her, it was impressive seeing how methodically a changeling worked. She somehow completely engrossed herself in her own preparations while also helping the two unicorns whenever they slipped up, regardless if either were aware they had or not. Twilight and Salve were also opening up to Heartthrob, despite the situation. Nurse Salve still showed some trepidation towards the shape-shifter, but Twilight Sparkle set aside her preconceived notions of changelings allowing herself to accept the slim possibility she really was Heartthrob. She multitasked mixing a brew as she busily assaulting poor Heartthrob with question after question to confirm she was who she claimed to be.

“So, how long have you been part of the Cloudsdale medical team?” Twilight inquired while stirring a viscous solution in a beaker.

“Over twelve years once I got my flight field nurse certification,” Heartthrob answered as she molded the tube carefully with her hooves. “I’ve even cared for a Wonderbolt once or twice.”

“If you’re a medical drone, wouldn’t it have been easier to disguise yourself as a unicorn?”

“I like flying more than magic. I can live without levitation, but heaven forbid being grounded for the rest of my life.”

“Do you eat food?”

“Yes.”

“What about love?”

“Of course.”

“Does it hurt the ponies around you?”

“No!” the doctor turned to her inquisitor and scoffed, visibly hurt by the notion. “How could I call myself a nurse if I flippantly put others at risk?!”

Luna saw the spark in Twilight’s eye as she tried to sneak in another less than harmless question.

“Are there any more changelings disguised as ponies?”

“… Doctor-patient confidentiality,” she replied flatly.

“That wasn’t a no.”

“That also isn’t any of your apple-bucking business! Now focus on your mixing before you ruin another batch,” the indignant doctor replied pointing at the black bubbling mess to her right that Twilight had so graciously ruined ten minutes ago.

Twilight gave a nervous chuckle before going back to her brew. Slowly but surely, their royal emergency room took on a more alien appearance. With their project quickly becoming more and more distant from the Lunar Princess’s understanding, she decided to keep to the halls of the medical wing which grew livelier as the night drew to a close.

By Doctor Triage’s request, had Luna opened the doors of the castle’s facilities to special cases of Canterlot Covenant Hospital, receiving emotionally drained ponies and other foreign ailments involving changeling magic. Thankfully, their secret project remained so as none of the medical staff broke their vows of silence regarding the matter of a changeling receiving treatment a few doors down. Heaven forbid anypony got wind of their foreign guest and resident specialist. With Heartthrob’s advising from the emergency room, Triage and his team were more than capable of handling a book’s worth of conditions and illnesses being discovered in the aftermath of the invasion. For the short time the changelings ran amok, they had done considerable damage to her subjects. The princess cursed herself for not being there for them earlier, but she was here now for her ponies. She busied herself by dispelling the disgruntled dreams of her emotionally deprived subjects as she made her way around the rooms. She took great joy in visiting the children who always showered her with adoration when she bested their bad dreams.

Proceeding to the next room where she had left Applejack sleeping soundly from the sedative that Chromina had forced her to imbibe. Upon entering her mind, she found the farmer bouncing around a bland, rubber golden delicious against a cardboard cutout of an apple tree in a white void, utterly bored within her mind.

“Applejack, what are you doing?”

Applejack bounced up after hearing somepony else’s voice, positively radiating with excitement upon seeing another pony with her.

“Oh thank Celes… well actually thank you kindly for showin’ up, Princess Luna,” Applejack exasperated to the diarch. “Since that ornery sneak slipped me that drink of hers, I’ve been stuck here waitin’ to wake up.”

Luna experienced momentary reverse déjà vu, if there was such a thing, when comparing her bland surroundings to the paradise of her earlier encounter with ‘Rainbow Dash’ and Chromina. “You are lucid dreaming? Why not imagine something more than… this?”

“Lucid dreamin’? Not sure what ya mean by that, but I already tried the latter after givin’ up on wakin’ myself. I heard you’re supposed to be able to do all sorts of fun stuff when you realize you’re asleep. So I reckoned I’d give it a shot, but I can’t even get a darn apple tree to sprout up right. Trust me, I’ve been tryin’ for the longest time and that sorry excuse for a sapling is the best one I— doggonit!” she cursed turning back to see the cut-out and bouncing apple she had made up had both vanished after losing her focus.

“I understand your frustrations, dearest Applejack,” Luna agreed as she barely managed drawing upon the farmer’s imagination to sprout a pitiful weed from the white nothingness they stood upon. “This must be a side effect of the sedative you were given. Being a counter-measure to changeling dream magic, perhaps it has affected your cognitive connection to your imagination as well.”

“Nevermind the reason, princess, ya gotta get me outta here! I can’t take all this nuthin’ I got around me much longer. At this rate, I’m never gonna be able to sleep soundly again!”

Princess Luna took in the situation Applejack was stuck in. Aside from their voices, there were absolutely no other stimuli to be perceived. Not even a single visual or audible hallucination manifested itself with that part of the farmer’s mind being cut off, it was only Applejack lost in nothingness.

“I will see what I can do. Perhaps Nurse Heartthrob knows of an antidote to stir you or, better yet, a counter-agent to free your creative thoughts. You still need the sleep after all.”

“Well hurry back if ya can’t. I’m gonna go plumb crazy if I have to be here much longer and I could sure use the company if I’m gonna be stuck here for a while.”

“Trust me, most honest Applejack, I understand far more than you could ever know.”

With that, the dream walker took her leave. As she awoke, she heard the echoing of Applejack shouting more farm-oriented obscenities when failing to make her bouncy apple reappear.

“Good job girls, you’re the best help a drone could ask for,” Doctor Heartthrob hummed lightly to her two unicorn nurses.

The weary Twilight had just enough energy to spare to marvel at the finished product of their labor. What had started out as a gob of changeling spit in the shape of a used paper towel roll had been meticulously crafted into an beautiful amber healing chamber. Their head physician called it a Changeling Medipod. Twilight and Salve were both surprised to see Heartthrob eyeing it with equal astonishment.

“I’ve heard rumors about these, but I never thought I’d see one so close,” the changeling doctor spoke reverently at her own handiwork.

“Umm… Heartthrob, you were the one who made it,” Salve remarked.

“This is an invention of Chrysalis’ hive, Chromina just gave me the details on how to construct one,” she replied running her hooves down the length of the outer hull. “Their alchemical technology goes far beyond any other hive, mostly having been acquired through conquest. With units like these, it’s no wonder Queen Chrysalis is both revered and feared throughout our lands.”

With the segue making itself apparent in Twilight’s mind, she took this golden opportunity with notepad in hoof, “So in changeling society, hives are separate states that are constantly at war with each other?”

“Not exactly. I’d rather not bore you with details of changeling politics,” the nurse replied to the dismay of the inquisitive unicorn, “but hundreds of changeling hives don’t fit pony definitions of kingdoms and nations. Hives range from a small colony of twenty or so changelings under a vassal of a larger hive all the way to the hundreds of thousands in Chrysalis’ personal hive in the Badlands. That’s not even counting the hundreds of other hives she overshadows. Chrysalis’ empire is a ruthless superpower in our world that lesser queens can only dream of creating.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eye twitched at the sheer volume of changelings Heartthrob was casually listing. Her jaw slacked as she began recounting population charts her mentor had shown off when Twilight was a foal. Canterlot itself was home to maybe two hundred thousand ponies, only being outmatched by Manehatten’s million and a half, but that city was a melting pot of ponies, griffons, zebras, and all sorts of other civilized species. Sweet Celestia, they were already grossly outnumbered in the surprise attack, but if Chrysalis had brought her hoof down in full force…

“Twilight?” Salve prodded in concern, Heartthrob sharing the same worried sentiment at the blank stare a light-year away.

“Wha…” Twilight distantly slipped with disbelief before rearing back to reality. “Oh! I’m sorry, please continue Doctor Heartthrob.”

“Well, larger hives continually vie for dominance of an area as new queens rise and fall, but small ones either sit on the sidelines as they try to grow in strength or bow to the dominant power in the region. Change is kind of a big thing for us,” she quipped with a small chuckle. “My queen was perfectly content with our little colony happily living our lives through an ever shifting balance of power,” Heartthrob recounted with warm nostalgia.

“Umm... if I may, Heartthrob,” Twilight started pensively, “what happened to them?”

Her warmth was replaced with a bitter scowl as she tried to form a reply. She stammered several times before stopping the words at the tip of her tongue. She bit her lip as she tried finding the right words to say, which seemed particularly painful as she kept forgetting she had fangs again.

“You’ll have to ask Chromina about that one,” Heartthrob replied distantly. “I wasn’t there to see… never mind, I can’t say that either. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

Heartthrob returned to her stoic work. She ran through calibrations of the Medipod, having incorporated several of the surviving machines into its design for the others to keep an eye on. She poured the mixture of elixirs, potions, and other alchemical ingredients into the pod before sealing it in place with her magic. The device ready to receive their sleeping patient, the three nurses levitated Chromina carefully into the chamber, which absorbed the changeling through its semi-permeable membrane. Once inside, the medipod responded to the new addition by buzzing alive with activity to keep the patient suspended in the center of the nurturing mixture. Twilight found it amazing and unsettling to see the Chromina slowly breathe in the surrounding goo, but the aerated jelly bore qualities similar to amniotic fluid which Twilight kept reminding herself as she watched the respiration cycle continue effortlessly.

“Here you two,” Heartthrob said as she gave Salve and Twilight copies of her notes, “the Medipod will need to be inspected every thirty minutes to ensure the suspension is properly balanced as her body absorbs healing reagents. If you keep on top of it, she should be fully healed within the next few days.”

Heartthrob turned her reflection in the gallery window, gazing somberly at the mockery of her half-complete pegasus form. She walked over the Lunar guard uniform Luna had left behind for her once their preparations were complete. The doctor slipped the armor on as the illusion coated her black features in regal white and blue. She winced as the helmet dampened her magic and the armor invisibly bound her wings to her barrel. The armor weighed down more than Twilight had thought, encumbering the changeling and ensuring she wouldn’t be going anywhere fast. Heartthrob dragged her hooves out of the ER to the doors, through the crowded halls, and to the busy entryway of the medical ward followed closely by her purple escort. Heartthrob chortled gloomily as they came to the crossway.

“Oh right,” she hushed her buzzing voice between huffs and puffs. “Twilight, is the castle’s dungeon to the left or right?”