"Lighthouse, put this around your neck and take charge of the civvies!" Shaggy snaps, hoofing her a glinting moon-shaped medal. "The rest of us are going up in flower formation, as far away from each other as possible."
The nurse is about to ask him why, but the Grounded Gang take to flight, leaving only her, you and the bat pony behind. "Come on!" Lighthouse hisses. She has the two of you hold onto her wings, thus guiding you through the pitch-black streets and down an alleyway. "Thestrals respond mainly to sound. The team will make noise, try to distract Crystal's henchponies. That leaves us a small window to get out, reach the Castle and warn the Princesses."
"How small?" You ask nervously.
She shoves you and Red behind some trash cans. Fearsome flaps sound out above seconds later. "Very small."
Crimson Star floated above the dark city, letting loose a loud ultrasonic battle cry. Inaudible to any daytimer, deafening to everypony else, this was an ancient alarm for the uninvolved to shut their doors, windows and gates while the warriors gathered. Or in his case, the enemies. In order to give Lighthouse, Redheart and Skinny their best chance at getting away, Crimson had ordered his team to separate, each of them drawing away as many fighters as possible. It was a borderline suicide mission, but 'them's the breaks' as they say in Manehattan.
When Crimson found himself facing around 20 batponies, he wanted to curse Manehattan and their sorry excuse for wit. How could Mother have so many followers?!
"Stand down, Star" one of them called out. "We're all thestrals here. Let's talk about this."
"You talk. I'm shy."
He gave a reasonable, pleading look. "This is all a bit over the top, surely? Why don't we escort you back to your mom? You two can sort it out. No one has to get hurt."
Crimson narrowed his eyes. He removed his wingblades - slowly - and made it seem as if he was going to hand them over. Only at the last second did he whirl them around, the flat side of the blade hitting the speaking bat on his kneecap. Screaming, he lost his concentration and reverted to a Changeling form. Oh, so that's how.
"Yeah, on second thought, I'm keeping these." Crimson quipped.
The humiliated Changeling clicked his teeth furiously. "You're a fool! We'd have kept you alive for your precious mother. But I think maybe you bumped your head on a stalactite trying to get away. Kill him!"
"Skinny! Skinny, you can't stop now!"
Eris blinked, finding herself behind some trash cans. "No. No-no-no-no, I'm not supposed to be here!" She panicked, staring at her human hands. She had relinquished all control to Anon, but something had thrown it right back to her. But it wasn't Anon who had done that, it couldn't be. She'd have felt the transition like she had on every other occasion. This was something different.
A white pony tugged on her sleeve. Eris recognised her as Anon's nurse. "C'mon, they'll find us if we stay still!"
"No, you don't understand! I'm not Anon, I'm not supposed to-"
Another pony - a feral looking blonde bat - separated the two and glared at her. "I don't care if you're Anon, Prince Blueblood or a pink sphinx... if we don't move now, we die!"
Eris gulped. She was able to stand and follow the ponies, but her heart - her and Anon's heart - was hammering away in her chest. What had gone wrong now?? She had no time to think, however, as their lives were very much on the line. The sound of clip-clopping hoofbeats echoed throughout the city. Crystal's troops didn't even bother to conceal themselves. It was more important to intimidate, to remind the trio every single second that they were about to be caught and most likely executed.
A bat pony suddenly dropped out of the sky, crashing on top of a parked cart. Eris and Red screamed. "Shut up!" Lighthouse begged. "We're almost there!" She was the only one able to see well enough in the dark to recognise that the dead pony was one of the Gang members.
Spotting glimmering eyes in the shadows around them, Lighthouse froze. They'd been caught. She analysed their surroundings. "Why have we stopped?" Red whispered.
Fruit store, apartment building, cafe, optometrist's, that crap bakery... the old disused metalworks plant!
They were near the backdoor, but it was shut with a heavy padlock. No problem. Lighthouse had been a good thief. Moments later, they'd slipped in and shut the door in the face of blood-stained Changelings. "They found us!"
"Oh God, oh no..." Eris whimpered. "Dad!" She slapped her head repeatedly. "Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"
"Shut up and find something to fight with!" Lighthouse ordered. "Both of you! And get upstairs! Find a good hiding spot."
There were very few doors or walls in the factory - each floor was one massive room filled with construction-related machinery, cobwebbed conveyor belts, rusting sheets of copper and iron. A crusher and an oven were so large that they spanned multiple floors, leaving enough space to see what was going on up and below. Eris grabbed herself a crowbar while Red scavenged a functional nailgun. Lighthouse stood guard while they concealed themselves behind a cupboard.
The glass ceiling shattered. Red and Eris were close enough to the wall to be safe, but Lighthouse only barely managed to cover herself. The shards ripped gaping holes into her wings. A dozen armored thestrals glide down onto the floor. Lighthouse flung the glass in their direction, but it bounced harmlessly off their platemail. Breathing heavily, she tried to grit her way through the pain and find her balance.
She expected them to strike, but instead they stood perfectly still. "Nightmare Moon's Chosen!" their leader moaned, staring at the moon-shaped medal on Lighthouse's chest. "A million apologies, my lady. We had assumed you were one of the enemy. We will take our lives now, if that is your wish."
Lighthouse cackled deliriously. "You stupid block-headed horse-appled daytiming timberwolf! What use are you to Nightmare Moon dead? Go and justify your inane existence by finding the targets."
They bowed deeply. "Yes, my lady. You'll be pleased to know that the treacherous Night Guards have been killed. S-shall I escort you to the hospital?"
"Out!" Lighthouse roared with all the strength she could muster, and the armored thestrals fled like scared pigeons through the broken ceiling.
Red rushed to Lighthouse's side. "These are serious lacerations."
"Really? Feel like papercuts." The bat soldier smiled. "Listen, there's a river not far from here. It feeds into the waterfall right outside Celestia's Castle. I saw some barrels here. You can ride in them."
"We can ride in them." Red said sharply. She pulled off her nurse's cap. The inside of it was kitted out with alcohol, bandages, needles, thread and various pill bottles, most of which went to use in stabilizing the injured bat's condition.
Lighthouse gave her an admiring look. "You'd give our medic a run for his money. He..." She halted.
"Don't think about that. You're in shock. Skinny, I could use your fingers here. Skinny?" The nurse tried feeling around with her hoof, but couldn't feel or see anything in the darkness.
"He's fainted. Must've been all the blood." Lighthouse said.
Redheart frowned, her face scrunching into a curious expression. "But he cannot see the blood."
You and Eris cower in the trenches inside a wooden shack, hiding from the constant rains of dust generated by the landing bombs. Both of you are dressed in appropriate 1940s military attire, clutching metal cups of gruel and covering yourselves with a tatty blanket. "We really have to stop meeting like this!" You shout over the thundering explosions.
"It's not my fault!" Eris barks back. A deflected bullet casing drops into her cup. "Oh, shoot... look, I didn't steal our body back, I swear!"
"Well, I don't have it, do I? Hand it over!"
"I can't, I'm not in control!"
You throw the blanket off and stand up, fuming. "Terrific! Simply terrific! It's not enough that I'm a co-tenant in my own brain, now our minds are bouncing around in it like marbles in a pinball machine."
"Watch out!" Eris shouts, and drags you back down, out of the way of passing bullets.
You barely notice, the rant still going. "I mean, what's the next step, Minesweeper? 'Sorry Anon, but if you put a foot wrong, you'll combust spontaneously'? Or maybe Solitaire? 'Hard luck, Nonny-boy! You now have fifty-two heads bouncing around on the floor!' Where does it end? Operation?"
Eris ignores your paranoid rambling. "I think it's just a symptom of your brain not knowing what to do with two personalities. We've switched around so many times that it's happening on its own." She tastes her gruel. "You know, I feel like gunpowder actually improved this."
You pinch the bridge of your nose, sighing. "Can we just please concentrate on having me in charge? Let's try and keep it together til we get back home."
"But that's what I've been doing. I never asked to take control. Maybe..."
"Maybe what?"
Eris looks up at you with sad, watery eyes. "Maybe your brain is merging us together? I mean... I was only ever really a copy of you to begin with. Well, a blank page that could see your memories anyway." The gunfire and bombs seemed to stop, and a ray of sunlight shined down.
"Don't be stupid! You are an individual! That's why you chose to look like-"
"But I stole this! I based my appearance on a statue in Celestia's garden!" Eris wails. "If I'm an individual, I'm not a very imaginative one."
You clench your jaw. "Who gives a fuck? I say you're an individual, and I'll be damned if I let us melt together. What are we, grilled cheese? Now concentrate!"
"Skinny! Thank Celestia you're awake! I was getting worried." Red whispered.
You sit up with her help, feeling unsure of yourself. Which one were you now? Anon or Eris? You couldn't remember. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few minutes. I patched her up as best as I could. But she's lost a great deal of blood. We need to get to that river now!" Red instructs you to pick up the tired bat pony as gently as possible, whilst leading the way down with her nailgun close at hoof.
"Look at you, Red." Lighthouse mumbles from your chest. "I misjudged you. Thought you were weak."
Red grins in spite of herself. "It's a mistake you'll live to regret. I promise you that."
As Lighthouse had said, there are several wooden barrels of oil to be found on the first floor. You empty their contents on the floor and, following the bat's instructions, use her flint lighter to set it ablaze. "Finally, I can fucking see something." Eris mutters cynically through your mouth.
The streets - now illuminated by the burning building - quickly fill with thestrals trying to stop the fire. The three of you rush through carrying a single barrel, knocking aside anyone trying to stand in your way in the last desperate bid to make it to the river. In front of the rushing water stands Chrysalis herself, smirking with her sharp teeth. Not even pausing, you throw the flint lighter at her, shattering the bug's teeth. Screaming, she reverts back to an ordinary Changeling. "A duplicate of the Queen? That's original." Red comments as she knocks the crying nuisance aside. "Sorry, friend. Better luck next time."
Red and Lighthouse wriggle their way into the stinking barrel, and Eris pushes it off into the river with your foot. Both of them laugh, high on adrenaline. Both of you watch as the barrel disappears into a tunnel in the rock wall. "Wait, dad? How are we gonna get out?" Eris asks.
"Oh."
You look around desperately for any chance of escape, and end up fixating on the toothless Changeling. She tries to fly off, but it's too late. You grab her by all four hooves and jump into the water. The bug flaps her wings with all her strength, occasionally bobbing you both out of the water, but your weight (thank God for Fluttershy's pies) always pulls you back. The current drags you both into the pitch-black tunnel.
"Le' go o' me, you luna'ic!" The toothless Changeling shouts, lifting you out of the water again.
You grip onto her hooves as if they're your lifeline... which they are. "Not until we've made it out of the waterfall!"
"WHA?! HOLY MO'HER O' WEB'H, NO!!"
You move faster and faster, and the roar of the water gets louder and louder, drowning out the Changeling's calls for help. She bobs you both out again. "Stop flapping, you stupid fly, you'll need the wing strength to land us!" You scream, though you're not sure she can even hear you anymore. "Oh, this was a dumb ideaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
"... aaaand that's how we got here." You finish your story, trying not to look at all the water you're dripping on the royal carpet. You, Red, Lighthouse and the Changeling cringe in front of Princess Luna. She bears a stony expression.
"So dost thou know of the evil scheme Crystal Star and Chrysalis have in mind?"
You blink, confused. "To... steal the Amulet?"
"That was the plan they made when they learned of its discovery, a mere few months ago. Thou cannot expect us to believe that a lifetime of iniquity was concocted with such foreknowledge." Luna explains patiently, as if to a child.
Eris raises your finger. "Uh... we learned they were evil? And they want to bring back Nightmare Moon?" Both of you smile nervously.
"No, as you humans say, shit."
Suddenly, the doors at the back of the reception hall slam open. Luna sighs and facehoofs amidst the guard's loud apologies. "Oh, what new madness is this?" She mumbles under her breath, before realising who just walked in. The princess gasps.
Silence fills the room as Shaggy limps forward. His dark fur is matted with blood, he's wearing stolen armour, fresh scars line his face and only a few flaps of skin remain of his right ear. He's also beaming.
"Princess! I'm happy to say I recovered some intel." The bat corporal's voice is distorted by immense exhaustion.
Super Star steps out from behind him, looking extremely bashful. Shaggy gives her a prideful glance. "She knows the whole deal. And she's willing to spill the beans."
Dead silence.
"I'm gonna take a nap now. With your... per... miss.." Shaggy faints.