Imago

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" was the last thing Imago heard before he was thrown violently away from the two royal guards he was watching. He saw his queen for a brief moment before he crashed into a tree and blacked out.

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"Wake up! Wake up!" He awoke to the voice of his queen in his head. He did a small damage assessment. There were no major wounds, due to his hard chitinous plates. "Good you're awake. You need to find your way back to the hive. Once you figure out where you are, report back to me and try to get here."

      Imago stood up to get a better view of his surroundings. He was in a library, a home by the look of it. Outside of the window were a few more houses and ponies. As soon as he saw the ponies he ducked. They looked as though they were searching for something. Then he saw a changeling being dragged away by royal guards. He panicked. He searched for places to hide, but to no avail. He looked out the window once more and noticed the royal guards were leaving. He sighed in relief, but was worried once more when he saw the purple pony from the wedding and a small purple dragon walking toward his very spot! He spotted a pink pony bouncing away and decided to change into her and hope for the best. The door opened and Imago jumped. "Pinkie? Weren't you just outside?"

      "Uhhh.... yes?"

      "Then how did you- nevermind. Are you still throwing the 'Back in Ponyville Party' later?"

      "Yes! I'm going to go set that up now! So I'll just be going now, BYE."

Imago made a mad dash for the Everfree Forest, but he was stopped by a pink pony. The real one.

      "Haven't I seen you before?" She said as she studied him head to hoof. He quickly responded.

      "I'm your imagination self, silly!"

      "That's odd, I thought I left you at home."

      "I got out." She gave him the most threatening stare he'd ever seen. He started to sweat.

      "Okie-dokie-loki! Just be home by seven for the party!"

      "You're the boss!" She bounced away. He resumed his mad dash to the forest. As soon as Imago was behind a wide expanse of trees, he changed back to his true form.

"Your Highness?"

"Yes I am here. Are you injured, and have you figured out where you are?"

"No my queen, I am fine. I appear to be just outside of Ponyville."

"Ponyville?"

"Yes Your Highness."

"Well since you are already in Ponyville, I need you to stay and observe the ponies for our next invasion. I need you to take the form of somebody they trust and find their weaknesses."

"Yes my queen, it will be done."

"Good, stay safe and send me reports every other day."

"Yes my queen." He said as he started making his way back to ponyville to infiltrate and observe. Imago didn't go too far from the edge of the forest, so he made his way back within a matter of minutes. He spotted the dragon from earlier walking towards a colorful house. Due to training, he was skilled at being stealthy. He purposefully broke a twig loud enough for the purple dragon to hear. It investigated.

      "Hello?" He yelled as he approached the tree Imago was hiding in. "Anybody there?" He was four feet away now. He started to turn around when Imago jumped out of the tree. "Changel-!" Imago landed on him, muffled him and then punched him square in the face. Since he is only a baby dragon, he was immediately knocked out.

      "Spike, was that you?" A familiar purple pony shouted. So that was his name, he thought. He changed into him and called back,

      "Yeah! I'm fine!"

      "Well, stop messing around this is a very important spell that requires the full concentration of two things!"

      "I'm coming!" He put real Spike under a pile of leaves for later and made his way to the purple pony.

      "Spike, this is serious! We need this spell just in case changelings decide to come back!"

      "Wait, what?"

      "Nevermind, we just need to focus on pushing things in our minds." He did. He felt himself get hit with something similar to the shield in canterlot and he flew back a few feet.

      "Stop!" Imago yelled! She hurriedly ran to him.

      "I guess we used the wrong spell. Sorry Spike, I should've been more careful. Can you forgive me?" He was very tempted to say no, but he said yes. "Great! You can have the rest of the day off, I'll ask Rainbow if she's available for spellcasting. Just be at Pinkie's by seven for the party, alright?"

      "Ok, bye." He went back to the everfree forest to collect Spike. Imago approached the pile of leaves and he was just where he left him. Imago grinned. He took Spike deep into the forest before setting him down next to a tree. He lost the disguise as he woke Spike up.

      "Wha- Mommy?" He looked at Imago, then tried to sleep again. He grumbled,"You're not Mommy." He suddenly realized what he'd seen and memories of the ambush came flooding back to him. "Gah! What do you want?" He yelled, getting in fetal position.

      "I want information." That relieved Spike. He thought he was in trouble.

      "Oh, this will be easy then. What do you want to know?"

      "What are the names of your friends?" Spike thought he spoke in an odd tone. Not quite two people, but more than one voice.

      "Twilight, she's the purple unicorn and a bit of a bookworm really, Rarity, she's the dreamy white unicorn, Rainbow Dash, she's the cyan pegasus that can fly very fast, Fluttershy, she's the very kind yellow pegasus that loves everything, Applejack, she's the caramel earth pony that works at Sweet Apple Acres, and Pinkie Pie, she can be a little insane at times but she loves to party! Is that all?"

      "Almost, what are you like?" He hesitated on answering this one.

      "Oh, well I'm spike and I live with Twilght in the Library, I can deliver scrolls to Princess Celestia and I can also receive them too." He said proudly.

      "More on your personality." Imago demanded.

      "Umm...I guess I'm playful and smart, if I do say so myself. Maybe a little amazing?" Imago rolled his eyes at that last comment.

      "Okay, thats all I need."

      "Great! So, can I leave?"

      "Of course not, you know I'm in Ponyville."

      "That's not fair! I told you everything you wanted to know-"

      "And I'm going to use it to spy on your friends and collect information for my hive!" Imago said, finishing Spike' sentence for him. Spike was petrified and guilty. "Now I think the canyon outside of town looks like a nice spot to leave you, don't you?" Spike shook his head no to play along, but he knew thats where Rainbow does her weekly challenges. The changeling spit green slime on Spike's mouth to bind it shut and did the same with his arms and legs. He afterwards put him on his back and walked towards the canyon.

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      It took about an hour to get to the canyon, but they had arrived. Imago took him to somewhere near the middle and wrapped in a cocoon on the side of the cliff. "Now you just stay here." He said with a small laugh. Then he took off for Ponyville.