Make a Wish

Caramel's blue eyes opened wide at the scream. So did Lyra's. They both looked around, and moved closer to each other. Who screamed? Lyra stared around a second time - this time to see a light yellow pony, lighter than Fluttershy, with a dark magenta mane, staring at the couple. The mare's green eyes blazed.

The lights turned off.

More screams erupted around the room, around the couple in a circle. But this time, it was more than one pony screamed. Lyra found herself holding Caramel's hoof tightly in terror. She heard him murmur something, sounding frightened, but she didn't hear what it was.

Then all of the lights turned on. Ponies lay on the ground twitching and writhing in agony, battered and covered in blood. Dresses and suits lay tattered on the ground. Lyra suddenly felt dizzy with horror. "YOU TRAITOR!" the scream came again.

The pale yellow pony stalked up to them, her green eyes not quite as bright now, but still just as frightening. One of them twitched. "You're a traitor!"

Caramel held Lyra close to him. "Roseluck," he murmured in disbelief. "That was so long ago."

"You just paid," Roseluck warned. "But not enough." Her eyes fixed on Lyra. "You're next."

Just then, a weak cry came from the crowd of bloodied ponies. Another Roseluck stood, her legs shaking, in front of the first. The first Roseluck smiled psychotically, revealing long, sharp teeth. Then, in green magic, the first Roseluck changed into a changeling. "All I wanted," the young changeling rasped, "was something else than the need to absorb love! But they all said it wasn't possible," the changeling added with a growl of rage. "Look at me now!" In truth, the young changeling mare was not a sight to behold. Her wings were drenched in blood now, as well as ragged, and changelings in general aren't always gorgeous.

"I'm looking at you know," the real Roseluck sputtered, stumbling forward. Lyra's mouth hung open in shock. She instinctively ran to help the mare, but a bubble resembling the one protecting Canterlot - this one being made with green magic, and being much smaller - formed around them.

Lyra stared up at Caramel. She didn't know what to think. He had known Roseluck before he knew her, in a past relationship. The mint-colored unicorn had already decoded that. But if this changeling was expressing Roseluck's anger, though multiplied many times, did this mean that the real Roseluck was still angry at Caramel for ending their relationship? It seemed as if he had, and not her, knowing that she was the one who was upset.

***

Interrupting her thoughts, something red flew above her head, above the bubble. Something red and orange. It was... A bird? Lyra gasped. Philomena, Celestia's pet. The unicorn watched as the phoenix swooped down and bit the changeling's already-torn ear. The changeling howled, but it was muffled by the bubble. Then Philomena flew back to Lyra and Caramel, and with a simple peck of her beak, popped the bubble.

"Thank you," Lyra breathed to the bird. "Go back to Celestia. Tell her something's happening." And before another bubble could be created, Caramel lunged for the changeling, and Lyra knelt beside Roseluck, who had collapsed onto the floor from her wounds.

Lyra ripped off a long shred of dress - not minding how flashy she looked missing a long strip of fabric down the front - and wrapped it snugly around Roseluck's front hoof, which was bleeding heavily. Lyra wondered how in Celestia that changeling could have injured so many ponies, almost at once. Speedy, maybe, but not powerful enough. Caramel was wrestling the female changeling to the ground right then, and he seemed to be winning the fight.

The noise of the door opening came suddenly, and the changeling acted quickly, shooting a beam of green at the door, even while she was being tackled by Caramel. But the pony at the door dodged... Or bird at the door. Philomena was back already, but without Celestia or royal guards. Lyra sighed. She would just have to take care of this herself.

She stood up and squinted her eyes, focusing all her power and energy on magic. She didn't do this often, but this was her time to practice, if there was going to be any time. Lyra concentrated hard, trying to summon up her powers. Soon, she felt heat at the tip of her horn, and tried even harder. I can do it... Finally, a beam of bright mint-colored light shot out of her horn at lightning speed towards the changeling.