Twilight paced in the library's lobby, running over all her options.
After the shield around Ponyville had come down, she'd sent Rainbow Dash on a scouting mission to try and find Abel.
The rainbow pegasus had yet to return, and it had been half an hour, meaning either Abel had hidden himself really well, or...
No, she didn't want to think about that.
And she didn't want to sit here in the library doing nothing, either!
But without knowing where Abel was, there wasn't much she could do to help him...
And then the idea hit her.
Focusing, Twilight calmed her nerves, and took several deep breaths. Focus on the very idea of the Hive Mind. Focus on the ideals. Focus on Friendship and Harmony. Focus...
Opening her eyes, Twilight found herself in that same bleak landscape as before. Looking down at herself, she saw several crimson rings hovering around her body. Touching them in turn gave her the idea as to which passive mental block they represented. Eventually, she found the one that cut off her from the rest of the members of the Hive Mind, save Abel. If I break this one...
With a quick twist, the ring of red energy shattered and fell apart.
Suddenly, Twilight's mind heard a rush of voices.
-We can send two of ours to Ponyville to aid in the search efforts--
-Perhaps if we modified the divining spells and attuned them to ourselves--
-The magical residue from the shields indicate they fed off his basement reserves--
-The Tyrant and her drones are continuing their forced-march towards the Badlands--
And then suddenly, the voices hushed, and Twilight felt the eyes on her. In the distance, she could see the forms of changelings approaching on the horizon. She took the opportunity to make her case.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, friend to Abel, and...accidental member of this Hive Mind."
None responded, though they did keep coming.
"When I felt the shield go up, I tried to contact Abel about it, and all he told me was the same message he told you, I assume. Black Queen threatens White King, Check."
The changelings had gathered around her, forming a circle six feet wide around her. And still none of them spoke.
"I took this to mean the obvious, that Chrysalis-"
And instantly there was noise.
-SAY NOT HER NAME!-
Twilight flattened her ears and put her hooves on her head, recoiling from all of them speaking at once.
Once she recovered, she raised her head up again and coughed.
"Yes, well, that she was coming to Ponyville, that Abel wanted no interference, and, probably most important, that he had a plan."
Twilight sighed and hung her head.
"But we can't find him. If you have any information about spots outside of Ponyville that he frequented, I could ask Rainbow Dash to search there."
A single voice spoke then. -He and I met once, in the Whitetail Woods, in a grove that was...disconnected. It was there he added me to the Hive Mind in its infancy, and it was there I went from merely his first ally to a friend.-
Twilight singled out the changeling that had spoken up and turned to him. "Where is it?"
-West-south-west of Ponyville proper...-
An image wavered into view, one of the Whitetail Woods. A cheesy trail appeared, leading to a grove not that far in. An oversized red X marked a grove in particular, and Twilight nodded.
"If I ask you to guide me as I search, would you?"
There was a pause. A rather lengthy pause.
Then, finally:
-Yes. If it means saving him. Letting him die would be a poor way to repay eight years of loyalty.-
Twilight nodded, filing away who this particular changeling was, before disconnecting herself.
I can ask his friend about Abel later, right now, I have to find him!
-----
The Bearers had finally made it to Whitetail Woods, noticing that in the distance, they could see the still jerkily-moving changelings. "You're sure they're not a threat, Twi?"
Twilight nodded. "The other members of Abel's Hive say that they're getting bursts of information from him still. One was about Chrysalis and a few other changelings acting as puppets and walking away from him."
The other mares blinked. "Come again, sugarcube?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "They never said the bursts were coherent. Anyways, one of them pointed out a grove in here we could search. They can guide us to it."
The band of mares walked silently through the woods, Twilight occasionally making minor corrections to her path as the Hive Mind dictated. Within fifteen minutes, the mares had found the disconnected clearing.
What they saw within it caused them to run in immediately.
Abel lay upon the ground, broken, bloody, the very picture of defeat. His chitin was cracked so badly, it was a miracle any of it was still connected. Blood seeped out of the cracks slowly, staining the grass red and forming a small pool underneath him. What passed for a mane and tail among changelings had reverted from the red he normally kept it at to a light pink, what Twilight assumed were his normal colors. His pink wings were so tattered, they resembled stubs, and they could barely see his chest moving with his breathing.
Twilight reached a hoof out to him, but before it connected, she retracted it, feeling the raw power emanating from him. He over-prepared, and now he can't focus it out of himself...
The girls gasped in unison as they saw a new split form on Abel's back and heard the sickly cracking noises of his chitin breaking. Twilight explained it automatically. "He took in so much power, but didn't use it all, and now it's tearing him apart from the inside out. If we can't get all that magic out of him, then no amount of healing magic in the world will help..."
A plan started to form in her mind. "Girls, we need to get him back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, that's your job."
Pulling a bolt of cloth from Rarity's saddlebags, Twilight fashioned a crude sling and put it near Abel. "If you and Fluttershy could gently move him into the air, please?"
The two pegasi hastened to comply, and within seconds, the changeling was airborne. The sling moved under him, and the pegasi gently put Abel back down. Tying a knot and nodding, Twilight pointed at Rainbow Dash. "You need to get him back to the library, and put him in the basement."
"What?!"
Twilight shook her head at her friends' outburst. "Do you honestly think he'd be able to go to the hospital looking like that?"
"Eh, you might have a point there, egghead."
"Plus, none of us can get into his house anyways."
Dash nodded, put the sling on, and took to the air. "A little bit of weight, sure, but I think I can handle it."
Just as she was about to leave, Twilight interrupted the pegasus. "Remember Dash, he's wounded. So try not to jostle him too much?"
Dash rolled her eyes. "Fiiiine. For the wounded, sure."
Twilight turned to Applejack and Pinkie. "I'm going to have to ask you to make sure nopony besides us or those we're escorting get into the library tonight, especially the basement."
The two earth ponies nodded. It made sense to them.
Wait, scratch that. It made sense to Applejack.
Twilight looked at Rarity. "We're probably going to need a lot of bandages before the night is through."
Rarity put a hoof to her chest. "Of course, darling. I'll endeavor to make the best!"
And finally Twilight looked at Fluttershy. "I won't ask you to do anything you're uncomfortable with. But we could probably use your help in caring for injured animals, if I can't get any doctors that can be trusted over to take a look at him."
Fluttershy, to the surprise of all present, merely nodded her head. "If Abel needs me, then I'll help. I may not know much about changelings, but that doesn't mean I won't try."
And thus, the remaining mares were on their way to Ponyville.
-----
"I'm sorry, but what did you say you needed, Miss Sparkle?"
Twilight sighed. I was afraid of this. "Any and all doctors who are capable of treating severe magical poisoning, especially in unconscious victims. Are there any here at this time?"
The receptionist frowned. "At this hour, only doctor Feelgood is available, but he does have that experience. Why?"
"I need him to come with me to see a patient."
The nurse shook her head. "He is the only on-call doctor at this time, he can't just leave."
Twilight groaned. "It is quite literally a matter of life and death. The patient cannot be moved, which is why I need him."
The receptionist sighed. "Listen, I can pass the information on to him, and he can choose to act on it when his break comes up in half an hour. In the meantime, try to make your patient as comfortable as possible. Where should I say he should go, if he accepts?"
"The library, I'll be there."
-----
Fourty-five minutes later, Twilight Sparkle had managed to calm the good doctor.
Granted, he'd only spent the first few minutes in shock. And the next few throwing various sharp objects at Abel's body.
Then he spent a few babbling about needing to tell the guard about the changeling in the basement and how he hoped nopony was in danger, and how did he know Twilight was really Twilight...
With a few well-placed demonstrations that her magical aura had not changed, that she was not crazy, and that the changeling in the basement was, in fact, seriously hurt, the doctor returned to his examination. Twilight decided to join him.
"Yes, well, *ahem*, moving past my initial reaction. Subject-"
"Abel," Twilight interjected.
The doctor blinked and turned to her. "I beg your pardon?"
Twilight pointed a hoof at the changeling. "He has a name. It's Abel."
The doctor blinked a few times before nodding. "Right, right. Abel appears to be suffering from one of the worst cases of thaumaturgic poisoning I've ever seen. The amount of power he is containing within his body is literally tearing him apart in an effort to be used."
Just then, a hairline crack appeared on Abel's right foreleg, connecting two others.
The doctor continued his explanation as though nothing were wrong. "In cases like these, magical healing would be one of the worst things to do. It'd be putting more wood into a fire we're trying to extinguish. The magic within him has to be drained out in some form or another. The problem is that he can't concentrate for all the pain, so he can't cast any spells to use it up. And I'm not sure if our backup methods of dealing with this problem could apply here..."
Twilight recalled the day when Abel had answered questions and panicked slightly. "He once told me that changelings can't feed on other changelings, that their bodies keep their energy on lockdown all the time as a defense mechanism. Could it be that which is making this case so much worse?"
The doctor blinked and turned back to Abel, eyes filled with wonder. "Yes...a body that keeps its energy locked up within it, as opposed to a pony, who would slowly bleed all the power off...yes, that would make this case worse. He can't let it bleed off, so the magic wants to be used, but it can't, because of all the pain...yes, it's a vicious cycle. One that ends rather violently for your friend here, I'm afraid."
Twilight blinked a few times. "How bad, doctor?"
The doctor sighed. "Put it this way: it's probably going to tear him apart into tiny little pieces."
-----
Doctor Feelgood ascended from the basement, nodded at the gathered mares, and attempted to leave.
His attempts were thwarted by a sudden wall of pink.
Bouncing off it and landing on his haunches, Feelgood rubbed his nose and looked up at Pinkie Pie, who looked back down with a very stern look.
"You gotta Pinkie Promise, mister, to tell nopony about what you saw down there."
Feelgood gulped and looked around, trying to find some way out of this. Pinkie's promises were notorious for being unbreakable, and she knew when you were trying. Somehow.
Noticing that the others had blocked all other avenues of escape, the stallion sighed and raised a hoof. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my e-OW!"
Feelgood grumbled a bit at having forgotten about that part of the promise.
"You promise what?"
And then sighed as he finished his promise. "That I will tell nopony else anything about your friend Abel or what he really is."
With that, Pinkie got out of the way, and the good doctor went back on his way to the hospital.
Just as the door closed behind him, the basement door opened again, and Twilight came in with her head hung low. The others noticed immediately.
"What's wrong, sugarcube?"
Twilight looked up and focused on Applejack. "The doctor said that if Abel can't get the magic out of himself..."
"What? What'd he say, egghead?"
"That Abel will most likely..."
Fluttershy came up and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulders. "It's that bad?"
Twilight shook her head. "Worse. He can't focus it out of himself, and it won't bleed off naturally, so it's tearing him apart. And it'll probably...kill him."
The others gasped.
"Gruesomely."
And now the other mares gulped. "Isn't there anything we can do, darling?"
Twilight shook her head, but as she did, her eyes caught on one particular book. Supernaturals. And then she had a small idea.
"Wait...that...could work! Rainbow Dash!"
The pegasus was in front of her in moments, throwing up a mock salute.
"Get to Zecora's, tell her that Abel is suffering from severe magic poisoning, and anything she has to help hold him together would be most appreciated!"
"On it!"
The rainbow contrail was all that was left as the mare zoomed out of the library. Then Twilight sighed. "Well that's one half down. But how to get him to focus the magic out?"
"If I may make a small suggestion, darling?"
Twilight nodded, vaguely paying attention while looking at some of her other books.
"The problem is that Abel must focus the magic out of himself, correct?"
"Yes, but he's in too much pain to do so."
"What about his Hive Mind and that connection you have?"
Twilight turned to Rarity, the wheels visibly turning in her head. "What...about it?"
"Well, couldn't you use that to try and talk him into casting some spells to bleed off the excess? You said they were getting bursts of information from him, so if he can talk to them..."
"...Then they could talk back! And if I can somehow get him to cast, then we can save him! Rarity, you're a genius!"
Twilight was down in the basement in an instant, focusing again.
-----
-You return.-
"Yes, I have Abel, he's in the basement of the library."
-We will take him.-
Before the connection could be severed, Twilight managed to get out one word. "WAIT!"
They did.
"It's not as simple as that. There's two problems with your plan."
-Explain.-
"First, his disguise has failed. Meaning you would be carrying a changeling that actually looks like one through the streets of Ponyville. Go ahead, tell me you can do that without there being a panic."
-...And the other problem?-
Twilight sighed. "He's suffering from a severe case of thaumaturgic poisoning."
-How bad?-
"It'll likely tear him apart."
Nothing but silence as the changelings contemplated the meaning of her words.
"If you're getting bursts of information from him, though, then he can not only send, but receive. He could be talked to, convinced to cast some sort of spell to bleed the excess off. We could help him if he could bring the reserves he has down."
-...He stopped sending ten minutes ago.-
Twilight paled. "No...no no no...there has to be something we can do. Something. Anything."
-There is one thing.-
Twilight jumped, willing to grasp at any straw. "What?!"
-One of us would have to enter his mind and redirect his magic from within him to within here. Then we could cast the spell that would convert the raw magic into emotional energy, and draw it into ourselves.-
"Then why haven't you done this already?!"
-Though we may all be of the same Hive, he does not consider us friends. We have a connection, true, but not a deep enough one to be able to penetrate into his mind. Perhaps if we massed our strength, we could maybe get through to him. You, on the other hoof, do possess a strong bond. You could enter his mind, with ease.-
Twilight gulped. "You're asking me to violate his mind to save his body. I don't think anypony could make this choice..."
-Then let us phrase it differently, as he would. Either you enter his mind to save him, or you watch him die.-
Twilight took a deep breath, and made her choice.