A Mansion
Naudia glared at her reflection in the glass. So, that was their game: make her look like her mother, so Twilight would attack her. She felt like an idiot for falling for such a simple ruse, but had to admit it was effective. Right now she would half consider attacking her mother herself, after what she had put the changeling hive and Twilight through.
Something crashed through the window and hit her in the face, knocking her head over hooves and leaving a bloody mark on her face.
Instantly, Naudia was back on her feet, battle skin on, trying to dodge side to side. She hoped that, despite being too dazed to make out anything coming her way, she would get lucky and it would miss.
It did not.
Something else slammed into her side with a force that would normally only bruise her battle skin and knock her off balance. Unfortunately, however, it hit one of her wings, which she had out to keep her balance. It snapped in half and fell to the ground.
Naudia screeched in pain and staggered to the side.
Naudia forced the pain back and got a handle on her situation, focusing her eyes to find that Twilight and her friends were bearing down upon her. Illusory they might be, but they were still made of rocks, which is something much tougher than changeling battle skin.
She needed to end this now.
Not hesitating for a moment, Naudia leapt over Applejack, spring-boarding off her illusory head to barely miss a dive by Rainbow Dash, landing right in front of Twilight. Before Naudia had even hit the ground, she already had a hoof flying in a punch to knock Twilight unconscious.
If she could knock out Twilight, this illusion would vanish, and she could drive off the sand spirits with little effort.
Twilight didn't even flinch as she saw Naudia's hoof making a collision course with her face, and Naudia realized she had made a mistake. Unable to stop her momentum, her punch plowed on until-
*CRACK*
The sound of chitin meeting stone echoed around the courtyard. Pain shot through her hoof.
The illusory Twilight fell to the ground, becoming once again a pile of rocks, before the rocks blended seamlessly into the ground as the illusion re-established itself.
Naudia, now on three good hooves and one wing, realized she might be in some trouble.
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Naudia rushed through the mansion, passing through room after richly decorated room in a sort of three legged hobble, with one wing flapping madly to compensate for her injured leg, her hoof at least fractured if not broken.
Ducking into another room to catch her breath, she decided to try something. The lights in the room went out, then there was a glow that shone out under the door frame. Naudia just had to hope her enemy didn’t think too much about it. Naudia hid behind a china cabinet, figuring her enemy would expect her to either fight or flee.
And sure enough, not ten seconds later an illusory Pinkie Pie came into the room with a very un-Pinkie-like expression on her face.
Naudia crept out from her hiding spot, making no noise until she unintentionally put too much pressure on her bad foot, causing an involuntary squeak of pain. Fortunately, Naudia was quick on her other hooves and dodged a faceful of pink hoof.
As she jumped back to avoid one blow, Pinkie followed through with another, catching Naudia’s chest and knocking her against the wall. The fake Pinkie tried to get at her dazed opponent, but found her hind legs glued to the floor by a sticky green substance. Naudia’s trick had worked, for the moment.
Naudia struggled to catch her breath. For an illusion made of rocks, that earth pony could really pack a punch. It continued to growl and swipe at her with that same completely un-Pinkie-like expression on its face.
Once she got back on her hooves, Naudia tried casting a simple dispelling magic on Pinkie. The illusion faded away, revealing a roughly pony-shaped pile of rocks that fell into the changeling adhesive with a splat.
Well that will at least be a lot easier on my hooves, Naudia thought.
Naudia looked down at the de-magicked rocks that used to be the illusory Pinkie Pie, and came to a realization.
Moments later she cast the same anti-magic spell on herself, to see her hair turn back to its normal color and her reflection return to normal… before it snapped back. A vase sitting above the china cabinet she was examining her reflection in tipped over and fell on her head.
Angrily, she looked up at the ceiling, where she knew they were watching and playing with her even now. But this had another meaning.
If they were willing to let me take down the illusory Pinkie Pie, then clearly there are rules in play here to keep Twilight from waking up. Or at least to prolong my torment here. Naudia thought, looking at the pile of rocks on the floor, which had been turned into a suspicious amount of broken pottery by yet another illusion spell.
But could she find which one was the real Twilight? She would have real trouble fighting two at once in this state. She needed to think about this logically.
Who would Twilight be in this fantasy world if not herself? Celestia? No. Whoever Twilight is, she doesn’t have any notions of a high station in life. Her parents? Naudia shook her head. As if. This is Twilight’s dream. I doubt she’d want to watch it from a distance.
And then Naudia saw the answer was staring her in the face. Of course it would be as simple as that.
Seconds later, she was sneaking her way through one of the many hallways, keeping an ear out for approaching hoofsteps.
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Rooms and rooms passed by Naudia, every one of them was empty. Well, empty of ponies; every one of them was filled with intricately detailed objects which, no doubt, held some sort of sentimental value to Twilight. Or perhaps, they were simply filled in while Naudia was looking at them. The only thing she knew is that there were a LOT of rooms in this house, and she didn't feel like she was getting any closer to finding Twilight.
Finally Naudia decided to try and make her way back to the dining hall where she had found her illusory friends in the first place.
Five wrong turns and a dead-end hallway later, she found herself outside a room with the sounds of ponies behind it.
Bracing herself Naudia opened the door a crack and peered through, to find her illusory self talking with four of Twilight's friends in the wreckage of the dinner table.
All right. Naudia told herself. They are facing away from me. if I go in fast, I should be able to dispel the illusion around Twilight and knock her out before the others can react.
Seconds later, Naudia burst through the door, already firing off a spell in the direction she thought Twilight was in. it missed and hit Rarity, who collapsed into a pile of rocks. Her second spell flew true, but was intercepted by Rainbow Dash, who also disintegrated.
As Naudia raced past, Applejack grabbed her tail with her teeth and received a swift buck from Naudia's back hooves. Naudia fired the dispelling magic directly at her illusory self and there was no one in the way to intercept it this time.
Before Naudia, in place of her Illusory self, stood...
Another pile of rocks.
Naudia could already hear hoofsteps quietly approaching the door she had come in from, and turned, to find Fluttershy edging toward the open door with a nervous expression on her face.
She dodged the first anti-magic bolt, but was nailed to the door frame by a glob of green changeling goo.
Naudia limped over to the struggling mare, very unhappy for the moment. Naudia was tired, battered, and more than likely, seriously injured in several places. And there was a chance this would hurt more than anything else she'd done here.
Naudia cast the dispell one more time, looked into Twilight's glazed over eyes for a moment, and then brought her horn to touch Twilight and shorted out Twilight's magic.
And the illusory mansion fizzled out around them.