The walk back to Twilight’s library was the longest she’d ever taken. Of course, distance had not changed in the slightest; it was only her mind that slowed the walk down for her. Celestia had not said a word throughout the entire trip, and she showed no signs of breaking that. She knew that Rainbow Dash was a near and dear friend to Twilight, and she could sense just how much her heart was breaking at the fact that Chrysalis had captured Dash, and neither of them did anything about it.
“I could have stopped it!” Twilight finally angrily said aloud, breaking the calm stillness of the night, which up until that point had only been punctuated by the near-silent whispers of their hoof-falls. “I should have been able to stop her from taking Dash, but… I froze up. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything…”
“And why was that?” Celestia asked.
It was a question that Twilight had asked herself more than a few times on the road back to the library, and she had long since answered that question for herself. “I didn’t want Dash to get hurt. Nopony truly knows what Chrysalis is capable of… I couldn’t risk anything happening to her.”
Celestia nodded. “It was the wisest course of action, in my humble opinion. But may I ask a question of you?” When Twilight reticently nodded, she continued: “Why are we going to your library? If you are really so concerned about your friend’s condition, then why not just go after her?”
“Because I don’t know where she is.” She had thought about this as well. “Neither of us have any idea where Chrysalis took her. She could be all the way back in the Changeling Nation already, or she could be right next to us. We have no idea. And anything rash done on our part will do nothing but endanger her further. That’s why we’re going to the library, Princess. You taught me that yourself. ‘Before one goes into any situation, they need to have the most powerful weapon in the world at their hooves: knowledge. If one does not know what they are heading into, they are sure to fall, no matter what else they may think or know’.”
Celestia was taken aback by this. She had told Twilight that before, but it was only one time, and a very long time ago at that. She had no idea that her words had been seared so brightly into her heart, that she would remember them now, so far in the future. Then again… Twilight always had viewed her as akin to a mother-figure in her life, seeing as she spent so much time away from her real parents while being Celestia’s student.
They lapsed once again into silence, and remained that way until they arrived at the library. Spike had long since gone back to sleep in Twilight’s bookbag, and Twilight gently set it down at the entrance to the library. After closing the door, she used a spell she’d learned to seal the door from anypony coming in, whom she did not directly want to enter.
“I recognize that spell,” Celestia said with a smile after Twilight turned to face her anew. “It was one of my own, one that I developed quite a long time ago. I had not realized that you had learned it for yourself.”
Twilight blushed a bit at the direct compliment. “Well… I came across it in one of my books, when I was doing a bit of reorganizing a few days ago. It surprised me how easily mastery of it came to me.”
“All that means, Twilight, is that you are turning into the unicorn that everypony has seen from the very beginning that you would become. I would be willing to bet that someday soon, you will be as good at the craft as I am.” Twilight smiled even brighter still, but a moment later, a dark pallor came over her face.
“If I’m so good at what I do, then how did I not see what was coming?” She walked over to where a stack of books lay on her desk. “And how did I not stop Chrysalis from taking her?”
Celestia walked over to where she was. “I cannot answer that question for you, Twilight. That is something that you must decide for yourself in time. But until that day comes, we have a mission, do we not?”
Twilight nodded, steeling her resolve. “I need your help, Princess.” She levitated Spike out of her bag and into his downstairs bed, then brought the bag over to her and began filling it with some of the books from the desk. “I need you to get me into the Royal Archives in the castle.”
“Why do you want me to do that?” Celestia asked. “It is not a matter of me not being able to, mind you; as ruler of all Equestria, I can go wherever in my own castle that I please. I just do not see the point of it.”
Once Twilight had loaded the bag up with her books, she turned and looked Celestia straight in the eyes. “Here’s what I’m thinking, Princess. The last time these books were touched by somepony else besides me and Spike, a book was taken by someone whom I thought was you. Obviously, it wasn’t you who took the book-”
“Oh, you mean the book about the alicorn blood-lines? Of course that was me who took it. Who else could it be?”
“Why would you need to borrow that book from my library, though? I would assume that being as vast as it is, the Royal Archives would most assuredly have a copy of that book on hand.”
Celestia smiled. “It does, and you are absolutely right. I could have gone and gotten that book at any time. I had my own motivations for coming and getting it from your library, though, the most prominent of which was simply a desire to see if you were safe or not. You see… I myself have been having dreams lately. Nothing on the level of what you have been experiencing, but they have been intensely personal nonetheless.” Before Twilight could ask the question she knew that she was going to ask, Celestia cut her off: “I do not wish to discuss them at this time, as I believe they are in no way relevant to this situation. Soon, though, we will have to sit down and talk about them, for I believe that they will become intensely relevant to our current problems sooner rather than later.” Twilight wanted to take it further, but the look on Celestia’s face said that the topic was closed, and so she held her tongue.
“And to ease your mind,” Celestia continued, smiling now, “I did return the book back to its original spot. I know how you like your orderliness in here.” Twilight craned her neck to look upwards, and sure enough it was back where it was supposed to be.
“I do not have a problem with taking you into the Royal Archives,” Celestia said, “if that is what you truly want. However… I do not know if what you want is able to be found there.”
“You know the information I seek, then? Or at least, what I seek?”
Celestia nodded. “I imparted a bit of this information to Rainbow Dash when she asked about you as we met a while back. Looking back on this, it may not have been the best decision to make, as in the end it may have been the reason why Chrysalis chose to go after Rainbow Dash first.”
Twilight was momentarily confused, but the light dawned on her. “Wait… do you mean that thing that Dash told me? About Chrysalis and Cadance being related?”
Celestia nodded. “Not even Cadance knows about that yet. She has her own reasons to harbor hatred towards the Changeling Queen, and I do not think she would even entertain the notions of her being blood-related to her captor. However, the signs do point towards it being more than a little bit likely.” She began to walk towards the door. “Are you coming?”
Twilight walked over to where Celestia was. “Of course I’m coming. I said I was, didn’t I?” After a moment, she walked over and opened the door as a gesture of respect to the Princess. “But something really confuses me about this.”
After the two were out the door and Twilight had locked it back up, Celestia replied to her: “What about it does not make sense to you?”
Twilight answered as they set out: “It’s their looks, to be frank. Sure, Chrysalis and the Changelings have physical features that are somewhat similar to those of regular ponies, but that’s about where the similarities end. If they truly are related, then what in Equestria caused such changes to come about? Or were they inflicted upon herself?”
“Why would she do that, though?” Celestia queried. “Would it not make sense that if she craves the purest form of love and affection, that she would make herself look as much like the other ponies as possible, in order to maximize her potential to gain that love and affection?”
Twilight was silent for a moment; the thought may have crossed her mind sometime in the past, but if it had, she hadn’t given it enough thought as to be able to answer it immediately. After a few minutes, though, she had come up with what she thought was a feasible possibility. “Maybe it’s because of the fact that she couldn’t get the love she wanted. She might have thought that if her pony-kin would not see her as what she was, but instead as a monster… then maybe she should just become a monster in whole.” It was Celestia’s turn to be silent, as this was a notion that had not even crossed her mind.
Celestia was about to respond, when she suddenly stopped. Twilight almost kept going without her, but she held a hoof up to stop her. Twilight came to a halt and before she could ask why, Celestia wordlessly pointed ahead of them, where a Changeling stood in their path. Immediately, Twilight dropped her book-bag and readied her magic, purple sparks coming off her horn.
“What do you want?” Twilight snarled.
The Changeling advanced towards them, slowly and non-menacingly. “For starters,” echoed a voice in their heads, “I would very much appreciate it if you would not call my Queen a ‘monster.’ That sentiment is so very far from the true reality of the situation.” The voice was unlike anything either had ever heard before; it had a tonal clarity and a rich timbre unheard of amongst pony-kind.
Something clicked in Twilight’s mind, and she had no idea how she came to that conclusion. Nevertheless, she voiced it aloud: “Hey… You’re the Changeling that was with Chrysalis when she captured Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?”
It nodded. “Your skills of perception are just as keen as my Queen had told me, young one. It pleases me, to be honest. I would not like to have an unarmed opponent in a battle of wits.”
Twilight cocked her head. “A… battle of wits? What in Equestria do you mean?”
It smiled. “Quite simple, actually. In spite of what you might believe about our kind, we are not all mindless warmongers. Some prefer to simply talk things out, as opposed to resorting to more boorish tactics. I have been sent by my Queen as an emissary, so that maybe things can be resolved before the battle that she believes is inevitable comes upon us.”
Something struck Twilight as odd just then. “You speak so… properly. Why is that? And for that matter, since when are Changelings able to speak to begin with?”
“It is not exactly ‘speaking,’ what I am doing. Your kind would refer to it as ‘telepathy,’ and that is the closest word that I can come up with to describe it as well. As a species, we have no actual vocal cords, so we have had to adapt to what Nature has given us. And we have adapted quite well, if I do say so myself.”
Celestia spoke then: “You mentioned a battle that Chrysalis is preparing for. Who is she planning for this battle to be between?”
“Between herself and her enemy,” the Changeling replied. “The one who has vexed her so, these past weeks and months… Aimless drivel about a New World Order, and something about bringing her back to life. Mind you, I only know what my Queen has told me.”
Twilight and Celestia glanced warily at each other, and both could tell the other was thinking the same thing. “So this final battle… It’s supposed to be against Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon?”
The Changeling cocked his head, and it looked almost comical in nature. “Nightmare Moon? The evil spirit that once possessed the Ruler of the Night, the one you all call Princess Luna? No, I do not think she is whom my Queen was referring to. Then again, I have been wrong before.”
“Well,” Celestia put in, “regardless of who Chrysalis is wanting to wage war against, that still does not answer my most important question: why did you and your Queen pony-nap Rainbow Dash?”
The Changeling replied, his voice betraying a hint of weariness at the current topic of conversation: “Your friend will not be brought back to you harmed. She simply wanted her for informational purposes. She believes the one you call Rainbow Dash knows something that she does not, and she would be willing to do anything to get that information out of her.”
“What information is that?” Twilight asked.
“As I said, I do not know everything, but I have been told it has something to do with her lineage.” The light went on in Twilight’s head, and she snarled at it again.
“She kidnapped Rainbow Dash for that? To find out about herself and Cadance?”
The Changeling thought for a moment. “Cadance. That name rings a bell. I distinctly remember my Queen talking about her once. She spoke of her rather fondly, both her and the one you call Luna. It may be that that is why she has taken Rainbow Dash to her hive.”
Twilight’s eyes flashed white. “Her… hive?! Tell me where that is, now!”
“Why, so you can go retrieve her before the time is right? I am terribly sorry, Miss Sparkle, but I am afraid that I cannot let you do that.” Twilight reared up on her back hooves, readying a powerful magical spell, but Celestia once again stopped her before she could fire it off. The Changeling grinned a bit evilly. “You should listen to your master, Miss Sparkle. It would not be a good idea to attack me here. Not now.”
In spite of her rage, Twilight forced herself to look around, and when she did, she gasped, the light in her eyes slowly fading dim. All around them were thousand of Changelings, all of them staring down at Twilight and her teacher. They had a hungry look in their eyes, as though they were all considering the pair to be their next dinner - which, for all they knew, they were.
Twilight leaned closer to Celestia. “Wh-what do we do? We can’t fight them all…”
“I know,” Celestia whispered back. “We’ll just have to figure something out.”
The Changeling stepped forward, causing the two to redirect their attention back to him. “I am sincerely glad we have had this conversation, Miss Sparkle. I hope we can do this again sometime. For now, though, I must get back to the hive. My Queen is expecting us back soon. Until next time… Farewell.” It launched itself in the air, and as though on cue, the rest of the Changelings followed suit, soon disappearing into the distance.
Twilight looked at Celestia fearfully. “We don’t have much time to spare, do we?”
Celestia shook her head. “We need to get to the Royal Archives - and with a haste that I fear is past due…” The pair set off for the royal castle, walking for a brief moment before disappearing in a flash of bright light. As soon as they had teleported away, the air shimmered once again, revealing Chrysalis’ form.
She smiled. “You’re being very proactive, young Twilight… This is good. Maybe we will be able to hurry our plans along even more now.” With that, she faded away into the air, leaving no trace that she was ever there.
Rainbow’s eyes opened slowly. She didn’t sense any kind of bright light in the immediate vicinity, but she wanted to give her eyes a moment to adjust to her surroundings, which at the moment consisted of that medium’s exact opposite: There was no light at all, where she was.
As she tried to figure out where she was, she became aware of a viscous substance covering the floor. She tried to move her hoof, but it was rather hard; the ooze that covered the ground was very sticky, unlike anything Dash had ever felt before. After a moment, though, she managed to extricate her hoof from the melange.
“Wh-where am I?” she murmured, still trying to regain her mental wits about her. She felt tiny creatures nuzzling her from all around, but she still couldn’t see where she was or what they were yet. She was also aware of a feeling of being drained from all sides, as though something was sapping the very life-force out of her… or maybe something else.
Dash’s eyes flew open in a moment of epiphany. She looked down at the beings around her, able to see them now, and she was horrified at what she saw, which unfortunately was exactly what she thought it was. She was surrounded by hundreds of baby Changelings, all of them rustling in an attempt to get close to her.
“So it’s not my energy that’s being drained…” she murmured. “It’s my love…”
She could feel the air part next to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care at that point. Neither did she care when she felt a pair of hooves lift her up and take her across the room, accompanied by a buzzing sound that seemed to fill the room with its incessant drone.
“Now now,” a distant voice said, “we can’t have you going all the way down the rabbit hole just yet… I’ve still got a purpose for you.” Dash tried to hold onto what little consciousness she had remaining, but it eluded her one final time, and she slipped away into oblivion.