//------------------------------// // Book 3 - Chapter LXI // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 3: Equestria Abides Chapter 27 “There, how do I look?” Happy Heart said, turning to look expectantly at Happy Heart. The still-imprisoned mare smiled weakly at the perfect copy of herself standing in front of her, looking none too sure about the whole thing... she had probably never seen a changeling before, Twilight thought, so no wonder she was a bit confused. She and Apollo had agreed that it would be best if the mare stayed imprisoned until Black Diamond was dealt with... to hide the duplication from any spies, and also – though Twilight hated to admit it – because fear still had quite a hold on the poor mare... there was no telling what she might do if she convinced herself that it would keep her safe. “It's perfect,” Apollo said from behind her, towards the changeling. “An exact copy... Now, how to get you in...?” “Well, duh, I just walk in!” The disguised changeling said. Her dialect seemed to have changed right along with her voice, mimicking the imprisoned mare perfectly. Was this why the changelings needed their victims to be alive? So they could speak convincingly? “No,” Apollo said, “They'll suspect something's up if you just walk in perfectly fine after disappearing in a raid... and then who knows what they'll do. We need some way to get you back that they won't find suspicious. Maybe...” he trailed off, seeming a little lost in thought. “The patrols.” A voice came from behind the changeling. “They patrol all over the woods outside the farms.” It was the real Happy Heart, helping them yet again. Apollo seemed to get an idea. “Right! Um... changeling?” The changeling had never given them a name... she didn't seem to quite understand the concept of names. “You think you could make yourself look a bit more injured?” With a green flash, the false Happy Heart in front of them gained a twisted, broken leg and an ugly gash along the top of her head that had left a trail of blood leaking down her face... very convincing. “Great!” Apollo exclaimed, “Now, we just get you onto one of their patrol routes, and you pretend to be unconscious. That should get you in without much suspicion!” The changeling looked gleeful and jumped up and down, completely betraying the fact that the leg wasn't really broken... but hopefully she would be a better actress when the time came. * * * “Everything going according to plan?” Twilight asked Apollo as he came, back winging down for a landing through the large window. “Yep, got her sprawled out very convincingly on one of their main patrol routes... she looks just like she was crawling along and finally collapsed... she really is a good actress when she tries.” Apollo shrugged. “So now... we wait.” “Right. Happy Heart said that they patrol that area about once every three hours... so it should be less than that until we get the first report.” He glanced at the changeling drone sitting across from them. Seemingly identical to all its cousins, it just sat there, completely passively, but its eyes glowed green, betraying that it was being mind controlled by its queen. It was their communication link, eerie as it was. Before Twilight could respond, the drone suddenly sat up straighter and started to speak. “I been found. They pick me up and they carrying me to their base.” It quickly fell silent again, and though Twilight knew the queenling could hear anything the drone heard, she didn't really have any response for that anyway, other than the simple confirmation that she got the message. She and Apollo returned to their vigil, waiting to hear the information they needed. * * * “They take me to little room in the mines and lock door,” the drone in front of them said. “I should pretend to wake up?” This wasn't a good sign... they seemed to have imprisoned the changeling spy... They must have been suspicious after all. Still, there weren't really any other options but to go through with the plan. “Yes, wake up... and remember your cover story.” Her story was simple really... initially captured, she had quickly escaped, but got badly injured in the process. She had struggled to return, but in the end collapsed before she could get all the way back... hopefully it would hold. “Being carried again,” the drone spoke. “They take me to bottom of central shaft... is a big open area.” It paused for a while, not saying anything. “The strange-eye ponies are here... they look like changeling drones. I like.” Twilight rolled her eyes at that; the little developing changeling queen would enjoy ponies looking like drones, wouldn't she? “Looks kind of like a throne room... He comes!” the drone said. “Is the male pony! Is white and black hair, and has black diamond butt mark!” “Cutie mark!” Twilight emphasized, giving herself a nice, comforting facehoof. The changeling still couldn't be convinced to use the more polite pony terms. The drone seemed to ignore her correction, likely because its queen was too busy to deal with grammatical concerns at the moment. “He questions!” “Tell him the story!” Apollo insisted. “Does not believe!” the drone said, more loudly now, and sounding a little panicked even though it didn't move a muscle. “Is taking me to back room alone!” The drone's eyes opened wider, almost looking pleading through the green glow. “No want back room! Get me out!” “Calm down,” Twilight said. “You're alone with him now?” “Yes,” the drone said, a note of fear entering its voice. “The horn glowing! Is glowing black! Is scared!” “Okay, he doesn't know you're a changeling, remember!” Twilight shouted. Somewhere inside she wasn't sure why she was trying to save a changeling, but it felt wrong to just abandon her like that. “You have the advantage of surprise! Quick, slime him!” Twilight waited the next few moments, staring at the inert challenging in front of her... she wished she could see what was going on... but she would just have to wait for the report coming through. “It worked!” The changeling drone shouted happily, still without moving in the slightest. “Good,” Twilight said. “Now, everypony there is terrified of him... so take his form! Then you can just walk out, and nopony will dare question you!” She hoped that this Black Diamond's control spell was a loyalty spell, not a complete control spell... If it was a complete control, then he would still command his drones, and have them recapture the changeling... but if it was only a loyalty spell, they would accept the changeling as their leader. More unbearable moments of silence followed before the drone's buzzy voice came again. “Is working! They too scared to look at me!” Twilight sighed with relief. It looked like their spy would return intact... for better or for worse... and now they knew the location of Black Diamond... at the bottom of the central mine shaft. Suddenly, it hit her. They also knew he was incapacitated right now! Stuck down with changeling glue! “Apollo!” She shouted, “We have to go now!” “What?” He looked at her as if she had just slapped him with a rubber chicken, “I know you're eager to get out there and all, but we should at least wait for the changeling to get back, I mean–” He didn't get to finish as Twilight quickly interrupted, “Black Diamond's glued to the floor right now, with his horn blocked!” It seemed to be dawning on him, “He's helpless, but we've got to get there before anypony finds him and sets him free!” With a shocked look, he seemed to suddenly understand, “Go get Sunny and get out there!” he shouted. “Teleport as close as you can and get him quick! I'll round up the team... We're finally getting him back!” With that, they both ran off, leaving the changeling drone still sitting there, staring into nothing with its green-glowing eyes. * * * Twilight and Sunny Daze appeared with a flash at the entrance to the Trottingham mines. It was the closest point that she could be sure of. She wished she could have given Sunny the opportunity to practice her teleportation – the new alicorn could still use a lot of magical practice... but they had no time for mistakes. As quickly as they appeared, they disappeared again, Twilight letting Sunny do her own invisibility spell this time. Hers didn't end up quite as good as Twilight's... a slight shimmer in the air still betrayed her, but it would still probably do for now, as long as nopony was specifically watching for invisible ponies sneaking in. Speaking of sneaking, she turned toward the entrance just in time to see a white unicorn with black mane come strutting out of the mines like he owned the place. That must be their changeling! The pony kept strutting right off toward the road out of town, apparently completely oblivious to the two invisible ponies watching him. She rushed off down into the mines, but soon noticed that she was alone. “Sunny!” She called out in a too-loud whisper. “Come on, what are you waiting for?” She saw the invisible alicorn look down the tunnel with surprise. “I thought you were still up here!” She called back, far too loudly. “Use the see-true spell,” she whispered harshly. They had been through this in practice. Why didn't Sunny already have it working? “Oh, right!” Came the unnecessary reply as Sunny concentrated for a moment, and then stopped staring blankly into the tunnel and instead looked right at Twilight. She began following down and Twilight resumed her downward journey. Hopefully, their confrontation wouldn't end up like this! * * * Distracting the guards for a moment with a magically thrown pebble, Twilight opened the door, getting Sunny and herself inside as quickly and quietly as possible. If any of the guards had been looking, they would have seen a door open and close itself... if they were well trained, they would know that this was a dead giveaway for a unicorn sneaking around with an invisibility spell... Thankfully, it looked like at least one of those wasn't true, as no outcry came from outside the door. Inside the door was another story though, as a white and black unicorn colt struggled and made muffled cries from behind a thick covering of changeling slime. The muffled cries intensified when Twilight and Sunny canceled out their invisibility spells, suddenly appearing in front of him. “Okay, Sunny.” Twilight said, not whispering, but still quietly, “Link up and give me a power reserve like we practiced before.” She didn't have time to teach Sunny the intricacies of undoing powerful spells... she would just need the alicorn's power reserve if it came to that. She felt a little guilty about using her like this, and about wasting such a wonderful teaching opportunity... but she couldn't risk something like this with a first-timer, and she knew Sunny would do anything to save her friend. Stretching out her magical senses, Twilight felt for the control spell she knew must be there, and found it immediately... dozens of them. This pony must be a genius to be able to control so many at once using different spells for each! She marveled for a moment before remembering that this was an evil genius. How could he do that to so many ponies... and there was more... a subtle fear spell, somehow making all the ponies more afraid of him. So that was how he was keeping such good control over them... Steeling herself for the worst, Twilight attacked the fear spell first. It detached easily... not much power flowing through that one. Will Happy Heart now be less fearful of him now? She wondered a little absently. With a start, she realized that she feared him less now... which meant... his spells were affecting her! She would have to be more careful from now on. Quickly, she called up a light shield around herself. Not enough to really block anything, but she would know something was trying to get in when the shield failed. Now... now for the main event, she thought. It was time to tackle the control spells. They were indeed loyalty spells, as Twilight had hoped earlier... but they were strong, and they seemed to be tied into the victim's life force. She inspected them a little closer, ah... and also tied into each other in an intricate web, each of them connected to all the others. That would make things a little more complicated. She would need to break all of them at once, while shielding the victims against the spell's backlash as it broke... and for that she would need a lot of power, since the spells had been built up and powered for a very long time. She glanced back at Sunny, whose long horn was shining, showing that her magical reserves were ready to be accessed. Twilight grinned smugly and began to concentrate. She had all the power she needed. Twilight's horn glowed brightly for a few moments, both in her own lavender, but also with Sunny's bright yellow mixed in. For a while, nothing else visible happened, but then with an audible crashing sound like a breaking mirror, the backlash of the spell came back violently – aimed straight at the only involved pony who wasn't shielded: Black Diamond. She looked down without pity as the glued-down unicorn suddenly groaned and tried to curl up in pain. The energy backlash from the spell had to go somewhere, and as far as Twilight was concerned, this Black Diamond deserved every bit of it. * * * Apollo landed hurriedly in the farm camp. It was much like the last three he had been to, beaten and bedraggled looking ponies ganging up on each other and less beaten, but very confused looking, ponies who must have been just freed from their control spells. This camp had already almost degraded into all-out violence... he hoped he and his team could get to all of them before anything unfortunate happened. Quickly, he explained what had happened, stepping in to protect the small group of confused-looking ponies from the vengeful mob. Once again repeating his suggestion to travel to Las Pegasus instead, he rushed off again; there was no time to lose, and no time to spend searching for his lost crew member... not yet * * *