Author's Note

(fun fact, this is actually written in the course of an entire year, sooo the beginning might be a little rough)

Part I

Life… does it really matter?

Since the dawn of civilization, people died all the time. But, life went on. A life alone cannot build empires, it is only when these lives come together when something wonderful occurs. But in turn, the life of an individual becomes worthless.

So, does it really matter?

Five years ago, a lost and broken dragon came into The Everfree Forest seeking guidance. What was originally planned to be a brief visit, became a life-altering moment. In two short weeks, it changed the life of the dragon from a quaint assistant, into a hardened warrior.

Together with a changeling, he saved a town from a psychopath bent on murder. A few lives were lost that day, and yet the town continued on. Those who fell slowly became yet another grain, lost in the falling sands of time.

And now, lives in another town are about to be changed by the dragon.

The manticore let out a feral roar of anger as it charged towards a changeling with a saber of radiating love magic and an adolescent dragon wielding a sharp sword. The beast didn’t even bother to jump around the thick forest bushes, all it cared about was killing its ever resisting prey under Celestia’s midday sun.

Echo, sliced off the manticore's entire paw like a hot butter knife with her glowing saber causing blood to splatter everywhere. She jumped in time to dodge the wave of crimson that sprayed from the manticore's missing paw.

Spike mimicked Echo’s move and cleave the manticore’s stinger with ease The beast bellowed in agonizing pain. He quickly ran towards its chest without hesitation, while Echo flew its back, with two swift stabs, they struck its heart and the manticore fell down with a very heavy ‘thud’

“Alrighty, another manticore down, do we have enough room in our bags to cut it up?” Echo asked causally to Spike who was cleaning his sword.

“I suggest that we make use of what’s inside the corpse. After all, the parts we sliced outside of its body is useless now, we only have so much space left,” Spike said offhandedly as he looked at his friend.

Echo nodded in agreement. “Welp let's get to work, we don't have all day." The two companions cut open the manticore’s corpse, taking out the organs first. Once all of its organs were set aside, they both carefully cut all of the flesh until there was nothing left but bone.

Echo took some pieces of the manticore’s fur. “The fur seems pretty useful to me, you have any room left?” Spike nodded simply as he opened his bag to check for room.With the job now done, both friends went back to camp.

Echo stood up putting down her little cumbersome bag. At the spit of the fire, Spike was roasting the manticore’s hind legs as their meal. Once the meat was done, Spike offered half of the manticore’s hind leg to Echo. She accepted his offer with a small thanks as she slid the bone into her deformed hoof and took a bite.

“No matter what other ponies say, manticore meat still tastes like chicken,” Spike said with his mouth full. “That saber, I’ve yet to see you use it once, what gives?”

Echo took another bite off of the severed leg of the beast. She took a moment to chew and swallow. Spike waited patiently while he reorganized his items. “I only found out recently that I could use the saber as a weapon. Apparently energy beams shot out by our horns is a thousand times weaker than what’s actually stored in our reserves. It can’t be used against changelings, But dragons...” she looked at Spike with a grin

“Well this is my internal reserve,” Echo said softly while staring at the glowing saber. Spike nodded simply, The changeling nodded in response as well, Spike mentally noted himself to secretly add “Do not piss off Echo” to his mental to-do list.

“Anyways, let me tell you what we will be doing this time” Echo said to Spike. The dragon paused whatever he was doing and looked at Echo with a smile, motioning her to continue. “We are visiting a town nearby.”

Once he finished packing , Spike closed his bag and swung it behind his back. He cleared his voice and asked. “Are there any towns in the Everfree?” Echo nodded, as she hitched on her saddlebags as well. “How come I never knew about this?” He asked.
The changeling blushed as she smiled at Spike, rubbing her hooves together. . Spike noted her embarrassment with a small grin.

“I forgot to tell you?” Echo muttered timidly all of a sudden. After faintly hearing that, Spike fell onto his belly laughing , while Echo gave him a death glare.

“Everyone, I would gladly like to announce the mayor of Goodsprings 18 years running, Echo !” Spike announced, as he wiped a tear while addressing an imaginary audience.

“H-hey, it could happen to anyone! Being the mayor is hard you know!?” Echo snapped back. Spike just patted her back. Echo just huffed and began to walk with her head held high. Spike sterilized his claws -which have been stained by blood and other fluids dripping from the leg- with his own dragon fire before catching up to Echo.

Celestia groaned inwardly to herself as she teleported a rubbish bin in front of her, she perfectly caught whatever one-way mail was being sent to her. For some reason, Spike could not be reached, no matter how many times her ‘elite’ pegasus forces had searched areas in Equestria, they found nothing. Well, at least it was a relief that he was alive. But, the dragon was still lost within the Everfree.

“Oh Spike, I hope you will forgive them someday”, Celestia sighed, as she continued with her work.

“Sooo, other towns huh?” Spike asked Echo with a casual tone, the changeling rolled her eyes but smiled and asked Spike to get on with it already, “What other towns are there?” Echo paused for a second, thinking to herself.

She then looked around and found a log to sit on and patted the spot next to her. The changeling licked her lips, then started to list off the towns with her eyes looking at her upper right direction while her head tilted left slightly, a little adorable for a changeling that can kill a fricking manticore in under five minutes…

“Well there’s the Horse Town, a town run by ex-con artists, they use cards for currency. Ace of spades are worth approximately two hundred and fifty respect points in our current currency and that's worth five hundred bits in equestrian money, to the two of diamonds which is worth approximately five respect points, ten bits in equestrian money… fun fact, two brothers actually left the town fifteen years ago, back to civilisation,” the dragon nodded and motioned her to continue, head on his hands.

“Then there’s Dragon Side, a town filled with dragon traitors who actually support friendship. After you gave me your sword’s design, it was actually them who I got to forge your blade.’” Echo pointed a hoof at Spike’s sword. “They can’t resist a challenge, that's why I gave your blueprints to them. I said it once and I’ll say it again, smart design!” the dragon just puffed his chest at the complement.

“We then have Goodsprings, an ex-assassins town and Nice Neighbor, town filled with ‘late’ celebrities, both use respect points-." No wonder ponies don’t come back from the Everfree, Spike thought to himself. Echo then paused and let out a shiver before continuing with a much more quiet tone, Spike had to leaned in more to listen clearly.

“Finally, there’s voidlings, The voidlings… They are mysterious, and they hold all kinds of creatures, dragons, griffons, ponies, changelings and even minotaurs, but there’s one thing in common, they were all ‘saved’ by someone in the town itself, when their lives are at the lowest of the lows… I have no doubt you have seen them at least once…”

Spike’s eyes widened with surprise, and letting out a surprised “What?” he cannot recall meeting such people… then again they don't have nametags on their foreheads

Echo pressed on. “They are nice people, don't get me wrong. Yes, they control the single most recognized charity organization in the world. But, they are very good actors. They can somehow convince anyone to believe anything, from convincing you that you are secretly a mare and that your whole life is a lie.”

Spike shifted uncomfortably.

Echo looked at him with eyes filled with empathy, “When I first met you, your eyes were cyan, but now they’re emerald green. That's why I gave you a home in Goodsprings., Cyan eyes in the Everfree usually meant extreme sadness or ‘employee’ of the voidlings, both related to those creepy bastards.”

Spike nodded and stood up. “Well, let's forget about it. The less we think about the creeps, the more time we have to focus on the more important stuff. We’ve got better things to do than to tell stories.” Spike swept himself clean from the dust and stretched before Echo did the same.

“What town are we going to anyway?” Spike asked, after a few minutes of silence as they were walking. Echo mildly bit her bottom lip before replying with an uneasy tone.

“We are visiting Sleepy Hollow, a town filled with slightly unstable ponies, but they do want to recover from their… conditions.” Spike nodded as he took a bite of his cooked manticore meat he saved earlier. Echo levitated a chunk of meat out of Spike’s bag and cooked it by blasting it with a magical beam. It wasn’t a really healthy way to cook the manticore meat, judging by the look Spike was giving her. It would do. “And we are almost there so you might want to brace yourself, we’ve lost contact with the town a few weeks ago and I’m starting to get worried.”

Spike looked at Echo and raised an eyebrow. “What?” the changeling asked, innocently. He just stared back at her longer with the same expression.

“You know I didn't sign up for this, right?” Spike asked. Eventually, the changeling lowered her head and smiled sheepishly. Spike just rolled his eyes and continued to walk the uneven ground in the untamed forest. “Let's get this over with, I want to go back to Goodspri-”

The sound of a tree branch snapping was heard nearby, interrupting the dragon’s sentence.

Both the changeling and the dragon instinctively dropped into a defensive position, only to find a purple alicorn facing the duo. Spike dropped his sword in disbelief and sadness. Before Twilight Sparkle could say a word, Echo hastily lept next to the purple alicorn. The changeling was looking dead straight into the alicorn’s eyes, along with her own, which were slightly glowing.

“I feel from your face, you're freaked by the flow of your blood which is fully fixable *snap* by focusing and following the flow my words as you’re flowing, flowing *snap*, which is why you’re focusing *snap* on my command, you got this far in life by listening to one voice the voice in your head my voice is the voice, sleep!”

Echo swiftly caught Twilight’s limp and hypnotized form, Spike could only look at the changeling with jaws on the ground as she softly whispered into the alicorn’s ear “When you wake up, you will find the urge to go back to your own home and do what you love best.”

Echo then slapped Twilight in the face,causing the alicorn mare to come back to reality. Once she did, Twilight Sparkle flew away in a random direction. “That was creepy as fuck, and please don't do it again,” Spike warned the now non-glowy eyed changeling. Echo, however, looked at Spike like he had grew a second head.

“Spike, she is responsible for me putting you back together for four years, and now it's only a year later and I don’t want to spend four more years doing all over again, well minus my identity crisis…” Spike sighed, oh well, Twilight DID break his heart once… And Rarity… Sure Spike can blame them both for indirectly putting him the this forest but it’s kind of his own fault as well…

“Fine”, Spike sighed softly.

After spending ten more minutes of walking, Spike and Echo made it to the edge of the town. Sleepy Hollow looked like Ponyville, more than anything Spike had imagined, other than the view of Canterlot. The building’s architecture looked practically identical, Spike felt a twinge of nostalgia crawling back into his brain.

An ambush of six ponies, four mares and two stallions, came holding axes with their mouths charging at Echo yelling “changeling!” or “kill the killer!” If it wasn't for Spike’s sword, Sleepy Hollow would have a new coat of changeling paint.

As Spike swiftly drew his sword, he defends the mayor who was next to him. Somehow nobody recognized. Echo was busy getting up on her hooves. Apparently, she had fell down on the floor from a forceful shove . After a few moments of steadying herself, Echo yelled at the top of her lungs as loud as she could. “SHUT UP!” The ambush team instantly stopped their attacks.

Spike took this opportunity to shout. “You can’t even recognize your sister town’s flipping mayor!? What's wrong with all of you ?!” The town’s ponies backed down and looked at each other. Spike looked at Echo and asked, “Are you ok?” Echo just nodded to Spike.

“An voidling messenger came in two weeks ago saying that a rogue virgin changeling queen is inside the Everfree looking for people to suck dry and start a hive. Since we used to be insane, we are more vulnerable to changeling magic, and we believe that one of us has gone back to… the old murderous ways, so forgive us for being a little jumpy and not recognizing you straight away.” A brown stallion, with a cream colored mane and yellow eyes, came up and said with a weird accent. He had a grim look on his face, putting emphasis on the word ‘changeling’.

Echo nodded slowly and skeptically as the stallion continued “Last month, we had a hundred of us. In the last two weeks, we had seventy seven beside us. Yesterday, we had forty one. Now today, we have thirty five voidling spellcasters who cast a hex spell that masked our occupation, so changelings cannot target important ponies like the gumshoe or the deceived without raising suspicion. But, we are still dropping in numbers. And fast."

Echo nodded, she then told the buck, “Go back and tell every pony to be on standby, I, as the mayor of Goodsprings will be in charge of finding your murderer and the queen for you. I will leave your orders at your desks at where you are suppose to work.” she instructed. He nodded and mouthed a small ‘thank you’ and his team followed him away.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Spike asked doubtfully. Echo just nodded softly. Spike still looked doubtful, so Echo patted his back with her own hole-ly hoof reassuringly

“Yes. Identity hex has been proven to work wonderfully among changelings and ponies alike, it disrupts the hive mind in changelings and I have watched entire colonies fade away into nothing more than an empty shell. Even the queens in the hive, after the effects of the spell, can just walk away without a single changeling noticing.” Spike nodded, despite having no idea what she was talking about.

“That's why I think voidling ponies should cast the hex, and I am confident that they want this changeling removed as much as these guys did.”

After an hour of putting their gear in a relatively safe place in the motel, both the changeling and the dragon ventured out into the small town. Everyone looked like they have suffered a lot, Spike even saw a mare with tears fresh in her eyes. Echo, on the other hand, just looked around without a care. Even humming a soft tune to herself.

At least that’s what the average pony would see when they looked at her, after living near her for five years, Spike can see right through Echo’s uninterested face. The changeling is seen keeping an eye on almost absolutely everything, ponies’ behavior, their reaction time and maybe the most of all, what's hiding under everyone’s face.

Spike let out an involuntary shiver as he thought back at when Echo had used this tactic, it was two years ago where a spy was found at Goodsprings. Needless to say, a spy’s corpse was found hanging near the edge of the town just two days later with the word “traitor” carved all over his body. It was not a pretty sight.

When Spike snapped out of the unpleasant memory, he notice yelling somewhere, Spike and Echo followed the noise, which eventually led them to a crowd near the center of the town. The small mob was all yelling the same thing repeatedly, “Kill it!”

And at the center of it all, was a mare with her hoofs bound to some lead weight, a rope around her thin neck on a elevated wooden platform. She had a green-blue coat and orange mane, she was crying so bad that her fiery yellow eyes was bloodshot. “I told you!” s he called out to the small crowd as they ‘boo’ed. Some threw rotten fruits at the bounded mare.

“I am innocent! I am just a shopkeeper!” she called out desperately. But the crowd was taking none of that, instead everyone collectively cheered as a pony wearing all black came onto the platform -her executioner- , Spike covered his mouth in shock while Echo was looking at the cheering crowd with little emotion on her face.

They’re killing their own hoping to find the changelings, the pony wearing a black cloak slowly approached the crying mare as the crowd cheered on for her approaching death, Spike couldn’t believe what he was seeing, everyone was so excited to kill her without knowing if she was their kind or not.

The pony gave a swift buck and the mare was pushed off the elevated platform, the mare was screaming in fear and terror when she fell. Soon, everyone would hear a bone-crunching snap and a life would be diminished…

…

…

Except it didn’t happen, the mare had her eyes shut, but she was not falling. The rope around her neck still had some distance before snapping in two , every single pony could hear her sobbing brokenly. The crowd was now stunned silent at what they are seeing, a pink glow surrounded the mare, preventing her to fall down anymore.

But what got the crowd's attention was a unicorn mare that stood calmly on the platform as if she had just popped out into existence, she stood tall on the platform with a smile.

The executioner, was also shocked that he wasn’t able to move an inch, like a deer caught on the spotlight. The mare had a light green coat and grass green mane and… cyan eyes. She was smiling a motherly smile that somehow gave Spike along with everyone in the crowd a shiver.

Mares weren’t suppose to have eyes with less emotion than a piece of metal. The green mare levitated the crying pony back onto the platform and gave the sobbing mess of a mare a much needed hug with her thin looking hooves, then the green pony then spoke in a soothing voice that promises nothing but love, “there there, you are ok” the crying mare just buried herself into her loving embrace like a mother comforting her crying child.

“N-not to interrupt or anything ms, but she is a changeling” the executioner said cautiously to the green mare who just looked up to him with her dead cyan eyes with absolutely no emotion that shot a chill up everyone’s spines, the stallion backed away slowly from her stare.

“Don't worry my dear, I will take care of it…” If the thing keep on saying things in such a creepy calm tones, Spike will have no doubt to want kick her out of the town… If he owns the town that is… The mysterious unicorn then stroke her hoof at the crying mare’s mane gently “why don't you tell me who are you?” She asked softly…

“I-I-my name is glory” the mare chocked before continuing “I am a shopkeeper” glory then looked up at her savior and the crowd was stunned once again, instead of yellow eyes like before, her eyes are slowly but surely changing color towards a shade of blue, the same blue as the green unicorn. “Please! You gotta believe me! I am not responsible for anypony's death!” she begged desperately holding onto her saviour.

“Shh, hush now” the green mare assured her, patting her on the back “I believe you, why don't we get you out of this place? Get you some tea and let's talk about it.” She just nodded weakly. Then a flash of light later, they are gone only a puff of silvery smoke remains...

Every pony looked at each other before they started walking away, after a few minutes, only Spike and Echo remained in the clearing, Spike still can't believe what he just saw while Echo was wearing a thoughtful look on her face. She then started to walk towards the gumshoe's office a little west of where they are.

Spike followed but not before asking “What was THAT?” Spike pointed a thumb at the direction of the wooden platform Spike asked worriedly, Echo just continued walking, the thoughtful look never leaving her face.

--

“That was the voidlings ‘employing’ Spike” Echo finally said a fair distance away from the clearing still looking like sherlock holmes , Spike shifted uncomfortably “we are going to the gumshoe's office, drop a letter then we are going to pay a visit to the reporter and the watch pony…” Spike nodded and sighed as he caught on to the changeling.

Echo then took a glance at Spike at the corner of her eye, judging by his facial expression, Spike was confused and kind of afraid to ask her why, the changeling let out a long sigh and dropped her ‘not caring’ look and faced Spike directly.

“Listen, Spike” the dragon looked up at her, tilting his head slightly. “When we were at the gallows, I saw twelve ponies not constantly yelling or cheering at the mare’s death, three of them with cyan eyes, so they are out. That leaves us with nine suspects. Gumshoe can watch three at a time, not too much as to wear them out but not too little as to let those changeling escape.”

Spike then continues for her dryly“ same goes to the reporter and the watch pony I suppose?” Echo nodded, putting on her ‘not caring’ look once again. Spike sighed, “let's get this over with before this town officially creeps me out” Echo can't help but crack a small smile.

“So to summaries, we went to the gumshoe’s, watch ponies and reporter’s office within half an hour, but you don't want to ask for more help even if we can afford it? That’s almost three against nine,” Spike stated matter-of-factly, Echo just shifted in her bed.

“I know…” She muttered weakly under the sheets under her blanket, Spike could almost see her imaginary sigh saying in bold letters ‘self kicking in process’ “but asking more ponies to help will make the efforts useless due to every pony snooping around… I just don't know what to do” Echo covered her face with her hooves and blanket.

Spike grumbled then said in a clam voice, “don't worry too much, you will manage, at least you are trying to help…” Echo nodded to herself letting the sweet embrace of sleep take her away. Spike patted her back and did the same.

--at the other side of town--

A changeling drone landed in front of a mare who’s sitting on a pony’s body sucked dry of love.“My queen, I am sorry to report this but a very heavy barrier was placed around this town an hour ago, it’s somehow blocking all magic from going through” the mare then picked up the corpse and gave it a forceful buck, sending it flying through it’s former home crashing on the wall opposite of her with a thump.

The mare then shed her disguise, revealing herself to be a very tall changeling queen, who went by the name Tibia. She then hissed to the drone beside her “Don't you know how to fly around it?!” The changeling drone shooked weakly and coughed out some green goop and blood, and she started to shake her head.

“Yes my queen. But, the barrier covering the sky holds like a dome, there’s no way through. I’ve blasted it with my strongest spell, without trying to draw suspicion. I even tried lodge a ten hoof wide rock at it! There's not even a scratch, worst of all, it’s made of the most transparent glass I have ever seen, to any ponies out there, they may not even Notice it”

The drone then looked around and whispered in a hushed tone “maybe it’s one of the voilding’s doing” then it’s time for the queen to shook her head

She then asked in a commanding tone walking towards the female drone who was watching some distance away. “And what was that about that undisguised changeling?”

The second drone swallowed with a gulp nervously as she lowered her head, “She is always accompanied by a young dragon with superior sword skills. Beyond us and judging by how she was being treated, she will most likely to be the one in charge of finding us. ”

The queen just scowled. “ Well then, a traitor of the changelings who thinks she can find us? Understand? I don't want us to become extinct!"

“YES MY QUEEN”

‘Knock, knock’. Echo woke up and sat on her bed, she rubbed her eyes before giving out a giant yawn. Spike did the same on his bed as well. “Morning”, both said in unison, before letting out a small chuckle.

Echo levitated the mail that had been delivered to their front door, she tore open the letters and took the folded up piece of paper. It read:

Breaking news from the reporter:

Yesterday, I was given secret orders

to dish up some dirt on three different

ponies. After shifting through their

garbage, I’m sure that the one known

as Starlight Flutter is a dirty changeling

of some kind!

I hope this is useful.

-Reporter

After reading it, she levitated the letter to Spike, who was busy getting up from the bed. Echo then tore open the second letter with a flick of her horn. It read:

The Gumshoe Files

Hey boss,

So I got your orders and set out to

Investigate three ponies just like you

wanted.

I’m going to have to tell you,

the one known as April Shine happens

to be my incognito! But the one

known as Jolly Party however,

has evidence about her just doesn't

add up. I am sure someone might be

set to frame this fellow, changelings

don’t trick me that easily.

Hope this helps ya out!

-Gumshoe

They both finish their letters at the same time, Spike burnt his letter and walked into the kitchen, while Echo was still in her bed. She let out a yawn as she tore open another note.

The Sheriff's Office.

Greetings fellow mayor,

I am here to report on the status

of the town,

Sunny Hooves, Bubble Shy, and Merry dawn have been found

dead.One pony was stabbed five times with a knife and had her cutie mark

cut off as well. Two have had love drained out from their bodies, leaving

a pair of withered husks instead.

I hope we will be safe.

Anonymous Mayor.

Echo tore the note into two and muttered softly to herself. “I hope so too…” Spike walked out of the kitchen somehow wearing a small apron he got from who knows where. The changeling then tore open the final note, as she ate the leftover manticore meat.

The Watch Pony Log

As ordered, I kept my targets in my sight.

The one known as Starlight Flutter visited Bubble Shy.

Last night, while the other two targets slept

peacefully through the night, I can safely say that

they won't be doing any killing tonight. We will make sure of it.

End of report sir… or madam…

Echo tore the note apart as well as she got up from her bed, catching Spike by surprise. “ Alright Spike, we have changelings to find and a town to save from an insane murderer.” Both took their time to prepare and Echo put on her ‘I-don’t-care-look’ ’once again.

“So here it is, our suspect's humble home” Spike said sarcastically, the house was decorated with streamers and party balloons all over the exterior, to put it bluntly, Starlight Flutter’s house just sticks out like a sore thumb compare to other buildings around “let's knock to see if anyone’s home shall we?” Spike asked jokingly and playfully bowed motioning Echo to step up to the front door.

The changeling walked up and gave the door three gentle taps, her face showing the one of worry, she had dropped the ‘act’ after they’ve reached the neighborhood, and after a few seconds of what seems to be someone shuffling behind those doors and a few yelps, a small mare opened the door and she stepped cautiously out.

She had the ocean for her eyes and show for a coat, her mane was one of gold and orange her figure was the one which stallions kill for just to get on a date, Spike instantly got lost to her magnificent beauty “H-hello?” she asked in a voice so sweet it would make any songbird hang their heads in shame.

Echo was having none of that and said in her natural voice showing as little emotion as possible, this was not what she had expected, she was expecting a more… common look instead of a weak and attractive mare that sticks out

“Are you the one called Starlight Flitter?” Echo asked uncertainty saturated her tone of voice as she speaks, the white mare just nodded simply, Echo straightened up, calmed herself and said formally, “Starlight Flitter, you are hereby ordered to be hanged at noon by the conspiracy of murder” that snap Spike out of it.

The mare let out a laugh in a typical mare-ish tone “That's funny! You are funny,” she continued to laugh, but with each passing second, her laugh became more and more forced.

The mare slowly shrank up into a ball and began crying openly on the morning street, she then slowly crawls to Echo’s hole-ly hoof and begged for mercy denying that she had done anything close to hurting someone Spike just stared, honestly what can he do? He can’t kill her and Echo will not kill those who don’t post a threat to her.

Echo then started to walk away to the sheriff's office to do the paperwork, giving the mare a buck, knocking her out. She carried the fallen mare on her back and began to walk to her destination.

An hour later when Echo left the building after the admiralty boring paperwork session and she was greeted by a crowd who had gathered at the entrance of the building all of them wearing angry expressions, one mare by the name of Jolly Party if Echo remembered correctly came up front and silenced the crowd waving a hoof up in the air.

“ARE YOU THE ONE WHO HAVE FALSELY ACCUSED OUR DEAR STARLIGHT OF MURDER?!?!” she angrily yelled at the undisguised changeling so loudly Echo was sure she can hear ringing inside her head, the crowd also shouted insults at Echo, who in turn, hid a smile under her calm mask.

The changeling just straightened out and tidied herself and said coldly “Starlight Flitter are ordered to be hanged at noon by the conspiracy of murder for a reaso-” before Echo can finish her sentence, jolly with the look of absolute fury on her face punched Echo in the snout, sending her sprawling back into the building.

“She already told us everything, you are just jealous of how beautiful she is and you would never be like a fraction of her, THAT’S WHY YOU WANT TO KILL MY SWEET DAUGHTER ISN’T IT?!?!” she yelled on top of her lungs the ponies outside seems to agree with her.

“That’s true! She said it herself that she would kill me because I looked slightly better than her” Starlight Flitter added suddenly, adding fuel to the burning rage inside each of the ponies nearby, she then looked around “How can we trust a changeling to solve our problems? She is probably one of them!” she cried out.

Then the same brown stallion with a cream-colored mane and yellow eyes walked up to Echo’s still fallen forum and said coldly “you are not welcome here you filthy changeling get out while we still let you.” His right eye twitched, Echo sighed as she stood up and grabbed the stallion so they are looking at each other face to face.

“If you think for just a second that I would leave misguided innocents to die here, you are dead wrong, you are smarter than this Jack, listen closely” she whispered in the stallion’s ear and walked outside once again, he just smirked knowingly for just a second before he turned around and glared at the changeling…

“-he is just here to slowly kill us off one by one-” Echo found Starlight outside the sheriff's office spreading lies, she will not allow this any further, not when lives are at stake, she grabbed starlight by the mane and dragged her to a open area, everypony followed, eventually she found a big open space and bumped the struggling mare at the center,

“SEE?!?!” she cried on the floor and slowly got up “she’s here to kill me! Please don't let her do it! I’m Innocent!” the everypony roared and started throwing objects at Echo, she doged expertly around the sluggish projectiles, “Don’t let her get awa-”Starlight Flitter shouted then the town was silenced by a wet sound of a sword slicing through a neck.

The small mare stood there gagging as a clear line can be seen, blood was rushing out of the cut but it’s not red, instead, it’s sickly green. And there stood Spike behind Starlight Flitter, he was holding a sword painted by… Changeling blood, the ‘mare’ fell onto the ground as her head was separated from her body and a blue fire engulfed the body the head slowly rolled away.

What’s left was a corpse of a changeling clearly different from Echo, it’s shell was still black, sure but it’s eyes are a deep blue color, then as if on cue jolly party appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Echo boldly up to meet the mare eye to eye since Echo was slightly shorter than the others.

“What have you done to my daughter you changeling?!?” a brown hoof struck jolly at the neck, she looked back furiously before fainting and falling to the ground letting Echo go in the process, Echo then flew up above the crowd who’s been stunned silent by the change of event.

“I am the mayor of the town goodsprings, the second largest town in the everfree just behind the voidlings itself, I became the mayor because those people there TRUSTED me, some time ago, a killer went into MY town and think he can kill those under MY protection, his decaying corpse can still be seen hanging there in the town entrance.” Echo said, everypony listened closely afraid at what she might do otherwise.

“If I really want you all to die, I would not have come here, undisguised no less, I came here because I cannot watch innocents simply die without reason, admittedly I need them to survive, so I want you all to go home and think about who you should trust!” the changeling shouted on top of her lungs above the crowd

“A mayor who’s been protecting a small town for twenty years?” she asked loudly as everyone flinched back a little “Or your ‘friend’ that might be a changeling imposter?” Echo finished with a dark undertone. The crowd simply just disappeared with their heads hung low,

She then looked at Jack and smiled softly. “Lock her up J." echo ordered casually. The stallion gave Echo a salute before hauling jolly to a building next to the sheriff's office.

"changed your face again eh? Took me a while but there’s no mistaking these old sad twitchy eye.” Echo added a few moments later. He just smiles, and tapped his heart two times -a sign of respect maybe?- before resuming his work, Spike can only assume it to be a prison cell.

“Changed your face?” Spike asked the changeling casually, facing the corpse, watching it slowly burn away into ash, slowly being blown away by the wind, changeling bodies tend to do that, or else they would’ve been found ages ago.

“We used to travel together, back when I was younger, me and him used to be wanderers. , We saw the world in a different perspective , he was the hard eyed realist, I’m the dreamy eyed idealist, both wanted to change the world in some ways, he used the most advanced magic of the time to alter his form every once in awhile when he’d fucked up… Well that’s what he told me anyway” Echo closed her eyes and chuckled softly.

“Eventually he met a mare and settled down in a town named Hoofington, ten years later his mare died and he was crushed, finally drove him insane five years later, he then settled down again in a small village inside everfree, guess I’ve finally found him, can’t believe it's been thirty years since we’ve last met…” Echo has a distant look in her eye when she uttered those words.

Spike turned and looked back at the dissolving corpse “You really care for them?” the dragon asked, his voice sounded empty. Echo just shuts her eyes and nodded once. “I'm curious, where did you come from, didn't you have a hive of your own also?”

Echo chuckled for the first time since she’s been here, “I’m an assassin, all you need to know is my queen uses me so much on her prime, one day she was killed when I’m gone, -heh- I was so young back then” Echo said with a hint of nostalgia in her tone.

“And what's the point of looking like a queen if there’s no changeling to rule over?” she added sadly to herself, Spike of course, heard that. Echo then turned around and walked away as the last bits of changeling flesh was dissolved into ash.

“So, who’s our next target?” Spike asked as the two of them walked around the town for the tenth time, everyone gave them uneasy looks as they walked by, none chose to even look them in the eye. Echo shrugged as she looked around.

“I’m not that sure yet, but I think we should split up, cover more ground this way” Echo said a little louder than usual, “and draw them out more easily” Echo added quietly to Spike. The dragon nodded and walked in another direction with little more to say. Echo did the same with a sigh as well

---Elsewhere---

To say the queen was furious would be one of the biggest understatement of the year, she sat there in the middle of the room, gritting her teeth together, if looks can kill, everything in front of her would have been ash, “T-T-THAT BITCH!” She screamed lobbing a dinner plate at the wall, shattering it to a thousand clattering pieces.

“How many have of us died because of these ponies!?” she looks around the house, trying to find something else to exert her anger onto but almost everything is smashed to pieces.

“She let out a sigh as anger drifted away to sadness, a drop of tear dropped down her face” her anger burning itself out like a fire running out of oxygen. “My children… my dear children, please Live on… That's all I ever want you all to do...”

“I will get you for this dragon...” she said grimly as she took a piece of metal and bend it to a disfigured shape.