The sun had just barely breached the horizon, casting the orange glow of morning across the tall, rocky peak of the mountain upon which Canterlot resided. Songbirds were roused from their slumber and, true to their name, sang their morning songs into the crisp, gradually warming air. Here and there, ponies were started to emerge from their homes, having gotten up at some point before sunrise to get an early start on their day. A few stray animals occasionally could be seen moving through the streets, looking for scraps and handouts.
Somewhere amid the slow and sleepy shufflings of Canterlot, secluded among back-alleys and popular establishments, just outside of an old, barely used warehouse, stood a skinny unicorn stallion with a dull blue coat, a black mane and tail and green eyes. On his flank was a cutie mark of a calligraphy pen drawing a thick line of ink in a graceful series of curves. On his back was a pair of basic, unassuming saddlebags with only a few basic items; a notebook, a pen set, and a small, unassuming black beetle on a string.
The stallion took a long, deep breath of the early morning air before letting it back out with a heavy sigh. It had been barely seven in the morning when he had been told to come here as quickly as possible. The pony shook himself a bit before reaching up with a hoof and knocking on the locked door of the warehouse. A few seconds passed in silence before the door opened just a crack, prevented from opening any further due to a thick chain securing the handles on the other side. The creature that gazed back at the pony narrowed it’s glowing violet eyes at him, looking annoyed before the door snapped shut again. There were a few seconds where the sounds of rattling chains and clinking metal could be heard before the door swung open with a loud creak.
“You’re late,” the creature said in a rough, guttural voice that was ever so slightly distorted into two tones. Its eyes were still the only thing visible to the pony as it ducked back into the darkness of the warehouse to avoid being seen by any potential onlookers. “Get in here, quick.”
The pony nodded, anxious, and stepped inside while closing the door behind him. He looked at the two orbs of purple light that glared back at him with scrutiny and flinched away somewhat.
“Drop your disguise, Thorax. We still have work to do.” the creature growled out bluntly before the two eyes turned away and the creature they belonged to moved deeper into the nearly pitch-black interior of the building. Two other sets of eyes could be seen ahead of it, both of them narrowed in irritation and impatience.
“R-right, give me a second…” the pony, now identified as Thorax, nodded timidly before closing his eyes and concentrating. A moment later, he was consumed in a swirl of green fire that faded just as quickly as it came. In the place of the pony that had been standing there was something completely different. He was creature of equine origins, unquestionably, with the same basic body shape and proportions as the typical pony. However, instead of a colorful coat of brightly colored fur, he was covered from horn to hoof in pitch-black chitin. His forelegs were covered with smooth circular holes that went all the way through, yet this peculiar structure did not hinder his ability to move in the slightest. Atop his head was a slightly curved horn that came to a sharp tip, and on his back buzzed a pair of insectile wings tinted in a light blue. When his eyes opened, there were no iris’ or pupils; just a pale blue orb that was somewhat brighter in the center in place of pupils.
“Hurry up, Thorax! We’re starting over here!” the other creature, visually almost identical to Thorax save for its eyes, called out.
“Sorry! I’m coming, Pharynx!” Thorax answered while breaking into a gallop for the other side of the room. Two other creatures, both with Thorax’s color scheme, came into view and glared impatiently as he came to a stop before them. “Sorry, I got turned around on the way.”
“We don’t want excuses, Thorax! Now shut up and put down your beetle.” One of the other creatures snapped in a scratchy voice, its wings buzzing with impatience. Thorax shied away but did as commanded. His horn lit up with sickly green magic, and the small, beetle-like object came drifting out of his saddlebags, held in a similarly sickly-green aura. He placed it on the ground at his hooves at a specific angle, then stepped back.
“Finally!” Pharynx grunted while placing his own beetle down as well. “Now we can get started.”
“Cut the chatter!” The one that had snapped at Thorax a moment ago snarled. “All of you. Let Spiracle give her report.”
The fourth creature, Spiracle, gulped audibly and nodded. The four beetles on the floor hummed with energy before they all snapped open their shells simultaneously. A putrid green stream of energy ran from one to the next until all four had formed a circuit. The four beetles then began to redirect the flow of energy into a point in the center of the square they created. The energy began to swell and grow, rising into the air as a sphere of undulating light.
A voice spoke from the sphere, and Thorax cringed away in fear. “You’re contacting me rather early, aren’t you?” the voice asked, feminine, curious and condescending. The other creatures visibly twitched with discomfort and anxiety when they heard her voice, but all held their ground.
“Forgive us if our message comes at a bad time, my queen,” the leader of the creatures said with a deep bow. “But Spiracle has made an important discovery. We may not need to wait as long as we thought to put our plans fully into motion.”
There was a hum of interest and consideration from the sphere as Spiracle slowly came forwards. “Y-your m-majesty,” she stuttered out, keeping her head low. “I overhead Princesses Celestia and Luna talking to each other yesterday while on infiltration. A-apparently, Celestia’s adoptive daughter, Rainbow Dash, is missing.”
The voice hummed again. “That is interesting news, to be sure, but how does that help our plan?” it asked with an edge of impatience.
Spiracle cowered to the floor. “U-um, Princess Rainbow Dash is one of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. If she’s missing, then w-we may have a window of attack where Equestria’s greatest weapon is useless.”
“I see… I take it you did your research to confirm this information?” the voice of the queen asked, an eager edge in her words.
“Y-yes, your majesty. I checked archived newspapers alongside Stinger, We can confirm that Rainbow Dash is one of the elements of harmony. As for her really being missing…”
“I had one of our scouts take a pass by Ponyville where she lives. Spiracle’s information holds true; Princess Rainbow Dash is not there and the inhabitants don’t seem to know where she’s gone and disappeared to.” Stinger, the leader of the four, answered with a firm nod.
The voice was silent before a sadistic chuckle worked its way through her. “I see… very well done, Spiracle. With such a powerful weapon now rendered obsolete, we can move our operation forward significantly faster than planned! You would do well to learn from her example, Thorax.” she said, spitting out the name as if it were distasteful.
Thorax bowed deeply, slamming his eyes shut and quivering with terror. “Y-yes, of course! I’ll try my best, your majesty!”
“Good. Pharynx! Stinger!” the voice barked.
“Yes, my queen?” Pharynx and Stinger both stood tall, ready for orders.
“I want you two to begin priming Canterlot for my arrival. Contact the forces in the caverns and start replacing the ponies of the city watch wherever you can. Try to replace ponies with loved ones in the city as a priority; spouses, friends, foals, it doesn’t matter. So long as they have somepony who loves them back with all their heart, they are a viable target. Collect that love and store it in the caves: We will be needing the meal before we begin the next step,” The Queen explained before her face became visible in the swirling ball of green magic. A ragged lock of a dark-teal mane hung over her reptilian eyes, which gleamed with predatory excitement. She licked her sharp fangs with a long tongue in anticipation. “I shall arrive within the week with a suitably large force. Make sure we are ready.”
“It shall be done, Queen Chrysalis. Canterlot won’t know what’s going on until it is far too late to stop us!” Pharynx thumped a hoof on his chest with a grin appearing.
“Good… soon enough Canterlot will fall, and so too will all of Equestria, and the changelings will be able to feed on their love for generations!” Chrysalis cooed before leaning back and laughing long and loud. The sphere of green magic spluttered, twisted, and then winked out of existence, plunging the warehouse into darkness.
Okay… I can do this. Rainbow Dash thought as she looked up at the sign of Tinker’s Bits and Bobs with a small tremble of trepidation in her chest. It was around eight in the morning and the shop had just opened about twenty minutes ago. Rainbow had snuck out of the hotel room, careful to not wake Twilight, before coming down here. She knew that this wasn’t really necessary of her, not at all, but it would make her feel better. She took a deep breath before reaching out to the door and pushing it open.
“Oh, good morning, there! Welcome to ‘Tinder’s Bits and Bobs,’ home of just about every knick-knack, thingamajig, and MacGuffin under the sun, at one point or another!” the voice of the owner called out from not far to Rainbow Dash’s right. “If you need help finding anything, just lemme know!”
Rainbow smiled at the mare, who was sorting out some of her merchandise on a table. “Hi! Uh, I am actually looking for something specific… well, somepony would be more accurate, I guess…” she said awkwardly before rubbing the back of her head with a forehoof.
Tinder glanced up with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, well, I don’t sell ponies, so…”
“What?!” Rainbow blinked and then waved her hooves in front of her dismissively. “No no no! That’s not what I-”
Tinder chuckled slightly, cutting Rainbow off before offering a sheepish shrug. “Sorry. My sense of humor is kinda whacky in the morning.”
Rainbow’s cheeks tinted a bit at realizing she had actually fallen for that, then cleared her throat. “Ahem… uh, I’m looking for somepony that works here. Purple unicorn?”
The corners of Tinder’s lips turned down into a frown, and she analyzed Rainbow a bit more intently. “What’d you say your name was again?”
“I didn’t. I’m Lilac Bolt,” Rainbow lied, her eyes briefly looking at one of the long locks of her still dyed mane. “And, uh, I may have given the pony a bit of a bad first impression.”
“Say something nasty to her?” Tinder asked with her brow furrowing a bit.
“Not exactly. I, well…” Rainbow took a moment before sighing slightly. “...I mistook her for somepony else, somepony I don’t like. It showed through, I guess, and I know that she didn’t like what she saw. I want to apologize to her.”
Tinder made an ‘o’ with her mouth before shaking her head. “Well, I dunno how to tell you this, but Starlight- oh, that’s her name, by the way,” she added sheepishly. “Isn’t here right now. She’s gonna be out of town for a few weeks. Used up all of her vacation days, she did.”
“Oh…” Rainbow muttered quietly before looking away.
“Yeh. Said something real nice and poetic about paying her past a visit or something.”
Rainbow felt her heart stop for a moment. Her blood began to run cold in her veins and she felt the beginnings of a cold sweat. “Uh… I’m s-sorry, what was that? I z-zoned out.” she lied, barely able to keep the shaking out of her voice.
Tinder’s frown deepened. “Uh… I said that Starlight made some real nice and poetic speech about visiting her past or something before she left to book her train tickets,” she stepped around the table and approached Rainbow carefully, eyeing her up and down. “Hey, you okay? You’re shaking something fierce.”
Rainbow’s eyes darted left to right frantically. “I… I have to go!” she suddenly blurted before rocketing out of the front door of the shop fast enough to knock it off of its hinges.
“Whoah! Hey!” Tinder shouted upon seeing her door now detached from the frame. She glared outside, eager to give that crazy filly a good hard scolding, but discovered she had already disappeared. “...What got into her?”
Outside, Rainbow was moving as fast as her wings could carry her for the window that would lead her to her hotel room. She was hyperventilating, her mind racing with a million thoughts a minute. Soon enough, she found her window and forcefully pulled it open.
“Twilight!” She shouted into the room as soon as she was in, startling the unicorn in question out of her sleep. Twilight yelped in alarm as she fell sideways off of the bed. She hauled herself back up, rubbing her eyes and shooting Rainbow a severely annoyed glare. The ire in her eyes gave way to worry when she saw just how distraught Rainbow was.
“Rainbow, what’s wrong?” she asked, standing up and cantering around her bed.
Rainbow took a deep, shaky breath before answering in a quivering, almost frantic voice. “Get the others. We have a problem!"