Sweat ran down Odysseus’ brow as he surveyed his surroundings, trying to make sense of the situation despite how impossible it all seemed to be. He looked over at the Element bearers, who were staring back afraid and confused. All except for Twilight, whose face was blank whilst she awaited orders from Odysseus.
Odysseus then looked over at Celestia, who was approaching Elizabeth cautiously as the changelings around stepped aside for the Equestrian princess.
Chrysalis was kneeling down on the ground, holding the stone figure of Alexander close to her chest and staring at the scene in shock. He had never seen his mother so vulnerable.
“Princess!” The Royal Guard ponies that were pulling Rainbow Dash back released the chain that they were holding and rushed over to their princess, saluting as they neared.
“Princess!” A small group of Royal Guard ponies rushed onto the scene from the direction of the battlefield, stopping for a moment when they found Luna being held hostage by a changeling. “Damn you! Release the princess at once!” one of the guards threatened, pointing his spear forward with his comrades.
The changelings before them retaliated by quickly forming a blockade between the guardsponies and Victoria and pointing their own spears forward.
“Do not be fooled!” Mystic shouted, rushing over to the small group of Equestrian soldiers. “That is not your princess! It is a changeling in disguise!”
“That’s impossible!” one of the guards protested, pointing to the goggles that he was wearing. “These goggles are supposed to allow us to see through a changeling’s disguise!”
“And who was it that gave you those goggles?” The guards remained silent. Mystic turned around to face Queen Chrysalis. “… For now, just stay back and let us handle this.” Mystic rushed over to her queen and bowed as soon as she was by her side. “My queen, I have returned to your side.”
“General Mystic?” Chrysalis asked in a whisper. “What is going on? Why is Alexander…”
“Allow me to explain, Mother!” Victoria shouted, gathering magic into her horn and firing it at Odysseus’s horn. Rainbow Dash growled and ordered her to stop, until she, along with everyone else present, saw the disguise fading away, revealing Prince Odysseus in his true form.
“Odysseus?” Chrysalis asked in disbelief. “W-What is this? I demand that you explain what is going on, right now!” she shouted as she rose to her hooves, still carrying the petrified Alexander in her forelegs. A few tears rolled down her face, but she kept her expression fierce as she addressed her children.
“As it turns out, Mother,” Elizabeth started, turning to face Chrysalis with a saddened look on her face, “Odysseus had plotted to have you die, here on the battlefield, so that he could win favour in our kingdom by ‘avenging’ you.
“Not only that, but he sought to throw our kingdom into chaos later so that he could turn it into a dictatorship with the support of his subjects.” Elizabeth lowered her head and closed her eyes. “He betrayed us all, and what’s more, he killed our Aura to start this whole war in the first place.”
Chrysalis took in everything that Elizabeth told her with a calm expression, but inside, her mind was tearing itself apart. Her hold on Alexander’s petrified body tightened, and her gaze on Odysseus grew colder with every word that she was hearing.
“Is this true, Odysseus?” she asked, turning her attention to her son.
“Of course it isn’t, Mother,” Odysseus said, his voice shaking and cracking as he stared back at her with shaking eyes and unsteady breathing. “T-This is all a misunderstanding, or a setup! In the first place, they have no evidence-”
“We have all the evidence that we need,” Victoria said, interrupting Odysseus’ defence. One of the changelings around them walked towards the queen and presented a single piece of paper. “That paper, although it appears blank, has a strange magical property to it. I doubt that anyone besides Mother or myself could see it for what it truly is…”
“What is it?” Chrysalis asked, grabbing the paper in her magic and looking at it closely.
“It’s something Odysseus created in the research laboratory that you entrusted him to. We ransacked that lab and found a whole number of interesting things there that he never presented to you… most of which was the product of illegal research. All of the scientists working there have also been arrested for taking part in this research and many have confessed that you were the one who ordered every single research product there to be developed.”
“But what does this paper do?!” Chrysalis asked, this time her voice taking on a threatening tone as she glared at her son and daughter.
“It is used for forging your royal signature, Mother.”
“Impossible! The royal signature is created using magic, and magic is as unique to each individual as their hoofprints! It’s not something that one can reproduce!”
“Nonetheless, he found a way. I made sure to test it, many times, and compared the product to your signature from past documents. They matched completely.”
“That’s how you ordered Aura’s death, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked with a furious look. “Once we had this paper figured out, we had sufficient evidence to warrant searching your room. That’s when we found your hidden study, filled with all the evidence that we needed to prove your guilt. We then formed an army and came after you.”
“It’s over, Odysseus!” Victoria added. “We found your hidden battle plans and have already arrested most of the troops that you assigned to guard the battlefield! Those on the run will be caught and tried for their crimes! As will you…”
Odysseus looked around once more, stealing a glance off of everyone in the vicinity. His mother appeared to be strong, but he could tell that her mind was a storm of chaos inside. Princess Celestia simply stared down with a hardened frown at the captured changeling. The surrounding changeling troops were all standing ready to strike, and the Element bearers were fuming, save for the depressed Fluttershy and the vacant Twilight Sparkle.
‘Mother’s distracted, so I still have a chance,’ Odysseus thought as she turned his attention to Twilight, looking directly into her eyes. “Tell me, Sister… how did you find the time to analyse that paper? I’ve had you under constant watch since we began working together on the battle strategy, and there’s no way you could have done all that you claimed to do, and put this army together, in just one day.”
“… Alexander dropped that paper off to me while I was in my room, the night before we began working together.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that. But like I said, I’ve had you under constant watch since the following morning, so how did you-”
“Back then, I wasn’t the only one in my room,” Victoria interrupted, looking over to her sister, Elizabeth. “Although she always puts up a strong front, Elizabeth was in deep pain when Aura was killed. Ever since she was a youngling, I was always the one she came to whenever she was hurt or upset.”
“She was in your room that night?” Odysseus asked.
“She was. You never saw Elizabeth on her own as a threat, because she never takes the initiative to do anything on her own. She prefers to follow me and only acts on my or Mother’s orders.”
“That’s right,” Odysseus confirmed. “That’s why I never assigned any of my troops to watch over her. It seemed to be a waste of effort. What, are you saying that you asked her to analyse that paper? Even if you did, there’s no way she could have-”
“You would know a lot more about us, if you actually took the time to get to know us,” Elizabeth said, walking closer to Alexander. “… For example, I bet you never knew that Victoria and I, when we were both younglings, looked so much like each other that many changelings mistook us for twins.”
Odysseus gave her a confused look and titled his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that, even with our disguise abilities repressed inside the kingdom’s barrier, we were still able to masquerade as each other with just a bit of makeup and a little wardrobe change.” Elizabeth grinned and looked over her shoulder at her mother. “We used to drive Mother crazy, constantly acting like each other to get out of our royal duties. If she had a hard time telling us apart, I imagine the rest of the kingdom would have no chance at all.”
Odysseus gasped and looked up at Victoria with a disbelieving look on his face. “You two… You swapped places?!”
“We did,” Victoria confirmed with a proud grin. “All that time you thought you had me under surveillance, it was actually our dear sister Elizabeth. That, of course, left me plenty of freedom to do all the investigating that I wanted.”
“But… But how?! Even if your looks were the same, your personalities are just…”
“You’re not the only one who’s been developing new toys, Odysseus.” Victoria used her magic to levitate a small, black piece of plastic from her ear and held it in front of Odysseus’ face. “With you and Alexander winning favour with that ‘matchlock rifle’ thing, I had to come up with something of my own to get back in the race.”
“So what is it?” Odysseus asked, curiosity overriding the fear that had previously been filling his body.
“Hasn’t got a name yet. I was going to reveal it to Mother next month. It’s essentially a miniature radio communications device.”
“That thing?” Odysseus asked incredulously. “That is a radio? That tiny, little thing?”
“Well, it’s not quite as powerful as a proper radio,” Victoria admitted. “It can only communicate with one frequency, and its range isn’t anywhere near as far as actual radio devices. Still, using this, I was able to maintain constant communication with Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth pulled out her own earpiece, and also pulled out another small piece of plastic attached to her armour. “It’s amazing, don’t you think? With these microphones, she could hear whatever went on around me and then relay orders to me.”
“If you weren’t so overconfident, you may have noticed ‘Victoria’ acting a little odd,” Victoria said, placing her earpiece back into her ear. “Her reactions were slower, and she was, for the most part, ordered to remain silent. But you were so certain that you had me trapped that you paid it no mind. And now, it’s cost you dearly.”
For a few moments, Odysseus remained completely silent. Then, he let out a soft chuckle and lowered his head, resting it against the ground. He continued to laugh quietly to himself for a while, before lifting his head back up again and looking over at Elizabeth with a defeated look on his face.
“… Yes. You’ve won,” he said, earning a confused look from his sister. “I must admit, you’ve outdone me. And I have nothing up my sleeves to get me out of this situation. There’s no way I can possibly win. Not-” Odysseus cast a quick glance over at Twilight. “-NOW!”
Twilight quickly cast a teleportation spell to reach Odysseus, startling everyone in the area, and then jumped up and grabbed Victoria’s blade in her mouth. Odysseus used the distraction to worm his way out of Victoria’s hold and quickly made a break for the forest to his right.
“After him!” Elizabeth ordered, leading her troops after the fleeing changeling. However, they were stopped by the sudden appearance of the purple unicorn, who fired several blasts of purple energy at the pursuing troops. “Damnit!”
“I’ve got this!” Victoria shouted, charging towards Twilight with her sword raised. She swung it down at the unicorn, cutting her side and knocking her down onto her back. “Go, now!”
“Why you!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she immediately soared through the air towards Victoria, a furious look on her face. She saw a puddle of red forming beneath Twilight and her speed increased with her rage.
“STOP!”
A bright flash of white stopped both Rainbow Dash’s advance, and Victoria’s prepared counterattack. Princess Celestia appeared in-between the two of them, keeping Rainbow Dash at bay and casting a quick glare to Victoria. “You should hurry up and go after him. But I warn you: hurt one more of my subjects, and I will not take kindly to it.”
“… Alright troops,” Victoria said as she faced her small army. “Odysseus is hiding somewhere in the forest! Find and arrest him, but if he resists, you have permission to kill him!”
“Yes, sir!” the changeling soldiers shouted, before following their princess into the forest.
Elizabeth stayed behind and approached Twilight’s body alongside Celestia. “Sorry about that,” she said, leaning down to examine the wound. “But it seems that Sister made sure the cut was shallow, so we can save her if we treat her fast enough.” Elizabeth’s horn began to glow green, but stopped when Celestia’s hoof came into view.
“Thank you, but I think I can handle this myself,” Celestia said, smiling as her own horn lit up.
“But-”
“Besides, I think your mother could use you right now.” Elizabeth gasped and looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, her mother was back on the ground, staring blankly into space as her mouth moved up-and-down, her forehooves wrapped tightly around Alexander.
“Can our brother be saved?” Elizabeth asked.
“… I think your mother could use you right now,” Celestia repeated, not taking her eyes off of Twilight as she tended to the unicorn’s wound.
That was all that Elizabeth needed to deduce the answer on her own. Slowly, she rose to her hooves and made her way over to Chrysalis, remaining silent as moved close enough to wrap her hooves around her mother.
Odysseus ran through the forest as fast as his legs would allow him, not stopping for any reason, despite how much his lungs felt like they were on fire and how much it felt like his legs would fall off.
‘How could this have happened?!’ he asked himself. ‘I planned so carefully! I ran through the scenarios so many times in my head! It wasn’t supposed to end like this! They weren’t supposed to trap me! I can’t believe I overlooked such vital information! I need to get out of here. I need to find somewhere to lay low. Those goggles won’t work on me, so I can still hide out in Equestri-’
Odysseus’ thoughts were interrupted when he entered a small clearing in the forest and caught sight of something blue moving his way. He stopped and snapped his attention to his left, to find two figures breathing heavily a short distance away from him, both staring at him with shocked looks on their faces.
“O-Odysseus!” the small youngling shouted, quickly taking a step back.
The blue unicorn to the youngling’s left quickly lowered her head and pointed her horn at the changeling prince, a purple glow surrounding the magical appendage.
Odysseus, however, simply grinned and let out a chuckle at the sight of his younger sister. “… Aura… It seems you can still be useful to me, after all.”