My Little Among Us

Holo-Shy gulped. "B-but then...it's Rarity?"

Twilight sighed. "It's possible, but I was able to dig deeper than you can consciously, and...you clearly saw Rarity heading away right before you heard anything from Rainbow. If she's the impostor, she can move incredibly fast. Furthermore, my horn's gonna need a while to recharge before I can do this to any of the three of them."

Pinkie bounced around the medbay as Spike tossed the other half of Fluttershy's suit in with the rest of her. "We're doomed! Doomed, dooomed. Did I mention we're doomed? Should I sing the doom song? Doom doom doom, doom doom, doom do-"

AJ shoved a hoof into her mouth. "We ain't doomed. We just...had a little hiccup is all. Twi, what's the new plan?"

Twilight sighed. "We can't sit around and wait for my horn, so it's back to tasks. The insertion burn is going to happen in only three hours, and electrical's still a bit of a mess. Pinkie, AJ, get back to that. I'll check the engine room, since it's my design, then be back here to work on a way to safely check the rest of you, and Spike, I want you watching my back. As for Rarity...stay in medbay to make sure Fluttershy's alright until I'm done. After that, I'll have you with the other two. Now, I'm gonna be real stern here and say that lollygagging will be met with being given the Fluttershy treatment. And Rarity..." She locked eyes with Rarity. "...if I catch you with Spike, and I don't have the mind spell ready, you're gonna be one burnt marshmallow."

Rarity gulped.

Aj nodded. "I'll make sure to check up on our here lover-mare for ya, sugarcube."

Twilight giggled. "Sounds good. Now remember, it's the buddy system, everypony, do nothing alone, not even private things, no matter what. Oh, and I want everypony wearing their helmets as much as possible; the ship's antenna is jamming our radios, but they might help in a confrontation given Ocellus clearly goes for the head. Everyone got it?"

They all nodded.

Twilight opened her visor and wiped some sweat from her brow as she came out of the engine area. "I need to design better cooling systems if we ever make more of these ships..."

Applejack strolled along past. "Oh hey Twi. Got everythin' sorted out back there?"

Twilight quickly closed her helmet's visor and latched it. "Uh...yeah. Where are you going?"

AJ rolled her eyes. "Oh just gonna make sure a certain saddle-sore whiney hiney ain't gettin' a dragon tongue snack."

Twilight nodded. "Hmm...oh darn, Spike was by me just a moment ago... Good idea. Um, also, are you...alright?"

AJ blinked. "Whaddya mean?"

Twilight frowned. "It's just...well, I know you and Dash were close, and what I rescued from her brain is uh...not great. I have an idea involving Starswirl's time travel spell, and the mirror pool to-"

AJ put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I know you'll come up with some insane solution to put Rainbow right as rain, Twi. Ya always do. The thing I gotta worry about is just stoppin' this Ocellus or Lightning Dust or whoever from doin'...whatever her plan is."

Twilight nodded. "Hmm, well, we could chat for just a bi-YIPE!" Something slammed into her rear with a slapping noise, making her eyes go wide. "Ngh...nyeeh-heh, uh..."

Spike's hand came out from behind and grabbed onto her cutie mark, before pushing from it. His head then came out with a pop, and he scooped up his helmet. "Uh...hey guys."

AJ smirked. "I reckon ya weren't excited to come kiss your sister's behind more literally than usual, so...lemme guess: Ya came runnin' when ya heard she noticed ya were gone, huh? Or has Rarity the impostor revealed some outer ugliness to go with her inner ugliness?"

Spike panted a bit. "Heh-heh, real funny. Um, sorry Twilight, I was worried about Rarity, and I went to check on her and um...I realized I should be back with you or else...you know, she could be..."

Twilight patted his head, then levitated his helmet onto it. "No, I'm sorry Spike, I should've been paying more attention. Now just stick with me and everything'll be alright."

"Did somepony say my name?" Rarity asked from down the hallway before trotting over. "Oh Spike, Rainbow keeps prattling on about very uncouth topics, and trying to...romantically advance upon poor Fluttershy. I think it's best I help in electrical, at least, after a few minutes in the washroom to get decent."

AJ spat loudly, making Rarity dodge it with her hooves. "Ya ain't walkin' off alone, so you're just gonna have to walk your indecent behind to electrical where it belongs." AJ pulled out a meat fork from under her hat and gestured back the way she'd come with its two long prongs. "Now go on!"

Rarity scoffed as she turned and trotted slowly. "Why I-"

AJ prodded Rarity's rear end with the meat fork, making her jump and whine. "Go ON!"

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth as she chuckled a bit, making Spike glare at her. "Sorry...but I do seem to recall a time Rarity did that to me with her horn, when Rainbow entered the Best Young Flier Competition, so she kind of deserves it."

Spike sighed, then hopped on Twilight's back. "So...just back to medbay, then?"

Twilight waited a moment, as AJ and Rarity went out of earshot. "Yeah...and I think I'll pull Rarity's mind out when my horn's charged, which should be in just a few minutes. If it's not her...then I'll cast a mass-petrification spell immediately."

"Won't that...hit me?" Spike asked as he put his index fingers together.

Twilight looked back to him. "I trust you, but in theory, it could still be you. It's a last resort anyways, since petrifying us all again so soon could cause serious medical issues, and it wouldn't exactly leave me in a good spot." She opened the medbay doors to see Holo-Dash growling in a guarding pose, with Holo-Fluttershy's rump sticking out below, shaking, as Holo-Dash's wing held one side of it. "...um, is something wrong?"

Holo-Shy eeped. "S-something ate our rears out of storage. I-it was in the vents!"

Holo-Dash nodded and pointed to a few pelvises with their tails still on, and assorted bones with greenish-gray goop on them. "That's what it left behind! And it was green! No blue! No green! It was mean and wouldn't let me fool around with Fluttershy in peace! Let me at it!"

Twilight rushed over to inspect the bones. "Hmm...the stuff on these is possibly guano or chyme. Spike, keep an eye on the vents while I analyze this. It might tell us what exactly we're up against. And ready a third crystal...we need to cast that spell again soon."

Spike saluted, but then noticed Rarity smiling wide in the doorway, beckoning him over with a hoof.

Pinkie hummed as she trotted past the bunks.

Rarity was speaking faintly. "So...let's act like it's our last few hours we'll ever see each other, my Spikey-Wikey."

"Ooh.." shouted Pinkie from the doorway, putting her helmet's visor up. "How romantic! I'm betting on seeing some dragon-pony hybrids if we all make it, baby!"

Rarity's eye twitched. "Pinkie, you're going to leave and not come back or I Pinkie Promise you the only thing you'll be seeing for the very short rest of your life is the darkness of the inside of your own colon. OUT!"

Pinkie blinked and zipped so fast into electrical it left flaming skid marks.

AJ squinted at her. "Ya okay, sugarcube?"

Pinkie laughed nervously. "Fine, fine...just uh, need to use the bathroom real quick and I'll get right to replacing bad boards."

AJ scratched her head. "But...the bathroom's the way ya just came from."

Pinkie nodded. "Yep, I know!" She bounced back the way she came.

AJ shrugged and stuck her head back into a panel carefully, as her helmet scraped on the sides a bit.

"Aha!" Twilight shouted as she stood up. "Just as I suspected! Spike, could you..."

Holo-Dash looked over to her eating an apple, while Holo-Shy was napping.

Twilight squinted. "Um...where is Spike?"

Spike ran in, panting a bit, holding his helmet in his left arm. "Um, hey..." He clutched Twilight's leg with his right arm.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Hey there..." Twilight opened her visor and breathed in deeply. "Well first of all, you should turn your radio on, Pinkie said she got it working again. Low volume, she's currently singing very loudly about twerking, 'sussy bawk-as', and I think something to do with eggplants... Now...is something wrong?"

"Oh, I was just uh, I got distracted by Rarity, and um...she didn't seem herself, and her tongue was...a little long. Could you scan me?"

Twilight held him close, then lit her horn and let out magic into his body, and looked him over. "Hmm, your upper intestines seem a bit crowded."

Spike put his fingers in his mouth and shook. "Oh no, I don't wanna lay changeling eggs!"

"Now calm down, Spike, it's probably just that big meal you insisted on before launch, and if it's not, we should have plenty of time to examine it. Now as for something I'm done examining, the digestive goop here is absolutely swimming with unstable dark magic, and has a bit of potion binder in it. Someone unscrupulous must've used a changeling to become some kind of monster, and they needed to eat for extra fuel."

"B-but you said Luna noticed Ocellus having dreams!" Spike's voice cracked slightly.

Twilight shook her head. "That was shortly after launch. There may be part of Ocellus still in there, but this much dark magic could easily melt someone's mind in a few months... No wonder her form's so unstable. It's a bit odd though that it can stay in a pony host, especially if it can take another pony's form, or even jump between ponies."

Spike put his finger to the bottom of his helmet and rubbed it as he walked over to Holo-Shy. "Any insight here?"

Holo-Shy turned away a moment. "You'd be surprised what parasites can fit in a pony. Mammals have a lot of empty space."

Spike tapped his helmet again. "Right, really not helping my fears here, but..."

Holo-Shy's eyes went wide. "S-s-s-spike..."

Holo-Dash hissed. "GREEN MEANIE! IT'S EATING HER, AND THEN IT'S GOING TO EAT ME! OH MY CELESTIAAAA!"

He shook and slowly turned around to see Twilight's rear end flailing as she was being pulled up into a vent with a green tongue running between the cheeks. "NO! TWILIGHT!" He grabbed her tail and pulled as hard as he could.

After a few moments, Twilight's rear came down atop him.

He panted. "Phew." He stood up, pushing Twilight's rear end over and dislodging his arm from the goop under her tail. "I thought I lost y-" He looked from her rear sticking up, to the floor.

There was no front half of Twilight, only some changeling goop now sticking it in place.

He then looked up at into the darkness of the vent, horrified, as a burp echoed from within along with some muffled shouting and various wet noises.

Holo-Shy screamed. "The alarm! Sound it! We won't have long!"

Spike rushed to the button on the wall, lifted the cover, and slammed it in. Sirens blared as he sat in horror, clutching the wall.

Suddenly there were loud sounds of magic, and then a bang as a flash of magic shot out from the vent and swirled around.

Spike stood up. "T-twilight? A-are you alive?"

The magic funneled rapidly into the brain-like crystal next to Fluttershy's, and a projection of Twilight appeared as it turned brain-pink. "From a certain point of view..."

A moment later, with a squelchy sputter, an open-visor helmet with a familiar purplish blue and magenta mane sticking out the bottom shot down onto Fluttershy's crystal, cracking it, with a small shower of goop and crackling dark magic sparkles.

Holo-Dash put her hoof to her mouth, but giggled anyways.

Holo-Shy started breathing heavily as her form developed glowing cracks all over, while the brain-pink crystal glowed brightly. "Oh no, oh no, I feel like I'm about to explode ag-" Her form popped with a short sputter, then shattered along with the brain crystal, sending grey bits outwards.

Holo-Twi retched, twitched her eye, then laughed like a maniac as her helmet rolled in front of her, revealing her cleaned skull. "Hahah, hahah, hahah...not every day ya get to see your own remains just plop down from something and finish off your friend!"

A few rib bones, leg bones, and vertebra then rained down next to Holo-Twi's own crystal. "I guess you could say we're 'boned', hahahaha!" She gasped for air as she continued cackling.