The thick green fog dissipated faster than it had spread, disappearing entirely as the envelope fell onto the carpet, burning up until it was reduced to a pile of ash. Twilight looked at her siblings. They looked back at her. Spike stood with his mouth agape in disbelief. For a moment, they all stood there. Silence filled the room. The sound of the wind knocking at the windowsill could be heard. Twilight wanted to believe it had been a joke… but the looks that were being exchanged dispelled any feeling of hope. After what seemed to have been forever, the silence was shattered by Spike’s voice.
“Princess… Celestia? Dead? But… how? When?” he stuttered, attempting to force out any endeavors of his mind to believe the message that had just been delivered.
Twilight spoke up. “We don’t know for sure whether or not that letter carried the truth.”
She walked over to the window, drawing back the velvet curtains and gazing over Ponyville, across to the mountains in the far background. It was too dark to distinguish anything suspicious in Canterlot from there.
“It just seems impossible…” Twilight solemnly remarked.
Shining Armor put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Look, sis, whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out. Whether that letter is true or not we can’t determine… but come morning I’ll do everything I can to get back to Canterlot and see if anything’s up.”
He looked into Twilight’s eyes. His words were sincere, but far from consoling.
“Celestia… my mentor… the pony who saw and embraced my gift for magic ever since I was a foal… the pony to whom I owe my entire life to… dead? And at the hand of whom?” Once again, the scream of what she thought to be of the dying Celestia echoed in her head.
Twilight clenched her teeth and put her hooves to her ears tightly.
“Agghh…! No!”
“Twilight!” Cadance exclaimed. “What’s happening?”
The scream seemed to progressively become louder, until it wracked through her brain like a hundred bees stinging her face all at once. All outside noise was drowned out, she felt faint creeping upon her once again…
“TWILIGHT!” Cadance yelled, using her magic to snap the unicorn out of hypnosis. “Stay with me. What’s going on?”
“Trust me, Cadance, it’s… nothing. I just get severe headaches when I’m stressed or scared on occasion, nothing peculiar.”
“Twilight, I’m worried about you. Ever since that fall you took during the party, you’ve looked… wearier.” Cadance put a hoof under Twilight’s chin, lifting her head up to make eye contact. “Don’t be afraid to speak up if anything’s bothering you. I’m your sister, you can trust me.”
Twilight’s mind still rang with the sound of the scream. The concept of Celestia, an immortal, dying just seemed incomprehensible. She knew Cadance and Shining Armor meant well, but on the inside they were just as worried as she was that the letter may have been true. If it was… then who could the sender be? She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a light knock at the door.
The four of them exchanged glances. It was the middle of the night, and they had just received a letter claiming Celestia was dead. Should they still open the door?
Shining Armor beckoned them to get back, and strode over to the door. He flinched as another knock tapped against it. Slowly, he used his magic to turn the doorknob, and then jumped back as it flung open. Everypony was expecting the worst.
“Well what in the hay’s all this here ruckus about?” asked a confused looking Applejack as the four ponies all staring at her.
“Applejack?!” Twilight sighed in relief. “Why are you visiting us this late…?”
“Well ya see, I’ve been concerned about ya’ll ever since I left your side. I thought it selfish of me to prioritize my own sleep over your welfare, so I ran back here faster than a rattle snake in a cow barrel! And might I add, it’s mighty refreshin’ to see you awake.”
“Well, thanks,” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Applejack… did you see anything suspicious on your way over here?”
“Heavens no. It’s too dark to see anythin’ at this time o’ night anyways!” She looked off towards the window, and her mouth scrunched up a bit as if wincing in pain.
Twilight walked over to the window and drew back the curtains.
“But every street corner is lit up with a lamppost!”
“Well… uh…” Twilight thought she recognized a sweat drop on Applejack’s forehead. “Like I said before, I didn’t see nopony suspicerous or nothin’!”
“… Alright. I believe you, Applejack. It’s just that…”
Twilight explained to Applejack how Spike had gotten sick to his stomach, the letter that had been sent by somepony anonymous, and its claims that Princess Celestia was dead.
“I don’t wanna say I trust that little slip o’ paper. It could be somepony playin’ a prank, ya never know.”
“But the voice… it sounded almost demonic. It would take a very advanced level of magic to even conjure a letter to be expelled from Spike’s throat that had not come from the princess herself!”
“I think you’re worryin’ a bit too much, Twi. It’s probably all in yer head. Well, I can see you’re alright and everythin’ so I guess I’ll just be on my way…”
Twilight looked closely at Applejack. She did not seem like her usual self. Her eyes kept moving from side to side, as if she were expecting a monster to jump out from the walls. She was hiding something, and Twilight wasn’t about to let her southern friend go without spilling the beans.
“Oh, Applejack, you look dreadfully tired, and it’s two o’clock in the morning! I wouldn’t want to burden you with the looong walk back to Sweet Apple Acres at this hour. Why not stay the night here? I’m sure my brother and Cadance could accommodate you.” The couple looked at each other skeptically, knowing that they had no extra beds, but Twilight shot them a look that said “Trust me.”
“Thank ya kindly for the offer Twi, but I really should be headin’ off now… I’ve got cows to milk!”
Twilight thought she noticed a flicker of green in Applejack’s eye. Like a fire it lit up, and extinguished itself as quickly as it had came. Suddenly, the thought struck Twilight like a lightning bolt.
“That isn’t Applejack at all… she would never tell a lie!”
Twilight pounced upon Applejack, knocking her onto the ground.
“Who in the hoof are you?!” she demanded.
“Twilight, what are you-“ Shining Armor began.
Just then, the shape of Applejack began to contort and twist like a spiral. Twilight was casting some sort of spell on her while she was pinned. Slowly, her color faded from a light orange to a deep black. The pupils on her eyes turned a bright emerald green. Five stubby claws popped out of her hooves like bones, and several holes were made in them. Her face warped, and formed into a round insect-like head with two fangs sticking out from where her teeth had been. Finally, two great black wings emerged from her back, with many holes punctured through them. They began to beat slowly, gradually buzzing faster until the creature had gained enough momentum to knock Twilight off, and then scampered up onto its feet.
“Is that a…” Spike gaped in disbelief.
The Applejack that visited them had been a Changeling in disguise. “My children already dwell among you.” Twilight now had no doubts that the letter had been truthful.
“Quick! Stop it!” Shining Armor shouted, casting a projectile spell in the shape of a net towards the vile creature.
The changeling nimbly leaped off the side as the net whisked past him, knocking against the wall and sticking there like a spider web. The changeling made a leap for the open window, but Twilight quickly shot a net spell that blocked its only escape. Frantically gazing around, the changeling hopped onto the wall, and began scaling the ceiling like a spider. Cadance, Shining Armor, and Twilight all began firing red-colored projectiles towards it, but the changeling was agile enough to scamper around them. At last, one of Cadance’s blasts went haywire and knocked against the ceiling, creating a small explosion which shattered a hole in the ceiling on impact. The entire room shook and dust fell like a cloud, getting into everypony’s eyes. When it had cleared, the Changeling had crawled up through the opening.
Twilight quickly warped herself up into the room above them. It was unoccupied, fortunately; Twilight could not bear to think of what would happen if somepony reported seeing a changeling in their hotel room. She spun around to face Cadance, who had also teleported up next to her.
“Twilight! Did you see where it went?” she frantically asked.
“No, it must have-“ Twilight eyed the window. “There!”
Both mares ran up to the windowsill, looking down on the streets of Ponyville below. Twilight looked from one end of the street to the next, searching for any sign of the changeling.
“It couldn’t have gone far!” she said, without turning around. “We’ll have to follow it-“
Before Twilight could finish her sentence, Cadance shoved her out of the open window. Quickly grasping onto the edge of the windowsill with one hoof, Twilight looked up to see Cadance warp back into the shape of the changeling.
“You’re right,” it sneered. “It was right behind you the whole time!”
Twilight winced as the changeling raised its hooves to buck Twilight off of the ledge, onto the unforgiving ground five stories below her. She shut her eyes tightly, and began to hear the sound of Celestia’s scream, growing in her mind, ever louder…
Just as her hoof began to slip, Shining Armor bucked his horn through the Changeling’s stomach, causing green goo to spill from the gaping hole that had been made through the dying creature. He then knocked his full body into it, casting its corpse down over the window ledge, where it splattered onto the cold ground below, losing one of its arms.
Twilight had barely any consciousness left to realize what had just happened. The scream began to reap her mind, causing her hoof to slip off the ledge. Her eyes slowly shut closed…
She suddenly felt a grip on her own hoof, and regained her wits, expelling the scream from her mind.
“Twilight!” Shining Armor shouted. “Don’t you dare let go on me.” He stared into her eyes, and she stared back.
Gradually, Twilight lifted her other front hoof back up and gripped her desperate brother. He yanked her back up with great force, causing her to fly through the window and onto the floor in the unoccupied hotel room. She stood back up, dazed from all that had just happened.
“You… saved my life,” she said, her mouth still gaping at the thought of almost having lost it.
“I guess I did,” Shining Armor beamed, embracing Twilight sincerely. “That’s what big brothers are for, after all.”
They stood in their embrace for a long while. Twilight was not only relieved that her life had just been spared from a horrible demise at the hands of a changeling, the race that had killed Princess Celestia herself, but she was reassured that her brother still had room, deep in his heart, which was devoted entirely to her. This gave her a new sense of motivation, a kind of sense that was almost happy enough to repel the thought of Princess Celestia having been killed from her mind. The two ponies leapt back down through the hole into Cadance and Shining Armor’s own room.
“What happened?” Cadance frowned. “Did the changeling get away?”
“The changeling is dead,” Shining Armor responded. “It would have taken my little sister from me had I not intervened, so I have no pity for the foul thing.”
“Oh, dear…” Cadance remarked, concerned. “Are you going to be okay, Twilight? You look groggier than when you woke up from your faint!”
“I’m fine,” Twilight said. “It’s just… been a long night.” She scratched the back of her mane.
“I agree,” Shining Armor interjected. “We had all better get some rest. In the morning I’ll head over to the city council to try and get things sorted out. In the meantime… do not open the door to anypony without asking them a question only their true self would know.”
The other three in company nodded their heads solemnly. Twilight crept back into the bed she had woken up in, Shining Armor and Cadance went off into the separate master bedroom, and Spike crawled into his basket which had been brought over after Twilight had taken her fall at the party.
So many conflictions raced through Twilight’s mind. In just one night, Princess Celestia had been killed and the city of Canterlot taken by Changelings, she had fainted during her brother and sister’s anniversary party, and she had nearly been killed by a changeling in the form of Cadance. She slowly rolled onto one side, shutting her eyes and attempting to forget everything that had occurred… but it was impossible. She tried to force the scream out of her mind, but it still lingered, and she could not shake off the fact that it had been the scream of a dying Celestia. How is it that she was able to hear this? Had their minds been psychologically connected somehow? Could that have been the cause of her faint during the party? Too many questions invaded her mind. Twilight would go restless that night.