“Spike! Spike!”
Twilight hurried down the hall, glancing all around in search of her assistant. It was nearly impossible to locate someone else in the labyrinthine castle, especially when there were only two residents living in the entire building. Back when they had lived in the library, it had been a much simpler task for Twilight to find Spike. There were only so many places a dragon could hide in a tree.
“Spike! Where are you? We need to review our schedule for today!”
A thud sounded from behind her. Twisting her neck, Twilight saw that an apparently featureless section of wall had slid open, revealing a narrow staircase behind. An anxious dragon hurried down the steps, a roll of parchment and quill in one claw. He paused for breath at the bottom of the stairs before turning around to close the secret passage behind him. Another loud thump came from the wall panel as it slipped back into place.
“Sorry, Twilight," Spike said, sounding a little out of breath. "I tried to get to you as fast as I could. But I took a wrong turn and ended up in the overflow library. One of these days, we really need to make a map of this place.”
“That's ok, Spike.” Twilight started to walk down the hallway, not bothering to look back to see if Spike was following. “Did you bring my schedule? What's first on the list for today?”
Spike waved the parchment he was holding as he trailed after Twilight. “Got it right here. Let's see...” His eyes skimmed the writing before him. “You've got lunch with Torch Song at noon, a report to complete in the morning on relations with Griffonstone, Twilight Time with the Crusaders in the afternoon, two hours for reading books this evening...and then three more hours of reading...and two more...” Spike looked up. “Are you planning on getting any sleep tonight?”
Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Maybe I got a bit carried away when writing that part. Well, I better get to work on that report.” She strode toward one of the castle's many office rooms.
“Oh, wait.” Spike's comment brought Twilight to a halt. “What's this note here? I think it says something about a meeting.” He squinted as he tried to decode Twilight's hastily scribbled note squeezed in at the bottom of the parchment. “Yeah, it says you have a meeting with Mayor Mare at 8 o'clock.”
“What?” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh no, I completely forgot about that! We wanted to discuss the efficiency of Winter Wrap Up and see if there were any changes we wanted to make for next year. I'm going to be to be late!”
“Don't worry, Twilight,” Spike said. “I'm sure she won't mind if you're a couple minutes behind schedule. Let me grab your breakfast, and you can eat it on the way over.”
“No time for that!” Twilight's horn glowed. Then, with a flash of light and a small pop, she vanished. An exasperated dragon was left standing in the empty corridor.
“Or, you can just do that.” Spike's gaze fell to the floor for a moment. “Well, I guess I better clean up the kitchen.”
Twilight appeared in the town square. She immediately galloped up the front steps of the town hall and burst through the entrance. Heedless of the stares she received from surprised ponies in the atrium, Twilight took a left and charged through the doors leading to the mayor's office. She came to an abrupt halt, took a deep breath, and calmly walked toward the center of the room. There stood Mayor Mare, signing documents and conversing with the aides who held them.
“I'm sorry for being late, Mayor Mare,” said Twilight.
The mayor looked over at her in surprise. “Hello, Princess Twilight. I'm sorry, did we have a meeting scheduled?”
Twilight grimaced imperceptibly. “Please, I've told you, just call me Twilight. And if you recall, we had planned to review this year's Winter Wrap Up.”
Mayor Mare gave a quick nod of understanding. “Of course. It slipped my mind for a moment.” She waved away the ponies that surrounded her. “We can finish the paperwork later. I'm sure the princess is very busy and wants this meeting over with quickly so she can return to more important matters.”
“No, it's fine; we can meet another time if you're in the middle of something—”
“Out of the question,” Mayor Mare said firmly. She moved to stand behind her desk. “I would not dream of holding up a princess. Now, what was it you wanted to discuss?”
“Winter Wrap Up,” Twilight replied.
“Right. Is it that time of year already? Do we have everything ready to begin?”
A small frown formed on Twilight's lips. “Um, we wrapped up winter last week. This meeting was to evaluate everypony's performance and come up with ideas to make the process more efficient next year.”
Mayor Mare smiled widely. “Excellent. What suggestions have you come up with?”
Twilight immediately brightened. “I'm glad you asked. With Fluttershy absent this year, many of the animals were less eager to come out of hibernation, and the animal team ended up being considerably behind schedule after spending so long trying to wake them up.”
“So we need to find another pony the animals feel comfortable with.” Mayor Mare paused as she considered this. “Surely some other earth pony shares her close affinity with wildlife.”
“Maybe. But I'm not sure if anypony else has a special talent as closely associated with animals as Fluttershy.”
“Well, I'll ask around and see if I find somepony suitable,” Mayor Mare said. She walked over to her office window and stared out at the town, lost in thought for a few seconds. “What else do you have?”
Twilight thought back through the list she had compiled over the last week. In her haste to make it to the meeting on time, she had left the physical copy back at the castle, but she fortunately could remember almost all of it. “Let's see. I know the weather team was satisfied with Cloud Kicker as the new team leader, so that wasn't an issue. But I did hear some complaints that without Pinkie Pie there to liven things up, the job of scoring lakes felt rather monotonous.”
The mayor continued to contemplate the ponies passing through the town square outside as she responded, “I'm sure the ice cutters can stand a little boredom if it means getting the job done quickly. But it is unfortunate that two of our most capable pegasi are no longer here to help the weather team.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. Only a small sense of melancholy intruded on her thoughts as she pondered the loss to the weather team. “Yes, nopony can work quite as fast as Rainbow Dash, even if others are perhaps more dedicated to their work. And without Pinkie Pie—” Twilight broke off. Something was bothering her.
“Yes, Princess?” Mayor Mare turned away from the window and gave her full attention to Twilight.
“Fluttershy's the pegasus, not Pinkie Pie.” Twilight tilted her head, suddenly uncertain. “Are you feeling alright? You seem a bit confused this morning.”
Mayor Mare took a step backward. “Don't worry about me. Now, did you have any other suggestions for Winter Wrap Up? If you don't, I have a lot of work to get back to, and I'm sure you have plenty of obligations, too. So if you will please excuse me...” The mayor glanced to the side and cleared her throat. Then she abruptly lowered her head and galloped out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her.
Twilight stood blinking in the now unoccupied office. Puzzled, she opened the door with telekinesis and poked her head through. She caught a glimpse of a gray tail at the atrium exit. In a blink, it had vanished as its owner disappeared outside.
“Hey, wait!” Twilight cried. She quickly ran after the mayor. Why was Mayor Mare acting so strangely? Her forgetfulness could perhaps be attributed to stress or busyness, but that did not explain why Mayor Mare would suddenly flee her own office. For that matter, Twilight had never seen the mayor move so fast before. Something must be quite wrong for her to exert herself so.
Twilight reached the patio outside the town hall. She scanned the open space before her, searching for a sign of the panicked mayor. To one side, a couple of unicorns chatted by the fountain. A tired earth pony lounged in the shade of a nearby tree. Another pulled a cart across the square, waving at a pegasus who leaned out a window on the other side of the plaza. Mayor Mare was nowhere to be seen.
Perplexed, Twilight trotted over to the resting earth pony. He leaned against the tree in content idleness, staring absently at the activity of daily life that passed by in front of him. His subdued green coat practically blended in with the bark behind him, though his hourglass cutie mark seemed somewhat at odds with his lethargy.
“Excuse me,” said Twilight. “Did you happen to see Mayor Mare pass by? She came out of the town hall just a minute ago.”
The pony's eyelids fell and rose again in a slow blink. “Sorry, princess. I didn't see her.” He closed his eyes once more, rested his front hooves on his stomach, and settled in for a long nap.
“I'm sorry to disturb you,” Twilight replied. She turned away and took a couple of steps. Then she stopped, thought for a moment, and looked back at the sleeping pony. “You do know your cutie mark is upside down, right?” she asked casually.
One of the pony's eyes snapped open. “What did you say?”
Twilight marched toward the other pony, peering determinedly at his face. She gestured at the symbol on his flank. “Your cutie mark. The sand is falling upward instead of downward.”
The earth pony immediately glanced down, a worried grin frozen on his face.
“Imagine that,” he chuckled. “But I need to get going, so...”
A pair of wings suddenly sprouted from the pony's back. They opened wide and quickly propelled the him skyward. He streaked away at once, shooting off in the direction opposite Twilight.
“Not so fast,” Twilight muttered to herself. Her horn lit up, and a purple light immediately surrounded the fleeing pony. She pulled the struggling pony back toward her and held him so that they were eye to eye. His hooves dangled just above the ground, flailing aimlessly as he tried to find something solid to stand on. Twilight just glared at him.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, the pony lowered his gaze. With a resigned sigh, he let his body go limp. A green light enveloped him, and when it had passed, his dark green coat had disappeared, leaving a shiny, black exoskeleton in its place. Grotesque holes riddled his legs, and a pair of translucent turquoise wings buzzed on his back.
A changeling.
Twilight almost dropped the pony in shock. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Where is Mayor Mare?”
The changeling chittered, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like a scoff. “Please, princess,” it said, “do you really think I'm going to tell you anything?” Twilight suspected that if the changeling had possessed visible pupils, it would be rolling its eyes at her right now.
Twilight remained silent for a while longer, staring at the changeling with dour intensity as her initial surprise faded. Questions tore through her thoughts in rapid succession. Where had this changeling come from? Why had it impersonated Mayor Mare? Was this an isolated event, or had other ponies been replaced as well? Could Equestria be on the verge of another changeling invasion?
Soon Twilight noticed she was no longer alone with the changeling. The unexpected turn of events had attracted a small crowd of spectators. Even as she took in the crowd's presence, a couple more ponies sauntered around the corner of a nearby house, spotted the changeling gripped in Twilight's magic, and hurried over with synchronized gasps. Their exclamations grabbed the attention of even more ponies, and in no time the crowd had grown to include several dozen confused and worried onlookers. Any hope of keeping this changeling infiltration a secret was gone.
The changeling saw the gathered ponies as well. Its peculiarly featureless eyes swept across the crowd, and its mouth lifted in a ferocious smile. Fangs gleamed as the changeling spoke. “I see your fear: you wonder if there are others like me in Ponyville. I will say, I am not the only changeling in here.” With that, the changeling clamped its mouth shut and refused to speak again.
A murmur worked its way through the crowd. Ponies hissed suspicious whispers as they glanced around nervously. Some ponies slowly edged backwards, trying to put some distance between themselves and those around them. One even fell to the ground and hid her eyes with her hooves.
“What do we do, Princess?” came a voice. “Are there really changelings in Ponyville?” All eyes immediately shifted to Twilight, who stood unmoving in the center of the commotion.
Twilight considered the question. What to do, indeed? Certainly she would need to send a letter to the other princesses. But how would they respond? The ponies who had stopped the last changeling invasion were hundreds of miles away to the north, and Twilight's friends were scattered across Equestria. How would they counter against another changeling attack? How would they even determine who to fight?
Twilight shook her head to bring her attention back to the ponies waiting for her answer. She needed to take charge, to reassure everypony that things would be alright. Twilight lifted her head and her voice to address the crowd. “Mayor Mare has been captured by changelings. For now, we must assume that others are present in Ponyville. Stay close to ponies you trust, and avoid being outside alone. Tomorrow we will hold a town meeting to discuss what measures must be taken.”
With that, Twilight pushed through the crowd and raced back toward the castle, using her magic to drag the changeling behind her.