Okay, that's the third teleport I've gone through in less than an hour. By Celestia, this is getting really disorienting!

But that annoyance soon fades as I take in my new surroundings. At that moment, annoyance gets replaced with a deeper chill in my soul when I notice I am surrounded by the Everfree Forest again. That in itself does not surprise me, but something about this area feels especially off. Maybe it is the clustered way the trees are grouped together which lets in even less light than usual. Maybe it is the primal magic I sense in the environment. Maybe it is the smell that I can't really identify even though it does conjure up feelings of emptiness, pain, and madness, or maybe it is the fact that this area of the forest is dead silent. Other than the wind, I hear no living creatures about. No insects. No animals. Nothing living seems to be here except Starlight, me, and the trees but they are not being too chatty.

“Stay close to me,” Starlight demands of me. “Just let me do the talking and do exactly as I say at all times.”

“I thought the point of me coming is to give you tips if you're making progress with him or not,” I remind her. “Otherwise, why am I here?”

“You can give me those tips if and when I ask for them,” Starlight clarifies as she ignites her horn with magic and carefully scans about the area with her eyes. Maybe she also scans the area with her magic.

“You are also here to be a little insurance policy,” she goes on to say, “although I'm not exactly sure how that's going to be.” She looks at me. “Still, I can't deny that you have a connection with him right now, except the important thing to remember is the fact that you're on my side.” She looks about again. “I can't deny the chance that you might spot or realize something that I might miss. Even the most minute of details could make a significant difference in this encounter.”

Starlight suddenly whips her head to her left and gazes in that direction while on high alert. It's as if she notices something in that direction that might be alarming.

“What is it?” I ask nervously.

Starlight narrows her eyes in that direction as she says, “I have detected trace signatures of the enchanted dust I had hidden on my temporal clone. She's vanished now but what she left behind is still there for me to detect.”

Starlight turns then trots in the direction she is looking.

We search around for about twenty minutes before we spot something really creepy. At the base of the hill we search, one side if it morphs out of our way. It looked like a normal rock for a moment but then it melts away as if it was actually made of flesh. With it out of the way, it reveals a new opening in the ground.

“It seems he's inviting us in,” Starlight notes aloud. “This definitely means he's aware of our presence.”

“Does this change our plans?” I ask the lilac mare nervously.

Starlight shakes her head before she replies, “This was never meant to be a stealth operation. I want him to notice us coming because I want to talk to him.”

Starlight seems thoughtful then looks at me with worry as she announces, “This is your last chance to back out. Are you sure you want to proceed?”

I gulp nervously but I also harden the resolve in my eyes. To answer her question, I tell her, “This guy seems to respect fellow changelings above all other races. He once confronted me just to scare me and warn me, but he otherwise didn't harm me.” I look at her. “If I'm present, he may be more inclined to talk rather than attack. I think my mere presence may offer you some protection.”

Starlight looks back into the small cave as she says, “Let's hope you're right. I was counting on that fact too.” She takes a deep breath, releases it slowly, then says with determination, “Alright. Let's move.”

For a brief moment, the fear in me causes me to question why the two of us are proceeding in alone without the backup of any of our other friends, but then I recall the fact that it's too difficult to trust any of them right now. We were lucky just to find and verify each other, but it would take too long to properly test everypony else. We could use the Friendship Map to properly test the identity of everypony we care about, but we'd have to do it one by one and, during that time, this guy might prepare too many counter moves such as finding and relocating Starlight's enchanted dust. Other important countermeasures might get in place too if we wait too long, so we have to go now while some element of surprise is still somewhat in place.

He may be a great strategist, but there's only so much he can do against completely unexpected surprises.

The tunnel we crawl in soon widens out into an underground labyrinth. Only here we do finally find other signs of life. In this case, it is a bunch of creepy insects of various kinds, but I eventually notice that there's pattern among them. They are mostly carrion-type insects. Whatever they are feeding off of, it is unlikely to be alive anymore.

I notice us shudder in strong discomfort because of the close proximity of the tiny natives. Our fur practically stands on end and we hiss through tightly clenched teeth. We also glance at each other to confirm our partner feels the same way.

“Starlight . . .” I whine very nervously.

“I know,” Starlight acknowledges with a similar tense voice. “I wish Fluttershy was with us right now. She can tell either us or them something to relieve the situation. Also, if she were here, she can talk to them and possibly get us directions.

“But I am here and I am not useless. I still detect which direction the traces I left are coming from, plus I can do this.”

I see energy wrap around Starlight's horn for a second before it explodes away from her. When that happens, a two-foot hemispherical barrier now surrounds her. I am standing close enough to her to be within the barrier. I also notice the fact that I don't get pushed out, but it does happen to any tiny insects nearby.

“This should protect us,” Starlight says semi-confidently, “unless some of them aren't what they appear. In any case, stay close to me and stay within the barrier.”

“You don't have to tell me twice!” I squeak.

We continue our way through the creepy tunnels and it's twisting labyrinth. All along, Starlight has the ability to detect where we need to go presumably, but that knowledge does not give us an exact course. Sometimes we have to double back and find a new route towards Starlight's magical beacon.

As we continue, the environment gets only creepier, like something out of a nightmare. In addition to crawling insects, which only get more numerous as we continue, we eventually also spot black, pulsing, fleshy-looking vines on the walls, floor, and ceiling.

At first I grow greatly alarmed at the sight of them because I suspect they are the same black vines that once attacked Ponyville many years ago. If I'm right, then we have to stop using our magic now because those vines can curse our magic to make it go haywire.

But, upon closer inspection, we eventually realize this is something different. These vines are a lot thinner and slimy. They also see them pulse a bit, especially the fleshy-looking veins within them.

“What are these disgusting things?” I ask with a wince of revulsion.

Starlight shakes her head as she says, “I don't know, but they are giving me the willies. For some reason I also suspect it is a sign we are getting close to our destination.”

As we continue our journey, these black fleshy vines only grew more numerous. As they do so, we start to notice a sludgy sound surround us more and more. It makes our hides crawl to hear.

But other than that sound, the insects, and each other, we hear eerily hear nothing else for quite some time.

Until, all of the sudden, we hear a casual whistling tune echo within the tunnels. Since I recognize it from my nightmares and that one time I openly encountered one of this guy's clones, I shudder deeply.

“Do you hear that?” Starlight asks as she stops in alarm.

I nod as I say, “It's him! It's him, it's him, it's him!” I tell Starlight in fright. “I recognize that whistle and that tune from my nightmares. That's definitely him!”

“Stay calm,” Starlight commands me. “Don't reveal that he's getting to you.”

“Actually, that is what he wants,” I argue. “If we show fear, he won't attack. Instead, he'll be satisfied by just whistling.”

Before we teleported here, I already told Starlight that this guy can feed off of fear, unlike a normal changeling, although he does draw stronger nutrition from feeding off of love. Because I informed her of that, it is equally clear to her why he’s trying to evoke that reaction in both of us.

“I know it's difficult, but don't give him what he wants too easily,” Starlight orders me. “Make him work for it. As long as he doesn't completely succeed but it looks like he has a chance to succeed, he'll continue that tactic without ramping it up.”

In response, I nod in agreement.

Despite how terrifying our present situation is, I can't believe how much courage I've developed over these past few weeks. This is not even close to how frightening our situation had to be to scare the living daylights out of me a few weeks ago.

The thing is, I'm not too sure if this is an improvement. Having more courage can make life easier in a general sense, but our species has fear for a very good reason. This guy isn't just well trained to evoke fear. He can inflict pain and death too with an equal or even greater amount of ease. There's no other way to look at it. We really are in extreme danger right now!

“WE CAN HEAR YOU!” Starlight cries aloud. “AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID!”

“Speak for yourself!” I am tempted to cry out but I keep my mouth shut. Starlight knows her claim probably sounds and is absurd, but maybe she has a strategy behind her claim and I don't want to ruin it by disputing her.

“I AM STARLIGHT GLIMMER!” my older partner calls aloud. “AND I'VE COME TO BARGAIN. PLEASE DON'T BE AFRAID TO REVEAL YOURSELF. WE JUST WANT TO TALK.”

The only response we get is we hear even more of the whistle's tune pick up in perfect sync with the first. The echoes they both cause also distort their true position.

“PLEASE! WE JUST WANT TO TALK FACE TO FACE!” Starlight loudly pleads.

In response, far more whistling tunes pick up. They join together as if to deliberately drown out Starlight's outcry. I am well aware, as I am sure Starlight is as well, that this is also meant to be a reminder that we are vastly outnumbered down here.

Fear threatens to break me when I receive flashbacks to Raven's imaginary sparring match against dream foes in The Room. I know that a dream can be distorted but there seemed to be very realistic conditions within that dream. Time moved at its normal apparent rate and gravity felt just as heavy and real. If what he did was even half true the way I saw it in that dream, we may be far outmatched by even one of those deadly clones and there's a whole army of them up ahead!

I know that we would have been in a better negotiating standpoint if we could enter this place from a position of strength. If we lack that, we don't have this guy's respect.

Still, I have to remind myself that Starlight is telling the truth. We didn't come here to fight so it doesn't matter how strong, magical, numerous, or skilled he is. The real victory condition here is to convince him why it isn't even necessary for us to fight. If we can leave this cave while making him our friend, then all the power he has can only be to our mutual advantage.

So, in other words, the real battle will be fought with words.

Beside me, I see Starlight grimace because she realizes she's being ignored right now but it might be a negotiation tactic.

Regardless, I continue to see the fire of determination in her eyes so I know she's far from giving up yet.

“COME ON, SWEETIE BELLE,” Starlight has to call loudly to be heard over the ear-piercing sound of what sounds like thousands whistling in complete unison and further enhanced by the acoustics of the cave. “LET'S CONTINUE. IF HE WON'T LISTEN TO US YET, WE'LL HAVE TO MAKE HIM LISTEN.”

“OKAY!” I shout back in order to be heard.

We bravely trot on.

The next sign of progress we get is when we enter a cave full of noxious fumes. We can still breathe but our lungs burn a little. I get the feeling that if I morph my lungs a certain way, I'd be immune to the poison cloud’s effects, but I don't have the knowledge it takes to know exactly what form that should be. Even if I figure it out, Starlight has no such advantage.

Instead of that, she tightens her force field in order to keep the fumes out, but that only means her shield is now air-tight. We're working with a two-foot radius bubble of air right now. That's not going to sustain us for long.

What makes the situation feel worse is that the noxious gas is visible. Specifically, it takes the form of a black cloud, sort of like smoke except I know it's not smoke. The smell doesn't match it. This black gas is being spewed from several cracks in the ground with an apparently random pattern.

In addition to the fume’s toxic qualities, it limits our visibility even further. We previously used Starlight's horn to light our way and I eventually added my own, but now the only thing our light is doing is illuminating the black cloud around us.

Aside from all that, what's eerier than being surrounded by ear-piercing whistling is the sudden silence after it. It comes with absolutely no warning. It just instantly stops while in the middle of the tune.

This causes us to freeze as we look around, wondering why the sudden change. Our eyes can barely penetrate the black cloud around us. We don't see much, and yet we can feel eyes staring from all around.

Once again, it makes our hides crawl, or at least it does for me.

“I would speak with you,” Starlight calls out into the darkness that surrounds us. “I've come to bargain.”

I am shaking and I realize I'm doing it too much to hide it.

Off the corner of my eye, I notice Starlight's legs are shaking a bit too. When I see that, this causes me to remember that, although Starlight seems to be a very powerful mare compared to me, she is still very much mortal and fallible. She has very real thoughts and feelings just like anypony else and that means she's not immune to fear. Instead, she chooses to face it with practiced courage.

Seeing that calms me down a bit. For some reason, I feel a little less afraid knowing that I'm not the only one to have this reaction. We may be in grave danger, but her reaction also validates my feelings.

I jolt, startled, when I see glowing red eyes ignite about fifteen feet ahead of us. Moments later, more pairs of eyes like that ignite all around us. They surround us and stare at us with a hard, analyzing glare, but they make no other movement or sound.

“Good to know I have your attention now,” Starlight calls out to them as she sweeps her gaze across them. “As I said, I am Starlight Glimmer, and I have come to bargain. If you choose to continue to hold your silence then at least listen. Gathering information is your forte, after all, and I have come to offer it willingly. No doubt that is why you permitted us to enter your lair.”

Starlight pauses a moment as if giving them an opportunity to respond, but they don't take it.

“Alright,” Starlight says with a nod of acceptance. “Then just listen. While you do so, know that your scare tactics and mind tricks shall not avail you. I'm a pretty bright pony myself and I have had some experience with both leadership and psychology as I'm sure you're well aware.”

Starlight pauses again but not as long this time. During that time, those red eyes just keep staring at us, unmoving and unblinking.

“First of all, thanks for letting us come here,” Starlight says with a brief bow. “I know it's probably not entirely welcome, but it's still appreciated.

“Secondly, and likely far more importantly, I know what you are up to. I know why you are doing all of this,” Starlight says with a grand wave of a hoof. “I was told about the danger to your species and how you can't breed other than Queen Chrysalis. I know you want to find a way to solve this problem, but what you probably don't know is that we can help!” she proclaims as she applies a lilac hoof to her chest. “You don't have to keep working on this alone. You don't have to keep struggling in the shadows. If we join together, we can help each other,” she offers.

There's no apparent reaction from those around us. They just continue to eerily stare at us. The longer they do it, the more uncomfortable it gets and it already started off pretty strong.

“Something is wrong,” I hear Raven whisper in my ear. “Don't react! Just keep staring the way you were before.”

It's as if he can read my mind. I really was about to widen my eyes in surprise.

“I can read your mind, doofus,” Raven sneers. “I'm in your mind. Remember? If you want to respond, then just think.”

“All of this subterfuge isn't necessary,” Starlight pleads. “The only thing we ponies want is mutual harmony. We don't wish to be hurt but we don't wish that fate on others either. You've must have studied our behavior and our history before. It speaks for itself.”

“I know fear is a common tactic for my original self, but something seems off,” Raven reports to me.

But silence does seem to be in character for him, I think. One can afflict a lot of fear in silence. You said that yourself. How is whatever he's doing any different?

“I can't quite put my hoof on it, but he isn't behaving in a way that matches my memories. Now I admit my memories aren't perfect, but he's already done something that is out of character.

“You should also consider your environment. There are bugs everywhere. There are noxious fumes, and there are black tentacle-like things around. None of this is an accident. They are here for a reason and I don't think it's to deceive the two of you. Perhaps it could be, but these things seem well established which means they were here long before you two arrived. If that's the case, what purpose does it serve?

“Whatever that is, it likely is information he didn't want to tip-off.”

The vines? The smoke? The bugs? We also know that some of the Mirror Pool is somewhere close by. The slime cocooned victims are probably also nearby too.

“The slime is also organic matter,” Raven informs me. “There are certain kinds of bugs that can feed off of it but not all of them, and it certainly doesn't explain all the varieties of insects we have seen in this cave.”

Starlight continues to try to negotiate with her ever silent hosts, but I continue to listen to Raven since he might be informing me of very important information.

“Back at the hive, those kinds of insects are sometimes regarded as pests,” Raven informs me. “It usually depends upon the priority of the captured target. It's just too difficult to get rid of them completely so we usually tolerate them, but the number of bugs I've seen in this cave is too numerous. It's as if no effort was taken to eliminate or control them. Does that mean our enemy can't? If so, then that might be useful intel.

“Some bugs eat other bugs, but the cycle has to start somewhere. To explain this many in the cave, they have to be feeding off some organic source and, whatever it is, it's in good supply.”

The changeling slime? You did tell me that some bugs fed off them before and some effort was used to manage their population. If no effort was spent here then perhaps this is the natural consequence.

“But that doesn't explain the vines or the fumes,” Raven points out. “Both of them are organic, too. That isn't smoke you're seeing out there. It's something else, and the closest thing I can think of is it's like the natural carbon dioxide living creatures expel when they breathe, except this isn't carbon dioxide. Whatever it is, it is a byproduct of a similar source. Something organic is expelling that after each breath.”

“Everything you've done in here is unnecessary,” Starlight assures. “The Hive will welcome you back. Thorax's pack will welcome you back. I know you don't consider it the same as when you left, but don't you see? That's exactly why they need you! Your distrust and training can help them stay battle-ready, but at the same time, there is strength in numbers and that includes the alliances they have made since.”

What does this all mean? How are the vines, smoke, and bugs connected here? Some of these things seem downright unique to this area. For instance, I have never seen these vines elsewhere, although they closely resemble the ones that attacked Ponyville.

Maybe they are the vines that attacked Ponyville but somehow changed? Somehow adapted to suit this changelings purpose?

“It doesn't have to be the actual vines. A changeling can assume any form,” Raven informs. “We can even assume imaginary forms, but if we're after a specific ability, it is more likely we adapt a form from something we encountered before that has that ability.

“In the Everfree Forest, there is a good chance for my original self to have encountered those black vines before. It is possible he tamed them, but if he wants them for a specific purpose, it is far more likely he'd change his form to match them then adapt that form to something specific.”

Once again I struggle not to widen my eyes in realization as it dawns on me that we could be standing on and surrounded by a shapeshifted changeling all along. The other thing that is disturbing is to consider the sheer amount that's required to create this much organic matter all around us.

I don't know if the magic of the Mirror Pool is limited but magic usually is. Lots of teachers told me that, including Starlight.

“That is true,” Raven agrees. “As miraculous as it is, magic, too, is a finite resource, at least the kinds that we mortals can access and create. The strongest kind of magic that exists in the world is the kind produced in nature and that is because it comes from nature. While that is vast, it is still limited.

“Most likely some of the water from the Mirror Pool is consumed to create each clone. The water that is within each clone is the water from the Pool which is formed into a specific shape.

“If you think about it, the power of the Mirror Pool is not unlike a changeling. For good reason, we used to be called Mirror Monsters.”

“Since the survival of your race is the most important thing to you, why not use the tactic that has the greatest odds of success?” Starlight proposes. “Friends are far more useful than slaves because friends are willingly loyal. Such a relationship actively seeks ways to improve the quality of life together.”

Starlight and I stiffen when we finally start to notice more of a reaction out there. Specifically, we hear some shuffling about. At first we don't know what it is until we see more movement ahead of us. The red eyes ahead of us bobs and weaves a bit as if making way for something to pass between them. After that, one of the red eyes takes a few steps closer. It pauses for a brief moment before a light ignites ahead of us. Unlike Starlight's and my horns, however, we see a pair of gossamer, bug-like wings ignite ahead of us. The illumination is strong enough to reveal two new bodies.

Of the two, one is smaller and it is immediately recognizable as myself. That version of me seems very groggy and uncomfortable.

But due to my enhanced perception and recognition of subtle body language, I quickly realize that the white filly ahead of us is not really me but rather Button Mash!

What is perhaps more alarming is the changeling that's holding Button. This changeling has taken a form that resembles Fluttershy except the wings are more like a changeling, the wings are glowing, and the eyes are too large and bloodshot. The eyes also look more sunken into the skull and are surrounded by a black ring. The eyes even cry tears of blood. Her mouth is open which reveals tall rows of jagged teeth. Blood also leaks through the teeth and around her mouth. She looks at us with an absolutely crazed expression. One of her hooves, the left in this case, has also taken the form of a bladed scythe that she's holding close to the neck of Button. Close enough, in fact, to draw a little bit of blood.

“That's Button Mash,” I whisper a warning to Starlight who glances at me for a second, nods at me in acknowledgment, then looks back at the changeling that is holding Button captive.

“What is this meant to prove?” Starlight asks as she gestures to Button for a brief moment. “You already had us surrounded. You don't need any more of an advantage to make your point. I was already cooperative.”

The fake, monstrous-looking Fluttershy snaps her neck sideways with a very creepy look that sort of resembles a look of curiosity except she did it so quickly and so severely that we could hear her neck snap, and yet she continues to stand.

“You don't need a hostage!” Starlight insists. “I already know you have plenty in this cave already in the slime cocoons. If that wasn't enough, there is everypony that is around the clones you control. Believe me, I have no interest in antagonizing you so there is no need for this. There is no need for violence.”

In response, the monstrous Fluttershy snaps her head back up straight, drops her jaw too low to be natural, then gives a multi-tonal scream.

At the same time, the same kind of scream issues from all of those around us, including the ones we can't see.

Both Starlight and I intensely wince at this. To help counter this attack, I morph the passageway to my eardrums to deliberately narrow it and thereby reduce the painful sonic attack that surrounds me.

All of this screaming also stirs Button awake. He shakes my head to clear it then looks around himself to determine where he is. He then looks up behind him to see who is holding him.

When Button does that, the monstrous Fluttershy snaps her gaze back at him for a second before quickly lowering her head at the speed of a cobra snake in order to bite his head off.

But, fortunately for us, Button reflexively responds by using my magic to teleport away and join us inside Starlight's protective bubble.

I am so stunned that I can barely think. That changeling clone just tried to kill my coltfriend and in my body, no less. The changeling didn't ask for anything, make any threats or demands. It just attacked. Why? Where is the tactical advantage in that?

Also, Wow, Button Mash! Even I can barely cast that spell! In my whole life, I only pulled that off exactly once, and that was during the Appleloosa County Fair when a pet of two foals we met, Bloofy, started spinning about as a giant, artificial tornado. Specifically, I had to save Biscuit from being torn about by the tornado.

But, when I did it, I burned out my horn for quite a while and I got a splitting headache for a few minutes.

Conversely, Button barely knows how to use my magic at all, and he pulls off that spell?

The changeling ahead of us bit into empty air where Button was so hard that her sharp teeth pierces her own gums and lips, thus causing her to bleed even more. She slowly looks back up at us with the same crazed look that drips blood from her eyes and especially the mouth.

“Why did you attack Button?!” Starlight cries out at the changeling who attacked him. “We come in peace! There is no need for this!”

“FEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRR!” many or all of the changelings around us cry out in unison. “I CAN TASTE YOUR FEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRR . . . AND IT . . . IS DELICIOUS!”

“Now I'm certain something is wrong!” Raven promises me. “They are not behaving like my original self.”

I wonder if Raven is sure because he's used fear tactics like this before.

“Yes, but it was always in pursuit of an agenda,” Raven elaborates. “This is different. They are truly feral.”

Now I do widen my eyes as I ask aloud, “Why? Why would they be feral?”

“Huh?” Starlight asks me. “What did you just say?”

“I have seen this phenomenon before back at the hive,” Raven tells me. “This is typically caused when a changeling is starving to death due to a lack of feeding except they usually gain a craving to feed on love and they typically act much weaker than this. My guess is the clones themselves are not starving but rather the one controlling them is.

“Oh my! IT'S THE VINES! He's shapeshifted himself into absolutely all of the vines you see around you! That is how he's controlling them, and that takes a lot of energy out of him.”

“What?!” I exclaim in shock.

“Sweetie Belle, Starlight, what's going on here?” Button asks in fright as he crawls up to stand on my hooves.

We freeze for a second when we hear something else teleport within Starlight's protective field. After that, we very slowly look over our shoulders to see what kind of looks like Button Mash's mother, Cream Heart, except she looks monstrous in the exact same way Fluttershy does, minus the wings. As we look back at her, she makes this deep, throaty gurgling sound for four seconds before violently exploding into action.

Three giant tentacles, which end in pincer claws, suddenly shoot out of her body and pin all three of us to the wall in separate directions. Doing this also disrupts Starlight's concentration so her protective barrier shatters.

“STARLIGHT! BUTTON!” I cry out in fear then instinctually draw upon my hidden reserves of strength. As a result, I morph myself into a thinner, snake-like form then slither out of the pincer claw that had attempted to nail me to the wall. I proceed to slither around and around the tentacle before coiling myself and hopping off of it. I blindly try to get to either one of my friends but something chops me down in mid-flight.

While it is very difficult to do when I am this tense and especially while I am in this much pain, time seems to slow again for some reason as I achieve a state of hyperfocus. With it, I can perceive some of enemy targets around me through the black smoke. Of those, I calculate the distance between me and them, the distance between each other, the angle at which they are standing, the speed they are moving, and the probability of what form they will take soon.

With this state of hyperfocus, I could probably crush anypony in Ponyville with ease if I wanted to and quite likely a much larger territory. In addition, I have the instincts of super training to subconsciously fall back on.

But that is where my advantages realistically end. I am up against an opponent who hones himself to be the most precise, destructive, and strategic combat engine of perfection. He literally spends every waking and even sleeping moment training for this and he has given up absolutely everything for it.

I still try. I swing my hooves with calculated precision that would have nailed anypony else I know, but these clones either block me, morph around my strike in the middle of my swing, or deliberately allow me to strike them in order to set up a devastating counterattack.

For instance, at one point, my attack finally connects with one of the clones except my hoof ends up stuck in the clone's body as if it is made of tar. Once that clone has a lock on me, he kicks out with a hind leg except the leg morphs and separates into two legs. Those two legs stretch around both sides of me then proceed to kick me back and forth between them.

During the attack, I briefly lose my hyperfocus which tells me there is one weakness to it, but the only way I can exploit it against them is to inflict them with constant pain. Something also tells me that this changeling has additionally been highly trained to resist pain or even morph himself somehow to completely cut off the physical sensation of pain.

My senses get even more out of whack when I feel a strong and persistent electric jolt pass through my body. Despite my haze of pain, I quickly realize that the electric shock is coming from the body of the changeling my hoof is stuck inside of. He apparently morphed his innards to act something like an electric eel. I have no idea how he's doing that without damaging himself.

Finally my attacker closes his legs on me like a piece of paper trapped between two closing edges of scissors except the height is a little off. One leg is higher than the other. When it closes in on me, I end up spinning dizzily in the air.

After that, I get kicked away which launches me at another changeling clone who also kicks me to yet another changeling clone.

I think I am kicked back and forth about four times before the clones finally change their tactics.

During one of the kicks, I finally nick one of them with a tiny bit of damage by morphing my body to project a few spikes. As I am launched away, I notice how the wound I inflict is almost instantly morphed away.

Seeing this heavily demoralizes me because it causes me to realize several things. They can launch themselves into a state of hyperfocus too, they can heal themselves even better than I can, and they are clearly toying with me. If they really wanted to kill me, they'd aim for my head.

Yeah. They aren't putting any serious effort into attacking me. They are only pushing themselves just enough to trounce me completely.

This is made all the more clear to me during the third time I finally connect. I throw a hoof strike which I morph into a shape that's more like a ball of iron. One of the clones blocks with a hoof that morphs into something resembling a shield except its texture is squishy like a bouncy ball. My attack sinks into the shield for a split second before the changeling pushes back and suddenly solidifies the shield. The result is he actually reflects the kinetic force of my own attack back at me before it has a chance to damage him.

Still another one of the swings of my kicks passes right through one of the clones since that clone uses her magic to temporarily phase her body for just a brief second. It lasts long enough for my attack to pass right through her and land in another changeling body that morphed his leg into a bed of spikes. After my leg gets impaled into those spikes, one of the other changeling clones nearby teleports me one/third of the way inside a solid wall. When that one/third of me solidifies after being teleported, it fuses into the wall and effectively eliminates that portion of my body in an instant. The only way I can recover from that is to morph the rest of me out of the wall then into a fully healed state again.

But, after that, I don't even attempt to attack because I already know it's futile. I'm clearly overmatched by an incalculable margin.

Besides, there is another problem. While these clones remain perfectly focused in this combat as they have been trained to do all of their lives, I am subconsciously holding back because I don't really want to hurt anypony.

I think these clones know it, too, which is why they aren't taking this battle too seriously.

It all comes down to the fundamentals of who we are. Deep down, I am not even close to a killer. I am not even a fighter entirely except for maybe a verbal abuser.

Instead of all of that, I am a friendly filly who just wants to help everypony.

Meanwhile, I am fighting a whole group of nearly perfect combatants who are the opposite of who I am. Between these two inherent factors, the results come as no surprise at all. This is clearly an ineffective tactic.

In addition, I also feel venom flood within me. I think there is a way to counter it but I haven't mastered that yet.

Then I freeze, my blood chilled, when I hear Button's dying scream. It is ear piercing at first but quickly grows quieter due to the damage and loss of strength.

“No!” I cry out.

Starlight also cries out in anger and fear. For a brief moment, I thought she is about to unleash some massive spell.

But, instead of that, a bunch of the changelings, who had her pinned to the ground, suddenly drain a massive amount of her energy just as she attempts to unleash it. They feed on her fear just when it explodes to its peak. There is something usually perfect about their timing, too, as if they were waiting and ready for Starlight to do precisely that. The end result cancels whatever spell Starlight was about to cast because now she's too exhausted to pull off any spell.

“Sweetie . . . Belle,” Button cries out weakly.

“Button!” I cry out in fear then race my way towards him.

Curiously enough, the changeling clones don't get in my way this time. In fact, they do the opposite. They get out of my way and appear to relish my pain from a short distance away.

When I get to Button, I notice there is still a black spike sticking out of the chest that Button, specifically in the heart area. This blow was aimed to kill, but not kill quickly. Instead, he's left to linger for a few moments as if to savor our pain.

I also notice that the spike is grown from one of the vines in the cave wall, thereby proving that we are indeed surrounded by a hostile force. The vines alone can attack us if the original controlling it wishes.

Likely it also means he saw, heard, and felt us enter inside ever since we first arrived at the vines.

I can't fix this. When I see Button dying in front of me in my body, my mind blanks. I'm only vaguely aware that a small part of my mind desperately cries out for this to be a nightmare from which I will awaken because, if this isn't, then Button is really dying in front of me.

“I . . . tried,” Button struggles to say before coughing out blood. When he recovers moments later, he says, “I'm sorry.”

I realize at once that he is apologizing for failing to defend me. That really is his last dying thought. There's so much more I would have thought to come from him in a moment like this, especially as a foal, but he really is thinking of me.

He really does love me!

“Button, I-” I try to say before blinking as sudden motion occurs before me. It kind of looks like a blade slicing upwards in an ark which came from the same vine that stabbed him. A moment later, the head of my true body falls over and quickly spreads blood on the ground.

Now my mind is shocked numb. I plop down and sit for I don't know how long. Out of the corner of my right eye, I vaguely register Starlight weakly crying out for me to leave the cave.

But I can't. I can't even think right now.

The world spins around me. It blackens and fades away.

The sound of dripping stirs my consciousness after a moment. I look around to get my bearings. Wherever I am, it appears to be a black void.

Am I dead?

“No. I've drawn you into The Room,” Raven explains from somewhere nearby. When he does, I look around in an attempt to locate him until he says, “Look below you.” I do so and notice I appear to be sitting on a lake of some kind. The reflection of the water reveals some stars above and yet, when I look in the actual upward direction, or anywhere else for that matter, I see nothing but a black void.

So I return my look at Raven below me whose upside-down image looks down at me as if he, too, is sitting on a lake and looking down at my reflection.

“I'm sorry,” Raven apologizes to me. “I know this is hard . . . especially for you. You care deeply about the ponies around you.

“This . . . this just isn't our day. Victory eludes us.”

“What do you mean?!” I demand to know. “What happened?!”

“Well, for starters, Button Mash died,” Raven informs me.

“N-. . . no! You're lying!” I deny.

“Denial will not change our reality,” Raven tells me curtly but I hear a distant note of sympathy in his voice. “Nor what is to come next.”

I widen my eyes as I ask him, “What do you mean?”

He sighs before telling me, “Hope has no place in these caves, Sweetie Belle. There's temporary sanctuary here in The Room but it won't last long. Time is resuming outside of this place, although at a slower rate compared to our perception in here.” He looks off to his side. “Dreams are weird and they are capable of far more than most realize. I'm not even sure if the Princess of the Night is aware of the full capabilities of this place.”

“Is there any way it can help?” I ask desperately.

“We can say goodbye before we, too, die,” Raven tells me. “Pray that we do indeed perish, Sweetie Belle, for if my original spares us, it will be with a far worse fate in mind.”

“No. NO! I won't accept this!” I shake my head in fierce denial. “Why, Raven? Why? You know how to kill, but you've never been that eager to kill, yet all I saw in that cave was a feral monster.”

“That's the truth of it,” Raven agrees as he stares forward blankly at nothing. “He is feral.

“We miscalculated, Sweetie Belle. We entered this cave expecting him to be reasonable, but he's not. He can't be. Not after what he's gone through.”

“Why?” I demand again. “Explain this to me.”

“What good would knowing do us now?” Raven asks bitterly.

“I still want to know!” I insist. “Now answer me!”

Raven releases a deep sigh before explaining, “The only way my original self could assume control of every changeling clone is to form a physical link into each ponynapped victims in the cocoons, and they switched minds with the changeling clones, although I still haven't figured out that part yet. I don't know how he accomplished the switch and we'll likely never know.

“What I do know is the method he used to connect with everyone is very taxing. He became all of those vines in the cave, Sweetie Belle, and those vines are connected to the others.”

He shakes his head as he goes on to say, “No wonder he worked so hard to protect the secret location of his lair. Not only does it have what he stole from the Mirror Pool, not only does it have the ponynapped victims, but it has him, too, in a state that cannot be moved anymore. Not as he is now. It's the only way he could accomplish what he started.

“Basically, Sweetie Belle, he had no intention to let any of your friends live the moment they discovered the real location of his base. I'm sure he'll hunt down and destroy every one of the changelings that got informed by Starlight, too.”

“But he values changeling lives!” I object. “That's why he's doing all of this.”

“That used to be true,” Raven partially agrees. “In a deeply twisted way, it might still be true, but starvation has its toll, Sweetie Belle. Even a mind as strong as his can't endure it forever while keeping his sanity completely intact.

“I'm sure he fought so hard to maintain control of himself over this . . . Well. I don't really know how long it's been for him.” He shrugs. “Maybe a year.

“My point is, he considered this to be a noble and necessary sacrifice. This method he's employing will eventually kill him, but my guess is not before he does a lot of damage in Equestria in his starved and feral maddened state.”

“And all of this because he doesn't trust anyone. Not even his own clones!” I realize. “He's taxing himself to death because he knew he had to in order to maintain forced control over his own clones.”

“Which also means he knew he was working with a deteriorating timetable from the start,” Raven adds. “Whatever plans he has for Equestria, he knew he had to accomplish it before he dies.”

“All of this is stupid!” I cry out. “And you're not stupid, Raven. I really believe that, and now I know he's a victim too.”

Raven looks down which, from my perspective, he looks up at me as he regards me with surprise.

“Really?” he asks me with disbelief. “He killed your special somepony, Sweetie Belle. It's likely he'll do that to Starlight Glimmer too if he hasn't already. He might also savagely tear down all of Equestria . . . and you still feel sorry for him? Really?”

“You changelings may mimic our forms, Raven, but not even the Ghosts are skilled enough to truly understand our hearts,” I proclaim. “Your original self is a victim because he believed that all of this was necessary to secure a future for his race, and his upbringing drilled harsh distrust of everyone into him. So much so that he grew convinced that this was his only option.”

Raven slowly looks ahead of him. I notice how he doesn't argue with me.

“And now that mentality is killing him and choking the life out of Equestria. He'll probably even end up destroying the very race he was trying to save . . . and I care, Raven. I care about him, you, me, and everyone he threatens to harm.”

“Your compassion is irrelevant,” Raven tells me coldly. “None of that is going to change cold, hard facts.” His shoulders sink in depression as he goes on to say with sad acceptance, “None of that will change our fate.”

“Oh yeah?” I challenge. “Well you just watch me! A changeling can be whomever he or she chooses to be, Raven. That includes a miracle! If I have to become a miracle to save the day, then so be it!”

I whip my head upward as I gaze above with determination.

“I know who I am, Raven! I am Sweetie Belle . . . and I always follow my heart. If your cold engine of logic is not up to the task then step aside and prepare to be amazed!”

I morph myself into pure light then fly up in order to emerge back into consciousness again.

I feel that same surge of energy burst from my body as I emerge back to consciousness. For the third time in my life, it feels just like the awakening of my cutie mark and, just like the last two times, each successive time is greater than the last.

Light shines all around me. A moment later, I realize that I am the light. I am truly in an incorporeal form.

I don't really question it right now, however. I just roll with it because it is granting me the power to do as I feel I must.

I know now that darkness and emptiness fills the heart of Raven's original self. An emptiness caused by loneliness and starvation. Having been a changeling myself for a while now, I know what that feels like, and I also know what the cure for that is. The best way to counter an empty feeling is for it to be filled.

I wash healing light all around me. Doing so does restore and rejuvenate Starlight Glimmer. To a point, it even heals my original body as well, but it remains dead because of the energy that once sustained it has left. That is an empty husk for the moment.

But I don't mourn it. Not yet, at any rate. There is a lot more healing I need to do.

I gather my energy close to the center of . . . whatever I am. Light, I think. I build up the tension of that energy for a moment then have it explode all around me.

A very curious sensation follows that I'll not be able to remember when I return into solid form, and that is what it is like to be expanding light spreading throughout the cave. I see everywhere within that light. I feel and connect with it energetically and vibrationally.

As I do so, I notice all the vines in the cave wither away as if burned, but in truth, I am filling them with the kind of energy they were starved for.

He wants love? I'll give him that love and more!

I grow lost and dizzy for a moment as my senses expand throughout the cave.

Then, when I feel an instinct that I need to return, I gather my essence again and condense it at one point in space.

I still feel the warmth of love radiate through me but I gather it up and consolidate it within myself. When I do so, I feel weight return to me.

“Sweetie Belle!” Starlight exclaims. “Wha . . . what happened?”

I find that hard to explain when everything I did was by instinct alone. What I've gone through is as hard to describe as having a dream where I dreamed of something that can't possibly exist in the physical world.

But as my physical senses return to me, I notice the changeling clones around me have returned to their true form. A moment later, I notice their personality has changed, too. They are acting more like Raven so it means their true minds have switched back to their true bodies.

Then it occurs to me that, a moment ago, when my essence filled this cave, I became aware of where everything is, including the location of this changeling's true original self as well as the location of the ponynapped hostages.

“Come with me, Starlight,” I tell her. “I'll explain what I can along the way.”

This is the room with what's left of some of the relocated Mirror Pool. This is the room with some of the captured victims who are starting to emerge from their slime cocoons, and this is the location of the original Ghost changeling who started all of this. He is in a giant, fleshy cocoon that is starting to wither away. I approach it along with Starlight beside me.

“This is him,” I tell Starlight. “The original Ghost changeling.”

“Stand behind me, then,” Starlight orders as she spares a moment to glance in relief and concern as everyone else in the room starts to emerge from the slime cocoons. I think it is likely they became a “note to self” for her that she'll return to in just a moment.

I also recall, just as Starlight probably has, that her old friend Sunburst should be among those emerging from the cocoons right now. Furthermore, once we establish who all of them are, we'll also gain a better idea who was replaced earlier out in the world. Eventually we might even find out what they were doing while they were replaced.

When the tall, fleshy cocoon does wither away, we finally behold the true source of all of these changeling clones.

And, because of my recent experiences with one of them, I feel like I am beholding a part of myself now. A dark and evil part of myself, but I still identify with him on some instinctual level nonetheless.

I am less prepared to behold how shriveled and weak he appears. His lower torsos still are a fleshy mess that dissolves into the withering mass that was once all around him, but the changeling himself looks like a black twig with a head that's now too large to support it, yet he does so anyway, albeit painfully.

Once the love essence filled him, I thought he'd be rejuvenated too. Maybe he rejected it at the last second? Maybe he grew so used to starvation that he rejected the energy? Or maybe it harmed him like sitting in the shade too long then suddenly exposed to blinding light.

I get the feeling that, when he opens his eyes, it's the first time he's using them in a very, very long time. When he does, he narrows his eyes at me sharply and grins a bit.

“My, my,” he tells me in a weak and scratchy voice. “How fortune favors the bold today. Years and years of careful planning, strategic calculations, and set up all throughout Equestria . . . only to have one little white filly declare, 'Nope' and banish all of my carefully laid plans and ambitions.”

“I meant everything I said,” Starlight declares which draws his eyes to her, but his face remains directed at me. “Now that you're finally at our mercy, maybe now you'll believe us when I say that our offer for friendship is indeed genuine.” She shakes her head. “We don't want the changelings to fade away either. They are our friends, and you can be too.”

He closes his eyes, bows his head, and sighs tiredly. It also sounds like he sighs painfully. He remains silent for a few seconds before painfully cracking his eyes open at Starlight as he asks her, “Do you really mean that? Do you Pinkie swear to aid my people?”

Starlight looks a little taken aback by the way he phrased it.

“Ah,” Starlight blinks as she recovers before nodding and swearing very seriously, “Yes, Sir. I cross my heart, and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye. I swear to you, Sir, that I will find a way to aid your people.”

“Then . . . I can rest easy,” he says with relief and heavy fatigue. Again he closes his eyes and settles for that moment, then opens his eyes again as he looks at me. “Well then . . . I'll count on all of you to perform what I could not. If you can blow through everything I have laid in the way you did, I'm sure you'll find the solution . . . very likely where I'd never think to look.

“Fare thee well, ponies.”

I screech, startled, when hundreds of spikes suddenly blow right through his own head, meaning he used his own morphic abilities against himself. When that happens, he slumps over, now completely dead.

“Why the . . . why did he do that?!” Starlight complains in astonishment.

“He was a Ghost,” what sounds like Raven's voice says behind me, but somehow I'm able to tell it's not really him.

Still, I look back and see one of his clones sitting nearby. When he has both the attention Starlight and I, he goes on to say, “He's trained to kill himself to avoid falling into enemy hooves.” He narrows his eyes. “In order to ensure he doesn't leak any secrets of the Hive.”

“Ah . . . enemy?!” Starlight exasperates. “What enemy? I offered my hoof in friendship.”

I sigh sadly before saying, “I'm sure plenty of conquerors and would-be conquerors have once said to the natives they invaded, 'I come in peace’. Sadly, a lifetime of distrust was heavily ingrained in him which meant he could never give others the benefit of the doubt.” I turn my head and regard his corpse with pity. “He's probably one of the most powerful changelings we'll ever knowingly meet . . . but by Celestia, what a heavy price to pay for it indeed.”

Author's Note

This chapter hasn't earned the story any new genre tags but it does increase its rating to M for the sheer degree of it.