Mimic pushed her way out of the tent and turned south.
Stupid that I thought they could help. She thought, casting her gaze over the haggard looking ponies moving between the tents and shabby structures of the makeshift camp. Both of the princesses were beaten. If I’d just behaved. Queen Lirian’s dead now. I should just take Effigy and go. Only one guard outside, and just because Effigy’s horn is broken doesn’t mean he can’t fly.
The guard in question didn’t seem all that attentive. An Earth pony. Tougher than pegasi or unicorns, but there wasn’t anything he could do to stop them once they got airborne.
She’d be leaving Scootaloo and Thistleroot to their own devices, but hadn’t that always been the plan? Once she got what she wanted, she didn’t care if she ever saw them again. Hadn’t she even threatened to kill Scootaloo if the pegasus hadn’t lived up to her end of the bargain? Which she hadn’t.
It wasn’t her fault. Well, at least no more than mine. She’s not that bad, for a pony. I can let her slide.
As for Thistleroot, she’d only just met him. Admittedly, she owed him. He could have left her behind when she was hurt, but he hadn’t. He’d made sure Celestia’s magic protected them both when the tower fell, and then they faced Star Shine together.
Her stomach twisted. Then there was that. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew why he was being so talkative, so annoying during their trek to Ponyville. He was distracting her, keeping her from dwelling on what had happened.
She shook her head. What are you, some snivelling pony? You shouldn’t get so hung up on what happened.
She sighed, and another, unwelcome thought intruded. Lirian would have been proud.
She ground a hoof into the dirt. She did what she had to, but she didn’t enjoy it. She was different from the queen that way, wasn’t she? She hadn’t had a choice.
She noticed the guard was looking at her now, and she realized she’d been standing in the middle of the dirt path for a solid minute, staring at him. She sighed and strode forward. The pony shifted his weight.
“Al told me you’d let me in.”
The guard considered her a moment longer and then shrugged. She moved past him into the tent. The inside was split into halves, separated by a rough wall of evenly spaced wooden planks. The gaps between planks were large enough to see the other side, but not enough for her to slip through. The floor and walls of the tent were sewn together, the material tough enough that a prisoner would have a tough time tearing through. The pen wasn’t enough to hold much, but it seemed up to the task of containing its only inhabitant, lying on a mattress in the center of the room.
The changeling looked up from inside the pen as she entered. Not just a changeling. Effigy. Her older brother.
He gave her a quick once over and then put his head back where it had been resting on his front hooves, no glimmer of recognition in his bored eyes. Mimic felt a twinge of remorse in her chest, and a rush of anger toward Scootaloo.
Of course he wouldn’t recognize her. Not when she looked like this. Not without his magic. His horn was broken at the base, jagged.
She glanced back at the door of the tent to be sure the guard hadn’t followed her in, and then she dropped her disguise.
Effigy looked up again, eyes open wide. “Mimic?” He leapt to his feet, a smile stretching across his face.
She walked over to the wooden cage. “Hello, Effigy.”
“What are you doing here? I thought you’d be back at the hive?”
“I came to rescue you, moron.”
“Oh, right. Okay.” He took a few steps back from the wooden planks. “Go for it.”
“Not right now,” Mimic said, glancing at the entrance to the tent again. She took on the pony form again, just in case. “It’ll be easier when everyone’s asleep.” Or if she could get the ponies to let him go without a fight, but she chose not to mention that. Too much to explain.
“Good point,” Effigy said. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re here. This is great.”
“Yes,” Mimic said, a smile coming to her own face. “How have you been treated?”
“No complaints,” Effigy said. “I mean, besides the obvious.” He pointed at his broken horn.
“Yes. I heard about that.” Her face fell again.
“It’s not that bad, really,” he said. “I mean, it kind of is, but considering everything going on, it could be worse, right?”
“How much of what’s going on do you know?”
“Enough. The guards talk to each other, and I guess they assume I already know or they just don’t care. At this point they figure there’s more to worry about than me. I know Queen Rosalia came back with something way more powerful, and that this new queen has basically declared it open season on ponies. And there’s no princess Celestia or Luna to stop us. No elements either. We’ll be able to do whatever we want, and not have to worry about dead weight as much, right?”
Mimic nodded slowly. “But why didn’t anybody free you before now?”
Effigy faltered. “Well, I’m sure they’re busy. I figured eventually someone would come help. And here you are, right?”
“Right.”
“We’ll do it this time, Mimic. Just like Chrysalis and Lirian always said.”
“Right…”
Effigy plopped down, resting his head on his hooves again. “Ah, Mimic. I almost had her, you know?”
“Had who?”
“The pony that broke my horn. I was this close.” He picked his head back up and moved his hooves so that they were an inch apart.
“Oh. I hadn’t really heard any details. Just that it had happened and that the pony responsible was the one who betrayed Queen Chrysalis and got her locked away in the moon.”
Effigy nodded. “Yeah, her. Scootaloo was her name. It’s a shame it worked out how it did. It really was one of my better works. I wasn’t supposed to hurt her at first, right? At least, not physically. Queen Lirian wanted me to isolate her, cut her off from her friends. That way when she was replaced, no one would notice. So I took the place of one of her friends. Someone no one would miss, right? I pretended to be her and lured him out of the city where we were waiting to ambush him. Traded him to the crusaders for their long term replacement plans and then pretended to be him.”
“Mhmm,” Mimic mused, thinking on it. One of Scootaloo’s friends? “Thistleroot?”
“Yeah, that was his name. Real loud mouth.”
Mimic chuckled. “Yes, he is.”
Effigy gave her a puzzled look. “You know him?”
“We met during the fight, just before Canterlot was destroyed.”
“Oh, okay. Did you get him?”
Mimic hesitated, taken aback. That’s right, he didn’t know yet that she’d been working with ponies. “Uhh… no. He got away.”
“Aw. That’s too bad.”
“Hey, Effigy. Have you ever… killed a pony?”
“Sure, once. No, twice, but the second time didn’t really count. I prefer not to, but sometimes you have to as an Infiltrator, right?” Effigy shrugged. “Guess you never had to as a Gatherer?”
“No. So, after…” Mimic paused.
“Hmm?”
“Never mind.”
Effigy gave her a bemused look. “You okay? They were just ponies. They’d do the same to us in a heartbeat.”
“Not all of them,” Mimic said, too quietly for him to hear.
“Come on, cheer up. It’s getting close to bedtime, so I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Mimic hesitated. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“We need to be careful. I don’t know if the ponies trust me yet, and if I try to break you out while I’m being watched, it could mean neither of us escape.”
Effigy pondered that a moment. “Yeah, okay. I guess I can wait a few more days. Then we get out of here, and it’s me and you against the world, just like always, right?” He stuck a hoof between the wooden slats.
Mimic bumped his hoof with her own. “Yes. I’ll be back soon.”
She turned and left the tent.
Effigy and Mimic against the world. He was the only one who really cared for her, ever since her parents had died. He was the only one she could trust. Right?
Changelings were winning. The fact that he couldn’t shapeshift anymore was only a minor hindrance. They could do as they pleased. Nothing could stop them. Right?
Nocturne’s presence in the world was good for Changelings. Without their normal protections, ponies would have to rely on the ones they loved. And with that much love in the air, changelings would become even more powerful. None of the ponies could stand in their way. It was everything she could have asked for.
Right?
“Mimic!”
Mimic was snapped out of her contemplation by the sound of her name. Her head snapped up to find Scootaloo trotting toward her.
In her distraction, she hadn’t noticed herself walking aimlessly toward the edge of the camp. She also hadn’t noticed the sun had set, leaving her surroundings lit only by a few sputtering torches along the newly worn dirt path.
“Scootaloo,” she said in greeting.
“Hey,” Scootaloo said, glancing away. “So, I know things got crazy there.”
“An understatement, but yes.”
“And, uh. I guess we both know by now that I can’t live up to my end of the bargain.”
“No, you can’t.”
“I talked with Al Akazam, or I guess Starswirl, according to Thistleroot. Not really sure how that works. But anyway, the guards have been notified that you’re free to take your brother whenever you want. Nopony will stop you. It’s really the best I can do until we save the princesses.”
“Well, it’s better than nothing, I suppose. I guess I don’t have to kill you.”
“Uh, right,” Scootaloo said, half grinning, as though not sure if that was a joke or not. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you. If it weren’t for you, I never would have made it back.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
Scootaloo gave her a full smile. “Good luck. I hope we see each other again someday.”
Mimic tilted her head, confused by the smile and the sentiment. “Why?”
“Well because we’re… I mean, I had thought…” Scootaloo’s cheeks flushed. “I thought we might be friends now.”
Mimic paused. She asked, more to herself than to Scootaloo, “Are we?”
*****
Scootaloo met with Starshine a little more than an hour later. Apple Bloom was there already, with Sweetie Belle and Thistleroot, both seeming a bit out of it. All three had a pair of full saddle bags.
“Where’s Mimic?” Thistleroot asked, wincing at the sound of his own words.
“With her brother, I would guess,” she said. As she did, she felt warmth flood into her face again, and worked to shove the embarrassment aside.
“Everypony here?” Starswirl asked, stepping out of the tent. Spike followed closely behind him, wearing his own pack. He circled around Starswirl to stand beside Scootaloo. Starswirl looked at the five of them. “So, you’re all going, then?”
Everypony nodded and Starswirl continued. “Like I told Scootaloo, there’s one place in all of Equestria that might have information on this Nocturne character. At least it’s the oldest place I know of. Locked up tight. I never managed to get in, so honestly I don’t expect you to manage either. But hey, I’ve seen stranger.”
“Have you ever considered becoming a motivational speaker?” Thistleroot asked.
“Shut it, kid. Anyway, I’m sending you to a little town called Greenhaven Grotto. Anypony asks, just tell them Al sent you. The place you're looking for is a short walk from the town, in the surrounding forests. It’s a big, dark stone building. People around there call it Libiris. Seems the name is all that survived in the generations since it was closed up. If by some chance you do find something, come back and let me know.”
Everypony nodded.
“Alright. You all ready then?”
“Wait up!”
Scootaloo turned in surprise at the sound of Mimic’s voice not far off. The changeling approached, still in her pony guise. “I thought you were going with your brother?”
“He’ll survive a few more days in there.” Mimic looked from Scootaloo to Thistleroot and then to the rest of the group. “Do they know about me?”
“Um, no.”
The answer was barely out of Scootaloo’s mouth before green fire washed over Mimic, revealing her true form. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle skipped back a step each, eyes going wide. A second later, Mimic was back in her pony form.
“It’s okay,” Thistleroot said, taking a half step forward, looking at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “She’s a friend. Promise.”
Mimic turned back to Scootaloo, ignoring the look of intensifying skepticism from Apple Bloom and surprised nervousness from Sweetie Belle.
“You said before you might have a way to turn your Element Bearers back from stone, right?”
Scootaloo nodded.
“Good.” Mimic grinned. “You’re not getting out of this that easily. You’re going to save your princesses, and then you’re going to hold up your end of the bargain. I’m not going to leave you alone until you do.”
Scootaloo stared at the changeling for a long moment before a smile broke out to match Mimic’s. “I guess I have no choice then.” She turned back to Starswirl. “Okay. Now we’re ready.”