//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Ashley's New Life // by LostUmbrella //------------------------------// "What a pity, she's not here," commented 'Ashley' as she pranced around the house. "Lyra, you should be careful while wearing such a disguise!" said the 'gray unicorn' walking at her side while glazing out of every window in search of curious eyes. "Can we at least take a pair of photos?" asked the fake changeling sitting in the living room with the real one "You're healing up extremely fast, and I'd like to have a keepsake after your departure." "That's the sweetest thing somepony told me," said 'Ashen Sky' hugging her friend. "Woah, I felt it, I felt the love!" said Lyra very surprised. "I told you it feels real," chuckled the other "Yet you'll still need pony food, or you'll starve." "Aww, I was really curious about how emotions tasted..." "Trust me, you don't want to taste pain, nor sadness..." said the real Ashley in a knowing tone "Now, go and take your camera, I'll wait here for you!" With a nod, the fake Ashley trotted upstairs as a filly whom somepony has promised ice cream, and reached her room. There was something off, aside for the usual mess, and it probably had something to do with Octavia entering through the window, but Lyra wouldn't have put her hoof on it. "Ehm, I can explain, I swear..." said the cellist with a sheepish smile. An embarrassed silence fell on the duo of fakes, both unaware of who the other was, the kind of heavy silence that ponies usually fill hacking lightly, and that was exactly what Lyra did: she closed her eyes and coughed in a forehoof. Had she been a true changeling, she would have recognized the strange feeling she received from 'Octavia', who had lunged towards her with a big jute sack ready, as malevolence. Half a minute later, Ashley, who had been sitting on the sofa all along, saw the changeling who passed herself as Octavia galloping away with a heavy looking sack. "That's strange, what would she-" she said voicing her thoughts, before a fearsome idea struck her "Lyra!" She teleported upstairs only to find what she dreaded: nopony. "As soon as she gets out of town she will use invisibility and unless Lyra knocks her out I'll have no chance to find her..." she mumbled while galloping out of the house "But I know where she's headed." That said, she went in search of the one mare she feared the most at the moment: Bon-Bon. It took her a good quarter of hour to find the cream colored baker, who was witnessing the latest plague of Ponyville: a horde of Pinkie Pie bouncing around shouting "Fun!" at every jump. "Bon-Bon!" called out 'Ashen Sky' breathing heavily. "Ashley, what's up? You look like you just run the Running of the Leaves!" said the cream colored mare eyeing her guest. "Lyra has been ponynapped by Octavia!" said the ex-queen catching her breath. "Who's badmouthing my Tavi?!" barked Vinyl reaching the duo wearing an angry frown. "She's not your marefriend but a changeling," punctuated the 'gray unicorn'. "Wait, you're telling me I slept with a giant locust?" asked the shocked DJ. "I need help to save her, where's Twilight?" continued Ashley ignoring the white unicorn. "I fear she has her hoofs full with the Pinkies, but why would she take my Lyra?" asked Bon-Bon, having already an idea of what happened. "She thought she was ponynapping me..." admitted the changeling hanging her head. "I don't get half of this story," stated Vinyl putting her trademark shades over her horn and revealing a pair of very determined red eyes "But our marefriends have been taken by those vermin, and you seem to know where we can find them, right? Then it's settled: let's go and save them!" "Vinyl is right, and I bet it's all Lyra's fault for being careless anyway," sentenced Bon-Bon with a nod "Show us the way, Ashley!" --- "Let me get this straight: you're not Lyra's cousin?" asked Vinyl. They were sitting in a train booth, with 'Ashen Sky' and Bon-Bon filling the DJ up on the real story. "No," answered the 'gray' mare sitting in front of her. "And you're not Ashen Sky the unicorn but Ashley the changeling queen?" "Ex-queen," corrected Bon-Bon, who was sitting to the white unicorn's right. "And we're headed to the badlands to save our marefriends from the vermin?" "I'd really appreciate if you could cut it with the vermin: I mean, I don't go around calling you horned horse!" said the disguised changeling wearing an angry expression. "Fine..." conceded the white mare "And once we get there what will we do? Nicely ask them back?" "More or less: I just need to get safely to my sister, then we can make an exchange," said Ashley with a nod "You just need to be there for Lyra and Octavia: it might be a really stressful experience for them." "Wait, what exchange?" asked Bon-Bon in a concerned tone "You never spoke of making an exchange, I don't have any bits with me!" "The fake Octavia obviously wanted to ponynap me, not Lyra," stated the 'gray unicorn' "Which means that my sister wants me alive, probably due to some sort of treaty she has with the Crystal Empire, which makes me a mostly appealing trade good in her eyes." "I don't like this plan," sentenced the baker "And I'm pretty sure Lyra would disapprove of it too." "Then the alternative is an high risk infiltration in the hive, that is on par with Canterlot castle regarding security, to retrieve them both," said Ashley with a shrug "And changelings don't like trespassers: their love, for some reason, always tastes bitter..." "I like this plan better: Stealth is my second name!" said Vinyl wearing a confident grin. "Really?" asked the baker with a dubious tone. "No, it's Sunny, but that doesn't matter: it will be great, we'll be like ninjas!" said the white mare pumping a hoof in the air. Ashley only sighed. --- Ashley was wrong: 'Octavia', instead of reaching the city outskirts and flying towards the badlands, went for the station and, covered by her invisibility spell, jumped on the first departing train directed to the south. The ride was quite long, and all the while, inside the sack, Lyra couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to her next. She had tried to reason with the changeling, for she was sure that this Octavia was a fake, but only received a good blow on her head, making her the only living bicorn in Equestria, unless the legends were true(as she had always sustained). "Please, let me go!" pleaded the prisoner, hoping not to get another extra horn. "The bash didn't suggest you that talking was a bad idea?" answered a raspy voice. "Yes, and I would like to avoid getting another one," said Lyra trying to ignore the throb in her forehead "But you have to understand that you took the wrong mare!" "Why do you keep repeating yourself? It's pointless: once I get you out I will see exactly the one I wanted to take." "But I'm not wearing a disguise, I was in my room!" "Yes, and I'm the reigning queen!" said the changeling with a scornful laugh, then ordered: "Now behave or I'll send you to dreamland again!" And with that, Lyra found herself hoping that, whatever was the reason behind her ponynapping, it wouldn't involve her physical elimination.