//------------------------------// // Chapter 29 - Truth Be Told // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// Home. Or at least it felt like home. Arriving back at Ponyville took a lot longer than Jack had expected, he was certain that he did not travel for that long after being captured by the changelings. Then again, he may have lost conciousness for a while; he was completely exhausted after running with such speed. With Scootaloo by his side, the two stared at the massive protective shield, glowing with its brilliant purple aura. After gaining more appreciation for magical capabilities (mostly because magic was what allowed him to escape) the shield seemed like a work of art. Then again, there wasn't much magic in Ponyville, or at least magic that was morphed into a physical formation. Feeling a tugging at his leg to continue on, Jack and Scootaloo approached the small hole they had made the other day. Scootaloo could fit through the hole perfectly fine, Jack, on the other hand, had to enlarge the gap to be able to force his body through. After finally reaching the other side, Jack quickly tried to disguise himself, just to remember that one of the side effects of the poison joke incident prevented him from changing forms. Giving a sigh, as he usually did when things went wrong; he then proceeded into the town, following Scootaloo closely. Upon reaching the first house within the city limits, Jack instantly noticed that the windows had the curtains drawn, which was strange for such a sunny day. Wandering around town just behind Scootaloo, he noticed that almost all of the houses were similar to the first, with the curtains drawn. The residents also appeared to have hidden within the houses; throughout Ponyville Jack had yet to see another pony beside Scootaloo. Without much of a plan, he decided it would be best to go see Twilight; she would have some sort of idea of what was going on. The Tree-brary didn't have the curtains drawn, although it seemed relatively disorganized, for Twilight's standards at least. He knocked at the door several times without avail. The door never opened, and nopony answered it. Worried about the lavender mare, he almost broke the door opening it. Quickly scanning the room, he caught Spike's basket just upstairs with a small lump inside of it. Charging up the staircase, he tripped over the top step, landing on the basket and sending the sleeping dragon straight upwards. "WAAAH!" He cried, as he flew through the air. Reacting quickly, Jack rolled over a few times and caught the dragon before he hit the ground. Panting heavily, the dragon stared at his savior for a few moments, before finally realizing what had saved him. "Get off me! Ahhh! Somepony help! There's a changeling foalnapping me!" The dragon pleaded, without response. "Spike... You need to calm down" Jack said, carefully setting the dragon on the ground. Instantly, Spike took off, charging towards the front door, just to be blocked by Scootaloo. Closing the door with her hind legs, the dragon stared at her, full of shock. "Wh-What?!" Spike yelled, "You're HELPING the changeling?! Are you crazy?! You know what they do to ponies, right?!" "Yes." Scootaloo responded, "But not ALL of them are bad, trust me." Spike remained silent for a moment, as if begging Scootaloo to give reason for her statement. Jack approached Spike once more, this time pushing him slightly and throwing him off balance. "Comon, have I done anything bad to you yet?" Jack asked, smiling slightly. "Well... No, but... I just don't want to trust you." The dragon replied. "Understandable, I guess, but I'm looking for Twilight, have you seen her?" "No. And why would I tell you anyways? She's been missing for a while..." Spike's voice trailed off, and a concerned look appeared on his face. "Oh, and you're voice seems really familiar, but I can't pinpoint whose it is..." Jack, already beginning to leave the library, paused for a moment before opening the door. He gave Spike a quick glance before taking off towards the town hall. He had his doubts, but there still was the chance that the minister had something to do with Twilight's disappearance. After what he had said before Jack's 'escape', he assumed that he would have some sort of power, so what better place to stay than town hall? Spike stood alone for a moment, after Jack had just left. As much as he feared changelings, there was something truly different about this one. He felt like a friend of his, even his voice was quite familiar. That was when it finally dawned on him. Changelings rarely spoke, and this pink changeling spoke as if it was a normal pony. The voice, the familiar voice, finally returned to him. He knew who it was, and he couldn't believe that Jack was actually a changeling. >---< Twilight's vision was of practically no use upon travelling through the dark hallways. She could make out large objects as dark blobs, but other than that it was difficult to determine what were the doors and walls. 'I wonder why the lights are all turned off. Is this really necessary?' She thought. Taking small steps, and ensuring she could keep track of the wall, she proceeded forward in hopes of finding whoever was responsible for foalknapping half of Ponyville. The unnatural darkness was quite unnerving, but she pushed forward, even without the safety of her own magic. Of course, she wouldn't be a match for just about anypony, unless she somehow encountered another unicorn without magic. Then again, she was hardly the athletic type, putting her at a further disadvantage if she ended up in hoof-to-hoof combat. Shrugging off the thought, she attempted basic magic in hopes of weakening the stone ring on her horn. The spells were not working at all, and she couldn't even feel the ring shift. She figured it would be best to avoid attempting any spells, to prevent herself from collapsing due to magical fatigue. Hitting several objects scattered upon the floor, she finally reached an object which she could clearly make out in the dark. There was a wooden door in front of her, with a green aura creeping through the gap just above the floor. Reaching for the handle, she had second thoughts about getting involved in this entire situation. Collecting all the courage she had left, she grasped the handle with booth hooves and yanked the door open. >---< Town hall had a few ponies around it, unlike the rest of the city. Most of them appeared to be having nervous conversations; quite a few of them had uncomfortable looks on their faces. Careful to keep his distance and not been spotted, Jack creeped from building to building, slowly inching his way closer to town hall. Looking a little disappointed with his strategy, Scootaloo finally stopped Jack before running out into the open again. "You know, I could probably do something." Scootaloo said. "Oh... Well umm... If you could figure out what's going on and get them to move that would be nice..." Jack said, disappointed he would not be able to continue sneaking around. With the new suggestion, however, Jack realized it would be much safer. Even if whoever was at town hall didn't do anything evil, something was obviously going on, especially if there were so many ponies collected out front. After watching Scootaloo take off towards town hall, Jack ensured he was well hidden behind a bush. Well hidden for something that was bright pink at the least. "What's everypony doing over here?" Scootaloo called as she happily skipped over. In response she had several ponies of the group glare at her. One of them even proceeded to growl, treating her like some sort of evil being. From what she could only assume, something terrible had happened, and they were not in any mood to talk about it. "Uhh... So... What's everypony up to?" No response, but there was another growl. "So... Umm... I'll be right back. Gotta go tell my friend something." In a hurry, Scootaloo rushed back to Jack. When Jack saw the filly approaching at wild speeds, he knew something was terribly wrong, and he would have to risk blowing his cover to get to the bottom of things. Preparing for the worst, him and Scootaloo walked out from behind cover and began marching towards town hall. >---< Twilight got the feeling that somepony was watching her, apart from the shadowy figure across the room. Twilight was fearful for her life, she had finally reached the mayor's office and the only clear figure in the room was the shadowy figure behind the desk. Unlike the corridors, the room was slightly brighter, with a very dark green aura providing limited vision. But the feeling that something else was in the room was unnerving, causing Twilight to shake slightly in fear. "I thought I told the town I refuse to take any visitors until further notice." The voice of the minister said. Strangely, the voice came from somewhere near the shadowy figure, but the figure did not move a muscle. The figure then looked up, and the eyes stood out the most; a pair of bright green eyes, piercing through the shadows of the room, staring directly at Twilight. Instantly, she froze in fear, all of her muscles tightening. Her horn was pulsating, as if attempting to panic teleport away, but to no avail. *CRACK* Twilight spun her head around the room wildly in attempts to locate the sound, and with hopes of locating the other figure hiding in the room. "It appears that we may have a certain pony that disobeys my laws..." The minister growled. "One who must be punished..." The voice was not coming from the figure behind the desk, and this was proven when another figure walked in from a dark corner of the room. "What?!" Twilight shrieked. Both figures had the same shape hats; however it was clear that one was a mare and the other a stallion. With the minister now in the picture, Twilight couldn't help but wonder who the other figure was. Twilight began to feel dizzy, and was uncertain as of why. Desperately attempting to use magic in order to gain vision in the dark, her voices failed, although she heard another noise. *CRACK* Losing her focus, she heard a laugh. A familiar laugh, one that she remembered quite well. It was the laugh of Trixie. "You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you?" Trixie spat. "I really did expect more of you, Twilight." Her head was pounding, the world getting blurrier and blurrier. She could still make out some information about both of them. Both sets of eyes were glowing a soft green, the same green Twilight had seen on her brother when under Chysalis' control. How could they BOTH be captured like that? Trixie may have been weak at magic, but she prefers to keep distant of potential relations. But the minister? He had extreme magical capabilities, possibly greater than Twilight's. Her whole body now in panic mode, Twilight was desperately attempting to cast any spell she could, just to help save herself. *CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK* "What is that sound?" The minister asked, staring towards Trixie. "It couldn't be..." *CRACK* Following that final crack, Twilight felt an immense release of pressure from her skull. Instantly, magical energies flooded from her horn as the device tumbled to the floor. There were flashes of colors, lines and swirls danced through the air. As the lighting died down, Twilight felt her magical abilities once again available, however most of her energy had been expended. "I didn't think it was possible!" Trixie yelled, her voice changeling slightly. "This... You... NO!" A green flame encompassed Trixie, and in her place stood Chrysalis. The minister, still staring blankly towards the Queen, shook his head and turned his attention to Twilight. "She's out of energy, dear. We still have her just where we want her." The minister stated. "Ahh... I see..." Chrysalis said, letting out a sigh of relief. Chrysalis proceeded to storm around the desk, and confronted the lavender mare. Twilight was shaking profusely, barely able to maintain consciousness after the outburst of energy. "This is all that's left to stop me?" Chrysalis laughed. Well, that's what she would have said menacingly should the window behind her not have been smashed open, and the curtains torn down as a pony came crashing through the window. But it wasn't a just a regular pony, it was a pink changeling. And it wasn't just a regular pink changeling, it was Jack. >---< "What in the-" "Twilight!" Jack yelled, as he tumbled across the floor and into the unicorn, tearing her from her fixed position on the floor. As the curtains fell, light flooded the small room. It was in relatively good condition, save for the glass sprayed across the floor and the torn curtains. It was a small room, with a desk, a couple potted plants in each corner. Also, there was a filing cabinet which had been knocked over by Jack as he went flying across the room, spilling its contents in a small area. Other than that, there were a few paintings of famous ponies on the walls, but nothing more. The two scrambled to raise themselves off the floor (Twilight was struggling just to move), as Chrysalis recovered from the sudden events. "I should have known you were behind this entire thing!" Jack yelled. "Hmm... My most valuable changeling has turned against me...?" Chrysalis asked, "Might I at least know why you're pink? All the chat about why you've betrayed me is of little importance." "Poison Joke." Jack replied blandly. "And don't think you're going to get away with this!" "What's going to stop me?" Chrysalis laughed. "The shield cannot be broken; it was created by one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria!" "It can't be broken, but that doesn't mean you can't go UNDER it." Jack said, receiving a growl from the Queen. "Very well then. I will have to deal with you now, before it's too late." The room was filled with a brilliant green light, blinding everypony inside the room. Scootaloo turned away just at the right time, and sprinted from the scene. She ran. She didn't know where she was running, but all she knew is she had to get away. All Scootaloo could do was hope that Twilight and Jack would be okay. Author's Note: I felt like actually putting one of these things in. Mostly to appologise for the late release, but I had some issues to deal with that had to do with work. Enjoy.