Part 2
Twilight looked about before spotting a dried creek bed deep enough to hide. The noises of the three were coming closer. After reaching the creek bed and hunkering down, Twilight turned off her horn light, enveloping herself in total darkness.
The sounds drew closer and the area was illuminated by one of guards who brought a lantern.
"Remember, she's dangerous. She's escaped us twice yesterday, so be ready to fight if we find her," one of the guards said.
Setting the lamp down the three of them walked around, examining the area for any sign that she was there. One of the guards walked over to the dry creek bed and stood just above where Twilight was hiding. He was just about to hop down when one of the other guards spoke.
"Okay, it's time to check out the next sector."
The trio gathered their lamp and left. Soon the forest was quiet again. Twilight got up from the creek bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She lit up her horn and set the cassette recorder down on the tree trunk, turning it on again.
"I'm back and still safe. The guards, if that's what they really are, did a sweep of this area and will probably not return, so I should still be safe here." she paused for a moment, trying to remember where she stopped. "By yesterday morning I was very tired, not only from the lack of good rest but also the sickness or whatever it is. It was getting worse. Anyway, this is unimportant compared to the rest of the events of yesterday…"
The train stopped at the Ponyville station unloading only a few passengers this morning. One of them though was a white unicorn wearing armor that showed the emblem of the Crystal Empire. "So this is the town my sister lives in. Looks nice."
Twilight, got up from the bench and quickly walked to him.
"Twilight!" The white unicorn exclaimed happily before noticing the grimace on his sister's exhausted face.
"Shining Armor, we've got a problem. I have to talk to you."
"It's good to see you too, sis," he mumbled sarcastically as they both left the station.
"As soon as I got him to a place where nopony was watching, I explained everything that had transpired."
"This is indeed serious." Armor said with grave concern.
"I would go to Celestia herself about this but what could I tell her? My friends are not acting like my friends? Tri-Star is making changes to the security arrangements, including my removal without informing me first? That my house had been searched last night? The only concrete proof that I have is a half-burnt piece of paper, and that's it." Twilight said with tired frustration.
"Would a detection spell discover any changelings?"
Twilight shook her head. "No. Once a changeling is already disguised, a detection spell would'nt discover the difference."
"I see," he said rubbing his chin.
"Yesterday you inspected the security arrangements of Canterlot. Did anything suspicious happen while you were there?"
"Tri-Star was'nt there yesterday. The second in command gave me the tour, which I found odd, but other than that no."
"Did you see Spike while you were there?" Twilight asked earnestly.
"Sorry, I did not. I thought he was here with you, Twily?"
"No, he's not," she said quietly.
"My wife is coming here in two days. I don't want her or the delegates anywhere near this place until we get this cleared up."
Twilight smiled with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Thanks."
"Go about your business. Don't do anything to get their attention. In the meantime, I'll do some investigating. If I can confirm your suspicions, we can go to Celestia together."
Twilight gave him a hug. "I'm glad to have you here, Shiny."
He hugged her back tightly before letting go. "We'll get to the bottom of this."
"After this meeting, the sickness I felt went away. In fact, I felt better than I had for a long time. I finally had an ally. Now, all I had to do was wait. But after everything that had happened, waiting was something I could no longer afford. I had to cover my bets, gather more evidence to present to the princess, and prepare myself for whatever might happen next."
"That audio recorder is twenty-four bits. Do wish to buy it?" The shop owner asked.
"Yes…yes I do." Twilight said, handing the cashier the amount.
"The odds are against you, Twilight," said the owner while tallying up amount.
Twilight tensed. "Against me? What are you talking about?"
The receipt printed out of the register. "You know what I'm talking about. You look tired. Have you been getting enough sleep?"
Twilight's horn started to glow, causing the shop owner to be lifted over the counter, bringing him face to face with the angry mare. "What are you talking about?!" Twilight growled.
"The cassettes! You can't record anything with it without buying a cassette! That's why the odds are against you."
Twilight's horn stopped glowing, letting the owner go.
"My, aren't we jumpy today? A cassette is ten bits."
"Fine." Twilight muttered handing the coins to the shop keeper.
"Here's your cassette and recorder. Hope you will feel better the next time you come here."
Twilight did not say anything as she gathered the two items and put them in the saddle pack. As she put the items away, she saw Fluttershy walking ahead of her. Twilight waited for her to be further down the street before stepping out of the shop and following her at a distance.
"I followed her all the way to her house, hoping to gather any kind of information on what they may be planning. I didn't have to wait long before things got interesting."
Fluttershy entered her cottage and soon Twilight started to hear voices inside the house.
Twilight crept closer to the house and finding window she peeked in. She could not see who Fluttershy was talking to but it sounded like Rarity.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes. Everything is ready," the other voice that sounded like Fluttershy said.
Twilight placed the tape recorder on the windowsill and turned it on.
"Good. All we have to do is wait for word from Canterlot, then we can proceed with the plan."
Twilight heard someone flying fast nearby, so she dove into the bushes just in time as a cyan Pegasus landed in front of Fluttershy's house before walking inside. Twilight got out of the bushes and got close to the window again.
"So no word from Canterlot yet."
"Nope. They're not ready up there yet. What I'm worried about is her; she's definitely suspecting something now. After I missed her at her house last night."
"We won't be able to do any…"
"No!" Twilight whispered as the three inside stepped into another room where the voices were too muffled to be heard.
"Sadly, I was not able to listen in on the rest of their conversation, much less record it. I knew whatever their plans were, it was going to happen soon. So I left Fluttershy's home and started training myself for combat."
Twilight stood out in a field not too far from Ponyville. She sat a book of combat magic on the ground and braced herself, aiming her horn at a tree branch. She concentrated on it, and suddenly a bolt of energy came shooting out of her horn, disintegrating the tree branch. She picked up the book again and started to read the next spell listed inside.
"Twilight."
She turned around and saw it was her brother.
"I'd like to talk to you, but not out here. Let's go to your house."
"Agreed." Twilight put her book in the saddle pack and led him back to her house.
"What did you find out?" Twilight asked as they both entered the house.
"First, I want to ask a few questions before I tell you. How much do you know about the other delegates? "Armor said shutting the door.
"Not much outside of the report I made about each of them. Why?"
"I'm just trying to get a clear picture on everything." Armor said reassuringly.
"Shiny, whatever they're planning, it's going to be soon. The messages mentioned in the paper. Were they really coming from Canterlot?" she asked hastily.
"As a matter of fact, they were," he replied.
"Then we need to talk to Celestia now! There's a breach in security and that's reason enough to cancel the summit. Let me grab a few things first, then we shall be on the next train for Canterlot."
Armor cleared his throat. "That still might be premature. I think we may want the meeting to continue."
His words shocked Twilight. "What are you talking about!? Your wife's life may be in danger and we've got more than enough…" Then realization struck her. "They got to you," Twilight said in a low voice.
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm just trying to-"
"No, they did. They got to you." Twilight started to back away from him, when she saw Pinkie Pie walk into the room from the basement stairs wearing an apron covered with dark brown stains. Twilight turned around to bolt for the door only to see Rarity and Applejack standing there blocking her path to the door. Applejack was holding some rope and Rarity was keeping her horn charged with some spell. Twilight moved away from them and looked back at her brother who was now flanked with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. They were all starting to move in on Twilight.
"Who the hay are you?" she yelled.
"Don't worry Twilight, you will understand soon." said Shining Armor.
"We just need to have a little talk with you," said Rarity.
"Just come with us to the town hall," said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight backed up into a wall as the six of them drew closer.
"Please don't fight us," said Fluttershy.
They were now just a few feet away. Twilight desperately looked for an opening to make a run for it but she found none. Pinkie stepped forward and reaching inside one of the apron pockets she pulled out a syringe that was full of some liquid. "Here, this will help you relax."
"NO!" Twilight yelled as she slapped the syringe out of Pinkie's hoof and charged. Breaking through the crowd, she galloped towards the stairs until Applejack tackled Twilight and wrapped the rope around Twilight's neck, putting her in a chokehold.
"We don't want to hurt you."
Twilight desperately tried to break free of the hold as her vision started to darken from the lack of air. Unable to break free, she closed her eyes and focused on her horn bathing the room with blindingly bright light. The six of them yelled in agony and the grip on the rope loosened just enough for Twilight to break free and run up the stairs to the library's living quarters.
She quickly grabbed a few items that were sitting on her bed and stuffed them into the saddle pack. She looked down and saw that some of them were recovering from the spell's effect. Pinkie Pie was already marching up the stairs. Twilight ran to the balcony and leaped off into the air. She hit the ground hard and heard a loud snap as pain shot up her right foreleg, Twilight struggled to get up, yelling in pain as she did, she saw two guards approaching. She used her horn again to cast a spell on the two guards, electrifying their armor. The guards fell to the ground writhing in agony, giving Twilight time to get up and run on the three good legs she still had.
She limped behind some buildings hoping to elude her pursuers when Sweetie Belle stepped out of the back door of one the shops.
"Sweetie Belle, are you okay?" she asked, gasping for breath.
"Uh…yeah." Sweetie replied.
"Good. Listen to me. Nothing is normal around here. Your sister, the others, something's happened to them. You and I are the only ones who can help."
Sweetie Belle backed away from Twilight. Then she took a deep breath and yelled, "SHE'S OVER HERE!"
Twilight limped away from her as fast as she could. She turned a corner and saw about several dozen guards rushing towards her. She turned around to get away only to see several more guards coming from the way she came. Twilight looked up into the sky and started to see a force field forming around Ponyville. She was effectively trapped! The guards encircled Twilight and Sweetie Belle stepped through the crowd of guards.
"It'll be okay. Just surrender to them and you'll be fine." she said. "Twilight it's over."
"This isn't over yet," said Twilight.
As the guards approached her cautiously, Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could.
When she opened them again she found herself in the Canterlot royal palace.
"The teleportation spell worked. Now that I was safely in the walls of the palace I went to talk to the only pony I could still trust."
"I'm sorry, but the Princess is not granting an audience today," said the guard by the door.
"She will see me," said Twilight moving past the guard.
"M'am, you can't go in there. M'am!"
Twilight swung open the door, entering the throne room. "Princess,I must speak with you!" Twilight yelled.
The guard walked next to Twilight. "I'm sorry, Princess. I tried to stop her from disturbing you. I'll take her away now."
"No. Don't bother. I shall speak with her. You may go." The white alicorn stepped out from behind a curtain and sat down on the throne.
"Yes, my liege." The guard bowed and left the room.
"Good afternoon, Twilight, how are things in Ponyville?" the Princess smiled, but it quickly faded when she saw all the scrapes and bruises on Twilight's body.
"You need medical attention Twilight. Let me summon a doctor."
Twilight shook her head. "No, not until I tell you what's going on. The changelings have returned and they have taken over Ponyville! We need to cancel the summit and stop them before they take over Canterlot too!"
The Princess just smiled and said, "My faithful student. Thank you for informing me of this. I need you to return to Ponyville now."
Twilight was startled by Celestia's strange answer. "Princess, you don't understand. They have TAKEN over Ponyville. This is an emergency!"
"I do understand the situation, Twilight, and it will be taken care of. But you need to return to Ponyville," the Princess said reassuringly.
"Princess, I wish to stay here! The changelings will strike here next!" Twilight said desperately.
Celestia gave an intimidating look, the sight of which sent a chill down Twilight's spine. "Twilight, I'm ORDERING you to return to Ponyville."
"CELESTIA PLEASE!"
"Return to Ponyville immediately. You will not be harmed."
"No. I will not." Twilight said defiantly.
"You have given me no choice. Guards, arrest my student at once!"
Two guards walked into the room and approached Twilight.
"You're not the Princess. Are you?!"
The guards grabbed Twilight, restraining her.
"Take her to the dungeon. I will see her shortly." the Princess commanded.
"I know about your plans! You won't win! You hear me! YOU WON'T WIN!" Twilight yelled as the two guards dragged her out of the room.
"It seemed unbelievable to me that the princess herself had been replaced. Had they already infiltrated all of Equestria? Will they do the same to the Crystal Empire once they replace Cadance and the other delegates? Would there be a way to stop them without the elements of harmony? Those were the thoughts that swirled about in my mind as I was dragged through the palace halls. If there was going to be a fighting chance to stop their plans I needed to escape, but unfortunately, the last teleportation spell I did weakened me to the point where I thought best to try to escape by means other than magic. I didn't have to wait long to find an opportunity."
The two guards dragged Twilight down a hall with a huge mirror on one side and a row of windows on the other. Twilight, with all her might, shoved hard into the guard on the left, causing him to crash into mirror, shattering it. Shards of glass rained down on the three of them. Twilight wrestled free of their grip. She then bucked the guard on the right, knocking him out the window. The other guard recovered from being slammed into a mirror and charged at Twilight. She quickly cast a levitation spell, lifting up a large shard of glass and throwing it at the guard, hitting him right between the eyes. He slumped to the floor, dead. She walked over to the window. Looking down she saw the other guard she bucked laying dead on the pavement below.
"This was the first time I have ever taken the life of another. I thought I would have felt some remorse for killing both of them, but I don't feel any different…I felt only disappointment that the two dead guards did not turn out to be changelings in disguise. I knew I could not stay in Canterlot, but I couldn't escape with a fractured leg either so I devised a plan to smuggle myself out of the city by freight."
Twilight lay quietly inside a box full of pears as it was loaded into the back of a cart.
"All right Sam, that's the last of 'em," said one of voices outside the box.
The cart started to move and soon reached the gate of the city when it stopped. "Halt. State the goods you're transporting out of the city," a gruff sounding guard spoke.
"I'm transporting food and supplies to Hoofington, it's a small village near Everfree."
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to search some of your goods, there's a fugitive on the loose and she's murdered two guards."
"Murder really? I can't remember the last time a murder happened around here."
Twilight tensed as she heard hoof steps trot to the back of the cart. The guard was starting to search through some of the boxes.
"What's in this box?" the guard asked while tapping on box. Twilight was starting to sweat.
"Just pears, sir."
"It's a bit of a large box to hold pears."
"I deliver a lot of pears."
"I need to open it." The guard started to remove the ropes holding the lid down.
Twilight readied herself to come out fighting; suddenly Twilight heard other hoof steps approach the cart.
"Frostfire, the Commander needs to speak with you. I'll take over your post,"
"Yes sir." The guard said before trotting away. She then heard the other guard trot back to the front of the cart.
"All right Mister Gruenwald, everything looks to be in order, you can go now."
The cart started to move again and Twilight breathed sigh of relief. She rested for several hours inside the box of pears and when she woke up from her nap, she lifted the box lid slightly, seeing that Canterlot was now far in the distance and that the Everfree forest was not far from the road.
"Well I guess this ride is over," she whispered to herself, pushing the lid off the box and climbing out.
"Hey what were you doing in-"
Twilight fired an ice spell at the pony but he dodged out of the way. Twilight tried to cast the spell again, but was tackled by the work pony. Twilight gave a swift kick which sent him sailing into the box of pears, smashing it open and spilling pears everywhere. Gruenwald laid unconscious among the pile of pears.
She sifted through some of the boxes, looking for supplies to take with her when she found a first-aid kit. Suddenly, she heard something snap in two. Turning to see what the noise was, she saw a wooden board right as it swung into her face, knocking Twilight out of the cart. "You're the murderer from Canterlot!" shouted Gruenwald in realization.
Twilight's fired her ice spell at him again, this time freezing him instantly. Retrieving the first aid kit she foun, she soon set about bandaging her fractured foreleg
"Thanks for the ride." Twilight thanked the frozen ice block that held Gruenwald before leaving for the forest as the sun set behind her.
"Sam must have thawed out sooner than I hoped, as the Canterlot guards have done a sweep of the whole forest. I guess they don't want loose ends wandering around in the woods. Hopefully the search for me has ended."
"In two days, Cadance will arrive in Canterlot for the peace talks and I plan on being there to stop them. I'm not going to let them destroy Equestria. I fear no evil. From this point forward, it's them or me." Twilight pushed the button on the tape recorder, turning it off. She looked off into the night sky and watched the stars before falling asleep.
Two days later…..
Twilight woke up in bed coughing. As soon as it passed, she got up and looked out the window, watching the sun rise over the Canterlot skyline. She trotted over to the sink and splashed water on her face. She stared at the mirror for a moment, her tired and sickly face looking back at her. Sighing, she moved away from the mirror and reached inside her dirty and slightly torn saddle pack. Pulling out the audio cassette recorder, she sat it on the coffee table and turned it on.
"This shall be my final message, dear listener. Whether I'll live or die today, I will not return to retrieve this cassette. For most of yesterday I trained myself for combat. Then in the late afternoon I teleported back into Canterlot and broke into this book store. I had the shop owner close early – I have him bound and gagged in the closet since then. In six hours from now Cadance and her delegates will meet Princess Celestia for the peace talks. Last night I did some investigating on how the changelings might be planning to replace the delegates and I think I found a lead. The changelings that have been posing as my friends are here in Cantlerlot. They're currently residing at, of all places, my old house where I grew up in. I would've done more last night but my sickness returned worse than ever before. It feels almost like I'm lacking something. But whatever it is, it shall not stop me from saving Cadance's life. No matter what the cost I will protect her. My name is Twilight Sparkle, farewell."
Twilight turned the recorder off and gathered a few items before leaving the room.
-
Twilight stood in front of her old home as happy memories of this place flashed through her mind, making her smile for a brief moment before returning to the situation at hand. She readied her horn, charging it up with a spell to be fired at a moment's notice. She approached the house, reaching the front door without being noticed. Twilight then looked through the front window and saw six ponies seemingly waiting around for someone in the living room.
"Strange, I thought they would have shifted back to their insectile form. I guess they don't want to be caught exposed," thought Twilight as she prepared to charge the door.
SMASH!
Twilight crashed through the door, startling everyone in the living room. "Nobody moves!"
Everyone in the room froze in place when they noticed that Twilight had a spell charged and ready to fire. Pinkie Pie stepped into the room from the kitchen with a partly cut apple in one hoof and a knife in the other.
"Drop the knife, Pinkie, or I will kill you!"
Pinkie Pie dropped the apple she was carving and the knife to the floor.
"Now sit with the others! DO IT!"
Pinkie sat quietly with the other six.
Tri-Star spoke up. "Twilight you don't understand. If you would just stand down and cancel whatever spell you just charged, we'll explain everything."
"No, I have a better idea: You shut up with your lies, and I ask the questions."
"He's not lying Twi. It's the honest truth," said Applejack.
"The truth? Hah. I don't think so."
Fluttershy started to cry. "P-please don't hurt us Twilight."
"Good…Good…Perhaps you will answer my first question. Now tell me how your Queen is planning to replace Cadance and the delegates?"
Shining Armor spoke calmly. "Everything you need to understand is beyond this door." Armor pointed a hoof towards a door at the end of the living room. It was the door to her old bedroom.
"This is another trick isn't it?!" Twilight turned her attention back to Fluttershy. "Now answer the question!"
Armor got up and started moving towards the door. "No. it's not a trick just let me-"
"Don't move."
Rainbow Dash spoke. "Listen to him! He's not your enemy. We're not your enemy."
"Shut up. You're just trying to confuse me."
Armor started moving towards the door again.
"I told you to stop!" yelled Twilight.
"Please! This will explain everything!" pleaded her brother.
"I don't want to hurt-"
Tri-Star fired a beam of energy from his horn. The force of the beam sent Twilight flying into the wall. before collapsing to the floor with a gaping wound to her chest. She was rapidly bleeding.
"DOCTOR, we need you!" Armor yelled out.
The bedroom door swung open and the doctor rushed into the room. He kneeled down by the bleeding pony and started examining her. The doctor then got back up and shook his head. "I'm sorry but her anatomy is already starting to shift. There's nothing I can do."
Spike walked out of the bedroom and looked at the body. "Wow, what a mess."
The doctor looked at Spike and asked, "Is she still stable in there?"
"Yes, she's still sleeping like-"
Wha-what's happing in here?" A pale, emaciated looking purple pony staggered in to the room.
"Twily, you should be in bed," Said Shining Armor with concern for his sister's poor health.
Twilight spotted the body of the purple mare lying on the floor.
"She…she looks just like me," She said stunned at the sight of dying pony before her.
"Apparently she thought she was you."
Twilight looked at Rarity, confused.
Then the doctor spoke. "There was no way to prove that she wasn't you either. She passed a blood test with flying colors."
She looked back at the body and saw a small green ember starting to burn away at the other Twilight's body.
"What is she?" Twilight said staring at the body, as the green ember started to travel up its body. Tri-Star cleared his throat.
"She's a changeling, Twilight, a shape shifter. The world has changed since you were trapped in the caves."
Twilight looked at the others in the room. "I would like to be alone with this other me."
"Are you sure, sugercube?" Applejack asked concerned.
"Yes I am. Now please all of you leave."
They all quietly left the house and waited outside. Twilight looked down at the body and saw that the green flames were burning away the other Twilight's purple coat, leaving behind an insectile looking shell. The flames were already halfway up its body.
The other Twilight coughed up blood and raised her head slightly.
"Twilight," the dying pony whispered.
"Yes?"
"Tell…them that I…"
Her head fell limp, as the last of her disguise burned away, leaving nothing but a dead body of a changeling.
Twilight look next to the body and noticed a shattered picture frame laying on the floor. Picking it up, she looked at the blood-smeared photo and saw it was of her and her family.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she quietly cried.
It's been a hard four weeks for Twilight Sparkle. She lost her brother, she disappointed her teacher and princess Celestia, she got sent to some caves by that evil lady that her brother is now married to, she nearly lost her mind and almost starved to death in the three weeks she was stuck there. Now after being rescued she's seen some creature called a changeling die before her very eyes by the very ponies she called friends. Her name is Twilight Sparkle and she has never felt more alone.