//------------------------------//
// Dreams of doubts and conviction 
// Story: Changing Fates 
// by Ulthor 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 05







*The night right after the Canterlot wedding, after Twilight fell asleep while crying, in her dream palace*


Twilight was looking at the stars from her open library, wondering why it seemed like there were more stars all of a sudden, aswell as wondering how ponies would react if she were to enter their dreams in her real form, would she be able to protect them and give them nice dreams as she's been training to do, or would she instead turn their dreams and nightmares into something worse just by being there? Feeling slightly defeated at the thought, she then sighs and lays down on the floor of her dream palace.

"Why do I have a power like this if I can't even use it to help others without taking on a false appearance?" She said to herself and looked at her hooves, one filled with holes and covered in a slightly darkish lavender carapace, and the other a normal hoof covered with lavender fur. "If only I'd just be one over the other, or perhaps even something more fused together rather then parts of me being from both sides…" She then looked at her wings. "And why do I have actual pegasus wings anyway? I mean sure, there's the whole recessive gene that can stay in a family regardless of what somepony themselves is, so it's possible that my father could have had a family member that was a pegasus, but I thought that back then unicorns still tried to keep their blood 'pure' as they called it, even if it was a stupid thing to do… I wonder if perhaps it's more thanks to my Changeling side then my pony side."

Twilight kept asking herself questions out loud, as if somehow she would answer them back aswell, but she didn't get any answers, just more questions.

Finally done feeling sorry for herself, she looked up at the stars once more, 'I need to get my mind off of this, it's bad enough that I think of this when I'm awake, I don't need this while asleep aswell… Perhaps it'll be better if I try to help somepony instead.' Twilight thought as she altered her appearances into her alicorn form, at first she wanted to go into her unicorn form because they had kept her sudden ascension hidden till she would be ready, even if it turned out to be something else in the end, but she didn't really care much at the time, it felt more natural to her now to have both her wings and horn out anyway and it wasn't like ponies would think of her form as the real form if they ever saw her in real life anyway, they'd likely just think it was part of the dream.

She stretched her wings some more and thought about the lessons she had received from Dash while in the dream realm, she then took off and tried to balance herself, before she flew up to the highest book case of her palace, even in the dream realm she had been having some trouble getting used to them, but that might be because she wanted it to be as real as possible herself, and Luna had told her that anything she would perceive as real here would feel as real as possible, which made training how to fly here a good idea in the first place, since she could take this experience back to the real world without any consequences.

As she stared at the stars a thought came to her though, one that was triggered by recalling her training lessons, what if she were to find her friends and find out what they thought as they slept? You don't hide your true feelings while you sleep afterall, sure you may do things you normally don't while asleep since that's the only time you could, but in general ponies just acted like their true selves, and anything else would only happen if they had focused too much on it before going to sleep, besides nightmares that is, those could be caused by several things.

A plan started to form in her mind and she started to look for her friends, thanks to her own special power she found the right stars easily, and flew into the closest one to find out what they would truly think about her if they would find out, they likely wouldn't remember it in the end, but it would give her some peace of mind.



=====+++=====



Rainbow Dash's dream.


The first thing Twilight realized as she got into Dash's dream, was that everything seemed white and fluffy, as her brain was trying to make sense of it all she suddenly heard a voice behind her.

"So, are you going to come out of that cloud or what egghead? Or are you trying to hide from me? If that's the case though, you really shouldn't let your flank stick out like that." Dash said as she was smirking at what she thought was a foolish attempt at hiding.

Twilight groaned slightly, this was not how she had wanted to start this at all, she then got out of the cloud and looked at Dash. "Sorry Dash, it wasn't my intention to make it look like that, I seemed to have appeared in the cloud itself."

"Appeared in it?" Dash brought a hoof to her chin as she considered what Twilight meant. "Were you teleporting into the sky again? You really have to stop doing that Twilight, now come on, let's fly."

Twilight looked away from Dash's gaze for a little bit. "Actually Dash, I kind of have a different reason to be here today."

Dash cocked her head slightly in wonder. "What is it Twilight?" She then asked.

"Well I… I suppose it's easier to just show you instead." Twilight began and calmed her nerves slightly, before she started to undo her disguise.

As the lavender flames covered Twilight's body and revealed her true form, Dash looked shocked at first, but she then saw Twilight's jagged horn and quickly sharpened her eyes before tackled Twilight hard. "What did you do with Twilight!?"

Twilight had the wind knocked out of her lungs for a moment, but as they were falling towards the ground, she managed to regain herself enough to at least speak after a gasp. "D-Dash! It's me!"

"Liar! Twilight's not some treacherous monster! I recognize that horn, you’re the one from the wedding, aren't you!?" Dash shouted as the ground came closer and closer while she was pushing Twilight towards it.

All Twilight could do right then and there was panic and feel heartbroken, as she started to flail around while tears came from her eyes. "Let go of me!" She shouted while flailing about, when one of her hooves connected with Dash and she was knocked away from her, Twilight saw that the ground was coming towards her quickly and spread out her wings to do an airbrake, as she had learned from Dash a while ago, she then looked straight at Dash. "Why? Why won't you believe me?" Tears were flowing from her eyes, before she looked away when Dash had looked back at her with a angry gaze. "T-this was a mistake, I should never have gone here." She then said as she flew into the sky towards the stars.

Dash tried to catch up, but was unable to as Twilight altered the gravity for Dash, making it hard for her to gain any real speed, soon Twilight vanished as she touched one of the stars, in her haste however, she had simply gone into the dream of one of her other friends first, rather then go for her own dream palace.



=====+++=====



Rarity's dream.


The first thing Twilight noticed as she appeared, was that she seemed to be in hot water, literally, she looked around quickly as she panicked once more, before she saw the surface and quickly went up to gasp for air, as it turns out however, she was in the tub of the local spa.

She then heard a gasp behind her and looked what was going on, she found Rarity looking at her in shock, before she passed out. "Oh no, Rarity!" Twilight quickly stopped her from going under, before she looked at herself and sighed. "I suppose she wouldn't know it's me either way… I just hope this will go better then with Rainbow Dash." She then said to herself as she put on the disguise once more.

Twilight had considered getting out of the tub, but to be honest found the warmth comforting right now and she could use it after what had happened, so instead she opted for staying in it, but she did put Rarity on one of the massage tables nearby and magicked her dry, she also wondered for a moment how it was possible for Rarity to even feint, could one fall asleep in a dream in the first place?

As Twilight was contemplating how it was possible and what would happen if you did so, Rarity started to stir and wake up, who then looked around as she found herself on the massage table. "Oh good heavens, did I fall asleep while I was being massaged again? I really need to ask Aloe to tone it down a little with those relaxing scents." Rarity then said.

Twilight heard her and peered over the edge of the large hot tub. "Ah, your up, you had me worried there Rarity."

"Twilight? What are you doing here darling? I hadn't realized that we both had an appointment at the spa, you should have told me, we could have gone together." Rarity replied, as she then noticed her wings and looked around, once she made sure nopony else was there, she continued. "Darling, I hate to say it, but I think your illusion spell is having some issues, your wings are showing."

Twilight looked at her wings and then back at Rarity with a small smile, before replying. "That's alright, I'm not afraid of ponies finding out I have wings anymore."

"Oh really? Does that mean your done with your princess training now and Celestia will announce your ascension?" Rarity asked in response.

"Not… Exactly." Twilight replied with a slightly troubled look as she pulls her head back slightly.

Rarity was a bit puzzled by this and walked up the stairs of the hot tub. "Why, whatever do you mean darling?"

"I can't let her know it's because this is a dream, it could change how she truly feels about it, and she may even remember it once she wakes if I do, I suppose I could explain what happened if things go alright and I ask her the same thing in the real world… Now that I think about it, this may be a bit too complicated, but I need to know for certain… Dash will likely react differently if she's sure it's me, that was just because the others weren't there to prove otherwise." Twilight thought to herself, as she then looked at Rarity with a apologetic look. "Sorry Rarity, it'll become obvious in due time, I promise."

"Hmm, well, if your certain darling, now scoot over, I've been dying for a hot soak." Rarity said before she got into the tub aswell.

Several minutes passed as they talked about some frivolous things, Rarity doing so simply because she enjoyed it, but Twilight was still a bit afraid of what had happened before and didn't want to repeat the same mistake, so she instead opted for making Rarity feel more comfortable and let her know she really was herself before she would spring it on her.

Before Twilight felt comfortable doing so however, Rarity said something that made her reconsider. "That reminds me darling, how have you been since the wedding? You must feel terrible about the whole thing."

Twilight swallowed a chunk that she suddenly felt in her throat. "W-why would you think that?"

"Well, I mean, your brother nearly married that ghastly creature, who pretended to be your old foalsitter who you loved. I for one would feel terrible about it, just imagining a vile monster like that getting so close to me and pretending to be somepony I care deeply for is enough to almost make me faint! So it must be a lot harder on you who actually experienced it." Rarity stated.

Twilight looked away from Rarity, she didn't want her friend to see the look of despair and pain, she knew Rarity only meant it in the best of ways, that she wouldn't mean it if she knew the truth, but after all this, could she still just say it straight to her face? "Y-yeah… I-I suppose so." Twilight then replied with a quiver in her voice.

Rarity may not be able to see Twilight's face, but she did hear how forced and painful her words sounded. "Twilight, darling, are you alright?" She then asked.

"I-I'm fine…" Twilight replied, before swallowing once more and holding back the tears. "I… I need to go now."

"Go? Go where? Are you certain your alright? Do you want me to come along with you?" Rarity asked out of concern.

"No!" Twilight suddenly shouted without looking at Rarity, before she brought a hoof up to her muzzle, she was shocked of her own outburst there for a moment, but quickly regained herself. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" She still couldn't manage to look back at her friend, even as she tried to apologize, and something inside her wondered why she should, she was justified with her outburst, wasn't she? She expected more from her friend to start with, yes Changelings didn't look like regular ponies, and yes Chrysalis had imprisoned Cadance while deceiving everypony… But she hadn't hurt anypony, she had even acted friendly towards them all, even if she didn't have to, so why did Rarity see Changelings as monsters? Was it just because of their looks? Twilight looked at her disguised hoof for a moment.

Rarity by now however, was really worried for her friend, as Twilight had started to apologize, then suddenly stopped and went into some deep thought it seemed. "T-Twilight? What's wrong darling? What's going on with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Twilight asked as she was brought back from her thoughts. "I'll tell you what's wrong with me… Or no, rather, I think I'll show you."

Before Rarity could ask what she meant, Twilight turned around and turned into her true form, making Rarity look even whiter then she normally did. "Y-your…"

Twilight looked at Rarity with an accusing look, even as some tears trickled down. "A ghastly creature? A monster? A freak of nature?" As Twilight said this, another thought came to her out of the blue. "Or does it only matter if it's somepony you don't know? Like my real mother?"

"M-mother!?" Rarity nearly shrieked, not knowing what exactly was going on here, or if this creature was even the real Twilight, though if she wasn't, then how had she known all they talked about?

For a moment Twilight was about to continue her rant, before she realized what she had just said and her eyes went wide, sure Luna had told her that Chrysalis had once been good and could still be now, just misguided, but her friends didn't know about any of this, not to mention that she had a mom all this time who she knew and loved dearly, should she really say so quickly that Chrysalis was her real mother without first getting to know her? She looked once more at Rarity who by now was cowering as far back in the hot tub as she could from Twilight's outburst, as she then thought to herself if she was any better then Chrysalis at this point, and what Rarity would think of her from now on.

Twilight's expression turned back into a pained one as she charged her magic. "I'm sorry… It'll be alright, you won't remember any of this…" Was all she said before she teleported away from the spa and into the air, instantly spreading her wings as the sky turned to night and she reached out to the next star. "P-perhaps I should have started with Applejack, she'll know I'm telling the truth from the start…" She then put on her disguise once more before she touched the right star.



=====+++=====



Applejack's dream.


This time Twilight didn't appear in some cloud or a hot tub or anything like that, Luna had warned her that a mind in distress could lead to random appearances, but now she was on the path towards Sweet Apple Acres without appearing in any odd situation, Twilight wondered if it was just a coincidence, perhaps she was even starting to slowly calm down, or perhaps it was even something she didn't want to think of just yet, that she was starting to simply not care anymore, as soon as that last thought came however, she shook her head in defiance, surely it couldn't be that, she cared greatly for her friends, it's why she decided to do this in the first place.

Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at the farm again, her eyes showing her determination as she then started to walk towards it, each step was feeling heavier then the last for some reason, she knew that it was likely her own mind trying to stop her, stop her before another one of her friends would have a bad reaction towards her, stop her before she might start to think badly about them, stop her from making another mistake.

But still she kept going, even as her mind started to impact the dream itself slightly, as the gravity around her started to increase and make her steps as heavy as she was imagining them, by the time she got to the farm, she was making slight craters, but she had countered that by altering herself slightly, increasing what her muscles could handle, but not their size, going to the point that only an actual Alicorn should be able to handle it all, but she didn't realize as she was doing it subconsciously.

Once she passed the gate to the farm, she somehow felt light again, as if the hardest part was over, as she saw Applejack haul some apples into the barn, this made the dream release her from the increased gravity aswell, but her muscles were still the same, something she quickly realized as she ran over to the barn. "Applejack! I have something I nee…" She started as she pulled the barn door to the side, and off it's hinges, flinging it behind her, which I turn caused her to look at it in shock and lose all the determination she had build up till this point.

She also wasn't the only one, as Applejack was standing in the barn with Big Mac who's mouth nearly fell to the ground, Applejack quickly regained herself however. "What in tarnation!? What are ya doin' to mah barn!?"

Twilight looked back at Applejack, her own shock still on her face. "I… I…" She looked back at the wreckage of the door. "I don't know…" She then looked at her hoof, the same one she had just used, as she wondered what she had done exactly, Luna never said she could enhance herself in a dream, was it just a lesson she had yet to receive, or was this something else?

Twilight's reaction threw Applejack off though, as the farm mare was now worried for her friend. "What do yah mean, yah don't know?" Applejack then asked. "Are you feeling alright sugarcube?"

"I… I think so…" Twilight answered as she looked back at Applejack. "I'm sorry Applejack, I didn't mean to do that, I didn't even know I could do that till now."

Applejack sighed and looked at Twilight with a smile. "That's alright Twi, Ah reckon it's likely one of yer new princessy powers yah haven't discovered then." She then looked to Big Mac. "Big Mac, could yah take care of tha door? Ah reckon that Twi want's to talk after all this." Big Mac just sighed, as he then went to where the door had landed.

"I really am sorry about all this Applejack, this was not how I wanted things to go when I came here to talk." Twilight explained.

"It's alright sugarcube, we've been meanin' to replace that door for a while now… Though not really in such a forceful way." Applejack responded, before raising an eyebrow in wonder. "But what's this about comin' here to talk to me already? Ah thought you might wanna talk to me about this, but it sounds like ya had somethin' else ya wanted to talk to me about already.

"Y-yeah… I do actually." Twilight said as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "You can somehow feel whenever somepony isn't being truthful, right? So you know when I'm telling the truth, right?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow as she wondered where this was going. "Ah guess, Ah sorta feel when somepony ain't honest, but it's not like Ah can tell all tha time, there are times when it's hard, and some ponies are able to lie to me, so it's not an exact science or nothin'." She saw that Twilight was getting a bit uncomfortable at this however. "But at tha least Ah can always tell when yer telling tha truth sugarcube."

This calmed Twilight a little bit at least. "R-right, then let's start with something simple, just so you know it's me." She then said, making Applejack raise her eyebrow once more as she wondered why that was necessary. "My name is Twilight, and we've been friends since the Nightmare Moon incident." She said as she looked at Applejack as if to confirm she was telling the truth, and after a few seconds Applejack realized what Twilight wanted and shook her head as if to say correct, once she did Twilight continued. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Applejack cocked her head sideways, first because she didn't understand why Twilight had just repeated the same thing, but then something dawned on her as she felt something was off. "Huh, that's odd, Ah could have sworn that you just lied Twi, but you just repeated the same thing, how's that possible?" Applejack asked with sincere curiosity, thinking this was likely some kind of experiment to get around those that could tell the truth.

"That's because the first time was true and the second time wasn't… Though I only recently found out myself." Twilight explained.

"Huh? What in tarnation are ya talking about? Ya said the same thing twice, how can one be true and the other be false?" Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed. "It's how I said it, my name is Twilight, but it's not Twilight Sparkle, it seems I was given the name Sparkle by the pony that put me in front of my parents house, but Luna told me my real name."

"Ah shucks sugarcube, Ah didn't knew ya was adopted, are ya alright?" Applejack asked with a hint of concern, mostly because she thought Twilight had just found out she was adopted herself.

Twilight realized why Applejack was so concerned right now though. "Oh, I've known I was adopted for ages, my parents were always up front about that, but I never knew my real name it seems, the note that was in my basket had a name on it, but it seems that the one who put me in front of their door never knew my full name and just made up what she didn't know."

"So that's what ya meant… Wait, what do ya mean the pony who put ya in front of yer parents house never knew yer full name? Wasn't it yer real mother? And how do ya know it was a mare anyway?" Applejack asked as she realized the importance of those parts.

"Well… I found out who put me there, but it seems she wasn't my mother, and from what I've found out… She likely just didn't want to give me back to my mother and instead use me for her own design…" Twilight looked a bit sad as she admitted her recent fears.

"Sugarcube… Ah'm so sorry for ya, are ya gonna be alright? Do ya want me to buck this pony for ya? I'll gladly do it." Applejack said with a certain edge to her voice, as she was angry at whoever it was that did this to her friend.

"No… That's alright, I've cut ties with her for now… But as she gave me the name Sparkle, I don't think I can ever see myself using that name again, I hope you understand." Twilight said, hoping her friend would understand her reasoning.

"But of course Ah understand Twi, Ah hope yer letting all yer family and friends know aswell… Uhm… So, what do we call ya now though?" Applejack asked.

Twilight smiled slightly as she looked at Applejack and repeated what she did before. "My name is Twilight Starshine, and I think of you as my friend."

This in turn caused Applejack to smile and nod. "Ah can tell that's the truth… But why do all this just to tell me? Ya do realize Ah would have believed ya if ya had just said so, right? There was no need for all this telling tha truth stuff."

"Well… It wasn't actually for that, I actually used that to make sure if you knew I was telling the truth." Twilight explained.

Applejack sighed. "Well then? Git on with it Twi, this is startin' to drag out too long by now, Ah still have plenty of work to do afterall."

Twilight took a deep breath in preparation, as she once more went with the same sentence, and once more slightly altered. "My name is Twilight, a pony that is your friend."

"Darnit Twi! This is getting' on mah nerves, what part of that is wrong this time? Ah already know yer name is Twilight and that we're friends, so what's wrong now?" Applejack asked, slightly ticked off by the constant repentance that keeps on making her feel something is a lie.

Twilight paused for a moment. "T-the pony part…" She then said with a quivering voice.

"… Scuse me? How can that be wrong?… Wait, is this one of them Alicorn things? Do ya not count as a normal pony or somethin' anymore? Is that what yer tellin' me?" Applejack asked slightly confused.

Twilight swallowed as she said the next part, still with a quivering voice. "I-I'm an Alicorn…"

Applejack just stood there, looking bewildered at Twilight as she recognized the lie. "Twi… What's goin' on here? How is that a lie?"

"B-because I'm not a pony or an Alicorn… I found out that I'm a hybrid between a pony and a… a… A Changeling." Twilight said as she turned her head away from Applejack, fearing how she would react.

Surprisingly enough though, what Applejack said next, was something Twilight didn't expect. "… Uh… Twi? What the hay is a Changeling? And why does this matter? Ya look just like a pony and ya act like one, so it can't all be bad, right? Wait, is that why yer suddenly so strong? Is that why yer worried?"

Twilight looked at Applejack in confusion, what did she mean by that? How could she not know what Changelings were after the wedding? Thoughts went through Twilight's head as she tried to make sense of it, and then it hit her, of course Applejack didn't know what Changeling were, it was never said during the wedding, to anypony but herself and Celestia, they had just been some nameless creatures or monsters that showed up, this caused Twilight to groan as she raised a hoof to her forehead as she facehooved.

Twilight then looked at her friend. "I didn't really want to do this again, not after the last two times, at least till you understood, but I suppose it is quicker to just show you aswell."

"Huh? Show me what Twi?" Applejack asked.

"Just… Please don't freak out or attack me… Alright?" Twilight asked as she started her transformation back into her real form.

Applejack stood there in slight shock for a moment. "Yer… Yer one of them? One of the ones that ruined yer brother's wedding?... Did ya know?"

Twilight looked back at Applejack nervously, she had yet to react as badly as the others had, perhaps there was still a chance for this to go well. "N-no, I only just found out about what I am."

Applejack looked at Twilight with a piercing stare. "Yer lying Twi, how long have ya known?"

"I… I'm lying? But…" Twilight thought hard about it, before sighing. "I suppose, I have considered it ever since Discord, but I didn't even know what a Changeling was at the time, and I just thought it had all been one of his tricks."

Applejack thought for a moment. "Since Discord?… Now that ya mention it, ya did look just like that at tha time, gosh darnit Twi, why didn't ya ever tell us!? And what about the weddin'? Did ya know what was going tah happen there?"

"I was certain he had made it all up, and of course I didn't know about the wedding!" Twilight quickly responded, but seeing Applejack expression at that made her take a step backwards.

Applejack looked shocked, before she glared at Twilight. "Yer lying, on both accounts! How could ya Twi?" She then asked accusingly.

Twilight took another step backwards. "N-no, I'm not lying… Perhaps some doubt was in my mind from Discord, but I'm certain I didn't know about the wedding! I would have put a stop to it otherwise, mother would have listened to me had I known, she would have freed Cadance instead of act like her, I'm sure of it!"

Applejack now had a really shocked look on her face. "Did… Did ya just say yer mother? Ya mean to tell me that tha one that did all that to yer old foalsitter and almost married yer brother was yer mother!?" She got her accusing look back, as she wasn't thinking clearly anymore at the time. "Does tha family that raised ya mean nothing to ya in the end Twi? Or had ya planned this for ages already?"

"I.. I.." Twilight stammered, not sure on what to say anymore, she hadn't known about the whole plan for the wedding, right? She hadn't gone along with the whole thing just because of some kind of knowledge she didn't remember at the time, right? Confused and feeling a bit betrayed once more, she did the first thing that came to mind, she decided to run away, or more accurately, fly away, this time opting to head back to her dream palace rather to anymore dreams, she didn't even look back as Applejack kept shouting for her to come back.



=====+++=====


Twilight's dream palace.


Twilight wiped away a tear as she looked at the stars from the top of one of her bookcases. "This was a mistake… I know they express themselves freely in their dreams, but it's their restraint that lets them think twice about what they do and say… But does it really matter? What if they always think like that in their hearts? What if they'll never truly accept me?... Why did I even do this in the first place?"

Twilight sighed as she looked at two familiar looking stars belonging to her brother and foalsitter. "I wonder how they would think about all of this?... No, I'm not going to mess with this again, I'll let them know normally, like I should have done from the start."

Twilight then looked at the new stars that had appeared earlier this night, why were there so many new ones all of a sudden anyway? And what was this odd feeling she had as she watched them, it was like they were connected to each other somehow, but that shouldn't be possible, sure Luna had told her that sometimes two ponies that were in sync enough would at times have a mixed dream, but that was hardly ever bigger then two or three ponies, but this, this seemed like dozens of them connecting together, perhaps even more.

For a moment Twilight considered touching one of them to find out, but before she could, her brother's star suddenly got a interface screen in front of it with a small alarm, something she had added after thinking about how Luna searched for nightmares and ancient dangers, she didn't want to alter the stars in the same way afterall, but since this screen made it easy to search for specific ponies, she figured it could also work to alert her if something was wrong, she had no idea if it would work on ancient dangers just yet though, as Luna was still blocking her from dreams that held them till she felt Twilight was ready.

So this was the alert for nightmares then, Twilight wanted to jump into her brother's dream straight away, but decided against it, if she would lose focus and turn into her real form now that she saw it as her real form anyway, it would likely make things worse, plus jumping into a nightmare without knowing what it was about would do no good either, you can't help if you don't know what the problem is afterall.

Luckily Twilight had thought about this after talking it over with Luna, as she added one more feature to the screen over the star, and as she pressed a part of the screen, it turned into a viewing portal of the dream itself, the sight made her gasp.

Shining Armor seemed to be dreaming about Changelings, more specifically it was a doomed scenario, Changelings had taken over all of Equestria, ponies were being made to wear large chains as they were being drained of all their love as if they were livestock, a large war against the Gryphons and the Dragons had erupted and the Changelings seemed to be winning as they used ponies as portable energy sources, and Shining was in a cage right next to Queen Chrysalis who was using Cadance as her own personal energy source.

Twilight quickly cut off the feed, before she threw up. "Ugh… Do you really think that's what would have happened BBBF?" She said to herself as she wanted to cry, but kept it in. "I… I really can't tell him till he gets over this…"

Feeling slightly defeated about this whole ordeal, Twilight was about to just let herself fall into a dream state, hoping that tomorrow things would be better or that she would have a better idea at least, but another alarm kept her from doing so, as it went away as quickly as it came, but then she heard it again, but from a different location, and it vanished soon after again, before yet another star got it. "Huh, that's odd, why is the alarm going on and off? Not even Luna can fix it that quickly… Wait, that's not the nightmare alarm, that's the…" She quickly looked at the stars as the placement of the alarm switched once more.

As Twilight traced the alarm, there were two things she noted the most besides it going from star to star, the first thing was that Luna seemed to not shield this ancient danger from her as she had the others, and the second thing she noticed was that the stars that kept going on and off with the alarm were the new stars that felt connected. "Is… Is it the reason their connected? But why isn't Luna taking care of it? Does she not know of it?" As she considered this, she also felt like this might just be the thing to vent on.

Twilight had planned to check out what was happening in the dreams it went to, but found that something was preventing her from seeing them, she wondered if the ancient danger could be the cause, and if she should really do it or not, till she suddenly heard somepony cry for help through one of the feeds and realized it was where the ancient danger currently was in, she then quickly steeled her resolves and jumped at the star.



=====+++=====



???????'s Dream


Twilight appeared in the sky above the everfree forest, quickly spreading her wings as she looked around in hopes of finding the ancient danger, what she saw through the trees however was unexpected. "W-what are Changelings doing here?" Her curiosity made her fly a bit lower in hopes of finding out, she quickly realized they were chasing something, but before she could see it properly, she heard the same buzzing noise in her head as she had at the wedding and in Ponyville shortly after, she didn't know why that kept happening, but it did make her stop right now, and it was a good thing too, as in front of her a large black and red shape suddenly rose from the trees.

It seemed shapeless at first, but it quickly took the shape of the most twisted version of a hydra she had ever seen, some of it's necks seemed to go through each other in a morbid fashion, as if they ate through each other in order to do so, one of the necks was twisted as if it had been in a twister and another seemed as if it was rotting away slightly, the one looking straight at her however seemed almost normal for a moment, before it's eyes lit up with an almost sickly color, Twilight tried to escape, but for some reason found herself unable to do anything but look straight at it.

She heard the buzzing sound once more and got the urge to fly away even more, but still found herself unable to do so, as some of the other heads started to make their way towards her, for a moment she feared for her life, but suddenly the buzzing sound was accompanied by a collective shout of a dozen different voices, but all shouting the same thing. "Your highness! Escape!" This managed to snap her out of the trance and she barely managed to dodge the other heads, before she flew away from the creature, but one of the heads looked at her and shot a gust of wind from its mouth at her, making her fall to the ground.

Before she hit the ground, Twilight managed to imagine the ground she was heading for was as soft as clouds, which made her crash not as severe as it likely would have been otherwise, but even that didn't stop it from hurting, as her mind still saw it as ground, rather then actual clouds.

Twilight laid there in a slight daze for a few seconds, before she shook her head and tried to stand back up, before she realized she was surrounded by Changelings, who were looking at her as if concerned, it made her freeze up for a second, as she then belittled herself for acting slightly similar to how her friends had reacted to her, but her thought process was quickly ground to a halt, as she saw the creature getting closer to them.

Twilight wasn't the only one to realize it seemed, as most of the Changelings turned towards it with a furious look on their faces, a quick buzzing sound was heard in Twilight's head once more as the Changelings charged at the creature, those that didn't go with them however tried to help Twilight get up properly, before they started to try to escort her away from this area, one of them then said something. "This way your highness, you mustn't get hurt, we'll take care of it."

Twilight craned her head sideways at the changeling that had spoken. "Why are you calling me that?"

The Changeling looked back at her with a hint of fear. "I-I'm sorry, I know we're not part of your hive, o-or that we're just lowly exiles that aren't worth your time, b-but we still respect you queens even like this… W-were we out of line?"

Twilight blinked a few times, lost as to what had just been said, she then quickly glanced over herself, she still seemed to be in her disguised form though. "You… Know I'm not a pony?... No, wait, what's this about being a queen? I'm no queen, and what's this about being exiles?"

The Changeling gasped in realization, regardless of whether it's correct. "A-ah, I'm sorry princess, has your mother not told you about exiles yet? I'll gladly tell you about us once we get you to safety… B-but if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean with how do we know your not a pony? Did you not connect to our hivemind a moment ago and made it clearer for us? How could we mistake you for anything but a Changeling royalty when you did that?"

"A hivemind?… Wait, do you mean that buzzing sound I keep hearing?" Twilight asked as she rubbed the side of her head. "How can you hear anything clearly through that?"

The Changeling looked at her with a slightly shocked expression. "Your highness… Is this… Is this the first time you ever connected to a hivemind? But you made it so clear now, we haven't been able to transmit orders to one another this well ever since we got cut off from our own hives, we actually stand a chance against the creature now."

"I did what now?" Twilight then asked, but before she got an answer, her mind clicked as she remembered why she was here in the first place and quickly looked at the creature. "I have to stop it!" She then tried to turn around and take off, but the Changeling stopped her.

"You mustn't! We're but disposable drones your highness, but your irreplaceable, you can't go out there!" The Changeling shouted as it blocked Twilight's path.

Twilight was a bit surprised from this, not just because of what was going on, but because she also felt touched by how much this Changeling she never even met before cared for her, she then took a small breath and looked straight at the Changeling. "You don't even know me, yet you care for me this much, how could I repay you in any other way then to protect you and your friends in kind?" Twilight looked at the creature that was fighting the Changelings and managed to swat a few of them out of the way, as her expression turned to one of anger. "Plus I just remembered that this, this is my domain, and I will protect all that need my help."

An odd feeling suddenly hung in the air, as suddenly the forest itself seemed to move, trees moved out of the way, the sky turned to a state of twilight, the ground started to turn to stone, and Twilight spoke with a commanding voice to the Changeling in front of her who was bewildered by the sudden changes. "Have all of them move to safety, I can't control this well enough yet, they will likely get hurt if they get close, and I don't know if I can shield them."

The Changeling looked at Twilight with a new found awe, as she realized that Twilight was the one doing all the changes to the area, making her bow in front of her with the utmost respect. "As you command, your highness." The Changeling looked at the other Changelings as a buzzing sound was heard by Twilight once more, but she could swear that she almost heard something this time, or perhaps she did hear something, but she didn't understand it just yet, the Changelings that had been fighting however quickly looked back over to them in confusion, but as they saw Twilight standing there with her determined and almost commanding expression, they quickly scattered.

Twilight couldn't help but smile slightly as they did, before she focused her sight on the creature once more, who in turn looked at her with a slight realization that she wasn't like the others. "You will not harm those under my protection once more!" Twilight then shouted as she took off faster then she had before.

Twilight had strengthened her leg muscles and wing muscles, but this time she had done so on purpose, the increase from the jump into a full on flight was enough to speed her up into a sonic boom within a second, making her hit one of the heads instantly and with enough force to shatter it's jaw and knock it out, she hen quickly used her newly strengthened wings to stop herself in mid air, utilizing an increase of gravity into the opposite direction at the same time, as she then flew towards it once more, now hitting it in the back of one of the other heads, it still connected, but it seemed like the creature wasn't as dazed this time.

The next hit had missed, the creature was learning at an incredible rate it seemed, but Twilight wasn't about to give up just because of that, as the ground started to warp slightly and open up, making the creature lose balance and fall down, Twilight quickly sent a blast of magic it's way before it could react, hitting it full on and seemingly knocking it out completely.

Twilight was breathing heavily, as the amount of concentration she had used to change the surroundings was more then she was used to, perhaps she could minimize it in due time, but she was still learning at the moment, she then sighed as she felt relieved, she had managed to defeat it and protect these po… These Changelings from the ancient danger.

She decided to land next to the creature and check it out, it seemed like it would be down for quite some time, she thought to herself that she should ask Luna what she needed to do with them after beating them, but for now she wanted to check up on the Changelings and see how they were doing, so she turned around and started to walk in the direction of the Changeling that had spoken to her.

It wasn't long till Twilight realized her mistake however, as she suddenly heard a rumbling sound behind her and before she could react, was slammed to the side, she quickly shook it off and looked at what had hit her, only to be shocked as she saw a Changeling standing where she had stood just a moment ago, but that's not what shocked her the most, what shocked her was that this Changeling was lying on the ground, seemingly dead and burning, as one of the heads of the creature was over it and now looking at her, as it opened it's mouth to blast her.

Something then snapped inside of Twilight, as she dropped her disguise and charged her horn with every bit of power she could muster, she compressed it all into a single point at the tip of her horn, the intense raw power radiating from it shone so brightly that it looked like a purple star for a moment, making the creature suddenly back off as it felt danger like nothing else, but Twilight didn't care right now, as she let out the sheer force in a single beam towards the creature, it was so powerful that it cut a trench through the ground and went off into space, evaporating the creature completely, and once she stopped, she passed out while standing.



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A bit later Twilight woke up, finding herself on a large and round bed, the side of it seemed to be made of some kind of black marble, the linen felt soft as silk and were purple, the bed itself felt as soft as a cloud and the room she was in looked as if it was carved out of some black rock with scones that had some kind of magic fire in them. "Where… Am I?"

As if on cue, the black doors she had mistaken as just part of the wall opened up, as several Changelings stood there, looking at her with mixed looks, respect, awe, a hint of fear and happiness were among the most of them, perhaps the fear was from how she looked or from the power she displayed, but Twilight didn't realize either option right now, one of them then stepped forwards, Twilight recognized her as the Changeling she had talked to before. "Your highness! Your up! I-I'm so glad your up, I was afraid you wouldn't after what you did." The Changeling then said while wiping away some tears, Twilight then noticed that a lot of them had tears in their eyes.

"I… What happened? I remember beating that creature and going to check up on all of you when…" Twilight's face suddenly darkened a little as she remembered being saved by that Changeling and the rage she had felt afterwards. "One of you saved me, is.. Is…"

One of the other Changelings noticed her feelings and quickly intervened. "He's fine your highness! A bit burned, but nothing that won't heal over time, he'll just need a few weeks to heal is all."

Twilight teared up slightly as she felt relieved. "So he didn't die, I'm… I'm so glad he's alright."

The Changelings in front of her now all looked at her with a look of confusion and a sense of happiness, they were exiles from their own hives and never to be expected to have a queen of their own again, yet here there was a queen or princess that was more powerful then any they had ever seen before, and she was caring for them as if they were not just her own, but her most trusted Changelings, they didn't know how to feel about any of this, but they wanted to instinctively do anything for her, and make her feel better, as such they suddenly swarmed her with an embrace.

Twilight was surprised as they did, but the warmth from the group hug and the feelings she could feel coming from them, made her smile and hug back, she needed this after tonight, the dreams of her friends had made her feel… Hold on a moment, that's right, this was a dream, but she hadn't met the pony that this dream belonged to, she thought for a moment before coming to a realization, what if this wasn't a dream of a pony? What if it was the dream of a Changeling? Or better yet, what if this was the dream of a lot of them in one go? That would explain why so many of them had been linked together, this also came with another realization which made Twilight sigh in relief.

She then looked at the Changelings in front of them with a smile, they cared so much for her even after only just having met her, and she in turn felt like she should protect them, as she knew now that she cared for them as much as she cared for anypony, perhaps even more so. "He'll be fine by the next time you all go to sleep." Twilight then said, making some of them look at her in confusion, before they could ask though, she continued. "Your currently all asleep, this is the dream realm, I had forgotten it for a moment myself, and what we fought is known as an ancient danger, as long as you don't die from it, you'll be fine by the next time you go to sleep, so he'll be fine soon enough, he might be a bit drained once you all wake up however."

The Changelings looked at each other and seemed to fear the question that started to spread through their minds, they didn't want to ask it, but the one Twilight had talked to in the forest managed to talk. "D-does that mean your not really real? A-are you just a figment of our imagination? I-Is that why you look like your partially a pony?" The fear and pain in her words were obvious.

"What? No! I'm not a figment of imagination at all!" Twilight quickly replied, as to try to calm them down. "I'm… I'm a hybrid, I have both Changeling and Pony DNA inside me, and I'm also something that's called a dream walker, it's how I found you all, but I was used to only finding the dreams of ponies, that's why I had my disguise on before…" She then looked a little sad. "Nopony seems to accept me for who I am…" For a moment Twilight thought that they might shun her just as she thought her friends had done in their dreams.

But instead she found herself in an even tighter group hug. "We would never abandon you for something like that, your highness, you saved us and cared for us even if we didn't deserve it, if those ponies don't accept you it's their loss, but we will always be there for you if you need us!" The Changeling suddenly said, before gasping and putting a hoof to her mouth. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that you needed us or anything, I'm sure you can handle everything on your own, we just…" Another Changeling then started to talk. "We care for you, we know we're just exiles, but if your ever in need, then please use us in any way, we'll gladly give our lives for you even if we're not worthy."

Twilight felt happy that they felt that way, but she also felt uncomfortable that they valued their own lives so little. "Please don't give up your lives so easily, I don't want to see any of you get hurt because of me, I don't get why you'd want to  do so in the first place."

"That's why, no queen has ever cared for us as you have, and we're not even part of your hive, we're exiles, for a queen or princess to care so much for us even in that case, we want to keep you safe no matter what, please allow us to at least keep you safe, your highness." One of the Changelings said.

Twilight sighed as she realized they wouldn't budge on this. "Fine… But under one condition, none of you will do so by giving up your own life, I will only permit it if you find some way for yourselves to survive aswell, understood?"

The Changelings looked at each other, before they looked at her and in a collective voice, those that were there responded all together. "Understood your highness."

All of them talking at once as a single voice somehow disturbed Twilight slightly, but not as much as it would have before all this. "By the way, you said that no Queen has ever cared for any of you, does that mean that queen Chrysalis didn't care for any of you at all?" She then asked as a feeling of sadness came over her.

"Queen… Chrysalis?" One of the Changelings asked and they looked at each other as if questioning each other as that buzzing sound was heard once more. "Excuse us your highness, but what do you mean? The last queen Chrysalis in recording dates back a thousand years ago, the records state that she was a weak queen that tried to trick the ponies into trusting her and fail the war that came shortly after, there's been no sight of her or her hive after that, it's assumed that they all perished."

Twilight blinked for a moment, did they not know of the attack during the wedding? Sure it had only been a day or so and it had been covered up, but you'd think other Changelings would have at least have some way of finding out quickly… But then, it sounded like Chrysalis had kept her hive hidden for a whole millennium, even from her own kind… But that raised another question. "Wait, does that mean there are more queens then her?"

"But of course your highness." One of them said. "Currently we know of twelve queens out there, but there may be more then that, we're not exactly well informed you see."

Twilight frowned slightly, that meant that there could be plenty more attacks in the future, and if they had seen Chrysalis as weak back then, then who knew how strong an attack the others could create, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself, perhaps she was overthinking this, they hadn't attacked during all that time afterall, so perhaps they hadn't really thought of her as weak, but made her seem as such simply because she lost in their eyes.

"Your highness?" One of the Changelings said out of concern as Twilight seemed lost in thought.

Twilight looked at them with a small smile, as she remembered how Chrysalis had acted during the wedding and remembered the honest feelings she had shown, Twilight knew that Chrysalis at least cared deeply for her fellow Changelings because of that, why else would she have acted as such before she figured out who Twilight really was. "I see… So that means none of you are from Chrysalis' hive, so that means mother is kind afterall."

Some of the Changelings looked confused as others realized. "Your mother? Your highness, are you saying that queen Chrysalis is your mother? But how can that be? She vanished so long ago and she was seen as weak, yet your so powerful, no queen has ever bore a princess that was at most twice as strong, and those had been exceptions, so how can that be?"

"Well… It might have something to do with how I grew up, or perhaps because of my father." Twilight answered, not fully sure herself. "Also, I must admit that I don't actually know much about our own race… Or well, the Changelings side of myself I suppose." She admitted as she saw a few confused looks. "I was sorta… Taken, from my mother when I was born." She saw the anger in some of their eyes as they imagined who would have done so. "Ah! But not in spite or anything! I was taken in order to be protected, you see I was stillborn…" Twilight then told them about her past, but didn't mention any names or specifics.

"Wait, but wasn't the war against the ponies?" One of the Changelings suddenly asked.

"Well… Yeah, my godmother is actually… Luna." Twilight replied. "She was a close friend to my parents."

The Changelings conversed through the hivemind, before one of them looked at Twilight. "Excuse us your highness, but do you mean princess Luna? As in the Alicorn that became Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight was a bit nervous as she replied. "Well, yeah, but she only became as such because of a mistake Celestia made, she's back to normal now."

"What kind of mistake could cause that?" Once of them then asked, making Twilight sigh as she continued the story, deciding it was likely best to just tell them everything up to when she and her friends became the elements of friendship.

A hatred could be seen in the eyes of some of them once more. "How dare Celestia try to use you as some pawn! At least princess Luna wanted to protect you."

"Please don't do anything rash, I cut my connections with her by now… At least till I know if I can trust her or not in the future, but while she was misguided, I don't think she meant any harm with it, so please just… Don't do anything rash, alright?"

"… If that is what you want, your highness, but we won't forget, she did an injustice to you and your family, even her own sister, it is not something to easily forgive." One of the Changelings said, as the others nodded in agreement.

A small smile came back to Twilight. "That's fine, as long as none of you will do anything that will get you hurt, your free to think what you want afterall." Her smile faded a bit as she realized how late it was. "I suppose the night will be over soon, which means we should all wake up in a bit."

An awkward shuffle could be seen between the Changelings, as they didn't seem to want that. "W-will we see you again your highness?" One of them then asked.

Twilight paused for a moment, thinking about if she really should or not, but as she looked at their faces, she knew there was really just one choice here. "I'd like that, if I can find your dreams again, I'll be sure to visit them, but… I think I'd like to meet you all in real life aswell, but I don't know how to find you, so if your ever near a village called Ponyville, please come and visit me, I live at the library there, it's a big tree in the middle of the village, you can't miss it… Oh, and if  I'm not around, just ask somepony if they know where I am, the ponies there are really nice… Though you should have a disguise up of course, I don't know how they would react just yet."

The Changelings looked at each other and smiled. "We'll do just that your highness, we'll remember, we promise."

"I hope you do, it's hard to remember what happened during a dream, but knowing it's a dream seems to help… Ah! I just realized, I never gave you my name, I'm Twilight Starshine, though the ponies currently still only know me as Twilight Sparkle, but I don't want to use the Sparkle part anymore, since Celestia gave that name to me… Just call me Twilight though." Twilight then said as she got up.

"We will force our entire will into the hivemind to remember your highness, we will find you, you'll see." The Changeling she had talked to in the forest said.

It made Twilight chuckle slightly that they would use something like that just for her and wondered if it would work, if it did, then it was likely cheating slightly, but she didn't really care. "Now then, I should go to my dream palace before I wake up, I don't know yet if there's some kind of danger for me to wake up in somep… The dream of another without guidance." She then said as she made her way outside, she was a bit surprised at how short the distance out of this supposed hive with black walls once magically lit scones seemed to be, but more so by the normal looking village in the forest not much further from where she exited, but she decided to leave that for next time, for now she simply took to the sky in order to go back.



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Soon after, Twilight woke up in a bed not her own, for a moment she wondered where she was, but then she recalled she had fallen asleep at Luna's place, and now she started to recognize this room and bed, it was the room Luna had prepared for her if she ever decided to stay over or if they had made it a bit too late and it would have been simpler to just sleep there for the night, something that had happened once or twice when Twilight had gotten too absorbed into her reading while there.

Twilight looked out the window as night was starting to make way for day, she wondered for a moment if she should head back to her library straight away, just in case the Changelings actually did remember and would go there straight away, but she shook her head as surely they wouldn't come that quickly, plus there was a delicious smell in the air right now, Luna was making breakfast it seemed.

Once Twilight got down and went into the kitchen, she was greeted by Luna. "You kept yourself busy at night it seems, I could feel you go from dream to dream, though it stopped at one point, are you feeling better now?" Luna asked as she finished breakfast for them both, it was simple, just some eggs, some toast, a glass of freshly made orange juice and some deliciously looking montre bacon, just what Twilight enjoyed the most whenever she stayed over.

"Much better, though at first it was a bit… Tough, but the last dream made all the difference." Twilight replied as she then took a bite of one of the strips of bacon and let out an audible 'Hmm~'.

"Oh? Do tell." Luna said in reply before taking a sip from her juice.

Twilight swallowed her bite. "I found a dream of a Changeling, it was amazing Luna, even as they dream all them are connected together into one dream, and they accepted me right away, they didn't even care that I was a hybrid." She decided to not tell Luna about the ancient danger she had faced however, that would likely just cause her to worry for her, and right now she didn't need any other issues.

Luna just stared at her blankly for a moment however. "Did… Did you just say you went into the dream of a Changeling?"

Twilight felt slightly uncomfortable about how that was said. "Y-yeah, why? You don't think that was a bad thing to do… Do you?" She was slightly afraid of how Luna might answer, even if she knew that Luna didn't have any bad feelings about Changelings.

Luna was surprised at how Twilight reacted. "Bad? Twilight, why would I ever think that? That's not it at all, in fact it's amazing! I've never been able to visit the dreams of anything but ponies, you’re the first dream walker to ever go into the dreams of other races! … Well, that we know of anyway, I'm not even sure if they might have had dream walkers of their own or not."

Twilight sighed out of relief and internally berated herself for thinking even for a moment that Luna would have a issue with this. "I really need to stop thinking this way."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Luna asked in response.

"Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud…" Twilight let out another sigh. "I just, seem to always expect the worst to happen when something happens that I can't control, or if something goes badly…"

"I see, in other words you've got a pessimistic view of life." Luna replied as she thought for a moment. "Perhaps something an old friend of mine had once said could be of use to you then, he too expected the worst to happen, in fact he expected it to happen even if things went right, yet he never seemed to fear it happening, when I asked him about it, he simply told me that he always expected the worst, but hoped for the best, this way he was never unprepared, but he was also able to enjoy it when things went right." She then recalled something and chuckled. "In fact, it almost seemed like he enjoyed it the most if something did happen, since then he could solve it and guide it to the best possible outcome he could manage, he once told me it's like solving a really hard puzzle sometimes."

Twilight pondered this for a moment. "I suppose it does feel good to solve a hard puzzle… But I don't know if I could think of my own issues as such…"

Luna smiled. "I doubt many could think of it in the same way he could, but still, what he said could still be of use to you, since you may never get rid of expecting the worst, but perhaps you could add to it instead and hope for the best aswell, if nothing else, it may just take away some of your fears for when something goes wrong."

"I… I'll think about it." Twilight replied before she ate the last of her meal. "Thanks for breakfast, as always, but I should head back to the library now."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "So soon? Normally you'd want to spend some more time before heading back, is something the matter?"

Twilight started to clean up her plate and glass as she replied. "Not really, it's just that I told those Changelings that they could come to the library if they remembered once they wake up, I doubt they'll actually show up, but I'd like to be there just in case."

Luna thought for a moment. "You asked them to come here? Hmm, I hope they know to disguise themselves, I doubt anypony here would really do anything bad to them, but ponies can be quite… Reserved, about what they don't know, though they also seem to adapt quite quickly these days, perhaps that's because of Zecora, once they knew she just looked a little different but wasn't really, they seemed to understand slightly that you shouldn't judge another for their appearances… If only other villages and towns thought the same."

"Oh, I made sure they knew just in case, though I doubt they wouldn't have anyway." Twilight answered. "And I think you living here has been part of that change aswell, it's not everyday a pony gets to see that an Alicorn is the same as them, yet here it's normal at this point."

Luna chuckled slightly. "Fair enough, well then, I suppose I should go back to Canterlot for a bit, your friends and family will likely want to hear your feeling better after I left them." She missed Twilight flinch when she mentioned them however, as Luna was cleaning up her plate and glass by now aswell.

They then said their goodbyes to each other as they head off to their own destinations, and as she walked to the library, Twilight started to notice a buzzing sound in her head.