The guard’s back was to Psithyra and she advanced on the hapless pony, her horn aglow with green energy. She lowered her head, ready to discharge the spell, when the guardspony glanced at a reflective piece of crystal. His eyes widened as he saw the outline of Psithyra behind him and he opened his mouth to cry out.
Zap!
Psithyra’s spell hit him full in the back of the head and he slumped onto the ground, unconscious. Psithyra had learned the stunning spell from a unicorn who dealt in dangerous animals, and she was thankful that she had taken the time to seduce him and learn this magic.
With a few deft motions, the guard was enveloped in a sticky green cocoon out of sight, wedged inside a narrow fissure where no creature would think to look. Swiping the guard’s pass and badge, Psithyra morphed into his likeness and stepped out into the open.
Another Solar Guard was coming over.
“Hey, Stern Spear,” He said. “What was that noise?”
Psithyra shrugged, acting embarrassed. “I just tripped over a rock. Dark in here, isn’t it, sergeant?” She glanced at the stripes on the other guardspony’s armor to see his rank.
The sergeant grunted and nodded. “Well, try to watch where you’re going in the future. I almost thought you’d been attacked or something.”
“Yessir, sergeant,” Psithyra saluted. She waited until the other pony had gone before making her way up towards the exit of the caves.
The pony standing watch up here was a private, and he certainly looked like a rookie. Smelled and tasted like one, too.
“I’m heading topside,” Psithyra told him gruffly. She presented her stolen pass and the private checked it carefully. “Not much down here except dust and rocks.”
“Oh, yes,” the private bobbed his head up and down, eager to please. “Everything seems in order. Go on ahead, sir.”
“Thank you, private,” Psithyra pocketed the pass and trotted up into the light. She knew that this particular exit opened up in a corner of the castle grounds, hence why Princess Cadance and Twilight Sparkle had managed to get to the wedding so quickly after leaving the caves. She kept on walking in the firm, practiced manner of a castle guard, making sure to give nothing away that she was not what she appeared to be. Of course, she was a changeling and one of the best to boot, so that part was very easy.
Upon exiting the cave, Psithyra was only mildly surprised to see that there were more guards up here. Two pegasi and two earth ponies, none of which were looking in Psithyra’s direction at the moment. The changeling princess took this opportunity to march past them, letting the light catch onto her Solar Guard armor so that it was obvious who was passing.
She knew the layout of the castle from when she and Chrysalis had begun planning to swap out Princess Cadance with the queen. Psithyra passed by another security check at the castle doors, which went by without incident. However, the increasing number of Solar and Lunar Guards began to worry the changeling princess. Getting in was the easy part. Getting out might be more difficult, especially if her sister had been in a bound cell overnight.
‘Stern Spear’ walked through the halls of Canterlot Castle, while underneath his face, Psithyra was sniffing around for the scent of her queen. Both her memory and nose pointed her southwest, past the throne room.
Just as she was passing the great double doors, they swung open without warning. Instinctively, Psithyra stood at attention and saluted as Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Twilight Sparkle came trotting out, laughing about something.
“…You don’t say?” Twilight patted her brother on the back and sighed. “Sounds like you had yourselves a great honeymoon. Are you ready to get back to work?”
“Definitely,” Shining Armor nodded, his face turning serious. “Tomorrow, I’m going to go question the changeling queen. It’s a good thing we managed to capture her; I just wish it hadn’t cost the recon team so much to get to this point.”
“We’ll just add that to the list of things she needs to answer for,” Cadance said firmly. “On top of everything else, like abducting me. My memories are still kind of hazy about that. Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t remember.”
“I’m just glad you’re alright,” Twilight nuzzled the princess of love tenderly. “And it’s good to see that security has been ramped up around the castle, too!”
Twilight gestured to the disguised Psithyra, who threw Shining Armor a crisp salute.
“Anything to report?” Shining Armor asked with a smile.
“All’s well in the castle, sir!” Psithyra told him. “We’re making good progress in the caves as well.”
“Excellent,” Shining Armor nodded his approval. “I’m sure that there are clues in those caves which will be of great help to improving our security against future possible invasions. Just because Equestria is a peaceful nation doesn’t mean that we don’t have enemies.”
“That’s why we’re lucky to have you as Captain of the Guard, sir!” Psithyra said loudly.
Shining Armor looked between a mixture of proud and mollified. “Yeah, well, we all do our part to protect the land. A good captain isn’t anything without the ponies who serve with him.”
“Thank you, sir!” Psithyra replied.
She stayed rooted to the spot until the three ponies headed off to the east wing of the castle. Only once they were out of sight did Psithyra exhale and look around. That had been far too close for comfort; she hadn’t been expecting to run into those three of all ponies.
Back to the mission at hoof…
Walking just a little bit faster now, Psithyra soon found herself closing in on the door to the dungeons. An odd choice to have dungeons when there were very rarely any creatures to fill them, but Psithyra decided not to dwell on that. Instead she stared ahead at the two Solar Guards who were standing watch outside the dungeon entrance.
"Good afternoon, gentlestallions," Psithyra said in Stern Spear's voice as she walked up to them. "I'll need to be heading down into the holding area for a bit."
"Why?" The guard on the left asked.
"To check on the prisoner," Psithyra continued confidently. "Make sure she hasn't escaped or anything."
"The jailer is down there," the guard on the right pointed out. "If anything happened, he would let us know."
Psithyra frowned inwardly. "Yes, but I have orders from Captain Armor himself. He wants to interrogate the changeling queen tomorrow and he sent me to make sure she is fit for questioning."
"Well, that's different then," the guard on the left took out his key and unlocked the door. "You're set to go in. Oh, and watch yourself around the changeling queen. She's a tricky one."
"Noted," Psithyra nodded and entered the dungeons.
The stairs were long and winding, lit with torches and flameless lanterns. Psithyra could make out the bulky outline of the jailer at the bottom of the steps, seated behind a large desk. He was a towering earth pony stallion and he had a lance at his side.
More importantly, Psithyra could smell the familiar scent of her queen and older sister close by. The dungeons were lined with golden cages, each one enchanted to make sure magic could not get in or out.
Psithyra reached the bottom of the steps and the jailer loomed from the shadows to meet her.
"State your business," the jailer said in a tone that brooked no argument. He was taller than Psithyra was, even in her natural changeling princess form.
Still, it wasn’t like he could see what she really was. Psithyra stepped up.
"I'm here to check on the prisoner," she said again. "Captain Armor’s orders."
"Is that so?" The jailer grunted. "Let's see the writ, then."
"Writ?" Psithyra cursed inside her head. The lie had worked so well on the guards outside that she hadn't stopped to consider she might need proof. Her mind raced as she saw the jailer's frown deepen. "Ah, yes. The writ. Got it right here."
Psithyra made a show of reaching back at Stern Spear's saddlebags as if to get something from them. Then suddenly she unsheathed one of her blades and smashed the flat side of it into the jailer's face with all her might. There was a crash like a pair of cymbals as the sword knocked a serious dent into his helmet and the jailer fell to the ground unconscious. Psithyra promptly cuffed him so that he wouldn't get up, and after looting the keys from his body she affixed a gag of green slime around his mouth as well. And just to be sure, she hauled his form behind the desk.
"What is going on out there?" Queen Chrysalis's voice asked from a few cells down. "Don't tell me you tripped, you oaf. You ponies are useless even when it comes to walking."
Hurrying over to the cell in question, Psithyra sighed in relief as she saw her sister lying down inside. Chrysalis looked up grumpily.
"You know, I can't tell you ponies apart sometimes," Chrysalis droned, waving her hoof lazily in the air. "You all look the same. Humourless and boring."
Psithyra shook off her initial astonishment and pressed herself up against the bars. "Chrysalis. It's me, Psithyra. I've come to break you out."
This got the changeling queen's attention. She scrambled to her hooves. "Well, it's about time you did something right. Come on, open the door and get me out of here."
Psithyra levitated the keys out, but stopped short of slotting them into the keyhole.
“Let me ask you a question first,” Psithyra said. “Did you tell anypony about me and the others?”
“What?” Chrysalis growled. “Why are you wasting time with stupid questions? Get me out of here.”
“Did you tell anyone?” Psithyra insisted. “I need to know.”
“Oh, for the love of…” Chrysalis grumbled. “No, I didn’t tell anyone. You think I would give away information like that?”
“These days I don’t know what to think,” Psithyra sighed. She slid the key into the cell lock and the door swung open with a well-oiled click-clack. “Come on, we’re not out of the danger zone yet. We need to move. Can you change?”
Chrysalis closed her eyes and a flare of green fire ignited at her hooves, but died out just as quickly. She grimaced.
“It seems that staying in that cell has taken away what little magic I had left. I hope you’ve got a plan.”
Psithyra opened her mouth to respond, but at that very moment, there was a flicker of movement at the dungeon entrance. The door had swung open and there was a guard coming down.
“Hello?” He called into the dungeon. “We heard a noise, is everything okay?”
“Hide!” Psithyra shoved Chrysalis behind a pillar and transformed into the jailer.
“Turn Key, are you alright?” The guardspony asked as he walked up to Psithyra. “There was a loud noise, and it’s not that we don’t trust you, but in light of everything that’s happened recently, I thought I should check.”
“Everything is completely fine,” Psithyra replied stiffly as she glanced aside to make sure Chrysalis was completely hidden. “Get back to your post. I just dropped my weapon, that’s all. Clumsy of me.”
“Oh, alright,” The guard said and turned around to leave. Then he paused and looked about, craning his neck. “Where’s Stern Spear? I just let him down to check on the prisoner.”
Psithyra was about to say something, but a faint noise beat her to it. It came from behind the desk, where she had hidden the real Turn Key. He seemed to be straining against his restraints.
“What was that?” The guard asked suspiciously.
“Rats, I suspect,” Psithyra grunted, stepping in between the guard and the desk to hide it with her body. “I’ll deal with it.”
“There’s no rats down here,” The guard made to push past Psithyra. He narrowed his eyes and drew his sword halfway out of its scabbard. “Something’s not right here…”
There was no time to drop her disguise to use a stunning spell, so Psithyra took advantage of her new form’s muscle and bulk and simply bucked the guard into the wall. The guard’s armor saved him from the worst of the impact, but it was still enough force to send his eyes into spirals and daze him long enough for Psithyra to cuff his legs and sling him into the cell that had been occupied by Chrysalis until recently.
“We need to go. More of the ponies will come and investigate.”
“Once they realize I’m loose, they’ll lock down the whole castle,” Chrysalis pointed out, emerging from her hiding place. “Let alone two of us.”
This was true, Psithyra acknowledged. But a plan was already forming in her mind.
“They don’t know I’m here yet,” Psithyra began. “And I think we can take advantage of that.”
“What?” Chrysalis looked nonplussed.
Psithyra turned back into her native form, armor and all. “I need you to raise the alarm. Get every guard in the palace to come after you.”
“Wait, what?” The changeling queen gave her sister a prehistoric stare. “I thought the whole idea was to get me out of here quietly, not start a citywide witch hunt.”
Psithyra looked peeved. “Shut up and let me finish. I’m going to change into you, and you’re going to change into a guard. Take their pass and get out of the castle, back to the spa. My infiltrators will get you out of the city once the coast is clear. Meanwhile, I’ll draw the ponies’ attention away. You need to sound the alarm so that all of their eyes will be on me and not you. I’ve got the arms and armor to have a better chance at getting away if it comes to a fight. Got that?”
“Ah, one problem with that plan,” Chrysalis said. “I don’t have the energy to change. And as for you taking on my beautiful likeness, that’s bordering on sacrilege. There can only be one of me.”
“Do you have a better plan?” Chrysalis pursed her lips and scuffled her hoof on the ground. “No? Then do as I say or we’re both going to wind up in cells down here. You can drain some love from that jailer pony. He’s still tied up behind the desk. Hurry up.”
Still grumbling, Chrysalis went over to Turn Key and opened her maw wide, taking in a greenish wisp of fog. The jailer’s eyes rolled back in their sockets and he fell unconscious once again as Chrysalis sucked all the love out from his hapless body. Then she focused and changed into the guardspony who had come down to investigate, making sure to grab his pass and badge as well.
“Are you sure this will work?” Chrysalis asked Psithyra. “You’ll have almost the entire castle and royal guard on you. They won’t make it easy to get away.”
Psithyra said nothing, only changed herself into a perfect likeness of Chrysalis, holes and all.
“Alright then,” Chrysalis trotted up the steps. She looked back at her younger sister and felt an unfamiliar emotion in her chest. “Don’t die.”
“My queen, I am a changeling of many talents,” the disguised Psithyra replied. “But I’m afraid dying isn’t one of them. Now go!”
Chrysalis took in a deep breath and slammed the door open, startling the remaining guard on the other side. Sprinting out and shouting at the top of her disguised lungs, Chrysalis shouted and raved, “Prisoner escaping! Help! The changeling queen has escaped her cell! Heeeelp!”
Psithyra listened to the howling getting softer and knew it was time to make her move. If she was still down here in the dungeons when the main force arrived, she would be bottlenecked and trapped. Two guardponies appeared at the door, but with two swift shots from her horn, Psithyra downed them without any trouble. She stepped over their bodies and emerged out into the hallway, where she could hear the trampling of armored hooves.
Chrysalis had run off towards the left side. That meant that Psithyra’s path was to the right. She had to lure as many ponies away from her elder sister as she could, give her enough time to exit the castle and make it to the spa.
“There she is! Stop her!” Horseshoes thundered towards Psithyra as four more guards appeared, spears leveled at her.
Psithyra waited until they were almost on top of her before leaping clear over the guards and landing behind them, whipping her head around to blast them with a barrage of stunning spells. She would have preferred to hit them in the head or spine, as the magic worked more effectively that way, but in this case it didn’t really matter. That was the flaw with wearing metal armor; they conducted certain kinds of magic like her knockout spells and it didn’t make much of a difference where the spells landed, their golden armor would ensure that they felt the full effect of each shot.
So many stunning spells would normally take their toll on Psithyra’s energy reserves, but thanks to the extra strength that her infiltrators had given her, she was still running red hot.
Picking a path at random, Psithyra galloped along the corridors, leaping over surprised maids and skidding around corners. As she ran, she made sure to shoot more magic blasts from her horn at miscellaneous things like potted plants and tapestries. That way, it would be obvious which way she had gone and give the pursuing guards an easy breadcrumb trail to follow.
For a good five minutes she ran and ran, making sure to be just slow enough that the guards could still chase her, but just quick enough to stay a few dozen meters ahead.
A Lunar Guard emerged from a doorway and saw her coming, but before he could light up his own horn for a spell, Psithyra roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending him flying back into the room he had come from. Psithyra chanced a glance out the neared window and to her dismay, she beheld a pinkish-purple bubble forming around the castle. The ponies really did not want Queen Chrysalis leaving, but by Psithyra’s calculations, the real Queen Chrysalis was by now long gone. Which was good. What was not so good was that she herself was about to be trapped inside this magic field. Her blades could of course cut through it, but it would take a little bit of time. Time that Psithyra might not have to spare.
“Stop! Halt!” A stallion’s voice came from behind Psithyra. A little too close for comfort. She made a sharp left and ran up the spiral staircase that was there. The guards tried to follow, but once she was at the top Psithyra grabbed the carpet and pulled hard. The guards’ hooves slipped and they fell back down to the bottom in a heap of tangled legs and spears.
“You’ll have to do better than that!” Psithyra called out in Chrysalis’s voice. It was strange to hear that voice come from herself.
Is this what it’s like to be my big sister? Ew.
Deciding not to dwell on how unnatural it was to hear her own queen’s voice come out of her mouth, Psithyra kept on running.
There was an open window just up ahead. If she could just leap through it, she might have enough time to cut a hole into the containment spell and make good her escape.
But just as she was nearing the window, two pegasus guards flew through it, blocking her exit.
“Stop right there!” One of them barked.
“Not likely,” Psithyra muttered and took a hard left. As she made the turn, she glanced back and saw another group of guards closing in. There must have been a unicorn in there because a spell blasted over Psithyra’s head and scorched the wall with a black mark.
This hallway led to a pair of double doors that were locked with a heavy gold chain. Channeling her magic into a destructive ray, Psithyra shot the chain and it snapped, allowing her to barrel into the room beyond. She cursed under her breath.
This was a concert hall, with no windows and only one way in or out.
Psithyra turned to go back the way she had come, but the entrance was now crawling with what must have been half of the entire castle guard. Growling, she backed away from the door, her horn sparking with green energy that sizzled when they hit the floor.
“It’s over, Chrysalis!” One of the guardsponies announced. “There’s nowhere left to run. Surrender!”
Psithyra inhaled, then exhaled, calm and steeling herself for what was going to happen next.
Then she dropped her disguise. Her armor and weapons became visible, and her horn shone as she telekinetically took hold of the grips of her two swords and drew them from their sheaths with a sinister scraping sound.
“Wait, you’re not Chrysalis!” The guards gasped. “What is this? What’s going on?”
Psithyra took both her swords and joined them at the pommels with a click, forming a fearsome double bladed weapon. She spun it around herself, the twin blades lighting up with changeling magic that hissed like an overboiled pot on a stove. She settled into a fighting stance and pointed her weapon forward at the royal guards, a savage smile forming on her face.
“Come on then,” Psithyra beckoned with a smirk, her horn and eyes aglow like coals. “Let’s dance.”