Exiled From Equestria

“Well, here we are,” Cranberry murmers. Fear briefly shimmers across his icy eyes. He r“Crystal Reef is this entire lake. We’re certainly travelin’ through the water, not the forest. But it will take ‘bout an hour or so, and Ah don’t know ‘bout you two, but I want ta get out of here as soon as possible.”

Unlike Cranberry Tart, the fear is easily seen in Emerald Haze. She shivers and digs her teeth into her lower lip until they bleed. Guilt rains upon the lavender unicorn. She doesn’t want to cause anypony any trouble.

“Thank you,” Twilight whispers, standing up on the small wooden boat. A corner of her mouth lifts slightly. “For taking me all the way to Crystal Reef.”

“Oh, Dear, you are oh so sweet,” Emerald says. It’s clear that she is trying her best to hide her fear. “It really hasn’t been much of a trouble.”

Cranberry gulps as he begins to paddle with Emerald into the lake. Shivers run down all their backs, yet there is not a breeze in the air.

“You’ve been paddling for quite some time now,” Twilight breaks the silence. “Do you need any help?”

No pony answers. At first, Twilight doesn’t understand why. But she hears a paddle clank on the bottom of the boat. She turns her gaze to Cranberry, who sits behind her. His eyes are wide. Oh, no, please, don’t be what I think it is! I just dealt with a cragodile, not this too! she complains. Her head slowly turns to the lake, past Emerald Haze, who is too focused on her paddling to see what is lying ahead.

It is so vivid, it’s a wonder how the green pony hasn’t seen them yet.

“Emerald Haze, stop paddlin’ and look ahead of ya!” Cranberry shouts with a quivery voice. Another clank of a paddle slightly echoes as all three ponies stare wide-eyed at five Hippocampi creeping toward them from the far end of the river. Twilight musters all her knowledge about them: half earth pony half fish, strange powers. Even this information doesn’t help. What is she supposed to do? Other than those two facts, the only other thing she knows is not to underestimate them.

But what the heck do they do?

“Everypony, put these on!”

She doesn’t have any time to react as a giant life-jacket is thrusted at her. In a few seconds, she slips the neon orange fabric is over her head. It hugs tightly to her chest.

The hippocampi are still a ways away. Their pace is slow and steady, allowing them quite some time, of which Twilight takes to briefly hyperventilate. “What do we do? Are they going to kill us?”

“No, they ain’t.”

“Are we going to run and hide? That sounds like a good idea.”

“No, we ain’t gonna hide.”

Twilight glares at Cranberry. “So are we just going to wait?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see why.” Cranberry lifts a foreleg above his eyes to shield the morning light from his cerulean blue eyes. “Yup. Those are water hippocampi fer sure.”

“How can you tell from this far away?” Emerald asks.

Cranberry points a hoof toward their direction. “Their manes are flowy and deep blue with aqua highlights. Their eyes are sparklin’ sapphire, and their skin is cyan. Not much else ta say ‘bout that.”

Twilight finds it absurd that they are just sitting there while five hippocampi approach them ever so slowly. But, seeing that there isn't much else to do, she tries her best to calm her nerves. “A water hippocampus?”

“Yup. Fire, earth, and air hippocampi don't live in these kinds of water. Only the water ones, which are prob'ly the least ta worry 'bout.”

“Probably?” Twilight's teeth chatter. Not because she's cold (since she’s wearing a thick life jacket on top of her winter coat) but because she's frightened. The creatures are unknown to her, and that makes them much more intimidating.

The moment comes where the five water ponies reach the small boat. Twilight clings onto her life jacket as they spread out and circle around the boat. They’re going to kill us, she thinks miserably. Oh, why do I put so much trust in ponies?

One of the hippocampi lightly tap the bottom of the boat with their fish tail. Then the one across from him does the same, and soon their all repeatedly tapping the bottom of the boat. At first, the three ponies aren’t sure why.

But then the tapping turns into whacking, then smashing. There isn’t a solid second where the hippocampi are thrusting their tails against the bottom of the boat. The impact sends the three ponies a few inches off the boat each time. Twilight desperately tries to cling to her seat, but the effort is pointless as the boat begins to snap and break. Water leaks in from the bottom, and soon enough, the water has reached the seats.

“Shoot,” Cranberry mutters. “‘Didn’t know they’d break our boat!”

This water isn’t too much colder than the swamp water she was in to retrieve the paddle, but it’s enough to feel icy for a minute or two. Twilight sits there helplessly as the boat falls apart. She stares with fearful eyes at Cranberry, who instead stares back with confidence.

The pounding stops as the boat breaks entirely. Cranberry, Emerald, and Twilight bob on the surface, due to their life jackets. However, Twilight’s sword and her saddlebags threaten to drag her under, despite it, so she swims to one of the broken wood planks and places them on there.

Only when a hippocampi charges at her, does she remember what is going on. The creature’s move is so sudden that she doesn’t have any time to react. She sits still, waiting for the impact.

But it never comes. Seconds pass, but she feels no disturbance. Her left eye cracks open. Then her right. She blinks.

So this is why Cranberry instructed not to run, Twilight thinks.

Her life jacket is glowing a faint ruby as it emits a circular forcefield around Twilight. The water hippocampus thwacks against the side with his tail. But it stops at the forcefield instead, causing the field to shimmer a ruby red in protest.

Twilight’s nerves calm, but not entirely. Meanwhile, two other hippocampi pound against the transparent ruby forcefields protecting Emerald and Cranberry.

One of the hippocampi pounding on Twilight’s forcefield neighs. The others stop attacking immediately and turn toward him. They neigh some more in a way that Twilight just doesn’t understand, and then, surprisingly, they stop. It’s not over yet, it just can’t be, the lavender unicorn thinks as the five hippocampi back a few tail-lengths away. In fact, this scares Twilight even more, for she has no idea what they are plotting to do next.

One of the hippocampi’s eyes begin to glow a cyan blue, as if they’re unicorn horns. The other fours’ eyes glow as well, and their intimidating stares make Twilight gulp with shock and fear. At the moment, she feels like a helpless earth pony, even with her sword beside her. She can’t use it, anyway. Too much good is still inside of her.

Twilight’s thoughts are disturbed by the feeling of being lifted upward. She blinks a few times and realizes that the water beneath her is rising upward like a backwards waterfall. She’d jump down if she wasn’t already 15 tail-lengths from the surface. She glances around, spotting Emerald Haze and Cranberry Tart stuck in the same situation.

“What do we do know?” Twilight asks.

Cranberry looks downwards. “I’m guessing that they’re going to lift us high enough, then drop the water and let us fall from a height so high up that we’ll die and they can eat our remains.”

Twilight is so shocked that it takes her a few minutes to gather up the courage to speak. “And…and will that happen?”

“We’ve got these, remember?” he replies, motioning to all their life jackets. “They do more than protect you from harsh kicks.” He winks while pointing to a small green button near his shoulder on the jacket that Twilight hadn’t noticed before.

Emerald doesn’t know what to think other than pure terror as they’re lifted to a point where the hippocampi look like ants. Is that still not high enough for you? she wonders. “Cranberry,” the green earth pony says, “how are we supposed to get out of this mess? They’ll be relentless to kill us, no matter how many times we escape their tricks.”

Cranberry Tart is about to respond, but the sudden change in gravity interrupts him as the water that was carrying him upwards suddenly drops too quick to follow. The mares scream while Cranberry glares as they plummet to the surface below. However, seconds before they meet what would’ve felt like concrete, they all press the green buttons. Old-fashioned earth pony parachutes abruptly pop open. The three ponies roughly splash in the water, but it could’ve been much, much worse.

By the time Twilight has caught her breath, the hippocampi are already trying out a new plan. She coughs out a mouthful of water as the five creatures start swimming rapidly in circles around them. A small whirlpool begins to form beneath the three ponies.

She glances to her sword, lying a drifting broken plank. Yes, she did just eat a snake, but actually killing and animal herself is an entirely different concept that she has never wanted to face. Yet, she keeps finding herself in this situation. The hippocampi are bound to kill them at some point if she doesn’t do anything, and they all know it. Her option is to either use her magic, or use her sword.

The dark magic begins to pound against her skull, as it usually does when she’s forced to think dark thoughts, such as murder. This headache is incredibly painful compared to the other ones; she assumes this means it’s advancing much quicker than she thinks.

“Twilight!” Cranberry interrupts the lavender unicorn’s thoughts. She snaps her attention back to the growing maelstrom. She and her guides are being twirled around in the gushing water. Cranberry spits out water before continuing. “Use yer magic! Ah’ve seen how strong it is; teleport us out!”

“I can’t!” she screams back over the rushing lake water.

“Why can’t you?” Emerald shouts. A thick layer of fear coats her eyes as she thrashes about.

Twilight holds a hoof to her mouth to keep from vomiting. “I can’t tell you.”

“Please. We’ll die, Twilight. There’s no other way.”

Before she can respond, a large wave engulfs her, dragging her beneath the surface. She chokes on water, desperately searching for air as she tumbles about. After ten terrifying seconds, she emerges a few tail-lengths away from the whirl pool, swimming as powerful as she can against the mighty current.

Twilight can feel herself being dragged back towards the whirlpool. Her eyes dart about, searching for anything to grab onto, but all she can spot is her sword and saddlebags, which too are being dragged in.

A mixture between Emerald’s and her own screams fill the air. She spins faster than her eyes can keep track. Water surges down her throat. At this moment, she tries her best to clear her mind of all things but her three remaining options; die and never see her friends again, quite possibly risk corruption by killing the hippocampi, or risk complete corruption by teleporting away.

The first option is unthinkable. The second is difficult and new to her. The third one is hard to bear; would she be powerful enough to withstain dark magic? No matter how much she carries on this debate, she just cannot be sure.

She can feel how close the dark magic is to slipping inside her mind. Once it does, Twilight is unsure if it will ever come out. Terrifying images of destruction caused by herself floods her mind.

Another wave crashes on top of her. Her body aches from struggling. She knows that at this point, there’s no other option. Teleportation is a definite path to corruption, leaving the only other option.

Murder.

A light purple head bursts through the surface of the water. A sword sheath and saddle are easily spotted on a wooden plank many tail-lengths away, slowly being drawn into the whirlpool. Twilight finds her inner strength and swims to it, grabbing the plank and quickly hurling it onto the shore. Then she grabs a hold of the bank and throws herself onto solid ground. She lies there for a few moments, choking up fresh water onto the patches of vibrant grass.

Once she’s breathing probably Twilight plants a shaky hoof on the sheath and pulls the iron sword out with her strong pony teeth. The tip is still stained red with blood, sending shivers down her back. Come on, Twilight, you have to do this.

Alright, she replies to herself. I can do this. She turns around. Emerald Haze and Cranberry Tart are gasping for breath inside the whirlpool. Twilight wonders how they’re still alive, but she realizes that the hippocampi are, too, tiring out from swimming as fast as they are around and around so many times. Now that she’s regaining her energy, the lavender unicorn feels as though she has the advantage at this point.

Twilight takes a few steps backwards, then gallops forwards until she meets the bank and leaps as far as she can into the river. She swims to a rock tall enough that it breaches the surface for a few inches. Twilight climbs on top, thankful that it’s not too windy.

The hippocampi have grown tired and weak, allowing her to easily slash off the fins of the closest one. It neighs in agony and stops in it’s place, causing all of the creatures to bump into one another. As they struggle to retain order, Twilight hesitantly cuts her blade deep into another’s foreleg. They completely lose track of the whirlpool and angrily glare at Twilight. One neighs ferociously and charges at Twilight through the sloshing waves. Seconds before it’s mouth meets her foreleg, she stabs him on the far left corner of his stomach, trying her best to avoid its heart.

An unexpected hoof pounds on her back, sending Twilight crashing back into the lake. She swims towards the surface but is stopped when a hippocampus grabs her and starts dragging her down, deeper and farther into the lake. Her lungs scream for air. She tries to stab the hippocampus, but with shaking from fear, being underwater, and being at a disadvantage, her swings miss.

Cranberry and Emerald are no where in sight. She hopes that they’re not being drowned as well.

Every second feels like an hour. Twilight feels as if she’s helplessly trapped in a never-ending state of drowning. But there is another way, Twilight, says a familiar voice inside her head. She quickly recognizes it as the dark magic. Teleport away from this mess.

I will NOT give in, Twilight replies through thought. Casting another spell is foolish at this point.

Then you will die, Twilight.

No.

And then, the most curious thing happens. A flash of bright white blinds Twilight. By the time her vision has returned, the hippocampus is gone. On the verge of drowning, she struggles with all her left energy to reach the surface.

Before she can, though, her stomach twists, and her vision turns black.

***

Princess Celestia dries her wet cheeks. The chains keeping her from escaping rattle as she does so. The collar around her neck keeping her from using magic feels confining. Her eyes squeeze shut. When she opens them once more, she still finds herself trapped in a small cave, the only light emitted from glowing mushrooms, and the only exit, glowing water.

It has been seven days now. She lives off of the water dripping from the cave ceiling, and the scarce, disgusting food provided by her ponyknapper.

Above all, she feels weak. She’s supposed to be the ruler, the protector of Equestria. But at the moment, she knows nothing of what is going on in the world.

The pale pink alicorn can’t help but wonder if her sister is alright. Discord mentioned how Princess Luna transformed once again into Nightmare Moon, this time out of grief and anger instead of jealousy. And then she wonders what Discord is planning. Celestia doesn’t know what in Equestria is going on her kingdom at the moment. Has Discord taken over? Has Nightmare Moon? Where’s Twilight and her friends? Will they come to the rescue?

Celestia’s heart twists at the thought of Twilight. Her most trusted student. Where is she now?

Finding out where her pupil is at the moment would be a cinch if she there wasn’t a magic-proof collar fastened around her throat. Then again, despite the collar’s great enchantment, Celestia is an alicorn. Her magic is far more powerful than anything, besides the Elements of Harmony.

She gathers all her energy and deposits it into her horn. For once in an entire week, the corners of her mouth slightly turn upwards as her horn sparks gold. It takes all too much energy than she would like, but it works. She bets that if the spell wasn’t so easy, it wouldn’t be working at all.

Celestia’s eyes suddenly flash white as the spell takes place. It works much like a memory potion, but instead, she is seeing the present, not the past. In reality, Celestia is still crumpled up on a cave floor. But in the spell, she is standing on a river bank, abruptly breaking off into a much larger lake. It appears to be a swampy biome, quickly fading into a forest. Stargaze Swamp, she thinks. Oh, I have many memories of this place. Many childhood memories.

For a moment, she grins at the memory of Luna and herself splashing in the river water. They were only fillies then. Laughing and playing, having fun, carefree. It was before they had ruled Equestria.

This time, a tear rolls down her cheek from happiness.

She snaps out of her memories, instructing herself to stay focused.

And that’s when she sees her. Twilight Sparkle, perched upon a large stone in the center of the currents, a sword in her mouth. Celestia’s eyes widen in horror as her pupil digs deep into the hippocampi’s bodies with the iron blade.

A new look of horror finds her face as a water hippocampus begins to drag her student into the depths of the lake.

Twilight is drowning.

She awakes from the vision, finding herself back in the cave with a sorrowful and worried expression. No, she thinks. No, no, NO! Not my Twilight, please, no!

“Something wrong, Celestia?”

The pale pink alicorn jerks her head around, facing her ponyknapper. He glares with hatred and disbelief.

“Discord,” Celestia growls. Her face changes all but too quick to anger and determination. She fights against the chains around her hooves, struggling to break free, but it’s no use. “Let me go, Discord!”

“Oh, and why should I do that?” he grins mischievously. “Do you really think I’d do that?”

“My student is drowning! She’s dying!” Celestia screams. This catches Discord’s attention.

“Oh, well that’s not good,” Discord murmurs, rubbing his chin with his two foreclaws. “I need her alive.”

Celestia ignores his last comment. “Please! Let me go so I can save her. I…” she gulps. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if she died.”

Discord grumbled. “I’d rather enjoy watching you wither in agony at her death, but,” he sighs, “she needs to stay alive.”

“Then let. Me. Go.”

“Oh, but I can’t do that.”

“Discord, every second we spend talking is another that she’s drowning!” Celestia’s throat aches from raising her voice, something she was not often found doing.

“Right,” Discord replies. He snaps his fingers, and in a white flash, he’s gone.

Celestia can only hope that Twilight will live.

Hang in there, my dear Twilight, Celestia thinks weakly. You will find yourself home sooner than you think.

***

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all slump on a bench, waiting for yet another train to take them to the Crystal Empire.

“We ain’t got any more bits. Ah refuse to break into another train. There ain’t no pony out here who’ll lend us free bits, Ah assume. So why are we waitin’ here for a train that we can’t even board?” Applejack asks.

Rainbow Dash shrugs. “Do you have any other ideas?”

“Yes,” Rarity answers a question that wasn’t even directed towards her. “We can work for bits.”

Rainbow Dash snorts. “That’ll be working for 40 bits. We don’t have the time. We’ve already wasted a week.”

“Oh, oh, oh! I know, I know!” shouts the changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie, waving their fuschia foreleg back and forth in the air. “I know, I know!” She hops off the bench and starts jumping around, waving her hoof in everypony’s face. “I know, I kno–” Pinkie is interrupted by an orange foreleg in her mouth, keeping her from speaking. When Applejack removes her hoof, she finds it dripping with Pinkie slobber and makes a disgusted face while rubbing it on the bench.

“Ew, Applejack, we’re sitting on this bench!” Rarity complaints.

“I know, I know!”

Rainbow Dash narrows her eyes and grits her teeth as a pink hoof is shoved in front of her face. “I know!”

“Pinkie, um, maybe you should calm down a little…” whispers Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie nods and plops onto the ground.

“What if we flew there?”

Everypony blinks at Pinkie, their faces expressionless in the dim sunlight blocked by many large clouds.

“Are your wings even healed, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asks. The cyan pegasus reluctantly nods. “Well, even so,” the white unicorn continues, “three of us here don’t have wings.”

“No, but I have balloons,” she replies, grabbing a bundle of helium balloons from nowhere. She hoofs them to Applejack, who eyes them funnily.

“Ah just don’t know, Pinkie. How safe are these things?”

“See for yourself.” The pink mare grabs another random bunch of balloons and ties them around her stomach and back. The balloons immediately take action, lifting her off the ground.

“Yeah, but how are you supposed to keep yourself from, ya know, flying away?” Rainbow asks, flapping her wings. She soars high above the bench, performs many twists, then lands back on the bench in a matter of seconds. “Balloons don’t work like my awesome wings.”

“Well, you turn left and right and swim upwards and downwards through the air. I can always help anypony if they need it.” Pinkie Pie lastly grabs another set of helium balloons and hoofs them to Rarity, who eyes the floating objects.

“Hm. These colors don’t necessarily match, Darling. Could I tried these three yellow for five green?”

“Ugh, we don’t have time for this!” Rainbow Dash retorts. “Let’s get going already.”

“Alright,” Applejack replies. She gulps while tying a good 20 balloons around her stomach and back. The second her hooves are no longer on sturdy ground, sweat runs down her forehead.

Lastly is Rarity who takes her time carefully tying one balloon at a time. She ends each one with a neat bow. After two minutes, she’s only gone through half of the bundle. Rainbow Dash places two hooves on her cheeks, then drags them down her face and sighs. She glides over to the persnickety pony, grabs the last of the balloons, and ties them for Rarity, all at once, with no neat bow. “Can we go now?”

“Yes indeedy,” Pinkie Pie cheers. Rarity, Applejack, and herself push off the ground with their hooves, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy follow along. Rainbow gets the urge to zoom past them, to fly fast, her favorite thing to do. But she doesn’t want to risk losing track of them. That’d be a disaster.

Rarity flops around in the air, trying to figure out how to work the balloons. As she levitates the map of Equestria from her saddlebag, she flops forwards and has trouble regaining balance. Oh dear, this is much more difficult than I imagined, she thinks. How does Pinkie do it?

She is just about to announce the direction of the way they need to fly, but Rainbow Dash beats her to it, with her mental map of Equestria in mind. “This way, everypony,” she calls, flying ahead of all her friends, leading the way.

Applejack glances at all the clouds that drift above their heads as the five ponies float through the air. They look like fluffy white cotton candy, but when she lifts her hoof and brushes it against them, they evaporate. All she feels is a light brush of fog.

Fluttershy tries her best to keep from looking downwards. They’re floating awfully high above the ground, much farther than her comfort zone of five tail-lengths, or even better, on the ground.

‘Pinkie Pie’ hums to herself while gazing down at all the ponies down below. Even though she’s really a changeling, she has Pinkie’s conscience, therefore creating a sort of Pinkie Pie with changeling powers. “Hey, Dashie,” she calls. The cyan pegasus far ahead of the others turns around, now flying backwards. “Can we fly above the clouds? I want to show Rarity and Applejack how spectacular it looks.”

“Why? We’ve been ta Cloudsdale before fer tha Best Young Flyers Competition,” Applejack says.

“Yeah, but you’ve never actually seen what the clouds look like when they cover the entire sky. It looks like a valley made of cotton candy. It’s beautiful,” Pinkie says, emphasizing the word ‘beautiful’.

Rarity taps her hoof to her chin. “I suppose it could behold great inspiration for my next fashion line. Could we?”

“I don’t think those balloons would last that high up,” Fluttershy whispers from the back. Everypony can hardly hear her. “They might pop…”

“Nonsense, silly Flutters.” Pinkie Pie grins. “I’ve flown much higher than that before. My balloons are made of a special material. They won’t pop.”

“If you say so, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash says with a hint of suspicion before fluttering upwards. The moment the five friends can no longer see solid ground, the cyan pegasus can’t help but zoom upwards, so fast that tears well in her eyes. She stops a good 50 tail-lengths above the clouds, gleefully laughs, then rockets to her friends. Rarity flinches as Rainbow turns back upwards seconds before slamming into her.

A stream of rainbow follows the excited pony through the air. She spirals and zooms and mostly flies fast for 5 minutes or so before landing on the clouds beside her friends, trotting along them, a trait that only pegasi (and alicorns) are given.

“Well, what do ya gals think?” she asks. Many beads of sweat trickle down her face as she spreads her arms wide, showing off the wondrous view.

Bright beams of sunshine shower onto the white clouds, causing them to glimmer and glisten. It’s almost like a very bumpy collection of fairly small white hills.

“Oh my stars,” Rarity exclaims. She places her two front hooves to her cheeks while grinning, at the same time, scrambling to maintain her balance. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any view so gorgeous!”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so high off the ground,” Fluttershy whispers. She covers her eyes with her shaking hooves.

Applejack whistles. “Ah’ve been ta Cloudsdale before, but let me tell y’all that this view is amazin’.”

“You said it!” Pinkie cheers. Now it’s time to get down to business, the changeling thinks. She ominously floats to the back of the group so nopony can watch while she casts a spell, breaking the bond connecting her changeling mind and Pinkie’s subconscious. If she were to plot revenge against the four friends, Pinkie’s subconscious would argue with the changeling and try her best to stop it from happening. With the bond broken, she is full changeling, inside, but not out.

The changeling, still disguised as Pinkie Pie, clears her throat. “Let’s go even higher up,” she says, trying her best to mimic the pink earth pony’s cheerful tone.

Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow. “Pinkie, we’re high enough. Any higher and those balloons are sure to pop.”

“Any higher and I think I’ll faint,” Fluttershy whispers glumly.

The changeling grits her teeth. For her plan to work, she needs the balloons to pop. It’s a fairly simple plan, actually. They just need to be a little higher. If only ponies weren’t smarter than she had thought. “My balloons can handle any height, I’m sure of it.”

“That’s real nice and all,” Applejack replies, “but Ah don’t think that’s necessary. We can already see the view mighty fine from here.”

“Besides, we should be focusing on our speed. We’re traveling slower than a snail. Did you hear that, everypony?” Rainbow Dash calls. “Quicken your pace!”

Rarity leans forwards and kicks her legs, trying her best to run in the air. She sweats from aimless exhaustion. “Is there a way to make these things go faster?”

The changeling narrows her eyes. “If we go higher up, we can get there faster. Don’t ask for the logic behind it.”

“What is it with you and going higher up?” Rainbow Dash asks. “This elevation is perfectly fine.”

“Yes, but we need to go higher,” Pinkie insists. She grits her teeth.

Rainbow Dash zooms to the pink earth pony and glares harshly two inches from her face. “We’re not going any higher, got it?”

“Hey, Rainbow, remember the deal,” Applejack says calmly, scrambling toward the two friends she pushes Pinkie farther to the right and Rainbow farther to the left. “No fightin’.”

“We wouldn’t have to fight if moron here would let us fly higher!” Pinkie exclaimed. Everypony stared at her with eyes full of shock. The changeling knows she’s completely out of character, but at this rate, she doesn’t care. Queen Chrysalis and Discord had sent her to try to assassinate Twilight’s friends, in case Twilight Sparkle didn’t turn out to be corrupted. “In fact, if you four idiots would listen to me, you’d already be dead by now!”

Rarity winces. Tears well up in Fluttershy’s eyes. Applejack’s eyes widen. Rainbow Dash, odd enough, glares.

“Where is she?”

“Excuse me?”

“Where is Pinkie Pie?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie.”

“I’m not going to ask again,” Rainbow Dash snarls. “Where. Is. Pinkie Pie?”

The changeling glares back. Everypony tenses while Rainbow holds her stern glare.

All the sudden, Rainbow Dash finds herself falling backwards. She lands on the fluffy clouds, causing some to rise up and evaporate around her. She spits out a mouthful of cloud. “The Pinkie I know would never harm anypony.” Her mind flashes back to when her friend punched Nightmare Moon in the face. But did that really count? She was scared and angry. She’s never violent like that.

“Fine, Dashie, don’t believe me.” The pink pony’s glare fades into a sneer. A spring green glow comes out of nowhere, spiraling all over her body. When the glow is gone, a changeling is in her place. She unties the balloons, since she can now fly with her changeling wings.

Rainbow holds her glare as the changeling lands on the cloud a good five tail-lengths away from her. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” the changeling hisses. Her turquoise eyes sparkle. Her deep gray horn sparkles green, and a thick beam of green light zaps only a few inches away from Rainbow’s face.

“So is this Discord’s plan?” Applejack growls, floating over to the two. “To kill us?”

The changeling replies with his horn sparkling green. She’s just about to shoot another beam of magic when Rainbow Dash tackles her, causing the beam to land in the sky.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asks with a soft quivering voice as Rainbow Dash holds the changeling down.

Applejack eyes the clouds beneath her. “Do y’all think that the spell Twilight casted a long whiles back for me ta walk on clouds still works?”

“We haven’t got all day, Dear,” Rarity says. “Hurry, try and see, but be careful.”

Applejack awkwardly scrambles downwards, trying to control the balloons to take her down. When the farm pony finally does reach the clouds, she plants her hooves on top. She can walk on clouds.

“Sorry, Rares,” Applejack calls back to her unicorn friend as she races to Rainbow Dash’s side. Rarity had never been granted the spell to walk on clouds, so she’s stuck in the air with her balloons.

Applejack comes just in time for the changeling to punch Rainbow the face and wiggle underneath her. The gray creature glances at Applejack, realizing it’s now one against two. But she also realizes that neither of them are unicorns, and that the only unicorn there is stuck helplessly in a bundle of balloons, not knowing how to control them.

The changeling suddenly leaps off the ground. While she spirals through the air, she shoots another beam of magic at Rainbow Dash. Applejack reacts quickly, tosses her hat at the very last moment. The beam of magic hits her hat instead, and it immediately disintegrates. Rainbow’s eyes dart from where the hat once was, to the changeling who just landed back on the cloud, and then to Applejack. But there is no more time for a ‘thank you’ as the changeling casts another beam. This time, they both dodge it by leaping left and right. The beam streams in between them, disintegrating nothing. The changeling growls.

“What is it going to take for me to kill you four?” she hisses.

Rarity waves her legs back and forth in the air as if she was running on the ground. She inches closer to the changeling, but her small pace and hilarious actions cause the dark gray creature to burst into laughter. Rarity’s cheeks burn, but her eyes glare.

“Stop trying, pony fools,” she spats. “You’re practically up against an all powerful alicorn.”

That’s when a plan forms in her head. The perfect plan. Her horn glows green once more. Rainbow Dash and Applejack except it to be another beam, but the changeling takes them by surprise when green goo flies from her horn and lands on all four of the ponies’ hooves. They try to lift their hooves out, but the goo quickly hardens, keeping them in place.

Next, the changeling turns to Rarity.

“Oh, please. What are you going to do to me when I’m way up here?” Rarity snorts.

The changeling sneers. Goo pours from her horn and lands as a giant mass on the balloons.

“Psh, like tying the balloons together is going to do anything,” Rainbow Dash taunts.

“Just watch.”

Rarity looks with a disgusted face at the green slime.

Then, the balloons start to sink as the goo slowly hardens.

Rarity yelps. “What? No! Somepony, help!” She screams as she sinks below the clouds, catching more speed every second.

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash leans backwards and tries her very best to lift her hooves out of the goo, but it’s useless. No matter what she does, she can’t break free, as well as Applejack.

That’s when she remembers. Rainbow stops struggling and turns her attention to Fluttershy, who is cowering under the changeling’s harsh glare.

“Fluttershy, you have to rescue Rarity!”

Tears stream out of the timid pony’s eyes. “I know,” she whispers too quietly for anypony to hear. Just as the changeling gathers up magic in his horn, Fluttershy swoops through the clouds, fluttering straight down as Rarity gains speed with her fall. The sound of screaming and wind burns in her ears, but she fights against the urge to stop. Don’t worry, Rarity, I’ll save you…

I hope.