//------------------------------//
// Deception 
// Story: Love at Ground Zero 
// by My Little Scribbler 
//------------------------------//


Love at Ground Zero
Chapter 4: Deception


With the princesses in position, Mirror debated with herself on what was the best way of delivering Shining Armor to Her Excellency. She was considering knocking him unconscious when he spoke up first.
“It’s been a long day,” he said as he stretched his stiff shoulders. “How about we catch up on old times back at the Salty Lick. I hear they have some pretty good apple cider there.”
“Sounds good to me. How about you lead the way.” Mirror followed him down to the saloon in town. The street lanterns lit up the road during the evening twilight and the sounds of crickets could already be heard, signaling the approach of night. Once she entered the Salty Lick, the quiet of the night was replaced with the sounds of both earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all hanging out as they awaited the meteor’s arrival. While some simply sat at their own tables playing old maid or sang songs, there were a few that were clearly a little ditzy either from too much salt lick or getting drunk on too much cider.
Shining Armor took Mirror to the bar and ordered mugs of cider, which the bartender quickly filled up from a barrel and set it down on the counter.
Mirror gazed at the cider mug. Changelings rarely eat food like ponies do, so the idea of drinking the juice of plants sounded disgusting to her. Not wanting to look suspicious, she picked up the mug and tentatively sipped from it. She suppressed a grimace as she tasted the sweet concoction, which to a changeling was the pony equivalent of eating steamed broccoli.
Shining Armor eagerly drank his cider. “Ahhh, now that was refreshing. I tell you, the Apple Family does make the best ciders.”
Mirror hesitated. With little training or experience socializing with ponies, she was not sure what to say at first. “When was the last time you had any cider?”
“I think it was at the wedding, although when we were foals, we used to drink this stuff all the time. Remember that time Granny Comet Tail would make her cider flavored cake?”
“Oh...yeah...that was so long ago.”
“I remember that one time you snuck a bite of the cake and wound up knocking it onto the floor, and we tried to cover-up the evidence by eating it all.” He let out a loud laugh. “I do miss the good old days when we were foals. The days when all we did together was get in trouble and hung out.”
Mirror hesitated again, taking the time to think of a response. “Everything is so different now. You and Cadance now rule over the crystal ponies and I’m now a princess.
“Life is full of surprises. Still, it’s nice being here with you, Twily.” He reached out a hoof and affectionately rubbed Mirror’s back.
As soon as Shining Armor made contact, Mirror felt a spark of energy course through her spine. It was the feeling of Shining Armor’s love for Twilight, and to Mirror it smelled delicious. She had tasted love harvested by the workers, but getting it directly from such a strong source like Shining Armor was irresistibly tempting, especially since she had not eaten a full meal in days.
“I love you, bro,” said Mirror as she reached over and put a hoof on his back.
“I love you, too,” said Shining Armor.
Changelings normally drain love through physical or magical contact. Once Mirror’s hoof touched his back, she could feel his love leach out into her. The taste of his love easily washed away the taste of the cider. His love was so sweet on her tongue she greedily drained it from him until her body reached full strength at last. Mirror could not suppress the smile of satisfaction on her face.
“You know, Twily,” said Shining Armor, “we should visit Granny Comet Tail. I betcha she could make us some more of her cider cake.”
“I would like that very much,” said Mirror, still feeling lightheaded from the feast.
Shining Armor lifted up his mug of cider and drank the rest of it down in one log swig, then placed the mug back down on the counter with a satisfied sigh. “Say, come with me to my hotel room. I forgot to tell you that Cadance bought you a gift.”
“Really?” asked Mirror, curious. “What is it?”
“Well, you’ll just have to come to the room and find out.” He hopped off of his stool. “Follow me. I’ll show you the way.”
“Okay,” said Mirror as she left behind her half full mug of cider.
The two left the saloon to the Breakfast-in-Bed hotel, another rustic wooden building in a town full of rustic wooden buildings. Shining Armor opened the door to his hotel room and led her inside. It looked like a very cheap room with nothing more than a luggage rack and a spring bed for furniture and bare wooden walls.
Shining Armor telekinetically closed the door behind them. “The present is in my suitcase. Go ahead and check it out.”
Playing along, Mirror crossed the room and approached the suitcase. She telekinetically opened it up and—to her surprise—the suitcase was empty.
Just as she turned around, a beam of magic struck her and she was pinned to the wall in some kind of energy field that bound her limbs and wings like rope.
Shining Armor pressed both of his fore hooves against Mirror’s chest, knocking the air out of her breath, and fired another beam of magic, this time aimed at her horn. Her body tingled as her disguise was forcefully undone with a low buzz and her true form revealed.
“I knew it, you’re a changeling,” said Shining Armor, angrily.
It took a moment for Mirror’s paralyzing shock to subside and when it did, she unconsciously kept her eyes off of Shining Armor’s piercing gaze like a child lying to her parents. “H-How did you know?”
Shining Armor grinned. “Granny Comet Tail passed away a few years ago.”
“You tricked me? But what made you realize I wasn’t Twilight?”
Shining Armor took his hooves off her chest, keeping his horn pointed at her as if threatening to stab her with it. “Back when Chrysalis disguised herself as my fiancée, I could remember what it felt like when Chrysalis fed on my love. At the time, I thought it was the effect of the migraine spells she was putting on me, but now I can recognize a changeling feeding on my love easily, and you weren’t very discreet when you tried to drain my love back at the saloon. Now, tell me what you’re doing here and what you did to Twilight.”
Mirror’s eyes were watering with shame. “Queen Chrysalis has Twilight.”
“If that’s the case,” he hissed angrily, “then I’m going to turn you in to the royal guard.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“And why not?”
“Because the Queen has set up her changelings all over Appleloosa. If you tell any pony we’re here, then any changeling who hears it will come after you, and even I’m not entirely sure who’s a changeling and who’s not.”
Shining Armor pressed his hoof against her chin and forced her to look into his eyes as he leaned in. “Are you lying to me?”
“I-I swear it’s the truth,” pleaded Mirror. “All those extra volunteers are changelings and the royal guards around Celestia and Luna are also changelings.”
Shining Armor paused as he thought it over, reading Mirror’s eyes to see if she was lying. After what felt like a small eternity, he slowly separated himself from her, but kept his horn pointed at her throat.
“All right,” he said at last, “if that’s true, then tell me, what’re you changelings doing here?”
“The Queen ordered us to...sabotage the meteor so that it would land on the princesses.”
“What? I don’t believe this. It’s bad enough that your queen impersonated my wife and little sister, crashed my wedding, and tried to take over all of Equestria, but now you’re attempting murder? Why are you doing this? We did nothing to you.”
“It’s nothing personal. We’re desperate for food.”
“If you wanted food, then why can’t you just harvest food like you usually do?”
“It’s not that simple any more. My people have always depended on our ability to disguise and hide ourselves. It is our secrecy that has enabled us to avoid conflict with other creatures. Back in the old days, we used to be able to harvest food from hundreds of victims at a time without drawing unwanted attention to ourselves. Ponies in particular have been our most abundant source of love. However, over the years, ponies and other races have begun to become more aware of us and they’re starting to see through our disguises. In order to more covertly collect food, fewer workers can go out and harvest. With fewer workers out collecting food, we’re left with less to eat. Now, ever since our failed takeover of Canterlot, we’ve become even more conspicuous and it has become even harder for workers to secretly go out and harvest. And now we’re almost out of food.”
After allowing a minute of silence to let the story sink in, Shining Armor finally opened his mouth but no words came out. Even though he kept his horn at her throat, his eyes lowered to the floor with regret and indecision.
“I’m sorry it had to come to this,” said Mirror, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Queen Chrysalis just wants to help us and she believes that a hostile takeover is the only answer.” After another long pause, she added, “For what it’s worth...not all of us approve of her plans. I don’t.”
Shining Armor at last lifted his head to meet her at eye level. “Where’s Twilight?”
“She’s in an underground cave. I can help you find her if you free me from your spell.”
“And can I trust you?”
“Did you believe me when I said there were other changelings in Appleloosa?”
“I’m still a little skeptical, but...” Shining Armor let out a long sigh, “I can’t deny that what you told me does make sense so...Yes, I do believe you.”
“Then I think we can trust each other.”
With a flash of magic, Shining Armor undid the binding spell on Mirror.

As Mirror promised, she led Shining Armor to the cave where she had lured Twilight. By the time they arrived, night had fallen and the dark cave had to be lit up with light spells conjured by Shining Armor’s and Mirror’s horns.
“So Twilight’s in this cave?” asked Shining Armor.
“The cave leads to a series of tunnels that we made to go in and out of Equestria. She should be somewhere down there.”
“All right, let’s go in.” Shining Armor was about to march ahead, but Mirror got in front of him.
“What are you doing? These caves are full of changelings. If they see you, you’ll alert the whole Hive.”
“I don’t care. I have to save Twilight.”
“Well, rather than just rushing in, I have a better idea. Do you know any transformation spells?”
“Yes I do but I haven’t used them in a long time.”
“Do you think you can transform into me?”
Shining Armor gawked at her, confused as to what she was planning. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
“The Queen is expecting me to turn you in. If I don’t show up, she’ll get suspicious. So my idea is you can transform into me and I’ll transform into you. That way, you can turn me in as you and while I’m imprisoned, you will be free to look for your sister disguised as me. Get it?”
“Huh! It’s crazy but it could work. However, how do I know I can trust you? You might tell others where I am the first chance you get.”
“I wouldn’t betray you because if they discovered we’ve traded places, I’d be in just as much trouble as you. Other than that...All I can say is I don’t want to see any pony get hurt. Whether you believe me is up to you.” There was a flash of green light, and right before his eyes, Mirror transformed into the exact image of Shining Armor. In his voice, Mirror said, “So, are you in?”
“All right, but I don’t like it.” Shining Armor grit his teeth with concentration as he cast the spell. A haze of purple magic surrounded his body and with a bright flash, he transformed into Mirror. “So, how do I look?”
Mirror looked him over. “Well, some of your features looks a little off, but I think you’ll pass.”
Shining Armor looked over his new body, studying the strange shapes that changelings come in. “Exactly why does your legs have holes in them?”
“That’s not important right now,” said Mirror, irritably. “Right now, you need to deliver me to the Queen.”
“Oh, right!” Shining Armor used telekinesis to lift Mirror up off her hooves and carried her down into the tunnels. He did not have to travel far into the tunnels until he encountered two armored changeling guards.
“Who goes there?” one of them said.
“I have one of the prisoners for the Queen,” said Shining Armor, telekinetically lifting up Mirror as if she was some animal he caught.
The second guard looked over Mirror with a quick glance before saying, “Follow us.”
Obediently doing as he was told, Shining Armor was led deeper into the tunnels. The sounds of clopping hooves and buzzing wings echoed off the walls as they got closer to a congregation of changelings deep underground. They entered one of the lower chambers, and Mirror saw Her Excellency standing in the middle of the room surrounded by her loyal servants.
“Your Majesty,” said Shining Armor as he gave her a bow, “I have brought Shining Armor as you requested.”
“Bring him here,” hissed Queen Chrysalis, giving Shining Armor a fanged smile.
The two guards telekinetically picked up Mirror from Shining Armor’s grasp and rotated her upside down. With a flash of magic, she was surrounded in a cocoon, imprisoning her inside it. Through the cocoon, she could only watch as she was hung onto the ceiling. Queen Chrysalis and her changelings gathered around Mirror like hungry pups crowding under a piece of meat. Some even had their tongues hanging out as they gazed upon the feast before them.
“Good work, Mirror,” said Chrysalis to Shining Armor. “Now we can destroy the princesses once and for all.”
“Not so fast!” The frenzy was interrupted by a long figure off to the side. Much to everyone’s surprise (Mirror and Shining Armor in particular), they could see Twilight Sparkle staring them down, boldly challenging a room full of changelings. “LET MY BROTHER GO!”