//------------------------------// // Escaping a Trap // Story: Beauty Lies Within // by MiraculousDragonMaster //------------------------------// Beauty Lies Within Chapter 10 Escaping a Trap Soon, the girls were back on the train, heading back home to Ponyville. Their girls' weekend out couldn't have been better. "That was the best trip ever!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, almost bouncing up and down in her seat. "Yeah, it was pretty awesome." Rainbow Dash agreed, who had her arms crossed behind her head. But then, she sighed heavily, bringing her arms down. "It's too bad that I have to head back to training tomorrow. The team has to be ready for our performance for the Gala." "Oh, but I was so hoping that you would wear the dress that I made for you for the Gala." Rarity said. She gestured over to one of her trucks where the dresses she had finished in Canterlot were in. "Yeah, sorry about that, Rare." Dash apologized while rubbing the back of her head. "To be honest, I was actually looking forward to getting dressed up this year, so that I can hang out with you girls instead of just staying in my uniform with the Wonderbolts and the other VIPs." "And maybe to also impress a certain Wonderbolt friend of yours?" The prim and proper girl teased with a mischievous smile. Rainbow blushed bright red and glared at her. "I thought we moved past that." She said through her gritted teeth. "I'm only teasing you, darling." She assured her. "If you know that you don't feel anything else or if you're not sure about the situation, I won't argue." "You Pinkie Promise?" Dash asked. Rarity nodded while doing the promise gesture. "Hey, girls." Pinkie Pie said, pointing out the window. "Spike and that guard, Flash Sentry, are waiting for us." All the girls looked out the window and sure enough, Spike and Flash were waiting over at the station. "That's strange." Twilight said to herself. "If I wanted them to meet us at the station, I would've let them known ahead of time." The train then pulled into the station, and the girls gathered their bags and headed out of the passenger coach they were in. "Howdy there, Spike." Applejack greeted with a bright smile. "Glad you girls are back." Spike said with a smile. But to AJ, there was something off about him that she couldn't put a finger on. Twilight turned over to Flash, giving him a smile. "You guys didn't have to wait for us." She said. "Well, when Spike told me that you and the others will be coming back today, we both decided to wait for you." Flash answered. Twilight still wasn't so convinced about what he had said, but she still kept on her grin. "Well, that's very nice of the two of you." "Also, it seems that there are some others who wanted to welcome you all as well." Spike added. "Really?" Fluttershy asked. "Who?" "You'll see." Flash answered as they began leaving the train station. "Ooh, I just love surprises!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly as she skipped along the path, while everyone else just walked along. Soon enough, strangely, they arrived on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. "Uh, why are we here?" Rainbow Dash asked. No sooner did she say that, three more figures came out of the thorny briars, all of them familiar. "Soarin'?" Rainbow asked, seeing her teammate here. She was about to go over to him and ask what was he doing here, but she suddenly felt a weird vibe coming from him. "Cheese?" Pinkie saw her fellow party planner. For some reason, a smile didn't appear on her face when she saw him. "Fancy?" Rarity was surprised to see him this far away from Canterlot and this close to the forest. This doesn't seem like him at all. "Um, what are you all doing here?" Fluttershy asked, seeing how confused her friends were to see the presumed objects of their affections this far from town. "We wanted to introduce you to someone new." Fancy answered, making Rarity feel a little more suspicious. Suddenly, her arm was engulfed in bright green magic that was being emitted from Fancy's hand and was starting to get pulled towards him, making her drop her bags. "Fancy! What are you doing?!" Rarity demanded. Suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine. This wasn't Fancy Pants; for two reasons. One, he would never do something like this, and two, his magic was a pale yellow, not green. Twilight shot out a blast of raspberry colored magic from her own hand at Fancy, making him release his magic grip on Rarity. Due to the magic, the imposter revealed himself as a changeling. The girls all gasped. "A changeling?" Twilight asked, not believing her eyes. "We thought you might do this the heard way." Flash said with a frightening grin. One by one, the other four revealed their true changeling forms. Quickly, they all spat out green goo at the girls' feet, immobilizing them and their travel bags fell to the ground. Rainbow Dash struggled to break free by flying up. But the goop only stretched up, keeping her from going anywhere. "What are changelings doing here?" She asked. "I thought we had defeated them!" Twilight fired blast after blast at her sticky chains, but it seems it's stronger and more durable than it appears. "I don't know!" Suddenly, two aqua blasts of magic appeared from nowhere and hit two of the changelings, knocking them out. The other two scanned the area, trying to pinpoint where they came from. Twilight saw this as her opportunity and fired at one of the remaining changelings. The last one tried to charge at them, but Rainbow intercepted him and gave him a strong uppercut, knocking him out. "Are you guys okay?" A familiar voice asked. The girls then saw a girl their age with light purple skin, lighter than Twilight's, wavy hair of a darker shade and an aqua streak tied into a ponytail down to her ankles, and purple eyes with eyeshadow on her eyelids a darker tint than her skin color. She wore a pink beanie on her head, careful of her pony ears, a purple and aqua shirt with a black vest, gray pants with a few holes in them, and black shoes. On her right wrist was a watch with her signature purple star. "Starlight!" The girls cried out happily, seeing their friend. "What are you doing here?" Applejack asked as they all shared a group hug with Starlight Glimmer. "We came here to warn you girls." Another voice spoke up. A young man with light green skin, purple bug-like eyes, and sparkly purple bug wings came up. He wore a casual red dress shirt and dark green pants. "Nice to see you again, Thorax." Twilight greeted the good changeling. A year ago, they discovered Thorax and a small group of other reformed changelings that had enough of Chrysalis' cruelty. They were drawn to the Crystal Empire after Flurry Heart was born, and they gained the people's trust, giving them a new and nicer appearance, and Thorax was appointed king. "Warn us about what?" Fluttershy said, still a little shaken. Thorax used his magic to destroy the goop around their feet, while Starlight used hers to tie up the bad changelings. "It seems Chrysalis is finally returning." Starlight said. "Oh, come on!" Rainbow groaned. "And she seems to be targeting you six for some reason." Thorax added. "Why us?" Rarity asked. "Could it be for revenge?" Pinkie Pie guessed. "We don't know for sure, but what matters is that you girls are in danger." Starlight said. "We handled Chrysalis before." Applejack said. "We can take her on again." "You said it, AJ." Dash added. "But, we don't know where she is." Twilight said. "Or when she will strike next, if she is back." "So, what can we do?" Fluttershy asked. "Hide." Starlight suggested. "Hide where she won't find you, and stay hidden until Thorax, Sunburst, and I find where she's hiding and what she is up to." "Hide?" Rainbow squawked, not believing what was said. "Since when do we hide from a villain?" "As much as I'm also against this, we don't have a choice." Twilight said. "We need to try to draw Chrysalis out and see what is she planning. And the best way for them to find her is if we're out of her reach." "But, where can we go?" Rarity questioned. "There's one place." Twilight turned behind them and towards the forest. "Through the Everfree Forest?" The girls, excluding Starlight, asked. "Through the Everfree Forest." Twilight confirmed. "But, we all don't have good memories about that place." Fluttershy whimpered. "We have to get as deep in the forest as we can." Twilight said. "The deeper into the forest we hide, the harder it will be for Chrysalis to find us." The other girls looked at each other, and quickly realized that they really don't have a choice. "You both know what you are doing?" Applejack asked Starlight and Thorax. "We do." Thorax assured her. "It will only be for a little while." Rarity then sighed. "Then, we wish you the best of luck." She said. Starlight gave them a tiny smile. "I'll only inform Celestia and Luna about what is going on, so that they will be alert and take caution." "Okay." Twilight said, as she magically lifted her bags, along with Rarity. "I hope we'll see you guys again soon." The other five girls also said their own goodbyes to Starlight Glimmer and Thorax, got their bags off the ground, and then all six of them ran into the Everfree Forest. Starlight watched her close friends disappear into the forbidden woods. She then turned over to the captive changelings. "I think it's time we get some answers now." She said to the good changeling king beside her. "I think so, too." Thorax agreed as he used his magic to levitate the bad changelings.