Chapter 1
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle awoke with a start. Everything was coming at her in a rush. She couldn't even begin to comprehend that this was really happening. She was in a green cocoon, being harvested for her energy. She didn't know what caused her to wake up, but thank Star Swirl the Bearded she did. What had happened? What had really happened? Did they actually fight Chrysalis and just lose? Or was she cocooned as soon as she was trapped in the cave? Did she even make it to the cave?
There were so many questions and no start to any answers. Did she get to prove her point, that there was something wrong with Cadance? Where was the real Cadance? What happened to Princess Celestia?
Focus on the task at hand, Twilight. Get out of this cocoon. She took as steady of a breath as she could. She was weak. Very weak. She wasn't even sure if she could muster up a spell, any spell, to get her out. She didn't even know what the cocoon was made of, how hard it was, whether it would even break. It would be so much easier to just close her eyes, and drift back asleep, and dream. Dream, go back to the world where she just was, were she had proven her point, Chrysalis was defeated, and her brother was happily married. Where was Shining Armour? He was getting into a carriage last time she saw him...
No. She opened her eyes again, not remembering when they had shut. She had to get out of here. She had to find her real brother, the princess, her friends...
She blinked harder, focusing. Was that Fluttershy in the row of cocoons in front of her? And a few down from her, was that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie? Twilight began to turn her head. There were more cocoons behind her. She could make out Applejack.
Suddenly something stirred from the floor beneath her. She froze. Cautiously looking down with only her eyes, she saw something sleeping. Something absorbing all of the energy that was being harvested. Was that Chrysalis? She turned her head a little, trying not to move her body too much. No, whatever it was, it wasn't Chrysalis. It looked more like a ponyquin. She relaxed a little—but only ever so slightly. What if they could tell she was awake? That she was conscious? She glanced at the door. So far nopony had shown up. Maybe she still had some time. But she had to act fast.
A flash of lightning illuminated the room. From that one spark, she could see that the only thing in the room on the floor was the ponyquin. She felt out the cocoon. It felt like jell-o, but it was stiff to move in. She could barely make a scratch it in with her hoof. She'd have to use magic. She tested her powers. They were weak. Extremely weak. Ever so slowly, she began to burn the cocoon around her.
It took a few tense minutes, but finally the cocoon evaporated around her. She fell to the ground with a loud thud. Twilight didn't move. She played dead, barely breathing, in case a group of changelings charged the room, or the ponyquin came to life. Plus the magic had drained her and she needed to save her strength. She needed to recharge as fast as she could—she needed to get her friends out.
Slowly, Twilight began to get up. She had to think rationally—not that she ever didn't—and come up with the best possible strategy. The only way out of the cocoon was magic. She couldn't risk the strength and time to do the other five by herself. She needed to find Rarity first.
It was harder to see now that she was on the floor. While the cocoons let off a green glow, the ponies were all silhouetted from the ground. She stayed under her cocoon so she wouldn't get lost. Fluttershy was in front of her, a bit to the left. Two down from her to the right were Pinkie and then Rainbow Dash. Applejack's cocoon was behind and to the right of where Twilight's had been.
There were more cocoons in the great chamber than she had originally thought. Many more than those who had just been at the wedding. The entire ceiling was packed full, and each cocoon's energy went straight into the ponyquin. Twilight looked towards it. She wondered what it was, what it was doing. What was its purpose. As tempted as she was to get near it, she knew she'd be risking too much. She had limited time before somepony—some changeling—noticed something was wrong, and put her back into a cocoon. Or worse.
She didn't want to use her magic and energy to find which cocoon held Rarity. She needed to save her energy to get Rarity out. As if somepony was hearing her prayers, lightning flashed again. Thankfully in the millisecond the room was lit, she saw Rarity out of the corner of her eye, at the end of the row that held AJ.
She stood under the cocoon beside Rarity's and slowly began to work her spell. Lightning flashed a couple of more times, and every time it did, Twilight flinched at Rarity's expression of horror. It seemed to take longer to free Rarity than it had herself. She had to be careful not to burn Rarity in the process.
Twilight managed to muster up a bit of extra magic to float Rarity softly to the ground. Now that there were two conscious ponies, she was sure at any moment, somepony was going to burst into the room. It took a few minutes for Rarity to fully awaken. Just as Twilight could see Rarity was fully conscious, she stuffed her hoof into Rarity's mouth.
"Listen to me, and listen to me carefully," Twilight whispered as calmly as she could. "Do not panic. Do not scream. Do not faint. If you do not remember what happened, I will explain everything to you later. Right now we need to get the other girls."
Rarity kept glancing around, the look of horror on her face growing larger and larger. She began to breathe louder, almost as if she were about to hyperventilate.
"The only way to free the others is with magic. I realize that your magic may not be as advanced as mine, but believe me, you can do it. Anyone can learn magic. Just because it is my special talent, doesn't mean other unicorns cannot learn what I know. I am going to explain to you how to use the spell. I don't have enough energy to free everypony else by myself," Twilight said. She opened her mouth to continue when a flash of lightning shone up the room and something caught her eye. She stuttered for a second. "Rarity. No matter what, we can only free Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. There is no time to free anyone else. Do you understand? It would take too long to free everyone else. We could be caught at any moment. Only the others. "
Twilight kept glancing back. She took her hoof out of Rarity's mouth.
"I understand..." Rarity said. Rarity slowly began to follow Twilight's gaze, and just as she saw it, lightning flashed again. Sweetie Belle was in the cocoon that had been next to Rarity's. Her eyes were shut and her hoof stretched out, as if reaching for Rarity.
"W-We can't Rarity," Twilight said, tears coming to her eyes. The look on Rarity's face had changed from horror to heartache. "Only the others."
Slowly Twilight pulled Rarity away from her sister. She lead her over to Fluttershy and explained to her how to do the spell.
"I'm going to go get Pinkie," Twilight said, pointing two cocoons over to Pinke. "If you're not finished when I'm done, I'll come help."
Rarity finished freeing Fluttershy on her own, just as Twilight finished telling Pinkie not to panic.
"Pinkie, you keep a lookout with Fluttershy, while Rarity and I get Rainbow Dash and Applejack," Twilight said. Pinkie nodded, putting her arm around Fluttershy, who wouldn't stop shaking.
Finally, after a tense half hour from when she first awoke, Twilight and her friends were freed.
"We need to get out of here, find the Princess, the Elements of Harmony, and figure out how to get rid of the changelings," Twilight said. The others nodded.
Cautiously, they began to walk towards the door. Thunder crackled and lightning flashed. Green eyes glowed from the ponies above. Rarity kept glancing back, but continued moving forward.
Twilight tensed as she approached the door. Wincing as she did so, she pushed open the door. Everypony seemed to hold their breath. Nothing happened. No one rushed them, no alarms sounded.
"Quietly now. Stick together no matter what," Twilight said.
They began to make their way through the palace. She didn't know where she was leading them. Just away from the cocoons. More of them occupied the ceilings throughout the palace, the same green cloud leading back to the main chamber where the wedding had been held. Once or twice they came across a sleeping changeling, but no confrontations occurred.
Finally the main doors were ahead.
"We're almost there," Twilight said under her breath, optimism becoming a possibility again.
But then a hiss came from above.
"Twi..." Applejack drawled.
Twilight looked up just as a handful of changelings charged down at them.
"Run! Stick together!" Twilight said, pushing open the main doors and running outside.
She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She wasn't sure how many changelings were chasing them, but that more and more seemed to add to the group as they ran through the courtyard. Rainbow Dash kept a few of them at bay, and Applejack pulled one off of Fluttershy.
Twilight didn't realize where she was leading them until she saw the labyrinth up ahead. Why her hooves lead her here, she didn't know, but there was that spark of optimism again.
"We can lose them in the maze!" Twilight shouted.
As Twilight entered the maze, she looked behind her. Rarity and Applejack were right on her heels. Rainbow Dash was flying above her, and miraculously, so was Fluttershy.
A changeling charged Pinkie, knocking her down. It bit down on her leg and began to drag her back, just before she entered the maze.
"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted.
"Help me!" Pinkie cried.
Twilight closed her eyes and summoned up the rest of her energy. Her magic blasted towards the changeling, knocking it off as AppleJack helped Pinkie up.
As soon as the other two entered the maze, the entrance sealed up. Changelings began to throw themselves at the wall, making indents into the hedge, but none burst through.
"W-W-Why aren't the-ey just flying ov-er?" Fluttershy asked.
"Probably for the same reason I can't fly right now," Rainbow Dash said. Everypony looked at her. She was flapping her wings like crazy, but she didn't rise off the ground.
"What if this is some trap like with Discord?" Rarity said.
Twilight took a deep breath.
"I don't think so," she said, "I felt like I was being led here by something good. Let's just stick together and we'll figure this out."
No sooner than the words left her mouth, were Twilight and her friends separated by walls.
"It is just like with Discord!" Rainbow Dash said, "Except this time I have my wings, but I still can't fly!"
Twilight grunted in frustration.
"At least the changelings can't get us in here," Pinkie said.
Suddenly, a bright light shone in front of Twilight. On the path in front of her was a doorway, the bright light streaming out of it.
"Uh, does anyone else have a doorway in front of them?" Applejack asked.
"Yes," Twilight said. The others chimed in too. They all had doors.
"Enter the doors. They will take you where you need to go," whispered a voice. A voice that sounded familiar.
"Did that sound like Celestia to anyone else too?" Twilight asked, her heart beating fast. The Princess had led them here. They were on the right track.
"Yes," the others agreed.
"Alright everyone. Go through the door. No matter where it takes you, try to get back to Ponyville. We will meet there," Twilight said, as she stepped towards her door.
"To Ponyville," Applejack said.
"Meet back there," Rarity said.
"Yes," Twilight said, as she walked towards her door, "To Ponyville. Back home. Where I need to be."
And with that, she stepped into the light.