We really need some kind of plan.

Twilight left the store, Vinyl and Octavia matching her stride. The guard escort was keeping watch from a distance, blending into the background surprisingly well all things considered.

"Moon Dancer and Trixie should be waiting outside the school right now. Shouldn't take more than a minute to grab them and get going." Twilight said in a distracted tone. Her eyes wandered over the street, seeking out threats. Her necklace remained still around her neck.

Octavia fell into step beside her, Vinyl opposite. "Well, it would certainly be nice to know what's going on. Do you really have to keep up the mysterious act?"

"There's a lot of things I'm not sure about," said Twilight. "But as far as I know it's safer not to say anything right now. Please, trust me on this."

"Well, I suppose I can’t refuse a request like that." Vinyl nodded in support, keeping a lookout for anything suspicious. She didn't know what Twilight was worried about, but she trusted that something was up.

Moon Dancer and Trixie waiting outside the school as expected. They both wore disgruntled expressions, standing at opposite ends of the entrance. They both perked up when they took notice of Twilight coming towards them. "Hey girls, read to head out?"

They exchanged an unreadable look before facing her, nodding simultaneously. "The great and powerful Trixie is ready."

Moon Dancer cleared her throat. "I'm ready to go when you are Twilight."

The trip was silent for the most part, Twilight oblivious to the tense air the two unicorns were giving off.

"Halt!" cried the guard as the group of fillies approached. Trixie and Moon Dancer had taken her sides, Octavia and Vinyl now trailing behind. They seemed more amused than annoyed, getting a good view of the two unicorns shooting daggers behind Twilight’s back.

"Good evening sir, Twilight Sparkle with and friends." said Twilight. "I requested a visitation pass earlier?

The guard made a show of looking at his list before heaving a sigh. "Everything seems to be in order. You may go through."

They quickly passed through the gate. "Not all that friendly around here are they?" Octavia remarked.

“Security has been turned up recently. I don’t know exactly why, but most of the guards are on edge or exhausted lately. Letting more ponies through is just going to make their job harder.” Twilight explained. “It’s all the talk among the servants, though the nobles haven’t seemed to notice anything off.”

"You really have your hoof on the pulse don't you Twilight?" Moon Dancer remarked.

"Quite impressive, as expected of Trixie's most faithful assistant." Trixie said in turn, glaring at Moon Dancer.

Octavia bit back a chuckle, before shifting topics. "So... most faithful assistant?" She asked.

Twilight ducked her head with a blush. "Ah, it's nothing much, I've just been helping Trixie with her act. Nothing like a live audience you know."

"Don't let Twilight fool you, she has helped Trixie come up with more than a few new tricks."

"Twilight certainly does have a way with magic. She's been helping me construct a few spells in her spare time." Moon Dancer quickly butted in.

Vinyl was grinning like a fool, eyes following the back and forth like a tennis match.

A cannon went off as they entered the door, confetti falling everywhere. They could hear a giggle before a bouncing Pinkie Pie was among them. “Were you surprised? Were you? Huh, huh? I bet you were!”

Octavia groaned, a hoof coming to her face. “Quite surprised darling, are you the mysterious friend Twilight mentioned earlier?”

“The best of friends.” Pinkie Pie said in excitement.

“I see,” said Octavia. Twilight led them to a table before she could say more.

“Okay, so I know some of you have been dying to know, so I’ll cut to the chase. Everyone here is in danger right now.” Twilight said nervously.

Vinyl cocked her head to the side as Octavia frowned. “Danger, darling?”

Trixie puffed out her chest. “There’s nothing the great and powerful Trixie can’t face. She will protect you, Twilight.” She shot a look at Moon Dancer who scowled back.

“I don’t think this is the sort of thing you’ll be able to handle Trixie.” Twilight said, pausing before quickly waving her forelegs in a warding motion. “Not that I doubt your skill or anything.”

Twilight took a moment to gather herself. “I was exploring Canterlot yesterday when I came across a large party going off in one of the markets.”

“Ooh, ooh, that was me, I planned that party!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air.

“It was a great party Pinkie,” said Twilight. “But it’s what happened afterwards that was the problem. I was attacked by a pony on my way home, or at least what I thought was a pony.”

There were a couple gasps. Moon Dancer remained oddly stoic. “You thought it was a pony?” She asked.

“I saw something when we were running away,” Twilight said with a shudder. “It was horrifying, there were holes running all throughout its legs, and it’s horn was shaped all wrong.”

There were grimaces on the faces of the unicorns in the group. Horns could warp under the corruptive influence of certain magics. It was rarely a good sign.

“That… doesn’t sound good.” said Moon Dancer quietly.

Twilight nodded. “I’ve been told it was something called a changeling. Usually their horns are curved. The jagged nature of the horn marked it as a magic specialist.”

“A specialist?” Octavia asked.

“Mmm, most of this is speculation according to the Princess.” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “I should probably mention that you’re really not supposed to know any of this. Please don’t say anything to anypony you don’t trust.”

There were nods and a murmur of agreement around the table.

“A number of different kinds of Changelings have been discovered, some by the Princess, some by independent reports. There’s a standard worker class with wings and a horn, but they’re only seen when a changeling ‘hive’ gets desperate. They’re average in every way and far less dangerous than their more specialized counterparts.”

“Well, that still sounds a little unfair. Magic and wings, I mean really darling?” Octavia asked.

Twilight shrugged. “It’s a little overpowered, but I think the implications are worse. We don’t know for sure, but it seems they can alter themselves biologically. Selective breeding or something, nopony knows. This one was an infiltrator. They’re meant to get in quickly, take out a target, and replace them with none the wiser.”

They all sat in silence for a moment to ruminate over the implications.

“So basically, they’re after you, and us by extension?” Octavia summed up.

“Yes, I understand if you don’t want to hang out anymore after this,” Twilight said quietly, looking away from them. “The necklaces will at least provide some safety, and if you stay away they might not come after you.”

There were a few looks exchanged among the table. Octavia chose to speak up, her voice reassuring. “Twilight, darling. We’re not going to abandon you over something like this. Especially not something so outside of your control.”

There were nods and determined glances being exchanged across the table. “So the question is what are we going to do about this?”

Moon Dancer spoke up. “I’ve noticed the guard patrols have been picking up. I don’t think this is even just our problem at this point.”

“The great and powerful Trixie’s parents have been getting more orders from their rune business lately. Especially from the guard.” Trixie spoke haltingly.

Twilight looked up after rubbing her eyes with a foreleg. “The Princess wouldn’t share much with me.” She chuckled bitterly. “But I’ve picked up a few things, as I said earlier, security has picked up and the guards are tense. They’ve been taking extra trouble to double and triple check identification.”

“My brothers in the guard, I might be able to ask him. But I wouldn’t want to get him into trouble.” Twilight tapped at the table with an expression of deep thought.

“I wouldn’t know how to weigh in on that topic. You know your brother best. The necklaces will at least give us an opportunity to get away. I hope they weren’t too hard to procure?”

Twilight shook her head. “It wasn’t a problem. I enchanted them myself with materials in storage. It took a bit of work to fit everything together but it only took a few hours.”

“Just be careful, they can only store so much charge.” She scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Enchanting isn’t exactly my specialty.”

“Trixie might know a few things you could do with runes.”

Twilight nodded to her. “Maybe we could work on that later?”

Trixie smiled in reply.

They didn’t get too much done after that. They parted with a promise from each other to be careful and keep the necklaces on at all times. Twilight also discussed making some upgrades to her doll with Trixie.

A stallion watched the fillies leave through a window, then looked side to side before lowering himself back into a bush.

He made his way towards one of the doors out of the garden at a painfully slow crawl. A few guards passed by but were too engrossed in conversation to notice anything.

He paused with a blank expression on his face for a moment. A nearby door was unlocked by a maid with a similarly blank expression. “Report?”

“They’re all gathered together.” He paused for a moment. “They know.”

“It’s not like they can do anything about it.” She said dismissively. “We’re only bothering at the queen’s behest. She never did handle failure well.”

“But still, that’s not good. Now the Princess knows.”

“You’re not getting cold hooves are you?” She asked, her eyes narrowing. “You know what she’ll do to you if that’s the case.”

“I haven’t had a choice in a long time.” The stallion sighed. “It’s not like you even needed me to give the report in pony.”

A smirk crossed the mare’s face. “That’s entirely the point.”

They parted before a guard patrol could show up.

Moon Dancer walked into her room with a troubled expression. She threw herself onto the bed, took ahold of her pillow, and screamed into it. She kept this up for a few minutes before throwing the pillow aside and looking up at the ceiling blankly. She couldn’t find any answers in the patternless grey above her.

After a few moments she turned over and levitated a book to her side. A quill and inkwell quickly accompanying it. She started frantically scribbling inside of it with a determined expression. She levitated more books to her, scanning through the volumes one at a time, only taking a note after double checking each fact.

She kept at it well past the time moonlight flooded into her room. Casting a spell to light a candle without looking up from her work. She eventually passed out with books littered around her room, scrunched up pieces of parchment filling her wastebasket.

A knock was heard at the door, a stallion with a stoic expression peeking into the room. He quietly made his way inside, picking up the filly and tucking her into bed. He looked at the mess of books, silently reorganizing them on a nearby table. He glanced at some of the papers with a confused expression.

Reading through a few pages he looked at the filly sleeping in the bed with narrowed eyes. A frown twisted at his face before he smiled wryly. Placing the pages back where he found them, he left the room without a sound.

He passed the living room, poking his head inside to look at his wife. She was reading a book by the light of the fireplace. “Something came up, I’ll be back soon.”

She looked up, took note of his expression, and waved him off with a frown. “Stay safe.”

He nodded back, and left without a word.

Author's Note

Slower updates I think, this is too stressful.