“Almost done, Spike,” Twilight Sparkle muttered, thrusting her nose back into her book. She compared one of the drawings on the page to the figure she had created on the library floor. It had only been eleven days since her brother's wedding and the changeling attack, and Twilight was hard at work ensuring that it would never happen again.
“Do we really have to do this now? It’s almost three,” Spike yawned.
“Spike, we’re almost finished creating a spell that’s never even been successfully attempted before! How can you think of sleeping at a time like this?” Twilight asked incredulously without removing her gaze from her book.
“Because it’s almost three!”
“Relax. You can sleep in,” she said dismissively, standing up and trotting around the elaborate setup she had created.
“You’re the one always telling me to go to bed earlier,” he grumbled softly.
“We’re just going to test it once. If it works and I can see through the changeling queen’s eyes, then we’ll go to bed and continue tomorrow. If it doesn’t work, we’ll record what happens instead, and then go to bed. Sound good?” Twilight replied, again not bothering to look at him.
“Fine...” he mumbled unenthusiastically. He glanced into a neatly-written scroll momentarily, going over the list of components needed. “I think we have everything ready.”
“Perfect! Let’s go over the checklist one last time,” Twilight chirped. She knelt down, examining a series of arcane glyphs on the floor and comparing them to a diagram hung on a nearby wall. She frowned as she noticed a slight discrepancy and levitated a small bag of ruby dust over to her. She poured the dust in a slow stream, carefully re-aligning the runic shape until she was certain that it patched the blueprint perfectly.
“Ruby Markings.”
“Check.”
“Salt circle around said markings?”
“Check.”
“Most complex potion I’ve ever made?” Twilight asked with a satisfied smirk, holding a vial of murky blue liquid aloft in her magic.
“Check. Modesty: not checked,” Spike grumbled.
“Oh, don’t be like that. I think I deserve to be proud of myself, I worked really hard on this!” Twilight pouted.
“I know, but you didn’t have to scream ‘success’ to all of Ponyville in the middle of the night,” Spike griped, rolling his eyes.
“Okay, maybe that was a little much, but still,” Twilight sighed. “What’s next... Oh! Pure emerald focusing lens?”
“Check,” Spike said as Twilight carefully made minute adjustments to the lens’ position on the floor.
“And lastly, a piece of the queen,” Twilight mumbled breathlessly, levitating a tiny chip of black chitin out of a nearby box. She gently placed it on the lens and took a deep breath.
“You don’t have to be that careful with it. That thing’s pretty hard,” Spike muttered.
“It’s the only one we have, and I’d like to be able to do some experiments on it later. Now check it off!” Twilight scolded.
“Fine, check. We’re all set,” Spike replied with a hint of a groan.
“Alright, stand back,” Twilight ordered gleefully. She opened the potion vial and took a sip out of it before pouring the rest on the chitin. The effect was instant; as if her mind was somehow looser inside her head. She began channeling the magic she would need for the spell, her horn glowing with bright violet light. “I’m charging the spell, casting in five seconds.”
“Be careful, Twilight,” Spike pleaded one last time.
“Oh, you worry too much!”
Her body went completely numb. She couldn’t even feel her own breathing as her vision began to tunnel, darkness appearing around the edges. Suddenly, there was a flash and she found herself face-to-face with a small changeling drone in some form of underground tunnel.
“Ha! Spike, it worked!”
“Spike? Who is Spike, my queen? What worked?” the changeling asked, a bewildered expression crossing its insectoid face.
“Wait, you heard that?” Twilight quickly squeaked in a voice that wasn’t her own, then slapped a hoof over her mouth. “I-I shouldn’t be able to speak!”
“W-why should the queen should be unable to speak?” her new companion asked.
“Because this isn’t right!” Twilight screamed, glancing around wildly. “I shouldn’t be able to look around either! I should be looking at what she’s looking at.”
Twilight looked down at her hooves; a black, holed pair of changeling hooves. She picked one up and held in front of her face.
“This- This...”
She felt herself let out a bloodcurdling shriek and her world faded to black.