//------------------------------// // 12 Canterlot Caper // Story: The Time Ponies and the Cutie Mark Thief Vs. the Queen of Hearts // by My name is R //------------------------------// It had been a long day, both literally and figuratively. Perfect had never actually been to Canterlot before, but she knew it was a one hour journey by train. Obviously they weren’t traveling as fast as a train, but since the train went in circles to climb the mountain she had figured that they could take a shorter path. However, there were a few issues that she hadn’t anticipated. First of all, while they could take a more direct route, that meant a lot of hiking up steep mountain trails. In the sweltering midday sun. Except when there was a blizzard. Perfect honestly wasn’t sure if she appreciated the blizzards or not. They froze her worse than the sun burned her, but at least it wasn’t constant heat. She found herself thanking the fact that Perfect Pace and Extra Time hadn’t joined them, or the blizzards wouldn’t have been so quick to depart. Another reason for their delay was that half their group, herself included, were unused to this kind of exercise. Emerald was trying, but her week of training with Derpy didn’t seem to have prepared her for hours of walking. Technically she was the one setting the pace as slowest, but between Perfect, Minuette, and Sandstorm they wouldn’t have been able to go much faster anyway. Sandstorm's wing had been hurting her less, but it still wasn’t ready to fly on. Not that flying was an option anyway. Which brought her to the last obstacle, the changelings themselves. The team was currently hiding in one of the old railroad tunnels while a squad of changelings flew past. One stroke of luck was that there weren’t any actual guards. The changelings didn’t seem to be worried that anypony would try to attack them, the patrols were searching for ponies to capture, not trying to prevent invasion. Hmph, invasion. Did nine ponies, half civilian, even count as an invasion? All in all, what should have been a day trip by distance alone had taken three days, with four calls to break for the night. Apparently the ponies of this land didn’t keep any semblance of a unified day/night cycle. According to Fluttershy they didn’t keep time beyond minutes and hours, and even those were merely estimates. Different groups kept separate cycles, depending on how strenuous their activities were. Once the changelings had passed by, Starlight spoke to the group. “Okay, this is it.” She pointed at the city of Canterlot, a mere quarter mile’s trot down the tracks from where they were hiding. It was covered in a shimmering magenta forcefield which appeared to cover the entire city in a giant circle. “Perfect, did Inquisitor ever tell you about a forcefield around the hive?” “No, the only defenses outside of the hive itself were the guards, the anti magic field, and the surrounding desert. This is new. And the wrong color.” “What do you mean?” Starlight asked. “Changelings can make their aura any color they choose, but they all have a natural green aura. They seldom bother to alter it unless they are disguised.” “Strange… Regardless, the patrols are getting more frequent as we get closer and I doubt we can make it to the city without getting spotted.” Starlight lit her horn and opened her saddlebags. “I assume you have a plan?” asked Fluttershy, watching intently. “Indeed,” Starlight answered, pulling a jar out and setting it on the ground in front of her. “Moving forward we’re not going to hide, we’re going to use disguises. How many of you are familiar with race change spells?” Perfect and Minuette raised their hooves. “Wait,” asked Minuette, “I thought they needed somepony of the appropriate race to serve as the template?” “Normally, yes. That’s what this is for.” Starlight gestured at the jar. “I stole Chrysalis’s magic after she tried to escape. Hopefully it will work as a substitute for a live changeling.” “And if it doesn’t?” asked Minuette. “Then nothing will happen. Who wants to go first?” Sandstorm stepped forward. “Alright, this might feel odd, but it should pass. Sandstorm, wipe off the salve. Everypony else, you might want to stand on the other side of the cave.” After the others stepped away Starlight lit her horn, causing a sphere of white and turquoise spirals to grow until it reached Sandstorm, almost reaching the cave exit on the other side before dissipating. Then Starlight raised Sandstorm in her magic, before firing a beam at her chest. Then, while still maintaining the first beam, she fired another beam at the jar. The second beam lasted only a moment, but even after she stopped the jar kept glowing turquoise and Perfect would have sworn there were strange runes of white dancing in the magic. Then there was a bright flash of white, and when Perfect refocused there was no sign of the magic except the changeling sitting where Sandstorm had been. “Did it work?” asked Sandstorm. “Look outside and see if anyling saw that flash,” Perfect told her. Sandstorm looked out of the cave, scanning the countryside for any sign they had been spotted. “All clear.” Then she looked at her hooves. “Wow. Hey, does this mean I can transform?” “It should,” Starlight answered. “Why don’t you try it?” “Okay.” Sandstorm closed her eyes. Then she opened them again. “Uh, how?” Perfect stepped forward. “Well, whenever Inky described it to me she said she imagines what she wants to look like, then makes it so.” “Makes it so?” “Just like telekinesis… right. Just… focus really hard.” “Okay.” Sandstorm closed her eyes again, but this time after a moment there was a burst of green fire which passed to reveal Sandstorm as a unicorn. Pinkie clapped her hooves. “Yay. You did it,” she whisper cheered. Sandstorm examined her hoof. “I meant to look like Starlight.” “Well, you got the right race,” Perfect said in what she hoped was a supportive tone. Sandstorm dropped the disguise. “That should be enough to blend in. They probably won’t expect us to transform at all. Although… is it just me or are your wings off?” Sandstorm looked at her wings. “What’s wrong with them?” “The angles are off. This fork should go away from the main wing, not parallel.” Perfect pointed her hoof at the offending anatomy. “And these should angle perpendicular to the leading edge, but instead they angle slightly along the wing.” “Will the changelings notice?” asked Starlight. “Not instantly, but they might if they inspect her.” “And how likely is that?” asked Sandstorm. Perfect shook her head. “I can't say. This hive is under very different circumstances than the one Inky left.” “Are we sure Canterlot is still our best next step?” asked Emerald. “When we checked Ponyville it was deserted,” answered Starlight. “We don't know where Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow were taken, and we don't have any leads at all to Twilight’s whereabouts. That leaves Inky. She said she was going to gather information, and the hive seems like a likely place she would go. And if we don't find her, maybe we can find where some of the remaining elements are. I'd rather not wait months before moving forward. Let’s all step a little deeper into the tunnel and I’ll cast the spell on the rest of us. Is that good with everypony?” Perfect certainly wasn’t going to delay the search for Inky. A few of the others nodded, but then Fluttershy spoke up. “This feels… wrong. Turning ourselves into changelings to fight them. Does anypony else feel this is a deal with Tartarus situation?” “Can I tell her?” Perfect whispered in Starlight’s ear. Starlight took a deep breath, then nodded. “She’ll figure it out eventually, better now than when we meet back up.” Fluttershy looked at them with suspicion. Perfect took a step toward the center of their group, facing Fluttershy and Pinkie. “These changelings are bad news, but some changelings are good ponies, just like us. Our friend, the one who’s out there spying on the hive? She’s a changeling, and I’ve known it for years.” “How do you know she won’t betray you?” asked Fluttershy. “Other than how well I’ve grown to know her over our time together? I know from how she responded to the changeling attack in our world. She helped set up some of the defenses against changelings, and I’ve seen her root out changeling imposters before.” Fluttershy squinted at her for a long moment. “Ok. If we find her I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on her, but I’m ready to accept the spell.” “I guess that’s good, then.” Perfect sighed. She supposed it would be naive to expect everypony to accept Inky as fast as Starlight had. They all stepped deeper into the tunnel. The spell went much the same for the rest of them as it had for just Sandstorm, at least from what Perfect saw. After it was done all of them, including Starlight, looked like changelings. “Huh, that’s interesting,” Perfect muttered. “What’s interesting?” Fluttershy asked. “Only the pegasi’s wings are off, everypony else’s are perfect.” Perfect took a moment to inspect Starlight, then Emerald. “And the horn on a unicorn retains its shape, though they are smooth at least.” “And earth pony limbs are whole,” added Driver. “The spell only partially transforms the center of each tribe’s magic,” said Emerald. “I wonder if that’s because of the false changeling base or a limitation of the spell,” Starlight pondered. Perfect focused on Inky’s natural horn in her mind’s eye. There was a flash of green fire and Perfect looked up. “I can’t tell, did I get it?” “Yep, your horn is curvy now,” said Minuette. Starlight was engulfed in the transformative flames, followed by Fluttershy, both emerging as fully normal changelings. “Can everypony try to appear as the normal changelings?” Starlight asked. Minuette and Emerald immediately transformed, followed a moment later by Pinkie. Sandstorm, Derpy, and Driver appeared to be straining themselves, but they produced no results. “Everypony who can take on a perfect disguise should be on the edges, with the…” Perfect tried to come up with a nicer word than defective. “Others, in the center. I’ll take point, since I know changelings best.” They all got into their positions and headed towards the city. As they approached the shield Minuette saw the last thing she was expecting. Somepony she knew. Certainly, she was aware that ponies she knew existed in this world, and she wouldn’t have been surprised to see them in a dungeon somewhere, coated in a green case. But Shining Armor was standing in plain view at one of the guard posts situated just past where the tracks met the shield. The other post had a canvas tarp covering the opening. Minuette started to trot faster, but Perfect bit her tail, making her stop. “Don’t trust anything in a changeling hive,” she whispered. “He’s certainly a changeling, in what has got to be the laziest trap ever. A little odd to be transformed with so little benefit, but I guess they have more food here,” Perfect snarled. “Such a waste.” When they reached the shield a changeling in royal guard armor stepped out of the second post with a newspaper. The headline read: CANTERLOT GARDENS RENOVATION PROJECT! Upon a quick study Minuette noticed the date was almost two years ago. “Back from an unsuccessful hunt?” the changeling asked through the shield, clearly bored. Perfect nodded. “You know that big castle in the jungle?” “Yeah, what about it?” Minuette decided it sounded like a male. “We saw the blizzard stop. Checked it out, saw some signs of recent activity, but by the time we got there whoever caused it was gone. “In that case, you probably haven’t heard the news yet.” The guard perked up a bit. Perfect cocked her head. “Do tell.” “Chrysalis went missing in action on the big raid on the Everfree camp we found. I heard there was some kind of monster that did it, but the details vary depending on who you ask.” He raised his hooves and continued in a spooky voice. “Some say it was the biggest diamond dog you’ll ever see. Others say it was an alicorn.” Then he went back to his normal speech. “The craziest one I’ve heard so far is that the forest itself started attacking our forces, but between you and me? I think there’s more salt than substance to that one.” “That is… unsettling. Thank you for informing us.” “Not at all, thanks for stopping to talk. He’s no good for conversation at all.” The guard looked at Shining Armor and cleared his throat. “Captain Armor, open the gates!” Minuette took a long look at Shining Armor. His pupils were green and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days, with a thousand-yard stare to match. He lit his horn and the shield between the guard posts shimmered, but other than that he didn’t seem to notice. Perfect led the way though. The shield felt cold as they walked through, sending a shiver down her spine, but nothing seemed to come of it. “Close the gates!” the changeling ordered, before turning back to them. “You’d better report your find to the castle.” Perfect nodded and started to walk away. “Hey, one more thing. What’s your name?” “Whorl.” “Huh. That’s one I haven’t heard before. I’m Rhabdom. Have a nice day.” They walked until they were out of sight of the guards, then Perfect led them into an abandoned alleyway. “That wasn’t a changeling, was it?” Minuette asked. “No, that was a pony who’s been under the thrall of a changeling for a long time,” answered Perfect. “Likely since the invasion.” “How can we wake him up?” “The good news is that it’s temporary, the bad news is I don’t know anything for it except time, probably a few weeks for a case this long.” “Was that some kind of test?” asked Fluttershy. “No, he was probably just tired of reading old papers.” “Then why did you give away that information? And why was he acting so friendly?” “Changelings do tend to be rather aggressive, but not all of them,” Perfect answered. “After all, ponies are known across the world as unusually friendly, but there are still a few mean ponies. And the friendlier changelings tend to prefer solo jobs to avoid their meaner kin, so a solitary guard is likely to be fairly amiable. As for the report, I had two reasons. First of all, the information was fairly useless, possibly even detrimental. It made it look like they should investigate the castle, but they won’t find anything there. And secondly I didn’t know how to ask for entry. If there was a protocol, I don’t know it, so I gave us an excuse to break tradition with a report that sounded somewhat important.” “That’s pretty clever. How’d you know to do all that?” asked Emerald. “I may not be a big fan of mysteries or spy novels, but Inky is, and she likes to share what they get right and wrong. I’ve picked up a few tricks,” Perfect said with a smile. “Next we should search the castle. Hopefully they’ll have a records room.” “Hopefully?” Fluttershy asked, with one eyebrow raised. “Well, they didn’t in the old hive, but things obviously work differently here. If we’re lucky they just commandeered the castle’s record room.” Perfect blinked. “Does anypony here know where that might be?” “The library?” Minuette suggested. Perfect shrugged. “Maybe?” “It’s as good a place to start as any,” Starlight said. Minuette looked around. “I’ll lead the way, they haven’t changed the layout much.” She started off, the others all following behind. “We’re lucky they aren’t operating out of the old hive.” Perfect whispered. “It was built to be an impossible maze to any non-changelings. But here they seem content to simply repurpose the pony city wholesale.” A group of changelings flew past, and everypony tensed. After a few moments the changelings had passed out of sight and they relaxed a bit. For several tense minutes they snuck through the city, making their way towards the library as quickly as they could without attracting attention. It was a harrowing ordeal, but they made it to their goal without issue. Minnuette stepped up the grand stone stairs and looked at the pair of unicorn statues flanking them. Each of them had had their legs perforated to resemble those of changelings. “Ok, that's just rude,” she commented. “Shh,” Perfect whispered as she slipped over to the doors. She opened one and poked her head in. After a moment she gestured for them to follow her and stepped into the building. “Alright everypony, let's split up and see if we can find the records. To indicate you’re one of us say ‘Tut, tut, it looks like rain.’ If they seem confused, tell them it’s from a book you were reading. Any objections?” “Tut, tut, it looks like rain,” Fluttershy muttered. “Okay.” They all dispersed through the library, searching for clues to find their friends, old and new alike.