The Many Lives Of Twilight Sparkle

Chapters

Twilight's life as Twilight Sparkle
Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 1: A day in the Everfree
Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 2: A mad hunt
Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 3: Improvised healing
Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 4: Inner soul
Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 5: Grayshine
The end of Twilight's life as a newborn changeling: The road ahead
Twilight's life as an assistant 1: Towards Conflux

Twilight's life as Twilight Sparkle

The bell rang through the small potion shop, and as the elderly storekeeper looked up he was pleasantly surprised.

“Twilight? It’s nice to see you here again, why, I thought you had forgotten me.” Twilight herself calmly trotted through the store, a mix of both tension and happiness evident in her walk. She smiled at the old stallion and greeted him as she pulled out her purse out of the nearly overstuffed saddlebag

“It’s nice to see you again, too, Green. And don’t worry, I could never forget you and how many potions and ingredients you store.” The old pegasus chuckled as Twilight carefully counted out the exact number of bits necessary.

“The usual?” Twilight was about to say yes, but caught herself, and visibly lost herself in thought.

“No, not this time, I need to buy everything on this list.” Green Orchard took the list in his wing, carefully reading through it. He raised his eyebrows as he finished the text. “Are you planning on opening a store of your own?”

“No, just stocking up.” Twilight replied with a chirp in her voice. The stallion nodded and disappeared into the storage.

As the stallion went to retrieve the items Twilight breathed out. Her brain was running a thousand kilometers a minute. Thoughts colliding with themselves and with her brain, it was like a herd of buffalo was constantly stampeding through her mind. She had to constantly remind herself to breathe as she kept thinking on what she would do in just a few hours.

She was warring with herself.

‘Twilight, that’s a stupid idea.’

‘What if this goes wrong?’

‘Are you really sure you want to do this?

‘Twilight, think of your friends, how will they feel?’

But even so, despite all the parts of her telling her “No!” a much greater part of herself was recklessly charging along. The scientific opportunities, a release from her months long miasma, all that she could see, and lastly doing something that nopony to date had ever done.

“I tell you Twilight, next time you plan on buying in bulk tell me in advance. You nearly drained my entire supply of several items.” Green Orchard said, placing a large box on the counter. He didn’t even bother saying the price, instead taking the bits already there, knowing that they would be sufficient.

Stepping outside of the cozy shop Twilight was greeted with the warm rays of another beautiful day in Ponyville. The streets were filled with ponies going about their business and Twilight drank it all in. The wooden houses, the friendly atmosphere, the fresh smell of a dozen ovens, stores and the fragrant aroma of carefully tended flowers. It might be some time until she could see it again after all. She realized with a start that the thought didn’t bother her as much as she feared, and Twilight felt at peace for what might have been the first time in days.

‘Now to get this home and finally get that last ingredient.’ Twilight thought.

Later, when the sun was setting and everypony was going back to their homes to spend time with family and loved ones, Twilight was busy butchering a cockatrice deep in the damp and dense Everfree. With each movement of her knife she cursed all Alchemical stores in Equestria for not carrying the cockatrice's filtrational bladder, although the rational part of her mind understood why. Hunting down this cockatrice had taken her the better part of the evening, and she had only managed to avoid it’s gaze due to being the element of magic herself and coming prepared with a pair of enchanted goggles. For an overgrown chicken it sure did know how to fight, as proven by the singed clearing.

She breathed heavily and rose from her position, levitating a thin strip attached to a small bladder out of the butchered body. With scientific precision she put it inside of a glass tube where it was safely suspended inside of an additional magical field. Her quest was forgotten for a second as she studied the ingredient.

Never before had she seen one, it was difficult to acquire, it was a pain to store safely, it went bad in only a few days and most of all it was almost completely useless. The cockatrices use these filters in order to cycle naturally retardant mana, which they can then cast through their eyes in the form of petrification spells as simple as ponies can breathe. Adding one of these filters to a potion can completely neutralize its effect and render the potion inert. You can’t even use it as an antidote as by the time a magical poison begins harming you it has already been absorbed by the body, unreachable by the bladder. Her even knowing of this quirk of cockatrice biology is nothing more than a miracle and her insistence on reading even the most obscure tomes in the royal library.

“It’s amazing what this world can keep hidden.” Twilight thought aloud, gazing at the filter with an almost reverent look. This ingredient was a complete poison for almost every single potion out there, every single one, except for the one she was making.

With no more left to gather Twilight incinerated the corpse and started her long walk back to ponyville. Cockatrice filters didn’t tolerate teleportation.

Night had fallen by the time she came back to the library.

“Spike!” she shouted into the library, and nearly instantly he came running down the stairs.

“What’s up Twilight? I haven’t seen you for the entire day.”

“Nothing much, I was just getting ready for an important experiment.”

“Oh jeez, are you going to stay awake all night again?” Twilight giggled at Spike’s remark, ruffling his head despite his protests. She flinched for less than a second, she knew that she shouldn’t do this, she shouldn’t sow suspicion but by this point she couldn’t resist. She pulled Spike into a tight hug, who after a second of confusion reciprocated and left them to share a pleasant moment in silence.

“I might.” Twilight chuckled, keeping her tears hidden from Spike. Despite leaning into the hug Spike was a bit flushed after the hug so he ran upstairs, giving a stuttered excuse about comic books.

Twilight stood in the library hall, alone, savoring that familiar smell of wood, paper and the faint hint of flowers. It was nice.

As she stepped over the threshold into the basement, Twilight made sure to lock the heavy oak doors before descending even further. But she didn’t stop when she came down to her basement, or atleast, the basement that other ponies had seen. It was spacious, with thick roots forming bulging walls and a floor that was covered by enchanted paneling. The walls and scattered tables were filled with machines, instruments and books. Her magic flared as she activated a lock buried inside of the wood, hidden to all but her. Clockwork stirred as one of the panels slid away, revealing a ladder going down a dimly lit shaft.

As she climbed down the ladder Twilight was deathly silent, and as she left the humming of the machines upstairs she was left alone with the metallic sounds of her hooves touching the stairs. The hatch above her slid back into its place.

Finally on the bottom Twilight looked around the small cave she had excavated, and the steel door in front of her. Opening the second magical lock Twilight stepped into her true laboratory. She had originally constructed this place in order to conduct dangerous tests, stuff that could really harm ponies if the experiment went wrong, but a few months ago it came to serve a different purpose.

Across the room, cabinets were lined with chemicals, ingredients and dangerous tools. Machinery much more advanced than the ones upstairs gave out readings and statistics and there was a workstation for every scientific practice imaginable. But most shockingly of all, at the far end of the cave, a changeling was suspended in a humming magical field, tubes connected to each one of its orifices, going into its veins and several magical scanners were examining every inch over and over again.

Twilight chuckled, and to think that she was less ashamed of this than of what she would do. She wasn’t fully comfortable with keeping the Changeling here, but by this point she was mostly sure that it wasn’t sapient, and she told herself it was like keeping a lab rat for testing. Besides, considering what they had done to her brother and what they wanted to do to ponies everywhere, Twilight couldn’t let the opportunity pass. She laughed at the irony, a laugh that echoed across the cave. Twilight looked to the ceiling, playing out the exact same arguments she had for the past few days. Finally, she closed her eyes and breathed out.

‘It’s time.’

She came to a small cauldron, where the nearby table was already filled with the necessary ingredients. Much less than what she had bought at the potion store, she didn’t want anypony to make any connections after all. Twilight felt a bit paranoid, nopony would even notice anything different if she did it right.

Each ingredient went into the mixture, as it turned from brown to purple to yellow. Finally, as it began to boil, Twilight turned on the next machine. It whirred to life and immediately a dark cyan fluid was pulled out of the changeling at an alarming rate, it flew through the tubes until it reached the output and fell into Twilight's potion. Each drop would elicit a loud hiss from the concoction but soon enough the yellow liquid had taken on a faded gray color.

“Oh my Celestia! It’s working!” Twilight nearly jumped, this was a potion that she had designed from scratch, and to see it working exactly like planned was nearly as cathartic as what would follow. Twilight ran to the machine and turned it off. She looked back at the Changeling, she was nervous that she had hurt it but it seemed fine despite being visibly drier than before, the monitors showed a steady heartbeat.

She walked over to the Changeling and placed her hoof on its head. With a loud whoosh Twilight began casting the spell. Ethereal energies swirled between her and the Changeling, it began to shake, then it turned a bright white as Twilight forced her mana into the Changelings body. As the spell reached its crescendo the now completely bright changelings form began to change. First its snout softened, teeth disappearing into its gums, then a mane sprouted from its head, growing until it fell down its neck and onto its side and settled in a straight cut in front. Its features softened, “meat” growing on the thin carapace until it's silhouette was that of a pony. As its wings disappeared, the horn shrank into the usual cone shape rather than the sickle like Changeling horn. Finally, the light faded and the changeling's new coat color was revealed, a soft lavender, which was accompanied by a dark blue and purple mane.

Twilight stared in awe at the changeling that had become a perfect, although slightly emaciated, copy of her. Even as the potion continued bubbling and hissing violently, Twilight didn’t stop it from examining every single inch of herself. Every part was exactly as she knew it, so much so that touching the second Twilight’s skin caused her to flinch as her hoof touched familiar spots yet her skin didn’t respond.

Twilight didn’t want to take the full credit for the spell, after all, the Changeling’s natural magic did most of the transformative work, but the things inside the Changeling’s head, Twilight would take credit for. She had inserted her entire life into the changeling, every single memory, every thought, preference, dislike, everything went into it. The only exceptions were the memories that had led her to this experiment. There was also the small detail of making her think that her state was due to a failed magic neutralization experiment, but compared to copying her very essence this was nothing. Twilight caressed her twin’s cheek, and softly pulled out a green wispy essence out of her head, storing it within herself without absorbing it just yet.

She shut off the containment field and carefully extracted the tubes, patching the wounds with a light application of healing magic. She levitated the unconscious changeling, now pony, next to herself, and cringed at the thought of what she had to do.

“Sorry Twi...” and closing her eyes she threw the body back into a row of tables, breaking them and knocking the air out of her twin. She remained there, unconscious. “Sorry” she said, rubbing the back of her head.

As an hour passed the potion was finally ready. Ninety percent of the potion had boiled away, leaving only a small puddle of thick, viscous blue-green liquid. As Twilight levitated the mixture into a small bottle she considered for the last time to let it be, to pick another path, she could still say no.

“Haa,haa, I can-I can still live a normal life, I don’t have to do this-” but even as she said those words the bottle came closer and closer to her mouth. Suddenly, Twilight shoved it into her own mouth and began digging in with reckless abandon, quickly consuming every trace of the liquid.

The bottle shattered on the floor as Twilight staggered back, the nearly jelly-like substance burning as it made its way down her throat. A magical flare lit up inside of her, and Twilight fell to the floor, screaming as her body began to change. Her skin vibrated, and clumps started traversing her body, like insects skittering under her flesh. These clumps solidified into larger and larger plates as skin began to tear and from within vaporized blood rose in red gusts. Her screams grew as her limbs were paralyzed, bloodshot eyes staring at the ceiling. The plates rose from the skin in greater and greater numbers, tearing away flesh and leaving behind a black carapace. Teeth jumped out of Twilight's gums and tore through her cheeks.

Then the transformation entered its final stage and Twilight's screams reached a crescendo. The little flesh that remained began to melt away, dripping down to the floor and turning into a sizzling liquid before again turning into smoke and small pieces of dust. But the worst came when her eyes disintegrated and from within the now empty pits, solid blue plates could be seen, her new eyes. Then Twilight's face detached, sliding cleanly off the black carapace and falling to the floor with a wet impact, remaining as a snapshot of her pain before disappearing along with the rest of her flesh. Finally, the transformation ended and Twilight’s beautiful pony body had been replaced by that of a Changeling drone: black carapace, hole filled legs and a pair of blue insectoid wings, nearly identical to every single other drone in existence. Her mane was gone, her coat was gone, her cutie mark had long since evaporated and been replaced by an empty black plate. Nopony would think that this was Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight turned herself over and tried summoning a mirror. To her relief her theories were correct, unicorns and changelings used magic in the same way, and the magical mirror hung over her as she studied her body.

She wheezed, failing to vocalize as the mirror disappeared and she fell into a coughing fit.

“Perfect.” She finally stammered out, voice changed from her soft tone to an alien rasp. She tried talking more but the sensation of having to maneuver fangs around was still foreign to her and she nearly cut herself several times, saved only by her new hard exoskeleton. Twilight's clone stirred, and Twilight had to cut the examination of her new body short. She’d have plenty of time to do it later anyway.

She looked at her double for one final time.

“Good luck, Twilight.” She said and teleported out. After the flash had subsided Twilight found herself in a cozy cave, located on a cliff deep within the everfree. It didn’t sport much, just a bed of leaves and a simple saddlebag containing the notes on the potion she had just used. She wanted this to be an opportunity for her to experience new things and live new lives, and for that she wanted a fresh start.

The exhaustion hit Twilight like a freight train and she barely hobbled over to the bed before collapsing on it, alien muscles relaxing as the warm summer breeze blew over her. She was laying on a rough cave floor that was only marginally improved by the leaves while her clone would soon move to her comfortable and soft bed, and yet, Twilight smiled. She fell asleep as rain started to fall outside.

Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 1: A day in the Everfree

The wind blew softly through the small riverside clearing, where droplets fell from the green grass and sun spilled over the exposed rock face of a tall cliff. The peace was interrupted by a vibration-laced scream coming from a body quickly falling from above.

Twilight desperately flapped her chitinous wings but all it did was destabilize her even more. She knew for a fact that changelings were much more durable than a pony but she did not want to stress test the exact limit for how much her exoskeleton could tolerate before breaking and spilling her insides over the forest floor.

As her body fell under the trees everything seemed to slow down as she remembered something. She wasn’t a pegasus. Immediately Twilight quickened the tempo of her wings and her body started to finally slow down. But it was too little too late and a loud thud softened by the wet grass went through the clearing.

“Note, Changeling wings need to be flapped much more often in order to generate lift.” she muttered while pulling her body up. She had been too careless, she had flown before, but back then she used different wings. She chastised herself for making such a stupid mistake. Luckily it didn’t seem as if she had suffered any injuries.

As the pain subsided she finally glanced around the clearing, and despite her very well knowing what sort of dangers dwelled inside the forest she couldn’t help but relax and take in the fresh air. It was beautiful, the crown of vibrant leaves, the soft rises and falls of the forest ground, and the myriad types of flowers that grew. Sure, most of them were poisonous to some extent, sure she had been here before, but it didn’t matter. It was so lush, so grand, so different.

And thus, even with some pain still coursing through her new body Twilight laughed a soft laugh. Although if anypony else had heard it they’d have called it bone-chilling instead.
She knew that she couldn’t stay in that clearing forever, she had decided to not bring anything with her. A fresh start meant a fresh start, and it shouldn’t be a problem anyway as she had read several books about wilderness survival in preparation.

And thus, with an excited energy Twilight took flight once more, shortly after casting a magical anchor, and this time she didn’t even flinch as she calmly flew over the small river. Even after she landed she kept moving her wings, relishing in the alien sensation. When she was finally satisfied she sighed and moved deeper into the forest.

As the clearing gave way to thick growths Twilight once again met the most common monster within the forest, not any magical creature, but the uneven and overgrown ground. Usually, it wouldn’t be a problem for her, but her new body sometimes didn’t respond quite right, and she found herself tripping over the roots repeatedly.

Still, the forest didn’t give her much trouble beyond that. And she quietly continued to gather the pink passion fruits. They grew in abundant amounts this deep in the Everfree, and despite their prickly shells made for a nutritious meal. It also helped that dismantling the shells got Twilight slowly used to the intricacies of casting magic with a changeling body. It did have a lot of similarities but the displaced organ here and there added up and gave it a unique sort of feeling.

Twilight noted each difference and stored them in her mind with a methodical zeal, trying to center herself on one task and to keep the myriad of questions under control until her living situation had been somewhat stabilized. She still couldn’t believe it, really, each time she looked into a pond, or saw her own hooves, or said something aloud she flinched in shock. It didn’t feel real, almost like she was watching a movie somewhere back in her own library.

As the sun traveled over the sky the levitating pile of passion fruit grew in size. When the sun was steadily approaching the horizon but the day was still bright Twilight felt satisfied and set out to fly back to the clearing. With a determined push she shoved off the ground. She screamed and lost grip on the fruits as her body was hit by a wave of fatigue and fell to the ground.

“Huh, I must be, I must be hungrier than I thought,” Twilight said, just now noticing how her voice had grown weaker. She willed a fruit to her and bit into it, hoping that her worries were unfounded. She sighed in relief as the nutritious juices flowed out of the pink core and washed off the numb feeling in her muscles. She had been right, there was no cause for concern.

She took off from the ground again, and this time kept herself under control. The branches over her parted, gripped in a green aura and letting her emerge from the dim forest. She stared in awe at the view of the Everfree. Kilometers upon kilometers of untamed wilderness, where not even pegasi flew, capped by wild and misshapen clouds. If she stared into the distance, past the green roof and the few lonely hills she could make out the faint outline of Ponyville. It was at moments like this that she understood why Rainbow Dash was so obsessed with flying, but when before she could only see this on the rare airship ride, she could now take to the skies whenever it pleased her.

Twilight smiled, her fangs baring, thinking of all the possibilities this gave her. So many experiments and expeditions she before thought impractical could now be done, so many frontiers were opened to her. The cumulonimbus heights, the ancient capital of the pegasi could now be explored, and the secrets of the storm mages revealed. She could visit the troposphere and document the mysterious sprites first hand. The possibilities were endless and for just a moment all of her worries and doubts: her friends, her body double, Spike, Celestia, her parents, the old life that she risked were all forgotten as her mind was filled with wonder and excitement.

“Watch out world! Twilight Sparkle is coming for you. AHAHAH” She broke out into giddy laughter, throwing herself back onto her bed to stare at her ceiling as she calmed down. Too late did she realize that she was a hundred meters over the ground.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” she screamed as she started to fall and the ball of fruit loosened once more.

Twilight grumbled as she threw out yet another failed attempt at making a saddlebag out of the leaves of a primordial Anazea out of the mouth of the cave. The leaves, while surprisingly strong, tended to solidify its wounds and trap the grass rope she made that then couldn’t be moved without destroying the brittle surface. She couldn’t even melt the leaves together with magic, no, she had to rely on her crafts skills. Skills that she found sorely lacking, much to her surprise. If not for her clenched teeth and steeled concentration she would have cursed Filled Paper for that ridiculously awful survival guide, but still she promised that she’d send her body double an anonymous letter requesting that book to be removed from the library.

‘It has no business being anywhere near a library.’ she thought, angrily discarding yet another failed attempt.

She shot a look to the masterfully enchanted saddlebag containing her notes, but no matter how much she wanted to repurpose it she knew that preserving the book within took precedence.

Finally Twilight gave up, she was hungry and she could always improve her design later. She made a few loops to connect the disjointed leaves and tied them with a simple knot, doubling the design for each side and tying them together with a thick grass-rope. She tried to wear it and to her irritation she felt it chafe against her back, even with her carapace, and the bags on each side held several holes which weren’t held shut by the admittedly few points of contact. There was also the fact that she couldn’t really use her wings with it on.

“Good enough...ugh!” Twilight grunted in frustration as those words left her mouth. Usually, she would have ignored her hunger and worked until she got the design just right, she even wanted to do it now! But the hunger was hitting her much more intensely than as a pony, while before it had been a feeling of weakness, now it was a ball of acid that ate at her from the inside.

The juice of the passion fruits felt like cream against her insides, calming irritated flesh and her intensifying frustration. Despite common misconception Changelings did eat, in fact, they were omnivores. But unlike most other species, emotions were an additional, separate source of food for them, or rather, the lifeforce behind emotions, which they could even steal from each other. However, as Twilight learned from her experiments, love freely given was MUCH more nutritious as the soul of the creature couldn’t fight back against a changeling's attempt to feed. Fascinating stuff, even if Twilight found it deeply disgusting. To break a creature's soul, to invade someone on that fundamental level, even Sombra, the tyrant of the crystal empire didn’t resort to that. She shuddered as she recalled forcing the Changeling's body to extract love out of her. It had been worse than having her entire body violently reshaped.

As Twilight looked at the setting sun she couldn’t help but worry. One of the requirements for this whole plan was that she would never let herself fall into such depravities. She knew ponies, and thanks to Celestia she also knew about friendship, and she knew that she could make genuine friends that could help her live. And yet, there was that small part of her brain that was asking her: “What if?”.

“No!” She shook her head, putting the thoughts out of her head. She sighed. All of those worries could wait, she had spent plenty of time with her friends over the course of the last few days, and according to her calculations, the lifeforce still stored around her soul would hold for fifteen days, plenty of time to…

The fatigue hit her again, much stronger than it did before. Her eyes widened as her mind was silenced. A few painfully silent seconds passed as the feeling grew within her. Twilight shook herself out of her shock and with zeal-like desperation threw a fruit into her mouth, swallowing it whole, but this time it didn’t even remotely help her.

“No, no, no, no! Not now!” She brought forth the changeling's copied memories and searched through them, asking them what she was feeling right now. Her thoughts were interrupted over and over again with panicked shouts and questions of what she had done wrong, before her mind settled back into periods of lucidity. She collapsed onto the hard stone floor as memories played through her mind. Dark corridors, trapped victims, the desolate stretches of the badlands, all coalescing into a stream of consciousness that pulsed through her mind. Then it hit her, the changeling she had captured had been no stranger to this condition, in fact, it had lived nearly its whole life in that state.

Her other hunger

Twilight opened her eyes as she felt her very being start to vibrate. She couldn’t deny it anymore, she knew what this meant, what it would lead to.

“No...” She said, unaware that a fog had started to slowly descend onto her mind.

Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 2: A mad hunt

The wind slowly intensified above the treetops of the Everfree, blowing clouds over the cold moon and darkening the woods to near pitch-black darkness. Yet in this sea of black, there was a soft glow coming from a lonely tree in the middle of a swamp. It was tall, with a pear-like shape thanks to the artificially widened base. Warm light spilled out of the muddled windows and a soft hum following exotic melodies could be heard coming from the inside. The light extended past the tree and spilled out onto the clearing where it stood, illuminating the verdant mossy ground that was only rarely interrupted by a waterhole.

Zecora stepped out of her home, a lantern made from trapped fireflies in her mouth and a flute of bone at her back. She sat down on her porch, not minding the wet wood. She looked up and was only slightly disappointed that she wouldn’t see the stars that day. Out here, away from the magic of the ponies, the skies reminded her of those above the wild savannah where she grew up. The constellations were different, even in the Everfree their light dimmed, and the galaxy couldn’t be seen, but for a moment it was as if she’d gone back.

She deliberately placed the flute to her mouth and played, holding it with one hoof, the field around her hoof dancing across the instrument as the melody picked up. The flute was a hard instrument to master for any pony or zebra, in fact, it had been a point of pride for her tribe, not enough for them to turn a blind eye but impressive nonetheless. Yet despite the inherent difficulties, Zecora's exotic harmonies flowed like water and wind. The song spoke of the droughts, it spoke of the savannah, about her journey, and most of all it spoke about the stars that had guided her. Beside her, the fireflies in her lantern were fluttering about, as if dancing to the melody. The entire forest stilled as the music weaved itself through lows and highs and Zecora lost herself to the tune. A tear fell from Zecora’s eye as-

A field of cyan lit up around Zecora’s house, accompanied by a sudden distorted blast of noise. A bone-chilling shriek rang through the clearing, followed by the sound of branches and leaves rustling beneath a pair of frantic hooves.

Instantly Zecora put the flute down and ran back into her home, leaving the lantern on the porch. She closed the door behind her and moved to her potions cabinet, ears filtering out her own hoofsteps as she listened for whatever had caused the disturbance to make another move. Another flash, but this time the shriek could only barely be heard.

Zecora furrowed her brows, this wasn’t good. The hoofsteps had confirmed that it wasn't a simple animal that was attacking her house, but to cause such an odd shriek? She didn’t know of any creature that would make that sound.

She threw open her cabinet and was greeted to the sight of dozens of potions, each in its own alcove enchanted with protective sigils. Next to it hung a leather belt with clasps. This is where she kept the potions she could need at a moment's notice. Luckily she hadn’t had any attacks in quite a while, so the cabinet was stocked full. She took a ceramic bottle denoted by a red x and held it in her hoof, giving it a light shake to confirm its contents.

With a nod she moved to the center of her hut, where a massive fireplace dominated, burning with both normal and magical fire, above which the hollowed-out trunk of the tree acted as a chimney. She uncorked the potion and poured it onto the flames, cringing at the pungent smell as the green smoke started to sizzle out of the liquid. She pulled down on a vine next to the fireplace and the drag from the hollow chimney above intensified as the smoke was rapidly pulled upwards. Outside the windows, she could see the smoke be shot down to the ground, where it quickly spread itself past the clearing and penetrated the line of trees.

Zecora listened with bated breath as the seconds passed by. She finally heard something move, but it grew more and more quiet. Finally, everything went silent. The creature had left.

“My, my, what a fright. Perhaps I shouldn’t make so much noise during the night.” She chastised herself. But even with the creature gone, she didn’t feel safe. That creature hadn’t died, and it might still attack her, or even worse, some defenseless traveler. She needed to know what it was so that nopony would die.

Zecora’s books were kept far away from her potions, on a shelf next to her bed, and one of those was her bestiary. It was cobbled together from other books and her own observations, a patchwork of pages and notes but still the most complete tome of knowledge about her area of the Everfree. Even Twilight had sometimes come to consult it. She leafed through the pages, quickly discarding creatures as the list narrowed down. But in the end, all that she was left with were the timberwolves, the night beasts, and while not part of the bestiary, some kind of insane pony.

However, it didn’t make sense to her, timberwolves never acted alone and that creature didn't have any allies, she’d have heard them. The night beasts needed large amounts of mana to live and could only be found around the mana wells deeper in the Everfree, she had only included them in her list for the sake of being thorough. And even those two possibilities hinged on her having heard wrong, and the creature having no hooves. Finally, she knew that a pony couldn’t have vocalized that shriek, and yet no other hooved creatures lived in her part of the forest. So what was it?

Zecora continued racking her brain for an answer when suddenly she heard a sound that she had hoped to never hear. Outside of the window, the shield around her home flickered once, then another time and with a final flash disappeared.

With mounting horror, Zecora realized that the creature had managed to find and disable one of the anchors for the shield. She stood frozen in shock, staring at nothing, as if waiting for the monster to suddenly appear behind her and kill her right where she stood.

“Unknown creature, I thank you even though I frown, for you chose to attack me before you attacked the town.” She moved away from the book. This creature was dangerous, if it was smart enough to target the anchors then it would be smart enough to hunt a pony or two in the village. Zecora steeled herself. She’d have to kill it before it could kill a foal or some other defenseless pony.

She walked back to her potions, and retrieved those on the lower shelves, attaching them to the leather belt, which she slung along her body and secured firmly. Finally, she went over to her lab and put on her mask, a large wooden thing that encased her snout in a beak while covering the rest of her face in a dark fabric. She ran her hoof over its length and green etchings lit up across its length, its lenses beginning to shine a dim white. Zecora put it on, she was ready.

But she wouldn’t go charging outside, that would just be falling into the creature’s trap. She needed information. And thus she waited patiently as the seconds stretched into minutes and no sounds could be heard besides the crackling of the fire. The creature was patient, she’d give it that. But she had dealt with ambush predators before. She retrieved a doll of felt from her lab and opened a panel on the floor, and from the cold room within took a slab of meat. She held it over the fire as the meat heated up and began to smell.

Zecora calmly opened her door, unfazed by the smell thanks to her mask, and threw the piece of meat halfway between her house and the treeline, watching as it landed in the mud with a wet splash. She held tightly onto the doorknob with a hoof as again time stretched out and she scanned the clearing, aided by the somewhat poor night vision of her mask. No movement came. That wasn't good, although not unexpected, the creature had already proven itself to be intelligent. Luckily, she had a solution.

The doll in her hands was ragged, old, and only halfway stuffed, but it was good enough to be used. She stared at it, and slowly closed her eyes beneath her mask. The puppet stitches lit up in green light, as eyes of pure green materialized onto its face. It jumped down from Zecora's hoof and looked at the mare that was still keeping herself in a state of pure concentration. It looked apprehensively at the field ahead but started to trot forwards. It only took it a couple of seconds to move halfw-

Zecora jumped in shock as the puppet was obliterated by a sudden attack. She didn’t let the shock last as she quickly looked to whatever had attacked the puppet. Its silhouette was that of a pony but the sharp teeth, black carapace, fin-like protrusions, and plate-like blue eyes were unlike anything she had ever seen. Then a faint memory came to her of Twilight telling her about the wedding in Canterlot, and the creatures that had attacked.

“Changeling...” Zecora said, as the changeling in question finally let the torn puppet fall from its maw. For a moment both stared at each other, shining lenses reflecting off of blue plate-like eyes. The changeling moved in a semi-circle, still staring at its prey, although its movements were strangely clumsy. It tried to flank Zecora, but she kept a good eye on it and didn’t fall for its feints. Finally, the Changeling stopped, glaring at the zebra.

With a shriek, the changeling launched itself at Zecora, but she had been expecting an attack and launched a ceramic bottle straight at it, sidestepping the charge. The changeling tried to avoid the projectile, unfurling its wings, but it had overcommitted and was hit face first with an acidic concoction that started eating through its skin.

It screamed as it flew and collapsed just past the threshold. It scraped itself, trying to remove the acid even as its wings buzzed frantically and its body convulsed on the floor. Zecora took the chance and fell on the changeling with her hoof, knocking the wind out of it as well as stopping its mad movements for a moment. Not wasting another second she then bucked it away, trying to keep some distance between herself and those fangs.

The changeling tumbled with the force and skidded right into the fire. Zecora cursed under her breath as the changeling screamed and trashed, flinging burning pieces of wood around the cabin. But she couldn’t give up now, she had it on the ropes and so she kept throwing her potions at it. Poisons, hallucinogens, kinetic blasters. Her house’s wounds grew as the potions on her belt decreased. Why wouldn’t the changeling die?

She stopped her barrage and examined the changeling, which was trying in vain to do something about the pain even as it vomited and bled green blood all over her floor, not only from its wounds. Then she saw it, a shimmering green field around the changeling, which seemed to momentarily blur the wounds before leaving them looking much better than before. She was shocked, healing spells were rare for magical creatures, especially for feral ones like this, and doubly so if they were this effective. This wasn’t supposed to be possible, she could die here.

She ran over to the cabinet, her heart pounding and praying to the spirits and Celestia that the changeling would remain immobilized long enough. She retrieved two potions, throwing one immediately at the changeling and watching for a split second in satisfaction as the liquid ate its magical field away. With a cry of her own she rushed towards the changeling with the second potion in hoof. Missing would be disastrous, and she only had one shot. Her hoof readied as she activated the markings on the bottle and the contents within started to vibrate and violently punch against its prison. The changeling looked up, and despite its exoskeleton, she could see its face morph into an expression of pure terror. It knew what was coming.

“Zecora, stop!” The changeling cried, and Zecora froze on the spot. The voice was distorted, laced with vibrations and alien sounds, but it was unmistakable. That was the voice of Twilight Sparkle.

“Twilig-” But the changeling took its chance while Zecora still hadn’t finished speaking and tackled her with all its force. They were sent flying through the room and towards the window as Zecora lost her grip on the potion and it fell to the floor. As the bodies of the changeling and Zecora shattered the glass and shards embedded themselves painfully in Zecora’s skin a loud rumble came from the middle of the room. The potion had burst open and sent bouts of fire spewing out all around it. The shockwave hit them and pushed them even further away from the cabin, the two bodies separating in mid-flight. Less than a second later an ear-piercing sound came from the tree as every brittle container inside the house shattered simultaneously. They hit the muddy ground hard, and the shards of glass embedded in Zecora were driven even further in.

The changeling wheezed in pain as Zecora grit her teeth and turned her snout out of the dirt, her mask had flown off and the mud stained her face. She slowly started trying to pull herself to her hooves, fighting through the pain. Meanwhile, the changeling rose with a labored movement, breathing heavily as it struggled to lock on to Zecora through its hallucinations and nausea, and with a final effort threw itself at her.

Zecora screamed as she felt cold, muddy fangs pierce her neck and the entire weight of the changeling press down on her back. Immediately something started to drain, it wasn’t blood, it was something else, something deeper, and it was painfully ripped out of Zecora. She tried to throw a punch but she was too weak, and the longer the fangs remained the weaker she got. All she could do was give a wheezing scream. The sucking intensified, and something started to prod at her. In her last moments of lucidity, interspersed with dizziness and fainting, Zecora shuddered as something deep inside of her was painfully pierced and shattered.

Even as the zebra closed her eyes the changeling continued to feed, face twisting into a look of primal relief, the many wounds marring the previously pristine carapace forgotten as it drank the sweet life force directly out of the zebra and its body rid itself of most of the poisons that Zecora had used. The shudders ceased, muscles relaxed and slowly the fog began to lift itself.

Twilight stared in horror, letting Zecora slide off her fangs and fall to the ground. She kept staring as she slowly, taking minuscule steps, backed away from the unconscious mare. Wet hoofsteps resounded through the clearing until she was pushed back against a tree.

“No...” she stuttered out. She couldn’t believe it, she didn’t want to accept it, but she knew what she did, what it meant. “ZECORA!” Twilight shouted and ran over to her friend. She hyperventilated, rolling Zecora onto her side and looking her over. The mare was a mess, riddled with glass, bleeding, and her skin was unnaturally soft as if replaced by moldy meat. What was worse, however, was the pure mana she sensed radiating off Zecora in random bursts. That could only mean one thing: her soul was damaged.

Twilight looked back to the treehouse and unfortunately, the fire had engulfed the tree almost completely. To make matters worse, the smoke started to take on unnatural colors. She couldn’t heal Zecora here, she had to get her somewhere safe, she had to fix her mistake.

“Zecora, oh sweet Celestia, I’m sorry Zecora!” Twilight shouted. She reached to wipe her tears but found that her body didn’t make any. She had just mutilated the soul of her friend and she couldn’t even cry.

No, she wouldn’t let her friend's soul be destroyed, she wouldn’t let Zecora suffer such an awful fate. The stolen lifeforce made carrying the zebra an easy task, a realization that made Twilight scowl.

She started running back to her cave, through the thickets and over the roots, trusting in her new instincts and night vision to guide her body and her cargo safely through the night. She had an idea for how to cure Zecora, but she had to put her somewhere safe first. Thundering hoof steps and the beating of her heart filled Twilight's mind as she galloped off into the forest, the burning tree disappearing behind her.

“Please, Zecora, hold on!”

Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 3: Improvised healing

Twilight’s muscles strained as she jumped over another root. Occasionally moonlight would filter through the gray clouds and illuminate the forest in a pale white. Her vision swam and readjusted as she ran, the leftover toxins still wreaking havoc on her body. But failure was not an option, she wouldn’t let Zecora die, and thus she pushed her body past its breaking point as she rushed to her cave. Stray pieces of wooden debris cracked under her hooves.

Everything seemed to stop as Twilight burst into the familiar clearing. She had forgotten about the river. Where before it had been a calm stream now it was a tumultuous, seething mass of water, the moonlight illuminating each whirling edge in detail. But she didn’t let it stop her. Carried halfway by adrenaline and halfway by determination she got a running start and leaped across. She tried to boost herself further with her wings but they were too damaged from the fight and they sent Twilight spiraling through the air, detaching Zecora from her back. They both slid across the dewy grass on the other side and came to a painful and slow stop.

Twilight cringed at the empty sensation spreading where her wings should have been, but that wasn’t important right now. She got up and ran over to Zecora. Luckily no more dirt had gotten into her wounds and the grass had even helped to remove some of the larger clumps. Still, she couldn’t let her remain here, where a predator could hurt her. She had to get Zecora to the cave above.

However, her wings posed a problem. If she couldn’t fly then she’d have to use magic, and using magic on someone with a damaged soul was tantamount to murder, especially an enveloping spell like levitation or teleportation. The magical energies would sever whatever stability Zecora’s soul had left, instantly killing her. And worse, depriving her of well, everything.

Twilight scanned the clearing, looking for something, anything to help her. But there was nothing to use, just a dark clearing partially illuminated by moonlight.

She summoned a simple magic missile but didn’t let go, instead, she lifted it over her head, and only then did she send it barreling towards a tree. The angled spell nearly severed a considerable mass off the tree, exposing the rosy insides of the everfree oak. She grabbed the piece with her magic and yanked, but only managed to slightly strain the wood connecting it to the tree. Another yank, but it held. Twilight resigned herself to use some mana and fired off another missile, finally separating the piece of wood from the greater tree. It was uneven, rough and the insides felt too much like flesh. But it would work.

She went over to Zecora and slowly pushed her onto the make-shift stretcher. It was shoddy, to say the least, she had to keep it at a constant angle so that Zecora wouldn't fall. Either way, it allowed her to levitate Zecora without directly affecting her with magic.

Slowly, carefully, she formed a minuscule magical field inside the log. Usually, this would be a nearly impossible thing, but the Everfree oak had the unique property of being alive in a way that few other trees were. It was almost like a conduit, and thus it could accommodate Twilight's attempts at making sure that absolutely none of the magic would touch Zecora. That’s not to say that it wasn’t hard, it was one of the hardest feats of levitation she’d ever attempted, only matched by the first time she tried the spell. She continued, expanding the field in rhythmic waves until it had almost breached the surface. That was enough.

Slowly the stretcher began to hover up. Twilight had to constantly make sure that one side didn’t rise faster than the other. She felt like she should be sweating, but instead, her skin was still weirdly smooth and dry. The real difficulty started once Zecorra was five meters above the ground and only kept increasing what seemed like exponentially, worsened by the delicate balancing act Twilight had to do.

When the stretcher reached the halfway mark at ten meters above ground Twilight started to give in. Her magic was slipping and she could see Zecora's body start to slide. She needed something extra, and she pulled at herself, willing it to arrive. And in between a doomed struggle with the stretcher, the sound of blood rushing through her, and the flow of the river, she felt a thread inside her. Something reached out to her by her command, and she had no choice but to accept. Then Zecora's body sped up as it neared the edge of the stretcher.

Twilight's eyes widened and her mouth fell, but in beat with her rapidly deteriorating control, an inner fire erupted in Twilight, spreading across her like a cold fever. Immediately the stretcher froze, the magical field within no longer threatening to unravel. Twilight had enough sense to capitalize on her second wind to reposition the stretcher, stopping Zecora.

For a fraction of a second she wondered where the power had come from, but then she noticed that the fire was burning something, and it was burning it fast. With a panicked exhale, she pushed Zecora up the final stretch and let her slide off the stretcher, depositing her into the relative safety of the mouth of the cave. With a sigh of relief, she released her hold on the now-empty stretcher, and comfortingly the fire within ceased. She wanted to take a moment to reflect, but the dryness in her throat was excruciating. She hadn’t even noticed until now.

With a desperate gait she walked over to the river and stuffed her snout into the churning river, greedily drinking it. She had to pause to cough as she occasionally got some water in her nostrils. Finally, when she was sated and the symptoms of magical exhaustion abated she let herself think.

‘Alright, Zecora is somewhat safe, no predator will get to her. Now I just need some liquid lifeforce.’ Twilight thought.

The soul is a complex thing, and to date, nopony in Equestria really knew what it was or how it looked like. The only thing researchers knew for sure was that a soul let a pony pass on to the afterlife and that it held a pony’s essence, but everything else was a mystery. However, there were several theories, and the leading one postulated that the soul was split into an outer shell and a core. The outer layers were composed of lifeforce, the physical soul, and they shielded the core: the spiritual soul.

It made sense, after all, several creatures could live without lifeforce, but none could live without their spiritual essence. Since the spiritual side was responsible for mana, and Zecorra was leaking it uncontrollably, Twilight could only come to the conclusion that she had breached the outer layers. If she could give Zecora an infusion of lifeforce then she'd contain Zecora's soul’s core, healing her. There was of course the thought that she had mangled her inner soul, but that simply wasn’t possible. A damaged outer layer could probably be fixed, but to mangle her inner soul would be to mangle her very essence. It would destroy everything Zecora was, it would be worse than killing her, and she did not kill Zecora. Zecora simply needed healing, this was a problem that could be fixed. She had a plan.

The problem was locating the necessary lifeforce. Twilight couldn’t use her own because then she’d be reduced to a feral monster, and would just hurt Zecora again. She needed a timberwolf, whose heart roots were brimming with it. However, tracking them was hard even with spells and she couldn’t gamble any mana now, she would need her strength to take the timberwolves down, and then to heal Zecora. However, there was one nest that she knew of, quite close to Applejack's orchard. She studied it occasionally. But to get there she’d need to trek across tens of kilometers of forest.

‘That’s several hours at least...’ But she had no choice. She took a final sip of water and got ready, shaking off the water that clung to her muzzle. Now, with her adrenaline spent she wouldn’t dare to jump over the river, and with her wings damaged she couldn’t fly either. Just before she tried to find a place to cross the river she heard a loud boom, and for a second the night was lit up by a prismatic wave high in the sky, expanding in all directions. The sound could almost be felt.

“Rainbow dash…” Twilight whispered and stared before turning back to the forest, she had other things to worry about. She disappeared into the growing thickets, determined to finish the long journey as fast as possible.

The clock was ticking.

The cold, humid wind lashed against Twilight’s cheeks, penetrating her hard skin as she climbed to the top of a hill that looked out on the forest. She had to take a breather before she continued, she had been trekking, nearly running, through the dark forest for several hours and she needed to rest before tackling the nest. The fire came to her periodically through the run, and she was still feeling the cold numbness it left behind. As she stopped and her eyes adjusted to the unobstructed moonlight she got a full view of the aftermath of her battle with Zecora.

To call what happened to Zecora's house “catastrophic” wouldn’t do it justice. The column of smoke rising from the forest was as thick and tall as a stormcloud, but as if that wasn’t enough it was constantly changing color and blending patterns together, like a deadly kaleidoscope. At times the outer layers would swell and burst like zits, sending magic flying through the air, the emissions being clearly heard even from the distant hill.

Swarming around the column were two dozen pegasi, with new volunteers regularly arriving, their bodies only being seen at this distance due to the colorful trails they left behind. Already they had formed a weak pseudo tornado that helped to contain the threat, but it couldn’t last and it was just a delaying tactic so that the professional weather team had time to wrangle the Everfree weather into rain.

‘You caused this Twilight.’ She thought, and despite the wave of guilt that hit her she didn’t move, didn’t shift about. She had been overexposed to it today, and by now the only thing she felt was a vague sense of discomfort.

She turned away, having gotten as much rest as she could allow herself and crested the small hill, putting her into striking distance of the timberwolf nest. The distant fire and the sonic rainboom had set them on edge, and six hunters were patrolling outside their cave. Immediately they turned to look at Twilight, who could only stop and stare back. She had chosen specifically this angle due to the Timberwolves usually scouting the treeline, which would let her sneak up on them. Then she realized what had set them off and dragged her right forehoof across the other.

“Blood.” She muttered, looking at the green smear on her hoof.

The wolves began etching forward, keeping low to the ground. Two wolves split off the main group, moving to flank Twilight. Twilight tensed and called forth her magical reserves and the wolves moved back in response, intent on getting away from whatever Twilight was casting. But the wolves weren’t fast enough. Around her body, a green shield materialized, and a ringing resounded as the shield rapidly thickened into several layers, growing inward. Just as quickly as it had thickened the shield burst. Shimmering chunks flew in all directions around Twilight as the hill and the Timberwolves were pelted by short-lived magical shrapnel. It barely even dented them before it harmlessly fizzled out, but it did distract them long enough so that when they looked back the changeling was gone.

While the wolves were still shocked Twilight ran down the hill and towards the cave, putting as much distance between herself and the timberwolves as she could. Her mind flickered through several possible new plans and discarded them just as quickly, before finally settling on one. Behind her angered snarls emerged, and she pushed her muscles to the very brink. With one last stretch, she was finally off the hill and right in front of the cave.

Thanks to her night vision she could see the insides, as well as its inhabitants. The two guardian timberwolves within rose in defense of their four young, glaring at the intruder. These were much larger than the hunters, as tall as two ponies standing on top of each other. They bared their fangs, green fumes emerging from their maws. Bark ground against bark as they settled into a fighting stance. Behind them, the scared pups huddled together close to the cave wall.

Twilight fired off two high-powered missiles as she charged straight into the cave. The first hit its target square in the center of mass, throwing the giant wolf into the air as it yelped in shock and splinters erupted from the collision zone. The other projectile wasn’t even close to hitting, and the wolf that it was meant for took the opportunity to get ready to brutally retaliate against its foe. But it didn’t expect what happened next.

Instead of pushing her advantage, instead of firing off more spells, Twilight threw herself into the pups. They yelped and tried to flee, but they couldn’t prevent Twilight from grabbing a hold of one of them. She held tight onto it even as the sharp, malformed branches threatened to pierce her hardened skin. The other pups scattered, running back towards the opening of the cave and putting the two guardians between them and Twilight. The guardian that had gotten hit stopped its recovery as it realized what had happened.

For a single second everyone in the cave was staring at Twilight. The guardians in shock, the newly arrived hunters in confusion, and the pups in utter terror. Twilight looked back for a second, then she disappeared in a green flash.

Flash. She was a distance away from the cave, bramble scraping against her back. Howls erupted from the cave.

Flash. A trail of rainbow passed far overhead, and Twilight nearly screamed as she cast the spell again.

Flash. A darker section of the forest. Flash. She nearly slid down the wet rock under her into a fast river. Flash. The sounds of some scurrying creatures as they fled from the burst of magic.

Flash. Twilight was gasping for breath, laying drained on the forest floor as everything but the damned ringing in her ears was muted to her. Something was squirming in her forehooves. She tightened her grip and ignored the pain. She closed her eyes, focused her breathing, and cast the final teleportation spell.

The squirming ceased as what was in her hooves escaped. But Twilight didn’t care, she felt the grainy rock beneath her. She was finally in the cave, she had made it.

Twilight sat up, clutching her head with one hoof as everything around her shifted from blurry to painfully detailed. She saw Zecora lying face-up on the rock, next to the overturned stretcher, looking almost completely dessicated. Twilight could still sense sparks of mana occasionally radiating from her.

And further… the pup. It was staring off into the forest, but it kept its distance from the ledge, unwilling to risk falling. It shivered, and weakly barked into the night. Twilight looked at it, it was an innocent creature, it had just been born and despite being a predator it wasn’t a cruel creature. She had been the one to convince Applejack to let the timberwolf nest be, she had helped Fluttershy take care of several pups, and she had studied the Timberwolves on multiple occasions. She knew them, she knew they were intelligent creatures, just as much as her owlowiscious.

Could she do it? Could she kill an innocent, intelligent creature?

She hoisted herself up on her hooves and managed to momentarily stabilize herself. The sound of carapace against rock rang through the small cave, and the pup turned around. It lowered its back and tried to move as far away from the changeling as possible without stepping over the ledge, almost as if backing itself into an invisible wall. Its glowing green eyes stared at her blue.

She hobbled over, trying her hardest to keep herself on her hooves. And step, by step, by step, by step she got closer. She looked over at Zecora, at the dying Zebra, one of her friends. At a friend that was only suffering like this because of her. At a helpful individual, a fellow researcher, and a dependable friend. With a growing grimace and a deep sense of betrayal of Celestia, of her lessons, of Equestria, and of herself she realized a terrible truth.

She could.

She gripped several of the twigs comprising the body of the pup with her magic. She couldn’t keep her eyes open for what came next.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

She pulled each twig in separate directions as the magic of the young timberwolf gave way and the heart root fell to the floor along with the rest of the Timberwolf’s former body. Fluttershy had told her it was the most painless way to euthanize a timberwolf. She had been very quiet when telling her that. Being a caretaker wasn’t easy.

Everything after the pile of wood hit the floor was muted, distant, as if happening in a distant dream.

Twilight scrubbed Zecora's wounds clean with her magic. She tried to make it as painless as possible, but she kept losing focus, and when she returned she often found that she had gripped a bit too hard.

She brought the heart over, watching it as it rose from the pile of wood and floated over to her. The texture was almost unnatural, too smooth and pristine to be anything mundane. She cracked it open, careful not to spill the green fluorescent fluid inside. She stopped herself from tasting it, Zecora needed it more.

She first spread the liquid across Zecora’s wounds, and then moved on to generally rub it onto her body. Lifeforce was like that, it wanted to bond with that which was alive. It would have been more effective to have Zecora drink it, but she couldn’t risk it with Zecora's state.

Zecora was about halfway smeared when Twilight looked back into the heart, and a familiar hunger started to make itself known as she observed the nourishing ambrosia. Almost without thinking she brought it to her mouth and began to drink with the intensity of somepony lost in a desert.

Zecora not getting the lifeforce was bad, Twilight going feral again was even worse, and the taste was just too good, too sating. Still, she understood that she couldn’t let herself drink it all, and she willed herself to stop, dragging the heart away. It had only been a second, yet most of the heart was now empty. She spread the last of the liquid across Zecora in defeat. Zecora needed more lifeforce if Twilight didn’t want the cure to be a gamble. But she didn’t have enough energy to hunt another timberwolf, and not nearly enough strength to kill again.

Twilight looked at Zecora. Magic was still flying off her, and even if this worked she would be leaking mana for a few more hours while the lifeforce was absorbed by her soul. By all rights she should have given her better care, she should have used a healing spell on her, she should have properly disinfected her wounds. But she was spent. There was nothing more she could do.

Twilight looked at her with hollow eyes, and after in delirium muttering out “Come on Zecora.” she let magical exhaustion claim her. Twilight fell, landing unconscious next to Zecora and the empty heart.

Outside the cave the Pegasi had finally managed to create rain, which was slowly but surely quelling the burning column just as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 4: Inner soul

Twilight shifted, trying to cast off the numb feeling in her limbs as she stirred from unconsciousness. The numbness slowly subsided as she continued to shift and the rocky floor scraped uncomfortably against her carapace. It was as if her spirit had been stolen from her body, and now she was slowly slipping back into the shell that was her flesh. It felt slimy and wrong, as her feverish shivers attested to. Finally, she was inside once more, and a void within her flared like a bonfire, but despite its demanding burning, it was weak, powerless, unlike the hungry fog that had set over her mind back then.

When she settled back into her head and her body felt more like her body rather than a shell she noticed something foreign. Something warm and smooth was tenderly caressing the insides of her mouth. It explored her mouth as its warmth spread all across her shivering flesh, all the way from the focal point in her mouth, like a stout tree sprouting from a small sapling.

Something within herself was telling Twilight to open her eyes, to see what was happening to her and what the intruder was, but she couldn’t quite parse the thoughts in her state. Still, instinct willed her eyes to open, but she found them shut by a hard substance. Panic swelled within her but her eyes just wouldn’t open.

The intruder, her eyes, blackness, Twilight could only think in simple terms and so she lashed out against the only thing she could comprehend, the intruder. She weakly swayed her head from side to side, trying to dislodge it, and seeing her distress the intruder reluctantly left her mouth.

But the moment it was gone the dizziness took hold of Twilight again and now it was as if she was falling out of her body again. Twilight cried, reaching out for it like a baby desperately searching for its mother's teat. It re-entered her mouth and she sucked, squeezing it with her lips as her tongue coiled around it. Where before she could only feel a vague warmth now Twilight saw it as a distinct stream of energy that was flowing from the intruder and into her.

Each drop of energy focused her mind more and more, awaking it from the daze it had been in when she awoke. And with each drop, the void within her calmed, until it was nothing more than a vague feeling of unease and wrongness. She started questioning her situation, she remembered that she had hooves and that she wasn’t alone-

‘Zecora!’

The invader left as Twilight rubbed her eyes with a shaking hoof, trying to fight through her fatigue and nausea to see Zecora. She ignored the gnawing feeling within and got rid of the sticky and crusty substance that was sealing her eyes shut.

The first thing she saw was Zecora smiling at her. Her face was covered by healing wounds, bruises and some of the gauntness remained, but she was alive, she was healthy, she had been cured!

“My welcome I am giving, as I’m happy to see you in the land of the living.”

Twilight couldn’t believe it, she jumped to her hooves, nothing in her mind besides the triumphant, relieved thought that Zecora would be ok. She hugged Zecora, burying her muzzle in Zecora's dirty fur and focusing on that sensation, that warm sensation of her fur under her hooves, the sensation that proved beyond all doubt that she would be okay. Zecora’s soul was fine.

“Oh thank Celestia, Zecora! I-I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry for what happened, I don’t know what I did wrong. I shouldn't have descended to that state, it wasn’t supposed to be possible, but I’m so happy that you’re ok and that your soul is fine. I thought I had…” Twilight stopped her tirade as a thought struck through her mind like thunder. She looked down on her hooves and remembered that she was a changeling now, a common drone that Zecora shouldn’t know was actually Twilight. And yet when she looked back to Zecora the Zebra continued to smile.

“There’s no need to apologize, my queen, for this humble servant it’s enough to be seen.” Time froze for Twilight, the words replaying over and over again.

“Zecora... what did you call me?” She’d have begged if the still horrified rational part of her thought it would have helped.

“Queen is the name I use, and for a changeling like you that shouldn’t be news.”

She backed away from Zecora, never looking away. The next words came out so quiet that they were barely said.

“And what were you doing while I woke up?”

“What I was doing to you was kissing, to restore the lifeforce which you were missing.”

Twilight vision fell as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut. Her vision swam, her body stumbled, limbs froze and she was on the verge of puking. She dragged her foreleg against her mouth, with trepidation she smelled it. Spicy herbs and lotions hidden beneath an earthy smell, a scent that evoked memories of pleasant chats over a cup of tea, she wasn’t lying.

“No…” How could this have happened? Was it because she went feral? Was it because Changelings fed like this? No, that was impossible, they had checked Shining and nothing was wrong with him afterwards. Then why?

“Do not be so sad, I assure you that my adoration won’t be a fad.” Twilight spun her head around, almost like a reptile, and glared at Zecora.

She walked to Zecora, her steps quickening the closer she came.

“Zecora, do you know who I am? Do you know what you’re saying?” Twilight shouted, at this point not even caring if somepony outside heard her.

“All I know is your majesty, but this humble servant hopes to learn more, anything else would be a travesty.”

Twilight hung her head. Zecora wasn’t happy to see her when she woke up because she was a friend, if she could even be called that anymore. After all, how in the world would she recognize a changeling drone? Yes, that’s all Twilight was now, a common love-hungry changeling.

The silence between them extended. Nothing but the soft blow of wind could be heard in the cave.

“Zecora, if I told you to kill Applejack, would you?” Twilight broke the silence.

“Of course.” Zecora didn’t even hesitate.

“Rainbow Dash?” This time the question came faster.

“Yes.” Zecora barely finished her answer when Twilight continued.

“Pinkie?“

“Yes.”

“M-Twilight?” Zecora smiled, just smiled, to Twilight's horror.

“My queen, do not ask such silly things, I will always make sure to satisfy each of your whims.” But Twilight didn’t hear her words, she could only think of her next question, and of the answer she knew would follow.

“Applebloom?” Twilight stuttered out.

“Yes.” Zecora said calmly, like a parent explaining something to their child.

Twilight detached herself from Zecora, turning away from her

“Sweet Celestia…”

“I can assure you, I’m sad that I have to even try, that my words aren’t merely a lie.”

“You’re sad!?” Twilight shouted, turning around. She stared at her, but after not getting any response besides that smile she shook her head, calming down. This wasn’t Zecora's fault, and Twilight of all ponies had no right to be offended.

“Zecora, I am Twilight, I used a potion on myself to become a changeling. You just told me that you’d be willing to kill my friends, to kill me, to kill Applebloom for Celestia’s sake!” The revelation didn’t phase Zecora even in the slightest.

“Ah, I see then how my words might have made you feel, but still, if it’s your command then their fates I shall seal.” It was like a nightmare, the worst nightmare Twilight had ever had, but no matter what she just couldn’t wake up.

“What have I done?!” Twilight clutched her head in her hooves as she laid down. Zecora came up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Do not be sad, for what you’ve done has made me truly glad. I-” Twilight pushed Zecora’s hoof off her shoulder and stood up.

“Stop it, Zecora! Stop saying these things, those are not your words, those are words that I implanted in you Zecora. I altered your inner soul, your core, I…I destroyed you.” She turned away, staring off into the skies beyond the cave. Zecora was silent for a second, waiting to see if her queen would continue her rant.

“All you’ve done is give the book that is me a new cover-”

“No Zecora.” Twilight said, eerily calm. “I ripped open your covers, tore out the pages, and attached some scribbles with tape. I destroyed you.” She was silent as she pushed past Zecora, not even looking her in the eye as she didn’t have the strength to do so. Twilight went to lie down next to the mouth of the cave. For a second she turned back. “You won’t have an afterlife because of me Zecora.”

The forest was beautiful outside. There seemed to have been a short-lived rain across the entire forest that had left the treetops glistening in the midday sun, but now the clouds had gone, leaving behind an almost unmarred sky. The cloud over Zecora's house, however, was still spewing rain onto a smoking fire. A multitude of pegasi trails whizzed around, maintaining it. Further out she spotted other trails, making routine circles over the Everfree, probably searching for Zecora.

And despite the smoking column, the earth-shattering revelation of what she’d done, and the slave that had replaced her friend standing behind her and waiting for her to finish thinking like a servile maid, everything seemed peaceful, nice. The sun’s rays were warm, Celestia had done an amazing job that day, the wind was cool and fresh and the birds were happily chirping across the canopy.

It reminded her of the picnics she went on with her friends, just at the edge of the Everfree. Rainbow would show off, Applejack would get into a competition with her, Rarity would lament about this and that and gossip with Fluttershy and Pinkie would cheer on the competing pair while Twilight sat and enjoyed a book. Those moments were so nice, so what if they were routine? Why did she want to leave them behind?

Twilight sighed.

“Yes Zecora?”

“Twilight, my queen, you are an element of harmony and a great mage, so do not sulk and do not cry, for this is not your final play on life’s stage.”

Twilight sat there in silence and Zecora was more than content to let her stew on her words. Perhaps her queen finally understood her place? Hopefully, she would finally stop worrying about silly things and start ruling like she was supposed to.

“You’re right Zecora. I am an element of harmony, I am a great, no, fantastic mage and I am the student of Princess Celestia herself.” She stood up, a fire burning in her eyes. “That means that you aren’t lost, Zecora. I can and I will heal you.” Twilight looked into Zecora’s eyes.

“I will repair your soul.” But instead of thanking her Zecora chuckled.

“My soul, surely you kid, nopony and nobody has ever achieved such a feat.”

“They just didn’t try hard enough. Zecora, I’ve created a potion that can permanently alter somepony’s body, I’m one of the few that can cast a flawed time travel spell and I’m the element of magic. That means something, I can fix you.” She put her hoof on Zecora's chest.

“I’m, I know that words can’t make up for what I’ve done, I know that what I did was monstrous but, I’m sorry Zecorra. I promise that I will fix you, even if I have to… even if I have to die for it.”

Zecora looked down in confusion at Twilight's hoof but nodded.

“If that is your desire then no more objections shall this situation inspire.”

“Good. Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.” Twilight looked out into the forest again, a quiet smile breaking out on her face. Yes, she could fix her, but she’d need knowledge both lost and kept secret. She wouldn’t find any of that in Ponyville, so she’d have to leave. At least she could disguise herself, that way nopony would know of what she was doing. Nopony would have to live with what had happened. She remained in that spot, thinking about that. Twilight knew it had to be done, and she had even wanted to do something similar just a few days ago, but back then it was an experiment, a vacation. Now she was being forced out of her home.

Eventually, her thoughts moved forward. She couldn’t bring Zecora along with her, not only would she render her ability to disguise mostly pointless but she also didn’t want to have an eternal reminder of what she’d done walking alongside her, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

She had to get Zecora to safety, while also somehow explaining the mess their fight had caused. Several explanations went through her mind until she landed on one that was both believable and sufficiently provable.

‘Yes, that will do’ Twilight thought.

“Zecora, are you able to disguise your-” she paused, trying to find a way to properly say it “nature?”

“If my devotion is of what you speak, then yes, it wouldn’t be a grand feat.”

“Then you’re going to walk back to Ponyville. Tell them that you were attacked by a maddened pack of Timberwolves that chased you out of your home. You hurt yourself and thus couldn’t go to Ponyville immediately. Got that?”

“But Twilight, surely the townsfolk will suspect, after all, a Timberwolf’s brain isn’t known to defect.”

“Yes, but I know for a fact that the Timberwolf pack closest to Applejack's farm lost a pup. Their behavior should match up with my description. Luckily they’re not looking for ponies, they’re looking for Changelings, so it should still be safe to traverse the forest.”

Zecora thought about the statement and slowly a beaming smile grew on her as she realized what had happened. Her queen’s talk of a damaged soul, the lost timberwolf pup, it all clicked together. Even before her Queen had improved her she would be giddy at such a revolutionary new technique. Now she was ecstatic.

“My queen, what an ingenious-” A hollow look from Twilight stopped Zecora in her praise, but her smile didn’t disappear. If her queen would let her she could offer her so many new options now. Twilight sighed and then continued.

“When I turned myself into a Changeling, I fed a feral Changeling I found all of my memories, it is now posing as me back in Ponyville. Tell it, her, that you saw the timberwolves run back in the direction of Applejack's farm. She knows what I know, so she’ll be able to calm them.” She looked to where Zecora was standing and listening attentively to her order like a student would to their favorite professor. “And try to stay in Ponyville, I want to know where you are.”

“When should I start my trek?”

“Just go.” Twilight surrounded Zecora in a field of green magic, but she didn’t teleport her as she had intended to do, instead, she was left stewing on the situation, on Zecora. “And Zecora? Try to live your own life. Please, just, try to be happy by yourself. Before I come back and heal you.”

“Haven’t I told you already, Twilight? Thanks to you every moment is as fulfill-” She didn’t get to finish her sentence as Twilight teleported her away to the forest floor in front of the cave before she could finish those damned words.

Twilight faintly heard the sounds of hoofsteps making their way away from the clearing below, but she wasn’t listening. She walked as deep into the cave as she could, right beside the stockpiled fruits, and fell down. Everything felt hollow, and not because of any hunger.

Twilight's life as a newborn changeling 5: Grayshine

The sparse clouds floated over the forest, letting the sun stream through the canopy and bathe the undergrowth in a shower of light. This patchwork of light grew and intensified until the canopy opened over a large pond, along whose shore Twilight was standing, her black body on full display. However, this was a remote corner of the forest and the search parties were called off a day ago. She was safe there.

Nevertheless, she kept her silence as she stared at her reflection. Not moving an inch as the warm wind blew through the clearing, rustling the crowns of the trees and sending small waves against the shore. The waves impacted her chitinous hooves with soft splashes before receding. Zecora had left a heavy mark on her. Not only were both of her wings grotesquely eroded in many places, but the entire length of her body was covered in grooves and scars, along which she barely felt anything.

Twilight reached out and tapped her hoof against the water, staring at her reflection as the ripples settled and her body remained unchanged. She did it again, but this time looked away before the water could settle.

'Not now Twilight, you have work to do.' She told herself as she laid down on the warm grass and got comfortable for what was about to come.

Twilight closed her eyes and focused on her core. Deep within her were the sparkling embers of her mana and in a practiced motion she grabbed a hold of those embers and sent them circulating throughout her body. They were carried by her now alien blood through an alien body, but Twilight had done her research and thus knew where to direct the embers when she came across an intersection, where to avoid collisions with other streams and which changeling organs could tolerate what amount of mana.

As magic spread through her veins soft lanes of white light grew across her skin, the strongest of which shined brightly enough to be seen through her carapace. These lines faded and intesified as Twilight repeated the process to sufficiently saturate herself.

Twilight completed one last cycle and felt her mana settle into the new configuration, circulating properly from her soul and through every part of her body.

‘Good, Nothing has gone wrong so far.' She took a deep breath. ' But the dangerous part is still in front of me.' Twilight reminded herself. She could not allow herself to get careless right now.

She slowly changed the nature of her Mana from embers to lulling vibrations, and her senses started fading. Her vision was the first to go, as the grey darkness she saw became a true pitch black. She remembered to keep her eyelids closed, having made that mistake before only to come back to some painfully dry eyes.

Her hearing followed suit and Twilight was plunged into an abyss to which she was tethered only by the grass underneath. She fought with her instinct to clutch the ground below her. Every part of her needed to be calm and relaxed for this ritual, otherwise it wouldn't work.

The next two steps came in a quick burst. First, she lost her sense of touch but before she could start falling through this abyss she turned off her inner compass too. Up and down, left and right, all of it became meaningless. What was left was only Twilight in mind: an abstract form floating aimlessly through an infinitely large and black void where almost nothing else existed.

Twilight relaxed, savoring how right everything felt. Most ponies found magical meditation to be a horrifying experience. Minuette had even needed counseling after experiencing it for the first and last time. And yet, Twilight could only feel at peace as parts of her that she otherwise never felt relaxed and wound down.

Every worry, every stressful item on her ever-expanding lists, every test, and every problem seemed so insignificant here where all of her senses didn’t exist. Even the thought of Zecora couldn’t bother her beyond an uncertain ache. She could focus here.

In this state it would be easy for Twilight to find the bundle of memories which she had taken from the Changeling. It was in the middle of herself, an oasis of purple and pink in an oblivion. A place that she slowly became inundated in as the world shifted around her, responding to her command. The world stabilized and Twilight appeared in a magenta cosmos a million times larger than she was. Without waiting she began her journey.

She would have sighed if she could as she traversed the strings of her bound and unbound memories and rejoiced at the ease of which she weaved through the ethereal harp that made her Twilight. The strings sang as memories flickered by: an angry poem, a haunting choir, a military march. For a moment she regretted not being able to improve the strings, seeing thousands of moments, seconds, minutes and hours melt into each other and leaving behind more solid but unfocused conglomerates. So many memories were lost, and yet she couldn’t, wouldn’t alter the strings. Altering one’s own mind was incredibly dangerous and at her level, moronic.

She reached the packet of green-cyan. And despite being a thousand times smaller than herself and dwarfed by the cosmic pillars of her isolated mind, she could see an equal infinity spanning out inside the pond, enlarging and distorting space. The sound beyond was crude, primal, and yet it also had a certain order to it, which mimicked the equally unpolished landscape. But a part of it was frayed, the shape folding in on itself and spilling out from the edges. She knew this would happen when she tried to access the memories without meditation, but when she was turning feral she hadn’t been in the right state of mind to care. However, the damage was minimal and it would hold.

She reached into the pond that was also a sea and an ocean and picked out a thread, latching onto it. She thought about change, trying to traverse the changelings' memories as if they were her own. But it realized its mistake and understood that the Changeling didn’t think, it felt. And thus it felt the chameleon hiding in the jungle, it felt the caterpillar dissolving into a butterfly, it felt the seasons, the cold winter, the rebirth of spring-

It was yanked along, the memories of the feral instincts showing it the exact location of what it was looking for: the instructions on how a Changeling could change their form.

The instruction was felt and the memory was triggered, starting a cascade of every moment the changeling used the spell: Ravenously feeding on a royal guard while disguised as her, playing a timberwolf pup and being cared for by its pack, luring in predators and prey with its body before feeding on their lifeforce. The scenes played over and over again as the memory streamed back and engraved its discordant melody into the purple nebulae of another mind.

The purpose had been accomplished and so the senses slowly started coming back. The abyss was grounded, the mind disappeared, sound came back and light spilled onto vision. Breaths came in and out as it slowly came back to herself and Twilight regained her sense of self.

“Oh, oh Celestia.” Twilight said as she hyperventilated, head falling down onto the grass. This was why she didn’t meditate despite liking it and why she hadn’t dared to do it for an entire day since embarking on her mission, not until she accepted that there was no other way. She lost herself too easily, and if something went wrong she wouldn’t be the first pony to turn into a husk from meditation. And while usually it might be reversible, becoming an identity-less husk now meant becoming Feral. And that would mean that Zecora would be doomed.

Twilight clenched her teeth, now feeling the full weight of her emotions, nothing like the numbed feeling she had during meditation.

Still, she needed to know how to change her body if she was to travel across Equestria, and now she knew. There was no reason to lose herself in guilt right now.

She thought of the spell, and thankfully it was now copied into her mind. She gave it a few tugs with her mana, seeing if it flowed as it did in the changeling’s memories. Her horn lit up weakly as she did so and she smiled, satisfied with the result.

Twilight rose from the ground and stared back into the lake. She called forth the contours of the spell, saturated it fully with mana and started casting it. The spell surged, starting to permeate her body with a comforting warmth and ringing alarm bells in her mind. Just as quickly as it came the spell fizzled out. Twilight screamed as the spell sent ripples of shock through her muscles, but she managed to keep herself on her feet even as some of her muscles hung paralyzed.

Taking a moment to steady herself Twilight churned the grass under her until the earth stained her hooves to distract herself as her body returned to normalcy. All of her knowledge about magic was screaming at her to get some proper equipment when testing unknown magic, but she pushed those feelings away even as she cursed herself for doing something so dumb. She didn’t have a choice.

Not one to give up Twilight analyzed her process, trying to see what went wrong. A false spell construct? No, the changeling wasn’t sapient and couldn’t have intentionally planted a whole host of false memories. Her tearing the memories causing degradation? No, in all of the changeling’s memories the construct remained the same. What if…? She gave the spell another try, her horn lighting up, but this time she held on to it without casting. Despite not feeling anything at first the spell quickly started to oscillate more and more, changing the brightness of her horn as it spiraled out of control. Twilight didn't let the spell fail catastrophically again, cutting the flow of mana into her horn bit by bit as the spell safely dissolved.

A triumphant smile shined across Twilight's face, she now knew what she had done wrong. She had taken too long to cast the spell when it was meant to be an instinctive motion. This time she cast it without visualizing the spell, relying on the borrowed memories of the changeling. The mana rushed down Twilight as her horn glowed, but this time instead of a warm hug the spell was a cold chill that bit into her very bones.

‘Yes!’ She tightened her muscles in pain. ‘This is how a transformative spell should feel like.’ Despite her pain, she was still smiling. She had defeated another obstacle, and she was now standing on the edge of casting something nopony had ever done before. No matter the circumstances she couldn’t keep the wide smile off her face.

‘Oh my Celestia, Oh my Celestia, I’m really doing it!’ She bared her fangs in an unwillingly threatening way as her eyes grew in size, staring at the sky. The chill bit deeper and deeper into her carapace, piercing it and sinking its hooks into her flesh but it did nothing to break her mood. Something surfaced within her mind, and instinctively Twilight knew what it was. She couldn't believe her luck and immediately let the spell slot the thing into its construct.

However, no matter how hard she pushed, how she adjusted the mana flow, the climax wouldn’t come, and as she felt the spell start to oscillate she had to conceded yet another defeat and slowly let the spell go.

Giving it her all she repeated the process and put the giddy excitement out of her mind, quickly casting the spell and succesfully sending herself over the limit. Her body lit up in a bright light, before a flame went down her height, burning away scarred carapace and replacing it with soft, magenta fur and fins with purple hair. Twilight didn’t have to maintain the spell after having cast it, simply holding tight as the unfamiliar feeling traversed her body. Seeing as she now had an opportunity to study the spell she tried cataloging each development as the magic changed her. While most of the developments were minor, Twilight did notice that the cold, piercing feeling wasn’t as strong anymore as when she’d cast the spell, despite her still sensing the magic piercing her just the same.

Eventually, the spell reached her hooves and Twilight let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Where once a roughed up Changeling drone stood there was now a healthy unicorn with a slightly frazzled mane and fur. Twilight had gotten her body back.

“Hello? Hello!” Twilight repeated to herself. “She sells seashells on the seashore!” she said, savoring the soft pony-like sounds that emerged from her throat. She started to chuckle, then she laughed. There wasn’t even a hint of a buzz or reverb in her voice, it sounded right. Well, right for a pony.

“But I still need to tweak the spell a bit.” She said. After all, her voice was still off. Sure, maybe an acquaintance would believe that voice to belong to Twilight, but any of her close friends would instantly notice something wrong with it. Now that she thought about it and loooked into the water she saw that her voice wasn’t the only thing that was off.

Her face, her body, her color. She couldn’t fully tell, but surely her cheeks weren’t this puffy, right? She cast the spell again. But this time too, they weren’t right, and neither was her fur. She could swear that it was a different shade, yet no matter how much she thought about it she couldn’t say if it was supposed to be lighter or darker. Another time, the spell became more and more ingrained as she relied less on the foreign memories. Twilight ran through the spell a dozen more times and was left breathing heavily as her mana ran low.

She looked at herself in the pond. While to a casual observer nothing might have seemed different from when she had first properly cast the spell she had been tweaking every minute detail back and forth, with no success.

She was about to cast the spell again when she stopped herself.

‘Calm down Twilight, this is not the time to practice.’ and besides, she wouldn’t need her original body for what came next. Not that the emotional part of her completely accepted that.

This time she didn’t try to transform herself into the form that came most naturally, instead, she tried to customize, but it fell through. It was too difficult. It was like the spell poured mana into a strict mold like a blacksmith poured metal. And no matter how much she banged or pushed on the mold it wouldn’t budge.

But on one of those tries Twilight felt something, at first it was hard to tell what it was but as she tried bringing it into the changing spell she understood what it was. Another mold was inside of her, and Twilight let the spell use it.

When the spell ran its course Twilight nearly jumped back from the lake as she saw Zecora staring back at her. She turned her head to look back at herself and saw grey and white stripes and a mark made out of a spiral surrounded by outward-pointing triangles.

“No, no, no-” Zecora's voice said. Twilight felt dizzy and cast the spell without any mold, returning to her changeling body. No, that would definitely not do.

But the fact that she had two molds gave her an idea.

This time instead of letting the spell use one mold she tried forcing it to use both. And it worked, both forms seemed to come apart for her as the spell began to patiently wait for a solid mold. The molds became strings, threads that she could pull on, merge and reconfigure.

‘These must be the traits of our bodies! But what is a trait here? Is it the string or something smaller than that?’ Twilight thought. ‘So what if I…?’ She tried introducing mana into the system to create copies of the molds which she could then experiment on and alter in more radical ways. However, her attempt failed and she pulled back as she felt the spell teeter on the edge of unraveling.

At least for now she would be limited in what types of bodies she could create.

The unfamiliar magical movements came slowly to Twilight at first, but one didn’t become the element of magic by being unable to adapt. And thus her direction of mana across the strings improved with confidence and precision, all in the span of a fraction of the second until she was ready to cast the spell again.

As the spell finished its work Twilight saw the result: her normal body but broken up by grey stripes. Exactly what she had tried to create.

“Yes! It worked!” Twilight shouted, unable to contain her excitement. She felt her horn itch to grab a pen or a quill and start writing down her results, and her current lack of the necessary supplies was irritating her something fierce.

Now that Twilight understood how to customize her appearance she set out constructing a proper new body for herself.

First of all, she took the unicorn base from her body, after all, she didn’t want her disguise to prevent her from using magic. Next, she stripped it of color and applied Zecora’s light grey coat. Twilight moved onto the hair and tried to blend both her and Zecora’s styles. Her new instincts were telling her that the result would be short and curly light black locks.

The only thing that remained was her cutie mark. Unlike the body, the strings controlling the mark seemed loose, shimmering, as if they weren’t there at all.

'I wonder why?' Twilight thought. Just from seeing them she knew that she would be able to change those strings into whatever she wanted, but here Twilight’s lack of artistic talent hindered her. So after racking her brain and feeling the spell start to strain she settled on a black crystal reminiscent of those that were on her old mark.

She stopped for a moment and went over her work.

‘Yes, that should do nicely.’

Twilight finished casting the spell. This time the pony left behind by the fire was brand new, rather than a copy of an existing one. Twilight looked back into the lake and saw a black-haired, grey mare staring back at her.

“Interesting, even such a minor detail as the length of the hair turned out exactly as I had imagined.” Twilight said, and then realized that she had forgotten an important detail. Her horn lit up and the fire traveled down her body once more. “This should be better.” She said, testing her voice and trying to see if it was still recognizable. It wasn’t, now coming out deeper thanks to some help from Zecora's strings.

She stood in silence.

“Well, at least the others won’t recognize me. That's good.” She sighed and went away from the pond, towards the treeline. Twilight stopped just as she was about to go into the trees and looked back, but this time looked above the pond, where the rocky cliff where her cave was jutted out of the forest. She had created a secret compartment deep withing the rock before leaving for the lake and teleported the book with her notes on the potion straight into the empty cube of air.

She tore her eyes away, pointlessly telling herself not to worry and that nothing would find it or destroy it.

Looking back into the forest Twilight didn’t move, delaying her departure yet again.

“I guess I’ll need a name, huh? I can’t call myself Twilight...for now.” She thought about it for a moment.

“What about Grayshine? Why not? It sounds nice, it's not foreign or noteworthy and it should let me blend in.” Twilight thought about it some more and then nodded. It fit.

Twilight took a last look at the clearing, then down at herself, and finally started her walk back towards Ponyville. It was time to leave.

The end of Twilight's life as a newborn changeling: The road ahead

Twilight looked down to the spot where the grass had a noticeable depression, illuminating it with the glow of her horn. She ran her hooves over it, savoring the familiar feeling. This had been where she and the girls would have their picnics. The forest here, while technically not part of the Everfree due to the mundane nature of its trees, still scared off most of Ponyville's inhabitants, and the hill had become somewhat of their spot.

The hill gave Twilight an excellent view of Ponyville from above, and where she was standing she could see the faint wisps of mana, illuminated by the moon, flow out from the trees and settle over the village, invigorating both ponies and plants. Twilight drank it all in, despite having been gone for less than a week it was almost like she’d been missing for an entire decade. Case in point the multiple wandering hamlets, nomadic pegasi cloud communities, which were anchored a short distance from the town itself.

‘That must have been where all those pegasi that helped out in the Everfree came from.’ Twilight thought, but her thoughts couldn’t be kept from Ponyville.

Bathed in the darkness of night it usually looked quiet, as if the village itself was sleeping, the streetlamps like fireflies. However, tonight it was different. The town hall was still lit, looking out of place in the quiet dark surrounding it, and if she strained her eyes she could see a crowd of ponies milling about.

“The fire they put out was rather large, wasn’t it?” Twilight said to herself as her head drooped slightly. She remained staring at the town hall, thinking about what was going on inside. For a moment being transported there herself.

Rainbow Dash had been one of the first ponies on the scene, so there was no way she wasn’t busy being the life of the party. If not that she was probably chatting with the other Pegasi, boasting and celebrating a job well done.

‘I wonder, did any Wonderbolts help?’ Twilight chuckled. ‘Then I hope they manage to stay away from Dash and her attempts at networking.’ Her chuckle progressed into a proper laugh. “Now that was a night to remember.” She loved the girl but sometimes she didn’t understand why Dash didn’t just join their boot camp if she wanted to be a part of them.

‘Rarity.’ Twilight looked over the town hall and focused on the third floor, where the meeting rooms were. They were the most decorated part of the town hall and the richer ponies usually preferred to mill around there when the town hall was hosting an event.

‘Rarity’s probably taking the opportunity for some high-class living.’ Twilight paused. ‘For Ponyville anyway.’ It was weird, Twilight knew that Rarity would do swimmingly well in Canterlot and yet she never even tried to leave for greener pastures.

‘Now Applejack would probably be right there in the middle of the crowd-,’ Twilight looked at the first floor. ’Joining whatever activity was at the center of the whole arrangement while Pinkie helped keep the party going.’ Twilight looked away from the town hall, to the dark streets outside, spying after a certain pegasus.

‘Maybe Fluttershy went home? The party looks a bit too big for her.’ It wouldn’t surprise her if she did, but she’d definitely stop by to see if Zecora was alright. ‘She might be shy but there’s no way she isn’t concerned for somepony who lost everything they had and almost died.’

And that just left one pony, or rather, zebra.
‘Zecora…’ Since the town was celebrating they couldn’t have discovered what happened to her. Twilight found herself wondering for just a moment if she should come clean and put the proper authorities on the case. The longer she kept this ruse going the higher the consequences were going to be.

But what would her friends do, what about her parents, her family? They would have to deal with being associated with somepony who committed one of the most atrocious crimes imaginable.

“What would Celestia say?” Twilight said, but she already knew what she’d do. Celestia wouldn’t scold her, damn her, call her a worthless excuse of a mage who let their desires lead to their friend’s soul being damaged. No, she’d look down and say nothing, worse, she’d probably think it was her own fault.

No, she couldn’t let that happen. She had to fix this. As she confirmed her decision she noticed that she had been hyperventilating. She went through her plan again, calming herself.

‘Walk through Ponyville, attract as little attention as possible, take the-’ She corrected herself, her inner applejack scolding her, ‘-hide myself on the midnight train and leave for Conflux where I’ll blend in easier.’ The benefit of having more love to feed on went unsaid and unthought.

She didn’t like breaking the law, it wasn’t fair for those working the train or those who took it. But she couldn’t take anything that she owned if she wanted to remain undetected and that included bits. She knew herself and she knew that if she found something amiss in her own house she would thoroughly investigate. And that meant that the changeling would too.

As she came down the hill, where the grass made way for a dirt path, and into Ponyville proper she was blasted by memories. The grassy, barely cobbled streets. The magical lights tended to and styled into dancing shapes by the old flame tender Yearning Roots. The quiet streets where you’d be hard-pressed to find anypony besides the occasional night owl. The smell of flowers and trees. The air which still bore hints of the past day. It was like every second of her life since coming here was playing out in her head.

As Twilight walked more and more of the things that gave Ponyville its identity came back to her and as if giving Twilight her old body back she could feel Ponyville remind her of how tired she was, like a parent looking out for their foal’s well being. She was so tired, and after all these days of unending stress, all she wanted to do was to get home and relax.

She opened the wooden door and stepped through, yawning. It took her a second to realize that she had wandered off from the path to the train station and had instead gone home, back to the library in the old oak.

‘I shouldn’t be here.’ Twilight thought as she looked across the library. She waited. “Hello?”

No response, just the distant sounds of partying that were spilling into the oak through the open door along with pale light. Twilight turned around and was about to go out and get back to the task at hand, but then she looked back, staring at the staircase that led to her room.

Twilight’s face, darkened by the contrast with the light coming in from the outside, remained still as the seconds dragged out and she started to feel something pull at the edges of her eyes.

‘Well, the midnight train won’t be leaving soon. There shouldn’t be any harm in looking.’ And so she stepped further into her home, each step slowly and rhythmically hitting the floor. Twilight almost instinctively flipped the light switch but stopped herself.

She looked back outside again and after steeling herself cast a simple illumination spell that had a gray hue to it, slightly lightening the room and casting long shadows on the walls. The way the shadows of the table, the potted plants, and the lone book stack stretched across the walls made the room look twice its actual size. And yet for a second Twilight saw the library as if it was fully lit and in business, the memories nearly replacing reality.

Hoofsteps echoed as she climbed the stairs, barely even using her eyes to navigate her way to her bedroom.

Twilight breathed in in slight surprise, as her bedroom looked almost like a hospital room. Her bed from the alcove above the bookshelves had been moved down to the floor. Medicaments were laid out on the nearby bed table and a large pitcher half-full of water sat on a chair near a large depression in the bed. There was also a pile of books on the other side of the bed with a chair next to them, mostly Daring Do with a couple of heavy encyclopedias spread within.

Twilight leafed through the books, enjoying the sound of paper in the still house. She chuckled as she saw several crinkles on the pages of Daring Do with an action scene and the scientific books having none of them. Twilight smiled, containing chuckles with her hoof. Without Twilight even noticing her horn lit up brighter and the books flew up all around her, each page separated and straightened as magic pressed them back into shape. Twilight yelped, almost dropping the books. She wasn’t supposed to do that.

‘It’s good that Dash discovered Daring Do.’ She thought, eying the growing book stack as she arranged it back to how it had been. Truth be told she was slightly impressed, some of the books in that pile had been very heavy and dry.

‘But that’s just like her, isn’t it?’ Twilight thought as she trotted over to the balcony, opening it to a fresh stream of night air. Stepping out, the sound of the party resumed, and she could see the town hall glow even obscured as it was by the rooftops. ‘Lazy and carefree all the way until her friends get in trouble. Although, Encyclopedias, really? Does she think I read those for fun?’ Twilight blushed, remembering her youth. ‘Well, I don’t do that anymore!’

Her balcony was also not like she’d left it. Her telescope, a trusty tool that could even see the stars in the hustle of Canterlot and that had been a reliable tool for years had been put away, the balcony feeling empty without it.

She gave the glow of the town hall another look, trying in vain to make out the obscured spire.

‘No, I can’t just leave like that. I have to, yes, I have to make sure that everypony is okay.’ Twilight told herself, and after taking a last look from her balcony went back inside, closing the doors behind her.

Before she left Twilight grabbed a copy of “Daring Do And The Golden Trail Of Great Barundo”. She looked down at the book, even now remembering how excited she had been as a filly when her mom had taken her to the Canterlot library for the first time and she had borrowed it.

She laughed, not even trying to contain it.

“I really should have remembered the hand-in date.” Her father had not been happy when he received that bill. It was awful, she wasn’t allowed to eat any of the mini-hayburgers for an entire week. “And that jerk Shining made sure that I saw him eat them. How he ever even thought of trying to play the maturity card on me after that is a real scientific mystery.” She levitated the book alongside her as she descended the steps, still smiling.

She’d already broken protocol, so Twilight wouldn’t deny herself this. Plus, she had made sure to not take from Dash’s stack so that she wouldn’t get blamed for the disappearance. She very well knew the unnecessary risk she was taking but at that moment it seemed insignificant.

‘I wonder, did my parents ever save the drawings I made for the book?’ Twilight wondered idly as she exited the house and carefully deposited the book inside the bush by her door. She cringed at the thought of the branches scraping against the covers, but right now she didn’t have a better place to put it.

Ponyville loved to celebrate. Heart's Warming, Winter Wrap Up, Nightmare Night, all were marked by large festivals and general merriment, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that Twilight found the party to be just as populated as it appeared from the outskirts. Kegs of cider had been brought out, music was playing from several old gramophones and Twilight had to remind herself not to look in the direction of three pegasi that should have positioned their cloud higher.

It was nice when ponies celebrated working together, it showed that they were one community that was always there for each other. In some ways, it was like a miniature of everything Celestia taught her and had built in Equestria.

The doors to the town hall were wide open, and nopony seemed bothered as Twilight stopped at the threshold.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the light inside. The whole floor had been converted to a sitting area, whereas the stage bore the signs of a band having played there earlier. However, by now the band had long since stopped playing, and instead, just like outside several hastily scattered gramophones were playing music. Nopony seemed to mind that some had been hijacked by others and were playing completely different songs than the majority.

Right above the podium hung a large scribbled banner: Congratulations to all those who helped quell the storm!

Even higher than that there were pegasi hanging out in the air, laughing and joking with each other with some even performing some very drunk racing and only barely avoiding crashing into the upper catwalks that led to the other facilities in the town hall. Twilight didn’t recognize a single one of them so she assumed they were from the wandering hamlets.

The party had quieted down, but ponies were still enjoying the almost sleepy atmosphere that was accompanied by full stomachs, buzzing heads, empty bottles, and the satisfaction of a night well spent.

Twilight continued looking around, searching for her friends and it didn't take her long to find them. Just beside the podium was a table where Zecora was sitting and happily chatting with her friends, curiously Rumble had joined them at the table, Rainbow Dash pointing at him with large gestures several times as the conversation continued. Everypony was talking back and forth and… she herself was sitting at that table, even being much more active than her friends in the conversation with Zecora.

Twilight kept staring at herself, she tried to find faults, like those she saw when she tried to get her old body back. But there were none. She had done a perfect job in replicating herself. She caught that Twilight displaying mannerism that she up until now didn’t consciously realize she even had. The disguise was flawless and there was no way that her friends would realize that anything was amiss. The changeling was Twilight.

Zecora's eyes wandered over the room as the conversation lulled, falling on her. Despite Zecora never having seen the gray unicorn mare, she instantly knew who it was, eyes dilating. For a moment Twilight was afraid that Zecora’s new adoration for her would lead to Zecora inadvertently revealing to everypony what she had done. But just as quickly as she had focused she looked away, as if she hadn’t noticed her at all. And just like that, the conversation at the table resumed.

‘Good. Zecora is blending in and so is the changeling.’ Twilight thought, and yet she didn’t feel relieved.

She reached out with her magic, across the room and farther than she normally would have been able to, imperceptibly clutching the impostor’s mind. She felt within it the magical anchor and the failsafe she had installed. One flick of the switch and the Changeling would be knocked out and instantly teleported back to her secret basement.

‘I’m sorry girls, I just realized that I forgot all about Zecora's gift and that I needed to check up on it. No girls, it’s not ready yet but you’ll be the first to know after Zecora! Now, where were we?’ She could imagine it, she’d assume her old form again and give Zecora one of those shielding charms that she’d broken when she was feral: a perfect gift. Nopony would suspect otherwise and she’d be back to her normal life. All it would take was one simple switch.

Twilight let go of it, turning around only to get a faceful of fur from the local meathead, Bulk Biceps.

“Sorry lady! I Didn’t see you there!” The burly pegasus shouted, backing up.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry.” Twilight said, moving past the pegasus and leaving the party, the sounds fading behind her to be overtaken by the quiet ambiance of Ponyville.

The streets seemed more lonely than they were when she arrived. As if the shadow stretched out further away from the lampposts and the alleys disappeared into pitch-black darkness. Even the colors of the Daring Do book she’d taken looked less vibrant when she stopped by her oak to pick it up.

By the time she was at the train station, the late-night train had already arrived. It wasn’t very large, mostly carrying the seasonal produce and various parcels as well as the occasional traveler, although tonight nopony sat in the carriages. The only other pony besides Twilight anywhere near the platform was a young and tired pegasus, shuffling in with another load of parcels attached to his harness, which he mindlessly unclasped with a wing and loaded on the train.

The stallion barely even glanced in Twilight's direction as she sat down on the sole bench, the old lamp above humming as it illuminated her in a moldy yellow light. Her head was empty, and all she did as she waited for the stallion to finish loading the last parcels was watch the two flies that buzzed around the bulb.

The stallion finished in a huff, sliding the door to the cart shut and locking it. The sound woke Twilight from her trance and she paid attention as the pegasus disappeared into the train station proper. A second later an announcement came from the loudspeaker.

“Attention, everypony.” The tired voice of the pegasus came through. “The train is departing for Conflux in five minutes.” The pegasus yawned and ended the broadcast. That was Twilight’s cue.

Looking again to make sure that nopony was around Twilight cast her teleport spell, disappearing in a flash of light from the terminal and appearing inside an empty open-roofed cart.

The minutes passed by in silence until the train finally started chugging along, and the clouds and stars above started to move with it. The book slowly flew into the least dirty part of the cart and then Twilight finally let herself lay down.

Twilight stared at the old back wall as the metallic sounds of steel wheels rolling over tracks grew louder.

Not being able to take it anymore she cast a remote eye spell and had it ascend to where it could see over the walls. There Ponyville and the visiting hamlets grew smaller and smaller as the train gained speed and distance and headed out into the smaller farms that lay outside Ponyville proper. Just to the side, she saw Canter Mountain in the distance, the capital like a glowing and shining waterfall that spilled from the castle high above the clouds to the very base of the mountain.

‘What is Celestia doing?’ Twilight thought, remembering her old mentor’s routine from when she was still her student. Had she changed anything since then? Did she now regularly spend some exclusive time with her sister? Did she get a new hobby? Was she just sleeping?

Twilight’s thoughts kept wandering from Canterlot to Ponyville and back. She thought about the last few months, the gray nights, the monotone routine, and what it had led her to: the past few days of frantic action that had Zecora’s soul being mauled.

Was it worth it? Was her situation really that bad? Couldn’t she have confided her state to somepony else? She had many ponies to confide in after all: Celestia, her family, her friends, Cadence and so many other ponies that she knew. And now just because she couldn’t open up, just because she couldn’t trust anypony with her problem she was forced to leave all those ponies behind to go accomplish a task nopony had done before.

While she wouldn’t give up, and she wouldn’t complain, she had messed up and she would heal Zecora, and nobody besides Zecora had any right to complain in this situation, she couldn't quite get Zecora's words out of her head. What Zecora told her back in the cave did hold some weight. If the princesses themselves couldn’t heal a soul then how could she?

‘It doesn’t matter what they can or can’t do, I am not them.’ Twilight thought, resolute. All ponies had a connection to their cutie mark once they got them, and despite her change Twilight could still feel hers, even if it didn’t show up on her flank. That star was biological proof of her aptitude, it was proof that she could succeed where others failed and it meant that if she put her mind to it she could accomplish her mission. No matter what the world threw at her she could take it and throw it right back, just as she had already done several times.

‘But now your friends are not here.’ A treacherous thought said. ‘And the secrets of soul magic are guarded by much more than a sleepy dragon.’ Twilight kept staring at Ponyville. ‘Redcloak the Racketeer, Chill Peak, and Hoisting Fane, all of them looked for the secrets of the soul but all of them died in their quest. And it wasn’t only greed and arrogance that caused them to fail. Chill Peak wasn’t seeking power for himself and he also took every precaution, but that didn’t stop his village from being petrified.’ The train Twilight was on went over a hill and Ponyville disappeared from view. Twilight dismissed the remote eye and was greeted again by the worn cart wall.

‘Will I also die?’ Twilight thought, staring up to where the stars kept flying overhead.

Twilight's life as an assistant 1: Towards Conflux

Being a stowaway wasn’t easy, as Twilight very soon discovered. The lack of seats and the rough metal floor made it unpleasant to sit or lie down, and the lack of windows led to long stretches of utter boredom where all she could do was stare at the sky above and revisit thoughts she already had a hundred times before. To make matters worse she had to endure the alien yet familiar feeling of her love reserves burning away, a constant reminder that she wasn’t a pony anymore. At the very least she could make do with the fact that she still had her magic and didn’t need to do her business in a corner.

Then there was the matter of the book. At one point Twilight almost wanted to burn it, even if she knew that the book was blameless. She had planned incessantly in the Everfree about what she would do and how to make sure that absolutely NOPONY would know anything was amiss. And what did she do just before leaving? Not only did she decide to take a book, but one that the fake Twilight might actually search for! Twilight knew she would go mad looking for it, analyzing every nook and cranny of the library trying to find something that she knew should be there. And if she would do it then so would the fake Twilight. That was why the book remained alone, untouched, in a clean but distant corner of the gray carriage and why Twilight was left bored to death for most of the trip.

The only reprieve from the boredom Twilight got were the hourly checkups. With the remote-eye spell, she took quick snapshots of the outside, using them to gauge the train’s progress and any upcoming stops. It was the only entertainment Twilight allowed herself, and even then, each time she cast the spell she felt as if that was the time she’d be caught. But the necessity of not remaining blind to her surroundings and the logical side of her mind reassuring her that nopony would see her so far away from everything kept her motivated to use it again and again.

Her fear would spike whenever she saw a train station approaching, so much so that the first few times the train came to a stop she wasted her energy casting invisibility spells to fool any inspectors or loaders. Nopony ever came, but Twilight’s fear of getting caught whenever the train stopped never truly went away, and she never slept without setting up a magical alarm. The closest she ever came to seeing sompony was when she heard the muted sounds of two ponies chatting to each other next to her carriage when the train stopped to refuel and to restock its food and water.

Twilight’s nights became another reminder of how much had changed after she didn’t feel the soft touch of Luna’s magic even once. It wasn’t uncommon for Luna’s wake not to reach everypony in one night, and other races felt it much less than a pony. Yet not once since she had become a changeling had she felt the calming aura of her presence, and despite only recently having gotten used to it, having it taken away made her feel cold nonetheless. She still dreamed, and she thanked Celestia for that, but her dreams were much more chaotic and nonsensical. It was as if Luna hadn’t returned at all.

Twilight’s slow routine, peppered with anxiety, continued for two days as the train curved around the northern edges of the Everfree and turned southwards, where the grass grew several shades more yellow and the winds picked up.

Twilight’s half-resolve half-resentment to not read the book she brought along almost broke on the third day, as her unending boredom forced her to realize how childish she was being and that reading the book or not wouldn’t change anything. However, her knowledge of the train’s timetable prevented her from enjoying the last part of her trip. After all, she would soon be in Conflux and she needed to focus.

The first signs of Conflux didn’t come until the early morning of the next day, however, when Twilight caught a sign in one of her checkups that had increased in frequency since she woke up.

“Welcome to Conflux County”
Upon reading it Twilight let out a breath that she felt like she’d been holding in since Ponyville. She was almost there. In the back of her mind, she started preparing a teleport as she kept scouting the outside.

Twilight had to be more careful this close to a city. She had to hide her spell from other trains and anypony in the buildings overlooking the tracks. She could only briefly scan the rapidly urbanizing landscape as the train entered the greater limits of Conflux, where vineyards and fruit orchards overtook the vast plains of middle Equestria.

Twilight’s body protested as her horn braced itself to teleport, breaking her concentration. It wanted her to rest, to not spend more time exhausting herself walking to the city. It saw how distant the spires of Conflux still were and could already feel the aches from walking the distance, of how much energy she would waste. Her hunger too chimed in, insisting that she wait and find somepony to siphon for love.

But her mind proved too strong for the cravings of her new body. Remaining in the cart and disembarking close to the central train station would attract much more attention than it would be worth, especially in a city that lived and prided itself on transportation. She had to be discreet and avoid a repeat of the library. She could not be caught.

Her instincts faded into a distant buzz as Twilight regained her concentration and braced herself again, levitating up the Daring Do book and holding it close to her chest. She cast the remote-eye spell once more but this time didn’t dismiss it right afterward.

‘Okay, steady now.’ The houses whizzed past outside, without any place to discreetly teleport into. ‘Remember, don’t trust your feelings, trust the process.’ Twilight saw a rapidly approaching dirt hill through the spell, separating a row of buildings from the railway.

The spell went off and Twilight momentarily felt a connection to the outside, to a place at the bottom of the dirt hill that was far enough away from the tracks. Then her body went numb and she fell out of reality.

Without flinching, Twilight started going through a mental checklist. She made sure not to look at her surroundings. She sent out a slew of tethers all around her, missing with each one. The next volley shared the same fate. Again and again, she fired them off as she floated and fell and twisted and made absolutely sure not to look and try to understand.

After the twenty-fifth volley, one of Twilight’s tethers pierced something, and the first actual feeling that she had received in what seemed like forever bloomed through the magical cord. She solidified the tether and pulled, repeating the process as her body went up and down simultaneously even as she neared the point her tether had attached itself to.

Her transition back to real space came nauseatingly quick, and then it was as if she had always been there, lying on the dirt. The memory of her time in the aether rapidly becoming a distant, faded memory, as if she had dreamt of the whole thing.

Twilight couldn’t help but shoot a self-content smile as she stood up, not even needing to regain her balance.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” She said. Unlike a usual teleport where the tether between the two rifts was established before entering the aether, the variation she’d used let a pony tether to the exit in the aether itself. It was dangerous and took more time, but it also let the caster completely ignore the relative movement of them and their destination. And Twilight had performed it perfectly, again.

“Wait, I can’t forget!” Twilight suddenly remembered the most common complaint she had with the spell, but like usual it came to her far too late.

“Okay-okay, white void, no, grey, no that’s not right either. Maybe a blue?” She muttered. “Come on Twilight!” But the harder she thought about the aether the more it slipped from her until she was left with nothing of her memories in the aether, again. A pony’s brain was not good at remembering the aether, and it seemed that it wasn’t any different for a Changeling.

Twilight sighed, it wasn’t surprising, but she had always held a faint hope of one day being able to recall something substantial. However, even after several experiments, all she had were notebooks filled with incoherent scribbles. Not that anypony had managed much else, but that didn’t make it any better for her.

“I guess it doesn’t matter right now.” Twilight said, and despite a repeat failure, she didn’t remain disappointed for long. In the distance, the train was growing smaller and smaller as it disappeared behind a turn, and it took the noise that had accompanied Twilight for days with it. She was left alone, with nothing but the sound of distant activity. She was now in Conflux, she had made it.

She scrambled over the dirt hill and for the first time in her life got a view of Conflux, the inner Vanhoover.

While many of Equestria's larger cities bore obvious marks of expansion, none so were as overt as Conflux. Being one of the fastest-growing cities in Equestria left it without any sort of established core for the city to grow around. Instead, the yellow-beige buildings made out a vast sprawl far below Twilight, across the three banks of the two rivers that met and merged into the “Confluence”. The sprawls grew intermittently denser and petered out, but never devolved into an overstuffed shantytown. The lack of a core, however, was being aggressively rectified by the still ongoing construction of the two aerodromes.

The gargantuan buildings, shaped like the stumps of titanic trees, rose from the river’s banks to touch the sky, dwarfing the city even as the buildings surrounding the Aerodromes tried their best to catch up to their neighbor in height.

Only one of the Aerodromes was approaching completion, the building finished yet one side devoid of the marble coating, statues, and ornamentation of the other side. The second Aerodrome was still having its wall constructed, leaving a good chunk of the insides bare for all to see. But their incompleteness didn’t mean that they weren’t used, quite the contrary.

Thanks to the missing wall Twilight could, even from her spot kilometers away from the Aerodrome, see the hive of activity that filled the insides. Hundreds of airships and dirigibles arrived and departed, creating faint trails in the sky which left and came into the city from all cardinal directions, merging with the larger ones from the more finished Aerodrome.

It wasn’t Canterlot, but to Twilight, who had lived in Ponyville for what felt like decades, it was still somewhat of a shock, especially since unlike Canterlot one could see the entire extent of the city at once.

‘No wonder ponies compare this to Vanhoover.’ Twilight thought, now suddenly finding it funny how the quiet housing surrounding her was part of the same busy hive that was Conflux. Taking on a more serious expression Twilight analyzed the city. It was just as the books had described it: large, unestablished, frequented by travelers, and very busy. It was perfect.

Realizing she had something brown in her vision, Twilight was startled to see black hair mottled with brown patches of mud, but she quickly calmed down, realizing it was just her own body.

‘How do changelings ever get used to switching bodies so often?’ Twilight wondered, and as she looked over her body again she noticed how dirty she had become from her landing, and the Daring Do book had shared a similar fate.

‘Okay, maybe my execution of the spell wasn’t quite perfect.’ Twilight thought as the glow she’d been enjoying since her success disappeared. ‘Next time I’ll get the landing right.’

Twilight saw nopony on the road beyond the buildings. Even so, she ducked behind the hill, eager to test a theory she had toyed with on the train. Two green flames ran down the length of her body, a patch of black chitin between them that was soon replaced by fur. After the flame was done a clean pony remained, all the dirt and mud having fallen to the ground.

“Yes! It works.” Twilight marveled at how quickly she had become clean. ‘Definitely something to remember for later.’

A simple cleaning spell went down the cover of Twilight’s book, and it was as if it had never been dirtied in the first place.

Now that she and her sole possession were in a presentable state, Twilight finally crested the dirt hill and set off towards Conflux proper. It was time to find a job.

Author's Note

This chapter was a bit hard to wrangle into a presentable state, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. If everything goes as planned I should have the next chapter out in less than three months, unlike this one.