Truth-telling Lies

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Written by: Oneimare

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Magic

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The Sun flooded the throne room, though it barely created any islands of gold as its light filtered through the stained glass. Thus, regardless of if Rainbow looked under her hooves or to the side, the pegasus would be reminded of herself being depicted in one of those stories made eternal; of how she once used to deserve that honour. She had one more direction to look, but daren’t meet the eyes of the Princess who watched their glacially slow approach to the throne.

She must be knowing why we’re here.

The rest of Rainbow’s company—the three quiet mares—shared that reluctance to withstand the probing gaze of the Lunar thriarch. Because of that, the unusual petitioners failed to notice how annoyance infused her blue eyes as they reached the dais and stood there silent, exchanging unsure, almost regretful glances.

“If it’s Our sister you’re with to witness, she is still recovering and thus relieved of her duties,” Luna darkly noted.

The frequency and intensity of the looks shared betwixt the four mares waxed till Applejack took off her hat—only to curse into it—and clearing her throat, addressed the Princess, “Forgive us Yer Majesty, we’re… uh… jus’ don’t know how… t’approach… the subject?” She glared daggers at her companions, loudly whispering, “Some help woulda mighty app’ciat’d—’m a farmer, ain’t no diplomacy knower.”

“It was your idea to come here,” Rainbow neighed; her eyes meticulously studied her hooves and the lush crimson carpet beneath.

“So what?” Applejack neighed at her, her harsh whisper threatening to be a whisper no more. “Does it mean ye gotta standin’ ‘ere like them real tree stumps?”

No matter how hard Rainbow focused on the pile surface or the web of cracks marring her hooves, she acutely sensed one more pair of eyes burrowing under her skin. Turning her head far enough to see the splash of pink but stopping before she met the transfixing gaze, she barked, “Don’t give me that look, Pinkie.”

She thought Fluttershy answered her, so soft Pinkie’s voice was, “I’ve never blamed you for anything.”

Rainbow snapped her head at the party mare, her nostrils flaring and lips drew back, paving the way for stinging words; but her expression fell and she turned away, pressing ears to her head.

If it has to stop, I should start with myself.

With her skin twitching as if a thousand needles attacked her, she swallowed and admitted though through gritted teeth, “I know. And I’m sorry.”

For once Rainbow couldn’t stand the attention as every pair of eyes all but tried to ignite her fur. Nevertheless, she was ready to speak again—she just needed to find the right words.

But as nothing—except for Fluttershy’s whimper—disturbed the tense silence, Luna reminded them of her presence, “Although the Day Court is an official procedure, you can still address Us as a friend—which, I hope, you do consider Us so. That, and as long as you present your problem clearly, the form is not an issue.” The alicorn abruptly frowned. “Wait, there are fair Twilight and Rarity?”

That frown deepened as the four mares collectively failed to hide the flash of guilt in their expression.

“What’s wrong?” she asked firmly, but not demanding the answer.

Her hooves heavier than ever, Rainbow took a step forward that felt like a leap across the dark chasm with no end in sight. Or, maybe, I finally dragged myself out of that abyss. She forced herself to look up till Luna met her eyes; all-knowing as ever, the alicorn held no judgement… yet.

I’m ready.

“The changelings,” Rainbow spoke, suddenly feeling freer than she had been in many a moon; her brow furrowed. “No. It’s us—we have been wrong from the very beginning. I was wrong.”

A hoof clad in silver tapped the door of the Golden Oaks library and a rustle of muffled activity answered it along with the librarian’s barely containing irritation yelling, “I’m coming!”

An annoyed expression on Twilight’s face lasted as long as it took her to recognise her guests.

“Luna?” She stared at her, then her wide-eyed gaze drifted behind the alicorn to open even further. “Girls? What’s going on?”

It has to be me.

As Rainbow took a single step forward, her heart shattered and the shards dug into her flesh, twisting. “Listen, Twilight—”

But before the purple eyes could focus on her, a wall of dark blue feathers arose as if from the ground. Though Luna didn’t turn back to even glance at the pegasus, her words were aimed at her, “Before We delve into the… situation, I’d like all the ponies involved to be present—Rarity’s perspective might be crucial.”

“But—”

An icy cold glare as if had commanded Rainbow’s hooves and she stumbled back, reminded that they called for intervention because things got out of control—and now were under new management.

“What situation?” Twilight’s voice rose shrilly; her eyes failed to meet any other but Luna’s—unreadable and unrelenting. “Isn’t anyone going to answer me about what’s going on?”

“We have received complaints regarding the changelings in Ponyville,” the alicorn dryly informed her.

“I know nothing of that sort.” Twilight bristled. “Nor did Princess Celestia have informed me in her letters of any problems.”

Luna’s perfect composure faltered—her eyes flared and as she spoke, her voice had a subtle edge to it, “Because Our sister is indisposed and We received those complaints personally.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but flinch when Twilight jerked as if slapped and the pained look that she kept casting at her friends, laden with a mute question, began to burn with enmity.

“You should trust your friends…” Luna stood betwixt her and them. “Like Celestia told you to.”

It didn’t banish a frown from Twilight’s face, almost managing to hide a tremor in her voice, she defiantly and loudly proclaimed, “I do trust my friends—I’m sure Rarity will support me in whatever is going on.”

Somehow, Rainbow had ended up leading the procession of six mares, releasing that only when the Carousel Boutique towered before her.

The Sun sliding over the horizon robbed the whimsical edifice of its festivity. The shadows breathed life in the ponyquins who twitched as if in impatience for the night to fully unthaw them; the fading light coloured every flag crimson and they angrily snapped in the chilly breeze like leathery wings of bats; ringed in the blood of the last Sun’s rays, dark windows glared at the visitors who dared to come there after the working hours.

The chime announced Rainbow’s entrance, however, only the sound of the others filing after her followed the resounding ringing—the owner of the place didn’t even bother to let them know she heard their arrival.

The studio stayed silent, the work paused till the next day in the state of ‘artistic mess’ that mounded from every horizontal surface and tried to cling even to the walls. As Rainbow’s gaze impatiently slid across the piles of cloth, she couldn’t help but wonder if Rarity had actually managed to accomplish anything these days—no dresses hung from ponyquins or racks, though mainly from the absence of the former.

“It seems fair Rarity is not present, alas,” Luna stated the obvious, though her eyes kept scanning the room as if the fashionista might appear from the thin air at any moment.

“The door is open—she must be at home,” protested Twilight, looking around as she hoped Rarity would appear from the thin air the next moment.

The somberly silent journey across Ponyville, where everyone had been concentrating on avoiding each other’s eyes, had already imbued the air with suffocating tension; now, a new note joined that—the seeds of fear.

“I’ll check upstairs,” Rainbow volunteered, leaving the rest to explore the ground floor.

It came as no surprise, when she found it empty; Rarity’s room greeted her with the same picture—rolls of fabric, various tools and thread spools strewn with no sense of purpose for those not in the know. From a heap of fabric cuts, two greenish eyes glared at the invader—Opalescence made herself a nest there.

Rainbow’s return coincided with Applejack and Twilight coming back from the kitchen and the backroom, respectively; Luna had waited for them in the middle of the studio, whilst Fluttershy and Pinkie forlornly sat by the door—the latter supported the former, as the pegasus had repeatedly attempted to either flee or curl into a tight ball as the dusk was extinguishing the Sun’s last embers.

“Her room is empty, but maybe she—” Rainbow began and was cut short when her hoof caught something on the floor—a rug—and despite her best efforts, she found herself prostrated on the floor.

Just awesome, Rainbow Crash, and right in front of the Princess—way to go!

A sharp pang of dismay pierced her heart as nobody came to her help—not that she actually needed it; however, the reason for that became clear the moment later.

Luna’s horn lit up to pull on the carpet that felled Rainbow and Applejack exclaimed, frowning, “What in tarnation is this?”

Scrambling on her hooves, Rainbow glanced behind herself only to discover that the rug might not be to blame for her embarrassment—but a trap door. Square and crude—not even painted—it stood out almost painfully amidst the clean and polished floorboards.

“A wine cellar? We would expect that from a mare as refined as her,” Luna commented.

But her suggestion was met with expressions confused at best.

Exchanging worried glances, everybody came to a silent agreement—the hauntingly empty boutique left no room for guessing where Rarity could be.

The Princess’s magic threw open the hatch, its hinges screeching their protest. A set of stairs dug into the earth, leading deep enough to be lost in the darkness completely; the ominous entrance breathed with dampness and mould.

“Stay close by me,” Luna cautioned and ignited her horn into a beacon of pale light.

Whilst the rest hesitated to enter—and Rainbow suspected Fluttershy to refuse altogether—the blue pegasus herself followed the alicorn like a shadow, driven by the genuine care for her friend’s fate.

The steep staircase hewn from soil spiralled down, taking a sharp turn every few steps; barely reinforced tunnel bristled with gnarled roots and angular stones poking inbetwixt the infrequent rotting wooden planks. Luna had a hard time fitting that passage, half-bent to avoid her horn scraping the ceiling and raining dirt in her eyes, she winced as her sides brushed the unwelcoming walls.

After that felt like an eternity for not just Luna—Twilight’s and Applejack’s hisses of discomfort betrayed their bravery to follow the Princess—a wooden door emerged. From the other side of it muffled yelling echoed, rhythmical and pleading—screams unmistakably belonging to Rarity.

One flicker of magic later the door exploded in a cloud of splinters and Luna charged forward, leaving scraps of blue hair on the narrow walls; Rainbow hot on her heels.

However, the alicorn froze in her tracks almost instantly and only by some miracle did Rainbow manage to avoid crashing into the dark-blue posterior. Peeking over Luna’s shoulder, the pegasus, too, turned into a statue as if she met the eye of a cockatrice; nevertheless, she had it in herself to back a step, flattening her ears against her skull.

Huddled on one side of the cave-like small room, a few changelings stared at the ‘intruders’ from a working table piled with fabric and neighboured by a rack with half-finished dresses; the needles and scissors in the chitinous hooves betrayed their direct involvement in the creation of those apparels. Behind them, the crates with crystal orbs towered, emanating their trademark pink glow through the gaps in planks.

But on the other side of the room…

On a queen-sized bed, three changelings surrounded Rarity; green fire only just began to cleanse away the identities they donned, slowly as if unsure.

One, a large muscular stallion, was caught pinning the white unicorn to the mattress; his similarly alabaster coat glistened with sweat and a cutie mark of a shield adorned his chiselled flanks. Another stallion of familiar red colour rendered Rarity mute by occupying her mouth with particular extremities of himself; the emerald flames gnawed on the just as green apple delusively relating him to the Apple family. The last changeling still had a string of saliva hanging betwixt herself and Rarity’s; the perfect doppelganger or the Night’s Sovereign stared at the real one in utter horror—and even Rainbow feared to take a look at Luna’s face.

With her eyes glued to the sight before her, the blue pegasus barely heard the gasps and curses that came along with two mares squeezing into Rarity’s secret basement; how Applejack started to yell at the white unicorn and Twilight began to cry.

In the tumult of emotions that tore at her mind, exhausted by the recent last few days—months—she could hear only her thoughts—and a single coherent amongst them:

It’s truly over now, but at what cost?