//------------------------------// // 3: Reflections // Story: Mirrors // by Talguy21 //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Reflections We reached my clinic after nightfall. I had set Entropy up on the couch in my waiting room. That done, I headed through my back room into my bedroom, where I fell into vague, peaceful dreams. I woke to silver moonlight in my eyes. I heard a muffled thunk on what I'd assume was my front door. Who would knock this late, for Celestia's sake? I slowly got up and shuffled into the front room. The knock sounded again, louder this time. Entropy was stirring within the mess of covers he was tangled in. I open the door to two white pegasus stallions in golden plate armor. Royal guards. I locked eyes with the left-hoof guard first. "Good evening, sirs. What can I do for you tonight?" I ask, drowsiness still evident despite my best efforts. "Miss Bright Dawn?" The guard I was looking at rumbled, in a deep monotone. "That's me." I mutter. The right stallion smirked. Just then I felt that poking in the back of my head again. Royal guards are strictly disciplined, so that one must be a changeling. Figures. The changeling spoke next. "We have a warrant to search your establishment, Ms. Dawn." He turned to his ally. "Stoic, guard the exit." The guard nodded and assumed a position to block the door while his 'colleague' stepped inside. The fake turned and locked eyes with his counterpart, and in a flash of green, the pony looked on with little else but a glazed over expression. With that, the door was promptly slammed in his face. The remaining stallion turned to me with a predatory grin. "Well, well. You have some nerve, Scape, betraying your kind to live with prey. Her highness wants you, dead or otherwise." His voice had changed, no longer the standard monotone of a guard, but a more meticulous speech, with sharper emphasis. A speech pattern I easily recognized. "Is that you, Pincer?" I snarl, baring my fangs as I shapeshift back. I signal with a flick of my tail to Entropy, who takes the hint and convincingly cowers beneath his covers. "Is this any way to treat your friend, you sorry excuse for a broodmate?" While returning to changeling form, I cast my first ploy. I step back, leaving a duplicate of myself, using the flames of my transformation to mask the invisibility spell I also cast. "No-one defies the queen!" He roared, releasing his own spell, revealing an infiltrator just like myself, but with a tattered head frill. His fangs glistened menacingly in the low light. "And no-one in my cluster that is worth my time gets away with it!" With that, he lunged at my copy, sailing straight through it and crashing to the floor. I stepped to the side and bucked him in the head. I then jumped back and began discharging flashes of fierce green fire from my horn, connecting with the left side of his face. He struggled for a moment, hissing as the flames seared him, but he managed to put up a shield against my onslaught. He then buzzed his wings and flew at me with blinding speed. He tackled me to the floor and began pummeling me with his forehooves. Each blow hurt quite a bit, and it was adding up. All of a sudden, a resounding crack sounded through the room. Pincer yelped in pain and fell limp, and I threw him aside. I then noticed Entropy standing over me, still disguised, with a spattering of green blood on his hoof. He winked at me, and I nod my thanks before I quickly reapply my guise. Not a second later, the door crashed open and the other guard ran in. He looked a few pegs less than amused. "You are under arrest for assaulting-" He started, "An attempted assassin impersonating an officer of the royal guard?" Entropy cut in, gesturing toward the unconscious Pincer. "This changeling incapacitated you and attacked Ms. Dawn with admitted intent to kill. We acted not only in self-defense, but also to apprehend a changeling spy in the guard." The guard stopped in his tracks and blinked a couple times before beginning to fumble about in his armor. He retrieved a magic inhibitor and hoofcuffs. After applying the instruments of justice to the changeling, he turned to us. "I'm sorry, sir and ma'am, for disturbing you tonight. he brought me here under false precedent. Good night." He slung Pincer over his back unceremoniously and headed off into the night. I ease the door shut behind him, and lock my eyes with Entropy. "They know we're here."