//------------------------------// // 5. Scares and suspicions // Story: Love Hungry // by helmet of salvation //------------------------------// Princess Luna watched anxiously from the eastern balcony of Friendship Castle, barely able to distinguish the horizon from the black sky. She had lowered the moon a good few minutes ago, signalling the end of another Equestrian night, and her sister was overdue to raise the sun to its appointed place. However, there was not the faintest glow of dawn to be seen. She was reminded of the last time the sun did not rise on time. When she, corrupted beyond all reason into the creature calling herself Nightmare Moon, had resolved never to let the sun rise again. The shame of those memories exacerbated her anxiety and added a sense of bleak irony. Back then, she relentlessly craved the chance to rule Equestria alone; would that role now be forced upon her? Would she once again find herself separated from her sister, not for a thousand years of exile but for life? Please raise the sun. Please raise the sun. Please raise the sun. Please raise the sun. Please raise the sun. Please ... Her silent begging finally received an answer. A dim but unmistakable pink suffusion in the eastern sky told her that Celestia was alive, and attending to her cosmic duty. A little late, but accounted for nevertheless. Luna's heart leapt as rapidly as the dawn crossed Ponyville, bathing the little town in its warm, life-giving light. Heaving a deep sigh of relief, Luna made her way from the balcony to the castle's main dining room. Twilight was already up, impassively grazing on a bowl of oats and chopped apple. She barely acknowledged Luna, let alone offered her any breakfast. This ungracious display undermined Luna's elation somewhat, but she could not stay offended. Not at Twilight Sparkle, the pony who had led her then-new friends on that fateful journey to unleash the Elements of Harmony and annihilate the corruption that had enslaved her. Luna owed both her restoration and her eventual acceptance by Equestria at large to Celestia's unassuming student. So, during her stay at the castle, she tolerated the unexpectedly terse and aloof manner that had been emanating from her hostess lately. "I need to speak with you, Twilight Sparkle". "Mm-hmm." "I'm afraid I need to spend this morning in Canterlot, possibly longer. There are certain duties I have to fulfil in Celestia's absence." "Sure, fine, no problem," Twilight replied with an air of indifference. Unsure whether Twilight had registered her words, Luna continued, "If you need my help with the changelings, or anything else, by all means send for me immediately". Twilight shrugged. "We haven't needed you at all so far. There hasn't been any hint of the changelings. No suspicious behaviour at all. Stay in Canterlot as long as you need to. We've got it covered here. If we need your help, we can send for you." Luna was taken aback by Twilight's unconcerned reaction, not to mention her unsubtle implication that she was not needed. However, she did not feel it was her place to question it. Twilight was Ponyville's resident princess. Luna was here only because she volunteered to stay and help. "Very well then, I shall get ready to leave." "You do that," replied Twilight, not even looking as Luna walked back to her bedroom. Spike emerged from the shadows, working up the courage to speak. "Twilight, did I hear that right? You told Princess Luna to stay in Canterlot as long as she needs to?" "She can do more good from there. The rest of Equestria needs leadership too." "But that leaves us more vulnerable to the changelings!" "I guess you didn't eavesdrop on all of our conversation, then. There's been no sign of any changelings." "Yet. What if they've been biding their time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike? Which you might just have given them?" "Sheesh, Spike, if it's not the siege worrying you it's the changelings," snapped Twilight. "If we need Luna, we send for her. Now stop questioning me. I'm going into the library to catch up on my studying and I'm in no mood for interruptions. Got that?" Without waiting for an answer, Twilight dematerialised from the dining room, leaving Spike to contemplate this latest unsettling exhibition from his mistress and the horrifying implications thereof. Spike had lived alongside Twilight Sparkle ever since she magically hatched him from his egg and worked as her assistant as soon as he was able. He was intimately familiar with her temperament, her foibles, her unfathomable yet somehow adorable ideas of fun. He had never known her to be so cold and remote as she had become over the past week. It was worse than before she moved to Ponyville, before she even knew or cared what it was like to have friends her own age. Even when doing something she usually enjoyed, like reading, she seemed to be going through the motions. Now here she was pushing Princess Luna back to Canterlot when the town was on high alert for changelings. The suspicion that had nagged him was now the only explanation that made sense to him. He had to find out for certain, but the mindset Twilight had been in lately suggested that would be easier said than done. A loud, insistent knocking jarred him from his thoughts. He answered the front door of the castle and recoiled in fear as an aggressive-looking Rainbow Dash barged in. The unpleasant experience of bearing bad news to the abrasive pegasus was still fresh in his memory, and aggravated his already troubled mood. "All right, where's Princess Punctual? I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind about standing me up yesterday. 'Too busy', my hindquarters." "You just missed her," the baby dragon blurted. "She just stepped out for some, uh ... flying practice!" Spike could have kicked himself. What kind of excuse was that? Rainbow Dash could simply go out and search the sky for Twilight. As the swiftest and sharpest-eyed flier in Ponyville, Rainbow would take barely a minute to realise she was on a wild pony chase. "Oh, now she's got time to fly, huh? I'll send her flying." Sure enough, she turned back towards the front doorway and made ready to zoom out. "Wait!" Rainbow Dash whipped around to face Spike, who was gazing at her with huge, imploring eyes. Her impatient glare crumpled into a grimace of guilty embarrassment as she recalled her initial reaction to Twilight's no-show. "Uh, heh-heh, yeah. Look, Spike, about those things I said to you——" "Never mind that. We've got bigger problems." Spike looked hurriedly around to make sure Twilight had not emerged from the library. "It might be best if I spoke with all five of you." "You mean all six of us, right?" Spike shook his head sadly. * * * Twilight Sparkle's pony friends, gathered in one of Ponyville's meadows, listened with mounting concern as Spike told them of Twilight's increasingly uncharacteristic disposition and behaviour, and what he thought it meant. "It appears I was mistaken about your concerns, Fluttershy," Rarity confessed. "There does seem to be more than mere stress at work here. Even so, a changeling?" "Think, Spike, think," Applejack gently urged. "Has Twilight said anythin' that only she'd say? Anythin' ay-tall?" Spike perked up slightly. "She did mention my counting trick and Cadance's breathing exercise." "Well there you are," replied Rarity. The dragon's face fell, and he folded his forelegs stubbornly. "No. It's not enough. Twilight and Cadance could have discussed that stuff at the Equestria Games. There were thousands of ponies hanging around there and any of them could have been changeling spies." The orange earth pony looked dubious. "Seems kinda far-fetched but ah guess we could try talkin' with Twi some more. Maybe get somethin' more private outta her." "But Twilight has hardly talked with us these last few days," fretted Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash, hovering in mid-air, pounded her forehooves together. "Then we'll just have to make her talk." Pinkie Pie hopped up and down excitedly. "Ooh ooh, I'll do it! What do you think of this?" She took a deep breath before launching into a sample coercive filibuster: "Ever noticed how many words rhyme with 'orange'? None, that's how many. Why should this be? Why should beans and pears have all the fun, huh? Well I don't intend to stand for it. I'm gonna make up some words to eliminate this literary shortfall. And have fun doing it, because making up words is fun-tacular!" "Uh, Pinke Pie?" Applejack tried to interject but the pink pony was on a roll. "Here's one: 'splornge'. It's the sound a pogo stick makes when you use it in the mud. Isn't that the most fun to say?" Pinkie Pie stotted around her nonplussed friends, gaily repeating her freshly coined neologism: "Splornge splornge splornge splornge splornge splornge splmfmmblmph". "Pinke Pie, we're talkin' 'bout Twilight Sparkle here. Little Miss Magic-Caboose? And them changelin's seem to have some magic o' their own too." Applejack noisily plucked her work-callused forehoof from Pinkie's now-unspeaking mouth and wiped it dry on her other foreleg, ignoring Rarity's shudder of distaste. "So, 'less'n yew want her sealin' up a mess o' pony socks in yer yapper, ah reckon we'll need somethin' a mite more subtle." "And I've got just the thing," boasted Rainbow Dash. "What does Twilight Sparkle like more than anything?" "Readin'," said Applejack. "Magic," said Rarity. "Reading about magic?" guessed Fluttershy. "Lemme put it another way. What's the one thing Twilight just plain can't resist?" "A crowd song?" Pinkie Pie dashed out of sight and returned not two seconds later, grinning ear-to-ear and quivering with excitement, laden with at least half a dozen musical instruments. Rainbow Dash gave up. "How about I just tell you all my idea?" * * * "This better be important, Spike. I said no interruptions." "W-we've got a suspected changeling. Could you come and settle their identity please?" With a must-I-do-everything-around-here sigh, Twilight turned away from her book and briskly followed her friends, stubbornly avoiding eye contact with them. "We are so fortunate to have your magic gifts to help us in these matters, Twilight," said Rarity gratefully. Twilight's only response was a brief, neutral hum. "Aw shewt, just havin' Twilight herself as a good friend is reason enough to count our blessin's, ah reckon," added Applejack. "Yes Twilight, you've made such a wonderful difference to our lives since you came to Ponyville," cooed Fluttershy. "Good to know," replied Twilight curtly. "Can we just get on with this?" "Remember the day we first met, Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash, gazing nostalgically at the high castle ceiling. Twilight also directed her eyes upwards, but not out of fondness. "Good grief, are we really going to do this now?" The beaming, blue-coated pegasus continued, "The sun was shining, the sky was clear, the——" Twilight reared to a halt with a whinny of astonishment. "It was not! The sky was full of clouds. Clouds that you should have been clearing up for the Summer Sun Celebration the next day. Instead you were too busy loafing around, showing off and knocking me into mud puddles, until I appealed to your pride and you finally got your act together." She ended her rather slanted screed with a smirk of petty triumph. Rainbow Dash smiled questioningly at Spike, who smiled back and said, "Good enough for me". Twilight's pony friends simultaneously expressed their relief and delight. They had drawn out from her an incident with details that only the real Twilight Sparkle would have known, thanks to the one thing that even in her current grumpy, unenthusiastic mood she just plain could not resist. Being right. Twilight's jaw slackened with incredulity as the nature of her friends' gambit dawned on her. "Me? You wanted me to settle my own identity? You actually thought I might be a changeling?" With a slightly apologetic wince, hoping Twilight wouldn't be too offended, Applejack hesitantly replied, "Well, yeah". "Well that's just silly. If I were a changeling, don't you think I'd be trying to get closer to you all? So I could feed on your love for me? Why, these days I'm hardly spending any time with you at ... all." Twilight's voice tailed off as she examined the looks on her friends' faces. They weren't just relieved that she wasn't a changeling; they were relieved that they still had the real Twilight with them. They loved her as dearly as any pony ever loved a good friend. Points of water began to form in her widening eyes. This is it, her friends thought. Any second now, she's going to smash through that wall of ice surrounding her, gallop up to us for a group hug and apologise for the way she's been neglecting us, and our friendship will be back to normal. But that was not how Twilight reacted. Instead, she sagged her shoulders, paced around in circles and repeated a single word with the tempo and volume of energy bursts rapidly firing from her horn: "No. No, no, no no nononononononono. No." She shook her head as if trying to erase her actions from the past week. "I'm a fool. I am such a fool." Thinking Twilight was expressing remorse over her attitude towards her friends, Fluttershy carefully approached the young princess and spoke in her sweet, soothing, high-pitched voice, "It's okay, Twilight." "No it isn't, Fluttershy. It is unequivocally, catastrophically not okay." Twilight's voice trembled with self-recrimination. "I remember the day I first met you all right, Rainbow Dash. I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember Applejack's extended family extending my belly with food, and Rarity making me try on a dozen different outfits, and Fluttershy barrelling me into a bush so she could gush over Spike, and Pinkie Pie throwing me a surprise welcome-to-Ponyville party when all I wanted to do was curl up with a history book. I remember all the incredible things we've accomplished together. All the great times we've had, all the support and comfort we've given each other when times haven't been so great. I've enjoyed myself more, learned more, achieved more, grown more and given more than I could ever have dreamed, all because of you. Do you know how that makes me feel right now?" Her friends barely contained themselves as they anticipated Twilight's inevitable outpouring of emotion. "Apathetic." Spike and the other ponies exchanged dumbfounded looks of dismay before turning back to Twilight. "And that can mean only one thing. I'm not a changeling. I'm the victim of a changeling."