Cherry landed just outside the house of Red Velvet, the seemingly imposing fortress that the mad pony made his home while he was in Canterlot. Right now the stallion was taking the other stallion he had kidnapped, she believed he did anyway, to someplace where he could execute him without having to worry about somepony intruding on them. So it gave her the time to fly to Canterlot and search his house while he was away, so she didn't have to worry about the stallion returning so soon.
The house itself was surrounded by a small magical barrier that Cherry suspected was to prevent intruders from breaking in and discovering Red's secrets. Cherry wasn't without allies, considering that she was now a part of the Nexus, in a small way at the moment, she could call on some highly skilled magicians to breach something like this. She only hoped that Fury would be willing to send her some help, otherwise she was on her own when she decided to breach the barrier.
"Recruit Wild Cherry," a voice to her left said, a female unicorn appearing out of thin air right next to her, "Director Fury received a warning that there was somepony coming into Canterlot and sent me along to find out who or what it was. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was our newest recruit. I take it you discovered something about the target?"
"Y...yes I did." Cherry wasn't an easy changeling to sneak up on, but her magic skills were lacking in some aspects if one pony could actually sneak up on her. "I tracked him to a hut on the edge of the Everfree Forest, but when he entered the place he suddenly disappeared into thin air. He took his target, one Filthy Rich if my memory serves me, with him to wherever his hideout is located. I decided that, since I cannot follow him to wherever he disappeared to, I should raid his house and search for some clues as to who his employer is or why he's doing this."
"And you need some help to dispel his protective barrier." the mare continued, studying the barrier in interest, "I was ordered to assist you in any manner you or I deem fit while you hunt the monster behind these attacks down. So, want to tear down this barrier?"
"I would love to miss...?" Cherry asked, trying to understand who her new partner was.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself," the mare blushed, as if she was ashamed of forgetting to introduce herself, "My name is Written Quill, Cadet of the Nexus, and personal errand pony for the Director."
"Errand Pony?" Cherry asked, the notion of a pony running normal errands for the fierce but kind Director Fury confusing her, "That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would the Director need an errand pony?"
"Maybe I wasn't clear on my duties," Written continued, still staring down the barrier as if she was thinking on which spell to use, "I do some of the things that the Director wouldn't normally do, like creep around the unsuspecting neighborhood and knock some thugs out before they did harm to Princess Celestia's daytime rule."
"So basically you snuff out those who oppose your pretty princess," Cherry snapped, wondering if it was the best move to insult the princess that the Nexus served in the shadows.
"She's your 'pretty princess' too you know," Written replied, chuckling as Cherry faced the other direction, "and in a sense I do 'snuff out' those who oppose Princess Celestia. Now, if we could return to the matter at hoof, I believe we have a barrier that needs to be eradicated."
Cherry looked back in time to see Written's horn light up and the barrier shimmed in the night light before cracking wide open in front of them. Somehow the unicorn had pierced the shield of what Cherry believed to be the arch mage of Celestia's schools and councils, which meant that something was wrong. Cherry was beginning to believe she had underestimated the stallion she had hunted for a single day and had briefly lost.
"An interesting spell," Written commented, tilting her head to the side as the two advanced into the courtyard of Red's house, "It seems that while Red is an experienced user of the arcane arts he is arrogant that the protection of such a barrier is enough to protect him. Now, let's see what our prey has to hide from us and the Nexus."
The door to Red's house was also magically locked, but while the barrier went down within ten minutes the door was unlocked in a minute. Red was definitely not thinking straight if they could pass by two of his barriers under fifteen minutes, which would have given the stallion time to prepare for their arrival if he had been home. But Red wasn't home, giving Written and Cherry the opportunity to see what he had stashed away.
"So what do Changelings do when they infiltrate an enemies lair?" Written asked, locking the door behind them with a charm in case another high level unicorn noticed the breach and came to investigate.
Cherry sighed and assumed her natural form, shaking her wings a bit before she lit the room with a light green that most changelings used.
"We usually light the area like so," Cherry replied, opening a door to find a study room, "If we are presented with a locked door we simply pull out our enchanted lockpicks and open the door the old fashioned way an ordinary thief would open the door. Once in a room we take a quick inventory of what lies where so that way we can freely trash the room while the ponies are gone and restore it to normal as if nopony had been there in a hour or two.
Naturally we Changelings like to tear into whatever we can get our teeth and hooves on, such as knocking the books off the shelves or the items out of the cabinets. Sometimes, if the scout is desperately hungry, they will eat something, anything really, that will fill them just a bit to prevent them from collapsing on the job. Some fighters like to copy pictures of the family so they can track them down later on and beat the daylights out of them while others decide to present them to the Queen."
"So in essence you could learn who to replace by breaking into a house," Written commented, opening a desk to find some writing tools and some paper, "Which families you could invade and where they are stationed in the city or town. And Chrysalis makes the decisions on who does the swapping?"
"She is the Queen after all," Cherry sourly replied, turning over a bunch of books before returning them to normal, "She blackmailed me into coming back to the hive after I had been away for so long and now I find out that Bon Bon, my sister, has been abducted and murdered by this cowardly stallion. I am going to end Red's life if he is the one responsible for her death."
Written knew some of Cherry's past, the bits and pieces she managed to gleam from the profile that Director Fury had on all the possible recruits that could join the Nexus. She had been surprised to learn that he considered a Changeling, one that had been there in Canterlot during the invasion, as a new recruit. She, along with the other members of the Nexus, never doubted the orders or wishes of the Director, as strange as some of them seemed to be. But when dealing with such a strange foe and an unknown enemy picking off ponies one by one Written guessed that seeking help from one's own enemy might be the wisest course of action.
Besides, Cherry was more likeable then her Changeling brothers and sisters that insisted on making every other pony a love slave to the hive. She was friendly and was quite easy to amaze, but there was the venom she held towards Queen Chrysalis after so many years of being apart from her sister and best friend. Chrysalis had ruined her life, in a way, and now she was trying to piece what little of it was left thanks to the murderous pony the Nexus was dealing with. In a sense Cherry would have every right to do whatever she wanted to Red when this was said and done, as long as they got the traitor she suspected that Director fury wouldn't mind letting her vent her anger.
Her silent alarm charm went off in her head and she tackled Cherry to the ground, pinning her behind the old sofa that sat in the corner of the study.
"Have you..." Cherry began before her mouth was slammed shut and their lights were put out in a heart beat.
"Shh...we have company." Written quickly explained, which let Cherry know it was time to be stealthy and see who was following them.
They peered around the corner and watched the darkness of the hallway as the shadow of a pony appeared on the wall by the front door. They had accidentally left the door to the study open, so if it was Red returning home then they knew they were going to get caught before long. The shadow told them more about they're mystery guest, but all they learned was that the pony was a normal pony with a unicorn's horn. Then, just as the shadow grew closer to the open door Cherry caught the glimpse of the one pair she had hoped she would never have to see again.
Sticking her head through the doorway, with her bow drawn and a arrow readied for firing, was none other than the pony who had shot her in the side a few days ago; Lady Artemis.
The mare walked into the study, her eyes scanning the room as if she was searching for something, or somepony for that matter, that didn't belong. She noticed the tossed around papers left on the ground, a sure tell tale sign that the room had been searched already, and a frown adorned her face. The arrow glowed for a few seconds before she returned it to her quiver and swung the bow across her back, but her eyes never left the room.
Cherry watched the black cloaked mare, her still not fully healed wound aching as she remembered the arrow piercing her chitin armor with ease. Somehow Lady Artemis was in league with the rebellious Red Velvet, that much Cherry could definitely see, but there was something else. Red was skilled in magic, but they had breached his barriers with ease as if he expected somepony to try invading his privacy at some point. His partner, if he had one, was likely Lady Artemis, somepony who had money, resources, and possibly a hidden agenda of her own.
Minutes passed as Lady Artemis eventually moved on to what Cherry assumed was Red's kitchen, leaving the two mares alone at last. Cherry heard the noise of hooves hitting the floorboards until she could hear nothing else, but even the silence did nothing to ease the feeling that they weren't alone. Written looked like she was going to get up and see if their unexpected guest was still there, but Cherry shook her head and held her down.
"Are you insane?" Cherry whispered, keeping her eyes on the doorway, "Just because she left doesn't mean that we can be completely sure that we are in the clear yet."
"So then what do we do?" Written quietly asked, silently drawing a dagger from her belt.
"Simple," Cherry answered, recalling the layout of the study room with ease, "There are two doors to this area; the one we entered from and the one across the room from us. If Lady Artemis is waiting for us to come out of this room I expect her to be aiming for the open door, waiting for one of us to foolishly step out into the open. So we will silently walk to the other door, open it up silently, and sneak out into the hallway that she can't see so we can get away fast."
"There's supposed to be a door across from the study," Written told her, "It leads to the basement, so if there is anything that could incriminate Red Velvet in the murders it would be in the one place nopony would think to look."
"We will move in three...two...one...now."
Cherry sneaked around the couch to the second door and applied the lockpicks to the keyhole, beckoning to Written to keep a close eye on the opened door. She unlocked the door with ease and silently opened it, sticking her head out to see if the coast was clear and finding that there was nothing around them. She silently walked over to the basement door and began to pick the lock, allowing her partner to keep watch while she...opened the door without even using her picks?
"Prepare yourself," Cherry whispered, her horn barely lighting up in case the enemy was behind the door, "if the door is unlocked then that means that our guest unlocked it and forgot to lock it when she descended the stairs."
To their surprise there was nopony on the other side of the door, only the stairs that lead them down to the well kept basement. The entire area had been cleaned, scrubbed of any dirt and dust, while the tools and other pieces of gear were locked in place. To their continued surprise there stood a huge stone structure resting against the back end of the basement, energy rolling around it before disappearing into the symbols.
"I don't know where this...gateway...leads, but it can't be anywhere good," Written commented, eying the portal with caution, "I am going to call in Director Fury and see if we can get some backup here. If this leads to where Red keeps his victims then there might be a chance that we could save everypony he's taken over the last few weeks."
"Go on then," Cherry said, facing the gateway, "I'll go through and see what I can find out about the layout so we can do this quickly. Get us some backup."
Cherry and Written never heard the hoofsteps behind them as something whacked Written in the back of the head, knocking her out as Cherry looked back. She stared into Lady Artemis' eyes again before something hit her in her wound and the pain surged through her body, knocking her out in seconds. Lady Artemis smiled; she had some new targets that she wasn't expecting to find.
Red was going to be very pleased.