The clang of a door awakened me, and I shifted a little. As soon as I did so, however, bolts of pain shot through my entire body, reminding me where I was and what had happened.

'Cap...I don't wanna open my eyes...who's there?'

'The changeling gaurds. You need to open your eyes, Liz. Come on.'

I tried, and managed to get one open. The other refused. It felt heavy and twice its normal size, so I assumed it was swollen shut. I tried to move again, only to give a yelp as I felt a searing stab of pain in my side and chest.

'Cap, I can't move...or breathe very well. It hurts.'

'Hang in there, Liz.'

I was grabbed up roughly, which forced a shriek out of me in spite of my efforts to show no sign of weakness or pain. I remained fairly limp as the two gaurds dragged me upstairs and down the hall into the throneroom. Chrysalis, of course, was waiting, Evil Twilight close by.

"Aah!" I yelped, as I was roughly thrown down in front of the tyrannical queen.

Ignoring my involuntary cry, Chrysalis nodded at the gaurds, who backed off. She then focused on me, walking down to stand over me.

"I trust you had a pleasant night?" She enquired, her tone extremely unpleasant.

"Not really, no."

"Excellent. Then maybe you're ready to answer my questions, starting with an easy one. What plans do your friends have for attacking us? And when?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

She glared at me. "You are in some pain today, are you not?"

"You know damn well I am." I snapped, wincing with the effort.

'Easy, Liz. Stop baiting her.' Cap instructed urgently.

'She's really pissed me off, Cap. And I intend to let her know that.'

"I can very easily increase that pain to levels you can't even begin to imagine. And I will, unless you give me what I want." Chrysalis told me.

'Let her know how? By making her so angry she hurts you?' Cap demanded.

Ignoring him, I glared intensely at Chrysalis, and my voice was cold and harsh as I spoke.

"Buzz off, bug."

Judging from the way she stiffened, calling her "bug" was a really bad idea. I didn't care at this point. She understood my insult perfectly, that was all I cared about.

'Liz. She will destroy you.'

'I don't give a damn. She has pissed me off beyond belief.'

"You will regret that." Chrysalis snarled.

"I doubt it." I answered defiantly.

I was met with a hoof jamming into my already aching side, knocking my breath out of me and slamming me against the cold floor. I coughed and gasped a little.

"There she is!!!"

The familar voice made me look up.

"Bluebell?" I muttered, shocked.

"Who are you?!" Chrysalis demanded.

"That creature!" Bluebell cried out, pointing at me. "She forced me to go with her! I had a good inn, and she made me leave it. WAAAAA!"

She sat down and proceeded to wail loudly. I had never heard such overdramatic crying before.

'What the hell is she doing?' I asked Cap, confused.

'Your guess is as good as mine.'

"Did she now?" Chrysalis asked, looking at me, then back at Bluebell. "Are you not with the Light Side?"

"WAAAAA! What??? Why would I be? I'm loyal to youuuu and she made me go with herrrrrr! Waaaaaaaa!!"

Well, this was completely confusing.

Chrysalis looked at me again.

"I actually believe that." She said, sourly.

"I came here," Bluebell said with a loud sniff, "to offer to drag this creature to King Sombra! I wanna deliver cupcakes anyway."

I blinked, feeling dazed from a mix of confusion and pain.

"Hm." Chrysalis looked at me. "Oh, why not? I do not want to waste more time questioning her. Sombra has more, persuasive, ways of getting answers. Fine. Take her. I'll send two of my best gaurds to protect you."

Bluebell bounced excitedly. "Ooh goody. Now I can give him his cupcakes!"

She bounded over to me and practically threw me across her back, causing me to yelp.

"And off we go!" She yelled, cheerfully bouncing out of the room, while I bounced in place over her back.

"Good riddance!" Chrysalis yelled in response.

Outside the castle, Bluebell craned her head around to whisper to me.

"Don't worry! I brought help! And enough cupcakes to last for life!"

I groaned, then yelped as she trotted on into the woods, the two gaurds behind us. All at once a rainbow colored blur whizzed by, taking out both gaurds.

"Haha, gotcha!"

"Rainbow Dash!" I got out as she landed.

"Yep, that's me." She eyed me. "You don't look so good. Luckily Twilight's waiting on us not far from here. Come on, let's move!"

She led the way, flying low, and Bluebell trotted along behind. Every step made me bounce or jerk, and sent fresh waves of pain through me. How I stayed concious was beyond me.

'Hang in there, Liz. Stay with me.' Cap said. 'We should be there soon.'

Another twenty minutes later, we entered a clearing, where there was a small hut, and Rainbow Dash led us inside.

"Twilight! We got her. But she's hurt."

The youngest princess leaned over me as I was layed on the floor.

"Sweet Celestia, what happened?" She exclaimed.

"Chrysalis." I ground out through clenched teeth. "She wanted information, and I refused."

"So she tried to torture it out of you." Twilight stated, as her horn glowed. "Alright, I know a spell that'll heal the worst of your injuries and at least let you walk out of here. But you'll carry some of those bruises for a while. Hold still. Oh, and this might hurt just a little."

Her magic circled me, providing what felt like a giant warm hug. Lines from it poked and prodded different areas, apparently testing for severe injuries.

"Two cracked ribs. No wonder you hurt." Twilight commented.

I started to answer, but a deep and burning pain started in my side, spreading upwards and reaching my chest. I felt pressure, too, and let out a gasp. After a moment, the burning sensation was literally everywhere on me, and lasted what seemed like forever before finally stopping.

"That should do it." Twilight said, letting the magic hold on me drop. "See if you can move."

I slowly sat up, noting that there was no pain in my side. I breathed deeply, then stood up and tried moving into various positions.

"I don't hurt anymore." I announced. "Thanks, Princess Twilight."

"Yay!!!" Bluebell squealed happily.

I looked at her. "Bluebell, what in tarnation was all that back there, with Chrysalis?"

Bluebell's eyes widened.

"I need a soda, right now!" She exclaimed.

I blinked as she dug one out, opened it, and downed the contents.

"Much better!" She said happily. "Those words tasted so bad! Yuck!"

I shook my head and laughed.

"You got me out, so I'm not saying anything." I said.

"Well, I got away and ran straight to Rainbow and AJ, and Rainbow followed me right away, and I came up with how to get you out!" Bluebell explained excitedly.

"Thanks, Bluebell. I owe you one." I smiled gratefully at her.

"Nah, it was fun! Except the part where I had to say I was loyal to that mean meanie and it tasted so bad when I said it, and then you reminded me I said it and I had to wash my mouth out with soda!" She inhaled deeply. "Cupcake?"

Rainbow Dash facehoofed while Twilight looked confused, and I burst out laughing.
Shaking her head, Twilight finally looked at me.

"I suggest you come back to Canterlot with me. It's safer there, and you can conduct your search for the hero without fear of being attacked." She told me.

"Wait, how did you know about that?" I asked.

"Rainbow Dash and Bluebell filled me in." She answered. "If you're ready, I can teleport us all there now."

I looked at Bluebell and then back. "Ok then. Guess Canterlot it is."

She stepped closer to me, and I put a hand on her back, unsure how teleporting worked. Bluebell bounced to my side and hugged me.

"I'm going back to the camp, and AJ and I will come to Canterlot tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said, before flying out a window.

Twilight's horn glowed, surrounding us with a magical shield, and with a loud pop, the hut vanished from view and was replaced with a massive castle.

"Whoa." I said.

"I will tell the Princesses of your arrival. And ask any gaurd to show you inside. Tell them I ordered it." And pop! She was gone.

"Ok then." I stated.

Finding a gaurd, I requested his help and he led us inside the castle, pointing us in the direction of the throne room.

Exchanging looks, Bluebell and I walked along the hall and came to a halt outside the massive doors.

"Not as scary as Chrysalis's castle." Bluebell announced cheerfully. "I wasted a perfectly good cupcake on a shadow!"

I rolled my eyes as I put a hand on either of the door handles.

'Cap, these princesses aren't gonna think I'm crazy, are they?'

'They are aware of the prophecy. And Twilight will have informed them of the rest.'

"Here we go." I muttered, before pushing open the heavy doors and leading the way in, Bluebell following close behind.

Author's Note

Hope you guys are enjoying the story! Let me know in the comments! As always, opinions and suggestions and critisims are welcomed!