Chapter 8
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight gave Cadance a few more minutes to regain her composure. The princess still felt woozy and weak from being in the crystal for so long.
"Just how did she take your place Cadance?" Twilight asked.
"It's so ridiculous; she did it so easily. I was just on the outskirts of Canterlot, minding my own business. I just went on a walk, and she disguised herself as an injured pony and asked for help... Next thing I knew, she had me imprisoned in this crystal and kept me underneath the palace in the caves. After a few days, I fell into a sleep," Cadance explained. "She must have been watching me for a while, and planned to take my place."
"Princess Luna can see through changeling disguises though. I wonder how she didn't catch Chrysalis sooner," Twilight said, as she began to pace.
"She must have avoided Princess Luna like the plague," Rarity suggested, "because Luna wasn't at the wedding."
"How do you feel Cadance? Think you can make it to the main chamber and free Princess Luna?" Twilight asked.
Cadance stood up and took a deep breath. She nodded. Twilight smiled. They were going to succeed.
"Excellent; let's go then," Twilight said.
Just as she took a step towards the door, it burst open and all three Pie sisters rushed in. Inkie slammed the door shut behind her and pressed up against it, as Blinkie began to fumble with something in her bag.
"Uh, Twilight, we have a slight problem," Pinkie said.
The door began to bang and bulge. Hisses could be heard on the other side.
"What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of here?" Rarity asked.
"How many are out there Pinkie?" Twilight asked.
"Too many," Pinkie replied.
"Is there any other way out of here?" Inkie asked, pushing with all her might to keep the door closed.
"Up there," Cadance answered. She pointed up towards the ceiling. "There's a narrow passageway between the floors. We can crawl over into the next room."
"What an odd place for a secret passage," Pinkie said.
"Who cares! We need to move! We need to get to Princess Lune before those changelings devour us!" Twilight said.
"But Twilight, how are we going to get up there? There's nothing in this room to climb up," Rarity said.
"I'll levitate you," Twilight said.
"I'll help," Cadance said.
"Quick; Flam, you first. You can help pull up us up once you're up there," Twilight said.
Cadance removed the secret panel on the ceiling and Twilight levitated Flam up top.
"Cadance, you have to go next because you need to lead us through the passage," Twilight said.
"But Twilight—"
"No arguing, you need to go! Only you can free Princess Luna, and she's the most powerful ally we have against Chrysalis right now. You're still too weak to fight, and the Elements of Harmony didn't work on Chrysalis. If we want any hope of changing Celestia back, we need Luna to help," Twilight barked.
Cadance nodded and flew up. Twilight levitated Rarity up next, and then Pinkie.
"Blinke, Inkie, come on!" Twilight shouted, as the changelings began to push harder against the door. Blinke stomped something quickly.
"She says to pull her up last; she'll delay the changelings," Inkie said.
"I'll hold the door with my magic; Cadance can levitate you up," Twilight said.
Inkie nodded. She hesitated for a second and then stepped away from the door. Cadance levitated her into the passage between the floors. Twilight struggled to hold her magic. The changelings were using every ounce of force to break through. Blinkie slowly began to back up towards the cut out in the ceiling, her eyes never leaving the door.
"You're next Twilight," Cadance said. Before Twilight could say anything, Cadance levitated her into the cramped space.
"Go, start to lead the way," Twilight said. Cadance nodded and began to crawl quickly through the cramped space, the others following.
"Blinkie, are you ready?" Twilight asked, her magic still holding the door. Blinkie nodded, her eyes still fixed on the door. Twilight took a deep breath and let go of the door.
Within seconds, the room was flooded with changelings. Twilight quickly switched her magic over to pulling up Blinkie. Blinkie let the bomb drop just as she was pulled through the gap and Twilight replaced the ceiling tile. Blinkie waved at her to start crawling fast.
Cadance was already lowering the others into the next room when Twilight and Blinkie caught up. The bomb went off in the next room, the force pushing the rest of the ponies out of the passage. They tumbled to the floor and groaned. A small hole appeared in the wall between the two rooms, and the surviving changelings began to dig their way through the wall.
"Quick! Leave the room! Go go go!" Twilight shouted.
Twilight ran to the front of the group and led them down the hall. Changelings burst out from the first room they were in and began to chase them. Blinkie and Inkie threw various small bombs at the following changelings, while Cadance kept up a barrier around the group, as changelings threw forces of magic towards them.
Twilight rounded the corner and came face to face with another group of changelings.
"What do we do?!" Rarity exclaimed.
"This way!" Cadance shouted, going down the other direction.
"But that isn't the right way!" Twilight shouted.
She didn't argue any further though. They'd have to take a detour towards the main chamber.
The changelings were hot on their heels. A changeling tackled Blinkie to the ground.
"Not my sister!" Pinkie shouted in rage. She kicked the changeling hard in the head, a deafening crack ringing through the chaos. She helped Blinkie up and they continued to run. Twilight kept throwing back blasts of magic towards the changelings.
Cadance rounded another corner and began to lead the group down a flight of stairs. Flam stumbled and fell, changelings on him within seconds.
"Flam!" Rarity shouted.
"Just go!" he shouted back, struggling with the changeling, "I'll be ok!"
"Rarity, come on!" Twilight said. She turned back and grabbed Rarity's hoof and dragged her away, as the changelings surrounded Flam.
They managed to escape the changelings. Cadance had led them down into an old servant's corridor on the opposite side of the palace. They waited a few heartbeats to make sure the changelings hadn't followed.
"Come; this way," Cadance said. She pushed on a spot on the wall, and a secret door appeared. She created a ball of light with her horn, and urged the ponies inside.
"I didn't realize there were so many secret passages in here," Twilight said.
"Most of them are only known to the princesses," Cadance said, as the last pony entered. She shut the door behind them and then stepped to the front. "Follow me."
They walked in silence as Cadance led them down the long, narrow passage. Twilight glanced at Rarity.
"Flam will be ok, Rarity," she said quietly, "I promise."
"He saved me at least three times this whole voyage," Rarity said softly, "and I couldn't return the favor."
"He'll be ok," was all Twilight could say.
They walked quietly, Pinkie and her sisters sometimes whispering here and there, but mostly, it was the sound of their hooves. The passageway seemed to twist and turn all over. It felt as though it took them twice as long as it would have taken if they had just gone through the regular palace.
"They made it so confusing, in case anypony ever stumbled upon it who wasn't supposed to know about the passage," Cadance explained, as Twilight voiced her thought. "We're almost at the main chamber though. There's a door that will lead us straight in."
Just as she finished her sentence, Cadance stopped. She put up her hoof for the others to stop as well. The Pie sisters stopped whispering. Cadance gestured for them to be quiet. She then put her ear to the wall and listened.
"Do you hear anything?" Twilight whispered, after a few moments of silence. Cadance slowly shook her head.
"I think it's all clear."
She pushed a series of bricks on the wall. A door opened beside Twilight. Twilight poked her head through and looked around. There were no changelings in sight. She stepped through and waved the others to follow.
Just as Rarity had explained, Luna was strapped down in the far corner of the room. Twilight and the others rushed over to her.
"Princess Luna! Are you alright?" Twilight asked.
"Yes. It is such a relief to see you again, unharmed, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said. She then turned her head.
"Cadance, you are freed. I need you to do the same for me, immediately."
"Of course," Cadance said.
"Blinkie, Inkie—can you two guard the door?" Twilight asked. Inkie nodded. She and Blinkie moved closer to the middle of the room, their eyes on the door.
"I'll join them," Pinkie said.
Cadance lowered her horn to the chains wrapped around Princess Luna. She closed her eyes and murmured an incantation in a language Twilight had never heard before. Her horn glowed an unusual color of grey. For a second Twilight was concerned that they had been tricked again, that this wasn't the real Cadance; but Luna could see through the changeling disguises and would have said something.
When she was finished, Cadance opened her eyes, a glint of hope in them. Luna tried to stand, but the chains didn't budge. They pushed her back to the ground.
"I... I don't understand," Cadance said, the hope fading fast from her eyes.
"It's alright," Luna said calmly, "Just try it again."
Cadance tried the spell again. Still, it didn't work. She tried again and again, saying the words faster and faster each time, her apprehension obvious.
"W-what are we going to do? It isn't working," Cadance whispered, panic in her voice.
Luna struggled against the chains. She sighed in frustration.
"There has to be some other way," Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie and her sisters walked back over to the group, after nothing had happened for the past twenty minutes.
Blinkie walked up to Princess Luna and stared at her square in the face. Luna stared back and then nodded.
"Everypony, stand back," Luna said. Blinkie began to pull out a series of small bombs and place them around the princess.
"Princess, are you crazy!?" Twilight said, "They'll tear you apart!"
"Do not fear, Twilight Sparkle. Now stand back," Luna said.
Twilight stood back, an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach. Was this really going to work? How did Luna expect to survive an explosion like this? Blinkie set up nearly half a dozen bombs around the princess.
Blinkie then looked at the other ponies, as though checking to make sure they were far enough away. She then backed up a bit herself, but not nearly as far as the others had gone.
"Shouldn't she back up further?" Twilight asked. Inkie shook her head.
"She's keeping something from us, something to do with her survival of the earlier explosion. She can survive them somehow," Inkie murmured under her breath.
Blinkie pulled out a small remote and hit a button. Red lights began to blink on all of the bombs in unison. They began to blink and beep faster.
Twilight hadn't been prepared for the magnitude of the blast. She hadn't expected it to be that great. She was pushed back a bit, and there was a slight ringing in her ears.
" Whooaa!" Pinkie said, as she flew through the window. Inkie quickly ran and pulled her back through.
There was a thick cloud of dust where the princess had once been. Twilight coughed and stepped towards it, just as a dark silhouette began to approach her. Princess Luna smiled down at Twilight. Twilight smiled back. They were back in the game.
"Time to go find my sister," Luna said.
"There's no need; I'm right here."
Twilight and the others whipped around. Standing at the door, a fleet of changelings behind her, was the possessed Princess Celestia.