Oval and me lay huddled up between our bags in the undergrowth of some bushes planted next to Canterlot's train station while we listened to the sound of armed guards walking to and fro on the platform so close to us we could easily touch it with a hoof from our current position.
My heart was racing in my throat from fear of getting discovered, and I had buried myself in against my Changeling sister for comfort. Oval held on to me for much the same reason, I suspected, but we were as quiet as we could be so as not to draw attention to ourselves.
The train was emptied, checked by the Royal Guard, and then turned around for the return trip. After the passengers had boarded, it quickly sped past us to disappear into the tunnel in which that strange magic spell had been placed. It picked up speed far too quickly for us to hop on board, Oval shaking her head at me as I motioned at it.
Not half an hour passed before the next train pulled past us into the station, and the events repeated; passengers and cargo were checked by the Royal Guards, the train was turned about, and new passengers were let on before it pulled out of the station again.
And all the while we were huddled up like grey stones in the plants we had rolled into, not seeing a way out until the business would slow down.
I could not stifle a yawn, and Oval gave a nod to me as if to suggest I should try to get some sleep considering how tired I had been on the train. "I'll keep an eye out," she whispered at me. "You're going to need all the energy you can get once night falls."
Even through the fear and the noise, I managed to fall into a restless slumber against my sibling, too tired to fight it. When I woke up again, it was to the lighting of lamps on the street a few steps beyond the bushes as twilight settled over the land.
Oval's blue bug eyes moved slightly as she caught me stirring, and I knew they settled upon me even if we had no pupils to indicate such. She quickly shook her head as I opened my mouth to speak, and I closed it slowly while looking around. From what I could see past her insectoid body, there were quite a few ponies out on the street, and I caught a pegasus flying over to a nearby lamppost with a lit wick to set the lamp alight.
If we remained still, we could be mistaken for just a couple of rocks placed in amidst the plants, I expected, and few ponies who glanced our way by accident repeated the act. It slowly but surely settled my immediate fears of being noticed and captured by them, and I noticed Oval's breathing was far calmer than it had been shortly after we crashed into our current position.
A few hooffalls up above us drew my attention to the station platform just in time to see a halberd swing through the air as the guard holding it turned away from us. His armoured hooves made slow but deliberate steps away from the edge of the platform, and Oval finally let out a sigh I had not been aware she was holding.
"That guard had been standing there for way too long," she whispered at me.
"I didn't even notice them until they moved just now," I whispered back.
"That's why I shook my head earlier; he would have heard us. What was it you wanted to say, Pearl?" Oval explained.
"How long did I sleep for?" I asked.
"Half the day. I made sure you did not snore," she returned. "You really needed it. You think you're ready to go for a run? We don't have long before another guard will move to stand up there, and they stay there like statues for far too long to chance not being seen. They will soon carry torches with them, and we can't hide from that."
"But what about the crowds?" I asked, motioning at the ponies on the street.
"They don't carry weapons on them. We need to run fast and I need you to stay on my tail as close as you can. No matter what turn I take, take it with me. If I jump into a building, follow. Don't pause, don't think, just follow," Oval pressed.
"I think I can do that, Burst," I agreed. "Do we take the bags along?"
"If we leave them here, they will be found. If we take them along, they may slow us down," Oval pondered. "Take them anyway. If we're getting pursued we can throw them at the guards."
"When do we go?" I asked, reaching out for my bag with my mind, ready to let my magic grab hold of it.
"Now," Oval decided, letting go of me and rolling away, her magic erupting from her horn and grabbing her own bag as she rolled into a standing position.
I followed her lead, and we were soon running down the small slope to the street below, barrelling through the carefully tended bushes we had been hiding in.
We must have been quite a sight for the inhabitants of the city as we came bursting out of the bushes, our green magic flaring around us to make sure our bags followed; a pair of Changelings, out in the open as if we had no fear of being caught.
The resulting panic sent the ponies fleeing in all directions, but I kept my focus on Oval's rear end and followed a hooffall behind it. I barely took note of the buildings as we rushed by them, the sound of ponies crying out in panic lost to my ears, and we weaved our way deeper into the city as fast as we could.
Oval appeared to know which way to go, even if she must have been making decisions on the fly as to whether to turn left, right, go under something, over other things, and - indeed - suddenly through an open window into a building!
I flew through it after her, kicked some dirty dishes off the kitchen cabinet beyond with my left back hoof as I made a wider turn than Oval, and we barely managed to avoid trampling a foal playing with their toys in the house's living room as we raced through it.
Oval sped out the door, through a group of ponies who were only just starting to respond to the chaos following in our wake, and through a back alley. My bag caught on something as I rushed after her, and I let go of it as instructed; nothing it held was as important as getting to safety.
Oval dove into a hole in the ground, and I not a moment after, setting my hooves down in some of the most foul-smelling water I had ever come across. As I sped through the tubular cavern after Oval, trying my best to keep up what with the sudden slippery ground, my mind made the connection I rather wish it had not; sewers.
We continued through the sewers underneath Canterlot until Oval shot up through an open manhole, her bag inches behind her. I jumped up to follow, but had to buzz my wings to get enough momentum to reach the pavement above. As I managed to set my hooves down on the stones, I stopped to find Oval directly in front of me, her bag set to her left. Beyond her stood a unicorn, horn charged with yellow magic, blocking our way.
"We're not your enemy," Oval spoke, her own magic doused and her pose one that clearly attempted to convey she was not ready to pounce upon the unicorn.
I lowered my head slightly as well, mimicking Oval's pose in an attempt to show the unicorn there was nothing to fear.
"You're really not catching us at our best," Oval continued as the unicorn remained silent.
"You're changelings," the other finally stated, narrowing her purple eyes set under her yellow mane.
"Can't change that," Oval agreed, taking a careful step back to me. "We can't allow ourselves to be captured. Please get out of our way?"
The unicorn gave a quick look past her purple flank on which a white flower sat as her cutiemark. Her yellow tail flicked as the sound of guards rushing down the streets drew nearer.
"Back down?" I whispered to Oval, mentally steeling myself to head back down into the sewers again.
The unicorn turned back to face us again, her eyes meeting mine for a brief moment, and then her magic doused. "Follow me, quickly," she spoke, turning tail and running off into the street to our right.
Oval grabbed her bag with her teeth, then gave chase, with me close on her tail.
The unicorn led us down the street, then opened the door to a house and remained standing in front of it. "In here, there's a door under the stairs, get in there, close it, and be quiet."
Oval and I rushed past her, and Oval's magic pulled the door under the stairs open for us to rush into a cabinet filled to the brim with spices and assorted dried plants. She pulled the door closed again behind me, and we sat in the darkness of the cramped room listening to the sounds of heavy hooffalls drawing nearer.
The front door to the house closed with a soft click, dampening the sound even more than the cabinet door already had, but we could still hear the sound of a dozen guards as they came ever closer.
I swallowed strongly as they came to a sudden halt, and we could hear a male voice speaking in a demanding tone of voice. The twin doors between us kept us from hearing what was said, but it was met with the sound of the unicorn's voice. The two voices had a conversation which we could only guess at, and then the male voice spoke up again in a clear command. The hooffalls continued immediately after, now drawing away from our location.
I felt Oval's breath on me as she sighed out in relief, and leaned in to give her a soft nuzzle. That could have ended much worse for us. With the guards now drawing away, we were no longer in immediate danger... unless that unicorn turned out to have a hidden agenda.