Twilight Sparkle sat in the center of her room.
There was nothing to do tonight, at the very least she didn't feel like doing anything. More accurately, for the first time in a while, she just wanted to sit down and enjoy some silent time before heading straight to bed. An unusual thing for her to do, with just about every time she's tried to simply 'wind down' having involved her finishing yet another almanac, story, or other tome that caught her interest in a mere eight hours and having caught zero rest whatsoever.
But this time, she really did want to relax. The invasion, while repelled, and everypony had more or less gotten over it immediately once it was all said and done, had really done a number to her nerves. Especially her brief stint in the caves. She wanted to forget about the world altering realization that pony-predators existed, specifically to blend in an feast on emotions, at least for the time being.
She'd been meaning to get into Daring Do a little bit more recently. A little bit of fantasy to escape to, so to speak. Safety in watching all the exciting events happen to someone else, instead of her for a change. Daring Do was guaranteed a win, because if she didn't, what would the author write next? Logically speaking, the book was too popular to simply be put down on a tragic note, and tragedy wasn't commonly read by most ponies.
Besides, this Ahuizotl character seemed just a little goofy. No way it'd turn into something life-threatening like her own adventures.
She picked up the book, and opened it up to the first page before shutting it gently. Fantasy was... Okay. But she was a little sick of adventures. She had a little bit of Spikes sleepy time tea, and he was out like a light in his basket. A chamomile blend of type, if the lightly fruity tones she detected underneath all the taste of rosehips were correct. Taking her teacup in her magic, she stepped out of her bed, and approached a window to look at the midnight sky.
The dim yellow light inside her home shined through the window to the cold outside. The cool wind on her face as the air rushed in as the window was opened.
Life. This was peaceful. A bit of time at home, maybe not buried in a book for now or running a friendship report, but this peace was something she enjoyed. A very small smile took to her face as she tried to make out various constellations from above. Manehatten was, for the most part, always lit. Ponies worked late hours, either out of passion or need, and even the relatively small lights of Canterlot were enough to conceal some of the stars, especially as the capital city grew. Ponyville was dark. Street-lights did exist for sure, but they were a little bit sparse, the townspeople relying on clear night skies instead to see.
Because of that, the sky above was alit with stars. Splattered and painted and twirled everywhere, it could make her head spin just by turning too quickly. With all of these stars shining brightly, it had been a fun and distracting challenge to try to identify constellations in the sky. The Little Skipper, The Bear, The Bull, Aquarius, and a few others. Some were a little clearer to spot than others, but the dim negative spaces between the shining points made them easy to identify once one had a few in their sights.
She took in the scent of her tea as she raised it to her lips, and took a sip. It was a nice cup, and Spike definitely knew a bit more about choosing these types of things than her. Sure, she learned how to drink it properly from Celestia, but she never really put in the practical effort of choosing a special blend for herself.
Twilights face scrunched up a little. The air. The air smelled funny. She sniffed and sniffled, turning her head around in the dark streets as she tried to see what was going on. It smelled vaguely like smoke, burned wood and pine resin, with a very heavy layer of something like warm metal.
The air smelled wrong. Warning bells went off in her head as she tried to stay calm with her tea, glancing around like nothing was wrong. An instinct, a gut reaction. To not look directly at it. Whatever it was. Something wicked.
Something that stared at her.
It started with the eyes. She made eye contact with it. She couldn't afford to look away from it, even if she could. Her eyes were locked in place, and could barely make out the rest of the creature. The snout was long, and almost too sharp and angular, and the purples were too drab and dusty, the wrong shades. The legs, were just outside her hyperfocused field of view, and she assumed that they too were as long as they were stocky.
Everything was wrong. But she could still tell, like looking a crayon drawing, that whatever it was, was trying to look like her.
She managed to tear herself away from the eyes and focused instead on the horn. It was short, blunt. The whirls were in the wrong direction too. The hair wasn't mirrored. Or at least, she was sure it wasn't. The face, she thought, twisted a little bit as it tilted its head. Curious. She tried to distract herself, avert her gaze yet still keep a little bit of it in her visual range- she was terrified what would happen if she blinked. It wasn't a changeling, it couldn't be a changeling. Changelings were perfect shapeshifters.
This one wasn't. She saw the mane grow out in different lengths, not even individual hairstrands. It was like sewing new lanes of string for a doll in. They would simply extend or retract. There was no green flames.
It started walking. Or bobbing. It was- It was trying to bait her to make eye contact again. She couldn't- Spike, Sweet Celestia- What if that got inside the house? Where is everypony? It can't be that late at night? Right? Deep breathes. It wasn't coming any closer. But it was circling her. Trying to inspect the home. Or maybe her? The cutie mark of the false-pony came into view for a brief moment and she burned it into her mind. A black silhouette of a unicorn, and a simple black eye in the center.
The eye was watching her. She saw it move. The impossible pattern moved to stare at her, and then the beasts eyes came into view again. It wasn't nearly as flawed this time. It was almost perfect. That was her hair, her horn, her nose, her own panicked expression- the way her lips curled in terror as she wanted to- with all her might and all her strength- launch a spell or even scream for help.
But again she could only focus on the eyes. They weren't her eyes. She couldn't even see anything past the snout, an impossibly dark shadow draping over face and leaving only small black eyes with faintly glowing white sclera.
She had to blink. She needed to blink. She hadn't blinked. It hadn't blinked. But she didn't want to. It moved. It walked. Slowly. Step. Step. Step. It made no noise on the cobblestone road, or the dirt, or anything. The whole world was quiet. It wasn't stalking her. It was- It was hunting her. She was sure of it. Why? Why now? There was nothing like this in any of her books- she was sure of it! This had to be a nightmare!
It stopped.
It smiled.
And she had to blink away her tears.
With a jump, she awoke to a rising sun. Her tea cup was empty and apparently set down not too far from her. Her eyes were just a little dry, and she blinked away the tiredness that clung to her weary eyes.
A nightmare, she thought, as she took safety and comfort in the heavy wool blanket that was draped over her. She didn't remember bringing a blanket onto the balcony, nor having one that matched her coat perfectly, but right now she didn't care. She only cared about the relief, and the realization that it was just a nightmare. A nightmare and nothing more- caused by the changelings or her mind going haywire about the nature of pony predators.
Yes. Yes it was just a nightmare. Luna must have just been... Busy.
Her heart only lightly pounding, she stepped into her bedroom and saw that everything was fine. Spike was missing, but she smelled food, haybacon and eggs and rejuvenating coffee emanating from downstairs. It must have been Spike who gave her the blanket then, it at least sounded plausible.
With a sigh of relief as the sun reached its apex, she discarded the shifty blanket on her bed, and headed downstairs for some much needed nourishment. Today was today, and tomorrow would be another.