Insurgence

by Rose Quill

Vengeance, Served Cold

I was finishing up a few tasks around the castle when Twilight called me.

"Starlight, do you know where this scroll came from?"

We had become very wary of random bits of parchment lately. Between what had happened in tbe Crystal Empire and just general mayhem caused when one of Spike's Ogres and Obuiletts game ran long, parchment and paper not where it belonged was viewed as suspect. I trotted down the length of the library to look it over.

I got five feet away and it began to smoke, a circle begining to appear in char marks.

"Oh, not again!" Twilight shrieked, throwing up a null magic sphere around the parchment, but the circle continued to take shape, revealing a very intricate mandala within the circle's border. The barrier Twilight put up began to flicker, and we both bent our magic to the task of maintaining the spell.

For all of a minute, it seemed to work. Then, the barrier burst with a cerulean flare and we were flung backward. As I climbed back to my hooves, I heard a manic giggling that made my blood curdle.

"Oh, Starlight!" Chrysalis sang out. "I've come a-calling with a treat for you."

Twilight encompassed me with a teleport aura as I stared dumbfounded at the Changeling queen and how far she had fallen. With a flash of white we were elsewhere in the castle.

I felt magic surge and then a yellow-green shockwave rippled outward, washing over Twilight and I. When I felt no ill effect from whatever it was, I turned to face Twilight.

"Twilight," I said as she stared forward. "What was that?"

She didn't answer.

"Twilight?" I asked, voice quivering a little.

She made no move. Not even to blink. Her eyes were glassy and fixed, and her breathing was barely detectable.

"Twilight!" I shouted, reaching out and shaking the Alicorn, panic starting to set in.

"By now you should have noticed the spell effect," the voice of Chrysalis said, echoing through the corridors. "Everypony in Equestria is locked in a different plane of existence from us. Nopony can see you, and nopony can help you. You can run, if you like, though it won't do you any good. But please do, I would enjoy the hunt."

I teleported to Trixie's caravan, to the town hall, even Maud's house. Everypony I saw was in the same state. As I scrambled for a solution, I heard the former queen start singing to herself.

The high and mighty pony fell out of time today
Out of control she tried to run away
Then came a queen who crushed her under her hooves
And the high and mighty pony never saw the sun again

Her laughter made me shiver as I teleported away again.

---

Twilight stumbled as she and Sunset passed the doorway to the gymnasium where they had agreed to help Pinkie and the former Crystal Prep students set up for a fundraising dance.

"You ok?" Sunset asked, but before she received an answer, a wave of energy washed through the school, knocking everyone to the ground. As Sunset climbed back to her hooves, she couldn't shake the wool from her thoughts or the sense that something wasn't right.

"Are you ok, Sunset?" Twilight asked.

The amber Alicorn turned to the speaker, the dark lilac coat gleaming under the florescent lighting. The sight of her spectral left wing still unnerved her compared to the physical right one.

Wrong, this is wrong somehow! her brain screamed at her.

"Sunset?

The Alicorn turned again to spy five ponies that she recognized. The Unicorn in the lead, Sunny Flare, stomped unsteadily over.

"What. Did you. Do?!?" she shouted into tbe Alicorns face.

"I don't...know?" she replied. Even speaking was difficult.

"What do you mean you don't know?" shouted Indigo Zap, her wings flaring out and lifting her off the ground. "We're ponies!"

An Earth pony with long white pigtails reached up to adjust her glasses before speaking in a flat voice.

"Technically, you're a Pegasus, Zap," Sugarcoat said. "So is Lemon. Sour and I are ponies and Sunny Flare appears to be a Unicorn." She looked at the Alicorns before continuing. "For what it's worth, it was a wave of energy that burst through here a moment ago that did this."

Their words didn't make sense. "Did what?" Sunset asked.

Sour Sweet turned, tilting her head in surprise.

"We're not supposed to be ponies, you nitwit!"

"Why not?" Twilight asked. "You always have been, right? I remember you..."

She trailed of and stumbled slightly, shaking her head.

"No," she whispered. "This isn't right, not at all!"

And she flew out, heading for the portal.

---

I was running out of places to hide. She kept finding me and attacking, always with madness in her eyes, toying with me like a cat with a mouse.

Away, I just had get away! But where else could I go? She seemed to be able to track my teleport spell...

My eyes fell on the doorway to the second library.

Where Twilight kept the mirror.

I wasn't in a hurry to step through and have to deal with hands again, but I didn't have many options otherwise. I fled into the library, threw one of the magic journals into the bracket and plunged through, yanking the book with my magic so it would fall out after powering the portal.

When the twisting sensation of the transfer ended, I just lay on the cool ground, breathing hard.

"Starlight?" I heard Twilight ask.

I looked up in surprise then recoiled in shock when I saw who stood before me.

Twilight Sparkle, or as I knew her better, Sunshine, stood there, fully an Alicorn, but she seemed a combination of the two Twilights I knew. Her left wing was made of smoke and shadows, and her coat was a blend between the lavender of the Alicorn I knew and the midnight blue of the Unicorn.

I looked down at myself and saw my hooves, coat, and a quick test revealed I still had my horn and magic. Looking around revealed several ponies trotting by without a care.

"Oh," I moaned, laying my head down and hiding it under my hooves. "This is not good at all!"

Author's Note:

Crystal Prep converted as follows:

Sugarcoat - Earth pony
Sunny Flare - Unicorn
Sour Sweet - Earth pony
Lemon Zest - Pegasus
Indigo Zap - Pegasus

This is assuming the standard two per tribe grouping with SciTwi filling the role for the other Unicorn prior to her transfer.

For Chrysalis' song, it's set to the tune of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

She may be a tiny bit crazy right now.

Comments

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

(blinks several times in surprise) 😲 What. Is. HAPPENING?!

In other words, can't wait for more.

[Vic Fontaine]

What the hay?