Spinnekop’s life had become one of dull monotony. She couldn’t walk around and the doctors Cadence managed to get for her all said the same things. They either gawked at her for curiosities sake, or they freaked out before Cadence explained the situation. After that, they tended to look at her injuries and tell her to relax and rest as much as possible. Given she was currently locked in a stone box underground, that wasn’t going to be hard.
Because she had so much time on her hooves, she began contemplating her life, all of the things she had done and failed to do. Looking back at the white flame that rested outside her cell as she did so.
However much she hated the doctors gawking at her like a monkey, she couldn’t deny that the recovery was going rather well. Her head wasn’t hurting anymore, the small cracks in on her chitin were healed, though she still had a concussion, parts of her memory during the fight were gone, but she still remembered getting punched an awful lot…
Spinnekop sighed as another day began for her. So far she had been there for three days by her count, and it wasn’t getting any better. Cadence came and visited her a few times a day, sometimes bringing a new doctor to look her over, or sometimes the same one multiple times. It was always a bit of a game to break up the monotony.
But… Today something was bothering her. She woke up like every other day, tossing and turning in an attempt to get comfortable, then ultimately giving up. Then she would lie on the bed for a few minutes thinking. But when she was thinking, something was bugging her, like a part of her was missing. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but it was constantly pecking at her mind, like an itch you couldn’t scratch.
She had the feeling follow her around for another hour before the sound of hooves hit her ears and low talking was heard. She quickly picked out Cadence’s voice, but she had no idea who the other voice belonged to. She straightened herself up as much as she could without pain as they grew near.
“I’m glad that you gave me the opportunity to do this Princess.” The other voice said. “I’ve been really interested since I heard from Clean Bill that we had one.”
“Yes, I thought that they might be able to help, but the lack of any real knowledge made that difficult.” Cadence said.
“Well I will certainly do my best.”
“She’s just up here.”
Spinnekop noticed the Pink Alicorn walk into view and give her a smile. “Morning Spindle.” She said happily. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“I feel like I’m missing something…” Spinnekop replied. “But I feel a lot better…”
“I’m glad to hear it. I brought somepony new to look over your injuries for you.” She motioned off to the side of the cell as a pale green Unicorn stepped into view, her sky blue mane curled slightly. She looked at Spinnekop with a wide smile. “This is a Doctor Compound, a local Professor at Canterlot University where she teaches Entomology. I asked her here because I believe she can help with your recovery.”
Dr. Compound looked at Spinnekop with fascination, her saddle bags opened up and a notepad levitated in front of her as a pen began to scrawl across it.
“If we open the cell, you won’t try to run right?” Cadence joked.
“Oh of course I would, after all my legs aren’t broken at all or anything.” Spinnekop replied. “I’ll just hop up and dash out of the room when you go to blink.”
Cadence stifled a laugh as she nodded at the Royal Guard that followed them down there, he unlocked the cage and Compound walked in, being very closely watched by the unicorn guard.
Compound walked up close to Spinnekop. “You are simply fascinating…” She said, looking over Spinnekop’s Chitin and eyes. “This will be marvelous for my research into Changeling Physiology.” She said looking over Spinnekop’s wings.
“Thanks… I think…”
Cadence rolled her eyes. “Compound, remember what I promised you. Help me heal Spindle, then she can help with your research.”
Compound waved off the notion. “I remember Princess, I merely want to get a basic sketch down first.” She said continuing to sketch down the rest of the Changeling’s appearance. When she finished the sketch, she closed the journal. “Now, you aren’t afraid of needles right?”
Spinnekop blinked “No… I don’t think so…” Needle… Huh… The feeling of forgetfulness grew stronger, and it was really starting to annoy Spinnekop right now.
“Good. Because I won’t be able to get a sample of your blood any other way.” She said as her horn lit up and a closed medical bag flew over to her. “I’ll just need a few samples of your blood, Chitin, saliva, Tail hair, and skin tissue.”
Spinnekop blinked again. “Isn’t that a bit… Intensive?”
“Not as much as I would like.” Compound replied. “If I wanted to be truly thorough I would need samples of your muscular tissue, Wing membrane, an eye sample would be nice, possibly an egg or two, and your brain.” She looked up to see Spinnekop’s distressed face. “Oh I’m not going to kill you.” She said. “I’m just taking these few samples to check and see if any of the medicine we have would work on you… And to make sure I don’t accidently kill you in the process…”
Spinnekop nodded, dying was not one of the things she wanted to do, even if her entire life was destroyed, she didn’t want to die.
Compound opened the bag to protrude around thirty vials, and a rather large needle, which Spinnekop now eyed fearfully. “Wh-Where are you going to put that?” She asked.
Compound looked over Spinnekop. “Well… I was going to try and find a crack large enough on your body, but I think you should probably tell me.”
Spinnekop swallowed. “Um…” Spinnekop extended her left foreleg, where a rather large crack had just reopened and was slowly dripping blue. “Here?”
Compound looked at the crack, shrugged and moved the needle to the locations. “So, you have a name or should I just call you Changeling?”
“I do have a name.” Spinnekop replied as she tried to look away from the needle. “It’s SpiIINEKOP!” She shrieked out the last part as the needle dug into the sensitive flesh underneath her chitin.
“Huh… Strange name.” Compound replied, watching as the syringe was filled with the light blue blood. “So you have any friends back at your… Town? Colony? Nest? Conglomeration?”
Spinnekop sighed. “Hive…” She replied. “I used to…” She let out a low sigh. “But now I can’t ever go back…”
Compound pulled the syringe from the crack and placed it inside a strange metal box. “Why’s that?”
“I… Betrayed my Queen… Now I’m just a wanted criminal…” She replied as Compound found a few pieces of Chitin that fell off of Spinnekop’s various injuries, she placed them in a few of the vials and placed them in her bag. “My friend Cara probably hates me…”
Compound looked up at Spinnekop. “Oh I’m sure it isn’t that bad…”
Deep underground in the Hive, a very specific set of Changelings were beginning to regret their Class.
Chrysalis’ Royal Guards were tasked with two main objectives, protect the Queen, and protect the Hive. The only trouble arose when protecting the Hive also meant barring the doors to her throne room shut with their own bodies while she went on another one of her rage fits.
The Eight Guards unlucky enough to be on duty were currently putting all of their weight into holding the door steady.
“EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO PLAN!” A slam on the door nearly knocked a Changeling from his designated post. “LUNA WAS DEALT WITH!” A very specific Changeling was putting all of his magic into holding the door shut. “CELESTIA WAS MY PRISONER!” Another Changeling was silently pleading to the ancient Queens. “AND WE HAD THEIR MILITARY UNDER OUR CONTROL!”
The door was unable to hold the force of the punishment and blew open, sending the Guards flying across the hall, and a specific Changeling launching across the hall and imbedding into the far wall. The Queen strode out, her mane flaming with rage as she glared at the Changeling now imbedded in the wall. “AND IT WAS YOUR JOB TO ENSURE THAT UNICORN DID NOTHING!” Her horn released a green tendril that snaked it's way towards the Changeling, wrapping around its neck and pulling it out of the wall. “YOU FAILED!” She whipped the Changeling around and pulled it to her face. “Give me a single reason I should keep you alive.” She hissed.
The Changeling struggled to catch its breath as it looked at the death glare Chrysalis was giving him.
Chrysalis flicked the Changeling out one of the open windows listening as it screamed before a loud crack sounded. “Worthless every single one of them.” Chrysalis spat.
“Queen right are you…” A Guard replied, its eyes spinning in its head.
“Was that the last of those who failed me?” The Queen asked.
Mimic flew in from the Throne Room, his full armor covering his body, he looked down at the Clipboard in his hoof, a long list of names was blacked out. “It looks that way Queen Chrysalis.”
The Guards lying on the floor all thanked the ancient Queens and simultaneously agreed to go drinking that night.
Chrysalis snorted. “Good! I couldn’t handle any more incompetence.” She stomped back towards the throne. “I want Cypher up here now. She has information I need.”
“On what your majesty?” Mimic asked, flipping up his visor.
“She was the last one to have any idea what happened to Spinnekop.” She ground her teeth. “I want to know what became of her. So I can judge how much I need to do in order for her to feel the most pain possible before I break her spine.”
Mimic nodded. “I’ll inform Cara… But she has been taking it rather hard…”
“Do I look like I care General?” Chrysalis replied. “Or should I leave you the same as your predecessor?”
Mimic straightened up. “I…I’ll get right on it. Cara! I don’t care what you are doing right now! Send Cypher to the castle now!”
Cara was doing the same thing she had been doing since she got to Hive, pondering, and pondering rather solemnly. When she was launched from the city, she had to help Burn carry Seek back to the Hive, and then waited nervously to hear back from Cypher. When the Communication Drone returned, Cara was heartbroken.
While Cypher made it clear she never saw what happened after she herself was lifted out of the city, she did say that Spinnekop was unable to clear the wall, and that Spinnekop likely wouldn’t have survived the initial impact.
Cara sighed as she looked at the carving Spinnekop gave her, spinning it around in her magic as she looked at it. She had been like this since she found out, doing everything half-heartedly and without much energy, Seek and Burn had been worrying about her for quite a while.
“This thing must have hit her hard…”
“Really?” Burn replied. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Seek turned to look at Burn. “Come on Burn! You saw how she reacted before the attack.”
Burn rolled his eyes. “Spinnekop was her friend for almost twenty four years. She thought she could reform Spinnekop, but now, she will never see her again. Of course she’ll take it hard!”
“Yeah but… It’s been days. I’ve never seen her like this…”
“I can hear both of you…” Cara replied. “And I don’t want to talk about it…”
Burn and Seek both looked at each other. “Sorry Sarge…”
Cara sighed and placed the figure into her leg, keeping it safe. She walked over towards the others. “I can’t change anything… So now I have to deal with it…”
“How’s that working for you?”
Cara glared at Burn. “I’m just fine Burn. Where’s Cypher?”
Burn and Seek blinked. “She said she was going to help Cloak with some stuff. Why?”
“Mimic wants to talk to her.” Cara replied. “Where are they?”
“I’m not sure I understand…”
“I need it to be untraceable.” Cloak replied. “You know, they can in no way link us to anything. Magically, Emotionally, or even through a paper trail.”
“But… Why would you want to send those?” Cypher asked. “I don’t understand the urgency of the-”
Cloak facehoofed. “Cypher… You ran the calculations yourself right?”
“Indeed I did.”
“And what were the chances of survival?”
“Given the trajectory that I saw her launched from, factoring velocity and sudden stopping power, plus the fall afterwards, Spinnekop’s odds of survival were somewhere in the range of one to fifty six.”
“That is still a chance.” Cloak replied. “Listen, even if she turns out to be dead, I need these to be impossible to trace.”
“But why would you want that on a box?”
Cloak had managed to sneak both of them into the Command Barracks, they were currently inside of Spinnekop’s old room, and Cloak was holding a wrapped box. Chrysalis ordered the room be locked down so she could destroy everything when she felt the need, and save those few that involved her. “Please Cypher.”
Cypher looked over the box. “It would help if I understood why.”
“I can’t.” Cloak replied. “It’s part of my mission, but I think you have the skills I-”
There was a knocking on the door. Cloak looked over and turned back to Cypher. “Tell no one about this.” She whispered. “Promise?”
Cypher nodded. “Good.”
Cloak walked up to the door and opened it. “Hello?”
Cara was standing there. “Cloak, what are you doing in Spin’s room?”
Cloak sighed. “I’m looking over what we did in here, I decided to take some time before Chrysalis decided to tear it down.” She looked back at the box levitating in her magic and sighed. “Anyhoo, I have another target to deal with. The life of an Infiltrator never ends.” She trotted down the hall, the box in tow behind her.
Cara stepped into the room to look at the work Spinnekop had done, she lot out a long sigh. “Cypher, Mimic wants to see you at the castle.”
Cypher saluted. “I will be there shortly.”
Cara stopped Cypher before she left. “What were you two talking about?”
“She asked me for my opinion on the Repulsion spell and its true affects should a Changeling encounter it at full force. She seemed rather intrigued by its affects and what it would be like should it become a weapon.”
Cara sighed. “Alright… Get going.”
Cypher walked out of the room and down the hall, quickly moving to get to the castle as quick as she could. Cara began to close the door, but before she did, she sighed and reopened it, letting herself in.
She hadn’t gotten much of a look at the room before, she had been too busy at the time, but now she had the chance to look around. The room was covered with Spinnekop’s art, tapestries were hung on walls, various busts sat on nearly every table, and the figurine collection she had sat on multiple shelves. Cara sighed as she looked, taking in everything.
Cara walked up to the various crafts and looked at them, they were definitely by Spinnekop, the craftsmanship was too much like her carvings for it to be anyone else. There were busts of Chrysalis and a larger figurine of her on the shelf.
Cara sighed again as she looked around the room, she then located a rolled up poster tucked away behind the bed. She levitated it out and unrolled the old poster, smiling as she did.
It was the first poster she gave to Spinnekop, showing the Unicorn and Pegasus, deeply in love, but separated by birth. “I can’t believe you kept this…”
Cara looked at the poster for a time before rolling it up and carrying it out of the room. Even if Spinnekop wasn’t there… There was one thing she told Cara to do that she had every intention on doing.
Cara sighed. “I really hope I don’t make myself look like an idiot…”
Going back to Canterlot, Compound had just collected everything she said she needed, and placed them all into different metallic boxes. “It has been a pleasure talking to you Spinnekop.” Compound said. “I’ll try to get the results to you by the end of the week Princess.”
“Oh yes, about that.” Cadence said. “There is something else I needed to ask you.”
“What is that Princess?”
Spinnekop had been focusing primarily on trying to figure out what she had forgotten, it seemed like something very obvious, yet she couldn’t figure it out, almost like when a word keeps escaping you.
“I wanted to ask about those gem samples I sent from the Caverns.” Cadence replied.
“Ah yes…” Compound replied. “The gems… Well truth be told, we can’t figure out what kind of gemstone they are. They seem to have been magically created by…”
Spinnekop tuned out, and after hearing ‘Gemstone’ and ‘Needle’ her mind subconsciously began putting the two together. When they had finished, Spinnekop took her left foreleg and reached up to her chest, but found it colliding with her chitin.
As it did, her eyes widened. “No!” She shouted, causing both Cadence and Compound to jump slightly. “No! No! No!” She began frantically looking at her body, trying to find some evidence that the object was still with her.
“Spindle, are you…”
“Where is it?” She said, completely forgetting the two ponies in front of her. “Don’t tell me I lost it! I can’t have lost it! No! No! No!” She frantically looked around the room, her eyes darting everywhere to find a glint of what she was looking for. “No! I can’t believe I lost it! I had it with me the whole time, how did I…?”
Her eyes widened as she began to remember parts of the fight she had with Clobber. He had just knocked her to the ground and was stepping on her backplate. His magic surrounded her necklace as he began to pull up on it, attempting to strangle her.
As she began to struggle for breath, the only thing she could think to do was remove the sensation pulling on her. She quickly charged up her horn and snapped the pendant in half, causing it to fly off in an indiscernible direction before she scrambled out of Clobber’s reach and tried to find it, only to get a hoof to the eye for her troubles.
Spinnekop put her face in her hooves. “I lost it!” She cried, beginning to tear up. “I’ll never see it again!”
Cadence and Compound stared into the cell both confused, the Royal Guard that had been accompanying them was blinking quickly. “Did… I miss something?”
Cadence looked over at Spinnekop who had begun crying into her hooves, only a few of the tears managed to make it down her cheeks, the others being absorbed through the cracks in her chitin.
Cadence walked into the cell and reached a hoof around Spinnekop. “Spindle? What did you lose?”
Spinnekop looked up at Cadence, her eyes dripping tears as she did so. “It’s alright, you can tell me.” Cadence said, flashing a smile at Spinnekop.
Spinnekop leaned into the Alicorn as she began to sob again. “I-I lost my Pendant…” She said. “I-It was given to me by my-my…” Spinnekop coughed loudly. “My…My parents!” She cried. “It’s… It’s the only thing I have…”
Cadence’s ears perked up. “Your parents gave it to you?”
Spinnekop nodded. “Mi-Mimic always said i-it was given b-before they vanished…” Spinnekop replied. “I-I always kept it w-with me.”
Cadence looked over the crying Changeling, trying to find some way to comfort her. “I’m sorry…” Cadence replied, running her hoof along the fin Spinnekop had sticking out of the back of her neck. “Did you lose it in the caves?”
Spinnekop shook her head. “I-I lost it i-in the c-city.” She stuttered. “Wh-when I was fighting Cl-Clobber.”
Compound took out her notebook again and began writing down notes. “Where did you fight Clobber?”
Spinnekop began sniffling as she wiped her eyes. “It was… It was back where I was found… I… I think it was in front of a store… By the wall.”
Cadence nodded. “Can you remember the name?”
Spinnekop shook her head. “No… I-I’m sorry Cadence…”
Compound kept writing on her notepad. “What did the pendant look like?”
“I-it was just a g-green gem w-with a small ne-needle inside of it.” Spinnekop replied. “I-it means everything to me…”
Spinnekop flinched as Cadence gave her a light hug, trying not to cause any harm to her body. “Don’t worry Spindle. We’ll find it.”
“B-But how?” Spinnekop cried. “Canterlot is so big… It’ll be impossible to find it!”
“You’ve done so much for me already Spindle, I can at least do this for you.”
Spinnekop sobbed silently as Cadence comforted her, ensuring her she would find it. “Th-Thank you Cadence…”
Cadence nodded and got up, heading towards the cell door. Compound looked up at her as they walked through the dungeon. “You sure you can find it Cadence? Some rich pony probably already bought it or sold it somewhere.”
Cadence sighed. “I know… But this is for her. She was the reason Twilight found me down there I can at least do this.”
“I’m not going to stop you Princess, I’m just saying that the chances of finding it are pretty low.”
Cadence nodded. “I understand… But what pony would want a necklace so… Bland…Especially around here. You know how Canterlot Nobles act, they won’t purchase it unless it has some kind of foreign metal infused into it. It seemed like it was just a basic gemstone attached with a string, none of these Higher ups are going to want it.”
“What about the common ponies?” Compound replied. “It may be cheap, but somepony might want it.”
“That’s what I’m worried about…” Cadence replied. “Though… Do you think they would still want it if I said it belonged to a Changeling?”
“Some of them wouldn’t care.” Compound replied. “Though, I’ve always been one for learning about them as opposed to buying them.” A low beeping sounded from her bag. “Oh Celestia! I need to get these back to the lab before they spoil!” She sped up, rushing down the hall. “Hope it all goes well Cadence!”
Cadence waved back to the doctor, and turned to the guard next to her. “So… Who was it that found Spindle?”
Cara was standing outside the door, questioning herself for around the twenty-fifth time as she stood rooted to the spot.
She had done much worse things in her life, charging at a Dragon came to mind. She had infiltrated some of the most secure buildings in Equestria, where if she slipped up once, it would be a death sentence. Yet here she stood, in front of a door, having the worst case of nerves she ever had. Even when she came face to face with Princess Celestia she somehow managed to maintain a cool head.
Part of that always came from her awareness that she controlled the situation, she was always hidden behind a cloak of secrecy, she controlled how much information she released and gathered. She was taught to manipulate ponies almost as well as an Infiltrator. The only problem is when she had an actual feeling towards them.
Cara had been focused on her missions, gather intelligence, stalk somepony, root out moles. She had never felt anything towards a pony, and if she did, it was nothing deep. However now… She felt something very strong.
Cara was actually rather good at concealing her feelings, and under any other circumstance, she wouldn’t be anywhere near this building. But she made a promise to Spinnekop, and she planned to carry through with it.
Letting out a long breath, Cara raised her shaking foreleg, still trying to decide whether to run or not. She moved it towards the door, watching it shake violently. She sighed as she knocked lightly and slowly, then lowered the hoof.
You can still run. Her mind said. Just leave now before it gets worse. Her muscles were tensing and ready for the moment her mind finally decided to follow her body’s commands. I promised I would do this…
As she stood there for what felt like a few minutes but was probably only a few seconds, she raised her hoof again and knocked a bit harder. Her heart began pounding loudly in her ears as she waited.
When the door finally did open, the sounds cut out, and Cara thought her heart stopped until she felt it beating again. She felt her cheeks heating up slowly as she looked at the Changeling standing in the doorway.
“Cara?” Blink asked. “What are you doing here?”
Cara’s ears failed to process the question until Blink asked again. “Oh… Um… I’m uh…” Cara stuttered. Her brain trying to come up with something to say that didn’t instantly make her look like an idiot. “How’s uh… The Weather?” Cara mentally facehoofed. I’m an Idiot…
Blink looked up at the top of the Hive. “Huh… Well it could be a little damper, but it’s pretty good.”
Did he really? Cara looked up at Blink. “So uh… Can we… Maybe…” she slowly got quieter. “You know… talk?” She practically whispered.
Blink looked over at Cara, who had begun to shy away from him. “Sure.” He said.
“Oh… Okay that’s…” WAIT! He said yes? “Did… Did you say yes?”
“Of course Cara.” Blink replied. “I want to know how you’ve been. The letters I got from you were pretty brief.”
Cara rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah I uh…” She coughed nervously. “Yeah.”
“So would you like to come in, or would you prefer we stand here?”
Oh my Chrysalis! He’s inviting me in! Don’t freak out… “Um… Could we maybe… Go for a walk?”
“Sure thing.” Blink replied. “I don’t have any jobs to do right now. So might as well.” He stepped out of the doorway and closed the door behind him, all the while, Cara tried to keep herself from hyperventilating or chirping. “So… What do you want to talk about?”
“Well… Uh…I….How have you been?” Cara asked.
“Well, I’ve been good, the work flow’s been a bit weird lately.”
“W-weird how?”
“Well, I mean that usually mail is somewhat constant around the Hive, but recently it’s been jumping all over the place. One day we get maybe a few letters, the next I have to pull an all-nighter to make sure everything gets delivered.”
“Could the Invasion have something to do with it?”
Blink rubbed his chin. “It’s possible… I’m not too sure though…” He replied. “Now… I have something I want to ask you.”
Cara’s head jolted upright. “Anything!” She replied, then realizing the words she said pulled back slightly. “ahem… Sure…”
Blink looked around the area, trying to find a way to phrase the question. “Is… What I heard about Spin true?”
Cara stopped suddenly, and Blink took a few steps forward before turning back. “Cara?”
Cara sighed. “I’m… Yes.” She replied. “Spinnekop is gone…” She took a deep breath and looked down at the ground, but she felt a hoof wrap around her shoulders. Looking up, she saw Blink was trying to comfort her.
“I’m sorry if that hurt you…” He said. “I know that you two were close.”
Cara’s leg flashed green as she levitated the carving out again. “Yeah…”
Blink looked at the carving along with Cara, noticing how accurate it was. “Listen… Cara… Let’s just… Go to the waterfall…”
Cara nodded slowly as she replaced the carving. “I-I’m kind of glad Spinnekop didn’t… You know…”
“Why is that?” Blink asked.
“Because Chrysalis would have tortured her otherwise… At least now I know that she won’t have to be put through that…”
Blink nodded as they continued in silence. “There… Is something I do want to ask you… A more… Personal question I suppose.”
“Uh-huh?”
“When I came to talk to Spinnekop before you two were sent to Canterlot, she said that you were just talking.” Cara began to blush again. “Where did you go?”
Cara chuckled nervously. “I-uh… Well… You see…” She coughed nervously. “I… Uh… Was… Hiding…” She gave a nervous smile.
“Why were you hiding?” Blink asked confused.
“Well Uh… I was hiding from uh… you…” She mumbled the last word.
“I’m sorry you were hiding from what?”
“Um… you?” She replied flashing a nervous smile again.
“Why were you hiding from me?” Blink asked. “I mean… I know that I’m a bit more muscular since we last saw each other, but I didn’t think that anyling would be afraid of me.”
“I uh… I wasn’t hiding from fear…” Cara replied. “I uh… You see… I…” Cara mumbled a bit more before taking a deep breath. “I… I think I like you.”
“Well I would hope so. We’ve been friends for years.”
“No… I think that I… Really like you.” Cara replied, her Carapace gaining an ever growing red hue by the second.
“Oh…” Blink replied.
“I mean if that’s okay with you.” Cara began rambling. “I mean it’s alright if you don’t feel the same way for me. I mean you probably already have somepony else that you have your heart set after. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s just that you were so kind and caring and I just don’t know how to say it because every time I think I can I end up getting stopped by nerves and…”
Cara looked up at Blink and stopped talking. “Sorry… I… I’ll just go…” She started to walk away from Blink, but she found him flying next to her.
“Cara. It’s alright.” He said landing next to her.
“But I don’t want to get in your way if you already have somepony… I mean you’re so kind and sweet and somepony must already have their eye on you…”
Blink shook his head. “Cara… You are the first mare to even talk to me about a relationship. And… Truth be told… I kind of like you too.” His Carapace began to change shade this time.
“R-Really?” Cara replied.
“Sure… I mean. You and Spin were always there, even when my job got in the way of things. I could always just talk to you two… Especially you…”
Cara blushed again. “Well I… You were always doing the same… Even when we started writing…”
“Yeah… But…” Blink sighed. “Let’s face it. We were both waiting for the other to say something.”
Cara giggled. “I guess you’re right…” She looked up at Blink. “So… Does this mean we’re a couple now?”
Blink tapped his chin. “How about we start as ‘Good friends’ and get reacquainted with each other after all these years, then we decide.”
“Fine by me.” Cara replied, trying very hard to contain a long trill of chirps.
“How about we start at the Waterfall?” Blink suggested. “Somewhere we can cool off for a bit.”
“If you insist.” Cara replied. “Lead the way.”
Blink began walking while Cara tried and ultimately failed to keep herself from hopping for joy. Luckily she managed to hold in the sharp trill of joy, or it might have drawn attention.
Cadence had a bit of trouble walking around the streets of Canterlot, not because of the craters caused by the Changelings, but because of the repair work from the invasion. Ponies were busily fixing the roofs, roads, basic buildings, and even the wall. It didn’t take Cadence very long to locate the section the Spinnekop had been in during the attack, as the entire section of the street where she was found was sectioned off for intensive cleaning, even though the wall still had the faint blue outline of a Changeling on it.
Cadence couldn’t help but feel sympathetic to the ponies that lost their homes, businesses, or even the few that had died in the invasion. She knew there was nothing else she could do short of helping with the repairs herself, and Shining Armor refused to let her leave the Castle without a Royal Guard escort.
“This is where you found her right?” Cadence asked.
“That’s correct Princess.” Aegis replied. “We were given a tip from several citizens that a Changeling was still alive. When we arrived, multiple ponies were holding back a few that were rather aggressive towards the Changeling.”
“How so?” Cadence asked.
“If we hadn’t arrived when we did, we are fairly certain that the Changeling would have been killed.”
“Then it is a good thing you arrived when you did.” Cadence replied. “Now… Spindle said she was around here when she was fighting…”
Cadence looked around the street, looking for some kind of store of any kind to help her look for a clue. The only trouble was that none of these buildings looked like they could be a store.
She let out a sigh. “I really hope I can find it…”
“If you don’t mind me asking Princess,” Aegis said. “Why are you doing this for the Changeling? I understand that it had a hoof in your escape… But it may just be trying to get on your good side.”
Cadence sighed. “That Changeling’s name is Spinnekop, I call her Spindle based on the persona she created to get close to me in the past. She claimed to have no idea that her Queen was doing this for power, she believed that it was for food. She is the reason I was able to escape, and this pendant we are looking for is very important to her. I want to at least do this for her.”
“Are you sure that this is safe?” Aegis replied. “We don’t know what…”
“Aegis… I’m going to do this for Spindle, whether you help me or not is up to you, but I am going to do this for her.”
“Excuse me Princess.” Cadence turned to the voice to see a light blue Earth Pony Stallion with a sky blue mane, the tips of his mane and tail were white. His cutie mark was of a Snowflake. “Sorry to disturb you, but did I hear you say that you had a Changeling named Spindle?”
Cadence nodded. “Do you know her?”
The Stallion rubbed the back of his head. “Well… Sort of… I saw her getting attacked by another Changeling and tried to help her, then she helped me, and then I found out she was a Changeling…”
“And how did you react?” Cadence asked.
“Well at first she just told me to run, I tried to say that I wasn’t going to, then she transformed and I figured it would be better to leave.” He chuckled. “At first I thought I was just imagining things. Guess I wasn’t…”
Cadence nodded. “She said something about a pony helping her, but she couldn’t remember the name.”
“Deep Freeze.” The Stallion replied. “I work at the local Ice Cream Parlor with my Wife, Sweet Tooth.”
“Are either of you hurt?” Cadence asked.
“No. We’re fine. Some broken glass and a broken freezer, but we’re fine physically.” Freeze replied. “But… What are you looking for around here?”
“Spindle lost something very important to her,” Cadence explained, “a pendant given to her by her parents when she was still a child, it’s the only thing she has left.”
Deep Freeze tapped his chin. “It wouldn’t happen to be the green one I saw her wearing would it?”
Cadence nodded. “Have you seen it?”
Deep Freeze nodded. “I know where it is, the only trouble is getting Scribe to stop trying to take it apart.”
Cadence’s eyes grew wide. “Show me!”
“Alright. His store is just up here.” Deep Freeze began leading the two of them through the street and throng of some of the ponies, until they came to a store with a large book as a sigh, the words: “Arcane Enchantments” etched into it and glowing slightly. Underneath the larger sign was a smaller one reading “Selling and buying enchanted goods, Runes, and books.”
Deep Freeze opened the door to the building as Cadence looked around the store, it seemed to contain anything ranging from jewelry to Books to even living machinations of paper, one of which was an owl that was busy preening itself as they walked in.
“Scribe is usually in the back working on some project. He sometimes gets pretty…” He was cut off by a sudden loud bang from the back room.
The door behind the counter opened as a Purple Unicorn with a short orange and blue striped mane stepped in, he waved his hoof in front of his face. “Wow… That Necklace really doesn’t like me…” He blinked a few times before looking over towards the door with green eyes. “Oh! Hello. I didn’t hear you come in.” He walked over to the counter and picked up a rag, quickly wiping it over his face. “So how can I help you today?”
Cadence walked up to the counter. “I heard that you found a pendant sometime after the attack. I was wondering if I could get a look at it.”
The Unicorn squinted at Cadence for a minute. “Huh… You know to me you look a lot like a Changeling… No idea why…” He rubbed his eye with a hoof again. “Probably the Pendant’s counter Magical spell interfering with me again. Nothing to worry about… But sure thing Miss….” He twirled his hoof.
“Princess Cadence.” Cadence replied.
“Oh! My apologies Princess.” Scribe replied. “I didn’t mean to infer that you were a Change… Uh… Yes… Come. Come see it.” He led Cadence into the back room where a number of various necklaces were laid out, a few were under a glass case saying ‘Cursed’. Another section read ‘Disenchanted’ and yet another read ‘Unknown Spell’. Sitting in the middle of the room on a small podium was the small green gemstone with a needle inside it, Cadence watched as the needle began to spin wildly before stopping to point to the north.
“Tricky little gem, no pun intended.” Scribe said. “I can’t seem to figure out what kind of spell it’s enchanted with, the magical make-up is all wonky on it.”
“How so?” Cadence asked.
“Well… For instance there is clearly some type of magical protection charm placed around the stone, which is why it isn’t broken or cracked, despite the fact I found it after somepony dropped a rather heavy box on top of it while they were relocating.” He indicated another necklace, sapphire with a circle of emeralds surrounding it. “yet That protection Charm which handled the same amount of pressure took me twenty seconds to solve. I’ve been staring at this other pendant for two days and I still can’t figure out the basic shape of the enchantment.”
Cadence looked at the Pendant to see the needle ever so slightly changing directions. “What’s going on with the Needle?”
Scribe looked at it. “I have no clue! It’s all wonky! At first I thought it was just a Compass charm so that it would always point North, but then it began pointing to the west for no reason! Then it shifted to the East, the South, then back to North again! If it is a compass charm, it has the worst sense of direction I have ever seen!”
Cadence walked over and looked down at the Pendant, noticing the needle began spinning wildly again. “What is it doing now?”
Scribe walked over to look at the pendant as the needle stopped spinning and the flipped itself so that the tip was pointing straight down. The pendant began to glow faintly as the needle inched along slowly.
Scribe rubbed his eyes again. “Well… Either The object or magical current this thing is tracking is operating on a three dimensional plane, or it’s broken.”
Cadence watched as the Needle turned itself to lie flat again as it pointed to the north. “Mr. Scribe?”
“Yes Princess?”
“I would like to procure this pendant.”
Scribe looked at Cadence confused. “Why would you want a pendant this basic with a broken compass enchantment on it?”
Cadence turned to Scribe. “It is for a good friend of mine who I believe lost it during the attack. How much would you be willing to sell it for?”
Spinnekop sat in the cell, her tears had dried up a while ago, and now she was simply waiting to hear back from Cadence. The anticipation was killing her, or the blood loss, it was one of those two.
While she was down in the dungeon, she had to find a new way to tell time, and thinking she would be down here for a while, she figured it would be good to have one. She began to notice that the magical torch could be used to tell time for six hours, as it needed to be recharged three times a day, letting it slowly burn out around night time. And given that no one had come to recharge it in a very long time, and the flame was slowly burning down, it must have been nearing nighttime.
She managed to let out another small tear at the thought of never seeing the necklace she treasured for her entire life, or even worse, finding it broken. Her mind had run rampant with the possibilities of how it could be damaged beyond even magical repair: A pony running over it in the panic, a hammer dropping accidently on it, or even it falling down into the sewer system. As her imagination was let to run wild, it began concocting more and more ludicrous ideas that even she realized were farfetched when she got to the Dragon emerging from Tartarus to specifically shatter the gem and then leave. After that, she decided to leave her imagination out of it.
She wasn’t sure how long it was until she heard hooves hitting the ground and she looked up expectantly. “Cadence?”
“I’m here Spindle.” Cadence said as she walked into view, the Guard with her eyeing Spinnekop warily.
“Did you find it? Is it safe?” Her eyes widened. “It wasn’t… It wasn’t broken was it?”
Cadence shook her head. “It’s alright Spindle.” She levitated a small black box from behind her. She opened it and revealed the small green gem inside, polished and shining, the string that she broke was replaced with a small metallic chain.
Spinnekop’s face changed to a bright smile. “Oh my Chrysalis! You found it! Where was it? Was it difficult to get back? Why is it all shiny?”
Cadence smiled. “Apparently an Enchanter named Runic Scribe found it and was attempting to decipher the runes. It was difficult to find, but when I explained why I needed it, and that I was willing to pay heavily for it, he agreed to give it a little upgrade and polish.” She nodded at the guard, whose horn lit up as Spinnekop felt her magic return to her.
Cadence levitated the pendant through the bars and around Spinnekop’s neck so it rested on her chest. “The chain is enchanted so that it will repair itself if broken. I figured you wouldn’t want to lose it again.”
Spinnekop raised her hoof to touch the pendant. “I don’t… This is… Fantastic… Thank you Cadence.”
Cadence nodded. “I wanted to ask you something… When we were getting it back, the gemstone glowed and the needle pointed straight down… What does that mean?”
Spinnekop blinked. “I’m… Not sure… It never did that before…” She looked down at it. “I’m just glad to have it back.”
“Oh and one last thing Spindle.” Cadence said, causing Spinnekop to look up at her. “I managed to get Celestia to talk to you when you’re recovered enough to walk.”
Spinnekop froze. “Ce-Celestia…”
“Yeah, I got her to agree to meet with you.” Cadence repeated. “Now I have to attend to some royal duties right now, so I’ll see you later Spindle.” Cadence waved before walking down the hall.
“Celestia…” Spindle laid down with her hooves covering her eyes. “I’m so dead…”