//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Descent // Story: Nature of Change // by PostNinja //------------------------------// Twilight slammed her hoof down on the map table, her mouth set in a hard line. She had thought of modifying the map table’s magic to show where Fluttershy was. The map was connected through all parts of Equestria, so it should work, in theory. Getting the map to activate without her friends being present and with no friendship problem to solve hadn’t been difficult. Changing its function had proved to be more challenging. She had already spent hours trying to get that part to work. Twilight gave a deep sigh and rubbed her eyes, turning again to look at the map of Equestria in front of her. The progress was slow and tedious, but she almost had it now. Unfortunately, making even a single mistake in the lengthy and complicated spell meant starting from a scratch all over again. Twilight hadn’t kept track of time, but by now it was probably dark outside. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had already left. There wasn’t much to do before Rainbow Dash came back with news of some sort. Twilight hoped that nothing had happened to the pegasus. Considering Rainbow Dash’s speed, the cyan pegasus should have been here already. Twilight steeled herself and rose to sit straight again, taking a deep breath. She reminded herself that it wasn’t long now, one or maybe two tries more. She concentrated, connecting with the map table again. Her horn glowed with magic, a tendril of violet energy connecting it with the map. To an outside observer, all that happened was Twilight sitting there with her eyes closed, the magic surrounding her horn and the map table shifting and occasionally changing color. What actually took place was Twilight going through a mind-bogglingly complex formula in her head, step by step. She was trying to add it into the table’s incredibly ancient and even more complicated magic without disturbing it in any way. After a few minutes, she smiled. It was working! After hours of trial and error, she had finally found a working way to modify the map with her spell! Just a bit more and… “Twilight! I’m back!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she entered the room. Twilight’s eyes snapped open. A second later she cursed aloud as her spell went haywire in a flash of light, black spots dancing in her vision. She shook her head in a vain effort to clear it and turned to look at Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway. However, her annoyed retort got stuck in her throat as she saw the pegasus. Rainbow Dash’s mane was disheveled, she had a nasty bruise on her side and her wings missed more than a few feathers. It looked like somepony had driven over her with a cart. Despite all that, Rainbow Dash smiled to Twilight like nothing was wrong. “Fluttershy wasn’t in Smokey Mountains,” Rainbow Dash said as she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Also, a bunch of changelings ambushed me on the way back, that’s why I’m so late.” Twilight blinked. A group of changelings had already attacked Applejack earlier, so this really wasn’t a big surprise. But, it was still bad news. She had still hoped against all odds that what had taken place in Fluttershy’s house wasn’t a precursor to more changeling attacks. She turned her head to look at the map in front of her and wondered if something like this was going elsewhere in Equestria as well. Twilight gulped, clearing her throat as she looked at Rainbow Dash again, trying very hard not to imagine swarms of changelings attacking cities everywhere right at this very moment. “Are you alright?” “Don’t worry about it!” Rainbow Dash said as she waved her hoof nonchalantly and smiled. “I’m way too awesome to lose to a bunch of changelings.” Twilight wanted to believe her friend. But, normally Rainbow Dash’s hooves barely touched the ground, yet now pegasus hadn’t as much as flexed her wings, keeping them folded on her sides. “I’m glad you are alright,” Twilight said, pacing around the table. “But, this is worrying. Changelings are clearly up to something. We still don’t know where Fluttershy is either.” Rainbow Dash nodded, looking more serious now. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to stay here for the night. It could be a good idea that no one leaves Ponyville today. We don’t know what’s out there.” “Of course,” Twilight said, now certain that Rainbow Dash was more shaken by today’s events than she looked, it was rare for the cyan pegasus to err on the side of caution. Besides, it was sensible. There wasn’t much they could do before tomorrow. Rainbow Dash looked at the map table with a puzzled look on her face and gestured towards it with her hoof. “What’s up with that?” Twilight blinked as she remembered in what she had spent the last few hours trying to accomplish. She turned towards the table, making up her mind. There was something she could still do today. If they at least found out where Fluttershy was, they could make a more informed decision about their next course of action. “I was trying to make the map to show me where Fluttershy is,” Twilight said as she lowered her hoof on the map and took a deep breath. “I’m going to try at it again, I almost got it before.” Rainbow Dash’s mouth opened like she was about to say something, but the pegasus ended up staying silent instead with a frown on her face. After a moment of hesitation she smiled and nodded. “Sounds good to me.” Twilight answered with a nod of her own, most of her attention already on the map. She closed her eyes again and concentrated. Rainbow Dash stood silently on the side as the glow of magic returned, enveloping both Twilight’s horn and the table. Twilight methodically worked to the point she had reached before Rainbow Dash’s arrival, gradually adding her spell into the magic of the map. Finally, Twilight released her spell, the tendril of magic from her horn disappearing into the map and fading into it. She opened her eyes and looked at the map, hoping that this would work. At first, nothing happened. Then, the map flickered and Fluttershy’s cutie mark appeared in the air above it, quickly moving across the map until it stopped at its destination. Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise as they saw the location right below it. Or rather, next to it. “Cloudsdale? That can’t be right. How in the world Fluttershy could be there?” Twilight said and frowned, scratching the side of her head. Rainbow Dash looked just as surprised, her mouth hanging open as she stared at the map. Twilight waited for the map to do something else or for Fluttershy’s cutie mark to move further, but nothing happened. She had no idea how Fluttershy could have made it to Cloudsdale if changelings had ponynapped her, but the map was always right. It had been right even when the world itself was twisted with a time travel spell. “She must have managed to escape from the changelings,” Twilight said with a relief before a thought occurred to her and she frowned. “But, why didn’t she come here?” Rainbow Dash finally snapped her mouth shut and quickly turned to look at Twilight with her eyes wide. “I should go there, right now!” Rainbow Dash almost yelled, impatiently tapping her hooves against the floor. Twilight frowned and said, “But, you are injured! We can send somepony el..” “There's no time!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. As she saw Twilight’s frown, the pegasus took a deep breath. “I mean, I’m the fastest. We can’t ask anypony else to fly away in middle of the night when changelings are lurking around,” Rainbow Dash said in a more calm tone. Twilight sighed, she couldn’t argue that point. If changelings were out there, asking for somepony else to risk themselves was out of question. “Alright, just be careful,” Twiligh said and turned to look at the map and Fluttershy’s cutie mark hovering above it. “We don’t know what is going and why Fluttershy went there instead of coming here.” Rainbow Dash nodded and lifted herself up from the ground, quickly flying out of the room without a word. Once the pegasus had left, Twilight sighed again, rubbing the side of her head. Working on that spell for hours had given her a headache. She needed to sleep if she wanted to think clearly. At least Fluttershy wasn’t a prisoner anymore. Twilight knew that she should feel relieved. Instead, she had an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. It felt like she had missed something important just now. Fluttershy’s hooves landed gently on the cloud and she breathed in relief. This was the first time she had felt safe because of the darkness surrounding her instead of being afraid. She had actually done it! She had made her way to Cloudsdale all by herself in middle of the night! A new moon had helped to avoid changelings patrolling the forest, it was so dark you could barely see past your own hooves. Fluttershy put on the cloak again since she no longer needed to fly, turning to look at the buildings in front of her. Most of the city was dark, the only source of light coming from an occasional window. All she needed to do now was to make it to her parent’s house. It felt safer to walk there while wearing the cloak instead of flying without it. The last thing Fluttershy wanted was somepony to hear the buzzing of her wings and look outside their window to see a changeling flying past. Fluttershy took a deep breath and walked forward, keeping her head down. She avoided the main street and instead used the smaller alleyways in between the buildings. It still felt so bizarre. This morning, she had stepped out of the train in Ponyville’s train station. Now, she was sneaking through streets of Cloudsdale like a criminal, her fillyhood home. She felt like some monster from a story, sneaking around in darkness, covering her unsettling appearance with a cloak. All she needed now was some poisoned apples. Wait. What was that? It was something in the air, almost like a smell. It was so sweet and delicious... Fluttershy’s head turned to her left and before she realized it, she had changed her direction, now walking towards a window on the other side of the street. She couldn’t resist it. There was a faint light coming from the other side of the window. Fluttershy carefully glanced inside, trying to stay as out of sight as possible in case somepony was looking outside from the other side. It was a small room, a foal’s room. There was a miniature railroad set on the floor, other toys resting on the shelves. The faint light she had noticed was coming from a small lamp next to a bed. A foal was lying in it. A mare, his mother, was sitting next to the bed and reading from a book to him. A mother reading a storybook for her son. She smiled, gesturing with her hoof to emphasize her words. He laughed, clapping his hooves together. They didn't pay any attention to the window on the opposite side of the room. Fluttershy smiled at the heartwarming sight and turned her head to step away from the window. Or, at least tried to do so. Her hooves refused to move and Fluttershy found herself turning her head back to stare at the two ponies inside. She could feel it. It was so intoxicating that it made her drool. Their love. The innocent love of the foal, radiating a comforting feeling of safety. Pure and untainted by worry or doubt. The even stronger love of his mother. Her love was equally flawless, tempered by hardships and experiences. She knew the pain of losing somepony dear to her. It made her appreciate what she had more than most ponies. Fluttershy’s eyes moved to the bolt on the other side of the glass which kept the window closed. She stared at it. She knew that if she chose to do so, a green glow would envelop it and quietly pull it loose. All she needed to do was to stand there next to the window. She would wait for the mare to leave and for the foal to fall asleep. None of the doors inside the house would be locked. She could feed, and use the love she gained from that to cast a spell to make sure that the parents would sleep for the whole day. Then, she could pretend to be the foal’s mother in the morning. A simple lie would suffice, he was too young and too trusting to doubt anything her mother said to him. Love given freely was several times more potent than one taken by force. That would give her enough love to keep them all under her control. It would take at least until the day after tomorrow before anypony would wonder why none of them had come to school and work. If a worried coworker came to ring the doorbell tomorrow, she could just disguise herself, lure them inside and… Fluttershy felt bile rise up her throat and turned around as fast as she could, trying to run away from the window. All she managed was a clumsy stumble. She felt nauseous, her hooves heavy. She felt pain in the back of her throat and gasped for air. The young changeling queen made to the other end of the street and collapsed against a wall, taking heavy breaths as she fell on the ground. Fluttershy wanted to cry. She wanted to curl into a ball. It had happened again! The hunger had returned, slithering into her thoughts so naturally that she hadn’t even noticed it. It was like she was slowly changing into somepony else. Somepony who wasn't Fluttershy at all. Fluttershy had never felt this alone. Was this how Chrysalis saw the world? Everypony either as a prey or a threat? Despite everything, Fluttershy pitied Chrysalis and all the other changelings even more now. How lonely it had to be to live like this! Changelings fed on love, but never experienced it. How could anypony live like this without going utterly mad? Was that why Chrysalis never stopped talking about the queen’s duty to her subjects and the natural order? Because even she needed to come up with a justification for the way she was? A door opened at the other end of the street. The mare Fluttershy had just spied on was standing in the doorway, peering into the darkness outside like she was searching for something. Fluttershy leaned against the wall for support and hastily pulled herself up. The young changeling queen forced her hooves to move and stumbled into the darkness of a nearby back alley. Her parents. She had to reach her parents. She would be safe there.