Chapter 9
“Twilight…” Rarity whined as she looked down at her now lavender coated fur. “…I look ridiculous with this color. Lavender is no color for a unicorn!”
“Hey, what does that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, clearly offended by her friend’s remark. “You do remember that I used to be a unicorn too, with ‘lavender’ fur.” She said, emphasizing the last part.
“Well yeah…” Rarity admitted with a sight. “But it’s not like I was going to offend Princess Celestia’s personal student and my friend back then. Besides, you’re an alicorn now and lavender totally suits alicorns better.” She added, with a sheepish smile.
“Right….” Twilight said, shrugging it off, as she knew that there were more important things to talk about. “So, you remember the plan right?”
“Of course I do.” Rarity said. “I dress up as you, pretend to be you, and win this silly book for you.”
“Hey! That book is not silly.” Twilight told her.
“Whatever you say, Twilight…” Rarity said, rolling her eyes.
Sighing, Twilight shook her head and mentally shoved aside the argument so that she could focus on the important task of making sure that everything was ready and perfect.
Examining her friend and scanning her from head to hoof, Twilight made sure that every detail, even to most minute one, like the last hair on her fur, was exactly the same as hers. Seeing that the fur color on her friend was on satisfactory term, she made a mental note to herself before moving to the next part of her inspection.
Fur, check.
Bringing her attention towards Rarity’s eyes, she then made sure that the contacts they hastily bought were already on, so that the normally blue eyes of her friend were now changed to the dark violet of her own.
Eyes, check.
Moving away from the eyes and to the mane, Twilight made glances towards the details done to the hair, hoping that the combination of colors made on Rarity’s hair, so that her mane matched hers. Twilight had presumed that the judges would be strict to such detail, so she wanted everything to be perfect. So with a help of a coloring spell and Rarity’s quick yet amazing mane styling tactics, the two managed to recreate Twilight’s mane on Rarity.
Mane, check.
So far, things were looking great. But there was still one important detail the Twilight wanted to make sure. An important detail which she hope is perfect.
Moving to the side and glancing towards the side of Rarity’s hip, Twilight focused her attention as her eyes scanned the highly intricate and detailed copy of her cutie mark which was now adorned on her friends flank.
Made with the help of a simple copying spell and done with great ease, the cutie mark on Rarity’s flank had replaced her old triple diamond one with Twilight’s sparkling purple star cutie mark, which was what made Twilight what she was.
Cutie mark, check.
“Well…” Twilight said, as her eyes continued to unconsciously scan for imperfections. “…everything seems to be looking great.”
“Of course it is.” Rarity said with a gleeful smile. “Sure, lavender isn’t the best color for a unicorn…” Her words trailed for a while before she
continued. “But I think we did a really good job on making me look like you.”
Using her magic to levitate a small mirror from the saddle bag they had brought, Rarity examined her reflection and smiled in satisfaction.
“In fact, I think we did too much of a good job.” She giggled. “Ponies might start to believe that I’m your lost twin sister or something.”
“So does that mean you’re a sure win for first place?” Twilight asked. “So that you can win that book for me?”
“Darling…” Rarity said. “…once they see me, I they’ll be giving more than just books as a prize. Such dedication to detail deserves more than a silly book. Now come on, I want to see the reaction of other ponies when they see the two of us walking together.”
“Excuse me, Princess Luna.” A young light brown mare said, looking up at the towering Princess she was facing.
“Please, subject.” Luna interjected, looking down at the mare. “We are all in character here. So call me, Queen Chrysalis.”
“Uhh…okay Pr…I mean…Queen Chrysalis.” The mare said, correcting herself.
“Good, good.” Luna said, please at her new temporary title. “Now…what news do you have for your Changeling Queen?” She said, trying to do her best to look menacing.
“Well…uhhh…my Queen…” The mare said. “…I just wanted to say that the reenactment for the Battle of Bedrock Plateau is about to start fifteen minutes from now and we have one slight problem.”
“And that is?”
“Well, we’re having a small problem on looking for the Changeling re-enactors.” The mare admitted. “Now, we’re not sure whether it’s because of a lack of re-enactors who choose to be Changelings or because all the re-enactors who chose to be Changelings all gathered to a place where we can’t find them…but wither way we can’t start the reenactment without them.”
“Hmm…this is a problem.” Luna said, nodding gravely. The battle reenactment was one of the main reasons she went here, to experience the glory of the fighting in the Changeling War. With such accurate costume and realism all around her, it would have been the perfect way to immerse herself in the Changeling War.
But with this new bit of information she just received, she feared that this immersing might be cancelled, due to the fact that you can’t have a battle were the forces are all in one side only.
“Thank you, subject, for informing me of this dilemma.” Luna said, dismissing the mare. “Do not worry yourself, for your Queen shall find the Changelings needed to fill the ranks of her army!”
Not knowing whether this was a good sign, on which Princess Luna would help her, or not, the young mare nodded and trotted away.
“Hmm…now where are those Changelings.” Luna said, thinking to herself, as she wondered where she can find the re-enactors needed to continue the reenactment event.
Planning the task, she knew that this would be harder than it seemed, for this was a wide and open area, where anypony could be anywhere. If she wanted to succeed, she knew that she would need help. But where would she find this help?
As she stood there thinking, a bouncing mass of pink caught her peripheral vision, as she immediately moved her head to turn towards it. Looking at it, she soon felt a smile form on her face, as she recognized this as the help she needed.
“You…pink one!” She called, failing at that moment to remember the name of ones of the Element Bearers. “Come over here.”
“Why, hi there, Queen.” The pink mare known as Pinkie Pie said, bouncing toward Luna and calling her by her given title for the day. “How may I serve the Queen of the Changelings today?”
Smiling, Luna looked down at the gleeful pink mare and bestowed upon her the task. “I need Changelings, Changeling for my army. Can you find some for me?”
“Changelings you say…” Pinkie said, rubbing her chin with hoof. “Well, I don’t know where to find Changelings at this time of hour, but I’ll do my best.”
“Good, very good.” Luna said nodding. “Then I want you to seek them out, find as many as you can, and bring them here within fifteen minutes. The continuation of today’s reenactment depends on it!”
“You know, the Queen has been gone for a while now.” One of the Changeling drones said, looking towards his comrade. Should we go out and look for her?”
“No.” The drone he was talking with said in a stern tone, as his wings buzzed to emphasize the importance of what he was saying. “We had strict orders to stay here, so we must do what are Queen says.”
“Yeah, but how would we know if the Queen is safe? Another drone in the back said, piping up. “The Queen had never left us for this long before.”
“I know, I know…” The Changeling drone said. “But the last time I had the same thought and went out looking for the Queen, it turned out the she was alright and I had to spend an entire month nursing the newly hatched larva, and trust me, that it is not a fun experience.”
“So what are we going to do?” The first Changeling said. “Are we just going to stay here or are we-“
But before he was able to finish, a grinning pink mare popped her head through the bushes, staring at the crowd of Changelings who had gathered there. At first, the Changelings thought that she would scream and call for help, leading to their destruction from the nearby Guards, but instead, the mare’s grin grew bigger till her smile covered almost the entirety of her face.
“There you are.” She said in her upbeat tune. “I’ve been looking all over the place for you, only to find out that you’re all just hanging out here. You know, your Queen has been looking for you too and told me that she needs you immediately.”
“The Queen?” The nearest Changeling said, in a frantic tone when he realized their Queen needed them. “She needs us now?”
“Yes.” The pink mare said, nodding. “As in now, now.”
“Then we must act quickly!” The Changeling said, taking command, as he looked back at ragtag group of Changelings. “Please lead us to our Queen.”
The pink mare, happy to oblige, nodded her head.
“Okie Dokie Lokie!”