Cicada had been nervous going through Ponyville. All the different ponies stared at her, whispering to one another. If ponies were good here, did that mean changelings were evil? Were they to always be enemies, no matter what version of Equestria she found?
The queen wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking, and stepped in a rut on the dirt road. She normally would have been fine, but because she was so weak, Cicada fell instead.
At first, no pony came to help. Twilight and her friends (minus Pinkie) hadn’t noticed because Cicada had started to lag behind. Finally Fluttershy had turned to look for the changeling, only to realise what had happened.
“Oh dear! I’m sorry! We didn’t notice! We should have-”
“It’s fine. I-I’ve had worse happen to me.”
The group continued again, but this time Fluttershy made sure she stayed right beside Cicada as she walked and helped her along. Eventually the mare decided to talk to Cicada to try and make her more comfortable.
“So, that blue phoenix is your pet?”
Cicada was shocked at first, not thinking that a pony would want to hear about things like that, but then she remembered this Equestria was different. “Y-yes. Lila’s a nightshade phoenix. She used to be my mom’s pet.”
“I’ve never seen one before! I didn’t know they existed!”
“Well, they’re very rare. Supposedly there’s only one born every other thousand years.”
“She must be very special to you.”
“She is. Not only is she one of my friends, she’s one of the few things I have left to remind me about my mother. Sometimes I forget how old she is compared to me because she’s so playful but also somewhat shy. In fact, Lila, can you please come out? I don’t want my mane getting all tangled.”
Lila poked her head out for a few seconds to look around before coming out. She almost retreated back into her owner’s mane when she realised how close Fluttershy was.
“Oh, don’t worry. Fluttershy seems to be nice enough.”
After a bit of reluctance, Lila finally let the timid pegasus pet her. By that time, the group was almost to the hospital.
“Thanks for walking with me. It… feels a bit weird to try and be friends with a pony, but I’m glad I’m getting the chance. Do you think you might be able to care for Lila if I ever need it?”
Fluttershy’s eyes seemed to glitter. “I’d love to! I already help care for other animals and it would be an honor to take care of Lila!”
Cicada gave a small laugh. “I don’t think it would be that important. But then… I’m not you. But I could try!”
Cicada enveloped herself in a ring of green flames before revealing herself to look like Fluttershy.
“How did you do that?” Twilight asked, taking notice of the changeling’s transformation. “I thought you said you didn’t have enough energy to do that.”
“Well I didn’t before. I got some from Fluttershy. You see changelings can feed off the love of other creatures, mainly other sentient creatures. It can be any kind of love, like love of a object, but romantic love is one of the most powerful forms. In this case, it was her love for…” Cicada paused. “Pretty sure that’s love for animals in general and not just Lila.”
“Wait, you can sense what the love is for?” Twilight inquired.
“Generally, yes. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but I can usually figure it out.”
“Um, darling, we’re almost to the hospital, and I think after this you should be more concerned about going in there.” Rarity said, pointing right near where Cicada had been blasted.
The changeling felt the area to find she could still feel the damage from the spell. “That’s odd, I can normally cover that up when I’m disguised. Wha-”
Cicada had looked down and seen what was there. The area where she had been hit looked all charred and dead. The damage continued and made the veins around it all black, like they had been burnt too. In her shock, she dropped her disguise, which just seemed to make it worse. The parts she had been able to disguise were a sickly purple color. The queen visually looked like she might empty her stomach, but she held it in before looking away.
“Alright, let’s hurry up. I don’t want to have anything happen from us taking to long.”
“I’m not sure about this.” Nurse Redheart said as Twilight and her friends tried to admit Cicada into the hospital. “Are you sure this changeling won’t try to harm the other ponies here?”
“I’m not fully sure.” Twilight responded. “But sure enough that I think she should at least be let in to be treated.”
The nurse hesitated for a few seconds before replying. “Alright, but I’m putting her in a room that’s farther away from many of the other patients.”
Cicada was brought to a room where she was given a bed and Nurse Redheart looked over the changeling. It didn’t take long for her to see how serious this was. After getting a few details, she went to fetch Doctor Horse to also take a look at the queen. Before leaving, however, she told Cicada to rest while she waited, since could be a while.
“That sounds like a good idea. Do you five mind letting me sleep for a bit?” Cicada asked her new friends.
“Sure, ah think we can give ya that.” Applejack answered. “Come on girls, let’s leave her be.”
Lila perched herself next to Cicada’s bed and the five ponies left the room, closing the door behind them. They obviously hadn’t gone far, because unknown to them, Cicada could still hear them chatting about her right outside the door.
“I don’t know Twilight. I mean, she does see nice and all, but you remember about the changelings from the wedding.” Rainbow said.
“I think she’s rather nice.” Fluttershy retorted. “Besides, don’t you think she might be more distrustful of us that we are of her?”
“That’s true. She did say that there were other versions of us that were almost as bad as this other Twilight. Ah’d hate to see what those versions of us are really like.” Applejack said.
“For all we know, it could be some obscure plot to make her trust her.”
“Darling, do you really think the poor thing would be able to come up with the whole ‘Twilight’s an Evil Empress’ idea just a few seconds after meeting her?” Rarity asked.
“What about you Twilight?” Fluttershy questioned. “What do you think?”
“I’m honestly not sure yet. So far she seems like she’s telling the truth.”
“Ah haven’t noticed anythin’ odd from her yet. As far as ah can tell, she is.”
“It could also just be what she believes to be the truth.” Rainbow jumped in. “For all we know, that other changeling queen brainwashed her or something like she did with Twilight’s brother and doesn’t know the real truth.”
“That’s stretching it a bit much there Rainbow.” Twilight said to her friend. “Right now, I’m trusting her, but I do also want you girls keeping an eye out incase anything strange happens.”
At that moment, the conversing stopped. It caught Cicada by surprise. She opened her eyes after having them closed so she could concentrate on listening to the conversation. Instead of finding herself on the hospital bed, she found herself in a room she didn’t recognise. Turning her head, Cicada saw a window connecting to another room. In the other room was someone she knew. Before getting the chance to call their name, the changeling blinked, and found herself back in the hospital room she had been in before, though now, she was standing.
‘Huh. Must have actually dozed off and got up in my sleep.’
At that moment, the door opened to let in an orange unicorn stallion with a brown mane. In shock, Cicada immediately raised a small shield before figuring out it was the doctor Nurse Redheart had mentioned.
“Sorry!” She apologised. “I’m still a bit jumpy around all you ponies.”
“That’s fine. I’ve heard from the princess about what your story is. Let me see what the damage is.”
As Doctor horse examined the wound, Cicda looked quizzically at Twilight. “You’re a princess? I didn’t know that.”
“Yes, actually. I’m the princess of friendship. I only recently got the title though.”
“So… you’re not a queen or something like that?”
“No, just princess. And even then I don’t like to be called that. I wasn’t even an alicorn until a few months ago either.”
“Oh… OWWW!!!”
“Sorry about that miss.” Doctor Horse said. “I’m sorry, but from what I can tell, you’ve been badly damaged from a dark magic spell, and I’m not familiar enough to know how to treat this. You might be able to find another doctor somewhere else that would be able to help treat this enough to fix the damage, but all I can do is give enough treatment that it won’t be life threatening to go around normally until this is fixed.”
“Do you happen to know anyling, uh, anypony that might help?” Cicada asked.
“Well, you may find a unicorn in Canterlot who could help. There are enough unicorns with advanced magically knowledge there that would most likely be able to help.”
“Canterlot? Where’s that?”
Doctor Horse walked over to the nearest window and opened it, pointing over towards a large mountain. Cicada went to the window and looked out, following the doctor’s hoof. In the side of the mountain, she could see a large city.
“That’s Canterlot?!” The changeling exclaimed.
“Yes.” Twilight replied. “That’s where I lived before I moved to Ponyville.” The alicorn turned to the doctor. “I know of one or two doctors up there who might be able to help her, and we’ll be needing to see the princesses anyway. Thanks for your help.”
“Don’t mention it Princess.”
“Just Twilight is fine. Come on Cicada. We should get you back to the castle before it gets dark.”
“What?” The queen asked, still gazing at Canterlot in awe. “Oh, yeah. Just give me a few seconds.” The changelings looked out the window for a few more seconds before deciding to follow the group.
“So wait, where am I going to be staying for the night?”
“Don’t you remember? Twilight said you were going to be staying at the castle. Spike stayed behind to set up a room for you.” Rainbow told Cicada.
“Oh… right. Y-you sure I can’t stay somewhere… else?”
“I’d actually prefer if you’d stay at the castle right now.” Twilight told the changeling.
Cicada thought she heard Rainbow Dash mumble something about friends and enemies before Applejack hit her in the ribs.
“F-fine. Uh, come on Lila, I think we want to leave.”
The nightshade phoenix fluttered over to her owner before perching on her back. The two of them left the room right behind Twilight and her friends.
“I’m not sure what to think of this place yet Lila. What about you?” The changeling asked, not getting much of a response in return.
“Sentry!” A voice called.
A pegasus guard was positioned just outside the room his ruler was currently in. The guard entered the room to find out what her was needed for.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I was able to narrow down where the escapee might be while with our prisoner. I believe she may be in a hospital located somewhere in sector five. I want to to gather some of the guard and search every infirmary in that area. Do you understand?”
“Yes Empress! I’ll get straight on it!”
“I knew I chose well when I chose you as captain Flash Sentry.”
“I was honored to be chosen.” Flash said before leaving to follow his orders.
Twilight turned back to the room she had just been in. Through a window in the room, she could see a changeling that resembled the old queen.
“Soon,” She started, not caring that the changeling couldn’t see her, much less hear her. “I’ll find your sister, and then neither of you will stand in my way.”