It was late in the Everfree forest. The sun had long set, and the creatures, monstrous or otherwise, were all fast asleep. All except for one. A lone creature walked through the trees: the wind rustling the cloak on its back and making light whistling noises as it passed through the holes in its legs. Its dark colored horn was aglow with a bright green magical light, the same light that shined through the lantern that hovered in the air next to it. The creature was tired, though it wasn’t fatigued. It had been tracking its target for some time. Following the trail which the lantern revealed to the creature, it listened as the lantern talked, whispered, and sang in a soft voice the creature was almost completely certain only he could hear.
Lantern glow, lantern sway,
I shall lead the way,
Lantern glow, lantern sway,
I still cannot get away.
The creature shook his head and stared off into the distance as he reached the exit of the forest. He had found where his target had been hiding. He had found Ponyville.
ACE awoke and tumbled out of bed, landing with a groan as he hit the hard apartment floor. The thud from the impact awoke his girlfriend who had been sleeping beside him. Lilly, a sky blue earth pony with dark blue freckles, a blond tail, and a blonde mane that covered her left eye, looked over at ACE.
This revealed her cutie mark, a single black music note, which she earned for her talent with her voice. Known to some as Lilly the Siren, she traveled all over Equestria and performed concerts with a voice so magnificent that even a minimal amount of vocals could leave lesser ponies weak in the knees, and some would even swoon over. Lilly’s raging fan-base was kept in check by her bodyguard ACE, a white unicorn with a dark brown mane who seemed to have come out of nowhere. He showed up one day out of the blue in front of Lilly and has been following her ever since. ACE’s cutie mark, the 3 different colored cards, represented his gift in all sorts of magic but none more so than his skills with a deck of cards. ACE could do things with a playing card that others could only dream of, ranging from spectacular tricks to his most common practice of using them for combat, in which he enchanted the cards with spells and launched them at anyone who got too close to his beloved music star girlfriend.
Despite Lilly’s popularity, the couple was still rather poor due to their travel expenses. More often than not, this meant the two of them would spend their nights in hotels and usually could only afford a room with a single bed. Just like what happened tonight.
“ACE, are you okay?” Lilly looked at her boyfriend as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, grunting.
“I’m fine,” replied the unicorn. “I just had a bad dream.”
Lilly grew more concerned for the stallion. ACE had been having “bad dreams” since they arrived at Ponyville.
“Are you going to be okay? I can postpone the performance if you’re not feeling well.”
ACE turned to face Lilly with a smirk on his face.
“The great Lilly postpone one of her legendary concerts just ‘cause her bodyguard lost an hour or two of sleep? You and I both know that’s not an option. Besides, isn’t the princess going to be attending this?”
Lilly nodded. This concert was more special than her average ones. This was a midnight concert in Ponyville in honor of Princess Luna, who would be attending it personally. Lilly always loved performing in Ponyville, for she had more than just fans there. She had friends, and any friend of Lilly was a friend to ACE so he felt the same way.
ACE reassured the mare as he walked towards the hotel room’s window, opening it up as a slight breeze flew in, “I’ll be fine, I just need to stretch my wings a bit, I’ve spent so much time in this form it’s starting to get a bit stuffy.”
ACE closed his eyes and concentrated, an aura of green magic washed over him, revealing his true form, a changeling with a horn that curved backwards like a scythe blade. Lilly was fully aware she was dating a changeling and oddly enough the thought was almost comforting to her.
ACE, or Lord Amethyst as the changelings knew him, fed on love just like every other changeling. Lilly produced enough to keep him fed for the rest of his life and two more after that. The love seemed to be more potent if it was towards him and not a pony he was disguised as. He couldn’t very well go walking around cities as a changeling, thus his alternate persona ACE was born.
“Try not to get spotted alright dear?” Lilly smiled and winked at the changeling.
“No one’s out this late,” Amethyst responded. “I’ll just do a quick fly around the stage where the concerts going on and I’ll be back long before anyone wakes up.”
Lilly nodded and went back to sleep. Amethyst jumped out of the window and flew off, his wings buzzing like a wasp as he flew off towards the stage.
Upon arriving, Amethyst nodded with satisfaction. Lilly’s best friends Chroma Sketch and Ravewind were put in charge of making sure the stage was set. The result was borderline perfection. As he admired the stage he heard the sound of hooves coming from behind him. Amethyst turned around to see a pony with solid black fur, light green eyes, and neon green hair staring at him. Amethyst backed up a bit, not sure how to respond to being seen. Who in Equestria besides him stays out this late? Before he could decide on a course of action the pony smiled wickedly and started to laugh.
“Come now, don’t you recognize me?” Amethyst shook his head and the mysterious stallion laughed. The laugh was deep and soulless, almost like his…Oh no.
The stallion began to glow with a bright green fire. Magical energies washed over the colt, revealing yet another changeling. This one had a crooked horn just like Amethyst, except instead of folding back, this one pushed out. This changeling also had hair and green eyes, like Queen Chrysalis. This was Amethyst’s older brother, Catalyst, the self-proclaimed “Lord of the Changeling Army.”
“What are you doing here?” Amethyst growled.
“Is that any way to greet family little brother?” The changeling lord hissed lightly and smirked. Amethyst simply spat and hissed right back.
“You tried to steal Lilly from me and drag her back to the swarm! You were going to use her like a battery then toss her out when she dried up!” Amethyst glared with fury at his brother, his eyes beginning to glow with a dim green light.
“About your girlfriend;” Catalyst interrupted while looking over the holes in his hooves. “It seems your relationship with that girl has gotten the attention of The Warden.”
“The Warden, what in the queen’s name does he want?” Amethyst was confused about what his brother said, but seeing as though it was his brother who said it, it wasn’t good news.
“You, I’d imagine.” Catalyst replied. “Remember, the warden’s job is to hunt down renegade changelings who leave the swarm.”
“I haven’t left!” Amethyst challenged. “My loyalty will always be to the queen! I simply took a different path from you and all the others.”
Catalyst shrugged. “You can tell him that when he gets here.”
Amethyst went back to glaring at his older brother.
“When should I expect him?” He demanded.
“I don’t know” Catalyst replied. “I only know that he’s coming for you. Circumstances aside, I am still your older brother Amethyst. I’m simply looking out for you.”
“Nothing is simple with you.” Amethyst put a hissing emphasis on the word ‘simple,’ Catalyst did not reply. He simply turned around and started to walk away. Donning the appearance of the black furred, green-maned stallion that he was before vanishing into the night. Amethyst gave a dismissive gesture before letting out a yawn. He jumped to the sky and began to fly back to the hotel. He had to move quickly, the sun was about to rise.
Lilly awoke to find her exhausted changeling boyfriend lying in the bed beside her. He wasn’t under the covers and was still in his true form. Lilly assumed he flew back in through the window, landed on the bed, and went straight to sleep. She reached over and shook him lightly trying to wake him up. The changeling’s body was chilly. Unlike ponies that have fur, changelings were primarily insectoid so their bodies functioned more like a carapace or a shell. After a bit of mumbling and a couple light buzzing and hissing noises, Amethyst turned over and slowly began to wake.
“Have a long night dear?” Lilly asked him softly.
“You have no idea.” Replied Amethyst, his words slurred with a buzzing noise implying he was still half asleep.
“Well come on, we need to get to the staging area bright and early to oversee the final preparation.” As Lilly spoke she began to shove the changeling around a bit more aggressively. In response he turned back the opposite direction.
“Give me 5 minutes.” He murmured as he started to drift back to sleep.
Lilly giggled and shook her head.
“No can do.” With a smirk on her face, she rolled to the side and bucked the changeling out of bed with her hind legs. The shock of hitting the floor snapped Amethyst out of his trance, causing him to immediately shift his appearance back to his alter ego ACE and scramble to his hooves.
“I’m up! I’m up! I’m up!” He repeated over and over as he tried to get his dizzy head together.
Lilly smiled and nodded. “Good, now let’s get going!” At that, she flung open the door to their room and quickly trotted out the door. ACE shook his head then with a sigh and a shrug followed her out.
Word of Lilly’s performance quickly spread through the little town of Ponyville. It seemed like the entire town was out and about with everypony helping in some form or the other. Twilight Sparkle trotted through the groups making checks on checklists and supervising all of her friends. Applejack was in charge of making sweets for the concert. Currently she and Apple Fritter were making, well, apple fritters. The two of them had come up with a new recipe overnight. After a quick sample Twilight licked her lips approvingly then moved onto the next group. She found Pinkie Pie with Ravewind and Chroma Sketch who were setting up balloons and streamers over the hall. The decorations all shared the same pattern of dark blue with lots of stars and moons in honor of Princess Luna. Twilight found Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just behind the concert area. Fluttershy was throwing rocks into the air while Rainbow dodged around them. Before preparations had begun, Rainbow Dash volunteered to perform a daring and borderline impossible series of stunts near the end of the concert. They involved flying around through a series of fireworks leaving a rainbow trail behind her, finishing with a Sonic Rainboom during Lilly’s final high note. Dash needed to practice maneuvering around the fireworks but Fluttershy wasn’t proving to be of much use.
“Come on Fluttershy! You have to throw those WAY harder! They’re going so slow I can dodge them in my sleep!”
Rainbow Dash yelling at the poor yellow Pegasus didn’t seem to be helping her throwing arm. If anything it was making it worse. Rainbow Dash could only sigh.
“Will somepony please help Fluttershy? I need a challenge here!”
On that note a sky blue Pegasus with goofy looking yellow eyes zipped up next to Fluttershy, picking up a nearby rock. She slung it as hard as she could, smacking Rainbow clean in the forehead with it.
“Nice…Shot.” Rainbow stammered as she plummeted to the ground with a loud thud. She awoke to find Twilight, Fluttershy, and the other sky blue Pegasus looking over her.
“Oops, sorry Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” The sky blue Pegasus moved in closer to her causing her nose to rub against Rainbows. Rainbow Dash jumped to the air shaking her head to get the stars and butterflies to go away.
“I’m fine Ditzy, thank you.” With that the other Pegasus nodded and trotted away.
“Thanks anyway Fluttershy. I think I’ll get Apple Jack to help me later on too.”
Fluttershy nodded. She was a bit disappointed that she couldn’t help her friend, but at the same time she was relieved she
didn’t have to throw rocks anymore. She then left as well, looking for something less violent to help with.
Twilight walked over to where Rarity was creating Lilly’s attire for the evening. A stunning dark blue dress that looked similar to Twilight’s Gala dress but had minor alterations such as a large whole moon on the flank where Lilly’s cutie mark would be located. The dress also featured a short trail at the end of it that was covered in Gem Grind Glitter, a creation of Rarity’s that involved grinding gemstones until they were just solid enough to not be considered powder.
“How’s the dress going Rarity?” asked Twilight to her overly focused friend. Rarity was in the middle of working a sewing machine that she brought from her boutique. She stopped only for a brief moment to acknowledge Twilight’s presence then went back to work without saying a word. Twilight gave her a funny look as Diamodozen, an earth pony who had been assisting Rarity, walked over to her.
“Sorry, she’s been like this since we started. She had a stroke of genius hit her this morning and she’s worried if she stops for too long she’ll loose the spark. The dress is coming along quite nicely. She’s really outdoing herself.”
Twilight nodded in agreement and headed for the stage. There was only one of her friends left to check on and that was Pinkie Pie.
“Ravewind, heads up!” Ravewind turned just in time to take a roll of streamers to the face. He lost his balance but managed to quickly recover and keep himself in the air. He looked down to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down on the ground laughing next to Chroma Sketch, who was tossing another streamer roll up and down as she yelled to him.
“What’s wrong? Why are you zoning out?” Ravewind flew to the ground and walked up to the two mares.
“Sorry, just lost in thought.” He replied to her
Chroma gave her friend an inquisitive look. “That’s not like you. What’s on your mind?”
Ravewind shrugged, “It’s nothing important. Come on, let’s get the rest of these decorations up.”
Ravewind leaped into the sky with renewed vigor as Chroma Sketch tossed him some streamers. She then took a few from Pinkie Pie and the two of them flew off to finish their job. One less thing on Twilight’s checklist to oversee.
Lilly strolled through the streets of Ponyville, which was getting completely redone from the inside out. She gazed in awe at how the town was transforming before her eyes. ACE tailed her not far away as usual, only this time his attention was constantly shifting. He seemed paranoid about something but Lilly paid him to mind. This was the biggest reception they had ever had. While this was part of why Lilly loved Ponyville, she knew this would cause ACE to be on edge. Lilly was so distracted by the decorations she didn’t notice how fast she was walking. She found herself plowing straight into Twilight Sparkle causing them both to fall to the ground. Lilly quickly composed herself and apologized.
“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“It’s quite alright,” Twilight responded, she turned around to see who had run into her and discovered it to be Lilly.
“Oh my, I think I should be the one apologizing Lilly.”
Lilly shook her head. “It was my fault, I was just so distracted by the city. Everything here looks amazing!”
“I’m glad you like it,” Twilight smiled brightly, “We’re just missing one last thing and we’ll be ready to go.”
“What’s that?” Lilly asked the unicorn.
“Burst powder for the fireworks,” answered Twilight, “Zecora’s making it at her hut in the Everfree Forest. It should be ready right about now actually. Would you mind picking it up for us?”
“I’ll get it.” ACE interrupted the two stepping forward to volunteer for the venture. “Lilly needs to rehearse and make sure Ravewind and Chroma Sketch finished their ends of the set up.”
“Oh, he talks?” Twilight pointed at ACE and she and Lilly giggled to each other, ACE scoffed it off. It’s true that despite being friends with Twilight and the rest of the mares, he hardly ever said a word to any of them. The few times he did talk he was usually talking to Lilly.
“Are you going to be okay by yourself?” Lilly asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” ACE responded.
Lilly pondered the question and nodded. ACE nodded in response and began to make his way towards the Everfree Forrest. As he left Twilight couldn’t help but notice Lilly’s sudden change in expression.
“You’re worried about him?” She asked Lilly.
“He’s been…out of it the past week. I guess I’m just a bit concerned.”
Twilight gave Lilly a reassuring smile. “He’ll be back before you know it. A Unicorn of his magical caliber has little to fear from the forest.”
Lilly watched ACE disappear on the horizon. She wasn’t completely sure why, but for some reason it wasn’t the forest she was worried about.