Chapter 6: Two Sides to Every Coin

Deeper and deeper they went into the tunnel until it was next to impossible to see. "OUCH!" cried Starlight Glimmer, "somepony stepped on my tail! That hurts!"

"Serves you right for what you did on my world."

"Matthew, stop that!" snapped Twilight, "and sorry Starlight, I think that was me."

Twilight wanted to light up her horn, but the Changeling Princess had told her not to cause they might think she was coming in to attack. And so, the small group continued on until they reached a rather big chamber. Here they could see dozens of changelings, some looked ready to fight while others looked badly injuried.

"Intruders!" cried one of the changelings.

Before a fight could break out, the changeling Princess held up a hoof, "it's alright my friends, they are not the other side, they are our friends."

This calmed every one down and they went back to what they were doing. The Princess walked over to one of the injuried changelings, "I was trying to protect a group of fillies and colts when five changelings knocked me out of the sky."

"Were the young ones hurt?"

"Not at all Princess, they got away, but I was left in this condition in the streets until I was found and brought back here. I'm sorry if I let you down."

Instead of getting angry like the Changeling Queen would, the Princess lifted a hoof and patted the changeling gently on the head, "you haven't let me down, you saved lives and that's what counts. Just rest up and we'll see you back on the battlefield in no time."

"Yes Princess."

Fluttershy spoke up, "excuse me, but who are you? And why would you save us? We all thought changelings want to destory or rule."

The Princess turned back to the small group, "my name is Princess Rose, and while I am a changeling, I would never harm another living creature."

"Really?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Really," nodded the Princess. "it's been that way since the day I was born. You see, I was one of Queen Chrysalis' children, but I always wanted the joys of playing games and making friends, not causing destruction and ordering others about. Often I would sneak away to a nearby pony town and play games with them. Naturally they were scared of me at first, but once they got to know me, I became their friend instantly. One of those ponies happens to be the mayor of this city, but we'll get back to that later."

"As you can imagine, my mother was not very happy with my choice to venture beyond her kingdom. At first she thought it was a phase that would soon pass, but as time went on, she discovered that wasn't true. More often than not, we'd have arguments about who was right and who was wrong, which sadly lead to actual fights." The Princess paused and lifted the back of her mane, revealing a nasty scar back there. "Thankfully I wasn't alone in my thoughts, there were plenty of changelings that were aganist the idea of hurting others and would help me escape when I needed to, even at the risk of getting attacked by their own queen. These changelings have always been loyal to me, and remain so to this day, and they soon became something beyond being servants, they became my friends."

"One night, Queen Chrysalis confronted me and told me that if I didn't join her, I would be hunted down and destoryed by the rest."

"That's horrible," gasped Fluttershy. "How could somepony be so cruel?"

"I keep wondering that myself, but I know I'll never get an answer to that question. Anyways, that night came and Chrysalis stood with her army, ready to hunt down and destory me, but my friends and I were ready to strike back. Before dawn broke the next day, both our sides were badly beaten and our homes reduced to ash."

The ponies looked horrified, but Matthew didn't seem to be bothered by it. It was like he wasn't paying attention.

"My friends and I were badly injuried, so we went to see an old friend of mine, the mayor of this city. With her help, we were able to make ourselves a hideout and remain hidden from the world. It took us months to recover, but at least we were safe. After that, I would send many of my changelings out to make sure the citizens of this city wouldn't get harmed from bad ponies and at first, it was calm and quiet, until after the attack on Canterlot..."

"Which I still blame your mother for," grumbled Twilight. Angry snarls could once again be heard. Starlight walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. One look to her student calmed Twilight down. "Sorry Princess Rose, you were saying?"

"Right well like I said, after the attack, my mother and her changelings came here in the hopes of recovering and think up a plan to get back at Equestria. Whenever they attack the city though, we were there to stop them, and sadly many of those fights left my friends injuried as you can see." The injuried changelings tried waving their hooves to be polite, some though were not able to. "We do get injuried, but we never do give up."

The group were silent after hearing all that.

"Princess Rose! We got three more injuried!" cried a voice.

A group of battle armor wearing changelings flew into the hideout with three injuried changelings. One even had it's wings twisted in a way that no one ever thought was possible.

"Check first to make sure they are not from my mother's army!" called the princess. A nearby guard nodded and checked using his magic. He gave off a nod to the princess, "get them to the doctor right away!"

"Yes your highness," and they walked past with the injuried changeling groaning loudly.

Princess Rose turned her attention back to the group, "I hate seeing this, but if this is the Queen's plan, then we got no choice but to fight. I am glad though," she continued, "that the princesses would send her best student and best friends to help us."

"How do you know about us?" Twilight asked.

Princess Rose rolled her eyes and giggled, "that's quite easy, everypony knows about you Princess Twilight and how you, along with your friends have saved Equestria time and time again."

"Although time was nearly destoryed by one," muttered Matthew as he looked down to Starlight.

Applejack bucked him in the leg to silence him, to which she got a glare from Matthew.

"I see," said Twilight. "Well I only wish attacking others was your mother's real plan, but we know it's not."

Princess Rose raised an eyebrow at this, "oh? And what is her plan?"

"She's got three weapons that had been stolen from another world, and she's going to use them to attack not just Equestria, but two other worlds as well. If unleashed, these weapons can cause destruction on a massive scale."

The changelings were shocked to hear this.

Princess Rose shook her head, "I knew she was insane, but to go to this length? She's going too far this time."

"Well that's why we're here, we're to find the weapons, stop them, then the Princesses will send in their armies to stop Chrysalis and her army once and for all. We were actually trying to find the locations when we got attacked."

"I see, but why was your tallest friend attacking one of your own?"

All eyes turned towards Matthew, "I have my reasons," he answered bluntly.

Twilight sighed and focused her attention back on Princess Rose, "we can't find the info alone, or stop them alone, but maybe if you help us, maybe then we'd have a chance."

"What?! Twilight are you losing your marbles? We can't ask changelings to join us! Next thing you know, you'll be asking Tirek to come to a tea party."

Twilight was about to reply back, but Princess Rose interupted her, "we'd love to help, but we don't have enough fire power to stop her entire army, plus I don't want anymore of my friends to get hurt. I'm sorry, but the answer is no."

"But Princess," said another changeling.

"I'm sorry, but with a plan this dangerous, I can't risk it anymore. I'm doing this for all of you. It is my wish."

"In that case, your wish is our command," said another changeling.

Fluttershy joined back into the conversation, "but it doesn't matter if you don't have enough fire power, as long as you try your best, then that's all that counts."

Silence once again filled the area, until Princess Rose broke it, "I'm sorry, but my answer will be no. My guards will take you to a safe spot in the city." And with that, she walked off to attend to other matters.

In another rundown area of the city, several changelings were gathered in front of their queen.

"So my daughter's army got involved this time huh? Very interesting."

"We still beat them your highness," said one of the attacking changelings. "We injuried many and sent the other ones flying off like the cowards they are."

Chrysalis smirked, "my daughter always did know when to pick the weakest soldiers." Then the smirk faded away, and was replaced by an angry glare, "this fight though would never have happened if you hadn't been talking about the Source Of It All."

Using her magic, she lifted up the changeling that Twilight and Matthew followed before.

"I'm sorry your highness, we just wanted to make sure all was going smoothly."

Queen Chrysalis stared angerily at him, then slammed him down hard onto the ground. The other changelings gulped, "and that's just a taste of what your punishment will be if you disappoint me again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes your highness," they all said.

"Good, now be gone and this time, don't make me mad."

The changelings changed forms and disappeared back into the city. Queen Chrysalis turned away, growling crossly, "So the Princess of Friendship has come to stop me huh? Well Twilight Sparkle, this time I hope you can present a real challenge."

A little later, the seven ponies and four humans were back at the hotel and talking about what they had learned that day.

"It's a shame Princess Rose won't join us," Twilight said, "But I guess I understand, she's had many friends get involved into too many battles and wants to protect them as best as she can."

"But still, their help could've been...well, helpful," said Fluttershy.

"I still can't believe it," said Patrick. "Another side to the changelings, and these ones are on our side. Just goes to show you of what you can learn from actually coming here."

"I don't buy it," muttered Matthew.

"I beg your pardon Matthew?" Emily asked with a raised eyebrow.

Matthew had been looking down on the city streets from the window. He spun round towards the group, "I don't buy the idea that those changelings are good ones. I think they're making up stories so we lower our defences and then, BOOM! They'll hit us hard and we'll be at the mercy of Queen Chrysalis."

"I don't know Sugarcube," said Applejack. "Would Chrysalis' army actually save us? Or how about invite us into their hideout and learn their backstory?"

"They can come up with stories, it's not that hard, nor is it hard to fake injuries."

"Oh really?" Fluttershy asked crossly, "and I suppose that one changeling had bent his wing out of shape on purpose?"

"Who knows with these changelings. I just don't think they can be trusted, nor do I think we should have them join us in the fight. Just like a certain other pony I could mention."

"I said sorry, how many times do I have to say it?" Starlight asked.

"You can say it as many times as you wish, but I'll never believe you. Sorry doesn't undo what you did back on Earth, nor can Sorry make us forget the fight in my yard." He picked up his paintball gun and pointed it at Starlight, "and sorry won't undo the fact that you rated us out!"

"I did not! I was looking for the rest of our friends, I even told Applejack that."

"It's true," nodded Applejack.

"We are not your friends Starlight Glimmer, and you can make up as many lies as you want, but I won't believe them. Now, I'm going to finish what was started."

Matthew was about to shoot a few dozen more paintballs when suddenly, he felt his gun get pulled out of his hand.

Twilight had used her magic to get it away from him, "Matthew, you got to stop believing Starlight and those changelings are evil," she said firmly. "If you continue this, you'll be putting all of our worlds in danger. We need to work together, not fight each other." Everypony and human nodded in agreement.

"Me, work with Starlight? Not going to happen. Once a bad pony, always a bad pony."

Ryan smacked his forehead. Applejack gulped, "and here I thought I was the stubborn one."

"We put our faith in Starlight, she'll have us handed over to the Changeling Queen. I say we chain her up, capture a changeling, find the location of the bombs, get rid of them, then we can hand Starlight over to the Princesses. I'm sure Chrysalis and Starlight will enjoy their time in the cells." He grabbed his paintball gun and headed for the door, "now who's with me?"

But no one stood up, no one said they wanted to join him.

"Don't tell me you all believe her?"

"Honestly Matthew," said Ryan, "at this point, we believe you're the one putting us in danger, not Starlight."

"So she's gotten to you too. Fine, so be it. You can put your trust in her, but don't say I didn't warn you when she hands you over to the Changeling Queen. As for me," he paused as he grabbed the door-handle, "I'm going out to do the job you refuse to do."

He opened the door, stepped out and slammed the door behind him.

"Well, that was kind of dramatic," said Rainbow Dash in surprise. "And honestly, what kind of plan was that?"

"You got me," answered Ryan, shrugging his shoulders.

"He's always been like that, even when we were kids," said Patrick.

Twilight looked to Fluttershy, "would you mind going with him just to make sure he doesn't get himself into too much trouble?"

"Of course Twilight," she nodded and flew over to the door.

"All we can do is cross our fingers, or hooves in your case," sighed Ryan, "and hope that Matthew will be okay. I just wish I knew why he would act like this."

"Don't we all," muttered Rainbow Dash. "Don't we all."