//------------------------------// // Missing Shade of Red 2.9: A Rude Awakening // Story: The Pony Dialogues // by Knowledge //------------------------------// Twilight felt pain. That is all she knew. She was no foreigner to pain. For instance, when she had scene that all her friends had been injured during the Gala and she hadn't been, she had felt obligated to rough herself up a bit in order to be symmetrical with them. Her friends said nothing about it, so it must have had been normal. Twilight did not know where she was. She was laying on her stomach, which she had been getting used to ever since she gained her wings. It was still not a comfortable position for her, so she instinctual tried to roll onto her back. "Ow!" Twilight yelped as a sudden pain overtook her. "Careful, you broke your wing, Twi," said a raspy voice. "Uh, Rainbow, is that you?" the lavender unicorn asked. "Yeah." "What happened to me?" Twilight asked, opening her eyes to the small hospital room she was in. Rainbow rubbed a hoof against her head. "I, uh, I remember knowing this, but I, uh." "Rainbow, what are you trying to say?" the unicorn asked in that pedantic manner she sometimes took when she was trying to help her friends act more intelligently. "You see. I know I knew what happened to you. It is just that I forgot. It is like white cloud fills that spot," Rainbow said. Twilight frowned. "That does not sound normal Rainbow Dash. I should see if something is wrong with you." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Later, when you are better. The doctor said you will be able to leave soon because of your magical healing but you will need to avoid using magic. They have notes from some pony named Ever Ruler, who took you to the hospital, and apparently you fell while flying. Really weird name if you ask me, but I guess he is cool." This caused Twilight to suddenly have flash backs. The green sun. It was obviously changeling magic. I remember flying towards it and then I felt tired. I panicked and that is when I must have fell. "What happened to the green ball of fire? Did we catch the changeling?" Twilight asked. Rainbow blinked. "You must have hit your head in that fall as well. Twilight, there was no changeling or green ball of fire. I think I would have remembered that." Rainbow then made a scrunchy face. "At least, I think I would have. Today just feels like white clouds." Rainbow knocked the side of her head for emphasis. Twilight paled. "The changeling must have brainwashed you, Rainbow." Rainbow paled as well. "What really? How do I unbrainwash myself?" At this moment, Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere. "Or you might be a sleeper agent, once the changeling says a keyphrase you will kill one of your closest friends." "I don't want to kill my friends!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Rainbow Dash calm down, and Pinkie Pie stop scaring her," Twilight demanded. "I am not scared!" Rainbow said after feigning composure. "Okay, Pinkie Pie, do you remember what happened today?" Twilight investigated. "Uh, nope. All I remember is leaving the big town meeting where nothing happened and hearing the super sad news that you got hurt from Nurse Redheart. That is why I have all these balloons and get well cupcakes." As Pinkie said this, said objects of happiness appeared. "Rainbow, what about you?" the unicorn asked. "Same thing. I came here as soon as I got the news you were hurt." "Rainbow, you mentioned a pony named Ever Ruler. Pinkie do you know this pony." The pink mare shook her head. Twilight rubbed her chin with one hoof while the other balanced her away from her injured side. "Okay, so we have a town meeting, an unmissable green ball of fire no one remembers which was obviously cast by a changeling, and some mysterious pony named Ever Ruler who helped me. Hmmm, we need more clues." Twilight got out of bed gingerly. Rainbow was immediately at her side to help her balance. "First, let's get back to the library. I am sure Spike is worried about me." Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie arrived at the library relatively slowly. Pinkie had a conversation with Bon Bon, who seemed to laugh at everything the pink pony said, even if it was not a joke. That pony is just sad, Twilight thought to herself. Twilight opened the door. "Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, I will be downstairs soon to help you find a book," Spike shouted from the upstairs bedroom area. "Spike, its me, Twilight." Spike ran down. "Wah, how can? I thought you were sleeping upstairs, Twilight." "Psst, Spike, it is only one in the morning. I don't go to sleep until at least five in the morning." "Then, if you are down here, who is that sleeping in your bed," Spike said in a horrified voice. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie got ready to gallop, but Twilight put one hoof in front of them to hold them back. This caused much discomfort to the unicorn as the hoof she used was on her hurt side. "Slowly, girls. This is probably the changeling, and it is probably pretending to be me. We want to catch it unawares. I cannot use magic so we must devise a trap." "How are we going to do that?" Rainbow asked. "I have methods," Twilight said rubbing her forehooves together menacingly. Pinkie thought it was fun and joined in. "Okay, Rainbow are you ready?" Twilight asked. The pegasus nodded holding up a rope. The three friends and the baby dragon stood around Twilight's bed where a silhouette of a pony with a horn sleeping could be seen. "Pinkie, are you ready?" Twilight asked her other friend who was holding a net. Said pony saluted. Twilight moved in on the unconscious creature before her. While she got near, she noticed that the creature smelled like she had just finished the Running of the Leaves and hadn't taken a shower. "Spike, how did you confuse it with me?" Spike shrugged from his place by the lamp. Without further ado, Twilight held a needle out and poked the creature in the plot ever so slightly. "Yehow," the creature said, jumping a whole pony length into the air. Pinkie quickly placed the net below the creature, and then Rainbow Dash pulled up hard, causing the net to raise up from below the creature and catch her. "Spike turn on the lights! Let's see this changeling!" Twilight shouted in triumph. When Spike turned on the lamp, the group gasped at what they saw. "What the buck!" shouted the creature who happened to be Lyra Heartstrings. Her tin foil hat and suit were on the night stand along with a glass of lukewarm water, and a new pair of sheets on the trunk at the end of the bed. "Twilight, is it your fault I am in a net inside your house?" "I, uh, didn't think..." Twilight stammered. Lyra was angry. Very angry. So angry she couldn't be blamed for what she said next. "Of course you didn't think. You never think. You just cast your stupid spells without knowing what the consequence would be. You know how many lives you destroyed with you rash use of magic? Hundreds. And you know who has to clean up those messes? Evening Glimmer and I." Twilight gulped as Rainbow Dash quickly defended her friend. "Hey, don't talk about Twilight and us like that. What did we ever do to you?" Lyra turned her venegeful gaze upon the rainbow mare. "You foalnapped me for starters. I knew you and your friends were trouble-makers, but I would have never thought you guys would outright foalnap me." "We didn't..." Lyra roared, not letting Rainbow Dash finish. "It seems some pony needs some pick-me-up flowers," Pinkie said shoving some smelly flowers into Lyra's muzzle. The effect was instantaneous as it cleared her mind of rage and filled it with bliss. With a clear head again, Lyra suddenly realized she had yelled at a gifted pony. "Oh, oh no. I am so sorry Twilight. Please forgive me. It is not my place to criticize you or your friends." Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, shocked at the unicorns transformation of personality. "Uh, let us just say we are both sorry," Twilight suggested. Lyra nodded eagerly, happy to have forgiveness. "We didn't mean to put you in that net. It was a trap for a changeling." "Changeling?!" Lyra exclaimed. "I was hunting a changeling who I believed to have come to this very house. I must have fainted from exhaustion." "This changeling was here?" Twilight asked. "What could have possibly wanted with this place? Spike and Pinkie, you look downstairs for anything that is missing. Rainbow, you look around the vicinity. I will ask Lyra some more questions so that we can put our shared knowledge together." Twilight turned back to the mint unicorn when her friends had left. "I better get you down first before we get through this conversation." Lyra nodded in agreement. Twilight untied the rope and Lyra fell harmlessly onto the bed. When she got up, she noticed the glass of water and chugged it to quench her acute thirst. Twilight was surprised to see the Canterlot mare so out of sorts. "Uh, maybe we should wait before we talk. Is there anything else you need?" Twilight asked. Lyra Wiped the excess water from her mouth. Lyra then sniff herself in as refined a manner as she could muster. Disliking what she found, Lyra nodded. "I could really use a bath." Both unicorns noticed the towels and stuff placed around the bed. "Just go." Ten minutes later, Twilight's friends and Lyra were done with their respective tasks and gathered in the library's main room. "Okay, what was missing?" Twilight asked Pinkie and Spike. Pinkie raised her hoof and answered first. "Oh, a book called Everything You Wanted to Know About Equestria and Were Too Afraid to Ask: A Foreigner's Guide to Equestria by a Miss Twilight Sparkle." "What would a changeling want with that book?" Rainbow asked. "Perhaps, it is studying us so that it can exploit our weaknesses?" Pinkie offered. Twilight nodded in agreement with Pinkie Pie. Spike raised a claw next. "My portrait of Rarity was stolen!" Twilight looked at the dragon incredulously. "Did you look around your little table?" "Of course, I did! It is not there," Spike said folding his arms together. "Well, you probably misplaced it," Twilight said. Spike disliked how Twilight dismissed what he thought were legitimate concerns with such remarks. "Rainbow Dash, did you find anything outside?" She shook her head for a negative. "Okay, that leaves you, Lyra. What do you know about this changeling? You said you were investigating it or something." Lyra nodded. "Yes, I am pretty sure it cast that green fire spell yesterday morning." "You remember that. I thought I was the only one!" Twilight exclaimed. "What are you two talking about," Spike interjected. "There was this huge ball of green fire our changeling culprit put into the sky right about the market. Everypony seems to have forgotten about it," Twilight explained. "I think I would remember seeing that," Spike said. "That is what I said," Rainbow added. "But you know changelings and their mind games." Lyra gulped as she knew the illegal truth that the loss of memory was just a huge one-mare, local government cover up. "I think we shouldn't tell anypony that we know about the green ball of fire," Lyra suggested. "Why not?" Rainbow said with suspicion in her voice. "Maybe you are still a changeling?" Pinkie thought about what Rainbow said. "If she is a changeling, then where did she put Spike's portrait?" Twilight sighed heavily. "The changeling didn't steal a portrait of Spike's crush." "Why not Twilight?" Lyra asked. "If Spike loves Rarity as... you said, then she would be a great target for the love parasite." Lyra almost said 'Rarity's file', but stop herself. They cannot know how heavily they are being monitored by the Magistracy. Twilight blinked. She had not expected Spike to have had a point with his portrait. She always just assumed the dragon was being overly-melodramatic when it came to Rarity. "The reason we don't want to tell anypony else is that we might alert the changeling that we are onto them," Lyra explained further. All of the ponies agreed this was somewhat reasonable, but Twilight and Rainbow negotiated that they can at least ask their friends what they knew as long as they didn't reveal what they were looking for. "Okay, what else do you know, Lyra?" Twilight asked. "I know the changeling has brainwashed some foal," she told them. "The monster!" the others shouted in unison. "Okay, this is even more serious than we thought. We will have to take extreme measures to take out this changeling once and for good!" Rainbow said, pounding her hoof into her other hoof. Far away, a changeling in a mountain had an extreme sense of dread. Twilight frowned. "That is helpful, but do we have any information on the changeling itself?" Lyra thought for a moment. "Yes, it was going by the name Ei Rikr." Everypony became confused at the seemingly nonsense name. "It means Ever Ruler, apparently." Twilight and Rainbow beamed at each other in recognition and complete utter perplexity. "How can that be right?" Twilight and Rainbow asked each other. "What is wrong?" Lyra asked. "That is the name of the pony who took Twilight to the hospital when she broke her wing yesterday," Rainbow explained. Now Lyra was confused. "Why would it do that?" Pinkie rubbed her chin in thought. "Perhaps the changeling is actually nice and that all we have to ask it when it comes back some simple questions and it will all this confusion will be solve. Perhaps, we are just assuming it isn't because of our bad experience with them during the Canterlot Wedding," Pinkie suggested. "It foalnapped a filly/portrait!" the others said respectively. Pinkie shrugged. "It is possible." "Okay, I think it is getting late. Tomorrow, we begin our searches. Twilight, if you and your friends find out something, send the information to the local magistracy. I will watching," Lyra said and the meeting ended. Lyra went home with her dirty suit and tin foil hat, Twilight made her bed, and Spike got the king-sized bed out of the basement for Pinkie and Rainbow Dash so they could sleep over.