Celestia sipped her tea. It was lunch time, or at least she was just sitting down to her meal. She normally ate a couple of hours before now, but her meeting with the zebra envoy had gotten sidetracked.
This meeting was the annually held water negotiation, which had been done for the last six hundred years. Every year, about a month before the Summer Sun Celebration, the zebras would send a delegate to speak with Celestia and ask for aid. The practice had started during the great drought, which hit the already semi-arid region hard, and even the Neighl river was unable to provide the water they needed.
The meetings these days were primarily a tradition, though Celestia would still send aid in the form of rainclouds and a weather team during dryer years. The year so far had actually been very wet, relatively speaking, so the conversation went quickly from work to more of a friendly conversation about each others' cultures, speaking for longer than she had expected. At one point Celestia had even teased the envoy, nearly tricking him into ending a sentence in "labyrinth". Though he took the joke well, he simply hadn't fallen for it.
And so here she was, sitting in the royal garden, enjoying a simple lunch of oats and tea instead of the usual extravagant affair. Lunch was the meal she least looked forward to, as it afforded no opportunity to speak to her sister, who slept at this hour. After a thousand years, a terribly long thousand years, every conversation she had with Luna felt like a blessing. This left her luncheons feeling quite dull in comparison, but it was still nice to enjoy a quiet moment alone. Of course, "alone" was relative, since the ever vigilant solar guard often had a couple ponies acting as her bodyguards, including now.
Celestia placed her cup back down and looked up to see a little spiral of ash and green flame coming towards her. It flew up to her and unraveled, the ashes forming into a sealed scroll.
The princess of the sun smiled. "A letter from Twilight Sparkle" she affirmed to herself. These she always looked forward to. It was a wonderful thing, to see how much her student learned and grew. Scholastically, of course, but especially as a pony.
She unwrapped the message and read. "Dear Princess Celestia, it has come to my attention that the unicorn I have written to you about, Silky Sheets, is in fact a changeling. I do not know what steps you should take, you would know better than I would, but after what happened to Princess Cadance, I implore swift action in this urgent matter. I will be taking steps to ensure that no harm comes to myself, the other Elements of Harmony, or anypony else. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle... oh dear."
This was troubling news, but at the same time Twilight's previous missives had lead her to believe that she considered Silky a friend. Still, she had told Twilight Sparkle to trust her instincts, and in relation to a matter very close to this one, too. Celestia was torn about what to do, but decided to let events play themselves out.
However, in addition to two solar guards, there was one guard who went unseen behind the hedges, hiding in the shadows. A unicorn mare wearing a darker set of blue and black armor. Her pupils were slitted, her irises colored gold. "I should tell Luna," she said, stepping into the shadows and disappearing.
The guard stepped out of the shadows and into Princess Luna's rather underused wardrobe. She opened the door and walked into the alicorn's room. She spoke loudly so she could wake her up and be heard. "Princess, I'm sorry to disturb you but-"
"Oh, give me a moment." Luna yawned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Waking up in the middle of the afternoon was not her idea of a restful day's sleep. "Ugh, four hours of sleep again. This better be important this time," she complained.
The guardsmare nodded. "I was out in the garden-"
"Taking a nap on duty again?" the blue princess interrupted, eyebrow raised.
The guard looked flustered for a moment. "Well, you see, I was just... yes, ma'am."
Luna sighed. At least she was being honest with her. "Continue."
"Anyway, I was out in the garden, and I overheard a letter Princess Celestia received." The guard explained the note in as many details as she could remember.
Luna frowned at this news. "I guess one of them slipped the proverbial net. An exile, perhaps?" she asked, mostly talking to herself. "At any rate, Shadowdancer, I'd like you to go over to Ponyville and keep an eye on this changeling, if you can figure out where she is. When you've got a fix on her location, report back to me. I'll probably be in Ponyville in an hour."
"Oh, uh, right away, Princess" she said, snapping to attention before walking around behind her. She looked for a large shadow, finding a suitable one being cast by a bookcase, and stepped into it, disappearing into it as if she was descending a staircase.
Shadowdancer had a particularly useful magical talent, the ability to travel any distance almost instantaneously so long as she has a shadow to go into and step out of. It wasn't teleportation so much as it was opening a portal, as other ponies, including pegasi and earth ponies, could step in as well as long as she held the spell. It certainly had its limits, she had to have been in the area at least once, and she has to figure out where a shadow would likely be before she could even attempt the spell. This made her a very capable messenger and a fast responder.
There were a great number of places she had been to, using her "quick travel" to go to anywhere she had been previously and go even further. The mare had formerly been a very accomplished explorer and cartographer, having idolized a certain grayscale-haired archaeologist when she was just a filly.
Luna herself got herself ready, hurriedly going through her waking routine. She stood in her room and sighed. "I guess I've got a mess to clean up," she said, teleporting away with a flash.
Luna popped out in the garden, looking about for Celestia. She soon spotted her, and the two were wearing similar looks of concern. She spotted two solar guards, who bowed when she looked at them. "The two of you are dismissed. I wish to speak with my sister in private."
Celestia spoke first. "I take it you've heard, Luna?"
The smaller alicorn nodded. "You've picked up your student's habit of reading aloud, and Shadowdancer overheard you."
"Really? I didn't think I was speaking that loudly," Celestia said abashed.
"It might have been her more than you. With all the dangerous places she's been to, I suspect she's always had an ear to the ground."
Celestia sighed. "So, little sister, what do you think we should do?"
Luna walked over and sat down beside her sister, another soft yawn slipping past her lips. "Well, one lone changeling wouldn't be much of a threat, so we don't need any grand magics to help. Simple imprisonment would suffice, maybe letting her go if we can find some way of magically tagging her so that she won't be able to fool anypony again."
Celestia gave Luna a concerned look. "I don't know. Something isn't right. Twilight Sparkle mentioned finding odd things about this friend of hers, and I suspect they eventually led her to this conclusion, but until now she never suspected her of treachery, or at least never told me such."
"So what do you make of that?"
"I think my faithful student would have found out much sooner if she had malicious intent. She was the only one to suspect Queen Chrysalis when she posed as Cadance."
Luna shook her head. "I have faith in Twilight Sparkle's abilities, but you'll remember what happened with Firefly all those years ago."
Celestia shook her head at the sad memory. "I know. Just promise me you'll look into things first."
The younger alicorn agreed. "I promise, Tia. I've already sent Shadowdancer to keep an eye on 'Silky'; she knows how to keep her head down better than most. I'll take Maria Breeze with me and keep watch over Twilight Sparkle."
Celestia smiled. "You always have liked taking matters into your own hooves."
"Yes, well, we can't all sit in the throne room all the time eating cake with our hooves" Luna teased.
"That was an edited picture of my birthday cake and you know it!" Celestia defended.
Luna smiled, rolling her eyes with a shrug. "Whatever you say, Tia. At any rate, I'll go retrieve Maria. She's probably asleep right now. The sooner I leave the less of a chance of something happening to Twilight."
Shadowdancer watched the barn from a distance, peering through an apple tree. Judging by the sounds coming from inside, there would be nowhere to hide in there.
She had traveled to her home in Detrot to put away her armor and put on a pair of yellow tinted sunglasses in order to ask around for the whereabouts of "Silky Sheets". She had to in order to avoid drawing attention to herself; a lunar guard asking around might give somepony the wrong idea, or worse, alert the pony (or changeling) that she had been tasked to track her down. Without the armor, a Lunar Guard's coat and mane would revert back to normal, as would the wings of a pegasus, but once the armor was donned, one's eyes were forever changed, becoming golden and draconic.
She was directed to the barn, since supposedly a large proportion of the town could be found there. From the sounds coming from inside, it was probably quite a party, but she did not have to wait long. The barn grew unusually quiet for a few moments, and then there was a sudden, loud bang.
A plume of smoke burst out of the left side of the barn, and not a moment later a changeling ran through it. Shadowdancer followed her. The creature was running through the field, and wasn't stopping. She was heading into Everfree Forest.
This would be where most ponies would stop, halting in their tracks for fear of what lurked in such a place, not to mention the forest's eerie unnatural qualities. Few things were worth a trip into its depths.
Shadowdancer, however, had been in far worse places all across Equestria and beyond. It came with the job, both before her recruitment and after. You couldn't be a good explorer or cartographer if you never took any risks or ventured into the unknown. She'd been to the scorched lands of the dragons, through the diamond tunnels, and crossed the mild west. The only things that had ever stopped her were the oceans and her inability to explore in all directions at once. Everfree? Please, that was a walk across the street. There were very few lands where she feared to tread, especially with her ease of escape.
Shadowdancer followed her suspect by using her spell to step silently behind the trees along the changeling's path. At first she was using her pseudo-teleportation every few seconds to keep up with Silky's galloping pace, but the changeling soon slowed to a walking pace, allowing the unicorn to stalk more strategically, placing herself a ways ahead of the changeling each time.
Unfortunately, all teleportation has its risks. After following Silky for an hour, she mistakenly stepped out of the shadow portal and right into a Manticore's den. Startled, she went right back through the poral, but the manticore was alerted to Silky's presence. It attacked her, feeling its territory had been intruded upon.
For a moment, Shadowdancer was going to assist the changeling against orders. This had been her fault, after all, and an angry manticore was a dangerous foe. However, Silky blasted the manticore with an explosive spell, sending it into a nearby tree. The attacker ragdolled, clearly and utterly knocked out. Silky, much to her tail's confusion, stood there for a moment, looking away from the creature as if in shame. It was then that the guard noticed something wrong.
Silky appeared to be crying.
This was the enemy? This was the same creature as those feral, parasitic attackers that she had fought a month ago? The same evil that had tried to take over Equestria, the same ones that tried to have her princess killed? Something wasn't right.
"I'm bored."
"Stakeouts aren't supposed to be fun, Maria," Luna yawned.
"Well why not?!"
Luna and Maria Breeze stood watching Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack from a rooftop, using Maria's invisibility spell to observe totally unnoticed. They were far enough away that they wouldn't be heard. Unfortunately for the hyperactive unicorn, the trio had been staring up at the sky for the entire time.
"Just watching something or somepony is always boring. Don't tell me in your time as a thief you never observed something. The security? The alarms?"
"Well duh, but I did stuff when I did! This one time, I put a whoopee cushion on that Solar Guard captain's chair!"
"Wait, you mean Shining Armor?"
"Yeah, that guy!"
Luna snickered. "I have to admit, I would have loved to have seen the look on his face."
Maria stared at the ponies they were watching. "What are they looking at, anyway? It's totally cloudy!"
Luna thought for a moment, then slapped her head with her hoof. "Oh yes, that's right, Rainbow Dash heads the weather team in this town. They're probably looking for her. Wait here."
Luna went down to the ground and picked up a pebble. To the observer's eye it would look like the stone was floating. She took off and went above the clouds. She looked about and noticed a multicolored streak speeding in her general direction, pushing a grey cloud along with it. She took careful aim and tossed the rock in a way to hopefully bump into the speedster at a relatively low speed.
The rock tapped the mare lightly in the head, a result that Luna knew was more of luck than skill.
"Huh?" the pegasus asked, looking around for whatever had bumped her. It certainly didn't feel like a bug. She stuck her head through a cloud and saw her friends looking around for her.
Luna went back down and observed the results.
It was deathly quiet as Shadowdancer watched and waited. It had occurred to her a while ago that this would be Silky's destination. The changeling was now trudging around in the muck of the swamp where the Lunar Guard had engaged the changelings in a suppression. Even for the explorer, the grime and the stench of the place was revolting. She felt sorry for the earth ponies who had been ordered to use the water as cover. It was dark here, almost completely shadowed by the trees, but with her moon blessed eyes it may as well have been a cloudless day, in a field, at noon.
She waited in the shady leaves of a large tree for few moments, hiding in the shadows until Silky came into sight.
What is she trying to find? Are there changelings that we missed, plotting for revenge?
But the changeling didn't show any signs of such. No others came to greet her. She simply looked up at a tree for a moment and sputtered her wings helplessly. Then she climbed up on a root. She was sobbing the whole time. As long as Shadowdancer had been watching, she hadn't stopped. Now it seemed she was about to cry herself to sleep.
The whole ordeal was not what Shadowdancer had expected. She was about to quick travel to Ponyville when she noticed that the silence had been disturbed by something other than the changeling. Wingbeats, two of them.
"Sergent, I've spotted one!" a voice came from above. The unicorn looked up and saw a duo of griffons.
"You better not be pointing me to a log, Kuper."
"No, sir! Right down there, on that root!"
"I'll be damned, one of them showed up. Looks like it's asleep. Grab it, we'll take it back with us, see what we can get out of it."
Three griffons were more than a match for the unicorn, who could only watch helplessly as they gathered Silky Sheets up. They took off back toward Eagleland, the Griffon Kingdom.
"Sir, this bag's heavy."
"Then get rid of it, Kuper."
"Yes sir" the enlistee replied, slipping the strap over Silk's body and into the dirty water below, snagging on his wing for a second. "Ow!"
"Well be more careful next time! Do you want your wings clipped or something?"
She was about to follow when she noticed another pony zipping into the area at an unfathomable pace. The pony slowed down and started looking around. Shadowdancer recognized her as one of the elements of harmony, Rainbow Dash.
This was bad. On the one hoof, she had to make sure that the element bearer didn't come under attack by any more griffons; they were operating well outside their territory and who knew what they might be capable of. On the other hoof, she had been ordered by Luna herself to get a fix on the changeling's location, which was changing rapidly now.
She decided to keep an eye on Rainbow Dash for now. She could teleport ahead of them and keep an eye out later. They were going to have to enter a wide open area in about ten minutes if they kept on that course at that rate.
Rainbow Dash kept circling about at a modest pace, calling out to Silky, whom she had missed by not a minute. After a few minutes she spotted the saddlebag, which was now utterly ruined by the marsh waters. The pony whispered something and stared out into nowhere for a moment before taking off back towards Ponyville, bag in tow.
I hope I haven't lost them, Shadowdancer thought, quick traveling to the northern edge of the field they would likely cross.
Fluttershy was upset. This was entirely predictable, and Rarity had the unfortunate role of being the bearer of bad news to the flaxen pony. She was much better than she had been at first, having bawled a practical jet of water upon hearing about what had transpired.
"Why didn't she tell us?" she asked, punctuating her question with a sniffle.
Rarity shook her head. "I wouldn't know. Either she really was plotting something, or she was afraid... of us, of how we'd react."
"But why? I wouldn't care if she was a changeling..." she said, looking Rarity in the eyes.
"Really, dear? You wouldn't have treated her any differently at all, the day after they attacked Canterlot?" Rarity asked, quite serious.
"No! Well... maybe a little at first... but I couldn't have left her hurt there even if she was!"
"And what would have happened then? Do you know how to treat a changeling?"
"No," Fluttershy whispered, her ears drooping. She probably would have brought her to the hospital and never seen her again.
Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder. "I think the longer she kept up that disguise, and the more we got to know her, the harder it must have been to show us what she was. Now, I'm not saying things worked out for the best, or the worst, and I'm not saying that Twilight was wrong, or right, but this is how it is."
Fluttershy sniffed. "But still..."
Just then Rainbow Dash landed next to the two of them, seemingly out of nowhere. "Hey," she said disheartenedly, looking at the ground.
Rarity looked at her normally energetic friend with concern. "I take it you've heard, then."
"Yeah, I heard. How could Twilight do that? And AJ, calling her that name!" she said, stamping her hoof, a little of that fire back in her.
"I'm sure Twilight was just doing what she thought was best."
"Well she didn't think hard enough," RD muttered bitterly.
Rarity noticed the swamp-soaked saddlebag Dash was carrying. It was utterly filthy; she was amazed she hadn't noticed it before. "Ugh, where did you get THAT?!" she asked.
Dash put down the saddlebag so that Rarity could see the front. "Changeling Marshes," she answered simply.
Rarity gasped, as did Fluttershy, whose eyes watered at the sight. Though utterly ruined, there was no mistaking this bag. Rarity could recognize her own hoofwork anywhere, and Fluttershy knew that Silky hadn't put it down since she got it except to sleep.
"Is that?" the pink haired pony squeaked, though she knew the answer. Rainbow only nodded.
Rarity switched subjects slightly. "Rainbow Dash, have you any idea how dangerous going there was? The changelings could have-"
"Actually you were right, mom" Dash said, deadpanning on the last word. "That rumor you told me was true. There's nopony there at all. All of the changelings disappeared. They're all gone, completely vanished."
Fluttershy's eyes widened in realization. She remembered something Silky had said, and now knew that it had meant something more, something terrible. "Please don't leave me alone..." she whispered in horror.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash, upon hearing this, had similar reactions, though Rarity recalled something equally terrible. Suddenly Silky's distraught ramblings that evening a fortnight ago made more sense. "Everypony I ever knew is gone where I dare not follow... oh dear Celestia... what in Equestria happened?!"
Shadowdancer had caught a break, managing to catch the griffins passing only about a tenth of a mile off of where she had guessed they would. So long as she could keep slipping from shadow to shadow, she could keep pace with the two. It was taxing, but she could keep pace for quite a while; she had very good endurance.
Shadowdancer kept playing her one sided game of hide and seek for hours. The weather got progressively colder as they worked their way further north, ever deeper into the mountainous land of the griffons. Added to the couple hours she had followed Silky, this left her completely exhausted, but she figured out where Silky was being taken: the capital city of the Griffons, Vigil. Once she figured it out, her mission was accomplished, and she took one last trip to Ponyville to brief the princess.
The sun had set a while ago, and it was a little past midnight. Twilight Sparkle stood outside of Fluttershy's cottage. With her were Fluttershy and Applejack. The elements of harmony had all decided to wait for Silky to return so they could welcome her back and offer their apologies, except for Rainbow Dash who was determined to keep searching. She was stubborn like that sometimes, and she was still mad at Twilight and Applejack. When nighttime rolled around, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had gone back home.
AJ walked up to the violet mare. "It's gettin' late, sugarcube. We ought to head back home"
The element of magic shook her head slightly. "No, you go ahead. I'll wait here a little longer."
"Come on now, worryin' about it won't make her come home any quicker."
Twilight frowned. Home? She lost her home, and I went and drove her out of her new one, she thought guiltily. "I just think I should be here to say I'm sorry when she gets here," she said, putting a hoof on the token of apology.
Applejack sighed. She actually wanted to stay, too, but she needed some sleep. She had apples to buck in the morning. "Well all right. You just be sure to tell her that I'm mighty sorry about what I said. Heat of the moment's no excuse. Goodnight, Twilight"
"Goodnight."
Princess Luna watched as Applejack left the area. Maria's invisibility spell wasn't active anymore, so they simply watched from afar. The hens had taken issue with their choice of location, but a quick application of Luna's sleeping spell had silenced their protests.
"Where is Shadowdancer?" the demigoddess of the night asked rhetorically. Twilight Sparkle was perfectly safe, but the same might not be said for the portal using pony. Even if she didn't know exactly where to look, she should have found the princess by now.
"Why don't we check the park?" Maria suggested. It was a public place, plenty of space, and nopony would look twice at somepony waiting on a bench.
"Alright, let's go."
The two walked the distance to the park. It was a quiet evening, and only one pony had actually noticed the two, looking out his window and rubbing his eyes, undoubtedly wondering if he was seeing things, or just what one of the royal sisters was doing here.
Sure enough, when they arrived, they found Shadowdancer, passed out on a bench.
"Sleeping on the job again, are we?" Luna teased. The mare was always a stone's throw away from her bed, so she had a hard time adjusting to any sort of actual sleep schedule.
The sleeping unicorn groggily replied, "I dunno, are you?"
Maria burst out laughing at the wisecrack that had made it past Shadowdancer's sleep-addled inhibitions. This woke her up and sent her right into apology mode.
"Oh my gosh I am SO sorry, I didn't mean you, we, you, and I-"
"Relax, guardsmare," Luna said, slightly amused by the joke (and more so the apology), "I just want to know where Silky Sheets is, and what took you so long."
"Actually, ma'am, that's kinda why I'm so tired. I found her and followed her to the changeling marsh. Just as I was about to go tell you, a couple of Griffons swooped down. I followed them all the way to within sight of Vigil," she explained nervously. For all her bravery in distant lands, she did have one thing she feared: angry authority figures. Luna sometimes wondered why she had taken her up on the offer to join the Lunar Guard, but she always proved herself capable.
Luna grimmaced. "I can't believe I didn't anticipate this."
Maria looked at her questioningly. "Why not?"
"Because it's completely obvious" she explained. "By removing the changelings, we've taken a weight off of the balance of power. Even though nopony wants that land, it's still neutral territory now that nopony has claim to it. Other world powers have to have taken notice by now; a changeling attack on Canterlot, and then the changelings all disappearing at once? Everypony will be scrambling to figure out what happened, and possibly use the marsh as a forward outpost for dealing with Equestria."
"So, what do we do now?" Shadowdancer asked.
"Now," she replied, "I need you to go get Fletch and come back here. We've got a prison break to orchestrate."
At least I caught my breath.
"Wake up."
Silk was shocked awake by a sudden splash of cold water. Now conscious, she coughed and hacked at the terrible taste in her mouth, but the disgusting emotions she felt were still too strong and she turned to vomit.
The first thing she saw was a griffon with grey feathers holding a now empty bucket in his talons, which he quickly moved in front of the retching changeling. She regurgitated water mostly, but small swirls of a very dark violet could be seen inside it. Black magic.
"Are you ill?" the griffon asked.
Misery and irritation were not mutually exclusive, and being awakened by a bucket of water and then asked a stupid question certainly irritated her. "No, I normally puke like that, it's so much fun," Silk grumbled disparagingly.
This earned a frown. "Well, I apologize for the rude awakening, but you proved unresponsive to other methods. I am Argentis of the High King's air force, changeling, and you are?"
Silk tried to gain a sense of where she was. It was a decent sized room, neither well lit nor pitch black. Torchlight simply provided a dim grey illumination. She'd heard of these torches, some kind of material that Griffons used in them to cause them to burn white instead of orange. From what she could tell from the torchlight, the walls were masonry, and yet the rock had a silvery shine. She looked behind her, and saw that she was bound by the hoof to a metal chair she was sitting on.
"You're in Eagle Hold, if that's what you were wondering," the officer said.
Even in her despair, Silk was figuring out the situation. She now knew that she had been shortsightedly naive. While the most significant, Equestria was not the only power that would take an interest in the last changeling. Since they wouldn't be looking for revenge, they'd probably be after intelligence.
When trapped or cornered like this, changelings normally transformed into whoever they saw. It was instinct, a natural defense mechanism designed to make it harder to harm them, taking advantage of the discouraging feeling hurting themselves that most creatures would have.
Transformation, however, had its limits. The difficulty of transformation went up if one were to change size, and as such a changeling could never transform into, for example, an adult dragon. It was also harder for females to copy males or vice versa. If a creature was too different, transformation into that creature was impossible, and for a changeling to transform into anything but a pony or zebra required months of training.
Copying somepony directly was also less difficult than creating your own disguise. Even if all those factors were perfect, the changelings only moved similarly to ponies; any other creature might notice that something was off when the changeling flew or walked.
As such, despite a powerful urge to try to transform, Silk could not. Even if she was as skilled at the physical transformation as Cocoon was. It wasn't just hard because Argentis was a male griffon, it was impossible; he had wings, and for all intents and purposes, she didn't.
"Tell me, where are-"
Argentis was cut off by the opening of a door. A brown griffon walked in. "Sir, Chief Titania told me to tell you she's on her way and is taking command of the prisoner. She'll be here in ten minutes."
Silk could taste a number of emotions on Argentis, none of them good. Shock, anger, a touch hatred, and a lot of disgust. "Tell her to buzz off, this changeling is under my jurisdiction."
"She said 'he's welcome to try butting heads with me. I'd love it if he tried to go as far as to try and pull rank, I could use a laugh.'"
"Did I say I was using rank? I'm pretty damn sure I said 'jurisdiction', and last I checked, that psychopath only has control in Ironclaw's terrtory."
"Sorry, sir, you'll have to deal with her yourself," the messenger said as he left.
"Damn it," he said with a swipe of his talons, leaving a scratch on the wall. He stood there for a moment, before turning to Silk. "You need to tell me now, before she gets here: where are the rest of the changelings?"
Silk looked down to hide her face, a teardrop falling to the floor. "Gone."
"Gone? Where?" he asked.
Silk could not bring herself to say.
"Holy horseapples it's cold here!" Fletch yelled over the wind. The pegasus stallion shivered in the frigid winds.
"Oops," Luna said, "I forgot about that. Sorry, this should take the edge off of this gale." She cast a quick spell, and the trio of Lunar guards accompanying the princess felt a warming sensation, who gave their thanks to the alicorn.
"I know it's mountainous, but it's just so cold here," Fletch commented. He was used to cold weather, having been on the team well known for giving Chicacolt its chilling winters. Sure, it was no Stalliongrad, but it was cold enough that he was no wimp. This, however, was unnaturally bone-chilling. The griffons must have been hardy folk indeed.
"Yes," Luna said, staring into the clouds, "that's why we left, after all."
Shadowdancer looked to Luna, a bit confused. "What do you mean, 'left'"?
"Oh, nothing, nevermind. Just an old memory," she said with a shrug. Maria Breeze frowned at this. "Now Fletch, I need you to scan the city of Vigil for anywhere secure enough to hold somepony. Take Shadowdancer with you if you can, I'll need a map, since it's been over... well, quite some time since I've been there and the city may have changed a great deal."
"Uh, I'm sorry," he said, scratching his head, "but I don't see a city."
"It's on top of that cloud," the princess and the explorer said in unison, pointing to the cloud Luna had been looking at.
"Wow, 'Owl-eye', how'd you miss a city?" Maria teased.
"To be fair, the cloud covers the buildings completely at this angle," Luna said.
Fletch looked at cloud. It was a great tiered dome that capped a colossal mountain and rose high into the sky. "Well, I guess I'll go take a look."
Silk was lying down awkwardly on the chair, trying to fall asleep. She felt dizzy and lightheaded, and was having some trouble breathing as deeply as she would need to to be comfortable, her breath shortened. She was miserable and soul-crushingly lonely, and now imprisoned in a room too bleach to be cheerful, and too bright to be restful. All she wanted to do was sleep so she could ignore the pain for a while... just a little while.
And yet her efforts were in vain. The seat was not large enough to lie down in, and the irons clapped to her back hooves, while providing enough leash of chain to allow some freedom of movement, were still cold and unyielding. She had the benefit that her shell allowed her to ignore the deceptively painful chafing that the irons gave most creatures. She didn't know when her captors would return, and she didn't really care
The door opened and a griffon walked in. Their feathers were almost always a shade of gold, brown, or silver, and this one was silver. Silk's eyes were closed, trying to ignore whatever was going to happen.
"I take it you heard Chief Master Sergeant Titania was coming? That's me. Well sorry to say, I'm not going to be as polite as that half-wit," she said plainly. "So, why aren't you transforming? Every single changeling I've had the pleasure of 'interrogating' copied me instantly. Sure, none of them could hardly capture my grace, but then who could?" She had only ever captured two changelings that specialized in Griffons, and as such was unaware that her species was beyond the capability of most to copy or mimic.
At first she seemed to be putting up a front, but then Silk got a taste of glee. From an interrogator. Silk sat up, not liking the implications of that.
"Oh," the female continued. "I see. Those pathetic, frail little wings of yours are gone. All of that mighty armor, and your wings can be rent asunder with such ease," she said, walking up to her. "Still, there are other ways of getting to the good stuff without those sorry sheets of rice paper you call 'wings', and unless you want me to show you some, you're going to tell me exactly where I can find them."
"They're gone" Silk repeated.
"Don't lie to me!" Titania snapped. "After that attack on Equestria, you all suddenly disappeared. Every single one of you. All resistance in your disgusting little swamp hit zero, leaving the way to and from Equestria wide open. Neither hide nor hair of your wretched kind was seen for a month, and now you just show up out of the blue. Now, you're going to tell me where your people are, how I can find them, and what they're planning."
"Go to hell..." Silk muttered. Titania struck her in the face with an outstretched claw.
Silk tried to fire a blast of magic, but it didn't work. "Sorry, insect, but this room blocks all offensive spells. Standard equipment, we can't just have prisoners doing what they want. That shackle there also prevents teleportation, but that's a unicorn thing now isn't it?" she rhetorically asked, striking the changeling again. "Tell me what you know!"
Silk wasn't in pain, but she felt trapped and in danger. The urge to copy the threat was overwhelming, even though she couldn't. The Griffon laughed and struck repeatedly, until the instincts to transform overwhelmed Silk's inability to do so.
Silk's horn glowed, and she was covered in magical flames, but the fire could not allow her to grow wings where she had none. Instead of a flash of flame, the fire lingered, swirling and billowing around her. Silk's horn burned like hellfire, being forced to try to cast an impossible spell, causing her incredible pain. The grey room glowed a bright green as Silk yelled in pain, before gritting her teeth to try to endure it. The flames were not hot, quite fortunately for her.
"There it is," Titania said, reveling in her handiwork, "an Achilles' heel. For all the power magic grants, it's like carrying a loaded crossbow, and if you can't aim it, you'll just shoot yourself in the claw. Or hoof, in your case."
Silk's grunting suddenly stopped. The sound of the crackling magical fire engulfing her was the only thing that could be heard. Then, the flames began to die down. Silk started giggling, losing her sanity temporarily.
"I told you, go to hell! Right down to Tartarus! That's where all the monsters go!"
"You're saying they're dead?!"
"Nope, not dead I don't think, or at least that's what the moon said... just in Tartarus! I guess you really don't piss off the moon, huh? We really had it coming! Did you see those green flames? It was totally like that! I must going there too! Ooh, I know! You could come with me! You'd like Scarab, he's a sadistic ex-exile! Isn't that funny? I love that word. Ex-ex-ile, ex-ex-ile, ex-ex-ile! Oh wait, somepony might miss you. That's okay, though, nopony will miss me! I'm a monster after all! But... but..."
Silk's manic expression wilted over the course of a few seconds, becoming woeful as she got control of herself. Her vision blurred "... but I don't... want... to be..." she said, passing out from the exertion and her weakening heart.
Titania glared. "Tch..."
"So what was this structure?" Shadowdancer asked, having made a very accurate map of the city in the snow. She couldn't see the details, though.
"That was probably just a large aviary. I could see a nest through a window," Fletch answered. Even from miles away, his vision was obscene.
"Alright. Anyway, that's the layout, princess," Shadowdancer answered.
Fletch looked at the layout, it seemed very familiar. "It kind of looks like Canterlot."
"Well yes, that was Tia's grand plan, after all. Personally, I thought it was a bad idea, but she had been very insistent on that," Luna said offhoofedly.
"Okay, now she's not even being cryptic, she's just not explaining anything," Maria muttered.
Luna thought for a moment. "You can go home now, Fletch. Shadowdancer, you wait here at the extraction point . I'll infiltrate the city alone under Maria's invisibility spell. This is an extraction mission, classified even to the rest of the Lunar Guard. If Midnight Cloak has a problem with that, you can tell him to talk to me."
The guards gave their confirmations that they understood their orders. Maria cast her spell as Fletch moved back through Shadowdancer's portal, following her as she made her round-trip. Luna took off, soaring through the cold night sky.
Rainbow Dash streaked across the night sky. The colorful trail she left behind was muted somewhat by the softer light of the moon.
"Darn it, why does night time have to make it so hard to see?" she asked herself. The pegasus was checking all over the place, even daring to make some passes over the Everfree Forest.
Still, she refused to give up the search. The others could just sit around and wait if they wanted, but she would not, could not just stop looking while Silky could be in danger. She was tired, but was determined to sleep could sleep when she knew Silky was safe, and not an instant before.
Luna flew a couple of miles to get to the city, teleportation would draw too much attention, as well as break Maria's invisibility spell. She knew where to go to most likely find Silky Sheets. The first stop was the stockade of the castle of the High King, Eagle Hold.
Luna spotted the entrance, guarded by two griffons. Foal's play. She simply flew down and hovered a few inches from the ground, flying into the castle unhindered and taking the first path down she could find.
The castle in the clouds was oddly intuitive in its design. Bars of white metal lined the walls like brick, held together by mortar and illuminated by bright white torchlight, which caused the castle to shine like a mirror. There would be no shadows to hide in here. That meant no magic, and no coming into contact with any griffons. If she touched anypony, the invisibility spell would make her shimmer brightly for several seconds. If she cast a spell of her own of any kind, the spell would instantly break.
The doors were open, and yet these torches carried a mundance form of magic, similar to chemistry and the potions and herbs used by zebra herbalists. A certain compound added for the flames to burn, giving it a magical shield against the elements and a bright white glow.
It might take some time, but aside from Celestia's stifling white box, every dungeon or interrogation room Luna had ever seen was underground. That was metaphoric in this case, since the castle was built into a lenticular cloud. All she had to do was keep looking for ways down, and doubling back if she got turned around. She still had to avoid the patrols and sentries that dotted the halls, but Griffon hearing was relatively poor. So long as she didn't land, they wouldn't hear her. If she did, they would pick up on the characteristic sound of hoofsteps, but a hovering wingbeat was for all intents and purposes completely silent. She was like a ghost, a draft running through the halls.
She turned a corner and heard an argument.
The first voice was feminine. "I'm amazed that you think you can stop me, Argentis."
"Then you're easily impressed. General Quicksilver's the one in charge here, and this part of the facility is under my authority. I don't know what General Mercuria sees in you, but here in the capital, we conduct ourselves with honor." The second voice was stern, and belonged to a male.
"Yes yes, honor this, honor that. What a pointless concept. 'Honor' only benefits the enemy. Now if you'll recall, it was my soldiers who brought this little plaything here."
It might be her Luna thought.
"Well then it was your mistake to bring her here to kiss up to the High King, because I'm not letting your sadistic ass anywhere near her, Titania."
"Oh, a wonderful boast, really. Shame it's nonsense. Your own traditions dictate that if an enemy is captured, then it falls to the captors to interrogate it. Now, pardon me."
Luna began to follow, but once Titania moved into the room behind her, the princess met with any invisible infiltrator's arch enemy: the closed door. Titania had shut the door behind her, and the door hit Luna in the horn, causing it to spark with an unintended bit of magic. Luna realized what this would mean.
Horseapples.
Luna looked behind her quickly. There was only one griffon in the room, and it seemed he was still caught off guard at the sudden appearance of a slightly larger than average pony with wings and a horn, seemingly popping up out of nowhere.
"What the-"
"Too slow" she said, casting a spell around the room. The walls and doors shimmered with a soft golden yellow, the glow clashing with the already mirrorlike walls and pearly flames.
"INTRUDER!" Argetntis yelled, no longer caught flatfooted. He shifted to an offensive stance, about to lunge at the alicorn.
"Oh don't bother," Luna said, levitating him with her magic, "that's one of my sister's spells. This room is now completely soundproof, no sound can get in or out. I could cast a concussive spell and the walls would absorb the report. She uses it for private discussions, but I improvised just now."
The griffon was struggling against her telekinesis, but his efforts were fruitless. Against a typical unicorn he would have been able to easily break free, but against anypony with a knack for magic (or telekinesis itself), he didn't stand a chance.
"Let me go!"
Luna walked over to a nearby desk and pulled out the chair. The seat was made of straw, grass, and twigs.
"Typical, really," she sighed. "Now then, I suppose that since I've got you here, I'll ask you a few questions." Argentis only glared. "First off, do you recognize me?" she asked. Her cover was probably blown, but this question was important to figure out how she was going to deal with him.
"You're pretty arrogant, huh? That's a heck of an assumption to make." he answered. He, like much of the world, had forgotten her existence. He had heard Equestria's military strength had increased in the last couple years because of the return of one of the pony 'goddesses', but he didn't recognize her on sight. To him, she was just an enigma.
Princess Luna had mixed feeling about this answer, which seemed to be truthful. On the bright side, he didn't recognize her as the infamous Nightmare Moon, but on the down side, this was yet another sign that the world had forgotten about her existence. Still, that meant she still had a slim chance of getting Silky Sheets out of here with nopony being any the wiser. "I'll take that as a no. Second question, I overheard you mentioning a prisoner. By any chance was this a changeling?"
Argentis was surprised, though he supposed he shouldn't have been. "Why?"
"Answer the question, please. I'm sure you realize the position you're in."
The silver griffon deadpanned. "The irony of this situation is not lost on me, I assure you. Yes, she's behind that door that smacked you in the face. At least I think it's a she, the voice was high."
Luna sighed in relief. "Well consider this an off the books prison transfer, and consider her under the protection of Equestria after your unlawful invasion of changeling territory." Luna knew she bordered on hypocrisy here, having invaded said territory herself during a war. Still, having been attacked first, and being co-regent of the defending nation, her counterattack was perfectly legal.
Unfortunately for Luna, while he might have been slightly below average in intelligence, Argentis wasn't stupid. A larger than usual blue pony with a horn and wings, whose hair flowed as if in the wind, who suddenly made a declaration for Equestria itself? That could only mean one thing. "Wait a second, you're that pony princess, you're Nightmare Moon!" he said, a growing fear running up his spine. All sentient, sapient creatures who could dream knew of Nightmare Moon, the cruel, dark being who delivered stark horrors to the sleeping. "You're not taking that changeling anywhere if I have anything to say about it!"
The alicorn was frowning. "I suppose I pressed my luck with that statement. A few things. First off, I'm not Nightmare Moon, that is who I used to be. Second, you don't have anything to say about it, lest you have forgotten. Third, I assure that I shall not harm her without fair observation, and even then only what is just and necessary. Her supposed behavior has been erratic."
"You don't want to harm her, even after the changelings attacked your city?" he asked, staring the pony princess in the eye.
"No, justice has already been met." Luna had mixed feelings about the whole nasty affair, but there was no hesitation in her reply.
"Then you'll want to bust that door down, a minute ago. That Chief in there is a savage, who knows what she's doing to the prisoner! I was going to inform the general when you popped out of nowhere. If you- WAH!"
Luna dropped the griffon unceremoniously and magically flung the door open just in time to see "Silky Sheets" slump over unconscious, with the griffon that had been called Titania standing not far from her.
A small trail of ebon smoke could still be seen emanating from the changeling's horn, evidence of a magical rebound or misfire. While harmless in the long term, Luna knew firsthoof, from a spar with Celestia gone awry, that this was an excruciatingly painful injury that lasted for about an hour. Any shouts that such an injury would have elicited would have been drowned out by the alicorn's own spell. What's more, such things very rarely occurred by mistake. Even newborn foals having the ability to cast stable (if random) spells. This wasn't an accident.
It was torture.
The griffon spoke, apparently unaware of the moon goddess' presence. "Tch... figures the first one I find is barking mad. I'll have to put the screws to this one. Or the nails, either one could get through that shell with a hammer."
Magical darkness fell upon her, snuffing out the torches as it was cast. In the next instant the wind was knocked out of her, something striking her hard in the side of the chest. "Ugh... okay, I've been polite, but if you're really resorting to something as petty putting out torches, you've officially gone from your typical zealot to an irritation. For assaulting an officer, I'm going to make your life a living hell."
"Oh? How amusing, I was about to say something along those lines to you," Luna said. Luna cast an illusion spell on herself in the darkness. "It's almost a pity, after a thousand years your prisons still only block telekinesis and overtly offensive spells. That's not much defense against me," she said. Luna could see the Titania quite clearly, but all Titania could see was a pair of very dark cerulean eyes with black slits for pupils. She had seen them once before, several years ago: in her worst nightmare.
"Y-you're-" Titania stammered.
Luna kept up her half-bluff. "Nightmare Moon? Correct, more or less. So tell me, if I could deliver powerful nightmares whilst upon the moon, what do you suppose could I do now that I'm in the very same room as you?"
"I don't know" the middle aged griffon replied, a number of horrifying possibilities dancing in her head.
"How about this, then? I shall take your prisoner, you shall retire immediately, and you shall never speak a word of this to anypony. Or any creature, if you take the common pronouns literally. In exchange, I shall let you keep your mind, and shall not mete out your well earned punishment."
Titania gulped. "That's very generous of you," she said.
Luna glared angrily at the interrogator. "The key," she demanded. She was immediately handed the key, which Luna used to unlock the shackle. Without the bonds to hold her in place, Silk fell limply to the floor.
"Leave, and know that nowhere in the world is safe from my gaze, and that you have to sleep sometime."
"O-okay, I'll-"
"BEGONE!" Luna snapped in the Royal Canterlot Voice. She would have punctuated with a lightning bolt, but the antimagic room blocked it. Titania bolted away into the silenced room, leaving Luna alone with the sleeping Silky Sheets. With Titania out of the room, Luna dropped the act. "I might have overdone that one... oh well, she might have deserved it as well."
She sighed, undoing her illusion. She felt dirty whenever she performed that particular illusion spell, but it was useful as a boon to her intimidation, and after a thousand year long mental struggle with her, she knew exactly how the nightmare thought.
"Just what am I going to do with you?" she asked, more to herself than the slumbering shape shifter. She looked at the changeling closely. "As far as I know, you alone remained here after that day. Twilight Sparkle was suspicious of your queen right away, while it took her a month to discover you, even the day after the incident. Why are you such an aberration?"
She studied the changeling for a few moments. Something wasn't right about her, but she couldn't place what. Then she noticed that it wasn't something that she had, it was something that she didn't have.
That dark magic, that malevolent presence, it's gone. She double checked. Sure enough, there was no shadow behind her, and the only dark magic the starry maned pony could sense seemed to be choking her.
"This isn't right. The changelings have shown tangible evil without exception for two and a half millennia. What are you?" Luna asked, thinking of some scenarios.
She could be a time traveler, but so far only three ponies had ever been known to have truly mastered that nigh-forbidden school of magic, and changelings could not even cast moderate level magics. She could be a throwback to the ancient changelings, born or hatched (Luna had no idea which) as the changelings were so very many years ago. But the timing didn't make sense, why now? It was far too much of a coincidence. She tried to puzzle this out quickly.
Oh no... no no no no, that can't be. The changelings all showed malignity when I sealed them. The queen's evil was even stronger than theirs, but I know for a fact that when I sealed them they were protesting in my mind with a terrible darkness... a disturbingly familiar darkness.
She'd think about this later. When she wasn't trespassing in the capital building of a foreign nation. She looked at the changeling sleeping, and could tell that she was having nightmares. Luna cast an ancient spell of her own design.
"Sleep for now, poor thing, and may your dreams no longer haunt you this night. If I'm right, it's the least I can do... to help undo a small piece of the damage I have done. If I'm wrong... your fate won't be much better than it would be here."
The last changeling's sobs slowed down and eventually quieted. Silk would not wake up for a while; such was the nature of the spell. Luna slung her onto her back and returned to the room where Argentis was getting back on his paws and talons. "What did you do?" he asked. His head was spinning from landing skull-first on the floor, but he was pretty sure that he had seen Titania run out screaming, which was utterly unlike her.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Probably not. So, what is it you're going to do with me?" he asked, ready to accept whatever fate awaited him. He was a witness, and judging by the normally cold, manipulative Titania's reaction, that wasn't a good thing to be.
"I'm not certain," Luna replied, "that barbarian will likely retire, if I pulled off what I think I pulled off, and I doubt she'll breathe a word to anypony. It's a bit of a quandary, but I'm guessing she was hit particularly hard by the nightmare some time ago, and I opened up some old wounds. But you, on the other hoof?" Luna paused. "I cannot simply harm you for doing your job, but I'd much prefer this doesn't become a scandal. Far too much paperwork," she joked. The griffon didn't break a smile, though it was hard to tell on a beak.
Stupid beaks, I can never read them.
"... if I were to let you go, what story would you tell to your superiors?"
Argentis wanted to spit in disgust at this entire situation. "I dislike lying, it's dishonorable, but... if I know that sadist, she's brought greater shame on Eagle Hold. I'll inform them of her... behavior, as usual, and tell them that the changeling escaped as I stopped her madness. That's if she doesn't say anything." If things got too far out of talon, knowledge of this incident could cost lives. Even if he would be found out, a lie would be preferable.
Luna nodded. The Griffons had always put honor above anything else. Even with their usual distaste for ponies in general, they maintained a high standard of integrity. "Very well. I'll be leaving now."
Luna disappeared in a flash of light, teleporting most of the way back to the extraction point. Argentis sighed. "By the spirits, what a mess. And here this day started out so routine."
"For Celestia's sake, where is she?" Rainbow Dash said in frustration. She was skimming the Everfree border in her search now. If she came back towards Ponyville, she's pass through there. Dash was tired. It was very late and she had been flying for hours, but still she didn't stop.
A sudden flash of light blinded her for a split second. She turned around to see a shooting star streaking behind her, seemingly landing in the distance, but there was no boom from an impact. Dash took off to find the source. When she arrived, she saw a black lump lying on the ground. A changeling. The pegasus approached quickly but cautiously until she saw that she had broken wings, just like Pinkie had said. It was her.
Dash practically ran into her, grabbing the changeling and shaking her. "Silky! Where'd you go, you had me TOTALLY freaking out! Silky? Wake up!" she yelled. A moment of panic struck her, fearing the worst, but the changeling was breathing. "Ugh, either shaking doesn't wake up changelings or she's completely out of it." She was too distracted to even wonder where the flare had come from.
Just then, Silk stirred.
"Or she's just slow. Wake up already!"
The first thing Silk saw when she opened her eyes was a face inches from her own. "WAH!" she yelped, bucking in startle. Rainbow Dash was sent bouncing across the ground.
Rainbow Dash's eyes were spinning. "Ugh, was it something I said?"
Silk rapidly snapped her head in multiple directions, her scenery having changed once again while asleep. She wasn't in some drab dungeon, but if that had been a dream, wouldn't she be waking up in the swamp? She seemed to be just outside of Everfree, not that far from Fluttershy's cottage. It might be possible that they would have released her after having gotten nothing out of her, though she was having a hard time remembering exactly what she said. The only memory that was clear was a massive hornache.
Silk then saw it was Rainbow Dash that she had knocked over. Her first thought was that she was worried that she had hurt the pegasus. Her second thought, however, was that she had to get out of there. Silk started cantering to the treeline when a flash of light popped out in front of her, a purple unicorn appearing out of thin air. Twilight Sparkle.
Silk hit the breaks and skidded to a stop. Oh, what's the use she despaired, sitting on her haunches. A magically gifted unicorn that could teleport? A pegasus that was unbelievably quick even by pony standards? Even if she could somehow elude them, a slim chance at best, she had nowhere to go. Getting captured in her old home had proved that. The world was out to get her, literally. She sighed in defeat and cast her transformation spell to resume her previous guise, though she did not think it would help. Her horn stung a bit as she cast the spell, still sore from overloading previously.
Twilight turned and saw Silk sitting down and transforming back into her unicorn form. It was still a bit off-putting to her, but she was relieved to see her alright. "There you are, you-"
"Oh no you don't!" Dash interrupted. In a blur of motion she picked herself up, flew inbetween Silk and Twilight, and landed facing the pony. She struck a pose eerily similar to an angry wolf, growling a warning not to come any closer.
Twilight was taken aback a bit. "I..." she started. This was going to be one really awkward appology. "I know I messed up, and... I'm sorry. I hypothesized all sorts of worst case scenarios and... I thought I was protecting my friends, but all I did was hurt one of them... and jeopardize my friendship with all of them." Twilight looked down, shuffling her hooves guiltily.
Rainbow Dash huffed out one indignant breath. "For the record, I forgive you," she said, shifting into a more normal posture, "but it's not me you should be apologizing to." She flapped her wings and hovered over to the side, still watching her friend carefully.
Twilight took a few steps towards Silk, who was looking down and crying. Clearly her feelings were hurt, but the element of magic was unsure of what to do. She glanced over at Dash, hoping for some kind of prompt, but the pegasus only shook her head and pointed a hoof at the ponified changeling. "Um, silky? Are you okay?"
"No... I'm not. I... I trusted you. I can't believe that I trusted you... if you're going to kill me, just do it already."
"What?!" Twilight said in shock. "Why would I-"
"You hate me," Silk interrupted. "Everypony hates me."
"I don't hate-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Silk snapped, "I could taste the hatred! If you ponies were dragons, you would've started breathing fire!"
"You're... you're an empath?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash was confused. "A what now?"
"It means she can sense others' emotions."
"It's not just me," Silk said, "all changelings taste emotions... oh, then again, I guess that IS just me."
That explains why she kept beating me at cards Dash thought.
Twilight decided not to touch that particular tangent at the moment. "I... I'm sorry. I thought you might be a spy sent by Queen Chrysalis to get close to us. I wasn't thinking... I'm sorry."
Silk grumbled. "Well you don't have to worry about that anymore. That, that traitor is gone, just like the rest of them. I'm the only one left."
"Yeah... I heard." Twilight didn't know the details, but from what Rarity told her, Dash had confirmed the rumor.
"Do you know what it's like," Silk growled, "to lose everything, everything, in just one day?! Everything you ever were, everypony you ever met, everywhere you called home!? Don't bother, of course you don't!" Silk's anger broke, her voice beginning to waver. "I lost it all. I tried to make the most of it. I tried to find a new home, a new identity, a new life, but you... you took that away from me too."
"... you're right," Twilight answered.
Rainbow Dash was startled. That definitely didn't sound like an appology. "What?!"
"You're right. I don't know what that's like. I don't think anypony could ever know what that's like, and I nearly did take your new life away from you... but I didn't. Your home with us is still here, waiting for you."
Silk scoffed. "Some home, living in a place where everypony hates me? I'd rather live full time in the marsh."
"Silky, if you're empathic, then tell me: do you sense any hate?"
Silk blinked. No, she couldn't. She stuck her tongue out a little bit. There was guilt, sorrow, concern, some mild annoyance and frustration, and definitely some uneasiness, but the anger and hatred that had been there that afternoon was gone. "I... I don't understand."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Jeeze, I'm not sure which of you is the bigger bonehead!"
"What?" Silk and Twilight chimed in simultaneously.
"Don't you get it?" Dash asked. "Real friends stick by each other, no matter what. You don't hold grudges, or hate them because of how they look. You forgive them... even when they hurt you. You do it because they're your friends. I'm not going to not forgive Twilight because of some really stupid stunt she pulled. I'm also not going to hold a grudge just because of that little scrap last month."
Twilight Sparkle grimmaced at the double negative.
"And we're not going to abandon you just because you're a changeling. Are we, Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, we're not."
Silk couldn't process this. "But... that rage."
"Like I said, I wasn't thinking. I know I hurt you, in a lot more ways than one... can you forgive me?" she asked sincerely.
Silk sat there for a moment. Twilight's emotions matched up with what she was saying. "I... yes. That's what friends do, right?" Though still fraught with the demons of her past, Silk found hope in a brightening present. She had not truly left the death spiral, but this hope granted a stay of execution. At this rate, it would be a few weeks before she hit the bottom.
Rainbow Dash grinned. "There you go! I was starting to think I'd have to bash you over the head in order to get this into your thick skulls!"
"So," Twilight asked, "could I ask a few questions?"
Silk rolled her eyes. "You will anyway."
Am I really that predictable? Twilight thought. "Okay then. What's your real name?"
Silk gave a wry smile. "Not as different as you'd think. It's Silk."
"Well that makes sense," Twilight remarked. In hindsight, that was kind of obvious.
"Um, you can call me Silky if you like." Silk added. That name had grown on her.
"Okay, Silky Sheets."
"Drop the 'Sheets'." That one hadn't.
"Oh. Well... second question, what was the cause of that starfall phenomenon?"
"What are you talking about?"
Twilight began her habit of explaining things. "A phenominon is a-"
"I know what that means, I was a dracologist!"
"I'll take that as a 'no idea' then." She'd be sure to ask for more details on dracology later. Silk might know a lot more about dragons than anypony but a dragon did. "The next one might be a bit hard... what happened to your wings."
Silk sighed. "I was wounded in Canterlot. I didn't lie about that part."
"Do they grow back?"
Silk sighed again. "Yes, but it takes years."
Dash was struck particularly hard by that revelation. No flying for years? She'd nearly gone nuts after a week!
Twilight felt sorry for Silk as well. "Last question... what happened to the rest of the changelings? How do you now they're all... gone?"
"Out of order? What you might call telepathy... and I don't want to talk about it."
Twilight nodded grimly. She couldn't expect anypony to talk about something like that when they weren't ready, and she couldn't expect somepony ever to be ready. "Well, let's get you home. Fluttershy's been worried sick. Oh, and that reminds me," Twilight said, pulling something out of her saddlebag with telekinesis and floating it over to the changeling.
Silk took the object telekinetically, but winced as the stinging in her horn came back a bit, nearly dropping it. It was an old book. "'The Mare in the Moon'?"
Twilight nodded. "That's the book that brought the six of us together. Even though you're not one of us, I'd like you to have it, as a token of our friendship."
Silk had mixed feelings about this. She still didn't know that Twilight was referring to being element bearers, and assumed she meant that she wasn't a pony. The gesture was touching, but the subject of the story caused her a great deal of suffering. She was a fairly good actress, though, and it was the thought that counted. "Thank you. But... what about the town's ponies?"
The purple pony smiled. "Oh, I'm sure Pinkie's got that covered, and you're welcome. Now, let's get going."
Luna watched from nearby as the trio moved away. "Rainbow Dash. She was still looking for her friend. Probably since you saw her in the marsh, Shadowdancer. Element of Loyalty, indeed."
"So after all that, all we did was bring her back?", Maria asked.
"Yes. She'll be safe here."
"Well, if you say so, Luna. I think you might've overdone that spell, though."
"I cast it for a reason. If she had woken up and seen us, it would've been quite contrary to the objective. Not only did it make it very hard to wake her up, but I also eased her slumber. She won't have any nightmares for a day or two, though her dreams won't necessarily be good so much as neutral. It's also very handy as a medical anesthetic."
"Too much information, Luna."
"Too informal, Maria, and it was relevant. Silk was forced into a magical backlash and would have been in severe pain if she was woken up before I ended it."
"Oh, ow! Sorry," Maria said sheepishly. She viewed Luna a friend first, a princess second, and a boss as a distant third, and was usually very casual as a result. Luna was fine with this for the most part, since she was never truly insubordinate, but sometimes Maria had to be reminded who Luna was.
On the other hoof was Shadowdancer, whose borderline paranoia of upsetting her resulted in her interactions being a little bit too formal. "If you don't mind me asking, ma'am, what was the objective?"
"Truthfully? I still don't know... but whatever happens, 'Silky Sheets' and I will have to talk. When I'm ready. When she's ready. In the meantime, I'd like you to continue to shadow her closely, just to be sure." Luna looked Shadowdancer in the eye, "If she makes a single unprompted aggressive action... if she puts one hoof out of line... if you notice anypony that seems abnormally sluggish around her... you are to make sure she can never harm anypony again, by any means necessary."
Shadowdancer gulped. "Lethal force?"
"If you have to," Luna said coldly. "Now I have some... research to do. I'd appreciate a portal back to my chambers."