Dark Spectrum: Public Enemy

by Bootsy Slickmane


Chapter 11: Reflection

The five ponies (and Spike) made their way along the dirt road, taking in the damage throughout the city. They'd already seen some of it on their way to the library from the train station, but that was at night. Now that the sun was rising, everything could be seen in more detail. Long shadows were cast by the ruins that filled the town square, and the heavy contrast somehow made it seem even worse.

Twilight was at the front of the group, trotting along at a respectable pace. The others were all chatting behind her, but she wasn't paying much attention to them. She was focused on her mission: saving Ponyville from the changeling conspiracy. She was to deliver evidence to the troops that were coming into town, and aid them in any way she could.

She would have to reach the edge of town where they were going to land, first, but she was almost there. In fact, she could see the guards already. Unicorns in armor, pegasi in armor, and there was their captain. He'd be the one to-

Twilight gasped, a massive smile spreading across her face. "Shining Armor?!"

The guards all turned at the sound of her voice, bringing their spears up to point at the five ponies (and Spike). Their captain stepped out from the group, looking over at the unicorn that had called his name. "Twily?" he said in response, but he didn't move any closer.

"Uh, you two know each other?" Applejack asked with a furrowed brow.

"Maybe," one of the guards said. "We should scan her and the others to make sure, first."

"Noted," Shining said, and turned to Twilight. "I'm sorry, but we have to make sure it's really you. Please, stay where you are. This will just be a simple bio-scan spell."

Twilight nodded. She knew they had to be sure, just like she had back at her basement when she blasted both Rainbows with that last spell. Shining charged up and hit her with the spell. She closed her eyes as the gentle warmth washed over her. She knew all about bio-scan spells, though she hadn't practiced them much.

The spell ceased a moment later, and Shining said, "She's clean. Alright, now the rest of you." He fired the spell at each one of them, even Spike, before he signaled his guards to relax. "It's okay, they're not changelings."

"Honestly, darling, would we walk right up to a squad of royal guards if we were?" Rarity inquired with a frown.

"If you thought you could get away with it," Shining answered a moment before Twilight wrapped her forelegs around his neck.

"I've missed you so much," Twilight said into his fur as he hugged her back.

"I've missed you too, Twily. Are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

Twilight disconnected from Shining with a sheepish grin. "Oh, right." She turned to her friends. "This is Shining Armor, a captain of the Royal Guard and my big brother!"

"Your brother?!" the others collectively gasped.

"I, uh, never mentioned him before, did I?" The others shook their heads, and Twilight chuckled a little. "Well, um, here he is!"

"We've known you for months, and you didn't see fit to mention him even once?" Rarity chided.

"Well, he lives in Canterlot, like my parents... and he's been really busy with his job...." Twilight trailed off.

"We were just in Canterlot for four whole weeks, dear. And the night of the Gala before that. And now that you mention it, we've never met your parents, either."

"Listen, it's great to meet all of you, but we have a crisis on our hooves, girls," Shining interrupted. "My unit is surrounding the city as I speak, and we've already shut down the train station. Pretty soon, the city will be quarantined so that we can properly deal with this changeling problem."

"You're right," Twilight said with a nod. "What do we need to do?"

Shining pointed back toward the city. "You need to get back home and stay out of harm's way. Don't let anypony in, no matter how much you think they can be trusted, and stay safe."

Applejack scoffed. "You mean to tell me that we came all the way out here, haulin' this thing"—she dumped the unconscious changeling off her back and onto the grass—"just to get sent right back?" Shining Armor nodded. "Consarn it...."

Shining pointed at the changeling, and one of his guards began dragging it away.

Pinkie was vibrating in place, and looked fit to burst. Fluttershy asked softly, "Um, is something wrong?"

"No," Pinkie said, shuddering, "something's right! This means I get to throw Rainbow's Sorry-You-Missed-the-Train-and-Got-Humiliated-by-Monsters-and-Became-a-Supervillain Party even earlier!"

"Um, what did she just say?" Shining asked.

"Nothing!" Twilight quickly said. "But there is something we have to talk about before we go back into town. You see, it all started when we all went to Canterlot four weeks ago."

* * * *

Rainbow was sitting on her pillow quietly, waiting for the others to return, but she wasn't bored. She was too busy thinking to be bored. In her mind, she went over everything the changelings had said, reviewing the facts and how it all fit together with what she'd known before. Or what she'd thought she'd known.

Eventually, Rainbow glanced around the room and noticed that the remaining changeling was staring at her. It had been so quiet that she'd forgotten it was even there. She looked away, commenting, "You seem awfully calm for a captured monster."

"As my teammate said, we don't feel emotions like ponies do. I've also always had exceptional self-control, even for a changeling. My teammate was more... what's the word?" The changeling paused to consider before continuing, "Passionate, I suppose. It was more passionate about our mission than I was. I suppose that's why it broke character to attack you at the train station. All five of my teammates had been frustrated by your actions over the last week."

"How can you be sure they- oh, right, the mind linking thingy."

The changeling nodded. "It is a very useful ability. It worked quite well in coordinating the runaround they gave you when you chased after Mare Do Well."

Something suddenly occurred to Rainbow, prompting her to ask, "Is Twilight's truth spell still active?"

"No. It left when she did."

"Then how do I know you're not lying?"

"How could I lie about it being active if it still is?" The creature asked.

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin, thinking about that for a few seconds. Then she shrugged and let it go. Neither of them spoke for what felt like a long time.

Eventually, the changeling broke the silence. "You're lucky, you know."

"Huh?" Rainbow turned to the creature again.

"Your friends," it said, gesturing with its head toward the stairs. "You're lucky to have them. They really love you, you know. We changelings feed on love, and I can tell they've got a whole lot of it for you. Even after everything you did, they're still sticking to you. That's pretty amazing, in my book. We changelings don't really make friends, but we understand the idea. We have to understand a lot about you ponies, the reason for which should be obvious by now."

Rainbow just nodded. The things it was saying weren't making her feel any better. The creature was silent for another few minutes before suddenly saying, "So, what happens now?"

"We stop you monsters from taking over Ponyville, like Twilight said."

The changeling kept staring at her. "I meant what happens to me, specifically. It's strange, but I've found that I don't care quite as much about our queen's plans when I'm away from the hive and away from her."

Rainbow ignored the comment, even though she also found it a little strange. "Well, you'll probably be arrested and taken to the dungeons in Canterlot."

"Hmm.... Not what I would do, but I'm no pony."

Rainbow huffed. "Let me guess: if you had me captured you would show me mercy and let me go, right? Well, that's not gonna happen, buddy."

The changeling shook its head. "No, we'd drain you of your love and then kill you." Rainbow didn't have a comeback for that one, and the changeling continued, "In fact, they'll probably kill me and my remaining teammate if we go back to the hive, as we'll be considered responsible for our plan failing since we told you all about it."

"Hey, wait, that's not what I meant earlier!" Rainbow suddenly exclaimed. "I meant if you were lying about the other stuff, not the truth spell."

"You finally caught that, huh? That took about as long as I expected. You can believe whatever you want to believe, I suppose, but everything I've said tonight has been the truth. Except for me initially claiming that I wasn't going to tell you anything, obviously." The creature suddenly switched topics. "So, we know what's going to happen to us changelings, but what about you?"

Rainbow looked at the floor, responding, "Well, they said they were going to tell everypony that Dark Spectrum was a changeling, so I guess I'll be okay. Celestia really trusts Twilight, so I don't see why she wouldn't believe her."

The changeling gazed at Rainbow with its blue, seemingly-soulless eyes. "Like I said, you really have some amazing friends, Rainbow Dash."

The creature didn't say it, but Rainbow finished the thought in her own mind. Even after I tried to kill them, they're trying to cover it up to save me. That's when it really hit her. She really did have the best friends anypony could ask for. And she really did try to kill them. They hadn't really been her friends, but she hadn't known that. How could she have really believed that they would turn on her like that? They'd been wonderful to her for as long as she'd known them. Had the changelings....

"Did... did you guys do your mind thingy on me? Did you influence me to become a villain?"

The changeling waited a moment before responding. "Not exactly. We worked to destabilize your sanity during the Mare Do Well period, particularly at the parade, but we left your mind alone after that. Some of us wanted to try to calm you down, while others wanted to try to make you completely lose your mind. We ended up doing nothing, since you were doing a good enough job becoming a public enemy by yourself. Of course, I wasn't actually here for any of that."

So it really was her fault. Her actions had been her own. She'd really wanted to kill her friends. She slid all the way down to the floor, her mind a mess. She'd become a monster, ruined Ponyville, and tried to murder her best friends, all on her own.

For a time, there was silence in the basement yet again as Rainbow lost herself in her thoughts and her guilt.

"It's not too late." Rainbow turned back to the creature, who was still staring at her. It reiterated, "It's never too late to make things right." Then it finally turned away from her.

It had been the same as what Spitfire had said, but was it really true, or had it just been a member of the Equestrian military trying to talk down a madmare? It took her a few minutes of reflection, but then Rainbow made her decision. She picked up her goggles and flew up the stairs without another word.

Rainbow looked down at the streets below her. The sun had risen, and she could see guards throughout the city. Some were going into homes, some were talking to ponies in the street, some looked like they were just milling around. Unsatisfied, she kept scanning the city until she had spotted the guard that looked different. If one out of the thirty-something guards looked different, he must be special. She swooped down towards him.

What she assumed was the captain was standing in front of a house with two regular-looking guards on either side of him. Rainbow landed softly behind the guards, watching as two more came out of the building. They were carrying Merry May, one of Rainbow's fellow weather ponies. Rainbow scowled a little before she remembered that Merry's name had been on that changeling's list of spies.

The unicorn she assumed was the captain blasted Merry with a purple beam of magic for a few seconds, and then turned to the other guards. "She's clean," he said, then turned back to the green pegasus. "Are you okay, ma'am?"

"I've been locked in my own basement for weeks while somepony pretended to be me. How do you think I feel?"

Rainbow smirked as she approached the guards. Merry seemed pretty normal, so she must have been okay. Rainbow spoke up, "Hey, you the captain?"

The unicorns on either side whipped around to point their spears at her. The one she'd addressed turned around as he replied, "Captain Shining Armor, Canterlot Royal Guard." Without warning, he blasted Rainbow with a spell that made her feel all warm inside. It felt just like the first spell Twilight hit her with back in the basement.

Shining Armor stopped the spell and nodded to his guards. They pulled their spears away from Rainbow. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I had to be sure it was really you. I'm actually surprised that we haven't found more, yet. We keep finding their victims, but not the changelings themselves. I'm guessing they made a mad dash out of the city when they heard we were coming. Still, you should return to your friends at the library and stay there until we get this changeling problem cleared up. Stay inside and don't let anypony in, understand?"

Rainbow looked at him with a bored expression. "Yeah, I understand, Shining, but you.... Wait, how did you know my name?"

"Twilight and the others told me all about you," Shining chuckled a little, "and it's not exactly common to see a pony with such a colorful mane. Did you need assistance?"

He wasn't arresting her. They'd already told him their story, then. Rainbow took a breath. "Listen, I..." Rainbow tried, but the words got stuck in her throat.

Shining looked her over. "Sorry, it's been a rough day. Of course you need assistance, you're hurt."

Rainbow quirked an eyebrow, then looked down at her slashed and bloodied costume. She'd been so distracted by the previous night of revelations that she had forgotten all about her numerous injuries. She touched the cut on her chest, and felt the sting she hadn't paid much attention to before. She would probably be sore in the morning.

Rainbow shook her head, clarifying, "No, that's not it. I mean, yeah, I've been hurt, but I'll be fine. The truth is that...." Once again the words wouldn't leave her mouth. She took a deep breath to steady herself and then blurted out, "I'm Dark Spectrum."

Shining stared at her. "Um, you are? But you're... you're not a... changeling?"

Rainbow shook her head. "No, I'm not. My friends lied to protect me. Dark Spectrum was never a changeling." She hung her head, finishing, "It was me. It was all me."

There was silence for what felt like a long time. Rainbow's gaze slowly pitched up to look at Shining. His expression could have frozen Tartarus in summer. "Are you aware of what you're saying?" he asked.

Rainbow nodded.

"You admit to destroying half of Ponyville and assaulting three Wonderbolts?"

Rainbow nodded, but added, "That's not all I did. I... I killed them."

The guards on either side of Shining Armor slowly brought their spears back down to point at Rainbow. Shining leaned forward slightly, his expression stern. "Killed who?"

* * * *

The five ponies (and Spike) arrived back at the library, and Twilight pushed open the front door with her magic. She stepped inside, glancing around at the library's main room. She didn't see Rainbow, but she wasn't really surprised, figuring she was probably staying in the basement to keep out of sight. She quickly checked the upstairs bedroom to make sure that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were still there before trotting to the basement.

"Rainbow, are you down here?" Twilight said as she descended the stairs, but there was no reply. That seemed odd. Did Rainbow fall asleep? She'd always been fond of naps, after all. "Rainbow, it's okay, you can come out now."

Twilight stopped halfway down the stairs. Rainbow Dash was gone, and she wasn't the only one.

The changeling was gone, too.