//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 - Secrets // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// The door to Carousel Boutique was locked, just like every other building throughout Ponyville. Scootaloo felt defeated, she had attempted to find somepony in town that would be able to help her save Twilight (and Jack, although if she was to tell them they were saving a changeling... Well... That would end poorly based on what was going on in town) but nopony seemed to even answer their door. The shops, including Sugarcube Corner, were all closed, most of which had a sign saying 'Closed until further notice'. Many of these signs had scratch marks across them, and were covered with graffiti conveying angry emotions towards certain individuals. Ignoring the signs, Scootaloo pressed on; she exhausted the little energy she had left desperately trying to find somepony who would help stop Chrysalis (although the odds of stopping the queen altogether was extremely low). Knocking on doors she had previously visited, the filly finally accepted defeat, and slumped down against a wall. Breaking into tears, Scootaloo began having a complete meltdown, with nopony around to comfort her. Scootaloo's tear ducts eventually ran dry. She had lost all hope of saving Jack and Twilight, and by now she had no idea where they may be. Even if she wanted to help, the odds were stacked against her. Not only would she have to deal with the changeling queen, but she would have to deal with her assistant as well. That, and the queen was almost triple her size! But then an idea hit her. She recalled the stories of the Canterlot invasion quite well, how Cadence and Shining Armor had defeated the queen, so perhaps they would be able to do it again. Even if they couldn't do anything, maybe the princesses would have some idea as to what they could do. With just a sliver of hope, the orange filly pulled herself together and took off towards the hole she had dug with Jack. >---< As cliché as it may seem, Jack yet again found himself in a dark room. Well, he would have called it a room, being cramped into a closet with a mare right beside him. His eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of the closet, he felt a few wooden poles sticking in random directions, and he could only smell the strong chemicals around him. Pushing into the adjacent mare to gain some more space, he heard the tumbling of a few boxes, and felt something hit him on the head hard. His vision now distorted, he was barely able to reach to the handle to the closet, simply to find it to be locked. A sigh of disappointment, and muttering under his breath, he felt the other mare shift slightly. "Ugh... Where... Where am I?" A confused Twilight said. "Twilight! Oh thank goodness, I thought something terrible happened to you!" Jack exclaimed, some tension in his body being relieved. "Jack? Where are we?" Twilight asked, squinting hard to gain some sort of vision. "A closet, I do believe. Is there a chance you could cast a spell to grant us proper vision?" Jack replied. "Uhh... Not really. I can feel myself suffering from a little magical fatigue right now. And why are you talking so... Differently?" "What do you mean dear?" "Just sort of... Think about what you're saying. Reflect on your choice of words." "I still lack proper understanding of that statement." There was a pause, where Twilight glared at where she assumed his eyes would meet hers. After pausing for a moment to actually think about what he just said, he laughed. "You cannot be serious! This is quite hilarious, I must say! An educated guess would lead me to believe poison joke has affected me in many more ways than I initially assumed!" Jack said, still giggling. Twilight, rolling her eyes in the dark, felt a scratching sensation on her flank. Shifting uncomfortably in the closet, she tried to rub against something to get whatever was in the room off her. Jack, feeling the movement, tried to press against the wall to give Twilight more room. When the shifting didn't stop, however, Jack became very concerned. "Twilight, dear, is everything alright?" The silence remained, and she continued shifting uncomfortable. The silence was quickly broken by Twilight's blood curdling scream. "Aaaah!" >---< The day was coming to an end, and Celestia would swap her position with Luna in the courtroom. The court would always be open at any time of day, safe for a few breaks here and there for various reasons. As Celestia stood before her audience, she waited for the next pony to step forward. When nopony bothered to make any motions, she dismissed the ponies from their positions. "I must conclude this court for the time being." Celesita stated. "I have other business to attend to. Luna will be here shortly to fill my position." With a wave of her hoof, the courtroom quickly emptied. As the guards closed the large doors, Celestia let out a sigh and took a nice long stretch. After summoning a quill and paper, she quickly took down a couple of notes about key events which had occurred during the day. At the bottom of the page was a smaller note, one that she had placed there a couple of days ago. 'Talk with Luna about changelings.' The princess of the sun was not looking forward to the discussion to come. There had been several reasons why she had attempted to put off the encounter for so long, however, after the minister had failed to report back to her not once, but twice, she got a little worried. Sliding her hoof through her ethereal mane, she stepped out of the courtroom through one of the back doors. Celestia, having been away from Luna so long, still had problems waking her from her sleep. Not because she was a heavy sleeper, but sometimes the other princess would wake up somewhat violently. Celestia stormed up the spiral staircase, still thinking of ways to awaken the night princess without getting another hoof in the muzzle. Ignoring the servants bowing at her approach, she continued her way up the staircase. It was bad enough that all of Ponyville was in danger, but now she had to deal with the morning (in this case afternoon) wraith of the sleeping Luna. After reaching the top of the staircase, Celestia paused for a moment. Initially, she assumed knocking would be the best approach, however last time she had knocked Luna ended up setting her entire room on fire. This time, she would take a direct approach, but still keep her distance. Taking one last deep breath, Celestia pushed the door open and prepared for the worst. >---< After the screaming had stopped, all Jack could hear was hyper-ventilating. He was still covering his ears from the initial scream, and was still able to hear Twilight's heavy breathing. The increased breathing rate could not be healthy, especially seeing as the room was filled with a variety of chemicals. Grabbing her by her shoulders, he instantly knew why she was panicking. Her shoulders lacked a thick layer of fur, as they normally had, and were instead covered with some sort of thick, slimy liquid. Assuming she had spilt some sort of chemical on herself, he instantly retracted his own hooves and wiped them on the floor. "Twilight, what is wrong?" Jack said, worried about his companion. "I... My coat... WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" She shrieked. "You need to calm down, Twilight. Inhaling these chemicals will not improve your current condition." As her breathing slowed, Jack began looking for an exit. Whatever was happening to Twilight, they would need to get in actual lighting to be able to tell what was happening. Looking towards the floor, he saw clumps of hair, and he began to search more furiously. Unable to locate an exit beside the door, he began pounding on the door, full body force behind him. Jack wouldn't let something like a door stop him from achieving his goals. >---< Celestia silently creeped into Luna's bedroom, careful not to wake the sleeping princess. Normally she would have awakened several hours ago, but Celestia overslept in the morning, leaving Luna to continue managing the court for several extra hours. As she carefully walked into the room, she tripped over some sort of fallen object and landed muzzle first against the stone floor. Wincing in pain, and quickly checking to see in Luna had awoken, she let out a sigh of relief to find her still asleep. Scanning the room for something to awaken the sleeping alicorn with, she noticed something sticking out of the closet. Grasping the object with her magical aura, she pulled it out some gift wrap. Carefully holding the gift wrap in a similar position to a spear, she launched the object towards Luna. Instead of smacking the princess in the face, it landed perfectly on the horn. After watching the events unfold, she burst into laughter, waking the sleeping Luna. Flailing wildly, the princess knocked the gift wrap off her hoof and directly into Celestia's face. Disappointed with the results, Celestia rubbed her cheek where she had been hit. "Luna, seeing that you have finally awoken, I have an important discussion I must have with you." Celestia stated. After a long yawn, Luna finally gave a response. "So early, Celly? Just another five minutes..." Luna responded, giving a long stretch. "I apologize, however the changeling situation may be far worse than we thought. The minister has yet to give a report of the events in Ponyville." Rising from her sleepy state, Luna quickly rose and trotted towards the door. "Very well then, we will discuss this over diner. I want all the information on the current situation." Luna responded, now wide awake. "The main problem appears to be the lack of information; however, I will tell you what I know." The two princesses then left Luna's room and quickly walked down the spiral staircase. Both of them were worried about Ponyville and what had happened to the pony left responsible for the entire town. Not only that, but they were worried about the ponies within, especially the elements of Harmony. >---< Bashing on the door over and over again, he felt the hinges begin to finally weaken. However, it was quite evident that there was magic holding the door back, but whoever or whatever had cast the spell had forgotten to secure the hinges, not just the lock. With Jack's body growing more and more tired, he finally heard one of the hinges snap, and the door flung open in the opposite direction before falling. Turning back to check on Twilight, he waited for her to come out of the small space. "Twilight, might you be leaving that dreadful place anytime soon?" Jack inquired, still able to make out Twilight's form in the darkness. "No... I'm not coming out..." She slowly responded, as if holding back her emotions. Jack didn't respond. He simply sat down on the tiled floor and stared towards Twilight. After waiting for a few minutes and still not witnessing Twilight leave the closet, he decided to speak up once more. "It can't be too terrible, can it? It so happens that I am a pink changeling at the moment, with some... enhancements to my voice." Jack said. "For a normal pony, whatever happened it's... It's... I mean... I can hear her... She's stuck in my head..." Jack heard a quiet sobbing begin. Whatever had happened, he was determined to find out what was wrong. Wondering who Twilight was talking about, he decided to try to avoid the situation for as long as possible. Still nervous about what may have happened, he called back into the dark room. "Whatever it may be, dear, I am here for you." Jack said, giving a gentle smile in Twilight's direction. "No... No... Make it stop... Please..." Twilight whimpered. Jack, now entering full on 'Twilight's life may be in danger' mode, stormed his way into the closet and grabbed her with both hooves. Ignoring the fact he didn't feel any fur, he shoved her out of the closet and into the light. Instead of having a lavender unicorn staring back at him, he had another changeling returning the stare, shocked expression on its face. Whatever had just happened, Jack was determined to avenge the unicorn. With one final breath before collapsing, Twilight spoke. "No... Please... This shouldn't be possible..."