"It's just..." Applejack began to respond, as the train continued its trip. "The other ponies in this cart are lookin' at us a lot more now, and a few seconds ago I saw a group of 'em walk out the front and back doors. And I might be crazy, but it feels like we've been slowin' down since that happened."
"No, you're right!" Twilight set her book down. "The cart's slowing down." She leaned her head toward the window. "And it's because... we've arrived?" Sure enough, through the window, Twilight could see the Crystal Empire in all its glory.
Applejack sighed, sinking into her seat. "Shoot, that's a relief."
"I don't get it, though." Twilight shook her head as the train pulled into the Crystal Empire station. "The trip is supposed to take longer than this, isn't it?"
"Oh, Twilight." Applejack laughed. "You always overanalyze everythin', don't ya? We're here, ain't we? Obviously it took as long as it took."
Twilight smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I must have fallen asleep."
Out on the platform, workers were already unloading the Zap Apple crates, and Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were waiting nearby to greet Twilight and Applejack.
"Twily!" Shining Armor shouted. He quickly grew quiet after realizing that Twilight and his wife were going through the motions of their usual greeting.
"Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" the two shouted in unison, performing the corresponding literal and symbolic motions.
Twilight turned to embrace her brother. "It's so good to see you both again!"
"We're both so glad you could make it." Cadence smiled widely. "And thank you for handling this delivery personally, Applejack, it really means a lot!"
Applejack tipped her hat. "Shucks, I'm happy to do it!"
"Well, we should get back to the castle," Shining said, jerking his head in that direction. "We've got a big night tonight."
Twilight tilted her head. "What's going on?"
"Well," Cadence said, rolling her eyes, "we've gotten word today that your four friends, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash will be joining us later this evening."
"You're kidding!" Twilight's face lit up. "I thought they were all busy!"
"Well, we may have insisted a bit." Shining Armor blushed. "The six of you have done a lot for us, and it seems like every time you've been here, it's been to save our butts or promote them."
"The Games Inspector." Twilight grinned at the memory.
"Right. So this time around, you guys are free to relax and enjoy everything our kingdom has to offer, and tonight we're throwing a big celebration in honor of everything you and your friends have done for us!"
"Sounds great," Twilight replied.
"Darn tootin', can't wait!" Applejack said.
***
Twilight rummaged through her saddlebag. "Let's see..." She had just gotten settled into her usual guest room in the Crystal Palace, and had decided to use her remaining free time before the celebration to continue working on her addendum to the Elements of Harmony reference guide.
"I'm almost positive that I packed it." She sighed as she looked through the contents of her bag for a third time and found no trace of the addendum.
"Could I really have forgotten it?" she thought. "For that matter, the book I had brought with me seems to be gone as well. Strange."
"Twilight!" Applejack shouted, opening the door. "Everypony's here, the party's starting!"
"Excellent! I can't wait to see our friends!" Twilight trotted after Applejack. "I'll search for my things later," she thought, closing the door behind her.
***
After putting several corridors between Twilight's room and themselves, Applejack and Twilight arrived in the grand dining hall. The room was sculpted from marble with large archways that provided a view of the horizon outside, but that wasn't what got Twilight's attention.
Happy birthday, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash shouted in unison, posing beneath a large banner that said the same. Shining Armor, Cadence, and the Princesses, Celestia and Luna applauded.
Applejack threw a foreleg around Twilight's neck. "Surprised ya, didn't we?!"
Twilight tilted her head and raised her brow. "It's... my birthday?"
"Well duh, of course it is!" Pinkie shouted, skipping toward them. "Don't tell me you forgot your own birthday!"
"I'm not surprised," Spike said, wearing a party-hat. "Twilight would forget her mane if washing it wasn't written down on at least one checklist."
Twilight blushed. "I guess with everything else going on, I did kinda forget."
"Enough talk, let's PARTY!" Pinkie shouted. Everyone in the room cheered and the festivities commenced.
***
Difficult as it was to do, Twilight finally tore herself away from the wonderful celebration to search for a restroom, having had her fill of apple cider. The party, up to that point, had been filled with dancing, singing, a variety of games, and even a rather elaborate fireworks show that lit up the night sky and filled the entire horizon outside of the dining hall. More than anything, she had been glad to spend the evening with her friends and family, the ponies that she loved most.
"Hmm..." Twilight stopped in front of a closed door. "Maybe there's a bathroom in here."
"Twilight!" a voice called out, causing the unicorn to turn away from the door.
"Fluttershy? Is something wrong?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy glanced nervously to the side. "Well, it's just that you looked like you were about to open that door."
Twilight raised a brow and smiled. "I'm just looking for the little filly's room.".
Fluttershy's eyes darted from left to right. "I know, but you've never been in there before, and you shouldn't open doors to rooms without asking permission. You know... when it isn't your own house."
Twilight frowned. "How do you know I've never been in here before?" Without waiting for a response, she turned the knob with her for hoof.
"No!" Fluttershy shouted as the door swung open. Twilight gasped. Through the doorway, there was nothing. No floor, no walls, no ceiling. An endless, dark void. Fluttershy nudged her aside and hurriedly shut the door.
"Oh, what did I tell you?!" she said, reciprocating Twilight's frown.
"I don't understand..." Twilight fell into a sitting position. "What was that?! What were we just looking at?!"
"What do you mean, darling?" Rarity asked. Twilight hadn't even noticed her approach.
Twilight reached for the handle again. "This door!" This time, Fluttershy remained silent. "Look inside!" She flung the door open and gasped again.
"Well now," Rarity said, peering through the doorway next to a stunned Twilight, "the room is rather bare, but I see nothing particularly out of the ordinary." Sure enough, the second time that Twilight opened the door, the sight that greeted them was a small, unfurnished, unpainted room.
"This isn't right..." Twilight's breathing accelerated.
"Whadaya mean, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, joining the three of them, with Rainbow Dash and a bouncing Pinkie Pie behind her.
"This room!" Twilight pointed into the chamber. "There was nothing there a second ago!"
Pinkie Pie let out a light giggle. "There's nothing in there now, silly."
"No! I mean there was just... emptiness," Twilight replied.
Rarity gestured toward the barren room and rolled her eyes. "It's still empty. Are you feeling alright?"
"The train..." Twilight stared, wide-eyed, into the empty room. "We arrived here way too early. And my books are gone. And all of you being here? That makes no sense! I know for a fact that you all had other things going on today!"
"Well sure." Applejack nodded. "But we dropped everything to come and celebrate your birthday, Twi!"
"Yeah, Twilight," Pinkie exclaimed, embracing her friend, "we all love you!"
Twilight wriggled free of Pinkie's grasp and backed away. "I wouldn't forget my own birthday!"
Fluttershy tilted her head. "So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying..." Twilight took a small step back. "I'm saying I don't think any of this is real!" Her friends all looked to one another. They burst out laughing.
"Oh Twi," Applejack said, shaking her head, "that's some imagination ya got!"
"Yeah, quit overthinking things, egghead," Rainbow Dash said.
"Especially since we've still got more partying to do!" Pinkie threw a cluster of streamers into the air.
"No, I need some time to think," Twilight replied.
"Oh, but we insist!" Rarity replied as all five ponies began to approach her.
Fluttershy was frowning. "Pinkie worked really hard on the decorations, they'll go to waste if you don't come back with us!"
Twilight raised her voice. "Stay back, I mean it!" Suddenly, Twilight's vision blurred and for a brief moment, she found herself reclined in a chair, a glass dome above her head. She saw the hallway again, with her concerned friends staring at her.
"What... what was that?"
It happened again. She returned to the chair, saw the dome, but this time, she heard a voice...
"Begin Phase One!"
Twilight was unable to speak. Again, she stood in the hallway.
Twilight had broken into a cold sweat. Her complexion paled. Again the hallway and her friends melted away, and she was in the chair, her vision much clearer this time. She attempted to move, but to no avail. Her eyes wandered down. That was when she realized that her hooves were not her own...
She gasped as she saw a pair of strange, fleshy appendages, similar to Spike's claws, but softer. They were attached to her wrists and strapped to armrests. They were hers, but not hers. Through the glass, she could see a room constructed of metal. An elevated platform was above her, upon which stood five blurry figures wearing white coats.
"What is the meaning of this?!" she shouted, although it was not her own voice. Indeed, it was not even her that was shouting, though she felt its rumble in her throat. It was a man's voice.
"Begin Phase One!"
"Are you people insane?!" the voice shouted from the mouth that Twilight perceived as her own. "The compound— my compound is unstable! It isn't ready for testing, and even if it were, I did not volunteer! We don't know what the side-effects could—"
A voice beyond the glass interrupted him, carrying a smugness that made Twilight feel nauseas. "We all have to make sacrifices, doctor."
"I know my rights!" the voice replied, its hands and legs now struggling. "I didn't consent to this! I demand that you release me this instant!"
"Begin Phase One!" the voice said. The dome began to fill with some sort of gray cloud. It was so thick that the dome and everything beyond it vanished before her eyes.
"No!" the voice screamed, thrashing in his restraints.
"Please, I'm begging you! I have a family! Let me go!" As Twilight's nostrils were filled with the thick cloud, she found herself unable to breathe. A sharp pain stabbed through the back of her head. At that moment, everything went dark...
Twilight inhaled deeply, suddenly finding herself able to breathe again. As she felt the blood rushing to her head, she realized that wherever she was now, she was upside-down. Her eyes began to adjust, but the room was not completely dark. It was dimly lit by several green glows. As Twilight's vision focused, she noted that they were pods, and that they each contained a living creature.
Some had the outline of ponies, others did not. The row directly in front of her extended for as far as her peripherals could see in both directions. She recognized them as being the same type of pods Princess Celestia had been imprisoned in by Queen Chrysalis a year before. The pony in the pod directly before her, she recognized.
"Applejack!" She struggled a bit, realizing that not only could she not move her head, but the rest of her body was restrained as well. She was in a pod, herself, and the damp, foul-smelling air conveyed to her that only her face was currently exposed. Her pulse quickened, and her breathing became erratic as she felt as though something was pushing her from behind without touching her.
"Are you awake?" a low, throaty voice asked. It came from behind her, but it echoed both away from and toward her, from every direction.
"What?!" Twilight gasped, her eyes jolting in every direction as she tried to perceive the source.
"Where..." the voice said. Twilight bit her lower lip. "Where..." it repeated. Whatever it was, it was beside her now.
"Where?!" A pair of glowing eyes darted in front of Twilight's face, a monstrous jaw visible beneath them.
"Where what?!" Twilight screamed, squeezing her eyes shut. She was compelled to open them again.
"Where are the Elements of Harmony?!" the strange creature bellowed, its lower jaw swinging so violently as it spoke that it looked as though it might dislocate itself. Twilight felt her skin contract against the bones in her face. Even those began to ache. She shut her eyes again, but once again found she couldn't keep them closed. She couldn't take her eyes away from the thing, no matter how much she told herself she wanted to.
She exhaled. "I see."
The creature narrowed its gaze. "You see?"
"I feel like I want to answer you," Twilight explained, a small bit of force returning to her voice. She took a deep breath and gulped before continuing.
"There's something in the air, something that must be lowering my inhibitions. It's making me feel a strange sort of familiarity with you. Fear, as well. I know myself well enough to know that this is not a normal reaction."
The creature stepped back.
"And the feeling is diminishing now that you've moved away, confirming my hypothesis. I suspect that your body is emitting some sort of pheromone. I'm thinking that if I spent enough time around you, and I hadn't figured out what was happening, eventually I'd wind up agreeing with every word you say."
The creature tilted its head and straightened its posture.
"What's more," Twilight continued, "this pressure I'm feeling from you? I recognize it as unstable magical energy. I suspect that while your body is attuned to the properties of magic, you lack the ability to use it in any focused or constructive way, the end result being the destructive force that you can emit." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What are you, exactly? I've never seen anything like you before."
The creature grinned. "Well now." Its voice was more soft-spoken. "Twilight Sparkle. I see that your reputation was not exaggerated in the least. That you were able to deduce all of that in such a short amount of time? You truly are a prodigy."
"It's how I cope." Twilight reciprocated the grin. "Whenever I find myself in an unfamiliar situation, my first instinct is always to analyze it."
"Mine, too," it said. "And for the record, everything you've hypothesized about me is true."
"I also remember the abduction," Twilight said. "I've been imprisoned by the changelings, haven't I?"
The man nodded. "Correct again."
"So I repeat my previous question: what are you? Do you have a name?"
"Do I have a name?" the creature replied, turning his back on Twilight Sparkle and running a long claw across the surface of Applejack's pod. "I suppose you've impressed me enough to earn a more polite introduction." He looked toward her over his shoulder. "My name is Delacroix. I'm sorry to have awakened you from what I can only assume was a dream far more pleasant than my company, but I need you to answer my question."
"Delacroix..." Twilight said. "Since you're asking about the Elements, I'm assuming you had something to do with Applejack's and my kidnapping."
"And the other four, yes," Delacroix said.
"Other four?" Twilight's eyes grew wide. "The rest of my friends! Where are they?!"
"Relax." Delacroix turned away from her again. "Your friends are unharmed. That was the condition upon which Chrysalis agreed to lend me her power. She's demanded the opportunity to eventually feed on all of you." He gently patted Applejack's pod.
"So you're using her? For what?" Twilight asked, baring her teeth.
"Nothing that concerns you." Delacroix shook his head. "You've been removed from the final decision."
"An invasion..." Twilight gasped, the realization dawning on her. "You removed us from Equestria so that we couldn't use the Elements of Harmony to stop a changeling invasion!"
"You continue to impress me," Delacroix replied, shooting her another grin. "You haven't figured out everything, but even so, I almost regret that you were eliminated before you knew what was really at stake. I wonder if you could have stopped it..."
"So why do you need the Elements of Harmony themselves? Are you really that paranoid about them being used against you?"
"No." Delacroix laughed slightly. "I've felt the brunt of the Elements of Harmony once before, and can never be harmed by them again. The six of you were removed so that your Elements would not harm my allies, and as for the objects themselves? I need them for research."
"Research?" Twilight said. "And are you suggesting that you're immune to the Elements of Harmony?"
"Yes," Delacroix replied. "I... adapt well to external threats."
"Including magic..." Twilight said as Delacroix nodded. "What could you possibly be?"
"There's no word for it." Delacroix shook his head. "And I've never bothered to come up with one on my own."
"And you're fine with me knowing all of this?" Twilight asked.
"Even if it looked like you were going anywhere..." Delacroix chuckled. "I would welcome the additional variable that your intellect would represent."
"And I guess that by now, you know I won't be answering your question," Twilight said.
Delacroix cocked his head. "No?"
"I can resist the effects of your pheromones now that I know what they are, and I know you can't harm me, because your ally considers me to be an indispensable resource," Twilight explained.
"All true." Delacroix shrugged. "Very well, I will find another way." He turned his back to Twilight. "Looks like your pod is repairing itself, anyway." Twilight gasped as she realized that some sort of gel was beginning to creep over her face. Delacroix walked away.
"I saw it!" Twilight shouted. Delacroix stopped. "I saw the dome! I saw the white coats! It was a laboratory, wasn't it? What was all of that?!"
"Hmm, guess the pod dumped you into my memory while I was ripping it open." Delacroix shrugged his shoulders again. "I've enjoyed our conversation, Twilight Sparkle." He gave her a small wave as the pod swallowed her face, muffling her plea of "Wait!", and she found herself standing in the corridor again, the images of her five friends before her.
Applejack was the first to speak, though she had no accent. "I suppose there's no point in lying to you any longer."
***
"All good?" Clarion Call asked as Delacroix stepped out of one of the many openings in the Changeling hive, and onto the dry, cracked dirt landscape that surrounded it. The Hive sat in the center of a small island, with the circumference of a large castle, but a height far greater than any building.
Delacroix shook his head. "She wouldn't tell me anything."
"Whoa," Clarion gasped, eyes wide, "I never thought the day would come that a mare would be able to resist your abominable charm!"
"She's certainly unique, that one," Delacroix replied.
"So what now? Did you say 'hi' to Queenie for me?" Clarion smirked.
"I doubt she'll be pleased that I interrogated her food without permission, and I have no interest in explaining myself to her. Take me to J'aggerdov's palace, then resume your search for the Alicorn Amulet." Delacroix stepped closer to Clarion.
Clarion nodded. "You got it, boss!" His horn lit up and they vanished.