Discord’s magic would be extremely useful, but maybe we should try to save Twilight and my friends without him. Thorax may have enough information on the other changelings for us to handle this on our own.

So I told Discord that we were just practicing lines for a play. He bought my lie and teleported away.

Starlight asked, “Jake, why didn’t you tell him what’s going on?”

I answered, “Well, Discord can be a...questionable ally. You sure he wouldn’t do anything to ‘test’ us and it ends with us all caught somehow?”

“Well, maybe you’re right,” Starlight responded. “Twilight’s told me how she’s not sure what goes on in his head most of the time.”

“I hate to admit it, but this is something the Great and Powerful Trixie can see eye-to-eye with Twilight with.”

Thorax commented, “You three know Discord better than me, so no arguments here.”

“Then we’re all on the same page,” I said. “Thorax, do you know where the changelings have our friends?”

“Yeah, the changeling Hive. But I was really hoping to never go back.”

With that, we all went to the changeling Hive. Starlight didn’t know its exact location and couldn’t teleport us to it, so we walked to the Hive.

Once near the Hive, Thorax told us that only changeling magic works in and near it, thanks to an invisible anti-magic barrier, so Starlight and Trixie wouldn’t have their magic. Starlight wasn’t confident in herself without her magic, or in general, but she guessed that disabling Queen Chrysalis’s throne, the source of the anti-magic barrier around the Hive, could end its magic-negating effect. That meant what we needed to do was clear: destroy that throne!

We made our way to the changeling hive and as we did, Trixie thought up a code word in case we’ll need to prove we’re us: Klutzy princess.

At least Twilight and Trixie get along better now than they used to.

In the changeling hive, there were a ton of large holes in the walls, forming tunnels, making the place look like the inside of swiss cheese.

I said, “So, this is the inside of the changeling hive.”

Trixie commented, “I bet Discord would make puns about our plan having ‘holes’ in it if he came.”

“Probably, but where do we go? That way?” Starlight pointed at the nearest tunnel.

“This place changes like changelings do, so unless you’re a changeling, you’ll get lost.”

“Or captured,” I remarked. “So you should lead us, Thorax.”

We followed Thorax down one of the tunnels, hoping no changeling would come near.

Soon, we heard distant buzzes that grew louder.

Trixie asked, “What’s that?”

Thorax exclaimed, “Oh, no! It’s a changeling patrol!”

My mind raced, yet I couldn’t think of anything.

However, Starlight smiled and looked to Trixie. “Wait, do you have any smoke bombs in your bag?”

Trixie replied, “Yeah.”

“Then I have an idea. Get them, and…”

Trixie and Thorax, the latter disguised as Trixie, teamed up and made it look like Trixie was teleporting from one spot to another, confusing the group of changelings. Before long, they got the changelings to leave, thinking Trixie was somewhere else.

When Trixie and Thorax ran back to Starlight and me, I praised, “Guys, that was amazing!”

Trixie boasted, “Thanks. Looks like we don’t need Discord after all.”

Starlight noticed that two of the changelings didn’t go after Trixie and Thorax, and Thorax told us that they must have gone to the throne room, in case Queen Chrysalis would need them to protect her. That told us where to go next: down the tunnel the two changelings flew in.

Further down the tunnel, we came across a bunch of changelings guarding a door. According to Thorax, the tunnels behind the door led to the throne room, so we needed to get past the guards somehow.

Trixie asked, “Okay, now what?”

Starlight lifted her head in thought. “Uh...maybe a distraction can work?”

I looked to Trixie. "You said that you’re out of smoke bombs, right, Trixie?”

“Yeah.”

Thorax asked, “Do you have anything else that could help?”

Trixie shook her head. “No, but maybe I can draw them away, and you three go on.”

I asked, “You sure? Without anything to use as cover, you could get captured!”

“And that can’t happen, Trixie, because we need you! I still don’t know how to destroy the throne! Without magic--”

With a boastful smile, Trixie interrupted, “Please, Starlight, you’re talking like I am going to get caught. It’ll take more than a few changelings to capture the Great and Powerful Trixie! After I lose them, I’ll catch up to you guys.”

We told Trixie good luck and she showed herself, teased the changeling by insulting them, and led them away in one of several tunnels around us. Afterward, we ran through the now non-guarded door and down the tunnel beyond it.

I never knew Trixie could be so brave.

Once we were deeper in the tunnel, Trixie, to our -- and especially Starlight’s -- relief, returned to us. But to make sure she was her,we tested Trixie with the code word. She didn’t pass it.

Following “Trixie” towards two tunnels, I whispered, “You two know that’s not Trixie, right?”

“I do,” Thorax said.

“Me too, and I knew we shouldn’t have--”

I whispered, “We’ll just have to save her when we save the others.”

“But, Jake--”

Before I could try to reassure Starlight, “Trixie” went into a tunnel.

Thorax informed, “Wait, I know this trick. In the tunnel to our left are a swarm of changelings that would pounce on us once we’re in range.”

I proposed, “In that case, maybe we could just run down the other tunnel as fast as we can?”

Thorax answered, “We wouldn’t have enough time to get far enough before they came after us. But, I could go in, try to slow them down, and you two run through the other tunnel and it leads to the throne room.”

“But what about you? Will you be all right?” I asked.

“I don’t know. But Spike put himself out there to be my first friend, so I’ll do whatever it takes to save him and my new friends.”

“I know, but--”

I knelt and set my hand on Starlight’s back. “No ‘buts’, Starlight. We need to trust Thorax, but you will still have me with you, and we’ll think of something.”

After a few seconds, Starlight gave a cute smile. “Okay.”

Thorax went into the left tunnel, and Starlight and I sprinted into the right one. As we ran, Starlight thought of an idea.

Close to the throne room, Starlight and I separated, and I walked into the room. I found myself face-to-face with Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings, as well as her guards that were spread out in the room. Starlight snuck in through a different entrance, crept to the throne on the other side of the room, and chipped away at it with a rock.

I did my best to hold Queen Chrysalis’s and the changeling’s attention to buy Starlight time. But, my eyes couldn’t resist glancing at Starlight a few times.

After one too many glances in Starlight’s direction, Chrysalis turned around and fired a green beam at her. Luckily, Starlight dived out of the way just in time.

“You will pay for that, Chrysalis!” Out of rage that she tried to hurt Starlight, I charged at Chrysalis.

But well before I reached Chrysalis, some of the guards surrounded and pinned me to the ground. At the same time, Chrysalis pulled Starlight away from the throne with her magic, tossing her beside me, and guards pinned Starlight down too.

“Let us go right now! Or at least let Starlight go!”

All my demand did was make Chrysalis laugh as she looked down at us. “Aw, how cute. “You want to keep the little pony safe. Well, I have no issue with you, whatever you are, so I’ll let you go, but your friend stays.”

I responded, “No way! Starlight’s my marefriend, and I’ll never leave her!”

Starlight begged, “No, Jake! Just save yourself!”

“No, I won’t leave you around, Starlight!”

Chrysalis looked at Starlight, then back to me. “Well, that’s fine with me. Your love should taste as good as anypony’s.”

I knew it was pointless for me to stay on my own accord, but I couldn’t abandon Starlight just to save myself. And even if I fled, with every powerful pony captured and with a way to make even Discord powerless if he tried to help us, Equestria was doomed to face darker days. It might have been better for me to just be captured now.

Fail to save Equestria