The changelings rushed Princess Celestia as a frenzied wave, horns engulfed in emerald fire. Two of them jostled Scootaloo as they flew past her, and she yelped as the magic singed her coat.
The princess gave them a dismissive glance as her horn pulsed, and their charge stopped in its tracks. They sank to the ground under a shimmering tension.
Queen Lirean’s horn flared up and the weight lifted from the changelings. “You’re a fool for leaving your city and your guards, Celestia,” Lirean said, striding forward to stand with her changelings. A harsh buzzing sounded above. Scootaloo looked up as another group of changelings flew in through the castle’s broken windows and swarmed around the ancient chandelier. There had to be at least thirty of them.
“I don’t need guards or walls. I can protect my citizens from you myself.”
Lirean shrieked with laughter as a beam of energy lanced toward the princess. “You can start by protecting yourself!”
Celestia smiled calmly. Just before striking her, the beam shattered, fracturing into thousands of dancing flickers. The changeling queen reeled back as though she’d been slapped.
“I understand why you think you can defeat me,” Princess Celestia said. “Queen Chrysalis was able to overpower me alone, and here you are with dozens of your minions to help you.” The changeling queen sent another lance of energy at Celestia, and it once again shattered against some invisible force.
“You’ve forgotten something,” Celestia continued. “Your predecessor had been feeding off of one of the strongest unicorns in all of Equestria for weeks. And not only him, Cadence has friends and family who all care deeply for her. Bring the entire swarm if you want, you still won’t match that power.”
The queen’s horn pulsed. The changelings cried as their own horns glowed in response. As one, they charged the princess while Lirean brought her magic to bear.
Princess Celestia’s wings flared open. She reared back and leapt, meeting the changeling swarm in the air. With a single pump of her powerful wings, she tore through the dark cloud, sending changelings tumbling in every direction. Before they could react she was above them, light radiating from her horn. The changelings were dashed against the floor and walls in a surge of pure force.
Lirean’s magic coalesced into twin vortexes of fire, twisting up to meet the princess. Celestia pulled her wings to her body, diving through a gap just before the fires converged on her. Flaring open her wings again, the princess angled toward the queen, using the speed of her fall to drive her fore-hooves into the changeling queen’s chest.
Lirean fell back into an uncontrolled roll before slamming into the stone wall.
Celestia touched down several steps away from her, light fading from her horn. She watched the changeling for a moment, eyes heavy with disappointment.
“Tell your changelings to go,” Celestia said. “If they keep fighting, they’ll only be hurt.”
“And what of me,” the queen said weakly, eyes drifting in and out of focus. “When they’re gone, will you banish me as you did Chrysalis?”
“I don’t want to leave the changelings in chaos again.”
“Then you know the suffering we’ve had in Chrysalis’s absence? You knew, and still you did nothing?”
“I want to help, if you’ll let me.”
“We don’t want your help,” the changeling queen sneered. “All we want is to see you pay for what you’ve done.”
“Then I hope the changelings can replace their queen with less trouble this time.”
A sudden weight slammed into Scootaloo, tearing her attention away from the princess. She gasp as two changelings forced her down, pinning her wings to the ground. Their horns glowed dangerously, pointed at the back of her head.
Princess Celestia turned at the sound of her gasp. In the same moment, Lirean surged to her hooves, horn flaring with power. The princess ducked the blow, but Lirean pressed her attack. “Kill the pony!” the changeling queen shouted.
Scootaloo’s heart jumped as she registered the words. A tickling sensation formed at the base of her skull as the horns glowed brighter. Before she could even try to struggle, the world folded in on itself in a blinding flash.
*****
“Rainbow Dash!”
The pegasus looked up wearily at the sound of her name just as Twilight touched down a few feet away. “Oh, hey Twilight,” she mumbled before continuing her slow shuffle down the street. It was early evening, and the Canterlot traffic had just finished dieing down.
Twilight frowned at how exhausted Dash’s voice sounded. She debated leaving the poor pegasus be, but decided against it. She didn’t want to give her friend false hope, but Dash would want to know.
“The princess wants us to go to the castle. It’s possible we know where Scootaloo is.”
Dash’s head snapped up, body going rigid.
“We can’t be sure, but we got a tip. The princess went to look. She wants us to meet her in her personal chamber.”
Dash stared for another moment before shaking her head. “Alright, let’s go.” With a nod of agreement from Twilight, they set off. “How did you find her?”
“It was Star Shine,” Twilight said.
“I knew it! Scootaloo was right about that lying piece of—”
“No, Rainbow, I mean it was Star Shine who gave us the tip.”
Rainbow’s steps faltered. The hope on her face flickered and turned to doubt. “He did? But, do you think...” she trailed off.
“I don’t know. I can’t think of any reason to lie about it, and if he’s really responsible, he wouldn’t be helping us.”
“But if he’s not, how would he know where she is? Where is she anyway?”
Twilight turned onto the main road leading to the castle. “In the Everfree Forest. The castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. He called a lot of his contacts for information and used what he found to come up with a tracking spell. One that the princess and I hadn’t thought of. If he’s telling the truth.”
Dash nodded as the castle loomed above them. “He is. She’ll be okay.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said softly. “I’m sure she will be.”
*****
Scootaloo realized she was still alive. Considering the rest of her day, this fact was more than she could have hoped for.
She was laying on a thick gold carpet, hooves splayed out, wings lying limply at her sides. Glancing up, she saw Princess Celestia standing near her.
“Are you alright, Scootaloo?”
“I think so,” Scootaloo answered shakily, sitting up and giving her wings a stretch. Nothing felt broken. The past few seconds hit her, and she sank back to the carpet. “She was going to kill me.”
Celestia put a comforting hoof on her head. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Scootaloo let out a choking sob as her limbs shook with the sudden adrenaline rush. “What happened? How did we get away?” She recognized the room as Celestia’s private study.
“I used my magic to bring us here,” the princess said. “The changeling queen knew I couldn’t save you and fight her at the same time. She used the distraction to escape.”
“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo half whispered. “It’s my fault she got away.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow and answered, “There was nothing you could have done. You know that.” She shook her head and checked Scootaloo over with a practiced hoof. “If you don’t mind talking about it, how did the changelings get to you? There’s protective spells all over Canterlot that should have made it difficult.”
“I don’t know. Anytime I try to remember, it hurts.”
“Hurts?”
“Yeah, like somepony setting my brain on fire. All I can see is a silver flash.”
Celestia pursed her lips, “Sounds like somepony didn’t want you remembering something, so they covered it up.”
“You mean with magic? Ponies can erase memories?” Scootaloo asked, eyes wide. What else could they have taken?
“Not remove them so much as block them. The memories are still there, you just can’t access them without getting hurt. It’s a tricky sort of magic, and illegal.” She gave Scootaloo a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, we’ll have somepony examine you to make sure everything’s alright, and I’ll find some way to remove the block.”
Scootaloo didn’t respond right away. “Lirean, uh, the new changeling queen, wanted me to help them. She wanted me to help them get to you and Princess Luna.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“I... I didn’t say no,” Scootaloo’s gaze fell to the floor.
“You didn’t say yes either,” Celestia pointed out.
“I didn’t have time to answer.” Scootaloo’s volume dropped, “I don’t know what I would have said.”
Celestia remained silent, sensing that Scootaloo wasn’t done.
“I didn’t want to help them, but if I told them no...” Scootaloo shuddered. “I didn’t want to die.” She blinked several times, trying in vain to keep her tears hidden.
Celestia sank to the floor beside her, covering the filly with one of her wings. Scootaloo leaned automatically into the warm side of the alicorn.
“Princess? Why didn’t you punish me? For everything I did with Discord?” Scootaloo surprised herself by asking the question. She’d never been brave enough to voice her confusion, lest the princess give her a real punishment.
“As I recall, all six of you were punished.”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t a real punishment. Community service? After I...” Scootaloo hesitated.
“Unleashed an ancient spirit upon the land and turned your leader to stone?”
“Uh, yeah. That.” Her cheeks flushed. The princess just smiled.
“Scootaloo, you aren’t the first pony to be taken in by Discord’s trickery. Your own adopted sister was content to let the world go mad after a single conversation with him, and he’d been working on you for months.”
“But, what if you’re wrong about me. What if I did all those things because that’s who I am? I turned against you, my friends, Discord, everypony who’s ever cared about me. What if I do it again?”
“Is that what you think will happen? Do you want to be that pony?”
“Of course not! But I didn’t want to do it the first time either. I just wanted things to be easier. Next thing I know, Equestria’s falling down around me. Just a few minutes ago, I was asked to do it all again, and I couldn’t bring myself to say no.” Scootaloo gave up on trying to hide her tears as she sobbed quietly. “All my life I’ve wanted to be like Rainbow Dash, but it’s impossible. She’s the Element of Loyalty while my special talent is betrayal. How can I be anypony else with a cutie mark like this.”
Princess Celestia paused thoughtfully for a moment. “Scootaloo, when Twilight lived in Ponyville, she’d send me letters each week. I remember in one, she told me that your friends had been asking everypony about their special talents.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Scootaloo said, wiping her tears.
Princess Celestia paused another moment before continuing, “Would you like to hear how I got my cutie mark?”