>> Killing.
Equines don’t like killing. It isn’t natural, but sometimes it is necessary. Derpy, why don’t you talk to Infinity about this? He’s a psychologist, I feel he would be better suited to helping you. <<
Starlight and Minuette were standing in the Doctor’s living room staring at the unconscious Chrysalis. “What’s the circle do?” asked Minuette.
“I think it’s a magic suppressor ring,” Starlight answered. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never seen one before. They keep a unicorn from casting magic as long as they're worn, and up to several hours later, depending on the model.”
“Oh, I know about them! Some of them even lock on to the horn so only somepony with the key, or a code, or magic can remove them. I wonder what this one’s like?” They both began examining the ring. “Looks old!” Minuette grabbed the ring and pulled it off with her front hooves. “No lock then. I wonder how long it lasts?”
“Let’s just put it back on and leave it there until she’s in Tartarus, okay?”
“Okay.” Minuette put the ring back on. “How are we going to get there?”
“We’ll have to walk. The good news is that if we hurry I think we can make it back by nightfall. We just have to get her out of town without anypony noticing.”
“I can ask Lyra if we can borrow Bon Bon’s wagon, it’s big enough to fit her and we can lay a tarp over it.”
“Perfect. Bring it around to the back door. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“I think Perfect already went home. Plus Lyra doesn’t know her, so why don’t I go do that? See you soon!” And with that Minuette stepped outside and began walking towards her friend Lyra’s house.
“I meant your idea was perfect!” Starlight called after her.
It didn’t take Minuette long to get to Lyra’s house. When she got there she knocked on the door. “Hello! Anypony home?”
“Just a minute!” called Bon Bon. After a moment she opened the door. “I’m afraid Lyra isn’t home right now; she’s playing in the park.”
“That’s okay, I’m here for you today! Can I borrow your wagon? We need to carry something heavy out of town, and it would be a huge help!” Minuette smiled widely in excitement.
“Okay, it’s out back. Make sure to have it back and clean by noon tomorrow, ok?”
“Sure! Thanks!” Minuette trotted over behind the house and hitched herself to the wagon. Then she pulled it back to Doc’s house. “I’m back!”
The door opened part way and Starlight poked her head out, looking both ways. “Shh. This is still a secret, remember?”
“I brought the wagon.”
“And I have the tarp. Now help me get her in.” Starlight opened the door the rest of the way and they levitated Chrysalis into the wagon, then put the tarp over to cover her. “Now let’s get moving, that way,” Starlight pointed and Minuette headed off, with Starlight bringing up the rear.
Derpy had waited until everypony had left except her and Extra Time. She had listened as Perfect Timing and Starlight had described their experiences in the other world. Then she told him about the changeling she had killed and he suggested she talk to Infinity about it. So she headed home. When she got home she got out her stationery and began writing a letter in case her sister got home before her.
'Dear Amethyst:
I’m going to Canterlot. I should be home tonight on the last train. Love, Derpy.'
"That should be good. Now to the station.”
Derpy put the letter on the table and headed out. She took wing and flew towards the train station, but landed when she saw Extra Time walking the same way. “Hello.” She waved at him and then hurried over to walk beside him.
“Ah, hello Derpy. I take it you’ve decided to join us for a trip to Infinity?”
“Yep. I want to get this sorted out before we head out again.”
“Well, I’m no expert, but maybe we can all talk about it on the way to Canterlot. That seems like it might help.”
“Ok.”
Perfect Timing walked home. She opened the door and saw a rolled up scroll sitting on the table. She walked over and opened it.
‘Timing, I’m sorry about this, but it is something I have to do. I couldn’t bear to fight over my departure, so I won’t tell anypony. I hope you can forgive me. I promise I’ll come back safe. Love, Inky.’
As Perfect timing set the note down and walked upstairs she started to sing.
♪ “Last night while sitting by our window,
And gazing at the starry sky,
You wrote that you would not come home dear.
You wrote down that you would not say goodbye.
It hurts to know that you don't trust me.
You know it hurts me dear to cry.
Now I forgive you in my heart dear,
But still you didn't say goodbye. ♪
“If you thought I wouldn’t let you go, then why did you go? You left me without a word.” She sat on their bed and grabbed a picture of the two of them together.
♪ “At night I'll see you in my dreams dear,
And wish that I was by your side.
You wrote me that you didn't trust me.
You wrote that you would not say goodbye.
It hurts to know that you don't trust me.
It hurts me dear enough to cry.
Now I forgive you in my heart dear,
But still you didn't say goodbye. ♪
“I wouldn’t have stopped you. You’re brave and strong, and I won’t make you be who you’re not.
♪ “Some day dear when your foes surround you,
And you hang your head and cry.
Remember me and all your sorrow,
Remember that you didn't say goodbye.
It hurts to know that you don't trust me.
It hurts me dear enough to cry.
Now I forgive you in my heart dear,
But still you didn't say goodbye. ♪
“That you would think me so selfish, and refuse what you thought would be my greatest wish…
♪ “It hurts to know that you don't trust me.
It hurts me dear enough to cry.
Now I forgive you in my heart dear,
But still you didn't say goodbye.” ♪
“Thanks for telling me about your past!” said somepony in a high pitched, grating voice. “It was a great way of passing the time!”
“Remember, no telling anypony, alright?” a vaguely familiar voice answered.
“You got it! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“What’s that?”
“Has Pinkie not shown you yet? That was a Pinkie promise. Nopony can break a Pinkie promise.”
“Okay.”
As Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, slowly began to regain consciousness she heard two ponies talking. Then she heard a steady creaking and groaning sound coming from below her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in a small wooden box with a cloth roof. Just then the box jumped and she bit her tongue to stay silent.
“Okay, on three.” The familiar voice belonged to the unicorn that had been the first unexpected foe! “One. Two. Three!” The wagon began to glow turquoise and dark blue. Then she felt a sensation similar to flying, but not quite. She tried to destroy the wagon, but for some reason her magic did nothing. It couldn’t be that she was too starved, she felt only the moderate hunger that never truly went away, not the deep gnawing pain of starvation. Right as the wagon’s glow began to fade she saw a stone ring on her horn.
'Of course,' she thought. 'That ring must have some sort of nullifying power. How very clever of them. But they weren't expecting me to wake up so soon.'
Very slowly, making sure not to make any noise that could be heard from outside the wagon she raised a hoof to her horn and tugged on the ring. It came off with only a trifling resistance.
“Wow, this path is in terrible condition! I wonder how long it’s been since somepony used it?”
“Then nopony will interrupt this time!” Queen Chrysalis thrust open the fabric and stood tall over the two unicorn ponies she had heard. “Without those other meddlers you stand no chance against me!” She looked around and saw they were in a rocky valley with scraggly trees and a cool autumn breeze, yet with not a sign of snow. “Where have you taken me?”
“You can’t use your magic and we outnumber you! Stand down!” said the troublemaker, but Chrysalis could taste her fear.
“I removed your little trinket. But if that’s your story then how about a demonstration?” She fired a blast of magic at the troublemaker…
“I think this one lasts a while after being removed,” said the annoying one as they all noted the lack of anything coming from her horn.
“Either put your disabling ring back on or I’ll just put you back to sleep,” the troublemaker threatened.
Chrysalis considered refusing but decided that if she stayed awake they might slip up and let her defeat them without magic. She reached down and grabbed the ring, but then she had an idea. She tried to transform. In a flash of green she took the form of a hummingbird and began flying away.
Derpy, Extra Time, and Perfect Pace were all sitting in the last coach. “So, what is it you wanted to talk about?” asked Pace.
“Derpy, would you like to share?” Extra Time offered.
“Well, I was told about the changeling invasion, and I thought it sounded like a war. That’s what it is, right?”
“Well, you’re the only one on this train who saw it, but from my interviews it certainly sounded like one,” answered Extra. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, we’re not supposed to use our spears when in active service except in times of war. So when I was grabbing my armor I had to decide if this counted.”
“Yes Derpy, bringing your spear was fine.” Perfect Pace interrupted. “Nopony’s going to get you in trouble for unauthorized use of government property. Was that all you needed?”
“No Pace, that wasn’t the issue. Derpy, please continue. If you feel comfortable.”
“So I went through the portal, and when I got out Starlight said to guard the portal. Then Minuette came through the portal and was dizzy. We were all dizzy after the portal, I forgot to mention that before.”
“It’s okay, keep going,” said Extra Time.
“So, after Minuette came through, a changeling came in from the main fight and flew straight for Minuette. Then I tried to stop him. First I tried to intercept him, but I was too slow, so I thrust my spear out to stop him. It hit him in the side and drew blood, but I was distracted at the time so I didn’t think much of it. When I came back later he was dead.”
Perfect Pace stared at Derpy for a moment. “I can see why they only use spears in times of war. Are you okay Derpy?”
“I just don’t know.”
Tall Order walked through Ponyville towards town hall. He wanted to look over any bill proposals that the Mayor had drafted last week, since he had been busy lately. It wouldn’t do to go into the meeting tomorrow without knowing what they would be voting on.
When he reached town hall he saw that there was a strip of recently swept area on the steps leading up to the main door. How odd, he thought. Why would somepony sweep only part of the steps? Putting the thought aside he walked up and unlocked the door, then stepped inside.
After several turns he reached the common area for the city council. On the table sat two scrolls rolled up with a seal on them. The one with the Mayor’s seal on it was broken, but the other one was still sealed and bore the Sheriff's seal.
“That’s odd. I can’t remember the last time Inquisitor bothered to use her seal of office.” He broke it open and began to read. Fellow council members. I regret to inform you that urgent business has called me away from town. I do not know when I will be back, so in the meantime I leave Perfect Timing as acting Sheriff until I return. I am sorry that I could not offer two weeks advance notice, but I only learned of it today. Sincerely, Sheriff Inquisitor.
“This must be new, or somepony else would have already opened it. I wonder if I can catch her before she leaves.” He rolled the scroll back up and headed back out into the Ponyville streets. It was only a few dozen feet before he was standing in front of the house that Inquisitor lived in.
He rapped on the door as loudly as was proper. “Hello! Miss Inquisitor, are you home!” A minute or so passed before he knocked again. “Is anypony home?!”
A call rang out from within the house. “Just a minute!” After a little while the door opened to reveal Miss Timing standing in the stairway. She sat down and called in a tired voice, “Hello councilor. What can I do for you today?”
“I just got a letter from the sheriff. Is she still here?”
“No. She left this morning. I take it she didn’t tell you before she left either?”
“She left without telling her deputy?”
“She…” Perfect Timing paused for a moment, then started again. “She left a note for me this morning. We didn’t talk before she left.”
“Well, she said in the note in town hall that she left you acting sheriff, so you need to come by tomorrow afternoon for the meeting.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“Did she tell you why she left?”
“It’s... rather personal. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course. Well in that case I’ll just be going then. Thank you for your time.” Tall Order stepped away from the door and Perfect Timing closed it. Then he headed back to the town hall to read up on tomorrow's agenda.
Starlight hit the hummingbird with a stunning spell and it went down immediately. After a moment Chrysalis returned to her true form.
“Well that was a close one huh? I’m glad you hit her, just imagine what would have happened if she’d gotten away.”
“Help me get her back in the wagon.”
They lifted her into the wagon and Minuette hooked herself up to the wagon again while Starlight lifted the ring. “I’m glad this was one of the ones which keeps you from casting magic for a prolonged period. Good to know that it doesn’t prevent shapeshifting. I wonder why they didn’t tell us, that would have been nice to know going in.”
“Maybe they’d never tested it?” Minuette suggested.
“I have an idea. Stand back.” Starlight summoned a glass jar and set it beside the wagon. Then she fired a pale green ray at Chrysalis. A black blob seeped out from her and gathered in Starlight’s telekinesis, which she then deposited into the jar, sealing it tightly.
"What was that?”
“A modified version of my cutie mark removal spell.” She stored the ring away in her extra-dimensional pocket. “I took away her magic, that should prevent her from doing any more shape-shifting."
They started off again. Starlight cleared her throat. “I read up on it last week, to open Tartarus only requires a fairly simple bit of spellwork, I’ll show you in case you need to work the lock later.”
“If it’s that easy then why is it the most secure prison ever?”
“Because Cerberus doesn’t let you take anypony out unless he knows you. So it’s easy to drop somecreature off, but hard to get them back out.”
“Does he know you?”
“No, but we’re dropping off so we should be fine.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes before they saw their destination. A huge pair of dark red doors with bright red patterning on them stood embedded in the side of a mountain.
“Spooky,” said Minuette as Starlight walked up to the door.
“Okay, all you have to do is channel your magic into the hole in the center of the lock, like so.” Starlight poured some of her magic into the hole and the black lines on the gold lock started to glow white. Then the four small diamonds on the corners each turned 90 degrees and the doors swung inward. “Now all we have to do is find a good spot to put her.”
As they walked in, the doors swung shut behind them. “Are they supposed to do that?” asked Minuette.
“I guess, I’ve never done this before.”
“As long as we can open them from inside. We can open them from inside, right?”
“Yes. As long as Cerberus lets you. Speaking of, where is he?”
Starlight and Minuette looked around, and then heard loud footfalls. A giant, three-headed black bulldog with red pupils and a spiked collar on each neck leapt into view. “There he is. Hi Cerberus!” Starlight called, putting on an award winning smile. “We were just wanting to drop off a very bad pony, can we do that?”
Cerberus growled threateningly, but then stood aside to let them pass. They walked by in silence. After a little longer they reached a twisting staircase over a bottomless chasm. Minuette unbuckled herself and then they used their magic together to carry Chrysalis over the chasm.
“It has been some time since I have received visitors,” a quiet voice called in a friendly, yet subtly sinister manner. “And I see you’ve brought a changeling.”
Starlight and Minuette stopped walking and stared at the frail and starving creature before them. “Woah, you look terrible,” said Minuette. “Are you alright mister? Wait a minute, you're the centaur that stole everypony’s magic! I was going to offer you some food, but not anymore. I want to keep my magic.” And with that Minuette stalked past the aging centaur.
“And what of you little pony? Does the name of Lord Tirek still haunt your nightmares? The memory of your magic being drained for my use?”
“Actually I don’t think we ever met.” Starlight answered. “I was out of touch at the time and only heard about you recently.”
Tirek huffed. “At any rate, I am curious why you are delivering a new prisoner. Normally either guards or one of the princesses does that. Are they all too busy?”
Starlight picked up Chrysalis and began walking around Tirek’s cage to the staircase opposite the one they had come up. “None of your business.”
“Oh but it is. You see, down here all I have to do is think. If the guards and princesses had been too busy to deal with a task so important to the safety of their precious ponies that would mean that things were in grave danger. But now I think they don’t even know you’re here.”
Starlight froze at the top of the stairs. “How did you know that?”
“I didn’t. I merely suspected from your tone. Now I know. My next question would be why this is a secret.” Starlight shook her head and began walking towards Minuette at the bottom of the steps.
“Maybe we were just in too much of a hurry to tell them,” Starlight shot back.
“And now I know that isn’t it. Ponies are so easy to read.”
“Just ignore him Starlight, he wants to hurt us.”
“Ahh yes,” said Tirek. “And you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you? You’ve probably hurt more with your words than I ever will.”
Minnuette was taken aback. “What! I’m never mean to ponies like you!”
“Of course not. When I’m mean to ponies it is because I want to hurt them, while you have a natural talent for it. It springs from your mouth without a second thought. I’ll bet that even those who call themselves your friends can’t stand to be around you for long. Tell me, do they claim to be busy, since they are capable of trying to spare your feelings?”
Minuette backed away and shook her head rapidly. “Y-you don’t know anything about me or my friends, what would you know!”
“I-”
“Nope, done talking to you!” Minuette shouted, before casting a spell that surrounded her ears in her aura.
Starlight had finished securing Chrysalis in a cage and decided it was time for them to get out of here before the nasty centaur could do any real damage. She walked up to Minuette and tapped her on the shoulder. When Minuette looked up to her Starlight raised a hoof towards the door and started walking.
“Time to go?” Minuette asked hopefully, and a little louder than called for. Starlight nodded.
As they passed Tirek’s cage again he called out, “Do come again some time, this is the most fun I've had in months.”
“Not planning on it!” Starlight shot back as they continued walking towards the door. Cerberus watched them closely, but made no move to stop them. Once they reached the door Starlight tried sending her magic into the door. The door began to glow brightly and, as though she were using telekinesis, it swung open. She and Minuette hurried out before the door slammed shut once more.
“I keep asking myself why they were attacking us. Did they want to, or were they just following orders? I can’t help but wonder if they were really bad ponies.”
Derpy was sitting in Infinity’s office in Canterlot, speaking to him about a subject he wished he had never worked with before. Interestingly enough, last time had also been about changelings. On the plus side, that meant he already had an idea how to help.
“Derpy, there is one thing I must ask of you. Never ask yourself if the dead deserved to die. Not unless you are prepared to deal with any answer you might find.”
Derpy blinked and looked concerned, so he decided to clarify. “You can ask if it is right in advance of course. To stop that invites all sorts of horrors. But don’t worry too hard about that which is already said and done. Even we cannot change the past, and trying to puzzle out the ‘correct’ choice will cause more harm than good. Minuette wouldn’t be here with us today without your quick action.”