Meanwhile in another part of Canterlot, Jane and Quinn had their own problems.
Jane backed away slowly from the things in front of her. The fact that she was unable to maintain her balance and was a horse didn't concern her as much as the black creatures staring her.
“What is going on?” Jane asked fearfully.
“You got in out way. That's what's going on.” one of the creatures growled as it staggered to it's perforated legs and shook its head. Its fellows, two in number, following suit.
“You can talk!” Jane gasped. Earning glares from the creatures in return, at least as far as she could tell from their fanged faces.
A familiar voice cried out in shock before a second voice Jane didn't recognise cried out in pain,
All eyes turned to the sources of the cries.
A pink horse with a red mane cut in Quinn's usual style was crawling backwards from a lavender horse with a painful looking red mark on its face. Jane pieced the events together as Quinn shakily got to her her hooves and wobbled over to Jane.
Quinn looked Jane over, lingering on her ma-hair for a moment, “Jane? What's happening?” she asked, her voice breaking slightly.
Jane looked around, the black creatures' attention having been pulled to the sound of galloping hooves in the distance.
“Quick, grab the Crown!” one of the creatures ordered.
“WHERE IS IT!” another snarled though gritted fangs as it frantically glanced around.
“Too late! We have to retreat! Now!” the third said.
The air was filled with the sound of buzzing as the creatures took flight and disappeared out the nearest window..
Jane didn't have an answer for Quinn, “we need to get out of here!” she said as she struggled to her own new legs and attempted to get use to the feeling as quickly as she could. She didn't know what was coming but if those bug-horse-things thought it was a bad thing then it was probably a good idea to leave.
They were in the hall of a building with white walls adorned with banners and tapestries. It put Jane in mind of a cathedral with its high ceiling and stained glass windows. Though there was no sign of religious iconography that Jane could identify. There was a lot of Sunbursts and Crescent Moons and a couple of other simple images that had a general equestrian theme but nothing Jane could tie to any group or organization she knew about.
Jane's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a horrified gasp, “Princess!” a light yellow horse in a maid's outfit exclaimed.
“This isn't what it looks like!” Jane said instinctively.
Jane's protest had had as much effect as she expected it to have.
“GUARDS! GUARDS, HELP! Somepony has attacked Princess Twilight Sparkle!” the yellow horse screamed.
“Great. Now guards are coming.” Jane grumbled.
Before anything else could go wrong Jane grabbed Quinn, tossed her on her back and galloped for her life.
The hall almost seeming like it didn't have an end, and then she spotted a set of double doors in the distance.
Jane was almost ready to believe there was hope...and then the doors opened revealing a huge white horse with long feathered wings and a painfully pointed horn.
The great white horse was wearing a golden necklace and tiara and two golden armoured Pegisi flanked it on either side.
Jane skidded to a halt and the guards moved quickly to put themselves between the great horse and the unknown humans-turned-ponies, “what is the meaning of this?” the white horse asked in a regal female voice.
Before Jane could stammer out an excuse one of the guards spotted something, “Princess! Look, Changelings!” The Princess turned to the window as did everypony else, save for Jane who took the opportunity to duck into a nearby room.
“How...how are those horses talking?” Quinn asked, her brain aching from all the questions. Then one shunted its way to the forefront of importance.
“Where's Daria?” Quinn asked, her voice taking on a more panicked tone.
Jane hadn't had time to think about that or anything else for that matter, “I-I don't know...yet” she said feebly.
With the time to think provided by their hiding spot Jane could properly process the situation. At least as best she could, though thinking about what was going on simply underlined the fact that Jane was as clueless as Quinn about the whole mess.
“You just had to Assault Royalty, didn't you? I mean don't get me wrong, being in a magical land of talking horses has really brought out the militant republican in me too but there's a time and a place Morgendorffer” Jane admonished.
Quinn scowled, “You're as bad as Daria!” she growled, throwing the object in her hoof to the ground in frustration.
Jane and Quinn both looked down at the object in surprise, “what's that?” Jane asked as she looked the object over. It was a gold tiara with a large star-shaped purple gem set into it.
Quinn tilted her head in confusion, “hmmm....oh yeah, I grabbed that as a weapon when I woke up and saw that freaky Unicorn-Pegasus next to me. I forgot I was holding it.” Quinn shrugged.
“You grabbed it?” Jane looked at her hooves, “...how?”
*******************
Queen Chrysalis paced back and forth as she waited for her infiltration team to return with her prize. Despite her guards protests Chrysalis had decided to meet the team as close to Equestria as she could before the risk became to great and as such her small armoured Changeling personal guard was as agitated as she was, but for different reasons.
“My Queen, you should return to the Hive. It's to dangerous here” one of the guards chimed in, earning a glare for her trouble.
“I won't wait a moment longer than I have to. Besides, once I have the Element of Magic I'll be even more powerful than I am now. Then I'll have my revenge...on all of them” Chrysalis stated imperiously.
The faint sound of buzzing filled the air, too loud to be an insect or even a Parasprite, “Infiltration Unite 1, 4th Pincer division, reporting!” The lead arriving Changeling announced as they landed and bowed.
“Well? Where is it?” Chrysalis demanded, forgoing the formalities.
“Um, well...we didn't exactly get it” The lead Changeling responded nervously, “BUT! But we did have it...then somepony got in the way. Other thieves I think since one of them kicked Twilight Sparkle in the face” The lead Changeling explained, hoping her Queen would take those mitigating circumstances into consideration.
Chrysalis chuckled at the thought of Twilight Sparkle being kicked but the fact that her troops had failed in their important mission wasn't over looked. Whether she punished them was wholly dependant on the answer to her next question, “Assuming these other thieves have the Element of Magic, all we need to do is find them. So, did you see what they looked like?”
“Yes, my Queen” The Changeling responded.