“Espionage is not commonly used, I find. Not when it comes to royalty, at the least, and I would never expect to find somepony spying on myself!” Golden Aegis said, maintaining a grin that seemed like he would let out some sort of snort.
His eyes matched his bright yellow cutie mark perfectly and his gaze seemed so serene. Jack was still curious of what he planned to do with him; the minister did seem like a power hungry mongrel, so he assumed he would use this to his advantage to instill fear across Ponyville or something of that sort.
“What should I do with you…” Aegis said, putting a hoof under his chin. “I’ve never had to deal with anypony like you before. That is to say you are a pony…”
Aegis gave Jack an evil grin. Jack couldn’t help but think that he would use some sort of propaganda in order to gain power. As bad as things may have seen at the time, Jack tried to remain calm. He was shaking a little, not from any sort of fear, but because it was quite chilly outside that night, and the cooler breeze didn’t help much. Jack was still outside, but the minister had some sort of spell going that prevented his legs from moving. He could still talk and look around, but Jack saw no point in doing either of the previously mentioned options.
“Look, I was only here because you were supposed to come to a party. You weren’t there, so I decided to go find you myself.” Jack mumbled.
‘That was believable, right?’ Jack thought. ‘I may not have been at the party yet, but I assumed he hasn’t gone yet…’
“Son, you should be able to tell that I don’t go to most social events, unless the princess requests I attend. I would not go to such a ‘party’, especially if there were so many lower class ponies around.” The minister huffed.
‘That was rude.’ Jack thought.
“Now, I am quite interested in what punishment system Ponyville offers for spying, do you have any idea of what may…”
“JA-AA-CK! JACK!” Came a loud voice, interrupting the minister mid-sentence.
Looking around, Jack’s eyes fell upon a small purple dragon, followed by a lavender mare.
“Oh there you are! We were looking for you!” Spike said. “Oh and you found the minister! Everypony is waiting on him!”
>---<
“Now minister, you mustn’t get too harsh with this stallion here.” Twilight stated, carefully eying the both of them.
“I do not tolerate spies, my personal business should remain private, and I expect other ponies to respect that.” The minister scolded, glaring at Jack.
“He’s relatively new, and he just wanted you to come to a party. You really shouldn’t be so frustrated by that. Unless you’re trying to hide something…” Twilight said, carefully eying the minister.
“Oh… Of course not… I would NEVER hide anything. I’m simply here to take care of the town… That’s all…” The minister growled.
“Exactly!” Spike said excitedly. “So you should have some fun while you’re here!”
“Now’s not the time, Spike.” Twilight whispered to Spike.
“You really should come, Aegis.” Jack said.
“Minister Aegis.” Aegis responded rudely.
Jack and Twilight both rolled their eyes, while Spike was busy sulking over Twilight’s scolding.
“Whatever. Let’s just go then.” Jack said, as the minister’s spell finally began to slip.
“Fine. But don’t think I’ll forget this. I’ll be keeping my eyes on you... Jack…” The minister stated.
The threesome departed from the window. By now, the moon had risen quite a bit into the sky, and most of the small town houses lacked lighting. Luckily enough, the moon was shining brightly that night, and the two ponies and dragon were easily able to return to Sugarcube Corner.
>---<
“SURPI… Oh, hi Twilight! Hi Jack! Hi Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed, while the mass of ponies crammed into Sugarcube corner gave another moan of disappointment. “How are you doing? I’m doing great, although we’re still waiting for Aegis to arrive. We have so many activities ready, and we-“
“Pinkie, uh…” Spike began.
“We don’t think the minister is coming.” Jack finished. “We had a little bit of an argument… I’m really sorry about that, I didn’t mean to ruin the party…”
“Oh silly, you didn’t ruin the party, silly! It’s still a party even though the guest of honor didn’t arrive!” Pinkie said, barely maintaining her smile.
Jack saw her bottom lip quivering slightly, although the shaking quickly stopped as Pinkie happily skipped away. Jack let out a frown, knowing that it had hurt Pinkie’s feelings, although he was sure she had experienced something similar before. Like the Twilight meltdown a few days ago. Looking around the room, it was a lot less crowded then Jack’s party, and he noticed the cake was much smaller.
‘I guess the ponies aren’t very fond of the minister.’ Jack thought. ‘If I were the bakers, I wouldn’t have even made a cake at all for him. I mean he’s rude… inconsiderate, and most ponies don’t know that-’
Jack’s train of thought was cut off by a loud thump and a flash of bright green light. Jumping slightly, and being almost deafened by many screams of mares and stallions alike (not very manly screams, either) Jack quickly scanned the room looking for the source of the sound. In the corner, he spotted a mint green mare, positioned low to the ground, pointing her horn ahead of her and breathing heavily. Across the room, sprawled across the floor, was the unconscious body of a changeling.
“What in Equestria happened?!” Twilight exclaimed, staring at Lyra.
“I… Bon… Ughh…” Lyra managed to murmur, before passing out onto the floor.
“Everypony back away, quickly!” Came a voice from behind.
Jack saw a brown stallion and white mare run by, preparing to attend to the unconscious unicorn. Looking at the changeling, nopony seemed to be approaching it. Jack stared in awe, he hadn’t expected there to be another changeling at the party. Thinking back to his second visit to the changeling hive, he recalled Chrysalis telling him that he needed to ‘deal with’ the other rogue changelings in Ponyville.
‘At least that’s one down…’ He thought, letting out a long sigh.
The sigh caught Twilight’s attention, and she quickly glanced at him before returning her attention to the doctors. Her and another unicorn both approached, quietly asking the doctors if they needed any help. Once more, Jack scanned the room. He was nervous, and was hoping he would be able to track down Biggs. He saw a crimson mare, staring emotionless across the room, her purple tail twitching uncomfortably. Giving one quick look back to the doctors, Jack returned his attention back to Biggs and slowly approached.
>---<
The party had ended after the changeling incident. Everpony was too freaked out, and the room remained silent through the rest of the night. There was the occasional whisper, one pony asking another if they wanted to leave, but nothing they said seemed to bring their attention back to the changeling. It was quite obvious that everypony was becoming a little paranoid with the changeling situation, and they really didn’t want to think about it. Jack, Biggs, Pinkie, the Cakes, Twilight, and the doctors were the only ponies that remained. Pinkie, for once in her life, did not have a smile on her face, although she wasn’t frowning either. She maintained a neutral expression, although it was obvious that she was extremely upset her party had ended so abruptly. Jack had no intentions of leaving without Twilight, or to leave Pinkie in such a state either. Approaching the pink mare, Jack began rubbing his front hoof on her back.
“Aw, comon Pinkie! It was a great party!” Jack said, forcing a smile onto his face.
Pinkie let out a small smile, quivering in the process, before returning to her neutral emotionless expression. Without a single word, Pinkie tore out of Jack’s back rub and stormed up the stairs.
“Poor dear…” Mrs. Cake said.
“She’ll be alright. She always is.” Mr. Cake responded, as he watched Pinkie march upstairs.
“Who? Lyra or Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake inquired.
With a brief face hoof, Mr. Cake simply glared back to his wife. Sometimes she just couldn’t take obvious hints, and it was not necessary to ask which one he was more worried about.
“…Takes a lot of energy out of a unicorn, that kind of spell.” Twilight said, talking to the doctors. “I still have no idea where or how she would have learned that kind of spell, either. Nopony has bothered asking for any books on changelings recently, and that spell isn’t a simple spell.”
The collapsed changeling shifted slightly, and began to rise to all fours. Nopony seemed to realize except Jack, although Jack was at too much of a distance to take immediate action. Regaining his senses, the changeling glared over to Jack before giving his attention back to the collapsed mint green unicorn. The changeling was clearly preparing to take action, and Jack couldn’t do anything about it but watch.
“Look out!” Jack yelled, as the changeling pounced towards the unconscious unicorn.
Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The changeling had barely taken off, and the attention Jack had attracted forced all eyes upon him as opposed to the aggressive changeling. Jack’s jaw dropped, as the other ponies in the store slowly brought their attention to the assailant. Jack was shaking with panic, and he was not prepared for anything to occur. He had a plan… Sort of. As much as he hated to do it, he had no other options. Putting his head down, he prepared for what was about to occur.
>---<
*2 Minutes Earlier, Twilight’s perspective*
Lyra had been unconscious a while, and she as well as two doctors were carefully examining her for any sorts of damage, be it physical or mental. They had come to no conclusion, but they still had to determine what course of action would be taken next. Transportation to the hospital would be the next step, although at the time of night there were no carriages available and most of the other ponies had already left. They needed some sort of stretcher.
“I still doubt she has any damage done to her.” Twilight stated, looking at the brown stallion beside her.
“We still must take many precautions; we don’t want to cause any damage either.” The doctor replied.
“I know what spell she used. It may not be a common spell, but I’ve used it before. For a unicorn that rarely uses powerful magic like that, this kind of result should be expected.” Twilight said, carefully shifting her head around the unconscious Lyra. “It takes a lot of energy out of a unicorn, that kind of spell. I still have no idea where or how she would have learned that kind of spell, either. Nopony has bothered asking for any books on changelings recently, and that spell isn’t a simple spell…”
Both the white mare and brown stallion gave her an annoyed look. She knew that they understood what had happened, but having another mare lecturing them on how they should perform their job wasn’t helping. Twilight let out a quiet sigh, ensuring that neither of the doctors would hear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack shifting uncomfortably, and Domina staring blankly in return. Rubbing her hoof on her forehead, she returned her attention back to the patient. She desperately wanted to help, but both doctors appeared pretty stubborn. They wouldn’t even let her use basic magic to comfort her!
‘That’s just ridiculous.’ Twilight thought. ‘I know they’re just doing their jobs, but there’s so much more my magic can offer to them, I could help them get her to the hospital, make sure that-’
Twilight’s thoughts were cut out by another pony’s yelling.
“Look out!” Jack yelled.
Frustrated with the sudden outburst, Twilight turned her attention to the grey stallion. She noticed his expression was extremely panicked, and he was staring in shock at something behind her. Her, as well as the two doctors, slowly turned their attention to what was occurring behind them. Mid-air, a changeling was flying through the air directly at Lyra. Twilight was just as shocked as Jack, and wasn’t prepared to take action. Preparing for the worst, she closed her eyes and turned away. The last thing she caught out of the corner of her eye was a flash of light flying across the room.