5 days after arriving at the hive, Alecia slowly recovered from her injuries. The healing slime helped in that regard though so in no time at all she was back in her old job with a new cabin.
"Sigh i wish i could go back in time... i just want to see Twilight again at least once to tell her how much she means to me..."mumbled Alecia remembering all the times she spent with Twilight.
"Well it seems like you haven't changed at all since we last met" interrupted a voice
"Ugh what do you want Tom?" asked Alecia clearly annoyed.
"What i want? All i want to do is welcome our dear old sister back into the hive. We really missed you, in fact, we missed you so much that we threw a party when you didn't come back from the explosion because we all wanted to remember you," Tom said merrily
"Yeah i know because you were SO kind to me back when we were bunkmates," Alecia remarked
"I know right?" replied Tom oblivious to the sarcasm dripping from her statement, "guess what the best part is"
"Let me guess... we're bunkmates...again" asked Alecia clearly not happy with the arrangement
"Gasp! How did you know? Was my obvious hinting giving it away or was it the way you oh so cleverly interpreted my subtle sarcasm?" asked Tom sarcastically
"How did you get the queen to approve this?" asked Alecia
"Easy! i just said that you would need a motivator to help you with your starting days in the hive just in case you forgot how to do your old job. Oh and i told her that i knew a certain someone she's been seeing recently" replied Tom grabbing a martini out of nowhere.
"Um where did you get that martini? aren't supplies low?" asked Alecia curiously
"Well you see Lily there is something called business and profit and while you were away., i managed to get some very special contacts which helped my business if you will soar thus giving me more luxuries and privileges than the common changeling. Oh did i mention the position i got in the queen's court? I'm now the queen's personal advisor i know right? what a shocker" replied Tom with a smirk
"No wonder the queen's been making such bad decisions," Alecia muttered
"In fact i was the one who convinced the queen not to kill you! How generous of me right?" said Tom
"Oh yeah... very generous," Alecia replied to the one pony she'd rather kill than owe her life to.
"Well you make yourself comfortable, i have a golf match to compete in ta-ta Lily!" said Tom cheekily.
This only made Alecia miss Twilight even more as she didn't have to deal with this when Twilight was around. Alecia realised how much she'd taken for granted when she was with Twilight until she lost all of it. She'd give anything, anything at all to be with the one filly she loved. But she had a duty to perform for her birth family. Yet, Twilight was her family too sure she was adopted, but she was her family nonetheless and she was a better family than any of the changelings she had grown up with had ever been. Alecia had to decide and quickly, her shift was starting in 15 minutes and if she wasn't down there by then, well it wouldn't be good for her.
"What do i do what do i do?" Alecia asked herself frantically.
Twilight might be in trouble and if she was Alecia couldn't just let her be. But Alecia also had to serve her duty as a changeling out of a debt that she owed the queen previously. Alecia paced around the room wracking her brain for answers, none of them were easy.
One one hoof, Twilight would be worried and Alecia knew how far Twilight would be willing to go just to set things right again so Alecia would need to find her quickly. On the other hoof, she owed a serious debt to the queen and to forsake it meant to forsake this life and she would be cast out of the hive without ever being allowed to come back at all.
Then Alecia pictured Twilight on her own sobbing on the floor as she wept for her dear sister to come back. At that moment, Alecia knew what she had to do.
"Meh never really liked this place anyways" Alecia said to herself
And with that, Alecia galloped out of her cabin and off into the sky just above the forest towards the nearest settlement which was the Crystal Empire
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Shining Armour walked around the room searching for clues that would help them identify the intruder that came in the night before. He had been in the room all day and not once had he seen any hoofprints that belonged to the intruder.
He must be good, really good, thought Shining Armour, as he walked around the room for what felt like the millionth time. Then, he noticed something peculiar, there was a mark on the window but the only hoofprints were going out, meaning that the intruder never came into the room at all. He simply waited for the right moment and foalnapped Twilight when she got too close to the window ,Shining Armour reasoned seeing no other reasons as to how the intruder could have foalnapped Twilight, he sped off to inform the guard and his wife. Not noticing the figure that was entering the empire from the forest.
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Alecia was entering the city in her favourite disguise which was a white pegasus with a brown mane. As she neared the empire, she awed at how beautiful it looked under the night sky. I must visit this place again under better circumstances she told herself. As she descended, she noticed that there were quite a few guards patrolling the city at this time of the night.
Nevertheless, she continued to descend from the skies and eventually found her way onto the smooth pavement below.
"Halt" commanded a patrolling guard "state your name and purpose for entering the Crystal Empire"
"Well my name is Starlight Sparkle and i'm here to visit my family," Alecia stated with ease developing her identity while she was flying. She chose Starlight because she thought it sounded cool and Sparkle because Twilight was her sister and Alecia didn't have a last name due to the fact that she was raised in a hive where names were pretty much useless.
"Are you related to the Sparkles?" the guard questioned suspiciously
"Yes i am" replied Alecia not knowing the trouble she was getting into.
"Come with us ma'am" commanded the guard as he lead the way to the castle.
"Oh um alright then" replied Alecia confused at what was happening
When they reached the castle. Alecia was greeted the captain of the royal guard and prince of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armour Sparkle. Of course Alecia didn't know this and continued to play along.
"Uh.. hi?" asked Alecia as she could not say anything else
"This mare says that she is related to you sir!" announced the guard
"Is that so?" Shining Armour curiously
"Yes sir!" replied the guard
"Well what is your name? i certainly don't recognise you," asked Shining Armour
"I'm Starlight Sparkle" replied Alecia nervously
"Is that so?" asked Shining Armour as he cast a changeling revealing spell.
As soon as the spell came into contact with Alecia's body, she was changed back into her natural form. However, she didn't realise this as the process for changelings was harmless and they could not feel it. Nevertheless when everyone gasped in shock, Alecia figured that her cover had been blown and was about to run away.
However before she could move, she felt a hoof hit her across the back of her head as she fell into unconsciousness again. Not again Alecia thought to herself.
"Because i'm a Sparkle too," finished Shining Armour as he commanded his guards to take Alecia into the dungeons where they would interrogate her further.
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Out in the forest, a little purple unicorn came across her old home burnt to ashes.