Dawn's Story

We ducked into a side alley, and stopped at the back door of some house. We tried it, but it was (unsurprisingly) locked. Usually ponies are friendly enough to leave your doors unlocked, but with everything that has been going on, I could understand why somepony would want to lock their doors.

"We have to get off the streets." I stated.

"Let me try something." She faced away from the door. "This is a trick Applejack taught me." Then, she bucked the door, breaking the lock.

"Wow."

"You think that's impressive? You should see Applejack do it. She would have taken it off of it's hinges."

"While that would be cool, then we wouldn't have a door to close behind us."

"Point taken. After you." She gestured to the doorway.

We walked in, and checked to see if anypony was home, but the place was abandoned. I sat on one of the couches, and tried to brainstorm ideas. I came up with nothing.

"How do we find a way out of this?" I asked Starlight.

"I don't know if we can. I thought the Changelings were reformed."

"Well, maybe a few still sided with Chrysalis, like a Changeling Rebellion or something."

"Maybe you're right, but that still doesn't tell us how we can stop this."

"If we don't do something, they will just track us down. We'll always be in hiding, or on the run. I'm not going back to a life in the shadows."

"What do you propose we do? We don't know who to trust, and we're miles from home. Nopony is going to help us."

"I've spent long enough on my own to know how to look after myself. For years I had to live with the mentality that nopony could help me, so I've become somewhat of an expert at operating on my own."

"How did you live like that? With nopony to talk to, and no friends to have your back?"

"The same way we're going to live right now."

"But that doesn't answer my question."

"We're going to make our own path, improvise, and find ponies we can trust."

"Like who? Anypony could secretly be a Changeling, and we'd never know until it was too late."

I had an idea, but it was just a spark. It could work, but only if that spark could catch fire.

"Then why don't we go to the Changelings themselves for help?"

"You mean the one's I reformed?"

"Precisely."

"You know... that might work."

She paced the room, thinking over my proposal. I couldn't hear her thoughts, but she must have been in a heated, mental debate. Finally, she spoke.

"There's a lot of variables- a lot of things we won't be able to control, which I don't like. However, it also has the highest chance of success, assuming everything works out."

"Are we going for it?"

"I guess we are. There's a lot of problems long the way, though. For instance, how do we get out of Canterlot without getting caught?"

Looking out the window, I came up with an answer.

"What if I made a diversion on the other side of town? I could lead them into thinking we were coming for Chrysalis head-on."

"But you're the only pony I'm willing to trust right now. I can't loose you."

"Relax. I've got wings, and I know how to use them well. I've had them for more than a decade, and in that time, there was very little to do. The only things I ever really did to pass the time was: practicing flying, and using magic. Do you know how hard it is to fly through a forest without hitting any trees?"

"No, but I can imagine it would be hard."

"And you would be right. By the time I left those woods, I was a master at avoiding the trees, while still maintaining top speeds."

"If we get out of this, you have got to tell that to Rainbow Dash. She'll probably view you as a goddess or something."

"I still don't even know who that is."

"You don't know Rainbow Dash?!"

"You must have forgotten where I have been living for the past decade." I joked. "Now look, the sun is going down. Once it's dark, we should get moving."

"Why don't we leave now?"

"We can use the cover of darkness to avoid being noticed."

"Good idea."

Fifteen minutes after the sun had dipped below the horizon, two shadows could be seen exiting a home, and going separate ways. Aside from the Changeling patrols looking for those same shadows, Canterlot was quiet. Nothing moved, and nothing dared to make a sound. It was a ghost town, but even the ghosts had vanished.

While one shadow slowly crept to the edge of town, the other made its way the heart of the city. After around ten minutes, there was an explosion. Something had been hit with a yellow bolt of magic, which caused it to detonate at the foot of a staircase. That exact staircase happened to lead right to the front door of the Royal Castle.

While Changelings disguised as Royal Guard scrambled to discover the cause of this explosion, a lone shadow glided through the night sky, before landing beside its fellow shadow. Nopony saw it soaring away, as everypony was too distracted by the chaos by the castle entrance. All of this went exactly according to plan.

I landed silently, as Starlight waited patiently.

"I told you I knew what I was doing." I said.

"That wasn't exactly the diversion I was expecting."

"What, did you think I was going to stand on the castle steps, and yell 'HEY CHANGELINGS! I'M HERE TO DISTRACT YOU! COME BE DISTRACTED BY ME!'"

"Well, no, but... alright, maybe that is kinda' what I was expecting."

"What's funny is that they probably would have bought it, too."

We both shared a laugh.

"Are you ready to go? This is going to take all night, and the better half of the day on hoof." Starlight asked.

"I've been ready."

"Then I suppose it's time to get moving."

With this, we were on our way to the Changeling Hive.