It was approximately three P.M, now, and the first batch of Ponyville civilians had at last been led onto the first of the three trains that Rainbow had ordered repurposed for this one job. The absolutely packed train was now speeding away down the railroad for Manehattan, blowing its whistle as it went. Rainbow watched it go from the platform, her eyes downcast and her ears wanting to droop low. Everypony was understandably frightened and with still no word from Celestia, Luna or even Cadance, that left Rainbow Dash in charge.
And she was terrified.
All of these ponies were looking to her to keep them safe, to guide them and lead them, to make the right choices and ensure that Equestria came out on top. But with her track record as it was, especially in the last two weeks, she was not able to share their confidence in her ability. With a huff, Rainbow turned away from the tracks and looked out over the rest of the proceedings.
The next train was already being loaded, though it was going to take a while to get everypony inside and accounted for. Twilight and Rarity were jointly overseeing the statistics, making sure everyone was accounted for, while Applejack and Pinkie were sprinting all over town, trying to make sure that everypony was up to speed on the plan and that nopony was left behind.
Fluttershy was doing what she could to offer comfort to the population by standing by the door of the train and offering kind gestures and words where she thought they were needed the most. Frightened foals, mostly.
As for Rainbow Dash, she was overseeing everything with Spike always close by, just in case one of the other Princesses managed to get a message through to him. So far there hadn’t been any contact, or word from Canterlot of any kind, outside of what the refugees from the city in question had said. Sadly, none of them had anything substantial to add to what they knew; just more of the same.
Rainbow turned her eyes away from the crowds of ponies to look up at Canterlot. The fires looked like they had been put out for the most part, but smoke still billowed out of the city, painting the sky over the mountain an ominous and threatening black. Like the gaping maw of a hungry dragon, ready to consume anypony foolish enough to stray too close.
“Your Highness!” the voice of Scythe Glider cut through Rainbow’s thoughts, making her turn and look at the pegasus. He looked eager and almost excited as he led another pony in lunar guard armor towards her.
“Who’s this?” Rainbow asked curiously, tilting her head at the newcomer. He was a thestral of a neutral gray coat, icy blue eyes, and a dark blue mane and tail, both cut relatively short. On his back was a little green thestral filly who looked to be asleep.
The guard bowed. “I’m Squall Dreamer, your majesty. I just got here from Canterlot,” he said, a slight tremor in his voice. Rainbow’s eyes widened, her brain latching onto that last part in favor of his bowing.
“You were in Canterlot?!” she asked in a near shout, drawing the attention of Twilight and Rarity not far away. “What’s going on up there?!” she then demanded anxiously, leaning forward with a small glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“W-well… the…” Squall slowly stood up tall, though his eyes remained locked on his hooves. “...Canterlot has fallen, Princess. I think my little sister and I were all that made it out alright. Everyone else…” he shook his head.
“Even my mother and my aunt…?” Rainbow breathed in disbelief, taking a small step back. “They… they’re not, you know… they aren’t… are they…?” she couldn’t bring herself to say it; the implications of it were just too horrible to imagine.
“They’re alive,” Squall replied, lifting his eyes towards Rainbow’s just slightly. “But… all three of the other Princesses are trapped. The changelings captured them.”
“Where?!” Rainbow’s voice raised a few decibels and an octave when she asked this, her eyes burning with a worrying amount of intensity.
“Th-the throne room, your highness!” Squall replied, shying away from Rainbow’s loud question. “They’re being kept in the throne room the last I heard. They might have been moved, though…”
“Changelings?” Twilight asked while stepping forward, an inquisitive look on her face.
Squall jumped slightly at her sudden arrival but nodded. “Y-yes, Changelings. I, uh… I o-overheard some of them say that word while I was leaving. I guess it makes sense, given that they can shapeshift,” he stuttered out nervously, looking back and forth at Rainbow and Twilight.
“Shapeshifting… what else can you tell us about them?” Twilight pressed, a hoof rubbing at her chin in thought.
“Uh… I think one of them said something about their queen. I think they called her C-c-Chrysalis, b-but, uh…” he was visibly shaking now, looking at the little filly on his back almost desperately. “I-I’m sorry, Highness, but I need to take care of my sister. E-excuse me-”
“Woah woah woah,” Rainbow interrupted him when he turned to leave while putting a hoof on his shoulder. “Take it easy, your gonna be fine. But we still need to know more. Uh, would it help if you sat down? The lobby in the station’s pretty empty right now. It’s quiet, too.”
“I… I…” Squall gulped heavily. “I suppose… thanks,” he finally said weakly. Rainbow gave him a reassuring smile before urging him to head towards the door that would go to a small sitting area inside the train station. While he was doing that, escorted by Glider on the way, Rainbow turned to Twilight with a small look of pleading in her eyes.
“What do I do?” she asked quietly.
“He’s pretty shaken,” Twilight noted, thinking carefully. “It would probably be for the best if only one of us talks to him. I’ll go take care of that; You should probably go see your doctor. Your wing still needs treatment, right?”
“But I… ugh!” Rainbow grunted in discomfort when said appendage, which was still in a cast, twitched. Searing pain danced up and down the still tender and damaged muscles for several seconds before gradually dying down. “Y-yeah, you’re right,” Rainbow grumbled in frustration before turning around. “Let me know if he tells you anything important, eh?”
“I will, Rainbow. Get going.”
Rainbow nodded, a sour look on her face before she cantered further into the town. Her doctor would be leaving on the last of the trains, by his insistence so she could get at least one more healing session.
This is bad, I’m gonna get caught! Thorax thought to himself, barely able to contain his borderline panic. His plan had been to swing by and give some information to Princess Rainbow Dash, then get as far away from Canterlot as possible. As long as he was anywhere near that war zone, he was putting not just himself, but Wind Whisper at risk. Now he was stuck here in this room, waiting for somepony to come and ask him questions about the attack. Mentally he was desperately trying to formulate a convincing story that would also give these ponies enough information to have a fighting chance.
With any luck, this little questionnaire would go off without a hitch and he’d be able to sneak away with Wind Whisper, find somewhere safe to hole up and wait for all of this to blow over. He lifted his eyes from the wooden floor of the room and to Wind Whisper, who was curled up into a ball on one of the chairs in the sizable lounge room, sleeping peacefully. The little filly was exhausted and should have been terrified, but she wasn’t. She was nervous, sure, but she trusted Thorax to keep her safe.
No, she didn’t trust Thorax. She trusted Squall. Thorax felt his stomach churn with revulsion directed entirely at himself with that little bit of self-correction. Thorax had taken Squall away from her without her ever even knowing it had happened. With every step they took away from Canterlot, they were getting farther and farther away from her real big brother, who was still trapped and comatose in a pod deep within the Canterlot mountains.
But going back to try and rescue him would be a stupid idea; he’d never make it past all of the guards. He’d be caught and dragged before Queen Chrysalis for punishment before he could even get halfway there. No, rescuing him, as much as it pained Thorax to admit it, was not an option. He’d have to just keep Wind Whisper out of danger until the ponies could take Chrysalis down… assuming they even could. Then he could go find the real Squall and give Wind Whisper back.
Assuming he lasted that long… the hunger of a changeling could never be fully satisfied, and on his own Thorax had no idea if he’d be able to keep himself fed long enough to see this plan through all the way to the end. As if to punctuate that point, his stomach gave a low grumble and his tongue twitched erratically in his mouth.
The door to the room suddenly swung open, snapping Thorax out of his inner turmoil. He looked up and spotted Twilight standing there with a warm, reassuring smile on her face. Without a word, she closed the door behind her and trotted towards him. A simple wooden chair on the other side of the room was quietly lifted into the air in her magical aura before being set down right in front of him. Twilight set herself into it and held out a hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. You said your name was Squall Dreamer, right?” she asked in a quiet voice, being mindful of the sleeping filly not far away.
Hesitantly, Thorax reached a hoof out to shake hers. “Yes, miss.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Squall. I just have a few questions for you on behalf of Rainbow Dash, okay?”
“S-sure.”
Twilight smiled while procuring a clipboard with some paper on it and a pen from the empty ticket booth. Flipping over the paper so she had some writing space, Twilight cleared her throat. “Okay, first things first: these changeling creatures. Can you describe them for me?”
“Yeah, uh… They’re about the same size and shape of a pony, but… more like a bug? I guess? They’re covered in dark chitin instead of fur, they have these fin-like ridges along their heads in place of a mane, their legs have these weird holes tunneling through them and their horns are sharp at the tip. They have insect wings and sharp fangs,” he explained without any hesitation, with Twilight furiously scribbling away with the pen at the paper.
“I see… you mentioned they can shapeshift?” she asked, briefly glancing up at Thorax from her notepad.
“Yes. I don’t know if there are any limits on that ability, though,” he lied, knowing full well that a Changeling could shapeshift into virtually anything with enough power and practice with the ability.
“Hmmm…” Twilight’s muzzle scrunched up in thought. “You also mentioned that they could talk… did you happen to hear any of them mention a motive or goal of some sort? A reason for this attack?”
Thorax went rigid and his breathing hitched in his throat. “Uh… I…” how much could he get away with telling her? The more the ponies knew, the better their odds of fighting back, but if he told them too much, they might get suspicious about how well informed he was. He’d be caught and his entire plan would be out the window.
Twilight’s posture softened somewhat when she saw how distraught he was getting. “Hey, it’s okay Squall. We’re not in Canterlot, alright? You’re safe here.”
Squall flinched back from Twilight’s words and the look on her face. Such an open gesture of kindness, trying to reassure what she saw as a member of the lunar royal guard made his stomach growl again. He became acutely aware of just how hungry he was and had to bit down on his tongue to keep it from flicking at the air like a snake’s. “No… no, I’m not,” was all he could manage in response to Twilight’s words.
“Squall?” Twilight ventured out of her chair and slowly stepped forwards, reaching a hoof out to him.
Thorax screwed his eyes shut and smacked Twilight’s hoof away with his own before rocketing off of his seat for the nearest exit. Instinct was kicking in; he had to get away from her or he’d lose control! He could hear Twilight crying out in surprise behind him before he barreled through the door. His eyes were still tightly shut, so he didn’t see it coming when his head collided with the sturdy wooden back wall of the ticket booth. He toppled back onto his haunches, the world spinning and his head throbbing.
“Squall, what’s gotten into you?” Twilight asked anxiously while cantering up to the door, peering inside tensely. “What’s-”
“Please, stay away!” Thorax begged her, trying to reign himself in. He was failing. “S-s-stop being nice to me!”
Twilight glanced over her shoulder at Wind Whisper, who was still sleeping. She then looked back at Thorax and slowly stepped into the room with him. She closed the door behind her and slowly sat down, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. “Squall… what’s wrong? It’s okay, you can tell me.”
Thorax took a long breath, keeping his eyes tightly shut. His entire body was shaking horribly from his own inner conflict. His forelegs twitched, wanting nothing more than to launch him at Twilight so he could consume some of the love she had buried in her heart. He opened one of his eyes and looked back at Twilight shakily.”P-p-p-promise me y-y-you won’t a-attack me?” he choked out in a jittering croak.
Twilight blinked and leaned back a little, taken aback by the question. “Huh? Why would I-”
“PROMISE ME!” Thorax snapped before closing his eye again and curling up in an effort to contain himself. Twilight flinched away from him, her ears folding back.
“I… I promise, Squall, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“That’s not my name,” Thorax said, before a little bit of green slime began to dribble out of his mouth. He heard Twilight’s gasp of shock and felt an intense rush of panic. Thinking fast, Thorax shifted and spat the large glob of slime over his left rear hoof, pinning it down to the floor. He quickly did the same thing to the right one before looking up at Twilight again. She looked horrified and disgusted, a hoof covering her mouth and her eyes wide open. With her efforts at being compassionate swiftly fading away, Thorax was getting some self-control back. With a heavy sigh, he flopped back down onto the floor. Closing his eyes, he let his disguise vanish in a swirl of green fire.
Twilight gasped rigidly and stood up, her eyes locked on Thorax in terror. However, when he didn’t go to attack her, that terror slowly bled away to anxiousness, then curiosity. “Are… uh, are you…?” she asked hesitantly, slowly taking her hoof away from her mouth.
“Uh-huh. I’m Thorax, and I’m a changeling,” he said simply, opening his eyes and glancing down at Twilight. There was a desperate shimmer in those pale blue orbs, one that made Twilight’s eyes lose some of their own intensity. “You have to believe me, I’m not here to hurt anypony.”
Twilight blinked slowly. Her horn lit up and, after a few seconds, the clipboard and pen from earlier came drifting in through the window of the small room. “Then why are you here?” she asked with a strange mix of suspicion, trepidation, and… not-very-well-hidden scholarly excitement.