A Better World

"But sis! This isn't fair!" Sweetie Belle whined.

"No buts. This is for your own good." Rarity said firmly. Next to her, she saw Applejack nod solemnly in agreement.

Rarity enjoyed the pleasant breeze that tussled her perfectly styled mane ever so slightly as she breathed in the fresh, open air. The spacious fields of Sweet Apple Acres stretched out around them, filled with hundreds of off-season apple trees in the process of ripening their fruit. The only sign of pony habitation was the newly reconstructed barn (Twilight had repaired the damage done by Longhorn) and the rather simple but cozy Apple family house. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo looked anxiously at the four stern royal guards who stood a few feet away, awaiting orders.

"How are we supposed to solve cutie mark problems if they're following us all the time?!" Scootaloo asked incredulously, pointing at the guards.

Rarity chuckled lightly. "Oh pfft you don't need to do that. Why don't you do something from the sanctioned activity list I gave you?"

"Like color?" Applebloom deadpanned. "We ain't babies ya know!"

"Our destiny is to help other ponies get their cutie marks!" Scootaloo argued, pointing to her flank. "This is so lame!"

"It's for your own safety. Can't have ya gettin' into trouble now." Applejack said, waving the guards forward. The guards nodded, shepherding the three fillies back toward the house.

"Why're you doin' this? We don't need babysitters." Applebloom said, eyeing the guard to her right angrily.

The guard shrugged, opening the front door. "Sorry, Princess Twilight's orders."

"Ugh." Scootaloo grumbled, giving the guards a disgusted look. "What's the point of having cutie marks if you can't do anything with them?"

"It's only temporary miss, she gave us her word." the guard said apologetically. Reluctantly, the fillies trotted inside followed by their new bodyguards.

Applejack sighed. "Ah can't believe they left them so... unsupervised."

"We did, for a long time." Rarity replied, reminiscing back to when their little sisters nearly got turned to stone by a cockatrice.

"And how often did it come back to bite us?"

"Hey girls!" Rarity and Applejack whirled around to see Pinkie Pie, accompanied by an old looking donkey. The donkey smiled broadly, looking around the farm with a keen interest. Rarity noted that his hair was a rather obvious black wig, loosely stuck on his head in a rather unflattering manner. Clearly this donkey didn't care much about appearances.

"Ah see that happiness spell you were cooking up actually worked." Applejack said.

Pinkie nodded and pointed to her companion. "Remember Cranky Doodle from our world?"

"That rather rude fellow that you tried to befriend two years ago?" Rarity said, remembering how perpetually irritated the old donkey would be. "He was quite unpleasant to be around. Didn't you have him reeducated dear?"

Pinkie shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, here's his twin! Watch this." Seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie pulled out a large bucket of water and dumped it on the old donkey's head, ruining his wig and drenching him completely. "Oops! Sorry Cranky!" she giggled.

Still smiling, Cranky casually picked up the soiled wig and stuck it back on his head. "That's alright Pinkie. That sort of thing doesn't bother me anymore. In fact, nothing really bothers me anymore." The donkey looked off into the distance dazedly, still obliviously grinning despite Pinkie's actions.

"We should report back to Twilight. Now that you've perfected the spell, we can spread happiness to all of Equestria." Applejack said, sounding impressed. "Although, Cranky there does seem a little distracted."

"I think Matilda will like him better this way." Pinkie replied with a smile, patting Cranky's head.

"They cheated me out of my cart!"

"Now now," Flim countered. "We won your cart fair and square, right brother?"

"Right you are brother, it was a fair game of chance like any other." Flam added.

The shopkeeper stomped her hoof. "I saw you use magic to change the dice you... you swindler!"

"Swindler is such a strong word!" Flim exclaimed in an offended manner.

Twilight Sparkle sat on Celestia's throne, watching the argument unfold. Part of her job as princess in this world was to hear disputes, and now that Celestia and Luna were gone, everypony had naturally turned to her, as she predicted. What would Celestia do here? Cleverly trick Flim and Flam into confessing, give them a slap on the hoof and let them go? Those con-artists would be back the next day with another failed scheme. Fortunately, Twilight had far more effective methods.

She held up a hoof, and instantly both parties stopped talking. "A simple truth spell should resolve this quickly."

"Oh I assure you we've done nothing wrong your majes... truth spell?" Flam asked, looking surprised. Suddenly, he yelped as a purple aura surrounded his throat. He went cross eyed, sputtering and coughing violently.

"Brother!" Flim yelled, running to his side. The shopkeeper looked shocked, frozen with fear.

"W-we cheated! The dice... we used magic to change them!" Flam choked out, sounding strained. The aura dissipated, leaving Flam gasping for breath.

"Well, that settles that." Twilight said, unable to help a small smirk as the twins looked up at her fearfully. Without another word, they galloped out of the hall. The shopkeeper bowed her thanks, leaving hurriedly soon after.

"That truth spell was kinda freaky Twilight."

Twilight looked to her right, raising her eyebrows. Spike sat just beside her throne, a pile of comics stacked up next to him with a few loosely strewn about. He seemed unnerved, almost frightened even.

"Well, at least they'll think twice before trying to con somepony again." Twilight countered.

"I... suppose. It just seemed kinda dark." Spike said hesitantly.

"How about if that shopkeeper had lost her livelihood Spike? That would've been pretty "dark" if you ask me."

"I guess, it's just that Princess Celestia-"

"Princess Celestia isn't here now Spike. I'm here." Twilight said, cutting him off. Honestly, he was worse than her Spike back home.

"Your highness." Twilight turned away from Spike, and saw three royal guards bowing at her throne. She slid off of her seat of power, trotting close to the guards so she could whisper. The last thing she wanted was Spike hearing about the next phase of her plan.

"Are we ready?" she asked quietly. Spike glanced over at her with an inquisitive look. Twilight waved a hoof casually, and the baby dragon went back to his comics.

"Almost. We'll be ready to attack the changeling hive by tomorrow afternoon... if- if that's still what you want to do princess." the guard replied in an equally hushed tone.

Twilight nodded grimly. "They captured Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence. It's the only way to get them back. I just hope we aren't too late."

"Of course princess, it's just... well-"

"Just what?" Twilight asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I thought they were different now, reformed I suppose. Princess Celestia was even in the middle of peace negotiations with them. Heck they even look different-"

"Looks can be deceiving, especially with changelings. It's clear that this "peace" was a ruse so that they could recapture the princesses after their first attempt failed. It seems that creatures like them can never change their ways." Twilight said. The guard nodded his assent, looking more sure. "I want all the guard ready by tomorrow. We need to destroy them while we have the advantage of surprise-"

Twilight was cut off by a loud ZOOM as a rainbow flash seemed to dart throughout the throne room at astonishing speed, finally settling just in front of Twilight in the form of Rainbow Dash. The throne room door was pushed open further, and Twilight heard the soft beat of wings as Fluttershy gracefully glided to Rainbow's side.

"Hey Twilight!" Rainbow greeted enthusiastically. Fluttershy merely nodded, glancing briefly at Spike.

"Rainbow I really don't want to see what an indoor sonic rainboom looks like." Twilight said with her best deadpan look. She couldn't keep it up for long, and allowed it to break into a grin as she hugged her two friends. "How's the hunt for Chrysalis going?"

"Nothing so far." Rainbow Dash replied. "I've got the Wonderbolts strafing the outlands, but they haven't found anything yet."

"And I've got all the animals across Equestria helping, but they haven't found anything either. Chrysalis must've hidden herself really well." Fluttershy added.

"All the animals in Equestria?" Spike whistled. "How the hay did you manage that Fluttershy?"

"I used the Stare." she answered simply. Seeing him look confused, she continued, "It spreads as the animals interact with each other."

Spike scratched his head, still looking a bit flabbergasted. "You... used the Stare? Just like that?"

"Um... yes?" Now Fluttershy looked confused.

"But I thought you only use it when an animal does something wrong. Isn't this sorta... I dunno, mind control?"

Fluttershy raised a hoof, but Twilight decided to cut her off. "Desperate times call for desperate measures Spike. Chrysalis has been loose too long, and she might have something to do with Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence disappearing. One way or another we're going to find her and deal with her, permanently.