Why Give Up?
Twilight had a rotten, horrible, inexpiable feeling something dreadful would happen the moment she got cocooned. It was odd, she had to admit, to see green slime come out of the changeling queen's horn; it had almost looked like her aura until it hit Twilight dead-on and rendered her immobile. The way the cocoon worked was strange, as well. It surrounded her, coating her everything but her mouth, nose, ears, or her wide-eyed stare, that, and it hardened the second it touched any surface rendering her immobile and feeling oddly like glue against her fur.
Things got increasingly unusual when she witnessed Moondancer transform to a sort of doppelganger; unsettling to see herself grin so wickedly and laugh so cruelly as if she had planned to kick some puppies after setting fire to Celestia's mane. Finally, the bizarre freak show was over when Chrysalis vanished in a green, spiral smoke pattern, similar to the one that appeared when she had transformed. Twilight was left to ponder what could have happened had she not been there when she was. Would she be safe, back home with the others, or would some evil doer find her there, and potentially harm her friends along with her? Was this the safer option? She was upset that she'd never be able to tell if it was, and decided to try and teleport away so she could warn them in time.
She fired up her horn, expecting to see the interior of her castle after the spell faded; she opened her eyes and found she was still stuck in the cocoon at her old house. Confused, she looked around the best she could, waited a minute in case the spell had been delayed for some strange reason. Her eyes veered upwards as she thought about what the substance the changeling queen did to her magic. Did it alter it? Did it actually cause delays? Or worse....what if it actually stopped her magic all together?! Twilight began to visibly shake and sweat at this thought; she bit her lip, a nervous habit she had picked up over the years of stress and anxiety and trying to get perfect scores on all her tests. She closed her eyes and attempted the breathing technique Cadence taught her, happy to find she could at least move her forehoof to do the technique accurately; she tried it three times and it still didn't calm her racing heart. Unsure of what to do next, and getting more anxious and scared by the second, she screamed out a cry for help.
~*~
Minuette and Twinkleshine were heading back from Moondancer's, each slightly terrified, albeit curious, at what they had seen. The poor unicorn was stuck in a green, see-through cocoon thing and kept mumbling about Queen Chrysalis and her changelings. "Is she back?" Twinkleshine had asked, her fear clear as a bell. "Is she trying to take over Canterlot again?" Moondancer had just kept her head down, mumbling to herself about what she had been through. After several failed attempts of trying to get the substance off, Minuette, at one point, had tried using a jackhammer, they both decided they'd try to go get some help, hoping that somepony--anypony would listen to their plead.
As they turned towards the bridge that lead to most of the castles, they heard a scream for help; it sounded like the end of one, and it was quite faded and distant, but they heard it nonetheless. They looked at each other, droopy ears perking up in hopes the sound would come again. They turned around and started towards where they thought they heard the scream, thinking that it might be Moondancer, when a large, blinding purple light started to flash repeatedly. The two turned their heads, shielding their eyes the best they could, and saw it was coming from Twilight's old house.
Twinkleshine stared wide-eyed at Minuette, concern, and curiosity wrote all over her. "Think it's Twilight?" She asked, prancing in place, "think she's in trouble?"
Minuette narrowed her eyes in determination, facing the extravagant household. She cast a sidelong glance at her best friend before going back to where Twilight might have been. "Only one way to find out." She said, then immediately beamed at Twinkleshine and started prancing towards the home. Twinkleshine sighed and caught up with the enthusiastic unicorn, stepping in front of her, blocking her path. Minuette skidded to a stop and raised an eyebrow at her friend. "What's wrong?" She asked, upset that she wasn't able to get to Twilight at that point and time. "Shouldn't we go help her?"
"I'm not saying we shouldn't..." Twinkleshine sighed, unsure of how to continue. Minuette, while extremely kind and always wanting to help, didn't always think things through. "...but...maybe we should have a plan, first? You know; in case the changelings are still there..." She looked over her shoulder nervously, as if worried that a changeling would leap out from behind her and fillynap her as well.
Minuette sighed, wishing Twinkle wasn't always so worried all the time. However, she knew that Twinkle wouldn't let her go any further without a 'plan', of sorts, so she decided to please her. That and what Twinkle said could be true--changelings could be littered throughout the whole building, and if they just barged in there all willy nilly, they wouldn't be able to save their only princess friend. She and Twinkle pondered about what to do, Minuette getting more and more anxious for each passing second; the flashing purple light had stopped and she wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. She stood up and started pacing around, mainly to try and get her nerves under control. Finally, an idea hit her dead on, she turned towards Twinkleshine so fast that she could have sworn she would have gotten whiplash. "I got it!" She cheered, "we both know the shield spell, right?"
"...kind of...?" Twinkleshine sparked up the spell to show what she meant; a light blue bubble formed around her, yet when Minuette went to see if it was strong enough, it crumpled under her weight. "I've been meaning to practice it," Twinkleshine said sheepishly, "I've just never really had a good reason of why I should use it, so I put it off."
Minuette smiled and patted her bud on the back. "No worries," she said, "I got your back; I think mine is strong enough and large enough for two ponies..." she tested it out, a dark blue bubble surrounded her and an extra foot of space. She beamed at Twinkleshine, stopped the spell. "See? Room to spare!" She turned her attention towards Twilight's old house as the flashing lights started up again. "Now, c'mon, Twinkleshine, let's go! Who knows what might happen if we wait any longer?"
Twinkle wrinkled her nose; space didn't seem large enough for two ponies, and she didn't get to test its strength unlike Minuette did to hers. But she knew that Minuette was starting to get a teensy bit annoyed with her stalling; a bad habit she had picked up from her youth. Twilight was in trouble; it was about time to stop stalling and start helping. She took a deep breath and got side to side with Minuette, who immediately cast the shield spell around the two. It did happen to be slightly cramped, but Twinkleshine decided to keep her complaints to herself.
She cast a sidelong glance at her best friend, full of fear and determination. She hoped the determination overshadowed the fear as she repeated the same phrase Minuette had said to her five minutes before hand. "Only one way to find out."
~*~
Minuette and Twinkleshine ran through the house, shield spell starting to waver. Twinkle looked up at the fading bark blue bubble then over at Minuette. "Uh..." she said between breaths, "is this...going to...hold?"
Minuette nodded, though it looked like she was being strained as visible sweat began to appear on her brow and her face was starting to turn red. Twinkleshine inwardly gasped, as she hadn't looked over at her best friend since they had started. She stopped abruptly, looked over at the exhausted unicorn, and told her to take the spell away. "Why?" Minuette asked through her long and heavy deep breaths. "I can hold it out...a little...longer. Just until we get...to the top of the stairs."
Twinkle raised an eyebrow at this, to which Minuette hung her head low. "Fine," she said, "I guess...I could use... a little break." She then proceeded to lie on the ground and looked up at the cream-colored unicorn. "go up the stairs; Twilight's room is to the left. She should be in there."
"What are you girls talking about?" Twilight's voice cried out from behind them. "I'm right here!" The two unicorns turned around to see their friend in the same green substance Moondancer was in. She was glaring at them, a little upset that they haven't noticed her before, even though it was completely obvious where she was.
"Oh." Minuette giggled despite herself as she and Twinkleshine obtained matching, sheepish grins. "Whoopsie..."
Spike barged into Twilight room, Scootaloo close behind him. Impostor-Twilight looked up from her book that she more than likely skimmed over and, once she saw who was there, rolled her eyes and went back to reading. Spike, meanwhile, crossed his arms and glared at her, waiting for her to say something, or possibly be intimidated by his look. "Whaddya want?" She grumbled after she realized they wouldn't leave.
Spike tapped his foot impatiently and started pacing around the room. "You left, again, for Canterlot and you didn't even leave a note." He paused, realizing his tone and demeanor was relativity harsh. He stopped pacing and faced her, claws held in a little plea. "We just want to see if you're alright, is all."
'Twilight' raised her eyebrow, not looking up from her book. "Is that so?" She muttered.
Spike looked over to Scootaloo, wondering what to do. Scootaloo shrugged and made a gesture for him to continue. Spike sighed at the fillies lack of help and faced 'Twilight' once more. "Yes," he said, "yes it is." He took a step forward to try and get her to pay attention to him instead of her book. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked, his posture suggesting he'd probably have a heart attack if she were to say 'no'.
She let out a low groan, irritated with him, but Spike would never be able to guess why. "Hunky dory." She said in the same monotone she'd been using for the whole conversation. "Now, get out."
Spike took a step back , surprised at how harsh those three words came out, and quickly tried a different tactic. "Okay, w-well...what did you do in Canterlot? Why'd ya disappear on us so quickly?"
The lavender alicorn sighed, looked up from her book. "Can't we talk about this later?" She hissed, "I'd like to be alone with my studies..." She made the door open with her magic and levitated Spike out of the room. He froze, unsure of what to do; his reaction coming as Twilight dumped him a foot above the ground and slammed her door shut behind him.
He blinked, still trying to process what had happened. He then leapt to his feet and tried the doorknob, finding it would barely turn. She had locked it from the inside.
"Oh, very mature, Twilight..." he grumbled to himself as he slumped against the center of the wood-framed crystal door, "all we're trying to do is solve this stupid mysterious curse and catch the stupid mysterious villain, but you're making it ten times more difficult."
Scootaloo walked up and sat down next to him, in an effort to comfort the distressed baby drake. "Hey...it's okay." She said, awkwardly shifting her weight on her forehooves, "I'm sure she's just...stressed; you know how mares can get when they're stressed, right?" Spike glared at Scootaloo, immediately feeling guilty that he did; but he was so fed by be getting 'clues' that wound up carrying them on a wild goose chase.
"Sure." He mumbled; facing the floor. He stood up and turned his back to the young mare. "I'm just gonna...go to my room."
Scootaloo watched in despair as he slowly made his way towards the end of the hall, stopping just short of it and entering his room. She sighed and went downstairs to tell Sweetie what had happened, not knowing what else to do. She was halfway down when the energetic unicorn slammed into her for the second time that day, making both fillies see stars.
They shook their heads to get rid of the crazy vision, of sorts, and Sweetie immediately ignited her horn, catching something that was in the air, and brought it down to Scootaloo's eye level. "Huh?" Scootaloo found herself saying, "what's this?" She grabbed the paper with her hoof and began to read it to herself. Sweetie watched anxiously as Scootaloo read it, waiting for her reaction and an idea on what to do. Each second seemed longer than the last until, finally, Scootaloo dropped the paper, clearly confused. "Okay, so she did leave a note. So what?"
Sweetie folded her ears back, a bit embarrassed. "Remember how I said 'I don't think that's Twilight'?"
"Yeah?"
"Well...the note said she went to Canterlot to get her DNA supplies....a-and she didn't come back with anything." Scootaloo raised an eyebrow and continued down the stairs, Sweetie quickly following after. "And, don't you think she would have said something about it? Like..." Sweetie paused, took a deep breath and did her best Twilight imitation as she continued. "'I went to Canterlot to get my supplies, but I couldn't find them so I came back here'? I don't know...it's just unnatural for her to be so evasive, even if she got her memory wiped again...I think..." Sweetie sighed, ears drooping, upset at how unsure she sounded. "Could we at least go check on her?"
Scootaloo, now at the bottom of the stairs, stopped abruptly and turned around to face her friend. "You know... Spike and I already did, but..."
"But what?" Sweetie asked, her hopes starting to rise.
"She seemed pretty mean to Spike, and...and she wasn't sleeping; she was reading, yet she told us she was going to bed when she got here...though, to be fair, I'm not completely sure how she acted before she came here." Sweetie turned around, started going up the stairs again. "What are you doing?" Scootaloo asked her, staying put.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder, one hoof raised in the air, anxious to keep going. "I'm going to ask Spike," she explained, "if anypony--er--dragon would know, it'd be him."
Scootaloo followed, trying to figure out how to tell Sweetie what had happened. "He's the only dragon that would know," she said instead.
Sweetie rolled her eyes, still trotting forward. "You know what I mean."
The pegasus filly sighed, knowing that, sooner or later, Sweetie would know that Spike had basically given up. She didn't want Spike to yell at her, or be upset with her because of something she was unaware about. So, Scootaloo raced ahead and tried her best to block Sweetie's pathway on the wide set of stairs.
Sweetie narrowed her eyes and scoffed, showing a great resemblance of Rarity whenever she got annoyed. "Scootaloo, this is kind of important..." Sweetie said, stepping around the pegasus. "don't you want to help Spike with this problem? This is probably an important clue...thing..." she looked at the paper again, unsure if she could call it a 'clue' or not. She shrugged and continued on her way, only to be blocked by Scootaloo five steps later.
"Yeah..." Scootaloo chuckled uneasily, "about that...." Sweetie interrupted her with a growl and side-stepped the pegasus once more. Scootaloo sighed and raced ahead again, blocking the top of the stairs the best she could. "Sweetie, listen," she said; the unicorn was a mere ten steps away from passing her by once more. "Spike..." she folded her ears back, her eyes shifting wildly. "Spike he..he wanted..."
Sweetie was at the top now, paused, waiting for Scootaloo to continue. "He what?" Scootaloo quickly glanced down the hall towards Spike's room, Sweetie's gaze following her friend's. "Oh, he's down there?" She asked, "I thought he was still with Twilight or something." She chuckled a little and continued down the hall towards his room. "Thanks, Scoots. I owe ya one."
Scootaloo winced at the mistake she had made and followed anyway; there was no stopping Sweetie now. At best, she could put all the blame on herself.
~*~
He lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, knowing he was probably letting everypony down. At the most, the pony gang and the CMC, who'd never see their sisters again. This thought alone made half of him want to get up and try again, but the other half was just to exhausted. He couldn't tell if it was staying up all night, Twilight's new attitude, the fact that she could have possibly got her memory erased somehow again, or all of the above.
Whatever the reason, he just wanted to stop, for only a second, and let himself catch up on all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
A loud bang startled him awake, causing him to nearly fall out of his cot. He started at the door in a disgusted manner, as if it had summoned somepony to wake him up, and walked over to it groggily, getting a head rush from bolting up so fast. He didn't remember falling asleep and instantly wondered when he had when another knock came, sounding urgent.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'." He grumbled, reaching up to turn the knob; he opened the door to see an excited and anxious Sweetie Belle, holding a piece of paper in her aura, accompanied by a nervous, almost guilty looking Scootaloo.
Sweetie ran into his room, not waiting for an invite in. Spike, slightly upset she was the one who interrupted his slumber, muttered an unkind word under his breath. "Spike! Spike! I--" she paused, her keen ears hardly picking up a smidgen of what he had muttered. "What'd you say?" She asked, curious, as she had heard her name.
Spike held the door open and silently gestured Scootaloo in, inwardly wincing and facepalming himself that he didn't keep his thoughts in his head. He whirled around to face her and beamed in, what he hoped, was a respectable manner. "Nothing," he said through slightly clenched teeth, then, noticing the paper again, decided to quickly change the subject. He pointed at it, pretending that it was the most important and interesting thing in the whole castle. "Hey, what's that?" He asked, unclenching his teeth.
"It's a note Twilight left for us." Scootaloo explained as Sweetie handed the note to him. "We were wondering how she acted before she came here, in case that Twilight in her room isn't the real Twilight."
Spike nodded, mainly paying attention to the note than anything else. "Uh..." he said, "she kind of acted how she's acting now."
"Are there any slight differences you maybe noticed when talking to her before?" Sweetie asked somewhat desperately, "any at all?" Spike let out an 'uh' again, trying to think of a subtle thing he didn't see beforehand. "Keep in mind that Twilight said she'd be going to sleep when she arrived, yet Scootaloo told me when you went up to confront her, she was studying." Sweetie continued, "does that help anything?"
It took a couple long, agonizing minutes, but Spike finally snapped his claws, getting both fillies hopes up, as they already had all their attention on him. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before!" He said, more to himself than to his company, "it's so obvious, now that I think about it!"
Sweetie was leaning forward on her forehooves in a manner that copied Pinkie Pie, curiosity eating away at her patience. "What is?" She finally blurted, since it was obvious Spike was waiting for one of them to ask.
"Lie." Spike said simply, like it would be as obvious to the two fillies as it was to him.
The two traded a confused look, then looked back at him with the same expression. "Whaddya mean, 'lie'?" Scootaloo asked.
"In all the years that I've known her," Spike said as he folded up the note and put it in between his blanket and mattress. "Which is practically my whole life, I might add, I've never seen Twilight lie."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, thinking that 'never' was an understatement. "Never, huh?"
Spike thought about her question and realized, in a way, she was right to ask it. "Well, not never," he corrected, "but, whenever she attempted to lie, it was super obvious. Still is." He shrugged, knowing they'd ask why that would be.
Sweetie nodded, she knew a couple fillies and ponies who were kind of like that; Apple Bloom was like that, except for when she lied about getting her cutie mark that one time and ended up getting the cutie pox, and a couple other times as well. "What if she changed her mind?" She asked him, "just...just to be, you know, safe." She added afterwards.
"She would have told us, if her memory had been wiped again--" he stopped himself and went over to close the door, then spoke in a lower tone; he had a sneaking suspicion a certain somepony was trying to listen in on their conversation somehow. "Even if it hadn't, she still would have let us know."
Sweetie leaped in the air, unable to contain her joy. The clue that she had found, that chose her, one could say, had been helpful all along! This actually takes us one step closer to solving the whole thing! She thought excitedly. "What are we waiting for?" She asked loudly; it was hard for an easily excitable filly such as herself to calm down once she got hyper. "C'mon, let's go interrogate her again!"
Spike and Scootaloo smiled at her over enthusiasm and followed her through the door and down the hall. When they got to Twilight's room a mere five seconds later, Spike stepped forward and tried the doorknob. When it wouldn't turn, he blushed, remembering that the impostor had bolted it shut. He reached out and knocked instead, but nopony answered.
"Twilight!" He called in a sing-song voice, masking the irritation best he could, which, he had to admit, was pretty good. "We'd like a word with you..." he stood back and waited, but there was still no answer.
"What did you expect?" Scootaloo unintentionally jarred, "the impostor probably thinks that you think they're still Twilight, and 'Twilight' is still annoyed with you." She explained, using hoof quotes around the second 'Twilight'.
Spike glared at her, throwing his claws in the air, not liking her new tone. "Why didn't you say that beforehand?!"
Scootaloo folded her ears back and bit her lip, hearing the tone he had used that had mimicked her own. "I didn't think it'd make a difference," she said quietly, "sorry I yelled; I think we're all too stressed out from this messed-up case."
Spike huffed, letting himself calm down before accepting Scootaloo's apology, more to make her feel better than actually accept it. "It's fine," he said, thinking it was probably the fastest he and a friend of his ever technically fought then made up. "you two, stay right here; I'll be right back." He added, then ran down the stairs as fast as his little legs would carry him, took a few lefts then a right, and arrived at one of the many broom closets the castle held. Opening it up, he grabbed a key and ran back to where his company waited.
"A key?" Scootaloo gaped once she saw what he held. 'why didn't you just grab that in the first place?"
Spike turned his head over his shoulder towards her, eyes closed and chin as high as he could hold it in that position. "I didn't think it'd make a difference." He mocked, then opened his eyes and smiled at the somewhat distraught face Scootaloo had on. "Nah, I'm just messin' with ya." He said, "Twilight doesn't like to be interrupted and told me to only use this key when completely necessary or in extremely important situations." He faced the door again, placing the key in the keyhole. "I think this situation is pretty important to everypony..."
They watched as he turned the key and pushed open the door. The second the door was open, they saw Twilight's bed covers taken off and hanging out the window.
Most importantly, the impostor was gone.
Twinkleshine and Minuette walked over to Twilight, slightly upset with themselves that they didn't notice her before. "Are you alright?" they asked simultaneously.
"No," Twilight sighed, "I'm not. Obviously." She rolled her eyes then stared at them again. "What are you do--" they watched in shock as Twilight's eyes rolled to the back of her head, her mouth staying agape. She held this pose for what seemed like the longest time before going back to normal minus the fact that she was eyes full of tears and she seemed to be breathing heavier like she had been holding her breath the entire time. The two unicorns couldn't tell if both noticeable signs were from the pain that must have come from that experience, or something else.
Minuette took a hesitant step forward, cocking her head to the right just so. "Are...you sure...?"
Twilight looked at them, wide eyed and through a new light. She, too, took a step forward, the green substance on her horn moving with her, making a squelching noise. "Minuette?" She gasped, "Twinkleshine?"
"Uuhhhh...yeah..." Twinkleshine said uneasily, "seriously, Twi, what's wrong? Why are you acting so weird? And why are you trapped in a cocoon, like Moondancer?" She shook her head to clear the confusion and, when that didn't work, stood on her hind legs and placed her forehooves on either side of her head. "What in Equestria is going on here?!" She yelled, to which minuette flinched and signaled her to calm down. She got back on all fours and laughed nervously. "Sorry," she said, "didn't mean to freak out like that."
"It's okay" Twilight smiled, "I would probably freak out, too, if I were in your hooves." She sighed and began to tell her friends what had happened. From yesterday morning to thirty minutes agao, and they seemed to drink it up, only asking the occasional question. "...and that's why I'm stuck in this...thing now." She finished. Her ears had folded back and she had sat down during her tale, along with the others. "I just need to get out of this soon as possible to help Spike again. I have no idea where Chrysalis went, or why she changed into me, or--"
"Twilight," Minuette called, trying to get her attention. "Twilight, calm down," she said, "it'll be okay; just let us know what we can do, and we'll do it."
Twilight smiled, grateful for the offer and loving that she decided to rekindle the friendship with her Canterlot friends last year. "Can you get me out of this?" She asked them.
"Except that." Twinkleshine responded, looking from Twilight to Minuette then back again. "we tried with Moondancer; i-it didn't..didn't work."
Twilight sighed, tried to think of another solution. Her ears perked up, suddenly, as she heard a noise come from somewhere in the back; it sounded like glass shattering, quickly followed by heavy hoofsteps. "Quick, go get Spike and the others," Twilight instructed hurriedly, nervously looking over her shoulder to estimate how much time they had to get out of the house. "Tell him where I am. He'll know what to do." The hoofsteps sounded louder and heavier, a shadow appeared on the west side wall. "Go! Get out of here!" She whisper-yelled, "get before they see you!"
That seemed to get the message through that she was done. They quickly saluted her, though she felt that wasn't exactly necessary, and escaped right before the pony who broke in came around the corner. Twilight breathed a breath of relief and waited anxiously to see who would appear. She didn't have to wait for very long.
Ugh. Why does 9 dislikes to 102 likes make me feel so bad about myself? 
Anyway, this is the longest chapter thus far. Hope it wasn't to all over the place and crazy and whatever. Edited by the extremely helpful, wonderful and fabulous TheShippingJR! 
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Oh great, so Changeling-Twi's out and about again. Spike and Scoots better find her fast, as this cannot be good for anyone.
My, my, my. We have Tirek(is that how you spell his name?), Chrysalis, and a shadow? Shadows are usually related to a certain shadow pony. And I'm pretty sure Twi would recognize Tirek's shadow, since she said it's a pony it's probably not Tirek. But, it could also be a changeling or Discord being smart about things and disguising himself as a pony. Are any o' these right? If not, WORRY NOT! My future vision like powers still have more in store for this story!
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Could you spoil the spoil-ie bits, please? Thanks you.
i like this story more whit every chapter you put out, i can't wait for the next one
Don't ever feel bad about yourself for 106 to 9. That's awesome! And remember, there will always be haters. Just keep going, I can't wait to find out what happens