//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: A Fear that Came to Pass // by ChingKittyCat //------------------------------// Just as the group started to charge Twilight, Twilight decided to end this in the most anticlimactic way she could. She simply shot one laser beam at the opposite, burning away the changeling's disguise. The changeling gasped, as the group turned as soon as Twilight's spell had hit. The black insect's wings fluttered and buzzed as it dashed off into the darkness. The group close behind, not allowing it to get away. Twilight galloped after, feeling slightly antagonistic as she growled. This parasite decided to copy her?! HER?! After all this, after loosing everything, they had the audacity to steal her IDENTITY?! Her horn's aura grew darker as her mind brewed with anger. Something pulled itself from Twilight, and controlled her. Anger. Fury. There were many names for it. The main ingredient to Dark Magic. Her horn shot involuntarily, casting out a long tendril that shot into the darkness faster than a pony could gallop. It wrapped around the changeling's back hoof, and it was pulled back into the light of the group. Twilight's tendril smashed the changeling against the ceiling and walls as she let wrath pilot her magic. She finally dropped the changeling down onto the ground infront of herself. The changeling groaned. It's face was bruised badly, it's wings were holding on by a string. The horn had been smashed off. When Twilight had realized what she had done, she gasped, returning to common sense. Her violence buried back into it's hovel known as the back of Twilight's mind. Her guilt rushed to greet her, as her lip slightly quivered at the beaten changeling at her hooves. The group was horrified by Twilight's actions. They stood there. Their eyes judging her every movement as the changeling twitched, not long for death from starvation. Thing was incredibly skinny. Twilight looked down at the changeling, as she couldn't bare the sight before her. She flinched at the sight of blood. She wasn't big on it, to say the least. Though the changeling suffered from blood, it wasn't much. The magic bubbled down, flickering out from Twilight's horn. Twilight didn't know what to do. "Well.. You got it.." Rose Dust commented, stepping forward from the group. When she did, the changeling shuddered and attempted to curl. It had failed in it's duty to save it's queen. A spy, when caught, was killed. There was no doubt about that. It was the same with all spies, but there was no room for failure in this day and age, obviously. "Yeah.." Rose Dust continued, poking at the changeling. She looked back at one of the unicorns in the group. Quill Scratch's blue aura covered the changeling. His mask had covered his face, but sweat obviously went down his brow as he levitated the changeling away from the purple menace. "Look, Twilight, we are sorry we mistook you for this bug, but that.. What you did.. Do you use dark magic on a regular basis?" Rose Dust asked, stepping up to Twilight hesitantly. Twilight was still calculating an answer to what she had done. Wait, she used dark magic? Yes, she did. She didn't mean to.. She was just a bit angry, and she needed to use magic. "No, I swear!" Twilight replied, her voice full of desperation. She continued to eye the changeling. Causing it to twitch in fear of being hurt further. That was uncalled for, to say the least. She had just used the cruelest of weapons, when she could have just used regular magic to drag it back towards her. She didn't have to do what she did, beating up that changeling and all. "I know you're the element of magic and all, but if you're going to be using his magic, then we will have to kick you out. As much as it would pain me to do so-" Rose Dust was interrupted by Twilight's yell. "You can't kick me out!" Twilight shouted. Still slightly heated from her actions before. Twilight needed this group more than anything right now. Without them, she would have no protection against the odds. She also would be lacking in companionship. Well, she had a cat now, but that didn't exactly fill much of a void. "Alright. Twilight, I'll give you a second chance. Just don't use any of that dark magic, even if it is useful. We don't know if it's a beacon for him." Rose Dust told her. Twilight cracked a smile at her new chance for redeeming herself. Her horn flicked with a magenta aura, her regular aura. She helped Quill Scratch levitate the changeling. Being an advanced magic user, Twilight found no difficulty in levitating one pony. Changeling. Whatever. Twilight rejoined the group. Without any more words exchanged, the group trekked on. Maybe, just maybe, there was something that needed to be caged after all. Something that would grow into an uncontrollable beast. This was her first warning. This was the first blockade that would try to stop this soon-to-be rampaging beast from unleashing itself upon Equestria. This blockade was weak. It could easily be knocked down. It was the exit. It had to be. Even if it was just a light leading back out to the entrance, it was an exit nonetheless. Twilight smiled at the light of day. The rest of the group was also ecstatic. Finally, they were going to get out. It had been what felt like years within this slowly closing in cave. Claustrophobia had obviously set in on the entirety of the group, because there were laughs of relief that paired with the joyful conversations of Hollow Shades. Twilight's hooves and horn ached from usage. She was to fall over once she reached the outside. The exit was now only a couple feet away. The group did not speed up their pace as sunlight dappled through the cave's entrance. Wait.. Sunlight? Weren't they by Hollow Shades? It was supposed to be dark in Hollow Shades. Once outside the cave, Twilight's hooves caved, and she fell flat on her stomach. Her horn flickering out, and now smoking from long-term usage. The changeling was dropped on the dirty forest ground. It looked pretty dead. The other ponies grumbled and growled in annoyance. Twilight realized why. These woods were very familiar. Very. Very. Familiar. Twilight put it together. They were at the entrance. How they got here, Twilight would never know. Twilight sighed. At least there was something to talk about, and she was back with the group. They would probably get back into the cave in a minute or so. "How did we get back to the entrance?" Shooting Comet asked. She was a Pegasus mare who had a special talent for stars. She had a gray coat, with her mane and tail a blend of purple and blue. She was rather annoyed by this reappearance at the camp they had left behind only a little while ago. She stood next to some other ponies that had put themselves into smaller groups. "We went around in a circle, obviously." The ponies chatted about how they some how went in a circle. Twilight stayed silent, allowing herself to rest in the time she had. The other unicorns could have the changeling, she wasn't going to bother carrying it. The feeling of pain left her hooves, making a stupid smile appear on her face as she laid on the dirty ground. Allowing her once pure and somewhat pristine cloak to get dirty from mud and leaves. She could care less. It was going to get dirty. It was a cloak, and it was meant to shield her from the grime and prying eyes. "It just doesn't make any sense." Rose Dust chatted. Twilight agreed that it made no sense, seeing as they did not come across another cross road in their cave trek. Maybe the cave had changed? No, that would make no sense either. There were weapons that could destroy entire empires, powered by love, but a changing cave? No. That was a bit too outrageous, even for Equestria. A small meow could be heard as the head of her furry companion poked up in Twilight's cloak. Quake's ears poked straight up in the cloak. It looked like there was a small ghost underneath her cloak. Cute. Twilight moved her cloak, allowing Quake to look about. The brown cat meowed a bit before quieting down. Twilight spent some time just sitting on the ground, petting Quake while the others planned out what they were going to be doing for the rest of the day. Though it wasn't the most productive thing for Twilight to be doing, it was better than moping around. Something she would be doing if she was still inside the library. Twilight's eyes had moved their way over to the changeling multiple times. She felt rather bad for what she did. She didn't even know if it was alive at times. It's breaths were rather short. Twilight glanced at the loving cat before her, and back at the starving changeling. Twilight picked up Quake with her hooves, and poked the changeling until she got a gruff response. A groan. Seeing as it was alive, Twilight placed Quake down infront of the changelings face. Quake initially wanted to keep by Twilight, and had gone back over to the purple mare, but through trial and error, Quake meowed at the changeling. The changeling gave no response, until Quake pressed it's cat head up against the changeling's forehead. The changeling seemed to smile from this. A weak hoof was extended to pet the cat. Quake did a good job of petting itself, by rubbing up on the weak hoof. The changeling seemed to slowly regain power. Twilight knew that the group would want to ask this changeling some questions, so she just needed the changeling to have enough food so it could talk. Too much, and it'll be shifting into other ponies. Now, they couldn't have that. Begrudgingly, Twilight took away her cat, receiving a sigh and a begging look from the changeling. Twilight turned her head, placing her cat back down by herself. Twilight turned back to face the changeling. "Alright, Changeling. How did you find us? Who do you work for?" Rose Dust suddenly approached, from the right side of Twilight's view. She had Mocha Bean escort her over to the changeling. The changeling hissed in response, causing Rose Dust to kneel down and get right in it's face. "Changeling, you will tell us. If you work for him, we'll spare you for information. We might spare you either way, if Twilight wants to see you live." Rose Dust tossed an invisible, and mental baton over to Twilight. What the heck?! Couldn't Rose Dust make this decision herself?! Seriously! Everything didn't rely on her! Twilight scrunched up her nose in slight annoyance that Rose Dust couldn't make her own decisions, despite being the proclaimed leader of the group. "I'm a fugitive. I was in the Crystal Empire before, and that's how I know he's a threat. So don't expect anything from me." The changeling hissed. Almost snapping it's jaws at Rose Dust in the process. Rose Dust signaled another pony to come over. It was a unicorn mare. She had a blonde wavy mane and tail. She had a sand-like coat, with a cutiemark that had a golden heart with a lock over it. This pony's name was Heart Key. From yesterday, Twilight could remember she specialized in getting the truth out of others. Most ponies had no idea how she did it, but she explained it bluntly. It was because she was a former investigator or something like that. Heart Key knelt down next to Rose Dust. "This changeling says he's a fugitive." Rose Dust informed, as Heart Key nodded in retaliation. She closed her eyes, then opened them a few seconds later. Her eyes were a soft teal, and they were brimming with newfound answers, and questions. "He's not lying." Heart Key replied, causing the changeling to smirk. Rose Dust grimaced. There was no information to be pulled from this changeling, seeing as he was a fugitive. No information on him, no information on other changelings, basically nothing. Twilight puffed. Rose Dust had turned her eyes over to Twilight. The one she had passed the executioner role to. Heart Key had wandered back off to join the conversations happening in the main part of the camp. They were still wondering how the cave had lead them back out here, despite the fact that they had not gone back the same path they had come in through. There was no crossroad, just a straight path out. "Well, Twilight. Sorry to put this much pressure on you, but what do you want to do with him? Either you set him free, or we can get rid of him." Rose Dust reminded Twilight. This did not make the choice any easier. Alright. She had the life of a somewhat-innocent, injured, starving changeling in her hooves. She really wished she didn't. She didn't have any other choice, did she? There was still hope that Rose Dust would make this decision on her own. "Can't you decide?" Twilight asked, only a receiving a head shake symbolizing the word no. Rose Dust was extremely true to her word, even to the extremes, when thinking over life or death. Maybe it's just because she didn't want to be responsible for the death of a changeling. That could be the likely case, in this situation, Twilight would try to pass it off as well. That's why she had tried to get Rose Dust to take the responsibility back, but she just refused to do so. Twilight knew that there would be no convincing her other wise. Plus, she seriously did not need to argue when there was an empire and sub-species to be saving. Twilight had to decide. Death for the love-eating terrorist or life for the badly battered insect?