//------------------------------// // Desperate Measures // Story: Winds of Change // by theOwtcast //------------------------------// Nights were harsh this far out of the city, almost at the outer limit of the Crystal Heart’s effective radius, but we found we couldn’t trust any place closer to the city. We’d left the castle in secrecy, eyes wide open for anything out of place and anypony awake at this hour, ears perked up against any slightest unexplained sound. We’d known this would only work as long as we were in the castle, and that as soon as we stepped out into the street, we’d be visible from afar, and quite suspicious at that, considering how few ponies had reasons to be out and about in the middle of the night. It was a risk we’d had to take, and as long as we were in the city proper, we could probably come up with an explanation for what we were doing if anyone were to ask - not that anyone should, considering Sunburst was a well-known and respected citizen, but those we were worried about might not necessarily know that. Sunburst must have guessed all this himself, as he led the way through the city roughly in the direction of his house. We weren’t really going there, but it would serve as a good excuse if anyone were to question our intentions. I could see that Sunburst didn’t like our current situation. He was both sweating and shivering, his breaths came out shallow, his eyes darted wildly left and right, and he recoiled at every rustle of the leaves of the nearby trees and bushes. Every so often he would glance back in the direction of the castle, and I would put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder to encourage him to keep going. I knew exactly what he was going through; it wasn’t that long ago that I’d been there myself! We walked in complete silence all the way, not uttering a single word since leaving my room and all through the city and its outskirts. By an unspoken agreement, we were looking for a place where we could be fairly sure the changelings would have no convincing disguise to resort to in the given environment, no matter how long we’d have to walk to get there. We finally found it in a snow-covered dell, where not even a rock disrupted the flawlessly smooth whiteness. The Crystal Heart’s magic was failing this far out and the gusts of wind shot through every so often, but the storm clouds were still kept at bay, a blizzard raging just a couple dozen hoofsteps further out. We nodded to each other. The snow hadn’t been disturbed for a long time so it wasn’t likely anything might be hiding beneath, we were too far out of the city to be seen by naked eye, and even with binoculars one would have to know where to look; the blizzard hid us from anything lurking further ahead, and the howling wind would drown out our voices. This would indeed be a good place to talk without worrying that somepony… or some-not-pony… might overhear. “What’s going on, Thorax?” Sunburst broke the silence with an urgent, trembling voice. “Why did we have to go all the way here when we should be telling Cadance and Shi-” “They’re gone, Sunburst!” I interrupted him. “The changelings took them!” His eyes grew even wider. “What?! How do you know?” “A disturbance in the love aura woke me up,” I explained. “Okay, it took me a minute to realize that was the reason why I woke up, but anyway, it got me worried, so I went to investigate and tell somepony, but when I came to Cadance and Shining’s bedroom, the door was ajar and I saw the room in chaos and three changelings inside! One already looked like Shining, and the other too turned into Cadance and Flurry before my eyes! I nearly got caught spying on them!” “Wait, Flurry too?” Sunburst was beside himself by now. “Yes, I’m afraid.” I hung my head. “So I ran off to my room… I didn’t know where else to go… I didn’t expect to find you there!” “So that’s why you were so frightened when I lit up my horn!” “Yes… I thought at first they’d found out where I was and were there to capture me, but then you said you saw more of them leaving with cocoons, and it must have been at around the same time as my part of the story if not before…” “So Cadance, Shining, and Flurry must have been in those cocoons,” Sunburst finished my sentence, then slapped his forehead. “Of course you couldn’t tell me that while we were still there! If any changelings had disguised themselves as your furniture, they’d know we figured out their secret, and they’d have to dispose of us right then and there! Depending on their orders, just knowing that I’d seen them fly away might not have been urgent enough to warrant immediate action on the part of any of them that might have been in the room with us!” “Plus, you called me by my real name even though I was disguised,” I reminded him. “Not that it would have mattered much in terms of leaving us alone after all that talk about having seen changelings, but no need to add to their temptation to catch us or to stick around waiting for it to happen!” “Right,” he grinned sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight.” “Heh, I understand how that could have happened,” I reassured him. “But we are still here, aren’t we?” “Yeah,” he sighed. “But you do realize what this means, don’t you? We don’t know who we can trust anymore! We have to do something, and we’re on our own against a dangerous enemy! Even worse, as soon as we get separated, we won’t know whether or not to trust each other the next time we meet!” “I wish Spike were here,” I said after a moment. “He told me he’d gone to all kinds of world-saving missions with Princess Twilight and her friends! He said they’d had plenty of close calls and impossible situations but always found a solution! Maybe he would have an idea what to do!” “That’s it!” Sunburst’s face brightened. “We can ask Princess Twilight and her friends to help us!” “But, they’re all the way in Ponyville…” “No reason we couldn’t go there!” “Won’t anypony notice us missing?” “Yeah, you’re right… Suppose I stayed here and you went to Ponyville? Being as prominent here as I am, I don’t think I could leave without my absence being noticed almost immediately, and it would get you out of the way in case the changelings figure out that you’re supposed to be here! Meanwhile, I could try to cover for you and do what I can to minimize any damage they might do to the Empire! And working alone, I won’t have to discuss my plans and actions with anypony and risk revealing myself in the process!” “I don’t know, Sunburst… it sounds dangerous! You could still get caught!” “I understand the risks and am willing to take them!” “So am I in a situation like this! Look, I’m the one who used to live with them, I’m sure I’ll figure something out to avoid detection! You go to Ponyville and get help!” “But you can’t stay! For all we know, they already know you’re around here somewhere and are looking for you!” “I’ll disguise myself and remain disguised until they’re dealt with!” “And what happens if they find a way to collapse that disguise? Or if you become unable to maintain it or drop it on your own for whatever reason?” He had a point. I didn’t know what I’d do to save myself if that happened! “And if they catch you conspiring against them?” “I’m pretty sure ponies conspiring against them is their starting assumption wherever they are and whatever they do, so catching me in the act wouldn’t surprise them in the least. They’d probably just cocoon me and put me away where no one would stumble upon me. But you’re still a wanted traitor in their eyes, even if you have been presumed dead, and I imagine Chrysalis would celebrate the day when she gets to kill you! Face it, I’m the one with better chances of survival if caught!” I let out a sigh of defeat. “All right, you win. I’m not sure how I’ll make the journey there, but if I did it once already while weak and starving, any by a much longer route, I guess I can manage.” “I know you will, Thorax! You have more strength and resourcefulness in yourself than you realize!” “Something tells me I’m going to need twice as much luck. We both will!” “And I hope we’ll have it! Now, it would be quickest to take the train, but the next one isn’t running for another few hours, so you’d have to wait, but I’m not sure that it would be safe for you to stay here that long. You think you could fly out of here to get to a probably safer town further south and board a train there?” “I could if I manage to get through the blizzard. But those changelings obviously did, so I guess it won’t be a problem. Only, I can’t do it in this disguise... You think it’s safe enough to shapeshift here?” “Probably safer than anywhere else in the Empire at the moment. If there were any changelings around to see us, they’d have gotten suspicious about us standing and talking in this weather by now!” I nodded in agreement. Okay, here goes… A crystal pony turned into a pegasus. We waited a couple of minutes, but there were no signs of anyone having seen the burst of my magic. “Okay, I guess I’m all set… wait, how will we recognize each other when I get back? Assuming I don’t run into any surprises on my way, of course.” “Can’t we do something like those questions you asked me in your room?” “We could with enough time and privacy to go into detailed descriptions, but we can’t count on having that. We’d need something short and hard to randomly guess!” “Good point. How about…” he came closer and whispered in my ear, “...I say ‘blue vase’, and you say ‘purple meander’?” “Maybe a little obvious if they overheard that conversation we had in my room, but good enough in an emergency, I guess, and I don’t exactly have a better idea,” I whispered back. “But better to back it up with those detailed questions as soon as an opportunity presents itself if necessary!” “That’s it then. Good luck, Thorax, and be careful!” “You too, Sunburst,” I replied. Having shared a long final hug, we parted ways.