Fizzy was not happy. Her new friend was now trying to kill her, thanks to a curse that wasn’t ever her fault, and a sick joke courtesy of a sociopath. Dane’s eyes had the same eerie glow that Starlight’s and Sunburst’s had when under Svengallop’s control. Only this time, they couldn’t knock him out to break his control. As Dane swung her cursed sword at Fizzy, she kept saying, “I’m sorry, but it’s the only way.” Fizzy’s heart was breaking as she danced just out of reach of the enchanted blade.
Fizzy leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the tip of the blade, only to hit the end of the cavern. Dane raised the Ebony Blade high into the air, again saying “I’m sorry, but it’s the only way.” She slashed the sword down, as if to decapitate Fizzy at an angle. It would have done just that had Shrinky not intervened, dragging Fizzy to the right with her magic.
The sword instead drove itself into her left shoulder, causing Fizzy to scream in pain. The sword continued its swing, cutting a medium-sized chunk out of Fizzy’s shoulder. She howled in agony. Shrinky gasped, both at the fact that her friend had less shoulder than before, but also at something else. True to how Dane had described the curse, Shrinky saw a splotch of gray appear on the back of Dane’s left foreleg. She was turning to stone. This gave Shrinky an idea.
“Dane!” she yelled. “Listen to me! This isn’t how you’ll break your curse!”
Dane turned towards her, swiveling the Ebony Blade midair, now aiming at Shrinky. “You know nothing about my curse,” said Dane angrily.
“But I do!” protested Shrinky, while behind Dane, Fizzy applied changeling goop to arm as a sort of makeshift bandage. “You said the only way to break the curse was to do something with the noblest of intentions, right?”
Shrinky paused, quickly side-stepping the sword as it stabbed at her. It grazed her side, drawing blood. This caused another stone splotch to appear on her front, and the one on her leg to grow larger, wrapping around to the front of her leg.
“Look at yourself! You’re turning to stone now!”
Dane froze. “W-what? What do you mean?”
Shrinky slowly stepped forward. “Look at your leg, and your front.”
Dane looked down, lifting up her left foreleg. She gasped as she realized Shrinky was telling the truth. The Ebony Blade clattered to the ground as Dane’s magic dissipated. She broke down sobbing. Shrinky slowly stepped forward, lifting Dane’s helmet off her head, and wrapped her hooves around Dane in an embrace, giving Dane a shoulder to cry on. Fizzy limped over, hissing in pain as she did so. She wrapped her good foreleg around Dane as well.
“I’m so sorry,” said Dane between sobs.
“Hey, hey,” said Fizzy. She used her good leg to lift Dane’s face up to hers. The fur around her eyes was matted down from tears. “It’s okay,” said Fizzy. “I’ll be fine. But for now, we need to worry about getting out of here.”
Shrinky nodded in agreement. “The only question is how. We can’t live the rocks, as that could cause the cave in to get worse.”
Shrinky walked over to the rocks, and leaned down, scanning along the floor. “I’ve got an idea,” she said. “But it’s risky.”
Fizzy cocked an eyebrow. “How risky are we talking?”
“Eh… maybe, possibly, potentially fatal risky,” said Shrinky. She laughed nervously.
Fizzy stared at her with a deadpan expression for a moment. “Alright,” she said, shrugging with her good leg. “It’s not like we’ve got much to lose. What’s the plan?”
“I can shrink us down with my shrinking spell so we can get out under the rocks. But we won’t be able to breathe, and I don’t know how long I can hold the spell, since our natural magic will try to resist it. I think I’ll be able to hold it for a minute or two at most, so we’ll need to move fast.”
Dane stood up, wiping her eyes. “Let’s do it.” Fizzy nodded in agreement. Dane lifted her sword over to her and stored it back in its sheath, and placed her helmet back on her head. They walked over to Shrinky and stood next to her.
Shrinky took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Alright then.” Her horn flared to life, a blue glow enveloping it. The aura expanded to encase all three of them. Once it did, it slowly began to compress, shrinking them along with it. They each took a big gulp of air before the shrinking sped up. Within moments, they could easily fit in between the gaps. Shrinky gestured for them to go.
They started through the cracks at a quick trot. As they maneuvered through the rocks, they had to make sure they didn’t disturb any of the rocks. As the seconds ticked by, Shrinky could see the edges of her vision going black, and was feeling more light-headed by the second. She presumed the others were experiencing similar symptoms, as Dane was starting to slow down, and Fizzy kept wobbling like she was about to pass out.
“Mmmmm!” grunted Dane. She pointed ahead, where they could see a light. Fizzy glanced back at Shrinky, but as she did, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, passing out from both lack of oxygen and her wounded shoulder. Shrinky lifted Fizzy onto her back and signaled to Dane to run. They ran towards the light as fast as they could. Shrinky’s vision was tunneling. ‘We’re not gonna make it,” she thought. But Dane put on another burst of speed, giving Shrinky hope. But Dane tripped, stumbling into a rock that formed part of the wall. When she did so, the rocks around them began rumbling.
Shrinky ran, the only thing she could see was the tiny red light of Dane’s magic in the center of her vision. She tackled Dane, and dropped the spell as she did. As her body expanded back up to normal size, she breathed heavily, gulping down air. She could hear Dane coughing before doing the same.
“Well, *huff* that was *huff* close,” said Dane between heaving breaths.
Shrinky nodded. “Too close,” she said. She laid Fizzy down on the ground, before lightly shaking her. “C’mon Fizzy. Wake up,” she said. Fizzy didn’t move, but Shrinky could see her chest rising and falling slightly, showing she was breathing. Fizzy groaned, opening her eyes slowly. “Di-did we make it?” she asked before coughing.
“Barely. But we have to keep moving. We need to warn the Princess if it isn’t too late,” said Dane, pulling Fizzy to her hooves. They made their way back through the caverns as fast as possible, though they were slightly hindered by Fizzy’s wound, as she had to keep reapplying changeling paste to it. When they reached the entrance, they didn’t see any of the guards, which made Shrinky uncomfortable. The feeling was worsened when Fizzy said, “How much do you wanna bet that all those guards were changelings?”
“My entire life savings,” grunted Dane.
“C’mon, we need to get to the castle,” said Shrinky. They hurried through the city until the reached the castle gates, where two guards blocked the entrance. “State your name and purpose,” said one of the guards.
Dane sighed and stepped forward. “My name is Dane Whitmare, assis-,” she never got to finish, as the guards’ spears were shoved into her face. “Dane Whitmare? Isn’t that one of the ponies Prince Blueblood said to arrest should they come to the castle?” The other guard nodded, turning his spear towards Shrinky and Fizzy. “In that case, I imagine you two are Shrinky Dink and Fizzy Wings. By the orders of Prince Blueblood, all three of you are under arrest.”
“WHAT?!”
The three of them stood in their cell, glaring at the guard who confiscated their stuff. They’d even taken Dane’s helmet. Fizzy leaned against the side of the cell. “Hey guard,” she asked. He didn’t respond. Fizzy carried on, unfazed. “So, if Blueblood’s in charge, where’s Princess Twilight? Can I at least have some bandages?” He again said nothing, but instead stepped out of the room and into the hall. They heard approaching footsteps, and prepared to deal with Blueblood again, but were pleasantly surprised to see Tempest and Spector walk through the doorway instead, both wearing the same outfits they had been wearing when Shrinky and Fizzy last saw them, if only looking a little worse for wear.
“Oh, thank Celestia,” said Shrinky, filled with relief. “Tempest, boy am I glad to see-”
“Save it, traitor,” said Tempest loudly, scowling. “Don’t treat me like I’m some friend of yours, not after you betrayed my trust.” Tempest winked at Shrinky who was immensely confused. “But we didn’t,” she said. “We’re on your side!” Tempest scoffed loudly while gesturing to Spector, who was slipping a piece of paper and a quill through the bars. Two words were written on the paper: “What happened?” Fizzy took the quill and began scribbling madly, writing down all the events that had transpired. Shrinky’s eyes widened in understanding. “Oooooh,” she mouthed. Tempest grinned and nodded, before continuing. “You expect me to believe that you didn’t send Princes Twilight a letter telling her to go to Ponyville and that her friends were in trouble? A likely story. Prince Blueblood told me what really happened. About how you were the ones behind the changeling attacks. All we need to do is link the stolen Bell to you.”
Shrinky fought back a giggle. “But it wasn’t us! Oh, Tempest, you have to believe us! It’s Blueblood. He’s the one behind everything.”
“We were told you’d say that, you filthy liar,” said Tempest, clearly enjoying this. “Now, tell us what you know about Grogar’s Bell.”
Dane had since picked up on what was happening, and decided to join in on the fun. “Well, you see, Discord originally took the bell and pretended to be Grogar in order to get a bunch of villains together to… oh, you seem to know this part. Shall I jump ahead?” It was all Shrinky could do to not lose it.
Fizzy finished and slid the paper back to Spector, who picked it up and scanned it. He then passed it over to Tempest, who read it while Spector took over.
“We know you had the Bell in your possession recently. I can smell it on you. Or did you forget that we Thestrals are natural trackers?” despite the circumstances, Spector didn’t smile. But Shrinky could’ve sworn she saw a twinkle of mirth in his eyes, if just for a moment.
“Since you won’t talk, it seems we’ll have to try more extreme measures. Guard!” called Tempest.
“Yes?” asked the guard.
“Release these prisoners,” said Tempest. “They’re coming with us. Also, give him their stuff,” she said, gesturing to Spector, who didn’t seem to like that.
“Right away, miss,” said the guard. His horn sprang to life, and the cell door swung open. He also levitated the two saddlebags to Spector, who placed them on his back.
“Thank you,” said Tempest. “Prisoners, come with me. And no funny business. You know what I am capable of.”
They followed Tempest out of the cell, single file in order to keep up the act, with Spector bringing up the rear. Once they turned the corner, Tempest ushered them into a side room, locking the door behind her once everyone was in.
“So,” she began. “Blueblood is behind it, then?”
“I thought you already knew he was,” said Dane, accepting her saddlebag from Spector. She pulled out her jacket and sword, and put on both.
“We had our suspicions. As we hinted at earlier, I could smell the Bell on him. He was rank with the scent,” said Spector, handing the other bag to Shrinky, who put it on her own back. She looked inside for their suits. They weren’t there. “Fizzy,” she said. “Our suits are gone. So is the all the shrinking potion. What are we going to do?”
“Fight,” said Fizzy, determined. “Because we have to.” She went to take a step, but hissed as pain shot through her leg from her shoulder.
“Oh! Fizzy, here’s a healing salve and some bandages,” said Tempest, pulling them from a pocket in her bright yellow coat.
Fizzy quickly took them and began applying the salve to her arm, sighing as it began to work its magic. “Thanks,” she said graciously. “So, what’s the plan?”
Dane pulled her helmet on as she spoke. “We confront Blueblood, and get ready for a fight.” Her voice wavered slightly at the prospect of more violence. Much to her despair, they had discovered the stone was slowly spreading, and she feared that more unnecessary violence would expedite the process.
Shrinky nodded. “Fizzy and Dane are right. We have to do this. It’s our only shot. We have to stop Blueblood here and now, before it’s too late. Hopefully, the Princess and her friends can handle the rest of the villains and the changelings in Ponyville.”
“You know,” said Fizzy as she wrapped her shoulder. “I’ve taken to calling them The Masters of Evil. Has a nice ring to it, huh?”
“You’re giving them a team name?” asked Spector.
Dane shrugged. “She already gave them aliases.”
“Wow,” said Tempest. “Just… wow.”
Fizzy responded with a one-legged shrug as she finished wrapping her shoulder and began pulling on her suit. Once finished, she turned to Shrinky. Shrinky looked at each of them. “Alright. This is it,” she said. “The big one. If we fail here, Equestria falls. We can’t lose. And we won’t. Blueblood has no idea we’re coming, so let's use that to our advantage. We got this.”
“Nice speech,” said Fizzy. “Bit of a rough start at first, but you got there in the end.”
“Thanks,” deadpanned Shrinky. “C’mon. We have a country to save.”
Tempest and Spector pushed their way into the throne room to see Blueblood reclining on the throne, looking immensely pleased with himself. He was wearing a black suit, and a chin-mask-thing. His purple tie had a glowing dot in the middle. He looked up as they walked in, and smiled. “Ah, Tempest. And the other one. How goes the interrogations?”
Tempest and Spector bowed. Shrinky had to grab on to Tempest’s mane hairs to stay on her head. She hoped the glow of her horn couldn’t be seen, as she held her breath. “They weren’t responding to traditional methods, so I had the guards bring them down to the lower levels. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get them to be more talkative down there, with a little… persuasion.” Her horn sparked, filling Shrinky’s nose with the smell of ozone.
“Excellent,” said Blueblood. “And I imagine you’ll soon locate the whereabouts of the missing Bell?”
“Once they tell us everything they know, we should have no trouble finding it,” said Tempest.
“Good, “ said Blueblood. “Dismissed.”
“Oh, another thing, your highness,” said Tempest.
“What?” said Blueblood, clearing wanting the conversation to be over.
“Gotchya,” she said. At that, Shrinky shot a shrinking spell at the door, causing it to shrink to the size of a bread slice, allowing Dane and Fizzy to run inside, sword drawn. Shrinky leapt out of her hiding spots, growing up to full height as she dropped the spell. Spector pulled out his baton, lowering into an offensive stance. Tempest’s horn began sparking madly.
Blueblood rolled his eyes, looking bored. “Gods, you’re predictable. You know that? I saw this coming a mile away. You just have to play the hero. But there’s no point. I already told you that you can’t stop me. But I guess I do need to speed things up. Guards! Time to go!”
The two guards at the end of the steps leading up to the throne burst into green flames, revealing themselves to be changelings.
Blueblood hopped out of the throne and walked down the stairs toward the five heroes.
“Well, you guys are persistent, I’ll give you that. Persistent thorns in my side! But no matter. Soon, I’ll have enough power to blast you to the moon. Literally.” He reached the bottom step, where the changelings stepped over to him, one on either side.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to. Ta-ta!” His horn sprang to life, and with a loud bang and a flash of light, Blueblood and the changelings were gone.