Rarity dived through the open door, through to her workroom. Scanning about for something, anything that she could use against her assailant, she caught sight of her full-length mirror. It was a rather beautiful thing, framed in beautifully carved wood, a gift from Berry Punch once upon a time, a repayment for a favour long in the past.
Silently apologizing to the mirror, Rarity’s horn lit up, and popped the sheet of glass out from its frame. A second later, and a squeeze from her magic, the mirror was in thousands of razor-sharp pieces, just as her assailant managed to find her.
Seconds later, the changeling fell to the floor, its chitinous body littered with cuts and gashes. Rarity suppressed a sigh at seeing the greenish-black blood pooling on the floor, and pointedly decided that she was not going to think about the cost to get it cleaned.
A scream echoed through the air.
“Sweetie Belle!” called Rarity, dashing outside, the mirror fragments trailing in her wake, sparkling and shimmering in the sunlight. Occasionally, a group of them would break off to help a few ponies, distracting the attacking changelings long enough for the ponies to get the upper hoof.
Rarity skidded to a stop a few streets away from Carousel Boutique, confronted by two identical Sweetie Belles.
“Alright, you fiends,” said Rarity, lowering her head, the cloud of mirror shards floating around her, still suspended in her magic field, “Tell me where my sister is, and this won’t hurt.”
“But I’m your sister!” both said, at the exact same time. Identical looks adorned their faces, and even the exact tone was a perfect match. Rarity’s eyes narrowed, trying to pick out some physical difference between them.
She sighed as she realised that she couldn’t, not without potentially hurting her sister. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glint of something in one of the larger mirror shards. Cocking her head to the side, she twisted and turned the shard of glass around until she saw it again. Upon realising what it was, she let out a thoroughly unladylike snort of laughter.
Turning back to the identical pair of Sweetie Belles, she considered them both a second longer, and then, as loud as she could, Rarity called out.
“Sweetie Belle, what did I tell you about the kitchen?”
Behind her, Sweetie stuck her head out from the bush she had been hiding in.
“That I wasn’t allowed to cook until you told me to, and you had a fire extinguishing spell,” called Sweetie, only then realising what she’d done.
“Thank you, Sweetie,” said Rarity, her magic and the shards of the mirror bursting back into life. For the next few seconds, Rarity was at the centre of a veritable storm of magically assisted glass and metal.
“You can come over now, Sweetie,” said Rarity, once the last changeling had fallen to the ground.
“That was so cool, Rarity! Where did you learn to do that?” squeaked the younger unicorn, bounding over to Rarity.
“You’d be surprised what you can pick up by reading, but I must confess that this was mostly improvisation. But now, I think, you had best go find someplace safe to hide. Twilight’s castle should likely be safe. If it isn’t, Sweetie, go back to the boutique and hide there. I’ll come for you when I can. My mirror and I have a date with some changelings right now.”
“Okay!” said Sweetie, rushing away. Rarity smiled as she watched her sister vanish around a corner, heading to Twilight’s castle in the distance. She turned to face the rest of the street, her ears picking out the sounds of fighting all across town, and she ran off, looking for anypony who needed help.
Princess Luna walked out from behind a half-destroyed flower stand, a smile on her face.
“Interesting,” she muttered, looking at the direction that Rarity had run off in. “Very interesting indeed.”
And then, with an impossible twist of space, which only left behind a faint wisp of blue-black smoke, Luna vanished from Rarity’s dream.