Breaking Cute

by GoldenState3

Over

Luna stared at the scene before her. Sweetie Belle was in the middle of a crowd of faceless ponies, who were accusing her of murder. Even Rarity was getting in on the act.

"What is happening here!" Luna shouted.

She hadn't meant to sound mean, it's just that well, she was stressed. Even though she was cooperating, Dr. Foally just kept coming up with new requirements for her. It wasn't enough that she was cooperating. No, Luna had to learn how to socialize with other ponies without resorting to the royal we, or the Royal Canterlot voice. She was sure that once she met that requirement, another one would come down, and then another. Luna was sick of spending her days with the craziest foals in Equestria. She wanted to go home.

She paused the dream, and replaced the endless void with the Carousel Boutique, and the faceless ponies with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Sweetie Belle's parents. A massive cake and some party hats completed the scene. Luna took a step back to analyze her work. This was one of her better jobs, if she had to say so herself.

Sweetie Belle burst into tears. "It's all our faults! We killed the whole town!"

Luna stared at the filly. "How can you say something like that? It was an accident. It would have happened if you decorated those cupcakes or not."

Luna got a good look at Sweetie Belle's hoof. "What's that?"

"It's a thing that... I mean I don't know," Sweetie replied.

Luna flicked her tail, and the strange object became a cake knife. "Look, it seems like things are going bad, but Twilight Sparkle is going to take care of everything. She'll bring the evil monster that hurt your classmates to justice, and everyone will be happy. Just you wait and see."

Sweetie Belle blinked, and Luna watched as she joined in the party. Luna bid the foal goodnight, and moved onto her next target, Twilight Sparkle.

Unlike Sweetie Belle, Twilight was having a pleasant dream. She was a little foal, curled up in a ball reading a book by the fire in Celestia's study. Luna rapped her hoof loudly on the floor, causing Twilight to explode to her full adult size.

"Hey! I was having a nice dream!" Twilight said.

Luna ignored her. "You should really talk to those foals."

"Which foals?" Twilight asked.

"You know, the ones that manage to cause enough mayhem and destruction in their attempts to gain a Cutie Mark that they manage to make it into my sisters royal reports," Luna replied.

"Oh, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They're harmless. Well, mostly harmless."

"They seem to blame themselves for the calamity that befell your fair town."

"It wasn't their fault."

"Maybe you should make it more clear to them that they aren't to blame," Luna said.

"I've figured out our problem. The Changlings are invading again. They've replaced some of the local ponies, but the replaced ponies are acting so out of character that even a foal could see that something was wrong," Twilight said. "I sent a letter to Celestia, but she just told me to get some sleep, and not to worry about it."

"My sister needs to get her head out of her plot," Luna said. "Why do you think it is Changlings?"

"It's the obvious answer. Why else would ponies suddenly start acting completely different? They must have been behind whatever happened at Sugar Cube corner as well."

"How did they do it?"

"How should I know? I should probably go there and see if I could pick up any evidence of the Changling's methods. Maybe there is some kind of secret that we could use to stop them."

"How would Changlings get access to information from Other Places? Changelings are not known for being explorers or scholars."

"I know! Maybe they have somepony helping them!" Twilight said.

"Perhaps," Luna replied.

"Hey, can you wake me up now?" Twilight asked. "There is something important that I have to do."

---

The Great and Powerful Trixie had been awakened by a pounding at her door. She opened it, expecting to see some pony in desperate need of legal assistance. Instead, she saw Twilight Sparkle.

The purple unicorn violently pushed her way into the wagon, grabbing one of the awards from Trixie's wall in her magic and swinging it menacingly. Trixie backed away, but she was running out of wagon fast.

"IKnowWhatYouDid!" Twilight said. "Confess and I'll let you live long enough for Celestia to banish you."

Trixie reared up against the back wall. "I don't have any idea what your talking about... Err I mean The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't have any idea of what your talking about."

Trixie felt the plaque connect with her head violently. She instinctively dropped to all fours, her front hooves covering her head.

Twilight advanced again, her eyes glowing with animal furry. "You killed Spike!"

The plaque rained a bone shattering series of blows down on Trixie.

"You mean that Dragon that you kept as a slave?"

"He was my assistant! He liked helping me!" Twilight shouted.

"Did you pay him?" Trixie replied.

The increase in the violence of Twilight's attack answered that question. For a minute, Trixie considered telling Twilight Sparkle who had been responsible for Spike's death. But, then Trixie would lose her in with Silver Zephyr. He'd sent her a number of small time associates who'd been arrested for smuggling, and he had connections to the Griffon underworld. Trixie didn't want to lose easy money, and she most definitely didn't want to lose the ability to spend that money.

Twilight suddenly backed off. She spent a few seconds staring at the bloody plaque in her magic, before galloping out Trixie's door.

"Come back her you brute! Or at least give me my award back!" Trixie shouted after her.

Author's Note:

Sorry about the delay. I'm back.