Revenge

Fluttershy wanted to cry, so she covered her eyes with her wings in preperation for a few tears that never came. She missed her friends, and she was barely trying to escape. Maybe she should've tried harder. She could flap harder than 2.3 wingpower. Though it was hard, it was definitely possible.

So she tried again. And again. Obiviously, it didn't work. And failing was getting pretty old, too. She hung her head just as something in the room appeared, emitting a bright magenta light. Fluttershy looked up to see three figures standing in front of her: Twilight, Starlight, and even Thorax. She smiled upon seeing them, knowing that she would be safe with her friends besides her.

As they approached her, they looked extremely cautious, especially Starlight. When they reached her, Thorax removed the majority of the residue, and Twilight managed to teleported her out of the cage. She smiled. "Thank you," she told them both, turning to Starlight to check on her. But she noticed Starlight seemed extremely on-edge. "Starlight?" Fluttershy asked, startling her. It seemed as though she was pretty jumpy. "Are you alright?"

Starlight blinked a few times, then quickly nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad you're alright," she blandly replied, receiving concerned looks from the others.

"Actually, I meant to ask if you were feeling okay?" Fluttershy worriedly replied, getting a nod from Starlight.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me," Starlight said, lowering her ears and voice, mumbling something that no one else could hear.

Twilight nervously laughed and said, "Well then, we should probably find the others as soon as possible so that we can stop Chrysalis." Thorax and Fluttershy nodded, and they all turned to Starlight, whose horn was glowing and whose eyes were closed. And she slightly nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes," Twilight said, concerned for her friend but at the same time curious as to what Starlight was doing with her magic. She teleported them to retrieve the rest of their friends.

Chrysalis groaned in frustration. Starlight had escaped and was now probably hunting down all her friends. She knew that if she had her friends with her, she was mostly invincible. She rubbed her chin and thought up a plan for a final blow. Though, it was a bit complex. She would require Thorax's assistance if she wanted to be able to pull it off.

She rushed into the room in which the princess was being kept, or was supposed to be kept in. The gate to the cage she was in was hanging open, and the glue had vanished from its roof and ground. She scowled seeing that both Twilight and Thorax had fled. Now she would need a simpler plan.

Pacing, she soon decided she would do a simple changeling disguise trick. Morphing into Starlight, she put on her most genuine face and made it seem as if she were worried.

Spike shook off the few remnants of the adhesive that Thorax had just removed. "Thanks, guys," he said, embracing everyone, which included Twilight, Starlight, Thorax, and the rest of the girls. "And I'm glad you're back, Starlight. We missed you," he told her, getting a slight smile and a nod from Starlight, which was a much better response than earlier.

"Now all we have to do is," Applejack noted.

"Stop Chrysalis," came the response. They expected Applejack to say that, but it also came from Starlight. And while Applejack's voice was full of fear and annoyance, Starlight's had more sadness. Which confused everypony, since they all knew she'd wanted to stop Chrysalis, probably more than anyone else.

A groan erupted from Rainbow Dash. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" she asked boisterously and impatiently. The rest of them smiled at each other, getting ready to find Chrysalis, when somepony else walked into the room.

"Don't trust her," the figure fearfully said, pointing at Starlight, revealing herself to be, none other than, Starlight. Everyone soon had a sense of distrust and fear, as either one of the two could be the real Starlight. The other would be Chrysalis, the one that they were supposed to defeat. And if they chose the wrong Starlight, they would actually be hurting the real Starlight!

Everyone stepped back, unsure of what to do. They could easily just rid the second one, but what if that was the real Starlight, and Chrysalis had just been with them the whole time? They could do the same for the first one, but with the same risk. There was no way they were going to hurt their friend, whether unintentional or not.

Twilight bit her lip, conjuring up a spell that would reveal all changelings. She hadn't cast it in a while, not needing to since most changelings were reformed already. Come to think of it, she'd only last cast it at Cadence's and Shining Armor's wedding, and that was back when she was a unicorn!

She released the magic, hoping it would be enough to reveal the truth.