I spent the first day diligently waiting, eyes glued to the horizon as I sat under my tree, occasionally stopping to munch on some grass or flowers in the area. By around midday the thought came to me that eating nothing but grass and random flowers, while possible thanks to my new anatomy, probably didn't constitute a very healthy diet. I made a mental note to myself to expand the diversity of my meals from then on.
I left my post a few hours before sundown so that I could forage for the various plants and mushrooms Zecora had identified for me. I dropped off the deed to my new land in my small hovel before venturing back out into the woods. I was out past sunset gathering things, but I kept myself unnoticed by the creatures of the forest by combining my invisibility and silencing illusions, the same way I'd done it in Canterlot while dumpster diving. Once I felt that I had enough food stuffed in my saddlebags to last a while, I started back towards my little hideaway.
I estimated that I was still several minutes away from my destination near the bog, when the various sounds of the forest went quiet. I knew this meant that there was a predator nearby, but paid it no heed, confident I would remain unnoticed within my illusions. As I continued on, I soon heard the sound of rustling leaves behind me, too close for my comfort. Turning to investigate, I saw a maniticore stalking its way through the undergrowth. I knew that it could not detect me, so I once more continued on my way... when I heard several rapid breaths that caused my heart to leap in my chest.
The sound of sniffing.
Looking behind me, the manticore now had its face to the ground, obviously following my scent as it quickly came to the tracks my invisible hooves had left only meters behind.
God dammit, I swore in my head. I should have thought of that, but... argh! There's nothing I can do about my scent! The annoying creature began following my tracks as I weaved my way around several trees in a serpentine pattern to stay ahead of it. I need to make a decision, and quickly. The manticore was moving faster by the second, and it would catch up to me very soon at this rate, but if I started running, it would easily notice the parting of bushes and other fauna as I rushed through the undergrowth. It wouldn't see me, but it would still know generally where I was and give chase. She said they don't hunt near the bog, so if I can keep ahead of it, it should give up the trail soon enough... But, looking back to the creature as it was gradually catching up to me, I don't know if I'll make it far enough in time.
I tried to still my rapid heartbeat before I could have a mini panic attack, when the logical part of my mind kicked in, and looked beyond the intimidation factor of the beast baring down on me.
I'm in no danger. Not really. I have magic, I'll just kill it.
looking back to the stalking predator, so confidant in its dominance, I hesitated for a few seconds at the thought of killing this essentially defenseless creature... Then, reaching into it's skull, I crushed it's brain in my telekinetic grip.
Watching as it toppled over without a sound, I was suddenly seized by a sense of paranoia, adrenaline shooting through my veins as my heart rate doubled on the spot. Nervously, I began looking around for anyone who could have potentially bore witness to what I had just done, as a nauseating feeling of guilt momentarily pulsed through me.
Swallowing the small amount of bile that had risen in the back of my throat, I began slowly trudging back towards my dwelling as I tried to shake the strange feelings off.
I have nothing to feel guilty about, I assured myself, it wasn't murder, and that wasn't some cute little puppy. It was a dangerous predator. It was him or me, that's simply the way it works, and nature can be far crueler. It's death was painless, there was no cruelty to my actions. You have no reason to feel anything for that creature... You have no reason to feel anything at all.
Returning to my temporary home and unloading my bags, I had intended to start making a small kitchen for myself so that I could prepare the food in some way, but now I just didn't feel up to it.
I can still eat it raw I suppose, I thought to myself. However, looking down at the plants I'd collected, I found myself without an appetite, despite the fact that I hadn't had dinner yet, and only ate a few of the plants to hold me over while I gathered more. Easily guessing what recent even was the likely cause, I tried to ignore it. Bringing a mushroom to my muzzle, intent on eating at least a few things, only for my stomach to churn, and my mouth hesitate to open.
Snarling, I forced my mouth open and took a vicious bite out of the mushroom, forced myself to chew it and then forced myself to swallow.
"Stupid useless flesh," I growled, throwing the rest of the mushroom into my mouth, only growing angrier as I still had to force myself to swallow it. "There's nothing wrong with killing some stupid manticore!" I shouted in frustration, ripping off a chunk of some large leafed plant whose name I couldn't remember right now. "That wasn't some poor little animal, it would have eaten you if given even half a chance, so fuck off with your guilt!" I continued to rave, biting into another plant.
I only forced a few more things down my throat before dropping in a huff onto my pillow so I could try and get some sleep.
Grr... If anything I should be pissed off that I didn't drag the body back with me and eat the fucking thing, I thought, venting the last of the frustration I'd built up.
Letting my body relax, and trying not to think of anything more, I gradually fell asleep.
On the second day of waiting, there was apparently a light rain scheduled for the area. The first couple of hours after sunrise saw the sky filled with pagasi positioning clouds overhead. Some of them looked down in my direction during their work, but I didn't try to hide my presence from them. I still needed ponies to know that I was here so that they would be able to give Emulate directions. When it looked like the last of the clouds were being put into place, at least as far as I could see, I made an umbrella stand and a large umbrella to go inside it.
Suffice it to say, that was the high point of the days activities as I spent the rest of it staring out into the rain, bored.
By the third day, the novelty of waiting for Emulate to show up must have worn off, as it was aggressively boring. Way more so than usual. I was tempted to see if Twilight would still accept my library card now that my false identity was revealed. Ultimately I decided not to tempt fate though, and kept to my policy of staying out of the town itself.
I need to go foraging again soon, I noted while taking my dinner out of the simple icebox I'd made to keep everything as fresh as possible. I'll do it on the way back tomorrow, I decided.
Throughout the fourth day I was intermittently switching between staring off into space in abject boredom, feeling as if my brains were melting away and dripping out of my ears, and nervously wondering if something had gone wrong. It was taking way too long for Emulate to arrive, at least as far as I was concerned.
From what I learned while in their caravan, it takes them about five days to cross the full breadth of the Badlands. Even factoring in a couple of days to collect some love energy before leaving, they should have made it into Equestria three days ago... Seeing that the sun was getting lower, I decided to leave for the day and give myself some more daylight to gather my food with. ...And I wanted to ask Zecora if she had a book on potions I could borrow. I've had all I can take of this sitting around with nothing to do crap. Getting up, I took one last look around before sighing and starting the walk back. Maybe there was some kind of delay I didn't account for? ...That must be it. Moving a caravan of wagons through the mountains is probably pretty hard...
Later that night, after having restocked my food supply, I made the trip to Zecora's hut.
The forest was dark by the time I arrived, but I could still see light through the window. Knocking on the door, I waited for it to open. "Hey Zecora," I greeted.
"Oh, I did not expect to see you for some time Cotton, I do hope your plans have not gone rotten?" She asked while moving aside to let me in.
"No, they're just getting a little stale is all," I answered, going along with her metaphor as I walked inside. "My friend is taking longer to get here than I expected, so I'll be around for a while longer... But anyway, how are you? It's been a few days, and I didn't really do much visiting last time."
"I am quite well, as you can see," she said, walking across the room to a counter where a cup of tea and some half eaten food informed me that I'd interrupted her dinner. "...Though I sense conversation is not all you sought from me?" She asked, eyebrow raised as she turned in my direction.
"Well... not really. I was wondering if you had a book on potions I could borrow? I need something to do while I wait around, but I didn't want to risk stirring anything up by going to the library."
"A book about potions you wish to see?" She questioned, "then I believe I have just the thing to sate your curiosity," she stated, walking over to her bookshelf. She looked through the titles for a few seconds before finding the one she was looking for. "This book, I have found, to be quite a delight," she said, bringing over a green book with some kind of spindly looking plant on the cover. "...And on the way of potions it will shed much light."
"Thanks," I thanked, taking the book in my magic and looking at the title written on the spine. Supernaturals... Why does that sound familiar..? "I really appreciate this. I'll be sure to bring it back in perfect condition," I promised with a reassuring smile, which she returned with a nod. "...Well... I better head out. It's getting late, and I should let you get back to your dinner."
With an exchange of farewells, I made my way back to my dwelling, happy to have something to do now while I continue to wait.
The next few days passed uneventfully as I read the book of herbal remedies. According to the title page and preface, it was first published in Baltimare about eighty years ago by an earth pony herbalist named Lily Evergreen. The book wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it being little more than a glorified cook book. There were no descriptions of the materials used in each recipe, only providing the names, amounts, and how they should be prepared. There was an appendix that held some information on the many different plants used in the various recipes, but it provided only brief descriptions with no clarifying pictures for those who had never heard of these species before. In addition to the brief descriptions was a small caption about their preferred growing conditions, presumably for the benefit of any home gardeners reading.
A very dry read, all in all. Though it did inform me that the only real difference between magical potions and the kind of herbal remedies to be found on earth, was that some of the ingredients were imbued with a sort of latent magic that they just naturally grow with. Presumably, then, the trick of it is finding out how these latent magics interact with each other to provide beneficial effects, I mused to myself.
The next day, day seven I had anxiously noted to myself that morning, I was perusing through the various recipes, just looking at the kind of things these magic remedies could do, when I heard a roar at around midday. Looking up I tried to find the source, as it sounded too close to have come from the forest. As another roar rang out, it sounded like it came from the direction of Ponyville, but it wasn't a roar I could recognize from my time in the Everfree. The roars continued as I moved to the hill that would give me a view of the town, and when I reached the top, I was greeted with the sight of an enormous dragon, one with a very familiar coloration, going on a rampage through town.
Oh, I thought, it must be Spike's birthday. I took a few minutes to try and remember the events surrounding this situation, and eventually recalled that he had taken all of Zecora's stuff. I wonder if that still happened... If it did, I should go help her bring everything back. It's the least I can do, really, considering everything she's done for me.
Day eight, and my tree was finally starting to heal. The leaf buds seemed too big to have only just grown since yesterday, but only today did I notice them as I walked to my usual spot at the tree's base. There's probably some significance to that, I thought. I'm looking up today... I wonder why... I did feel... better, I suppose, than I had for a while now... Like I had more energy. It was probably all the activity yesterday, I thought, remembering the several hours it had taken to track down all of Zecora's possessions and get them back to her hut.
That was my first time going into town since I came back. I kept myself hidden under the guise of another pony though, just in case. Zecora didn't approve of it for some reason, but I was able to talk her into accepting it. I also used the opportunity to keep an eye out for Emulate's Stargazer identity, just in case she had shown up to the whole town panicking and wasn't able to ask around for me.
I didn't see her though... Now it was back to the old routine, and I wasn't sure how much longer I would keep waiting before giving up...
But... I also don't know what I'm going to do next... I'd like to keep studying more magic, but I'll need to find a job. I could try to patch things up with Ponyville and the main six... But it would probably be easier to just move somewhere else... Start over while I've still got nothing to leave behind.
My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed a form approaching from the direction of town. My hopes were quickly dashed, however, no pun intended, when I saw the familiar selection of colors hovering along just above the ground. When I spotted Applejack as well, I thought I was in for some kind of intervention or something... But when no more forms crested the hill behind the two, I became very suspicious of why the two most physically inclined members of the group would come to see me alone. As a precaution, I made myself invisible while producing an illusion of me walking a few meters away to one side-
"Hey! Don't you try running away from us!" Dash yelled, zooming around to get in front of where my illusion was walking.
"I wouldn't dream of it," I replied through my doppelganger's mouth, making it sit down. If things get physical, at least this way the first swing won't leave a bruise. "...So," I started once Applejack had gotten closer, "what can I do for you today, ladies?" I asked with a friendly smile.
"How 'bout ya start with not lyin' ta us," replied Applejack in her usual manner of not mincing words.
"We've got some questions for you pal," continued Rainbow, trying to be intimidating by getting right in my copies face, forcing me to make it lean back to keep her from touching it.
"And what would those be?" I asked, neutrally, as she backed up to hover near Applejack.
"Where were you between the hours of one and three yesterday afternoon!" Dash more yelled than asked, pointing an accusatory hoof at me, despite not accusing me of anything yet.
"I don't own a watch, so I really have no idea," I answered with a shrug. "But I was probably right here. Why?"
"Oh really?" Questioned Applejack, sceptically raising an eyebrow at me. "'Cause RD here's been keepin' an eye on you since we heard ya got back, an' she says you were nowhere ta be found yesterday," she said while I cast a humorous glance at Rainbow.
"You've been spying on me, doing nothing, for a week? Heh heh heh, that must've been a blast," I sarcastically stated.
"Yeah. I was. You wanna change your answer?"
"Well, if I wasn't here, than I would have been helping Zecora gather up all her things after Spike made off with them."
"Likely story," Dash replied with narrowed eyes. "Got any proof to back that up?"
"Well, you could go and ask her yourself. It should only take you a minute. You are pretty fast, after all," I said, goading her.
"I just might do that," she said threateningly, like she thought I was bluffing.
"No one's stopping you," I shot back.
She continued to glare challengingly at my copy for a few seconds before Applejack ended the little staring contest.
"Go on RD," she said, placing a hoof on Rainbow's side, "ah'll keep an eye on 'im. You go an' talk ta Zecora."
"Fine," Rainbow replied, lifting herself off the ground. "But don't let him escape!"
"Don't you worry none," she said, tilting her stetson upwards and revealing a coil of rope. "He ain't goin' nowhere."
With a nod of affirmation, Rainbow shot off towards the forest, retreating out of sight within seconds and leaving the two of us alone... I watched Applejack keeping a weary eye on my fake for a few seconds before voicing the question that had been on my mind since I saw the two of them coming for me.
"...So, Applejack," I started. "What, exactly, am I being accused of right now?"
"Yesterday durin' Spike's little... er, episode," she started, trying not to paint spike's little 'incident' in a bad light, although her use of the word episode got a smirk out of me. "Somepony attacked the Mayor and her assistant."
"...And you think I did it?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow, surprised enough by the accusation that I didn't even feel insulted by it. "What have I ever done that would give you the impression that I just go around and attack ponies for no apparent reason? How do you know they were even attacked? In case you didn't notice, there was a bit of a panic going on yesterday. They probably just tripped or something."
"We know they were attacked 'cause they told us so. They were hidin' in the mayors office an' heard somepony open the door, then they got knocked out!" She exclaimed indignantly, as if I, the liar, were accusing the Mayor and her assistant of lying.
"And they claimed it was me?" I pointedly asked.
"No, they didn't see who it was," she replied with a shake of her head. "But yer the only suspicious pony who's bin in town lately, so we thought we'd pay ya a visit."
"Of course I am," I said with a role of my eyes to the 'suspicious' comment. "But that reminds me, you say 'we', so why did only you and Rainbow come here? It strikes me as a little suspicious that the two most physically inclined members of the group came to see me alone... I trust you weren't planning on beating me up while the others weren't looking, were you?" I asked, gesturing to her hat, and the rope hidden underneath it.
"'Course not... 'twas just a percaution is all."
"Oh, yes, obviously," I sarcastically quipped. "But that doesn't answer why the two of you came alone."
"If ya really gotta know, it's 'cause the others were busy is all. Rarity's gettin' a wall replaced at her boutique, Twilight's coordinatin' the repair of the other damaged buildin's, Fluttershy's gettin' a new chicken coop made... An' we both know Pinkie wouldn't wanna come an' see you again," she sniped, "even if she an' the Cakes didn't have ta get Sugarcube Corner repaired."
"...She's still sore- Whoosh -ver that, huh?" I said as Rainbow nearly rainboomed back next to us, wind from the pressure cone of her velocity whipping Applejack's mane over to her other side. Rainbow did not look happy, and Applejack also narrowed her eyes at 'me' for some reason.
"Okay, so your story checks out," Rainbow begrudgingly admitted. "...But Zecora told me something really suspicious about you! You can use your magic to make yourself look like somepony else!" She loudly declared. "So who knows what you've been getting up to when I wasn't looking!"
"Oh," I said, frowning a bit. "She told you that part." To be fair, I never asked her to keep it secret... but it's not something I wanted known.
"Yeah!" She exclaimed, getting right in my doppelgangers face again as I made it lean back. "So I'll be keeping an extra close eye on you from now on-" she promised, raising a hoof while I prepared to move my illusion back farther. "-Buster!" She finished, jabbing her hoof forward as I made my copy perform a nimble hop backwards from its sitting position to get out of her reach. The sudden movement seemed to surprise her, as she tensed up for a second before simply raising an eyebrow at me.
"I don't like having my personal space violated, if you wouldn't mind," I said by way of an excuse.
"Uh... yeah," Rainbow replied, a bit uncertainly, while Applejack merely narrowed her eyes at 'me' again.
"That ain't all there is to it, is there?" She asked.
"What do you mea-"
Before I could react, she suddenly bolted from her spot and tried to tackle my illusion, passing harmlessly through it, and making Rainbows eyes widen in surprise at both her actions, and the result.
"...Well that was uncalled for," I deadpanned. "What gave me away?"
"Yer mane didn't blow in the wind when Rainbow came back," she answered, looking around, trying to find the real me. "...An' jumpin' like that over a little touch was a might suspicious too. So where are ya?" She asked as Rainbow started looking around as well.
"I'm around. But I'll be staying out of sight, if it's all the same to you. I don't like getting into physical confrontations, so if verifying my innocence was all you wanted, then I guess I'll be leaving now," I said, allowing my illusory double to fade away as I got up and started walking back to the forest.
"Hey! You can't just leave!" Dash yelled, lifting herself off the ground, fruitlessly trying to find me. "I'm not done with you yet!" She yelled into the distance, gaining a few more meters of altitude.
Whatever, I thought, dismissing her with an eye roll as I kept walking.
"Grr... Why did you have to come back here!" She practically screamed into the distance, like she thought I was half way to the forest already. "Pinkie was just getting back to her old self again! Why couldn't you have just stayed gone!"
That gave me pause... I still wasn't fully over this whole situation myself yet. But I had to come back... I don't know what else I could have done... I was doing my best to detach myself from those old memories and feelings... but it sounded like she was having an even harder time of it. Of course she is. She doesn't have as much experience as I do with getting rid of emotional dead weight like this... Finding out that a close friend had been lying to her from the beginning is probably the most traumatizing thing she's ever had to experience... I felt a small tear start to form in my eye. Lucky her...
...
"Rrrgg!" Dash growled, still high in the air.
"...Come on down Rainbow," Called Applejack. "He's gone... Let's head on back ta town," she continued as Rainbow lowered herself back to the ground.
"Okay..." Rainbow replied, feeling a bit downcast after the anger induced adrenaline spike.
"...I am sorry," I said aloud, stopping them in their tracks only a few steps after they'd started. They turned in my direction, although I kept myself invisible. "Please, do your best to help her forget about me... Forget that I ever existed. If everything goes according to plan, I will disappear from all of your lives, forever, in another week or two."
With that, I returned to the forest, spending the rest of the day restocking my food, and hoping Emulate would get here soon.
It was dark when I woke up that morning. Looking up at the sky when I went outside for my morning wizz, I saw a thick layer of dark clouds overhead.
Looks like it's gunna rain today, I thought. The first time it rained on me, I woke up in a puddle of muddy water that had run down into my little haven. Thankfully the water didn't get at my deed, which I have since coated in a layer of conjured plastic, like magical laminate. At least my home is set up better now... And I'll take rain over those damn dragons roaring all day. The dragon migration was just yesterday, and while it was cool for the first few minutes, it just got annoying to listen to by the third hour.
Walking back inside, I closed the storm cellar style doors that were now installed over top of the small staircase that led down into my home. I'd expanded my bolthole into a true underground home, while also experimenting with my illusion magic in an attempt to achieve manipulation of the other senses. I'd been using parasprites as my main test subjects, held individually within several large glass cases, and keeping their reproduction in check by only feeding them when they were on the verge of starvation. That time being determined as the point when they no longer have the strength to fly, as when fed in this state, they did not reproduce. I'd had a few promising results, but haven't achieved anything consistently reproducible yet.
Making my way into the kitchen for some breakfast, I noticed the pile of newspapers sitting on the floor off to one side. It's been a few days since the last time I made a news run... I should go do that today.
It had been six weeks since my encounter with Applejack and Rainbow Dash... and I had resigned myself to the fact that the changelings must have decided not to trust me. I'd started making covert trips into town every couple of days to buy a new copy of the national news. It was mostly in the hopes of seeing a story about a large pony caravan, or a group of pony immigrants. Anything that could clue me in to the changelings having come into the country... I haven't seen anything yet.
I started buying the papers about a week after my talk with those two. I'd been using my own home-made counterfeit bits... Well, they weren't really counterfeit. They were made out of real gold, created using transfiguration magic, and were modeled off of the one real bit I had left. Besides, a few dozen extra bits in circulation wouldn't be causing any economic crashes so... no harm no foul, is the way I looked at it.
After breakfast I donned the dark brown all-weather cloak hanging in my entry way before heading out towards town. The cloak was courtesy of Zecora, and was of the same design as the one that she'd made for herself years ago. She made it for me in exchange for some help gathering rarer, and in some cases, more dangerous ingredients from the deeper areas of the forest. One notable ingredient being paraspider venom, which, when diluted and mixed with the right herbs, could make a strong muscle relaxant in the form of an anti-cramping potion.
I'd been visiting Zecora every few days for the last month or so for some social contact between stints of solitude. Mostly we would just talk for a bit, but on occasion I would help her experiment with new potions that she was concocting. I'd also finally gotten around to telling her the truth about my situation. I couldn't tell if she believed me or not, but she accepted my story without complaint. I learned quite a bit more about her past as well, all though she still would not speak about her old village, or why she decided to leave it. The first item on the list of things I had wanted to know was, obviously, her rhyming thing. Apparently it was a side effect of her training as a shaman. In order to condition an apprentice to always think deeply on what they say before saying it, they would be required to speak only in rhymes for the duration of their training. This often lead to them picking it up as a life-long habit by the time their training was completed.
Thunder was already sounding from farther back to the east when I made it to the edge of the forest. There I saw a group of weather pagasi fighting against the dark clouds spilling over into Ponyville's bright and clear airspace. The phenomenon of the Everfree was very interesting to witness first hoof. As the pagasi dispersed the clouds with their usual efficiency, those who moved too far forward would merely pass through them, their weather magic suddenly ineffective. I made myself invisible before continuing past them and into town.
Something seemed... off... about the ponies in town. They weren't smiling like they usually were, and they were missing the usual bounce to their step. Everypony seems a lot less lively today... I wonder why? I pondered, walking around the slightly downcast crowds. You'd think there's been some kind of tragedy or something. Continuing on, I chose to ignore it. After all, everypony considers it a tragedy when the Apples run out of cider, so it was probably nothing anyway.
As I approached the post office I took a moment to make sure no pony was looking, and shifted my illusion into the guise of a random pony before walking in. Giving a friendly wave to the mail room clerk, I walked over to the newspaper box, inserting one of my totally real bits. With the clinking sound of a falling coin the latch on the front opened up, allowing me to take a copy of the Equestrian National News. I didn't even look at it as I tucked it under my cloak and proceeded back outside, re-exchanging my disguise for invisibility on the way out the door.
The clouds over the Everfree had gotten even darker, with thunder sounding every few seconds. Dang. This looks like it's a full blown thunderstorm. That's pretty rare. Since I got here there's only been one natural thunderstorm before this. When I got closer, I could tell that it had already started to rain beyond the line made by the still present weather team. I took a seat just outside of town by the little bridge, planning on watching some lightning for a while before trudging through the rain. It was at this time I noticed that Rainbow Dash was conspicuously absent from the line of pagasi flying at the ready. I wonder where she's gone off to...
"Oohhh... what now?!" I heard one member of the weather team groan, and then yell out in annoyance. Looking up, I saw the team was now looking out to the west, away from the thunderstorm. Turning that way myself, I saw what looked like another cloud approaching Ponyville from the direction of the Whitetail Woods. Something was clearly wrong with it though.
It was black as pitch, for one. And moving very fast for a cloud.
About half of the weather team took off to try and deal with it while the rest kept the nearby storm in check. Things only got stranger though, as another cloud faded into view. This one, however, shimmered in the sunlight like a cloud of glitter.
...The fuck is goin on?
I soon found out, as the sound of screaming rang out from the town, and the other half of the weather team returned, yelling their heads off about an invasion. The buzzing noise of insectile wings was not far behind them, and quickly grew louder as the cloud became close enough to resolve into a mass of changelings.
"Wha..? Why, what, why!" I shouted, illusion dropping with my concentration, eyes wide and mouth agape in unmitigated shock.
The shimmering cloud behind them soon became close enough to distinguish as well. A wave of armored ponies, as what must have been a significant chunk of the Equestrian military was in hot pursuit. Hundreds of gold armored pagasi pulling flying chariots, baring with them hundreds more of the flightless guardsponies. As the swarm passed overhead, the sound of a thousand buzzing wings drowned out all other noise.
"Hey! What are you doing! What's going on!" I called out to them. "Your not even in disguise, what the hell is going on!!" I screamed, however, they either couldn't hear me over the noise, or all chose to ignore me. Near the middle of the swarm, I spotted a dense cluster of changelings carrying something. I managed to see what it was when they got closer, and it was Chrysalis. It looked like she was unconscious. The last of the changelings soon passed by, all flying just beneath the thunderclouds and quickly leaving my line of sight over the canopy.
"Break off!" Called out a magically amplified voice, breaking me out of the shocked stupor I'd just been thrown into. "Don't fly into the storm!" It ordered, bringing the army to a halt at the edge of the clouds.
Conductive gold armor and lightning don't mix well, I acknowledged, jumping to my hooves and running at full gallop into the forest as the chariots started landing. What the fuck is happening! Why did they reveal themselves? I internally questioned, heedless of the newspaper that became dislodged from under my cloak, falling unnoticed to the ground and revealing the headline:
CHANGELINGS ATTACK CANTERLOT!
PRINCESS CADENZA FOALNAPPED!