Cassandra's Tangled Adventure

by Acceptable_trash

Can't go home

Anemone laughed as she stepped off the blimp, wiping a tear from her eye. "So you just hit her with a frying pan? Remind me to never go to a wedding with you!"

Cassandra sighed, thinking back to her adventures outside of Corona. She had altered the story of course, she wasn't like Rapunzel who would offer her life story out to anyone that asked. "Oh yeah, that was a good day, you know aside from the whole 'one of my friends almost died' thing."

Anemone snorted, thinking back on her own experiences. "Yeah, I can relate."

Cassandra raised a brow. "Oh?"

Anemone paused, looking down at the ground. "Yeah... It's kinda personal..."

Cassandra gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's alright, we are still kinda strangers."

Cassandra looked up as a screech echoed through the air, seeing Owl flying down for a landing.

"Hey look OUT!" Anemone yelled, ducking down.

"Relax, it's just my owl."

Anemone looked up at Cassandra carefully and quickly returned to her full height. "You brought your owl to Las Pegasus?"

Cassandra rubbed Owl's, smiling at his low purr. "Yup, he doesn't like it when I leave him behind."

She gestured to Anemone. "Owl this is Anemone, Anemone this is Owl."

Anemone snorted. "Quite the creative namer, huh Cassandra?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you got me."

Anemone chuckled and began walking away. "It was nice to meet you, Cassandra, later!"

Cassandra waved at her retreating form. "Bye!"

Still smiling, she began waking away as well. "So Owl did you find a Library?"

No response.

Cassandra glanced at Owl who shook his head and gestured to the area around them.

She stopped and looked around with wide eyes, strange contraptions and buildings filled her sight.

It would take forever to find anything.

She signed, feeling another headache coming on. It "Let's just start looking. The sooner the better."

Shining Armor felt sick. "So you're telling me, that all those ponies outside LITERALLY FROZE with FEAR?! And that there's some MONSTER with DARK MAGIC on the LOOSE?!"

Luna nodded sadly, she understood his anger, after all both he, his wife, and his sister had suffered from dark magic. "Essentially yes, you are correct. The reason I wanted you to wait at the train station was because I feared that you too would be 'infected' with this twisted virus."

"I understand." He sighed. "Our best course of action would be to round up all those affected and ask them some questions."

Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid that's not possible, once they are affected they become incoherent or do not remember what happened. Heart Aid was the last pony affected who could understand my words."

Shining Armor glanced up. "Who?"

"The pony who guided you here. I ordered the others to stay in their homes so that they would remain safe from this dark magic. The rest I put to sleep to ease their fear."

Shining paused. "These ponies who are affected, what do they do?"

Luna looked away. "They run, they hide, they attack, they do everything they can to get rid of their fear."

He stared at Princess Luna, piecing the pieces together. "They run? They RUN!"

He stood up and paced, forming an idea in his mind. "Have all the townsfolk been accounted for?"

She eyed him carefully, trying to follow his train of thought. "No."

"How about foals?" He asked quickly. "Are there any missing?"

Luna frowned. "Yes, there is one mare who has lost her child once the chaos began."

Shining paused his pacing immediately. "We need to find him, as a young pony he will be the easiest to distract from the fear and help us understand what happened."

Luna looked up hopefully. "Yes, you may be right! Now the question is where would a filly hide? My guards have been looking all over the place and haven't seen him anywhere."

"Under the bed of course."

Luna looked at him quizzically before nodding. "Ah yes, you should know from experience, I had almost forgotten you have a little sister."

Shining smiled sadly as he walked out, followed by Luna. "Yeah, she's not so little anymore."

Cassandra grumbled lowly as she walked down the sidewalk. Several times already her disguise as a pony had almost been ruined by some pony running carelessly through the streets, and she was no closer to finding a library or even a museum!

She had sent Owl ahead to search a few streets, after all, this place couldn't be all fun and games there had to be some books somewhere, all cities had them.

She slowly began to speed up, walking quickly past buildings. She had been searching the run down side of Las Pegasus, she figured that if entertainment was all anyone wanted then a library would be in the place no one wanted to be.

She began to take longer strides, becoming more frustrated as she passed sketchy stores and messy bars.

Sure the place wasn't as bad as some of the other cities she'd been to, but there was something about it that set her on edge, as if there was something just waiting around the corner for her.

It left her feeling uneasy, leaving goosebumps on her skin.

She practically began to sprint, glancing at everything except where she was going.

"Aw, I can't wait to see the ol' Golden R-"

Cassandra collided with a pony, tripping over the tiny being and crashing on the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're- you..."

Her disguise flickered between multiple shapes and colors before returning to normal, making the group of golden armored stallions back away.

"Oh Celestia, Iron I think that's a CHANGLING!"

Cassandra swiftly stood up, checking her disguise, before glancing at the four matching ponies.

"What do we do Iron?!" One shouted while slowly backing away.

One of the ponies, a unicorn, stepped forward and raised his spear, a hateful grin split across his muzzle. "I say we take it in."

Cassandra chuckled nervously, eyeing the spear in his magic. "Now put that away, I'm a civilian you can't draw your weapon on me without proper cause."

"Oh, I think I have proper cause changeling." He snarled, leveling his weapon.

She had no idea what he meant by 'changeling' be it couldn't be good.

Cassandra reached out and grabbed the spear before he could react, quickly shoving him away with the blunt end and running down an alleyway.

He yelped as he fell, his buddies all rushed forward to catch him and crashed into each other, letting him fall to the ground.

"Sorry!" One of them squeaked, trying to pick him up.

The unicorn ripped himself out of his grasp, steam shot out of his nostrils. "You idiots! You were supposed to attack!"

"Sorr-"

"SHUT IT!" He yelled, galloping down the narrow street. "DON'T LET IT GET AWAY!"

Two of the ponies quickly followed him, pulling out their weapons as they ran while the other took to the sky.

The three followed the blue tail of Cassandra, turning down into a dead end and skidding to a stop.

"Where did it go?"

"Is it under here?"

"Oh right!" The earth pony guard exclaimed, smacking his forehead with a hoof. "Changelings have wings! I totally forgot!"

The unicorn's ears began to whistle and his face became red. "You IDIOTS! THAT CHANGELING COULD HAVE GIVEN US A RAISE! AND YOU LET IT GET AWAY?!"

One pegasus guard rubbed his hoof on the concrete road. "We're sorry Iron."

"WELL, YOU BETTER BE!" He screamed, spraying spit on the others face. "Come on, you all owe me a drink."

The group exited the ally way, their leader fuming and cursing all the way.

Once the dead end became clear a brown crate shifted, changing color and turning into Cassandra.

She sighed and twirled the spear she stole from the unicorn guard. "Heh, that was a close one."

A hoot from the air caught her attention, making her lift her arm automatically. "Hey Owl, did you find anything?" She asked, dumping the spear into a nearby wooden dumpster.

Owl gave a positive hoot and pointed down the narrow street.

Cassandra adjusted her cloak, turning into a pale pony again. "Well, we better hurry, I wouldn't want to run into those four again."

The two walked out of the ally and headed straight to a rather old looking building, never noticing the pegasus that followed them from the air behind a cloud.

After entering the building the pegasus waited a minuite before taking off to the Golden Rose, ready to report to his captain.

Cassandra wandered the building and swiftly moved down the halls, telling Owl to search the back carefully and remain unseen. She doubted that Owls were allowed in the library.

Looking down the shelves of the large building she checked the marking tags for the image of a map or globe to help speed up her search.

It really hard to find a book in a library when you can't read the language.

"Hoo."

Cassandra turned to the voice, seeing Owl holding a small book with the picture of a compass on its cover.

Cassandra smiled and flipped through the book. It seemed to be a directional guide on how to use a compass. "Alright, where did you find this?"

Owl flew away, disappearing behind a corner with Cassandra following close behind.

They arrived at a small section with maps on display, each varying in size and color.

It made her heart sink.

None of the maps looked like anything she recognized, there were no familiar continents, no familiar outlines of nations.

Her eyes became tinted green.

She ran to the globes, spinning them frantically to try to find something different. But it was all the same, the only maps that looked different were the ones that were obviously older and less accurate.

Her eyes became greener and Owl noticed.

She slumped against the wall, trying the best she could not to cry. She couldn't catch a boat to Corona because there wasn't one. She could never see her friends again because she wasn't even on the same planet as them.

Her eyes began to waft purple smoke and Owl tilted his head, chirping to her softly.

She didn't notice.

She was all alone in a world that hated her, that feared her, that wanted to kill her.

The glow of green steadily began to brighten.

She was hated, she was a monster here, the only person who cared about her would never see her again. She was alone and would always be alone until the day she DIED.

Neither of them could see the grinning blue lady who watched with green eyes from behind the shelves, twisting her hands as light danced between her fingers.

Owl began to hit Cassandra with his wings, trying is best to snap her out of it without attracting attention.

Tears streamed down her face and the blue in her eyes slowly shifted to red.

she was alone, she was alone, she was alone, she was al-

He gripped her arm and began to yank a hard as he could, dispelling the pony disguise.

It seemed to do the trick.

Her eyes became white again and the purple smoke disappeared, leaving only tears behind.

"Owl?" She asked, her voice slightly hoarse.

Owl saw her pained face, how sadness and fear filled her eyes.

He cooed in response, rubbing his face against her chest to comfort her. He didn't want his friend to be scared.

She sobbed and hugged him closer, whispering softly. "I'm so, so sorry Owl. We can't go home, we're trapped here..."

The blue lady dissipated into thin air, grinning all the while.

Cassandra and Owl sat there on the floor for a few minutes in silence, wondering about what they would do next.

Eventually, Cassandra wiped her eyes and stood up, placing Owl on her shoulder. "Alright, we better go, I don't want to be here anymore."

She wrapped her cloak around her and disguised herself again, stepping forward to leave when a familiar voice made her pause.

"Alright Harpy, I got some very interesting news."

Cassandra narrowed her eyes. That voice, it almost sounded like-

"Is that so, Anemone?"