Twilight, Pinkie, and the Doctor reappeared with a pop in a back alley of Canterlot.
"Whee!" The pink pony said happily, throwing her forelegs up.
Twilight made a shushing gesture, shaking her head to clear it.
"OH!....wheeee" Pinkie said, more softly this time.
"Pinkie" Twilight said "I know you always carry a large assortment of costume clothing and other random objects with you, would you mind if we use them?"
"Sure thing Twi!" pinkie chirped, she then began to pull an incredible number of strange items out of her hair. Soon a clown wig was being tossed into a pile with along with a Pogo stick, a chocolate bar, a fake mustache, a propeller beanie, a piece of cake, a set of hoof paints a stuffed princess Celestia toy, some giant t-shirt with the words "I heart Bronies" on it, and over twenty colorful balls of various shapes and sizes "In case of a ball emergency".
Twilight looked critically at the items, eyes squinting. She grabbed the clown wig and thrust it onto her own head, using her magic to briefly style it into a less spherical shape before pulling the overlarge T-shirt on as well so it would hide her cutie mark. She then put the propeller beanie onto the Doctors head, along with the fake mustache.
"Pinkie" She said, holding out the hoof paints "Cover yourself in one of these colors would you? And maybe deflate your mane as well"
The pink mare saluted solemnly as her hair flattened with a sound similar to a balloon leak, before using the other hoof to smear her pink face with blue.
Soon three ponies emerged from a Canterlot side street, one with a beanie, a mustache, and a blobbish cutie mark that roughly resembled a square, one with a limp pink mane, and a mottled coat that wasn't quite pink, purple or blue, and the last with a shirt that fit more like a dress, accompanied an unruly rainbow mane that contrasted starkly with her purple tail.
In between the gasps and gags of the Canterlot Elite, Twilight thought she heard someone mutter "How Avant-garde".
"Alright" Twilight said in a hushed whisper "Pinkie, your new name is Dapplehoof, got it? Doctor...your new cutie mark looks vaguely like a camera, so you'll be Snapshot. And I'll be...."
"SnoCone!" Pinkie said brightly "Because your mane looks like a SNOWCONE!!"
"Sure." Twilight said "Everypony got their new names? Yes? Yes? Good."
"Well, come along Sparky!" The Doctor said trotting forward "ALLONS-no....no, I just can't bring myself to reuse a catchphrase. I was wondering when the day would come when I would run out of them...."
"Well there's always-"
"No. That was a bad catchphrase and you know it"
Twilight shrugged "Suit yourself"
"Ooooh!" Pinkie said happily "My catchphrase is Superduperfantastarificsome!"
"Pinkie... A catchphrase is something you say often" Twilight said "I don't think I've ever heard anypony say that before....even you, Pinkie"
"So is your cat phrase 'grrr! I'm trying to study!' then?" Pinkie asked sweetly, not a hint of a smirk on her face. The Doctor snerked, trying not to laugh.
The unicorn glowered "No Pinkie. That is not my catchphrase"
They left the square in a hurry, leaving blue hoofprints and a herd of terrified snobs in their wake.
The more Twilight looked around, the more her confidence drained from her. Just from glancing around she could pick out a sea of green eyes, more than she could ever hope to fight. She no plan, almost zero magic, and she needed to stop a changeling army. A feeling of helplessness washed over her...if there was one thing Twilight hated, it was feeling helpless. Just like when she was in magic kindergarten, just like when everypony hated her for being the smart one, just like when she was late to class and got called "Tardy Sparkle" for months.
Every villain she had faced before had been flawed, Discord was clever but over-confident, Chrysalis hadn't hidden Cadence well enough, Nightmare Moon had underestimated her friends.
Thornwing had hit her right where it hurt, by taking everypony she loved. Even when she freed her friends, Thornwing was a step ahead.
Twilight felt every bit like the clown her wig suggested she was.
A hoof touched her shoulder, and the unicorn looked up, trying to hide the feeling of hopelessness that was probably written all over her face. The Doctor was looking back at her, expression unreadable.
"Twilight" he said, eyes deadly serious "My promise is still in effect. We will stop her. Do you understand me?"
Twilight nodded, thankful for the small bit of support.
They approached Canterlot tower.
"Well!" Pinkie enthused "Lets go in!" She carelessly bounced up to the door...
Then bounced back like a ball as she ran straight into an armored guard.
"What is your business here!" the guard said. Twilight squinted at him, even if he was a drone, he wouldn't stop them from entering in a public area if they played the "Canterlot Tourist" part right.The princess wouldn't want normal pony folk to think anything was going on
"We're taking the grand tour of Canterlot Towers!" Pinkie chirruped "we're all the way out from Appleoosa you see, we've never been to Canterlot before.... and, naturally, the first thing we wanted to see was the famous stained glass room. So we hired Snapshot here...I know right, a tour guide with the name of Snapshot, I mean....how perfect is that? But annyyyyhoof....We hired Snapshot here from the Canterlot tour company to give us a tour, isn't that right SnoCone, isn't that right?"
"Of course Dapplehoof!" Twilight gushed, recalling the improv and acting classes she had taken before she had become interested in magic "We wouldn't be here otherwise now would we? It's just loooooveeely here in Canterlot...The weather is GORGEOUS! I daresay I don't see a single could in the sky, not a single one!"
The guard looked noticeably awkward, unsure what to make of their giant speech.
"Do you have a visitor's pass?"
Twilight stiffened, she had never needed a visitor's pass to get into anyplace in Canterlot, so she didn't carry one on her. The unicorn fought down a wave of panic.
"Of course we do!" the Doctor said, interrupting. He held out a piece of paper, and the guard examined it, before handing it back and stepping aside for them.
"Have a nice daaaay!" Pinkie sang as she bounced past.
When they were inside, Twilight turned on the Doctor, sputtering "What... how?"
"Psychic paper!" the Doctor said proudly, holding it out for her to see.
"Oh my!" Twilight said in mock awe "This is a simply incredible, and very blank piece of paper..."
She quirked an eyebrow questioningly
"Hmm!" the Doctor said "I had a hunch you were an extremely bright mare....although you'll have to work on your attitude. I should start calling you Twilight Snarkle from now on"
The trio of ponies began ascending the stairs.
"I still don't get what this has to do with a blank note-card" Twilight said
"Here Pinkie, read what this says" the Doctor said, holding it out to her
"OOOOH!" Pinkie said "An invitation to the giant party convention!"
"You see Sparkle?" the Doctor said "When shown to a person....errr...pony, it can induce them to see whatever I or whomever is using it wishes them to see printed on it."
"And what about me?" Twilight said
"I would probably say because of the intense psychic focus your magic requires has made you more attuned to things of that nature" the Doctor speculated "I wonder...You know, it's possible you could send me a message through it"
"What?"
"Beings with sufficient psychic ability can send messages through the paper" the Doctor explained "I was curious if the increased psychic ability from your magic study would allow you to as well"
Twilight considered this, reaching her mind out like the did to detect magic, or set up a teleportation spell, and concentrated on the blank piece of paper.
Her concentration was shattered by a cheer from Pinkie Pie, her eyes snapped open.
"Good job, Sparkle!" the Doctor said "You were able to do it after all....I'm impresse-"
They had reached the top of the stairs.
There were over one hundred changeling in the stained glass room.
"ATTACK!" Pinkie cried, taking items out of her mane and throwing them in every direction. Twilight saw a Pogo stick fly through the air and hit one of the insect creatures in the head, accompanied soon after by an accordion.
Twilight couldn't risk using any more magic or they might no be able to teleport back, but she could still fight the old fashioned way. She galloped forward, kicking a changeling in the face.
They just had to get to the door.
She winced as she punched a copy of her brother in the head. Fighting changelings was always disconcerting. There was a giant popping whistling sound, and she ducked to avoid a deadly mass of streamers and confetti coming towards her.
The Doctor was a little ahead of him, surrounded by a group of five changelings, Twilight grabbed Pinkie's hoof and slid under a lunging drone, narrowly avoiding it's hooves. They ran to help, Pinkie blasting several with a party cannon, and Twilight knocking one of the others off it's hooves with a well placed kick.
She was glad her brother had made her take self defense lessons with him.
Seeing a gap through which the could reach the elements, she raced for it, touching a hoof to the door and murmuring an incantation under her breath.
It clicked open
"Pinkie! Doctor!" she called breathlessly.
The pink pony was beside her in a flash, jumping up and bouncing on the changeling's heads like she was playing hopscotch.
"Doctor?" she called "Doctor!"
"It's alright! Just get the elements, I'll be fine!"
She looked for the source of the voice, the Doctor was buried under a pile of snarling drones.
She sighed, then lunged back into the herd of changelings. Picking the Doctor up with her magic and shaking his attackers of roughly she ran towards the door again, sliding in and kicking it shut behind her.
"You would make an excellent cat" The Doctor remarked to Twilight "You know, never doing what you're told"
"You would make an excellent dog, Doctor" the unicorn rebuffed "You know, always chasing your own tail"
She opened the chest with the elements, and sighed with relief, they were all there.
"Will you be able to teleport us back?" Pinkie asked, looking nervously at the door.
"I'm almost certain" Twilight said "I made sure not to overexert myself, I'll be fine"
She picked up the container of the elements, hugging it to her chest, then she closed her eyes, and they popped out of the chamber.