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// Chapter 6; The Lingering Nightmare 
// Story: Prelude to 13, The Last Thing... 
// by Freewing Alchemist P 
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Chapter 6; The Lingering Nightmare

    She was laying on the aged stone floor she could see the blood slowly flow form her body. Her weekend eyes could see a mass of evil shadows looming over her. They came into focus and she could see them. A period of cats, a tiger, a lion, a panther, a lynxes and a little, puffy, white, Prussian cat. They stood behind a creature was like a  black and blue with equal parts baboon and gorilla.  He had a broad chest and his ears were pointed like a jackal's ears his muscular arms carried him around  his he was more elongated. He was adorn in ancient looking Aztec like jewelry and at the end of a long black tail was a grasping palm.
    "Ah, Daring Do I am truly sorry that this will be the last time we meet." The creature said with a laughed he had a thick Spanish accent.
 Ahuizotll..." Daring struggled to say. But her voice was fading and she could not see any more.
    She watched as his hand tail grabbed the ideal that Daring Do had risked her life to get, but now it belong to the enemy. Ahuitzotl examined the his ill-gotten gain and made a wicked smile. That 's when she saw or rather noticed  another figure, shadowy at first. But as she kept having the same dream and the back figure kept becoming clearer until she could see him. The new figure was a pony or at least she thought it was. A white stallion, with a short, gray-blue mane and tail with green-blue eyes with thin blue wings. Now that she could see Daring's memories it wasn't white, but rather the opposites of black or anti-black. His wings were not feather like but it was insect like clear-blue, elongated oval shape. He had a strange device strapped to his chest. It was brass fixture that looked like a steam engine and had hoses sticking out of it's side, that traveled to the back of his neck. This pony nodded at Ahuizotl and he gave Daring a wicked grin.
         "You know I should put you in some sort of death trap or at least make sure that you will be dead but WE don't have the time to do such things. Good by my dear."
    Ahuizotl left but this mysterious pony lingered and H.G. thought that she heard the pony say. "Goodbye my Love..." And walked away leaving the real Daring Do to die on the temple ground.

    The late night flight was not her idea of fun but the dream she was having was giving her a problem. She knew it must have been a memory form Daring's past and now the only one that could help her was at the Royal Canterlot Vaults. Checkmate Angle, he was the only one that could tell her what she wanted to know.
    She was fast and able to close the distance from her home to the Canterlot Vaults. The sky was dark and full of stars but she couldn't see the constellation. They didn't seem to match any constellation she seen before. They seemed like they were just haphazardly put in the sky with no regard for design, beauty or... well it seemed like a five year old just dabbed a lot of white paint on black paper. That is what she missed about Earth, the constellations, and the night was more like a work of art. She liked, too many other things about this world, she could get over not having a beautiful night sky to fly in.  
    She made it to the Canterlot Vaults in no time at all, but there was a time she thought that she brake the sound barrier. With Daring's memories she was able to navigating the Vaults and make it to Checkmate Angle's office. Standing in front of the old oak doors she was hesitant but she had to know something didn't seem right.
    She knocked on the door. "Checkmate, are you in there I need to talked to you."
    "Of course Ms. Do, come in." The voice called from the other side of the door.
    Entering the office she found it quite quaint, much like and Victorian study. H.G. watched. As the old pony came out of a back room. He gave her a gentle smile to her and settled down at a nearby desk. "And what brings you here this fine night?"
    "I been having a recurring dream but I'm not sure what it means?" H.G. told him.
    "And you decided to come to me for help? Quite excellent, I'll see what I can do for you." He told her.
    She nodded and began to describe her dream to him, every detail and she did not stop until she could describe the strange pony she saw in her dream. "I have be seeing thing, How can I remember things that I never saw the first time?"
    "Well before you were dying and you probably did not notice it at first, but you still saw them, you just did not know you did. The memory recall spell probably drummed up this memories and allows you to see them with a clarity and nothing to obscure you from thoughts. But the pony you describe...," He paused for a moment. "If I am not mistaking it sounds like a Doppelganger."
    "A Doppelganger?"
    "Yes, yes, you see that there are many types of creatures that ponies can mate with and producing unusual hybrids. Mules, Zebras, Griffins, Monitors, and Dragons just to name a few."
    "That's good to know but what does that have to do..." She started.
    "Mules, Zebras are a bit more common than the others... You see the Dopplegangers are in the same category as Hippogriffs, Unitors, Ibexes and Draconequus. It takes a unique and hard to duplicate situation. For an offspring to be born" He produced a book from a small bookcase near his desk.
    He opened it and pushed it towards her with a picture showing. It was a pony, insect like creature covered in a sleek black exoskeleton, with holes in it's legs. It had the same color wings and eyes a sharp, curved horn, small saber like fangs and a instead of a main it a frill. "Changeling," H.G. breathed. As she read the title above the page. "So, what does this have to do with a Doppelganger."
    "Ah, you see that is a Changeling and it's one half of the Doppelganger's lineage. Changelings are creatures whose lineage are born because a cursed mare. Of course she is no longer around, suppressible, and they are now a magical species all there own, but I degrees."  
    "A story for another time?" H.G. raised an eyebrow.
    Checkmate nodded. "A Changeling is a magical creature that feeds love, they do feed on other things, but they are empowered by love. They may look like tiny alicorn, but they are not. There horns are stingers that fire bio-magical energy at their prey or enemies. There wings allow them to hover and can out perform any Pegasus when it comes to quick, tight, quarters movement. They have powerful, deceptive magic that allows them to take any form they want. They take the form of the one you love and slowly feed off it until there is nothing left. In rare occasions that love could be so powerful that consume them, you see while they are masquerading as ponies they came breed with ponies.'
    'A Doppelganger takes on aspects of it's parents, but it depends. If the pony was an Earthbound then the child will have the exoskeleton like armor, if it's a Pegasus then they will have the insect like wings and if it is a unicorn then the sharp, curved horn. A Doppelganger has some of it's Changeling parent's deceptive magic, but only enough to hide it's lineage. It can only disguise itself as a Pegasus, for example."
    "So what I saw may have been a Doppelganger, but what could that mean?" H.G. asked.  
    "Maybe nothing Ms. Do, but I will look into this. It may just mean there is a player that we did not know about." He dropped into a thinking position.
    "The Doppelganger called me his love? What does that mean?"
    "I have not clue Ms. Do, but I hate to be a bad host... But I believe you should be getting home, you told me that you have a day with your daughter."
    "I guess I do, thank you Checkmate." H.G. Chuckled as she got up to leave.
    "Hold up I think that I have something that you could do with her. It's that little adventure that the Princess wanted you to try out, is not too dangerous. For an advantage filly mind you, yours would be more than cable to handle anything." Checkmate Angle laughed and passed her an old map.
    H.G. unfurled and scanned the map. "The Golden Apple Orchard?"
    "Yes, it's an orchard that is in one of the Princess' secret gardens. I received it from the Princess, I believe this is the excursion talked to you about. It will help verify the map's authenticity as well."
    "Well, I'll keep it in mind." H.G. said as she put the map in her breast coat pocket. H.G. got up for the chair and started to leave the office.
    "There is no real time limit on this my dear. So feel free to think it over and use it when you want. Good evening Ms. Do and good hunting." Checkmate Angle called after her.