Skid the changeling wants revenge on Twilight, and to kill Celestia. However, killing Twilight would be too simple.
After the events of Shifting Priorities, Skid is still in jail, and Twilight has gained wings and become a princess. However, Skid has gained a special phial that will enable him to get out of jail, and give him the perfect chance to take revenge. And Skid is going to make good use of that chance to both take revenge, kill Celestia, and regain his body. Patience has always been his strong point.
There comes a time when we all must face the harsh truth of reality. That we are who we are, slaves to one force that will continue to control us even when we think we have our own control. Some tried to break free from that control, and some simply ignored it. But even as he rested there; he knew there one thing he was sure of in his existence, he had a job to do. His purple eyes gazed to the phial in his hand, and then to the changeling behind him and he closed them and sighed. Twilight had once told him about testing it. It made her magic go out of control and hurt Spike, but had made her very powerful.
“It had been a while Brute, since changelings were feared.” He stood up, his body having trouble standing after so long, but after a moment his female body responded. It had been a long time since those days where he had been undercover for his queen after the failed attack on Canterlot, a long time since he had almost even had friends, a long time since they had slapped him in the face for being a changeling. He had gotten close, disguised as Twilight and almost had Celestia cornered. But he had been soft, and it had gotten him in jail.
“Been a while since she gained her wings” He shook his hair, the light purple highlight the only bright thing in the darkness.
“Things have relaxed, this is our only chance.” A ripple assed over his body, a spark emanated from his horn, and his eyes glowed a light green, illuminating the area before returning to purple.
“Brute, it is time for you to leave.” He turned his head, and the changeling was gone. Skid once more turned his gaze to the phial, and he levitated it from his hand, and opened it with a quiet pop. For a split second, he hesitated, and for a moment sadness crossed his face.
“Twilight…”he whispered, before it hardened again and he opened his mouth. It felt like water running into his mouth, and once he swallowed it he waited. Skid opened his eyes as the sudden power surge flowed through him, and his mouth opened in a silent scream before he broke out into a sudden bright light, and blacked out. Opening his eyes, he groaned and quickly flicked his eyes open, and turned his gaze to the jail door and smiled. The jails were protected by the princesses own magic, and it would require a big amount to break it, and he had managed to not only break the spells but pretty much implode the room. Standing up he gazed around, and peeked his head out.
“Halt!” spoke a charging guard, Skid merely laughed and charged a knock out spell, courtesy of Twilight. After dealing with the guard, he flicked his body’s tail, and turned toward the exit and hurried out. His breakout would not go unnoticed. Trotting toward the exit, he turned his gaze to the cells, where prisoners watched him leave with proud gazes. They were proud of him for managing to get out, and he turned his gaze to the exit, his smile deepened as he stepped into the night. After a moment of his eyes adjusting, he turned it on the people around him.
“Cease any action right now or we will attack!” a colt that seemed to be in charge of the group spoke. Rolling his eyes, his horn began to glow, and suddenly two wings unfurled from his back. A few eyes widened, and it was enough time for him to take to the sky. Within two flaps, they began to fire at him, within five he was out of range. Skid gazed to the sky, and took a single flap to appreciate the night before heading toward the castle where an entire army awaited him, his eyes frowned in concentration, and his horn began to glow. He was expecting the princesses to show up, and he was not disappointed as Luna, the princess of the night came spiralling out of the sky to attack him. Skid assumed she had been on patrol, and that was the reason for her quick response. He easily dodged her attack, and fired his spell at her just as a second Alicorn appeared on the scene. The pink Alicorn caught Luna as she fell unconscious and began to fall from the sky and quickly prepared a spell to wake her up. Skid raised his head, and laughed toward the heavens. Two down, two to go. He cast his gaze around for the third and final Alicorn he was expecting, and rapidly gaining height to meet him was how he found her.
“Skid!” she spoke, and his laugh faded and he instantly sped as she fired a spell at him.
“Why hello Twilight, nice night for a fly isn’t it?” Twilight’s gaze fell on him, and hardened at his carefree smile.
“Skid you’re not going to hurt Celestia!” Twilight dived at him, he easily dodged. Twilight may have wings, but she was not an experienced flyer as of yet.
“Oh please, why must this always be about her? I know I’ll pay her a visit and ask” he smirked, charging a spell and teleporting directly into the royal throne room, leaving the three princesses far away. Only one would be able to teleport there, and even so it would take her a few seconds. That gave him enough time to begin running toward Celestia, charge THE spell on his horn, and smirk. A purple spark came from behind him, and he leapt to the left as a hastily cast spell whizzed by him. Celestia stood there, a spell on her horn, ready to meet his challenge. Skid dodged Twilight, who dashed ahead and turned to face him as he headed toward her and the princess.
“You will never touch Celestia” her threat fell on deaf ears, and his smile grew. He dived toward them, Twilight preparing to tackle him out of the way and Celestia preparing to met his spell.
“It’s quite a pity, I don’t want Celestia.” He had just enough time to savour the slightest widening of their eyes as he lowered his head and fired the spell at Twilight. Not expecting the attack, she didn’t even try to dodge and even Celestia could only fire her spell at him as she tried to stop the spell from hitting Twilight. Skid grunted as the spell hit him in the face, and was knocked over to the opposite side of the room, winded. Celestia turned her attention to her student as the spell hit her in the chest, getting absorbed and vanishing from view. Twilight’s eyes only widened, and blinked and she fell unconscious.
“Twilight!” Celestia caught her student, and immediately looked for any signs of harm. Finding her student still breathing and unharmed made her breathe a sigh of relief, before she turned her gaze to the corner where Skid had been. Her eyes furrowed, and she gazed at the empty corner before scanning the entire room and finding it empty. Whatever Skid had done, he had finished and was long gone. Celestia turned her concerned gaze on Twilight as she coughed, and curled into a ball and shivered before relaxing again. Two Alicorns burst into the room along with a dozen guards, and the situation was quickly explained.
“Maybe the spell failed,” Cadence suggested and the two sisters shook their heads.
“We won’t know what harm it did, until it shows itself.” They all gently took the purple Alicorn to her bed, and set up a roster for who would watch her, and everyone went back to their duties. Celestia organised the search party for Skid, feeling they weren’t likely to find him, Luna patrolled the castle, and Cadence stayed with Twilight along with Shining Armour, informing her friends who were still in Canterlot after the coronation. None could understand what Skid had done, but they knew this was far from over.
When Twilight awoke she suppressed a groan and instead opened one weary eye to be greeted by a blurry blue shape. She felt like she had been hit in the chest by someone with the force Applejack bucked trees, and she groaned loudly. Her eyes snapped shut and she winced as the pain shrunk, centreing on a point, and then faded entirely. With a sudden pause, she felt her ears clear and suddenly she could hear sounds.
“Are you sure she will be ok Luna?” Fluttering her eyes open, she faced the male who had spoken, and gave a faint smile to her favourite purple dragon. Opening her mouth, she gave a croak as she tried to speak and failed to do so. A gentle claw quickly shut her mouth and Spike shook his head.
“No Twilight, don’t rush it,” he spoke, gazing at her with concerned eyes. Twilight nodded, and shifted her gaze around the room, seeing all her friends and the dark blue Alicorn named Luna present.
“W-What happened-“her voice cut off and she coughed, Spike coming to her side and attempting to help a little too late as it subsided as quickly as it came. Luna stepped away from the group, coming to join Spike and gazing down at Twilight.
“What do you remember Twilight?” Twilight frowned, focusing her brain, leaving the foggy sleep state behind with the harsh slap of reality. She sat upright with a sudden movement and layed back down as she got dizzy a moment later. Twilight remembered the events of the night Skid had escaped, and quickly turned to Luna.
“Is Celestia ok, did you catch Skid, what happened to the spell that hit me, do you know what it did?” Luna paused, and her horn glowed as she summoned a spell and cast it into the air where it vanished. A few moments later, Celestia walked through the door and turned her gaze on Twilight and gave a warm smile.
“My student…You are safe and well.” Twilight gave a smile, and tried sitting up again. Twilight took it slower this time, and managed the action with only a minor head spin that faded quickly.
“I am afraid we have yet to capture Skid as you call him, he seems to have escaped while I was busy rounding up the soldiers to look for him.” Twilight frowned, hadn’t the soldiers already been after Skid? She discarded it, and focused on Celestia as she began answering her final question.
“As for what the spell did, we have yet to see any effects other then you occasionally shivering.” Celestia and Luna shared a glance, and Twilight glanced to the area she had felt the heat upon awakening, and frowned.
“Wah-“she exclaimed in shock as Celestia and Luna gently layed her down and looked at the area she had been hit and shared another glance. Twilight strained her head, and all she could see was a slight rash.
“What is it, what’s wrong?” Celestia released her, Luna stepping back as well and they frowned.
“It is just, strange a spell only caused a minor rash and cramping, there must be something going on behind the scenes.” Twilight sighed, sitting back up, flaring her wings before folding them.
“Princess I’m fine, Skid mustn’t have thought of a better spell, maybe he planned more on escaping then revenge.” Celestia’s face was a perfect poker face, so Twilight ignored it and carefully stood up. Spike was instantly to her side to help her, and she soon felt completely back to normal, except for this itch in her chest.
“Celestia, I’m fine seriously, can I please talk about heading back to Ponyville instead?” Twilight wanted to drop the subject, Skid had obviously failed whatever his mission had been and had escaped while he had the chance. Celestia glanced once again to Luna, much to the annoyance of Twilight, and gave a slow nod.
“Very well, what is it you wish to talk about Princess Twilight?” Twilight winced, Celestia was pulling her rank into the debate, and this wasn’t going to be easy.
“Celestia please, I know I’m a princess and all but why can’t I go and stay in Ponyville with my friends like I used to?” Celestia glanced to the five friends who were waiting at the door, staying out of the conversation seeing as it didn’t involve them. Which was surprising considering Pinkie Pie was there.
“There is no reason why you cannot. However you will have to make frequent trips to Canterlot so we can train you in the process you may have to go through in the future.” Twilight mused what Celestia said over, and nodded. It seemed like a fair trade where she had been expecting none.
“That’s perfect, when can I leave?” This time, Luna was the one who answered.
“One weeks time, if that is ok with thou-you.” Twilight grimaced, as did her friends.
“One week, why can’t I leave tomorrow?” Celestia draped a wing around Twilight and gently hugged her student.
“We must be sure the spell had no lasting effects.” Twilight rolled her eyes, and motioned to her friends.
“If it does, they can easily inform you of any problems.” Luna nodded, and frowned in thought.
“She has a point sister…” Celestia gazed to her sister as she spoke, and sighed, a smile coming on her face.
“Alright Twilight, you can leave tomorrow.” Twilight smiled and nearly jumped out of the embrace, remembering just in time to stop herself. Her friends walked in, and they began discussing the different ways they would celebrate. Twilight smiled, her wings stretching as she gave a hearty yawn and they all turned and gave her a smile, Pinkie Pie giggling and Rainbow Dash snorting before glancing away.
“You must still be tired Twilight, we will let you rest, one of us will be outside if you need us.” Twilight nodded and they all gently walked outside, she heard some chatter before eventually hoof-steps were heard and everything grew silent. Twilight gently layed down, and fell down into a deep slumber, she woke again at midday and yawned, sitting up and gazing at her empty room and at the pony shape visible through the door. Twilight frowned; noticing the itch on her chest was stronger and had now affected her horn as well. She nimbly stood up and peeked out the door to see a tired Rainbow Dash sleeping on the door, who stirred slightly at the movement. Twilight closed it gently with a single click and frowned; she was trapped.
Turning her gaze toward the window, she smiled and glanced to her wings, opening them. Twilight’s horn flickered to life as she prepare a simple teleportation spell to help her get just outside the window, frowning as it spluttered before her magic began to flow. She released the spell and quickly appeared just outside the window, quickly flaring her wings and gliding down to the ground. Landing she folded her wings and gazed around the garden area, and decided to walk into the forest section, where she had once managed to catch up to Skid and get him caught out after taking her form. Gazing around the area, she watched the trees, and butterflies and birds as she walked. Soon enough she grew tired of walking a picked a sunny area to gently lie down in the grass. Twilight layed her head down, gently dozing as her mind wandered.
“Twilight” she jerked awake, seeing seven frantic ponies coming toward her. Twilight blinked, and then smiled sheepishly. “Sorry I didn’t mean to vanish like that, I only wanted to stretch my legs a bit and I didn’t want to disturb the guard who was sleeping on the door.” Six eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, who smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her neck.
“My bad…” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, she was forgiven. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about one thing or another until it came time for the sun to set and the princesses went to do their duties. Heading back to her room, she bid her friends goodnight and all but Rarity left. Closing the door, Twilight leapt into her bed and sighed in immense comfort before immediately doubling over in sudden silent pain. It quickly left, and she fell into deep unconscious once more.
Twilight awoke the next morning with an intense headache that quickly faded. However it left an intense itch in her horn, and as she tried to scratch the itch she realised with a sudden fright she couldn’t move, then relaxed as her body began responding and the itch subsided slightly. Sitting up required some intense concentration, but soon she had regained full control of her body and even managed to stand up. Her chest itched immensely, and her horn was starting to follow suit, even her legs felt tingly and it made her eyes twitch in annoyance. Twilight knew if the princesses knew they would not let her leave, so she would pretend nothing was wrong and take a nice long bubble bath when she got home. Some good herbal essences would fix her right up. But even as she said that, the fastest she could walk was a very slow walk without appearing shaky. Twilight frowned in concentration, and decided she would just say she was taking her time.
“Hey Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Applejack, where’s Luna and Celestia?” Applejack motioned toward the other part of the castle.
“They’re caught up in official stuff, said they’d meet us at the train station.” Twilight nodded, and they headed out, bags packed and ready to go. It didn’t take them long to reach the train, and right on cue the two princesses landed with ease and gave a gentle smile to Twilight. Twilight smile warmly back, ignoring the increasing burden of ignoring the itching as it intensified, her ears began to buzz.
“Pardon?” she spoke, and they blinked at her and frowned. Twilight was not known for needing to be told twice.
“Hey Twilight darling, are you sure you are ok, you look really pale.” Rarity made to approach, and Twilight took a step back.
“I’m fine, I just really want to go home” she replied, managed to lip-read Rarity since she could no longer hear over the buzzing. It was when Celestia tried to gently put a wing around her, that it became very apparent that something was wrong. Twilight tried to move too fast, and her movements became jerky, putting everyone on high alert. Celestia said something, but Twilight couldn’t hear anymore, everything was fading into static. Was that Celestia or Luna, or was it Rainbow Dash? The world tilted and she fell to the floor with a thump, falling unconscious.
During the first day, the entire city was in turmoil. Someone had leaked about Twilight Sparkle collapsing at the train station, and being rushed to the hospital. Her friends were the first to arrive, standing on one side of her bed as the doctors used the remaining side to hook Twilight up to various machines. As they read various dials, their looks of confusion only grew and they hurried to get the princess who was waiting just outside, speaking quickly, and obviously very confused.
“Nothing wrong” she muttered, looking over her student. Twilight was shivering and groaning and trying to scratch herself seemingly at the same time. One of the doctors tried to help with the problem by putting a wet rag on the area she was trying to attack, and she relaxed instantly. The other doctors all congratulated the other one for a good idea, until Twilight went after a different section of her skin, one which she could reach. As they desperately tried to stop her, they all were thrown away by an unknown strength Twilight had not had yesterday before she continued her actions. Celestia stepped in, her magic encompassing the arm reaching for the spot and gently pulled it away from the area, and her eyes widened. Twilight had managed to remove her own skin, leaving the sides red and slightly bloody, underneath she could see the slightest bit of black. The doctor rushed over and gently dabbed the area with the washcloth, and Twilight relaxed once more.
“Princess?” Celestia turned her head to Rarity, who had along with her friends seen the black splotch where Twilight had pulled her skin away. The doctors were busy dabbing all Twilight's skin, so as to remove any possibility she would get an itch and they would have to fight once more.
“Please excuse me, watch over Twilight in my absence.” Celestia saw the five ponies nod at her command, and turned to leave, her wings folding as she left through the door. Taking off, she headed for Luna’s tower, and landed easily to meet the two Alicorns, and shook her head at their concerned eyes.
“We have to find a book on changeling spells, something is happening to Twilight, and we must find a way to cease it.” Luna nodded, and she vanished into a side room which housed all her books. Cadence took off, heading for the crystal empire to search their library. Celestia stood there for a moment, and gazed up to the daylight and prepared the spell to bring her sun down, feeling Luna begin her spell in the room nearby. After night rose, she flared her wings and headed into her own personal library, and began the search.
Day two began in a similar fashion. Cadence was leading command on a large group of ponies to comb the library for any books on changelings. Luna had exhausted her supplies, and had begun searching the local library, even braving the restricted sections where powerful spells guarded the books. Celestia closed her final book, and glided down to see her student after raising the sun. Opening the door she was greeted with a shocking scene where doctors tried to dab water onto an itching section of Twilight before she could scratch, worrying about the fact the water was evaporating very quickly. Only Applejack was in the room, watching with concerned eyes and offering help every other minute. Celestia wasn’t shocked about that however, her gaze was on the rapidly growing amount of black areas appearing on Twilight as she desperately fought the doctors to get rid of the burning itch through her body. Her eyes were open, but they were foggy and constricted, Twilight was not there. Celestia gently lowered her horn, and sent a mild sleeping spell toward Twilight, who breathed a sigh and gently drifted back into unconsciousness. Her scratching grew less and less frequent, and the heat coming off her lessened considerably. Celestia turned to Applejack, and asked where the others were.
“They’re helping Luna search the local library.” Celestia nodded, and quickly taught one of the doctors that was a unicorn how to use the sleeping spell, who nodded thanks. Leaving the room, Celestia gazed back once to her student, before heading to the library to talk to Luna.
“Are you sure you will be ok with your duties as princess of the sun still sister?” Celestia nodded, glancing to the window and walking toward it, followed by Luna.
“I expect no problems with the sun in my absence, however if I cannot raise it you will have to do my duty for me.” Luna took a step back, wings flaring in shock.
“Me sister!? But I am princess of the night, for me to control your sun is-“Celestia cut her sister off, bringing her into an embrace.
“If all goes well, you won’t have to. And I know sister; I had to face that feeling for a thousand years.” Luna quickly fell silent, and eventually they stepped out of the embrace, and she nodded slowly.
“Very well sister, fly swiftly and do not worry us…me.” Celestia gave a smile, and walked out of the library and into the garden nearby and glanced back for a brief moment. Her gaze went to the hospital, and she took to the sky, vanishing from Canterlot within a few flaps.
Day three saw Cadence return with a single book and Luna find another book in the very darkest parts of the Canterlot library, and no Celestia. The sun rose as normal, so Luna did not dwell on it as they scoured the two books about what spells changelings had used before Cadence sighed and closed the first book. Luna went through the book, and her eyes rested on a page about a spell that sounded familiar, and began reading it out.
“After being cast, this spell seemed to show no effects for the first day or so before the subject would collapse and suddenly black splotches would appear as the subject went into a comatose state before finally-“Luna paused, gazing at the ripped off section of the page with a sense of anger. Someone had vandalised their only chance of helping Twilight. Luna sighed, closing the book and shaking her head at Cadence, who sighed and turned her gaze at her own book. Luna’s eyes went to the window, toward the sun, and Cadence followed her look.
“We must wait for Celestia it seems.” Luna stood up, heading to check on Twilight with the absence of Celestia. Twilight had worsened, but was being managed with practiced ease now the doctors knew what to do. Luna went to her bedchamber, and awaited news from her sister.
Day four came and Twilight began screaming when awake. The spell was becoming less and less effective, and so she was screaming more and more. The doctors estimated tomorrow it would have no effect at all. All the people around Twilight could do was watch, and wait. Luna began pacing, and as she waited for the sun to set she realised it was one hour late and turned her worried gaze on the object.
“My sister, where are you?” Luna closed her eyes and gently reached for the orb, which responded to her touch willingly, as if it knew why she was controlling it today. The sun set easily, and the moon rose in its stead, and her eyes opened to gaze across the dark landscape.
It wasn’t for another two days that Celestia came back. Luna was preparing to raise the sun when she felt a familiar tug of power pass by her and raise the sun with expert ease. Lowering the moon, Luna couldn’t help but smile as a familiar shape glided into the town after so long.
“Sister, was thou-were you successful in the Everfree?” Celestia landed, and they embraced before breaking apart and returning to business. Celestia held up three books, each with the same title, name, and author.
“It took me some time to find all the sections, but I believe I have enough for us to key in most of what is missing at the beginning.” Luna hovered her version of the book up, and Celestia smiled.
“Then again, we may already have that information available. But first where’s Twilight.” Luna flinched as a scream broke the night, before going silent. It had been two days since the spell had stopped working, and Twilight had stopped screaming all the time, instead screaming every now and then as her exhaustion got the better of her. Celestia gently took all four books and took to the sky, two Alicorns following after her as she headed for a table closest to Twilight location. Gently tearing out all four pages, she wasn’t surprised to see they all fit in nicely with each other, and she began to scan the text, wrapped in her magic, before it dropped to the floor as her eyes widened in open shock. Luna was the first to grab it, skimming the bit she had read and her eyes simply blinked, passing it to Cadence.
“No, this cannot be true.” All three briskly made their way to the now silent room of Twilight and opened the door, seeing five faces gaze to them with hope, and the doctors resting nearby, ready to respond if Twilight needed them. Celestia gazed toward the body of her student, now completely black and to the wings and horns of her.
“We were too late…”was all she said as her student opened her eyes, finally coherent and fully awake, glanced down to her body, and cried out in horror before tears streamed down her eyes. Where her wings had been were now wings suited more for a bug then a princess. Her horn was black and more curved, her legs had holes in them and her back was covered by some sort of blue shell. Through tear stained eyes, she saw all her friends, and three princess gaze at her with eyes full of sadness, and felt it course through her causing more tears to fall.
Twilight felt tears fall down her face, despair and dismay in her now blue eyes. Her feelings were made worse by the mixed feelings emanating from the room. Was this what Skid had felt when she had found out what he was? Suddenly Cadence’s horn glowed, and a cloak of love wrapped around her, and suddenly she couldn’t sense their emotions anymore and had stopped crying. In fact, it was hard not to break into open joy despite the current situation.
“Sorry I’ll turn it down,” the pink Alicorn spoke, and suddenly the feeling went from oppressive to a layer of interference, she relaxed and sighed. Gazing to her friends, who wore different looks of emotion she couldn’t decipher behind the veil, she turned her gaze to Celestia.
“Is there any way to reverse it?” Celestia opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it and merely shook her head. Twilight knew she should be feeling worse then she had recently, but all she could feel was a meek sense of loss.
“Oh” she replied, sitting up and giving her body a once over. Twilight was relieved to see she was still the same gender, but other than that she looked exactly the same as Skid. She shivered, just like Skid was too much like Skid for comfort. Suddenly Celestia walked over and gently touched Twilights horn with a frown.
“At the very least, my spell still works. However, there is the problem of going out in public…” Twilight gazed to her friends, and for a brief moment she could feel their sadness, disgust, was that guilt from Rainbow Dash-love, suddenly all she could feel was love. Rainbow Dash smiled, and stood proudly.
“So what if she’s a changeling, she’s still Twilight.” Twilight felt the love around her grow in strength, and tears of happiness began to fall down her face as each of her friends spoke up.
“You can hide that ugly appearance once you figure out how to use their powers easily; you’ll be back to normal easily.” Rarity was ever concerned about appearance, but Twilight felt she meant good.
“Not that that matters, you are Twilight no matter if you are a changeling,” Applejack spoke next, honest and straight to the point.
“Oooh with the new powers you’ll be an expert at knowing what people want if they come to you for help, or for parties. They’ll probably be put off by the fact you’re a changeling but-“Pinkie Pie stopped herself and gave a exited smile, happy to have a new toy to play with.
“Um, y-you could help with the animals…”whispered Fluttershy. Twilight stood up, a little shaky at first, and walked off the bed and over to her friend and gave them a big hug. She failed to notice Cadence holding a spell around her; sweating slightly at the strength she had it over Twilight. Being close to emotions herself, she knew if Twilight felt about how they really felt, things would go downhill quickly.
“I happen to have dug up a changeling book that might interest you Twilight; it details the process of a transformation spell that is quite similar to the changeling one, but not quite. As for returning you to normal, I and Luna will see what we can do.” Twilight turned and nodded determinedly to her mentor.
“What will Cadence be doing?” Twilight looked to Cadence, not noticing anything out of normal as she smiled.
“She will be keeping a watch in case Changelings come after you. They must have done this for a reason.” Twilight nodded, happy with the answers and turned to her friends, who smiled happily.
“Well, I for one could use some fresh air, what about you guys?” All five nodded enthusiastically, and Twilight began following them out of the room. Cadence followed, weakening the shield around Twilight as she no longer needed to have it so strong. She glanced to the two princesses as she left, and a silent agreement passed between them. They needed to fix Twilight and quickly.
“It was nice of the guards to set up a whole picnic for us” Twilight remarked as she enjoyed a quiet afternoon with her friends. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were having an eating contest, and Pinkie was easily winning. Rarity was quietly eating in her usual refined manor. Fluttershy sat in a corner watching the three chug down the food like water sipping a juice box. Cadence was resting under the trees, tired for some reason. When Twilight had asked about it, she had said it had been a long night.
“So Twilight, how’d you learn the spell so fast?” Rainbow Dash asked after the food contest, tapping her stomach with a satisfied sigh. Twilight shrugged, it had been a really simple spell, almost as if she had already known it.
“It was like I already knew the spell before I tried casting it, must be an innate changeling thing.” Twilight sipped her drink, her eyes closing as she failed to notice once again the gazes of the others as they thought about what she was now. Opening her eyes she began to smile when she noticed something different. Suddenly the shield of love around her, what was ensuring she remained happy and carefree, fizzled and died. Twilight turned her head to Cadence, whose eyes had been watching them until a few moments ago, as her head fell down and she became unconscious from strain.
“Twilight” spoke one of her friends, but she couldn’t tell who. It was hard for her to sort through the sudden information overload she was experiencing. The air thrummed with a certain level of emotion, more of a pleasant air than anything else. Fluttershy was scared of her; Rainbow Dash was fighting with his loyalty and his desire to destroy every changeling, Rarity was hiding her open disgust at the fact she was such a horrid colour, Pinkie Pie was nervous about how to treat the situation, and Applejack was warring with her desire to be truthful but not want to be cruel. All of that information came into Twilight and she realised one thing.
