Thistleroot turned and began walking away.
“Thistleroot, wait.” Mimic hesitated, and then followed after him. “Please.”
Thistleroot slowed, and then stopped, but didn’t turn back to face her. “Is there a real Wind Rider wandering around somewhere, or was it you the whole time?”
“It was me,” Mimic said.
Thistleroot turned back to her. “So what, you thought if you waited for a chance to play the hero it would make up for what you did? Or what you didn’t do? Whatever.”
“No. It wasn’t like that.” Mimic glanced down the empty road between the tents. She considered shifting back into a pony form. If anypony came across them, they might jump to conclusions and attack her.
She looked back up at Thistleroot and decided against it. She wanted to be herself for now. “I wasn’t going to tell anypony. Once Nocturne was defeated, I was just going to go back to my brother.”
Thistleroot narrowed his eyes, and she could tell he was skeptical.
“I just wanted to help,” she said. “Even if I never got any credit for it. I wanted to make sure all of you stayed safe.”
“Why?” Thistleroot asked. Mimic knew the question would come, but it still hurt to hear.
“Because you’re all my friends.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.” Thistleroot shook his head and turned again.
Mimic’s temper flared. “Stop walking away and listen to me. After everything that happened today, you owe me that much, at least.”
Thistleroot kept walking for another half-dozen steps before he stopped. He dipped his head and sighed, then turned back toward her.
“I’m sorry about what happened. I really am,” Mimic said. “I should have warned you sooner, but I did warn you. I could have kept my mouth shut and got back everything I’d lost, but I didn’t, because when I had to make a decision, I chose you over the changeling queen.”
“You were still mulling it over while I was putting the fragment of harmony into the keyhole. You had to tackle me to stop me in time.”
“I remember,” Mimic said softly. “Thistleroot, do you know what it was like, growing up in the hives?”
“Sure. You told me all about functions and the hierarchy.”
“I don’t mean that. Do you know what it’s like living there? Growing up there?”
Thistleroot shook his head.
“We don’t have friends in the hive,” Mimic said. “We have other changelings we call friends, sometimes. I had a friend named Ersatz. I asked him to look the other way while I escaped to save my brother. Can you guess what he said?”
“No?” Thistleroot guessed.
Mimic nodded. “Living in the hives, no one cares about you. Your family, sometimes, but never more than they cared about themselves. I had a job to do, and if I couldn’t I would have been exiled. I would have lost my home and the last family I had left. We were always told, being exiled from the hive was no better than being dead.
“I’m not trying to make excuses. If you’d actually gotten hurt, I don’t know what I would have done. I just want you to understand why. I’m not used to actually caring about others, and I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”
Thistleroot listened, expression unreadable. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, “Why tell me now? If you were just going to help out and then disappear, why change your mind now?”
“Being with the rest of you today, celebrating, reminded me of the past few weeks. I don’t want to lose this again,” Mimic answered, trying to keep her voice level. She paused, and then added, her voice even smaller, “I don’t want to be alone again.”
Finished with what she’d wanted to say, she stepped back and waited. In the silence that followed, she found herself growing more and more flustered. She’d never poured out so much of what she was thinking and feeling to someone else before, and as she waited for an answer, she felt the heat beginning to rise in her face.
Seconds passed, the silence between them growing more intense. Mimic struggled to think of something more to add, something she could say that would convince him. Finally, Thistleroot sighed and started walking again, this time toward the beach. “Come on. We should tell the others that you’re here.”
Mimic let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and smiled. “Okay.”
*****
“You know,” Sweetie Belle said, tilting her glass with an absent minded hoof. “Now that we’re pretty sure he’s not evil, does anypony else think Wind Rider’s kind of cute?”
Spike looked up from his sixth plate and coughed awkwardly into his fist. “Uh, I don’t know. He seemed kind of bland to me.”
Apple Bloom grinned at him, but didn’t say anything.
“I mean, he’s got a white coat. How bor...” Spike trailed off, eyes flicking toward Sweetie Belle’s coat. “How boring would it be to have two friends that are the same color? And besides, you pull it off way better.”
“Nice save,” Apple Bloom whispered under her breath.
“Oh, Thistleroot,” Sweetie Belle said. Spike looked up to see Thistleroot approaching. Wind Rider followed several steps behind. “Hi, Wind Rider,” Sweetie Belle added, smiling.
“Wind Rider has actually been Mimic this whole time,” Thistleroot said as he approached.
“Don’t hold back or anything,” Wind Rider said dryly.
There was a long moment as everypony looked at Wind Rider, comprehension dawning in their faces one by one.
“Oh, come on!” Sweetie Belle shouted, throwing her hooves into the air and making Wind Rider, or Mimic, flinch.
“Sorry,” Mimic said. “I didn’t want to deceive everypony, but things were, uh, complicated.”
“It’s fine,” Apple Bloom said. “A little surprising, but we never really did get the story about why ya left. Ah for one am happy yer back. Or, never really left, Ah guess.”
“Yeah,” Spike said. “Don’t mind Sweetie Belle. She’ll be fine.”
Sweetie Belle grumbled something under her breath.
"Okay, so assuming that's the last surprise of the night," Thistleroot said, stifling a yawn, "I'm—"
Discord appeared beside the table in a flash of light, Making Spike jump in surprise. “Oh, good, you’re all together. The princesses want to speak with you.” He snapped his fingers.
“Wait, what?” Spike asked. “The who—”
*****
Discord reappeared on the stone dias, and Scootaloo’s friends all appeared at his feet.
“—Want what now?” Spike asked.
Princess Celestia sighed. “I didn’t mean immediately.”
They had come down from Canterlot mountain to the ruined statue gardens shortly after the princesses had been freed, as both Celestia and Luna wanted to see the remains of their castle with their own eyes.
“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” Spike said, eyes widening. “You’re back!”
The other ponies straightened at the sound of his call and turned, each wearing a look of surprise, followed by a look of confusion on everypony’s face but Wind Rider’s.
“Uh, no offense, Princess,” Apple Bloom said, “But ya’ll look different.”
“Yes, I am aware,” Princess Celestia said, casting narrow eyed glance at Discord. “Well, since everypony involved in the past few weeks is gathered, I suppose now is as good as any to fill us in on what we’ve missed.”
“Wait, this is Princess Celestia?” Wind Rider asked, arching an eyebrow. “Really? Isn’t she supposed to be taller?”
The other ponies, including Scootaloo, winced. Discord chuckled, but turned it into a polite cough when Celestia shot him another look.
“Yes, that’s my fault, I suppose,” Discord said. “Though to be fair, I had no idea you two had grown up so much.”
Luna sighed. “Much of our power was held within the prison, even as our physical bodies were released. It is similar to when the Elements of Harmony stripped the power of Nightmare Moon from me. It will grow back, I suppose is the best way to put it.”
“It does raise all sorts of questions, though,” Discord said. “Questions for later, of course. So yes, this is the illustrious Princess Celestia.”
Celestia looked back to Wind Rider, face softening. “And I don’t believe we’ve ever met. You are a friend of Scootaloo’s?”
Wind Rider looked to Thistleroot, who nodded and said, “You can trust her.”
It was Scootaloo’s turn to arch an eyebrow. What was that supposed to mean?”
Wind Rider shrugged and was suddenly engulfed in green fire. It faded, leaving a changeling in its place.
Celestia didn’t react, but Luna’s expression darkened.
“Mimic?” Scootaloo asked. “What? When did... what?”
Mimic gave a hissing laugh at her reaction. “Um, surprise?”
“Scootaloo, I take it you know this changeling?”
“Uh, yeah, she’s a friend.” Scootaloo hesitated, glancing to Mimic, who nodded. “Uh, I guess I should start from the gala. That’s the last time we actually got to talk.”
And so Scootaloo told the princesses everything that had happened, starting with her imprisonment and the deal she made with Mimic, their journey to Greenhaven Grotto and Libiris, Night’s End, and finally her decision to release Discord and their recovery of the tablet. Her friends sometimes chimed in with details she’d forgotten or didn’t know, but for the most part were content to let her do the talking.
“And then we realized we could free you two. Now we have Discord, you two, and a weapon to use against Nocturne. We just have to use it,” Scootaloo finished.
“I see.” Celestia walked over to Scootaloo and put a hoof on her head. “You’ve all been through quite a lot, haven’t you?”
Scootaloo smiled. “Yeah.”
“And Discord,” Celestia said, turning toward him.
“Here we go,” he sighed.
“Thank you.”
Discord blinked, then started clearing one of his ears with a talon. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you there.”
“You helped my ponies when they needed it, rather than going back to your old ways once you’d been freed. By the sound of it, you saved Scootaloo, Thistleroot, and Mimic’s lives. Thank you.”
“Oh, well,” Discord waved a hand in an ‘it was nothing’ gesture.
“Can we continue to count on you?”
“Well, hmm,” Discord flipped over a few pages of a calendar. “I don’t appear to have anything else planned, so I suppose. Actually, I have a plan for our final attack. Why don’t we talk about it over dinner? You two must be starving after being imprisoned like that.”
“Now that you mention it,” Luna said, looking to her sister.
“Very well,” Celestia said, nodding.
“Great, I know this place in Maretonia that you’re just going to love.”
“Maretonia? We’re not going all the way to—” Discord and the two princesses disappeared in a flash.
A faint breeze whispered through the ruined city.
“I’m going to bed,” Spike said.
“Yeah, same,” Apple Bloom said. “This day’s been interesting enough as it is.” They turned and walked back toward the camp. Sweetie Belle followed, pausing to give one last smile and wave to Mimic.
To Scootaloo’s surprise, Mimic returned both.
“So, does anypony want to explain what’s going on?” Scootaloo asked. “Thistleroot, did you know Wind Rider was actually Mimic this whole time?”
Thistleroot shook his head.
“Nopony knew,” Mimic said. “After what happened with Thistleroot—”
“What did happen between you two, anyway?”
Mimic blinked and turned to Thistleroot. “You didn’t tell her?”
“No. He just said that you left with your brother, and that we weren’t going to see you again.”
Thistleroot shrugged. “It wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m going to bed too. Tomorrow’s probably going to be even more interesting than today was.” He turned and started walking away before either girl could answer.
Scootaloo waited until he was out of earshot before saying, “He’s lying, isn’t he?”
Mimic glanced at her, then away. “Yes.”
“Tonight’s the first time I’ve heard him say your name since Night’s End, even when he was talking about you.”
“Yes. I’d noticed that too.”
Scootaloo pondered it for a moment, and then shrugged. “Well, if he’s forgiven you, I guess that’s what matters.”
Mimic frowned. “I don’t know if he’s there just yet.”
“Well, he wants to keep it between the two of you, so I’m not going to pry.” Scootaloo smiled. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Mimic smiled back. “Never left.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and gave Mimic a playful shove. “You know what I mean.” She paused. “Hey, Mimic? There’s something you should know.”
“Yes?”
“When I was being held prisoner, Ersatz told me that negotiations with the princesses had failed.”
Mimic nodded. “Things had been getting worse, and everyone was starting to worry that we just wouldn’t have enough. Chrysalis sent a messenger to the pony lands. I don’t know what their exact answer was, but shortly after that we heard that the ponies were preparing for war.”
“It was Rosalia,” Scootaloo said. “In the hives, before she started trying to kill me, I had a chance to talk to her. She stopped the message and then sent a warning to Celestia that Canterlot was going to be attacked.”
Mimic was silent for a long moment, thinking over the words.
“I know you were unsure about Princess Celestia, and that siding with us to protect your brother was always a gamble, so I thought you should know. Princess Celestia is a good pony. She—” Scootaloo cut off as Mimic cursed. “Uh?”
“That...” Mimic said, “That...” She shook her head.
“Uh, Mimic? You okay?”
“No!” Mimic said. She turned away, grinding a hoof into the dirt.
“Okay. Uh, care to explain?”
Mimic took a deep breath, but it didn’t seem to do much. Her short tail twitched and she started pacing. “Rosalia’s a changeling queen. She’s supposed to be... We were always promised... This whole time, I thought Rosalia at least had the hive’s best interest at heart, you know? She’s a changeling queen. She’s supposed to be our leader. I’ve been siding against her, but I ran away from the hive. But she doesn’t care about them at all, does she?”
Mimic reared back and slammed her hooves into the ground. “We were desperate, and she did that to us? And she still calls herself a queen? She doesn’t even deserve to be a changeling. So many changelings got hurt.” Her head dipped. “My parents died in that attack.”
Scootaloo stepped forward and put a hoof on Mimic’s back. “We won’t let her get away with it,” she promised. “We’re going to beat her.”
It took another minute or two for Mimic to calm herself. “You’re right.” She shook her head. “Come on, we should get some sleep, too.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed. Thistleroot was right about one thing, at least.
Tomorrow was going to be interesting.