"Make sure she doesn't try to escape or cause trouble." Twilight ordered her guards.
The alicorn, the guards and Nymph were standing in the throne room of the castle. The changeling still had her two magic suppressors on, but the one on her horn had a green gem implanted in it.
"Listen." Twilight barked. "I altered the magic suppressor on your horn so that you will only be able to use one spell. After you create the portal, the gem will break. Any spells you try to use instead to try and get your suppressors off will not work, so don't try."
Nymph gave a small roll of her eyes. "As surprising as it might seem, I actually want to make this portal for you. Then I won't have to see you for a while."
The empress glared at Nymph, but stopped as she remembered that the changeling would not be going back to the cell she had been living in, but to a place that meant no pony would ever see her again.
"Now, form your portal." Twilight shouted. "Guards, make sure she doesn't try to go through."
The portal formed in front of the group. Instead of floating in the air like Cicada's had, the portal was on the ground instead. Twilight stared at it, thinking Nymph had use a different spell. The changeling told her it was the right one, but because of how little energy she had, it was either a short lived floating portal, or one on the ground that would last a while.
The alicorn didn't want to argue with Nymph, so she cast the same spell she had used three days prior and fired it into the portal. The portal changed color, something that Twilight had not taken notice of in the rush of what had happened last time. The portal had gone from a bright green to a purple that seemed almost black.
"Yes! Finally! It won't be long before I am full ruler of this place without any chance of you things stopping us. Now, get rid of her, forever."
The guards started to take Nymph away in the opposite direction of where she had come from. The changeling tried to get away. "Hey, what's going on?!"
"Well, I no longer need you. You sister will help me get back before I get rid of her too. And them if I ever want to go back, your 'subjects' will get me there instead."
As Twilight turned back to the portal, her eyes flashed and changed color. "Now if you'll excuse me, I can't let her mess things up for me." And she jumped into the portal as the portal closed and the gem on Nymph's suppressor broke.
Using the exit of the alicorn as the best distraction she could have, Nymph was able to break free from the guards' grip. Catching them off guard, she kicked one in the ribs and the other she punched in the face. One of them was a unicorn, and tried to blast her with a rather powerful spell. Instead of hitting her, Nymph was able to move so that it hit the suppressor on her horn where he gem had been.
The suppressor shattered, giving the changeling a reason to smile. She was easily able to knock out both the guards and destroyed the suppressor around her neck as well. Nymph was able to change her wing shape just enough so she could zoom through the castle and take it over again.
A few miles away from Ponyville, in the Everfree Forest, a portal opened. The portal was it's regular color and not the purple of the affected portal. The Alicorn Empress came out easily and turned just as the portal disappeared. Looking around, She found herself in the ruins of what looked like a castle.
“Great, where am I supposed to go from here.” She asked herself as she looked around some more.
Not coming up with any other ideas, Twilight flew into the sky to see where exactly she was. Far away in one direction was a crystal like tree fashioned into a castle of sorts. Giving a small smirk, she flew towards the castle, recognising the crystalline texture from two days prior.
As she got closer, Twilight noticed a town near the castle. Deciding against taking to the sky for too long, the alicorn landed in the town. The second she touched down, Twilight was greeted by multiple ponies.
"Hi Twilight! Accidentally used a growth spell on yourself?"
"Hey Twilight, did you get those from Rarity?"
"Twilight! Where have you been?! I came over to find you an hour ago! I wanted you and the girls to come over so we can get ready for the party!"
The owner of the last voice came over to Twilight and tried to keep talking, but the alicorn quickly stopped her.
"Pinkamena?! Why are you here? And what did you do to your mane?"
It was then Pinkie really looked at Twilight. The mare stared at who she thought was her friend. After a few seconds, she gasped and yelled, "Evil Twilight!"
Twilight thought somepony might find out, but she was still a little surprised. None the less, she still went with her plan.
"What do you mean, 'evil'?" She asked.
"You're the evil Twilight that Cicada talked about."
The alicorn faked her surprise this time. "You mean she is here? It actually worked!"
Pinkie wasn't sure what to say, so instead she told the other Twilight, " I need to take you to Twilight."
"But I'm Twilight. I'm right here!"
Without saying anything else, Pinkie started to drag the empress towards the castle.
The two Twilights looked at each other. The Twilight that lived in Ponyville was glaring at the one from the portal. "Wow, you two really look alike!" Pinkie exclaimed, breaking the silence.
The two alicorns stared at each other some more until the real Twilight said, "why did you come here? Was it to capture Cicada?"
"Yes it was." The other replied. "I need to get her back so we can fix things."
"Well you can’t have her you meanie pants!" Pinkie shouted.
The empress looked confusingly at the two ponies she was with. "What do you mean? What has she told you?" She squinted as light hit her eyes. "Also, could one of you turn off the lights?"
"Silly, you can't just turn off the sun." Pinkie said, making the armored alicorn widen her eyes. She ran to the window and looked up into the sky.
"The sun! I-it's in the sky! And I don't see the moon! How did you..?" She shook her head and coughed. "Sorry, it's just been a while since the rotation of the sun and moon have been normal back home. You see, seven years ago, our two princesses ended up battling. Luna, who had taken the name Selena, was younger and weaker and almost lost. Celestia tried to reason with her, but before they could finish, Cicada came in and took her magic. It was rather gruesome to watch. She ended up being more powerful than Selena and tried to take Celestia’s as well. I tried to stop her but ended getting Celestia’s magic instead. On a normal day, our powers our equal, but because changelings can gain more power from love, she ends up having stronger magic. Because of that, I can’t wrest the moon from her power and she won’t move it because she doesn’t know how.”
The real Twilight scoffed at her other self. “You can’t expect us to believe that story! We know the truth!”
Pinkie wasn’t so sure. “Um, Twilight?” Both alicorns answered. “Well, first we should try and use different names for you two.”
The other Twilight nodded and suggested, “Well, since I’m not from here, I could go by my last name. I end up being called that anyway most of the time because sometimes ponies like to talk that I can actually fix it but won’t because it will remind them who’s the real ruler. It’s actually quite absurd.”
Twilight didn’t agree. “Really? Because it seems like they might have some idea.”
Pinkie tried to reason with her friend. “Listen, Cicada might have been the one making it up. She didn't really say enough that could show if she was lying or not."
Sparkle nodded. "Pinka- Pinkie is right. Please just ask me any question you want and I'll answer. If I'm really lying, I'll have trouble answering.”
Twilight thought for a second before coming up with a question. “Why do you need Cicada? How will that help you with fixing things?”
“She’s just enough stronger than me that I can’t move the moon myself without her letting me as I said before. We needed her so we could get back Selena’s magic.” Sparkle answered.
“But why would she want to help you”
“That’s just it, she wouldn’t. We’ve been trying to find her again for a while and we only found her recently. I’m sorry to say that in my desperation, I ended up using a dark magic spell to make sure we could find her again.”
“Why would she even want to come her in the first place?” Twilight asked. “And why would she try to escape if she’s the only one who can help?”
“I’m not fully sure about that. I’ve never really gotten to learn how a changeling thinks. For all I know, she was thinking that even if she gave her magic to me, it would be a lost cause. Not having proper sunlight in seven years took a large toll on our crops. Most ponies aren’t even sure If it can be fixed anymore. Everypony is starting to starve, and I need to hurry and fix things before it really is too late.”
Twilight looked at her counterpart, trying to think of anything else she had to say. “Well, If you’re trying to help your world, why does she think you’re evil?”
Sparkle started to look a little sad. “We’ve been at war. In war, each side believes the other is evil, and until the end, there is no definite answer. So technically I could be evil. It just depends the side you end up taking, and I really hope I won’t have to eventually go against myself.”
“But wait, just how long has this war been going on? What started it?”
“Well, it was most likely started from Celestia and Selena’s battle. Tensions between the two races were already high, but I believe that battle was what really started it. The changelings blamed the ponies since the battle was between two alicorns, but ponies are blaming changeling since Cicada ended up taking Selena’s magic and can’t use it. I hope that after this whole war is over and everything is fixed, we can try to improve our relations with the changelings.”
“Wait, but how are you going to force Cicada to give you Selena’s magic back?” Twilight asked.
“That’s just it, we’re not fully sure yet. A few of the ponies back home who are engineers are working on trying to make something to help us get it without hurting her, but if it does come to it, we might have to do it the normal way. My hopes are that we won’t have to though.”
Twilight still wasn’t fully sure but, Pinkie was a little more believing. “Maybe she is right Twilight, I mean, she is you. Maybe we shouldn’t have trusted Cicada right away.”
Twilight didn’t want to answer. Sure Pinkie could be right, but something about this seemed somewhat familiar. She wasn’t about to give her full trust yet. “Listen, she’ll be at a party tonight in Canterlot. We’ll ask her what she had to say about some of the answers you’ve given and see if you are telling the truth.”
Sparkle nodded. “That’s fine, though I would like to stay here. If I come, it could make things a little confusing at the party or could overwhelm Cicada.”
“Okay then. If you want, you could find yourself a room to stay in for now.” Twilight told Sparkle.
The older alicorn nodded, and started off to find a room giving an evil grin once they couldn’t see.
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