It was a broad, empty, and ill-lit chamber, one of many rooms in the Castle of Friendship that Twilight never used. But it seemed, with the most unexpected guests delivered to her doorstep by the royal guard, the room would finally serve a purpose. There were grave and private matters to be discussed, and questions that needed answers. Some answers that the princess herself could provide, and some that she would learn before this day was through.
“I’m glad you decided to come here, and not just go into hiding, Diane,” Twilight smiled at the young changeling queen and her companion, “It gives me a chance to… try to explain what happened.”
“The Royals threw me in Tartarus,” The pink, insectile abomination said with a scowl, “what’s there to explain? I was already in the dungeon, they couldn’t even wait for me to stand trial?”
“That’s not what happened Diane, I’ve explained that already,” the colt, Dayglow Neon, explained, drawing a pointed look from the Princess of Friendship, “Stand In acted behind Celestia’s back to have you exiled. That’s why they disbanded the Caterlot Hive.”
“We’ll get to how exactly you know that little fact in a few minutes, Mr. Neon,” Twilight huffed, before continuing in gentler tones, “He’s not wrong though Diane. Celestia and Luna never intended to have you banished. You were supposed to be sent here. They wanted you to recover the spark of love and friendship that we all know is inside you. They wanted you to be healed and made whole again.”
“Then why did they leave me in Tartarus?” Diane’s scorn gave way to genuine hurt.
“None of us wanted that, Diane.” Twilight shook her head sadly. “But once it was done, and once the word was leaked to the noble houses…”
The bright blue colt cut in when Twilight paused, “She caused too much political unrest, that was it, wasn’t it? The changelings she’d killed were masquerading as Canterlot nobility, hiding behind their own security. Diane demonstrated, without even realizing it, that she could walk straight past their guards and take any of them, out any time she wanted. And once Diane was banished, they wouldn’t stand for her to just be let back out, not knowing the threat she posed to them personally.”
Twilight winced, “Again, you’re not wrong… Diane, I need to talk with your new friend, and there’s someone here who very much wants to talk to you.”
“D-Diane?” A timid, buzzing voice echoed throughout the chamber. “Has Z-978’s sister really come back? Why does she look the way she looks? Diane should not look so scary! She will frighten her niece, the Zillia!”
“Z… I…” Were the only words the little changeling had time to utter before all response was lost in her sister’s warm embrace.”
-=-=-=-=-
“Who, and or what, are you?” Twilight cast her suspicious gaze of the blue colt. “A quick scan of thaumatic web seems to indicate that you’re just an adolescent colt, any pony who didn’t have reason to suspect otherwise probably wouldn’t bother looking any closer.”
“But you did… look closer, I mean…” The colt sat calmly, reclined in his chair in singularly peculiar pose.
“The tells are pretty obvious, to any pony with any experience with transformed humans,” Twilight responded coolly, “an your kind aren’t nearly as rare in Equestria as they once were. But that’s the problem. Transformation magic leaves traces, scars if you will. Your thaumatic web, at least on the surface seems to indicate you were born a pony. But you weren’t born in that body.” It wasn’t a question and Twilight didn’t wait for an answer. “No… you didn’t just run astray of any common transformation spell. But that’s not what bothers me the most.”
Twilight pulled a journal from nearby shelf, “No, I’ve seen this kind of transformation, before. And unless I miss my guess, if I look into the matter deeply enough, I’ll find a colt listed as either missing or deceased matching your description exactly.”
“I dunno, probably?” The colt shrugged. “But you said yourself that wasn’t even what really bothered you.”
“I said it wasn’t what bothered me most, “ Twilight corrected, “Which is a far cry from my being ‘okay’ with a certain pony abducting humans to exploit other ponies grief… but that’s already being taken care of by other ponies.”
“Come out and say it, your majesty.” The colt waved a hoof impatiently. “I’m not exactly qualified to play twenty questions on the subject of magical anomalies.”
“Unlike Canterlot politics?” Twilight nearly snarled. “It’s a funny thing about humans, your ‘prophecies’, your ‘spoilers’ as you call them, are always colored like the future history of a foals story book. You may know future in sometimes shocking detail, but humans don’t come with subtle, nuanced insight into our nation's politics. ‘Twilight and her friends defeated a horrible monster’, yes. ‘The disgraced changeling princess was exile for these specific political reasons’, not so much.”
“Yeah, my spoilers are on a whole ‘nuther playing field.” The colt flashed a wicked grin.
“Which brings me to the one big thing.” Twilight looked on the colt with undisguised suspicion as she spoke. “There’s a second layer to your thaumatic web… on the surface it tells me, ‘Hi, I’m a perfectly normal pegasus pony’. And when I look deeper, instead of what I SHOULD be seeing, the complex deep-web of a normal pony, or even what I might EXPECT to see, the scrambled web of a human soul crammed into the body of a pony… I just see words. Thousands and thousands of words. Do you even understand the implications?”
“I highly doubt it.” The colt shrugged. “I’m kinda dense. But it doesn’t really surprise me all that much. I’m not sure what you should see, but it makes sense you’d see words.”
“MAKES SENSE?!?!” The irate purple alicorn screamed. “I should be gazing into your very soul, and instead it’s like reading a detailed description of what a soul SHOULD look like! WHAT ARE YOU?”
“You’re asking the wrong question, your highness.” The colt smiled coyly. “Honestly, you missed the most obvious question from the very start…”
“How did you get Diane out of Tartarus?” Twilight asked numbly, realization beginning to dawn.
“Simple, I asked her where she wanted to go,” the colt-thing replied easily, “and then I asked what she wanted to take with her.”
Twilight Sparkle's mouth moved, and though no sound emerged, the words were crystal clear, “The Text.”