Twilight groaned, heavy headed and fuzzy. No. No not again. It was happening again... the same spotless laboratory, the same harsh smell of chemical cleansers, the same glittering lights, The same silvery table strapping her down, and the same dreadful, diabolical machine flushed firmly between her legs. The only thing that was different, this time, was Twilight was not alone in the room. No, no, this time she had company. Company in the form of an azure mare with rainbow colored hair, wearing a lab coat and standing quietly in front of her- an ear to ear grin stretching coldly over her muzzle.

"Glad to have you back with us, Twilight," the mare hissed viciously. Twilight gave another groan and tried to blink the mare into focus, but the drugs and the gas and the effects of whatever they had done to her hadn't worn off yet. Still- she knew that mare...

"R...Rain...?" she drooled. The mare leaned in close, kissing Twilight softly on the nose, and slowly shook her head.

"Shhhh. Don't try to talk. Save your strength. You're going to need it. After you and the zebra found our laboratory, things took a turn for the worse. Weeks and weeks of work and effort, all down the drain. The queen is not happy, Twilight. When the queen isn't happy, none of us are happy. And then you went and dragged me alllll the way to Canterlot. Totally lame. Do you know how difficult it is to drag your heavy plot outside? After an extra dose of our serum, you could barely spell your name, let alone say it, so your gonna be sleepy for a little while. I'm surprised you woke up at all, at this point. I should have slit your throat when I had the chance...but...well, orders are orders, after all. I'm just glad I finally collected enough of your juices to fuel my dream...I'm finally going to fly, " Rainbow whispered darkly, slowly licking her tongue across Twilight's nose.

"F-Fly...Rainbow...what?" Twilight slurred. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes darkly, turning towards the bound mare with a huff.

"I'm not Rainbow. Can't you see...it's been me all along! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" said Scootaloo, peeling off the Rainbow costume she was wearing. Twilight's mouth dropped open- and collided with the ground. Impossible! It was absolutely impossible!

"This CAN'T be real! It can't be! You're not real!" Twilight huffed. Scootaloo glared in return and stood up as tall as her little orange legs would allow.

"I am real Twilight! I am real and I have real big plans for your juices. I'm going to create the most powerful potion ever and drink it down, and my wings will magically grow, and I'll fly!" Scootaloo snarled. Twilight balked.

"Are you serious?! That is completely insane!! You're completely insane!" Twilight squealed. Scootaloo cackled again, throwing her head back with a vicious sneer rippling over her lips.

"Yesssss, and with my new wings, I will fly to the moon! I'll get the cheese from there, and I'll sell it and make millions!" the filly cackled. Twilight shook her head, eyes widened by the insane rambling of the filly in front of her.

"NO! Scootaloo, without the moon cheese, what will Luna eat?! She'll starve! She's the mare in the moon!" Twilight whimpered. Scootaloo gave a snort.

"That's just an old pony tail, Twilight! There is no such thing! Luna isn't even real!!" Scootaloo cackled, and dove out the window. Twilight frowned, struggling to free herself from the bonds that held her down. She had to stop Scootaloo! Luna's life depended on it!

"Yes she is! She is real! You can't hurt her! I won't let you! You can't escape me, Scootaloo! I'm not going to let you win!" Twilight snarled. Scootaloo shook her head slowly, glaring back at the pony.

"I'm not Scootaloo, I'm Rainbow Dash, remember?" the tiny pony snarled. Twilight growled.

"No, I'm onto you, you're Scootaloo!" Twilight barked. Scootaloo shook her head again.

"Noooo, I'm Rainbow Dash. Come on, Twilight, wake up," the little pony hissed again. Twilight thrashed in her bonds but she was....underneath...warm...comfortable...blankets?

"Come on, Twilight...wake up...wake up, wake up, wake up," Rainbow Dash hissed urgently, shaking the snoozing pony awake. Oh, Celestia, what a nightmare. Twilight gave a groan, slowly coming to as Rainbow Dash shook at her shoulder. The world was dark and stuffy, pitch black with only the faint outline of a pegasus in front of her to indicate Rainbow Dash's position on the bed. They were lost under a sea of rich warmth with the blankets over top of them both completely blotting out the room. Twilight gave a little gasp, about to ask what was wrong, when something warm pressed firmly against her muzzle, silencing her.

"There's something in our room," Rainbow whispered quietly, ears pinned to her skull as she listened for movement and sounds. Twilight perked her ears, straining to catch even the slightest scrape of- there! Something shuffled to the foot of the bed. Twilight felt a shiver ripple down her spine and even in the darkness, she could feel Rainbow Dash peering at her. Even in the safety of Canterlot Castle these changelings gave them no mercy. Twilight felt a bubble of anger swell inside of her and she snarled. Couldn't they leave them in peace for just one night?! Was this insanity so important they would dare cross the threshold of the castle- to commit these atrocities under the watchful eyes of princess Celestia?! Sitting up suddenly from the bed, Twilight's magic surged and the blanket covering her and Rainbow Dash burst from atop them and onto the shadowy intruder in the room. In an instant, Rainbow Dash had bounced from the bed and tackled the wriggling shape under the blankets and pinned it to the ground.

"GOTCHA, YOU FILTHY INSECT! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TOUCH HER! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I WON'T LET YOU!!" Rainbow Dash snarled, using her hooves to pin the struggling changeling down. A blinding light from Twilight's horn lit up the room, and Rainbow Dash squinted at the sudden brightness- but she didn't dare take her eyes off the changeling.

"I'm flattahed feddah head, but she ain't exactly my type!" a scrappy little voice snarled from under the blankets. Rainbow Dash paused, glancing curiously at Twilight before she shuffled the blankets enough to exposed the creature underneath. Instead of a wicked little changeling, a small silver coated filly poked her head out and shot a dagger glare at Rainbow Dash.

"You're...not a changeling?" Twilight asked curiously, frowning as the tiny filly rolled her eyes.

"Oooooh, good guess. No wondah dey call you'se da smartest pony in Equestria. You'se wanna git offa me, Rainbow Brains? I got stuff ta do tonight, and babysittin' you'se two ain't exactly on da top of my priority list," the little girl snapped. Rainbow and Twilight shared a glance again, before Rainbow Dash gave a snarl.

"I don't buy it. How do we know you're not a changeling?!" Rainbow snarled, pressing her nose against the fillies. The girl gave a sigh and rolled her eyes, still wrapped up in the blankets and under Rainbow Dash's hooves.

"Cause if I was a changeling, I'd have probably bitten one o' you'se already. Lemme up!" she growled. Rainbow glanced at Twilight who subtly shook her head.

"Who are you? And why were you sneaking around our room?" Twilight frowned. The filly gave an agitated sigh, and rolled her eyes yet again, as if talking to the two ponies that had caught her was a significant insult of some sort.

"I am da Impossible Pony! ...Da Fantastic Filly...? Da Miracle Mare from Manehatten? Da Stah Seekah? Da Night's Errant?! ARRGGHHH. Whats da point of havin' all dese titles if nopony's evah hoyd o' me!? Ugh. I'm Diamond Dancah, and I woyk for da princess!" the filly snapped. Twilight gave a sharp grin and leaned forward, studying the filly quietly. She had icy blue eyes with dirty, silver gray fur, and spiked blue hair. Oddly enough, she had particular markings on her coat- like she'd had an unfortunate accident with an ink well. Even if she was a changeling, she was about the size of Scootaloo. Scrappy with hints of muscle bleeding through her fur, Twilight was more than positive Rainbow could securely hold her down.

"You work for the princess, huh? I've never seen you around the castle, and I used to live here. A likely story. Princess Celestia doesn't have any fillies under her employ," The brainy equine explained. Diamond Dancer wriggled in her blanket prison, grunting and grumbling, until she managed to get a single tiny hoof free. To Twilight's awe, the underside of her hoof began to glow a gentle, glimmering blue and the image of Princess Luna's cutie mark slowly appeared. Twilight's muzzle dropped open, while Rainbow Dash looked on in boredom.

"And big deal, A little light show doesn't prove anything. " Rainbow grumbled, but Twilight shook her head, stepping over to rest a hoof on Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"I woyk for da oddah princess. " The tiny filly snapped. Slowly, Twilight nodded her head.

"Let her up, Rainbow Dash. That's a 'Royal Rune.' It's a mark given to high ranking members of the Royal Court. I've only seen Celestia's mark before, usually given to captains of the Sun Guard, but it stands to reason Princess Luna would use them too. But...but that can't be right. You're so young, how did you get-" Twilight frowned, while the tiny filly clambered to her hooves and shook her fur like a wet dog.

"Ugh. Are we done playin' twenty questions? I'm here to escort you'se two ta see da princess. She wants a woyd wif you'se. She said you'se two have been through a lot, so I was ta wake you'se two peacefully and quietly. Humph. See how well dat toyned out, " The filly grumbled, turning towards the door. Rainbow Dash gave a snort.

"We know where the throne room is, we don't need an 'escort' to get us there." Rainbow grumbled.

With a smug grin, Diamond nodded her head at Rainbow's comment.

"Alright den. Aftah you'se. Be my guest," Diamond snickered, opening up the tower door. Instead of the numerous stairs, brightly lit hallways, and posted guards, the world seemed swallowed in darkness. Endless darkness that spanned as far as the eye could see. Twilight's eyes widened and Rainbow's muzzle dropped open.

"Welcome to Midnight Castle, "the little filly grinned.

Author's Note

Whats this? A cameo from my favorite little OC? As the foals say, DEAL WITH IT DARLINGS! A little shameless pandering to my own characters never hurt right? Don't worry, she doesn't have any sort of important role.

Anyway, the epilogue is coming along much slower than I thought. Issues at work and being dead tired for 10-12 overnight shifts leaves Lady Rarity exhausted. I wrote this and realized if I didn't post it, it probably would take many more weeks longer to complete, so, erm...have a 1:42 am unedited snippit of story. We're almost done, darlings! Almost done indeed!