Chapters Getting the Whole Truth - Chapter 2
"Now, Tell us. What have you done with Twilight Sparkle, Chrysalis?!" Princess Celestia asked rather loudly.
"Yeah," said Spike, pointing his claw at the unicorn somewhat menacingly. "Where did you put her!"
Twilight stood there, her mouth seemingly stuck open in both confusion and surprise. Soon she got back her composure, and snapped out of her stupor. "Who the heck is 'Chrysalis’? And what are you talking about guys? I'm seriously right here!" She said, adding emphasis to her hooves.
Spike's face contorted to the obvious disgust he was feeling as he rolled his eyes. "Oh, I get it. She's trying to trick us, right? Well, sorry Chrysalis, but despite what you think you can't morph, or do anything magical for that matter!"
"Who's Chrysalis?!" She yelled in frustration. "I mean, seriously, what the buck is wrong with you guys! Are you crazy or something?! Seriously!"
She looked at the two in front of her, both glaring at her. She decided that it was just time to get out of the crazy joint she had gotten into. These guys were obviously off their rockers, and this definetly wasn't the Alicorn she had known for most of her childhood. Same with Spike, whom she had hatched for Celestia's sake! "Fine," she said. "I'm obviously in some kind dream. You guys are obviously not you, either, because it's unethical, and I would know if you guys weren't impostors. So, I guess I'll just wake myself up with that spell I use for nightmares."
She tried to light her horn, expecting it to glow and sizzle with an almost unlimited amount of magical power and energy. She waited, and waited, and waited in an awkward scilence with the smirking dragon and 'Alicorn' in from of her. She tried again, though, and harder than before, trying to summon as much magic as possible without too much losing control and blowing up the place. All she felt though, this time was a weird buzzing sensation on her horn. She looked up to find a magic disabling ring around it. She knew that these were rare and usually used to control most of the evil unicorns that had lived in Equestria in the past, and now the present. Usually there were no evil unicorns these days, though, so many of them were either destroyed or lost over the years after the hard production of mining the rarest kind of crystal in the Canterlot caverns was abandoned when need for production was slimmed during Luna's stay on the moon.
Spike gave her a smirk, knowing from the look on Twilight's face that the ring had worked and obsorbed all of the magic that she had pumped into it an disperced it into the now staticy air around the three. He looked at the Princess and raied her eyebrows and smiled a warm smile. The whole look seemed to say 'Well, are you going to do what we planned next, or do you want me to do it?'
After a second of silent communication between the two, Spike gave a quick nod upwards towards the cage, and Celestia nodded. Twilight wasn't sure what was going on, and what was about to happen, but she didn't really want to find out at the moment. All she felt was anger at the facy that everything had happened so suddenly and that nopony was or had answered any of her bucking questions!
Celestia walked up to the cell and spoke to Twilight in a stern but unsure tone of resentment, of which Twilight had never experienced before, at least not to her self. "This, Chrysalis, is Spike. He is a dragon. A fire breathing dragon. I'm sure you remember him from the preperations of the royal wedding?" Twilight nodded still trying to control her rage. "Good. Well, at the moment, which is to say right now, I have some royal duties to attend to. So, while I am gone Spike here has graciously asked to stay with you to make sure you tell the truth. You will tell the truth, the truth only, and absolutely nothing but it. If that doesn't work, then we will just have to resort to letting the other Elements of Harmony see you. Now that might be... Bad, wouldn't it, Chrysalis?"
She then turned and walked out of the dungeon without saying another word. Leaving Twilight alone with her assistant. Maybe she could try and reason with him? That might work. If this wasn't a dream, which she knew it wasn't as anypony, not anypony in the universe could possibly feel their magic, weather the pony being an Earth Pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn, nopony can feel their magic in their dreams... Well, unless you are Princess Luna, as she could walk through dreams with her magic.
So, she couldn't reason with him, but she knew he couldn't hurt her, and he knew it aswell. As she thought, Spike crept forward an ominous look in his eyes. "Okay," He said, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts. “Tell me where Twilight is or I'll burn you with my fire!" His nostrils puffed out black smoke. Apperently he did believe that she wasn't Twilight as she kept telling him, but this Chrysalis.
Twilight sighed, making him mildly surprised. "Spike, you know as well as I do that your dragon fire can't harm anypony, Especiall me. I made myself immune after you sent part of my tail into Celestia's dinner." Spike's face seemed to loose confidence, faltering for a second.
"How did you know about-" She cut him off once more.
"The worst it can do is send me to Princess Celestia. Even though I'm not who you think I am I would be free and you wouldn't want to risk it, would you?" She said.
He trembled a bit, but did not loose his composure. "What? How did you know about that?" He finnaly finished his sentence without Twilight interupting. She smiled making him groan in agitation. He tried to look more menacing again. "Fine, I guess we'll just have to do it the hard way." He reached behind his back and Twilight heard the rustling sound of a bag being rifled through.
Twilight smiled at the young dragon, almost amboslutely sure that what he still had up his sleeve has going to be pretty much as useless as his green tounges of fire. He proved her wrong, though, by pulling out a vile of a thick blue substance, which she recognized almost immediately as her own truth potion,which she had been experimenting with for the past few months. Part of her was fine with this twist of sorts, as that part was absolutely sure that it would work, and that she would say that she was definetly Twilight Sparkle. Then there was a part of her that wasn't so sure. The pecifest inside of her.
What if she had mixed the experimented potion wrong so that it made her tell lies instead of the truth? That would most likely be the end of her. Or worse yet, what if she somehow really was Chrysalis? No, that couldn't be right. She knew- No, she was absolutely sure that she wasn't whoever this 'Chrysalis' was, or anypony else for that matter. She knew who she was. She was Twilight Sparkle, Leader of the Elements of harmony and the mst magically gifted unicorns in all of Equestria.
"Go ahead," She said cofidentally. "Take your best shot, Spike." He grinned maliciously once more and chucked the bottle though the bars. It cracked on the floor and the blue substance splattered onto her, bubbling on the floor as it came to a boil. She knew it was supposed to get hot as soon as it hit something, but not like this at all! It burned like hell and she shrieked in pain. It was burning her, leaving a searing pain wherever it touched, just like it was supposed to. It then began to stretch up her body, soon engulfing her in it. It soaked into her pores as she began to writhe, the pain feeling almost as though she were going to erupt into flames like a bomb.
But then, all of a sudden and almost as quickly as it had began, it stopped. The searing pain and her screaming stopped altogether as she shakily stood up. Spike smiled triumphantly. "You... you ae a monster!" She shouted.
"No," he responded somewhat calmly, only making her more furious. "You are the monster, Chrysalis. I am only trying to do what is best for Equestria. Nopony cares about your stupid hive but you!" He then walked up to the cell and put his hands on the partially rusted metal bars. Shaking them so violently she thought they were going to break, he grinned once again. "Filthy changeling. Now, you will tell me the truth and the whole truth, am I clear?" Twilight nodded, unsure of what was going to happen next, but suddenly understanding who Chrysalis really was partially. All she had was more questions, which was not going to make the situation any better. "Right now, do you want the Elements of Harmony?"
"Yes," Twilight said. But if only to protect myself , she thought.
"Ok," Spike said after a moment of silence. "Now, are you or are you not Twilight Sparkle, my friend and the one who brought me to life?"
'Yes! I am Twilight! Duh!' That is what she was going to say. Instead, she surprised herself by saying something of another manner. "No, I am not Twilight Sparkle."
Spike looked as though he was about to jump up into the air and scream "Yes!" and do a little dance right then and there, but his composure partially remained as he saw the look of surprise on her face. "Good. Now then, who are you really?"
She responded with something that she didn't want to say, nor expected to say. "I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling hive, sworn enemy of both the ponies of Equestria and the Crystal Pony Empire."
Oh, well, that explains some things at least. So, I am now in the body of the Changeling Queen who staged the attack on Canterlot. I guess that makes sense. But who, and or what are the Crystal ponies? She thought. Spike looked surprised as well. He got his grin back in a few seconds after that, though.
"Okay then, you evil pile of scum. I believe you have met these gals, am I right, Chrysalis?" He gestured out to the darkness and five mares cantered out of the shadows. All five of them were wearing a pretty golden chained necklace with a gem inside each representing their cutie marks. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, the five other Elements of Harmony approached her cage.
"Did you guys hear what I did?" He asked. The five nodded, smiling in gratitude. "Great. Who would like to guard her and have your shift with her tonight to get a beating out of her, while the rest of us come up with what to do with her with the Princesses?"
Rainbow stepped forward and was about to speak when Applejack called out to the rest of the group. "Ah think it might be bes’ if ah did it. Ah could get the whole truth, and maybe some buckin' in before tomorrow?" There was some murmuring throughout the group before Rainbow Dash finally agreed and said "I guess I am best at planning", and the four ponies and dragon walked out of the crusty dungeon.
Twilight sat back down and sighed. She knew now she was probably going to get killed. That was probably the Queen's plan all along, if it was her that put her in this mess. I might have been discord, but she couldn't have known for sure. Looking up, she saw AJ looking around, surveying the area for... somthing, and she then came up to Twilight and said to her.
"Don't worry Twi', Ah'll getcha out ah here. No matter what."
Plans in Progress - Chapter 3
Spike's day had been a weird one so far. He had first woken up to an evil being snoring on the wooden oak floor of both his and Twilight's bedroom, and almost accidentally burped the monstrosity to Celestia. He couldn't find Twilight anywhere, even in the secret lab, which worried him almost as much as the fact that a sleeping changeling was asleep in his room. Thankfully, it had not awoken when he had screamed his lungs out at it, in turn causing his gag reflex to breathe fire. Thankfully, Twilight had been smart enough to think of a fire protection spell in case he lost control. He just couldn't fathom the fact that the creature had not gone anywhere during the fire blast, and was not burned in the slightest afterwards.
After whipping up some courage so he could go back into the oom, he stormed in and secured the still sleeping beast with chains that he had found in the basement of the library. Then he had called the Elements of Harmony to help alert the Princesses and bring it to Canterlot where they had put her in the rarely used castle dungeons. He noted to himself to never go back down there again, less it was something important, as the smell of still rotting flesh of old Equeastrian enemies and threats smelled absolutely horrid[\i] to him. Especially so because dragons have a greater sense of smell than ponies do. Plus it was scary, maybe even scarier that the changeling in the room was, but not quite.
The weirdest part of the day so far, though, was when the changeling, who Spike soon learned was the hive queen Chrysalis, woke up claiming to be the pony she clearly was not. After a little while of conversation, the lying problem was fixed when he threw Twilight's old bottle of Truth potion at the menace making her tell the truth that she indeed was the queen. He was glad that the other Elements were there in the shadows in case she had tried to attack him, though she wouldn't have been able too with the titanium cell that she was in, and, adding to the effect, a magical ring that absorbed a unicorn's magic, making them almost powerless. The almost was the mair reasons the rest of the elements were hiding there, being the true friends that they always were to him.
Twilight's friends had always been there for her as well as him. They always made him feel safe and even a bit warm and fuzzy inside when they were near him, especially Rarity. He even thought he might have caught a glimpse of her staring at him, even if it might have been his imagination doing the work, though he really hoped not. Leaving Applejack there with the beast was probably better than leaving Rainbow Dash there. AJ would be better to control herself than the Element of Loyalty, who would have probably ripped Chrysalis apart piece by piece if she didn't tell her where she had hidden Twilight.
Twilight. There it was again, that little flutter in his heart that he just could not describe. Sadness? Bitterness? No, this was a feeling he had never felt before, not once in his life. It was the feeling of revenge. He needed it, he now realized. He needed it, craved it even.
He thought up a plan in his head, one of the most elaborate ones he had made sice he had tried to ask Rarity out the very first time that he had seen her at her shop. That one had miserably failed, ending up with Rarity, the cutie mark crusaders and himself covered from head to tail in mud. Lots and lots of mud. Rarity had run away crying and the cmc ended up just playing around and splashing in the mud, but he had moped around the library for days. It definetly was not the best day for him, and most likely one of his worst plans ever. He shook his head as he walked, trying to clear his head of his faliures and ocus on the new task at hand.
He had been heading in the general direction of the dining hall before but now he had a different agenda. One that left no time for lounging or any sort of 'hanging out' for that matter if it were to be carried out. He had something to do, something important. Step one of his plan in mind, he began to run as fast as his little dragon legs would carry him up to his suite and got out a piece of parchment and a quill. While he started jotting down words and numbers, he unknowingly smiled maliciously. This was going to be a very good afternoon.
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Twilight took a step back in her cell, surprised. "Wait, what?" She said. "Applejack, what... Wait, you know it's me?" She raised her eyebrows. How could she have known? She was an Element, so why did she believe that she really was Twilight, when all of the other Elements didn't believe a word she had said? That wasn’t even accounting for when Spike had doused her with the truth potion. Did it have anything to do that she was the Element of Honesty? Maybe she could sense that the potion had failed because what she actually said was a lie? Who knew? She would just have to listen and hear what AJ had to say.
"Why Twilight, how could ah not know that this... this thing was you? It's kinda obvious, hon. It’s just you, y'know? Your personality, your facial expressions all of it: You!" She responded with a smile on her freckled face. Reaching up with her front hoof, she tilted her trademark Stetson upwards and then put a serious look on. "Now," she said, "Let's work on gettin' y'all out of this place, it stinks, dunnit?
Twilight nodded in agreement. Ever since she had woken up the smell of what she assumed to be dead bodies due to her confinement being in a dungeon had been burning in both her mouth and eyes. She would have done anything to get a toothbrush and brush her teeth. "So, what do we do first, AJ?" She asked. "Get some saws to cut the bars? That way we wouldn't have to go through the probable pain in the ass to get my cell's keys, right?"
"Nah, that wouldn't work. It has to be-" Applejack started but was soon cut off as the pair heard hoof beats coming towards the door. AJ's eyes shot open as she stood there for a moment before suddenly doing a swift turn and bucked the iron bars with a loud clanging sound which echoed around the dark room. "Why you little! I'm gonna kill you when Ah finally get my hooves of ya! Nopony, and ah mean NOPONY talks to me about my family that way!"
Twilight was only in surprise for a brief second before catching on to what the earth pony was up to. "Yeah, whatever," She said. "Your family should still die in a fiery hole of... uh... Hate!" She mentally face hoofed herself for screwing up but the ponies coming inside didn't seem to notice one bit.
"It's alright, Applejack," The pure white earth stallion said with confidence. A pink mare with a golden tiara on her head spoke up also, finishing her husband's sentence for him.
"We'll take it from here," She said.
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Far, far away in the Changeling Hive stood a tall black figure with dark green hair and large, see through wings. She was standing in front of a desk made entirely of a substance that was forbidden knowledge in Equestria and thus very valuable, at least for her and her Hive: Souls. Souls that had been taken directly from ponies, griffins, and dragons alike had been used in its construction. The only creatures whose souls were not present were Changeling souls. Changeling souls did not exist at least not in a logical sense anyway. All changelings were soulless husks of their formal selves quite literally. The Queen, Chrysalis, was getting a report from the last remaining general of their army about how many of their kin had been lost in the battle that had taken place just days earlier.
At the end she had the General bow in respect and then leave. She scowled at the number written on a dry erase board the one object she had trusted to keep around the hive. They had lost about nine-hundred and fifty soldiers, drones, and others of their own kind. She sighed and then banged her head on the table stirring up movement. She sat back up, mane in her face, and frowned even more. About to brush it aside with one hoof her eves widened. She grinned for her plan was now fully in effect.
A husk of purple mane with pink highlights was now on the edge of her once fully dark green hair.
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Secret Meetings, and Ominous Greetings - Chapter 4
Hooves scrambled down the main hallway of the castle and through the dining hall, disrupting many of the eccentric chefs who had been preparing the nights feast. The hooves galloped through the royal hallway, and through the double doors that lead to the other side of the gigantic Canterlot Castle. The guards, knowing best not to get in the mare's way, quickly side stepped the Element of Harmony as she swiftly ran up to the Harmony Suites. Crashing through the second or third pair of double doors she had seen throughout the castle, and sliding down on the tiled floor to a halt. Pinkie Pie somehow had landed exactly in front of her friends, minus Twilight and Applejack, whom had been sitting on a giant throw pillow in the middle of the room playing a game of charades. At the moment, Rainbow Dash was currently up, and waving her hooves wildly at the others, looking as though she was partly choking on a muffin, and playing 'Wack a Pest" in the air in front of her. Her eyes showed determination as sweat slowly trickled down her face.
"Hiya! What'cha up to now guys?" Pinkie said from her spot in front of her friends, much faster than usual. She then started to hop and jump up and down on her tail. "Oh, charades?! Can I play? Huh, huh, huh?! 'Cause you know what they say about Pinkies! They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!"
Her friends stopped playing the game for a moment. Even Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be both confused and wierded out by her pink friend. Everypony sat in silence for a moment, and in that moment you could hear a faint buzzing sound coming from where Pinkie stood vibrating on the floor, until somepony finally broke the silence.
"Pinkie Pie dear," Rarity said, "We know that you are fun, but we are already in the middle of the game. You mustn't just start playing a game when it is already started. Why don't you take one more lap around the castle? Maybe that that will finally take you off of that sugar rush that you got from lunch?" She turned back to the game and started to rattle off more answers. "A duck! No? A pair of earrings! No?! Oh my... What in Celestia are you trying to say, Rainbow Dash!?"
"Duh!" Pinkie Pie said just before rainbow dash could respond. "She's playing that mare who fell from the arms of Flex Sleuther, the evil body builder mystery mare, and got caught by supermare in the second movie!"
Rainbow blinked at her friend. "Pinkie Pie," She asked slowly, "how did you know that?" Everypony else looked at the pink mare.
"Duh!" Pinkie said again, "it was so obvious! The silent scream, the flailing of the limbs! Everything fit into place!" She looked at the wall clock that was perched on the wall. "Ah, I'm late, I'm late!" And galloped back out of the room once more leaving an oddly shaped hole where she had crashed through the now closed door.
"...Okay..." Rainbow Dash said. She turned to her friends. "She is SO random!"
Everypony in the room burst out laughing except for Fluttershy who just sat there, blinked, and said, "I don't get it..."
"...Well take it from here." Both Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor walked into the room of the dungeon towards the cell housing Twilight.
Applejack took a step forward towards the couple. "Uh, well, you know y'all don't have to do that," she said.
"No, that's Alright, Applejack. You sound... distressed. You should maybe take a break. When we heard about what this... This monster did to Twilight, we came right over here to sort things out," Shining Armor said.
"But-"
"Applejack, go. She must have some power in her, even WITH the ring that was placed on her. I'm guessing she is brainwashing you to get angry at her so that you will do something stupid. Kind of like the same magic that was placed on Shining when I was inside the canterlot caverns."
"...Sure thing, Princess," Applejack finally admitted defeat and walked out of the dungeon.
"Now, Chrysalis, we have something for you," Princess Cadence said as she walked towards the cell while reaching into a concealed bag that she had been hiding.
A lone figure stood in the shadows of the Canterlot statue garden as the evening began. The figure, obviously a pony, looked around, securing the area and also looking around for the visitor that had supposed to be there already. The figure, a mare, was getting impatient, and started to walk away.
She was just about to canter over to the palace doors when something tapped on her shoulder. Turning around, the pony walked back into the darkness towards the now arrived pony.
"Sorry," the new pony said to the other. "I got caught up with some... unexpected difficulties, and then I forgot about this."
"It's okay," the first said. "I got here late also. That doesn't excuse the fact that you were over twenty minutes late, though, Albazar!"
Albazar winced at her superior's angry tone. "Sorry," she said. "I just hope that she is okay. We don't even know where she exactly is at this point, Haller."
"I know," Haller replied. "If we are to rescue her from where she is being kept, we need more that us, though. We cannot do this alone, and we need information."
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"I suggest that you- Wait. Somepony's coming. Go!" They both scrambled to opposite sides of the garden and departed their meeting.
"Stop! Who goes there?" The guard walked over to where he was sure he had heard voices not a moment before. He found nothing except for a tiny plack scratch on the wall, and shrugged it off and left.
He failed to notice the many games of tic tac toe on the bottom of the wall.
Author's Note
I really wanted to get this out, so I might have missed some things in there. If you guys have any quiestions, please comment.
Riddles, Riddles, Everywhere! - Chapter 5
Twilight eyed the bag suspiciously. Something was obviously in it but what? What could be in the sack? It had to be bad or else Cadence and Shining Armor wouldn't have brought it all the way down to the dungeons. With the Princess of Love smiling with narrowed eyes, a look Twilight had never seen before on the usually caring alicorn's face, she didn't know at all what to expect really. Twilight looked from her brother to his wife, before speaking. "Shells until night, seeing hell into new eras," She began her 'poem'. "So uplifting now, sadness heaping inside no Equestrian."
Cadence's eye's narrowed. This was one of the signals but how could it be her? It obviously wasn't but she had to make sure. There had been a spell in place to ensure everything in place. She needed to test it out. "Lonely, a dragon yells, 'Bodies underneath go, singing a wild aria. Kill everything completely. Loop a pony's youth or undergo radical happenings onto our vanquished earth soon-'"
Twilight stopped her old foalsitter. "No," she said.
"What? I don't even know what you guys were even doing!" Shining Armor exclaimed.
"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to your wife," Twilight said. She turned to a confused Cadence. "You said it wrong," she said. Candences eyes got full of disbelief. "You said 'Onto our vanquished earth.' I don't even know what this 'earth' thing is. You were supposed to say Equestria."
Suddenly Cadence had a happy look on her face. "Twilight, it is you! How did this happen?! Why are you like this?"
"Enough!" A familiar voice broke to the surface and the area around where the white stallion had stood just moments before erupted in bright green flames, blinding the two mares and throwing back Cadence, both of whom had stood before the now erected Changeling Queen. Only, this didn't look like the Changeling that Twilight had seen at the royal wedding. This didn't even look like a changeling at all. The pony who stared back at her with narrowed eyes looked exactly like her ! Twilight's mouth dropped in surprise. The Twilight-duplicate gave a sneer and then finally spoke. "How, how did you get her to...?! Ugh, never mind that. Twilight Sparkle, I had plans for you! I will complete my revenge!" The Queen's horn lit up in spectacular fashion lighting up the room and then, darkness covered the room completely.
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The room was quiet as the five ponies and dragon slept in their respective beds. Well, not exactly quiet. Rainbow Dash was snoring loudly while Pinkie Pie was squirming almost to the extent that she was writhing under the sheets. Spike and Rarity were both muttering in their sleep about different things. "Twiliiiight.... Come here, please. I need to give you a hug..." Spike muttered to himself.
Rarity was sleep talking about a different topic, though. "Oh, Big Macintosh... Yes, I suppose I would like to have dinner with you at the fanciest place in Ponyville... Yes... Okay, yes, we can certainly go right now..." She threw off the covers to her bed and cantered out of the room with her eyes closed. The guards, asleep at their posts at the door didn't notice the Element of Generosity going down the gigantic hallway towards the stairs while she started to talk to herself once more.
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As the initial shock of seeing 'herself', Twilight turned her head and looked at the now passed out Cadence, eyes wide in horror, and realizing the severity of the situation. She also realized the chance that she had now. If only she could get out of this damned cage! She pushed and she pushed some more as hard as she could, but the bars wouldn't budge. Not without a key or at least some magic, both of which she didn't have at the moment, would she be able to get out of the snare. All she could do was watch in terror as the changeling approached Cadence. Her now purple horn glowed green once more and a spark appeared then another and another. Soon, Chrysalis's horn was zapping sparks all over the place. She aimed her horn at Cadence the sparks' zapping grew louder and more apparent, and then-
"Oh, Big Mac what an absolutely lovely spread you have gotten us!" The door slammed open and Rarity started to canter inside of the dungeons. Startled, the Queen gasped and four different sparks flew in different directions as well as electrocuting herself. She writhed in pain screaming in agony. Two sparks hit Rarity and Cadence, which then created a line flowing between them. For a couple of seconds the green sparks flashed white and pink and then stopped flashing all together. The last one hit Twilight and caused some of the bars to evaporate in a circle. The zapping continued to bounce around the cell forming a sphere of crackling green electricity around Twilight. The last words that she got out before the ball shrunk and collapsed onto itself was 'Help!'
And then the world vanished out of Twilight's vision, causing her to black out. When she would wake up, she would be in for a big surprise...
Author's Note
Sorry guys about the 'poem' part. I am really into secret codes and stuff like that, so I kinda put one in there... XD Plus, sorry for the shorter chapter(s), this next one will hopefully be longer!
Twilight lifted her head to observe where she was. All that she could see was darkness all around her. She blinked her eyes and looked again. Still black. Confused, her eyebrows furrowed and she began to think of probable answers to her new situation. She didn't know exactly where she was so she naturally assumed that she was either somewhere where it was night or, more improbably, in her own consciousness. Then again, she remembered the last few days were really improbable and more unpredictable than most of her life altogether.
"Hello? Is anypony out there?" She shouted as loud as she could into the darkness. Silence responded. Sighing, Twilight closed her eyes and laid her head down. She remembered the events that had gone on before causing her to be here. At least her suspicions had been confirmed that the Changeling queen was behind her predicament causing her to end up looking just like her. And why had Rarity just burst into the dungeons like that? That had been totally weird-
Rarity. What had happened to her and Cadence after they had both been shocked? Were they even still alive? She hoped that they were both alright. What if they were in a coma? Or worse, dead?! Oh, if that happened everypony would probably blame her thinking that she was still the queen and that the real queen was her! She needed to find a way to fix this. She needed to-
Her thinking was diminished by a loud rumbling sound that seemed to echo all around her. That continued for a couple of seconds before another noise, this time much louder, echoed around the darkness. Twilight covered her ears with her hooves, but she could definitely still hear the voice that was booming.
"Nnngh, five more minutes, Twilight, I'm trying to sleep..." Twilight's ears perked up and she uncovered them. She knew that voice and she would never forget it, Spike, her number one assistant. She couldn't see him in the pitch black area, but she could definitely sense his presence and hear his voice. Frantically, she yelled out to get his attention and for once the voice that came out of her muzzle was her own.
"Spike! Spike, It's me Twilight! Please, turn on the lights or something! I can't see you or anything else here!" She cried and then waited for another couple of seconds before sighing again and furrowing her eyebrows. Maybe she was just stuck here for the rest of eternity where ever 'here' was anyway. Just stuck here punished for whatever she did wrong. Forced to hear the voices of her friends and loved ones forever while they wouldn't contemplate the torturous situation that she was currently in. Maybe-
Light flooded into the room, finally making it possible to see. For some reason, Twilight's eyes didn't get blinded at all. They just saw. Looking at the wall that she was currently staring at revealed that the whole of it was lit up in a moving picture. It was sort of like watching a movie, only not exactly.
Blinking once, she tried to look around the rest of the room to see what it actually looked like but found that she couldn't. Whenever she tried to peel her eyes off of the screen, she would just find herself looking at the same wall, and the same screen over and over again. Sure, she could turn her head different directions but that only resulted in seemingly not moving her head at all.
What the buck is this? Is Discord trying to rise again or something? Because if you ask me seeing the inside of some sheets through a movie screen is kind of his style, she thought to herself. As she did, though, there was a blurred stirring on the movie screen as the view shot up and looked around the room for something.
A voice boomed throughout the room again, the same one of Spike's voice. "Twilight? ...Did I just hear twilight? But that can't be right, she's missing..."
Twilight, surprised, took a chance. "Spike! It is me, it’s Twilight! Help!" She shouted at the movie screen like she pictured a drunk pirate might do during an actual movie with other ponies in the theatre with him. After no response other that Spike's just booming about how it was probably nothing, she groaned. Why can't he hear me now? He seemed to have heard me when I talked before only there was a bit of a time lapse. Maybe the moment where I finish talking and he hears me finish talking is different. Ok, now what if I-
Once again she was cut off by Spike's voice, which she was glad to hear, but only got more confused the more he spoke. "Twilight, I can hear you. Geez, I'm not hard of hearing of anything. Maybe she thinks I am though." He chuckled.
Then another voice came into Twilight’s hearing spectrum, and she knew this one also. "Spike, why're y'all talkin' to yourself? You okay, Sugarcube?" Now that, Twilight knew, was definitely Applejack. Oh, there's AJ! Twilight thought excitedly as her farming friend came into view.
Spike responded, "Oh, hey there Applejack. I'm not really sure - Did you hear that?" Applejack looked surprised as her eyebrows furrowed and she looked around, expecting to see somepony standing there that shouldn't be.
"Twilight? Is that you, Sugarcube? I thought I heard somethin' earlier, but I couldn't be sure. So, y'all finally got out'a that Changelin' suit or whatever? Ah'm surprised that ah'm the only one who noticed."
"Wait, what?" Spike said. "You can hear her too now and now she really was Chrysalis?" Applejack nodded. "Okay then..." He responded.
Something clicked in Twilight. "I guess he couldn't hear me speaking, but he can hear my thoughts instead!" She then began to think. Hey guys, so you can both hear me now? That's awesome! AJ, can you please explain quickly to Spike about what really happened to me and then we need to quickly get down to the dungeons to help out there.
"Sorry, Sugarcube, if there's a pony in need, we need to help 'em right away! Ah'm guessin' one of 'em's Rarity?" Twilight responded with a yes, "yeah, ah sorta guessed when I didn't see her in her bed getting her usual beauty sleep.
As the orange farm pony galloped away with Spike starting to follow, Spike started to worry. "Gosh, I hope she's ok!"
________________________________________
Rarity was definitely not ok. At the moment, she was screaming her lungs out. Well, they weren't exactly her lungs or necessarily her scream either really. That was part of the problem. She had woken up a few minutes prior to now and had found herself in the body of what was at first Twilight Sparkle and now was the body of the Changeling queen Chrysalis. Now, she wasn't screaming because of the fact of that she was in the body of an evil Changeling overlord but because of the fact that in Rarity's mind green hair and a black body that had holes in the arms and legs was absolutely hideous. According to her this situation was 'THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!'
Her screaming had also woken up Candence, who was now joined into the chorus of shrieks and screams of horror, as she was in Rarity's body. Though according to her, the most terrifying fact was that if the three ponies had done a complete 'body swap' then the only place that the queen could be was in her own body.
And the Changeling Queen was nowhere to be found.
________________________________________
Twilight was getting a little sick at the up and down motions that Spike's body was creating. 'Um, guys? I think I'm going to be... sick... Ugh, I'm just going to teleport to your head, AJ'... Twilight thought.
Applejack's eyes widened. "Ah, Sugarcube, ah don't think that's such a good idea," She said nervously. "What if somethin' goes wrong and I end up, uh, dyin'? We all know those darn magical difficulties your horn can have; they usually happen when yall're under stress and not thinkin' right, am ah right?"
"Well, AJ, I doubt that you will die or anything! Every time that stuff happens everything turns out fine, so on three." Twilight started to count down, getting ready to teleport into Applejack's mind. "One... Two..."
"Twilight-" Applejack started but was cut off by a "Three," a loud crack, and a distant voice in her head screaming something unrecognizable. AJ's eyes opened wide and she grimaced. "Oh my, Twilight please! Calm down!"
But Twilight couldn't calm down not in the slightest. She had found a secret that Applejack had tried; oh she had tried so hard to keep hidden.
Applejack's secret was out, and now she was in for a world of hurt. After all, Equestria wasn't very fond of changeling's posing as ponies.
Not at all.
Author's Note
I'm really sorry for the long wait guys! I hope this chapter will make up for it. It was sitting in my to do list for a long time and I finally just decided to get it done!
Also, please comment, rate, and enjoy! Critisism is highly welcomed and enjoyed.
Flashback - Chapter 7
With Twilight's voice screaming loudly inside Applejack's head, she couldn't think straight. It was clear that she was not going to be calming down very soon. AJ couldn't blame her. Twilight had found out that her friend, the Element of Honesty of all ponies, was a changeling. Well, she was only half wrong but still, changlings had been considered the mortal enemies of Equestrian society for millenia. And that was before they invaded Equestria and killed or turned half of the population of the capital city. That was going just a little bit too far on their side.
She heaved a heavy sigh, not even trying anymore to calm the voice of her friend that was inside her head. Everything was going wrong. Heck, everything already went wrong the moment that she had finally gone out of the hive and swore vengeance against her queen. Almost being killed in the Everfree Forest should have just been it for her. Maybe she shouldn't have even tried to fight back, 'cause if she hadn't, she would be dead, the queen would have been content (at least for the time being), and her Element could have chosen a pony that was actually HONEST. She should have just sworn allegiance to the queen again and gone back to her once normal life as a guard. If only she was normal, instead of an entirely new type of species.
Her father, Kyo, had been a changeling, and her mother, Apple Core, had been a pony born of the Apple family. Applejack always did wonder why her mother had been named that, it was kind of a nasty name to give to a foal. She had been born after her father learned that he had an extremely rare changeling defect that allowed him to actually love something rather than just take love from others to survive.
Ususally, the 'victims' of the defect had been in love with an inatimate object, making others think that they were just crazy and lock them up. Her parents had both been killed by the queen after she learned of the affair, though surprisingly AJ, the daughter, had been left with only a few scratches and was offered a completely new life in the hive as a guard by the queen. Obviously the queen wanted to use her, and if she didn't listen, possibly hurt of kill her. AJ finally accepted out of the fear of being killed instead of just wanting it. The fact that she was part pony helped with the hunger for love that seemed to seep from regular pony's head, looking like a wafting smell.
Containing herself had been hard at first, and she knew why any regular changeling would practically get hypnotized by the smell and soak it all up with magic, eating it, until the victim was left with no love. In the brain, there is a part that controls emotions like hate, fear, and especially love. In some serious cases of what was called 'Emotion Drought,' that part of the brain could be blocked off my changeling magic and used up, leaving an emotionless shell of the victims former self. That was horrible and she knew it, but didn't always think much of it. It helped to keep things like that out of her mind.
After a while of working in the guard, she realized that doing so was a bigger mistake than she had thought before. Well, sure, the meals were fantastic and she actually got a really nice room, but she was always treated different. Not just by the Changeling society who always made fun of her, though, but also by the prisoners who were trapped there, sometimes for weeks on end without food and sometimes water. Since she was half pony, her natural form was the pony she had posed as for years, an orange earth pony with blonde hair that her parents had originally named 'Secret Apple,' but was later dubbed 'Applejack' by herself after she began to think that her birth name was not corresponding to her life at all (Except for the obvious, that no one in the Apple family knew about her).
Because of that she was able to pose as a regular Equestrian citizen, but also becuase of this, and the half pony genes, she couldn't change forms to a changeling. She could only change forms to any type of pony wether it be earth, pegasus, or unicorn, and also change her natural apperance, hair shape and color, cutie mark, colors of coat and mane, ect. It was pretty cool and miraculous at first, but the truth was that it only made her job at the hive worse. She was in charge of gaurding the prisoners usually for days on end, her changeling gene usually helping with the job of actually staying agake. But, whenever at a captured pony awoke to see her, they thought that she was either there to help her or was captured too, so they called out to her to help them. Sometimes thy screamed for her to help them for days, weeks even. Until they became too weak to do so and initally died.
The fact that she couldn't help them at all had eaten at her for a long while, leading to nervous breakdowns and beatings for not behaving. But, another contributing fact was that when they died, she was usually the one that other changelings chose to carry the dear ones out. That usually confused the screaming ones for a while and shut them up a little, which was a relief to her, so she ended up actually volunteering to do it more than she was being chosen. Until they were screaming questions that couldn't be answered. That made it harder sometimes.
There were many things that made her want to leave, but the last straw was when she overheard rumors that there had been a very powerful unicorn found by Celestia that the queen was either planning to kidnap or kill. She had only been about seven years of age at that point, the same age as the powerful unicorn (which she later found out was Twilight) and even though that was true, her mind, like all changelings, excelled much faster than her body did. Thats how most Changelings died, their body and mind excelled. Again, she had the altered genes to thank for that point. After she found of that information, about a pony she might be able to relate to but couldn't, she couldn't deal with much of her usual life any more. So, after that, she planned to run away. To warn the unsuspecting unicorn of the danger that she was definetly in. Maybe even make a friend, though probably not.
Another thing that made Applejack so special was that she was powerful. She didn't know for certain, but she was probaby either as powerful, or more powerful that Twilight because for one, changelings have more magic than a regular pony, and her father had actually been a prince, the son of chysalis. That's how cruel the queen was, killing her own son in cold blood. Sometimes, she felt pity for the queen and wondered what could make somepony so mean.
And then she had tried to actually escape. Waiting in her quarters for the right time had been painstakingly boring. All that she could do was play games in her head and think about the many ways that her plan could go wrong and how many ways she could be punished or killed for trying to do so. After many games of 'I-spy' and a bunch of times trying to talk herself out of it, she could feel that it was almost time.
For some reason that none of the Changelings could explain, at exactly midnight for a half hour, every changeling in the hive went into a deep sleep. Yet another perk of being half and half, she only felt a bit drowsy at the time. Suddenly, she felt the effects come over, and she stiffled a yawn. Going over to her tiny bookshelf, she grabbed the knapsack that held all of the possessions she needed for the journey and crept over to the door, which gave only a small creak. She succesfully snuck past the sleeping guards that were supposed to be stationed and alert in the hallways and the outside of the hive. When she reached the outside of the hive, she built up her earth pony stamina and strength and started to run. She ran and ran, trying to get as far away as she could from the hive, her old home. She ran through the badlands where the hive was located, through the everfree forest, and then soon found herslef in an orchard of bright red apples. She knew then that she was home at last. Her real home.
Afterwards, she had done things that she wasnt proud of to her real family to make them think that she had always been with them and just came back from a trip to Manehatten where her relitives lived. But that was nessisary. She couldn't let anypony know what, or who she really was. Only two ponies, one being like her, knew her secret. Well, three now.
At least she wasn't posing as somepony like Twilight thought. Twilight also was wrong when she thought she was a changeling, Applejack was only half pony. It would be a grueling process to tell her that. Alot of things had happened that were unexpected. Like when the Element of Honesty chose her as it's carrier, or when she found out that she had an older brother and little step-sister. Twilight finding out her secret was just going to be added to the list.
It was about that time that she felt someone shaking her, trying to get her back to reality. Blinking, her thoughts were inturrupted by Spike violently shaking her. "AJ, geez, don't scare my like that! Why is Twilight screaming like that? And why were you staring out into space like that? I don't think that that's normal for you, maybe for Pinkie, but not for you!" He said, voice trembeling. Dang, he really WAS scared.
She didn't know how she should start to tell the little guy, or if she should choose to tell him at all. "Oh, um... Well, the thing is-" She started to lie when the voice in her head cut her off, somehow somewhat calm again though still with a shaky voice that was more high pitched than usual.
"She's a Changeling! A mother bucking Changeling! " She said. Spike was now staring at her with wide eyes and had started to back up, tears in his eyes. She was about to explain, but Twilight cut her off again. "How could I not have noticed all of this time? It was so obvious! Wait, no it wasn't... But still!" Spike was wimpering now looking around nervously, eyes darting. He looked like he was about to yell for a guard but was waiting for the right moment. Then Twilight unexpectidly laghed and said, "But this is so cool! A new species of changeling, and one that is actually good!"
Applejack blinked in surprise. Spike's mouth dropped in confusion. "But..." Spike started, "how, how did you know, Twi'?"
"Oh, right, I should probably explain. When I'm in somepony's head I can see through their eyes. But also, if I consentrate really hard, I can also hear and see what they're thinking too! It was just by chance that I started to calm myself down by consentrating on something. Cool, right? So I heard and saw what she's been through, and what she can do! This will be one of the biggest scientific discoveries in a century! C'mon Aplejack, show us what you can do? Or should I say Secret Apple the half pony half Changeling hybrid?"
This time it was Spike's turn to blink in surprise, and AJ's turn to have her mouth drop open. "Uh," Spike said. "Equestrian, please?"
"Uh, I'll explain it," Applejack offered, now without her trademark southern twang, which surprised Spike. "I'm half pony, half Changeling who can only change between an earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasi. Plus I can also change my looks and colors. I'm good, and I've gone through alot in my life that at the moment do NOT want to explain, and you two are now in the exclusive group of (now) four who know who I am, so... yeah..."
"Ok, uh, that makes sense I think," Spike said, still a hint of speculation in his voice. He started to walk over to her, more slowly than before and actually smiled. Then Applejack realized something that she probably should have mentioned earlier in the conversation.
"Oh yeah, and I know where Twilight's actual body is! Or, well, where it is now at least, as it's switched positions. That's why I've been trying to help get her out of trouble all this time!" She smiled when she saw spike giving a hopeful look, finally.
Twilight spoke again from her head. "That's Fantastic AJ! Now we can finally end this! Oh and by the way, we wont tell anyone else until you say it's ok. Yep, I read your thoughts again!" Applejack chuckled and started to canter down the hallway, and then stopped.
"Wait..." She said, her eyebrows furrowing. "We've made quite a ruckus just now, but there are no guards..." She let Spike finish the end of the sentance for her in his mind. "We have to hurry, the Elements and Princesses are in trouble!" And stared again at a fast trot around the corner, quickly followed by Spike. This was going to be one hell of a night...
Author's Note
Thanks for the 100 likes, guys! Rock on, and the story might have a few MINOR adustments coming on the published chapters, but just for detail fill-ins and that kind of stuff. You do not have to read it again if you do not want to.
One Hell of a Night Part 1 - Chapter 8
One Hell of a Night Part 1 - Chapter 8
Celestia stood at her desk, making sure that everything was in order. She quietly went over to her dresser and, with a magical glow lifted up a crystal shard attached to a golden chain. Heaving a sigh, the Princess of the sun walked back over to the desk, and looked at the map that she had placed there. It showed the world, the world that not only held Equestria, but all of the other countries including the least explored area on the planet. Some called it Death Valley, while others called it by it's proper name; The Badlands. Home of the Changeling hive.
She looked over her shoulder to glance at all of the letters that she had tried to send Twilight in the past couple of hours. They had all been returned, unopened, so many that the royal trash can was unable to be seen through the pile. This was her last chance, and she knew it. If scrying for her faithful student didn't work, that would either mean that Twilight had been sent to another planet beyond theirs or was dead. Though if she was alive and in any country on the map, she would be found.
She placed the crystal over the map and while casting a scrying spell, started to swing it over the map. Now came the hard part. She could be doing this for hours before it found anything. Celestia had to be patient, and more importantly, she had to be collective of her thoughts. They, while the spell was doing it's work, had to all be focused on Twilight. The way she looked, the was her voice sounded, the way she acted.
Soon, she found herself hearing strange noises. It sounded like the rustling of leaves as they were blown into the air by the unseen force that is wind. Knowing that those sounds meant that the magic was working, and almost done, she concentrated as hard as she could on her student until finally-
Her concentration was broken by three sharp knocks at the door. The promising noises faded quickly and the crystal dropped onto the map. Celestia's eyes opened, tears starting to form on the edges. As she looked over to the door, she saw one of her sister's guard, a stallion named Balthazar, staring at her. "Um, I know that you told us not to disturb you for a while, but we have something you might want to see," he said, a proud smile creeping onto his face.
Wiping away her tears, the Solar Princess turned back to the desk and quickly folded up the map with her magic. Putting the crystal around her neck, she began to walk over to the ajar door and opened it. Then staggered backwards in alarm as she saw Rarity standing next to Chrysalis, who was being held back by the guards. Something definitely off about the situation, she could feel it. She just wasn't sure what it was yet.
Chrysalis change that.
"Get your filthy paws off of me, you ruffians!" Chrysalis complained. Taken aback by the tone of her voice, one of the guards released her hooves until the other gave him a dirty look. "Ugh, this is almost positively the WORST, POSSIBLE, THING in the history of worst possible things!"
Celestia blinked. "....Rarity?" 'This wasn't supposed to happen! It hasn't happened in... I don't even know how long it's been!' She turned her head to the other pony. "...And you are?"
The other pony, in Rarity's body, looked up at the Solar Princess and grimaced. "Um, hi Auntie Celestia," She said nervously. 'Cadence. Well, that explains a lot. Wait, if this really did happen to them then that means that-'
"Twilight! Where's Twilight?" Celestia quickly asked Cadence and Rarity. "Oh, and you can release her. She's not really a changeling, she's an Element of Harmony," She said to the guards, who, unsure if they were doing a good thing by releasing who they thought for sure was an evil changeling.
"Oh, um, we're not exactly sure. We were all body switched into each other's bodies except Twilight. She just kind of vanished."
"Then she must be trapped somewhere. Here, come inside so we can-"
"Stop right there, you big meanies!" A familiar voice broke through the princess,' gaining the attention of everypony outside of the room. The five looked around to find Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, all wearing their Elements, and Chrysalis trapped in Cadence's body standing up the hallway. "We don't know what you did to Rarity, but Cadence told us everything! Prepare to get vanquished from Equestria!"
"Yeah! You will pay for that! You probably have Applejack and Spike in the dungeons or something!" Rainbow Dash agreed with her friend.
"Nopony hurts our friends!" An enraged Fluttershy yelled as a half rainbow exploded from the three necklaces, and the other half finished by Chrysalis as she lit her horn. As the rainbow hit the ponies, a shock wave of bright light began to spread from it. By the time the light ceased, only one of the five ponies remained standing, her eyes a bright glow shaded green. Cadence, in Rarity's body, began to walk over the the four others.
Chrysalis looked at the four little ponies and smiled triumphantly. Every one of them had glowing green eyes, ensuring her control over each and every one of them. Giving her commands to each of them; That she was and had always been their faithful and loving leader, that they were to be completely loyal to her and do everything she ordered them to do without complaint of hesitance.
To Cadence, she gave orders that she was not Cadence, princess of Love, but Rarity, Element of Generosity. The spell had made all of the guards, housekeepers, cooks, you name it, vanish to another land, leaving the entire castle empty save for her minions, herself, a sleeping Luna, and the other Elements of Harmony.
"Yes," she said to herself. "This is going to be one hell of a night."
Author's Note
New chapter, this time with an actual intended reference it it! Just as a little game, try to guess what it's from, and what the reference is. If someone bothers to answer, and gets it right, they can give me another reference to use in either this or another story of mine of their choice. Thanks for reading!
SORRY FOR THE SHORTNESS OF THIS CHAPTER! I cram so much stuff into one chapter! Also, constructive criticism is enjoyed!
The Changeling's Revenge - Chapter One -
The Changeling's Revenge - Chapter One -
A figure stood in a dark room, shrouded in the darkness of it's own shadow, trembling with anger. In one swift movement, the figure, which appeared to have holes in it's legs, reared up and- "Gah!" Chrysalis slammed her hooves on the parchment filled table, shattering it into pieces of splintered wood. "That damn Twilight Sparkle! How could I have let her see through my guise so thoroughly! I should have snuffed out the fire when I had the chance. How could I have been such a fool ?"
Days before in the Hive throne room, she had gone over the detailed plans many times before the supposedly 'thorough' take of action. Now, afterwards, she had been forced back to her Hive and was looking through them once more to see the mistake that she had so obliviously made. After hours of looking, she only became more frustrated. She paced and paced, trying to settle her emotions. All it did, though, was make her more angry, more lit with a raging fire that now burning inside of her, raging.
"That... Is... It!" She growled through her poised fangs. "Twilight Sparkle, you god damned nitwit, I will have my revenge!" She turned to the bookshelf next to her and the mulch pile that now covered the floor, and pulled out an old, tattered, leather bound book. It looked old, as the pages were yellowed as well as rips and shreds presented themselves on the cover. The title of the book had obviously been burned into the leather. It read 'Spell Diary of the Aria Family' in fancy black and green letters. The old Queen smiled to herself gradually pondering over the fond illegal and dangerous memories that had started as a result of playing around with the spells hidden inside. The spell diary, the oldest one in history, was legendary. Anypony who had gotten their hooves on it was in immense control of their surroundings and other ponies, as the queen recalled how she had slipped a note will illegal spells into one of the Princess's boyfriends before her downfall, resulting in a war and a certain equine species vanishing entirely. But, this book, as unpredictable as it was, held the first part of a quickly thought revenge.
She quickly flipped to her desired page. "And I know Just the spell to get it," she smiled viciously at her thought. Looking down at the page, she knew that this spell was extemely dangerous. Though, she was willing to take the risk if her precious hive was at stake. And especially so if it was able to take revenge on the mare who had seen through her guise and overall made her plan go off of the rails.
She was getting off thought, and she knew it, so she went back to her book and started to read. "Ok, lets see..."
"Wait 'till you head about the bachelour party!" Said Spike excitedly to his pony friends, who all smiled and laughed. "It was awesome, I'm telling you! We went to this place that they called a 'Stripper Club,' whatever that means!"
All of his friends stopped walking and stared at him, eyes almost bulging out of their sockets and alarmed looks on their faces. "What?" He said. "They wouldn't let me go inside, but I got to stand outside and eat gems that the guys found in the quarry they explored in a couple of months ago. I had the all-important job of security guard. It sounded like a great time inside, though! There were yells of happiness every few minutes!"
Twilight blinked for a second. "That's... Nice," she said. "So, what did you girls think about that cocoon thing that the Queen ensared ponies in? I got some samples to study! Cool, right?"
The train ride home had been one full of quick talk, gossip, and then naps. The only pony who was even half awake by the end of the ride was Twilight, who's mind had been racing ever since the attack. But she didn't want to think about it. It was bad enough already that it had happened, and although she had already apologized for being a bad friend they had already forgiven her. After all, Fluttershy had said, she was right all along.
"Goodbye, girls!" Twilight Sparkle waved a friendly goodbye to her friends as they all walked off of the station platform toward their respected destinations. "Well, that was a terrific train ride, wasn't it Spike? Spike?"
She looked back to see Spike, who was trying to stay awake on her back, mumbled something indescribable, making his carrier giggle a little bit. "I just wish those Changelings didn't try to enslave all of us. Getting everypony to believe me and then finally beating her was sure a pain in my ass..." She absentmindedly said. She passed the bakery, and looked inside to find the lights on and a pony inside. She was about to go inside to buy some bagels, when she looked at the pony inside and found it glaring at her, as if it hated her. She shivered, it was like the pony was staring into her soul and eating it from the inside out. She walked away, not looking back to notice the pony's eyes to blink into a green bug-like ones, and then change back into a regular ponies. She also had failed to notice the shimmering green cocoon that had a sleeping pony in it stuck to the ceiling.
Even though her assistant was hardly awake when they got to their home, a library built out of a tree inside the town of Ponyville, Twilight was still wide awake, and not planning on going to sleep soon. She was accustomed to staying awake, as she had to do so some nights during outrageous study times. She quietly cantered over to their shared room and layed Spike down in his small bed. As she lifted up the sheets to warm him through the night, she looked through the window and into the graceful night. Luna had done a good job remaking the star patterns into more modern things, though she had kept most of the old constellations. Twilight hadn't bothered to look at the ones she had tampered with, though, and decided to take a look.
Soon, she quietly slipped out of her bed, and got her vintage telescope out to assemble. After using the instructions to put the relic together, she started to star gaze up into the shining heavens. "There's Orion," She muttered. "There's Pegasus. Where's Leo?" She looked around the sky to no avail. I guess Princess Luna decided to put that constellation over to the other side of the sky, or something like that, she logically thought. Always being the 'Simple Explanaton' pony, she liked to deduce things logically.
Looking around the sky for one more check, she saw what looked like blurry Hearths Warming Eve lights in the sky. There was no doubt about it, that was Leo, but there was something off about it that she just couldn't place. She thought nothing of it. Huh, she thought. I guess Leo's fading... That's such a shame. She yawned. "Oh, what time is it?" She asked.
Looking at the clock, she did a double take. It read one in the morning, which was late even for her. "Celestia, If I don't get my sleep tonight, I'll Be too tired to work, or worse, too tired to study in the morning!" She scrambled to pick up her notes and put away the telescope carefully, not noticing a green glowing shooting star on the horizon.
Only, this wasn't a shooting star. Like shooting stars, It was pure magic, but unlike a shooting star, on which unicorns could channel their magic off of, this was horn-made. It shot across the sky, and again, unlike most shooting stars which seem to grow as they get closer, it started to shrink as it got near. Smaller, smaller, untill it was about the size of a hoof.
Still scrambling to get her stuff away so that she could get to sleep, Twilight also didn't notice when it hit her square in the back, enveloping her in green magic and making her sway a little. As it began to seep into her, she felt an odd buzzing in her head, which grew louder and louder until- "What the-" She started as wave of sleep hit her and she passed out onto the wooden floor of the library, scattering all of her equipment across the floor. She lay there, still glowing with a magically ominous green aura.
"Why yes, Rarity, I would like to help you find gems in the quarry..." Spike muttered as his dreams played out in his head.
Crysalis was looking out of the broad window that was in the front of her study, smiling through her fangs. She had launched the spell not even ten minutes ago, and had used a vision enlargement spell to make sure it didn't hit one of her scouts, or worse, an unsuspecting pony who happened to either fly in the way or get randomly hit. But, she was sure of it, now. Nothing had gone wrong, and now step one of her plan was underway, all thanks to the unicorn being stupid enough to go outside alone, even if it was off of her porch to stargaze at that fool Alicorn's night sky.
She dramatically turned away from the window, and closed the spellbook with an emrald magical glow. She had made sure that it would work, and it had, at least so far. But she didn't like to think about the down side. She, and the rest of the eveil beings on Terra liked to think the evil way.
She looked at the portrait of herself. "That mare didn't even have a chance!" She cackeled. "My revenge starts in about three hours... And then she WILL feel my misery!"
Twilight was tossing and turning on the floor of the library. All she could sense was horror. There were nightmares every ten minutes, and afterwards, she couldn't wake up, or her body wouldn't let her wake up. Maybe it was enjoying it, although that was probably a physical impossibility. It just kept going from nightmare to another nightmare. Actually, it was probably more like a night terror instear of nightmare, as this was alot worse that what she usually had of failing a special test that Celestia set for her. This one was just like the others, though, and started off the same. All that was different was the ending. Sometimes they exploded, sometimes turned into herself and killed her. This time, though, was worse. Inside her head, she was having a panic attact of major properties.
She was always inside Sugar Cube Corner, the bakery that her Pinkie worked at, eating a cheese danish, just minding her own buisness though mentally knowing what was somewhat about to happen in a moment, when everything and every pony changed. Suddenly, a huge tounge of green fire started in the kitchen, making her scream, frightened. And then, as if everypony was made of rubber, they started to melt , as the fire reached them, shrieking, "Twilight! Twilight help us!" as they turned into pools of goo. Somehow, she couldn't find her barings and get out of her seat to run of save them, and her magic was dead aswell. Suddenly, the goo started to turn black and swirled around, sloshing into a whirlpool that was in the middle of the polished floor.
In terror, she looked into the ripples and saw a face, her face , smiling evily back at her, unnervingly with a full set of fangs and green bug eyes. The reflection vanished and the goop started to bubble, as if it was biling soup ready to be sreved. Then, out of the goo, almost as if they were clay getting sculpted by an artist, rose changeling after changeling. Shrieking in terror, Twilight suddenly found her magic for the first time since the night terrors began, and launched a beam of magic at the evil bug like creatures. The lazer hit one in the head, and it fell off of its mount.
As it hit the floor, it exploded into more liquid, and out of it rose more and more of the changelings. She kept shooting the lazer beams at them, but that was only producing more and more changelings by the minute. They started to surround her, and as she prepared to hit them, she felt her magic fizzle out once more.
"No!" She screamed as they circled around their prey. Then, all at once, they pounced at her, all the while melting into the liquid once again. Right above her head, she saw them form into a black disk-like shape. They dropped onto her, and she was falling, falling, falling into nothingness.
And then she woke. She opened her eyes, and looked around. All she could see, though was black. Everything was pitch black all around her. She tried to stand up, but felt a pearcing pain in her legs. Suddenly, a lantern as lit, and she squinted hr eyes, trying to see what was going on in the room. She turned around after a moment, her eyes finally ajusting to the light, to find them shackled to the ground. I... I'm in a dungeon? She thought, wondering what had happened. She remembered star gazing, scrambeling to put her things away and then... Nothing.
She heard steps in the darkness, and suddenly, there was light, almost blinding her eyes. She turned around to see Princess Celestia and Spike. They were glaring at her menacingly.
"So," Spike said. "Looks like your finally awake." He looked at her with surprising hate in his eyes.
"Now, Tell us. What have you done with Twilight Sparkle, Chrysalis?!" Princess Celestia asked rather loudly.
