Changeling

by Yukito

Chapter 7

In school, Aura was taught that it was rude to interrupt someone when they were talking, and that, as a lady and as a princess, she should always show great manners and courtesy, even to simple commoners. In short, image is everything and she should aim to maintain her own image as a member of the royal family at all times.

As the Crusaders continued to drag her further and further into town, she was searching her mind to see if there was some kind of loophole she could have taken advantage of. The Crusaders were all ponies, so they were technically her enemy. Did that mean she didn’t have to show them any respect or mind her manners around them? Did that mean she could just tell them to shut up and then simply walk away?

Even if it did mean that, Aura couldn’t bring herself to do such a thing. They were just fillies, and they were just trying to help Aura out… Or so they claimed.

“Um, excuse me,” Aura interjected as soon as the three fillies were done explaining the history of their school… or their version thereof. To her surprise, they were actually allowing her to speak. “I know you all mean well and I appreciate your help, but I really am in a hurry and must insist that I be on my way.”

The three fillies exchanged strange looks, before turning back to Aura. “But you said you were lost, right?” Scootaloo asked.

Aura nodded. “Yes. I am trying to find somewhere that sells drinks. More specifically, a hay smoothie. Do you know any places like that?”

Apple Bloom stepped forth with a smile. “Well why didn’t ya say somethin’ eariler?”

‘I did,’ Aura thought, still keeping up her smile whilst facing the three fillies. “It must have slipped my mind,” she said, not wanting to start an argument. “So, would you be so kind as to direct me to such a shop?”

“Why are ya talkin’ like that?” Scootaloo asked, causing Aura to tilt her head in confusion. “You kinda sound like…”

“Like my sister!” Sweetie Belle chimed in. Her two friends agreed with her instantly.

“Is there something wrong with the way I speak?” Aura asked.

Apple Bloom shook her head slowly. “Not really, it’s just… ya don’t have ta be so prim an’ proper ‘round us, y’know? We’re fillies, like you! It’s fine to relax a lil’ bit!”

‘… It’s not like I can help the way I speak. It’s how I was raised.’ Aura thought about it for a moment and decided that, if she was going to fit in with ponies from now on, it might be a good idea to change her way of speaking to match theirs. “My apologies, I-” She noticed the three starting at her and realised her slipup. She nodded her head and put some thought into how to respond. ‘Like Miss Trixie? No, too showy. Like Shark? No, too vulgar. Apple Bloom? That accent would be kind of hard to mimic… Scootaloo might be easier to copy.’

“S-Sorry, I’ll keep that in mind,” she finally said, altering her voice so that it no longer carried her royal tone, although in her opinion it made her sound… silly.

The three crusaders nodded and prepared to take off once more. “Right,” Apple Bloom started, “Let’s get goin’! Cutie Mark Crusaders, full speed ahead to the market square!”

“YEAH!” her two friends shouted in unison. The three fillies began speeding off down the street, followed by Aura.

---

“I wonder how much blood a changeling can lose before they pass out?” Shark asked as he lay down on the ground, after once again having a blood sample taken by Trixie.

“Don’t worry. If necessary, Trixie will speed up your heart with her magic to make up the lost blood more quickly.”

“Can you really do that?” Shark asked, sounding impressed. “And is it safe?”

“Well, Trixie can do it,” Trixie said, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she concentrated her magic on the ground. “Whether it’s safe or not… who knows? Trixie’s never really tried it before.”

“Ah, never mind then,” Shark said. “How many more samples are ya gonna take, exactly?”

“One more should do it,” Trixie said, grabbing a nearby rock and carving a message into a nearby tree for Aura. “Let’s go. We still have three more locations to safeguard.”

“Hey!” Trixie and Shark turned their attentions skywards, looking around for whoever had just called out to them.

“I think I lost too much blood. I’m hearing voices,” Shark said, slowly rising up to his hooves.

“No, Trixie heard something too…” Trixie lowered her head and came face-to-face with a rainbow-maned, blue pegasus. “AH!” she shouted as she jumped back, getting into a defensive stance.

Shark immediately altered his disguised form so that a horn was visible, releasing the restriction placed on his magic. He levitated a pair of steel claws from his bag and eyed the blue pony carefully, waiting for her to make a move.

Rainbow Dash didn’t take any notice of Shark, though, more interested on the mare in front of her, instead. “You got a lot of nerve showing your face around here! After what you pulled, I’m surprised any town will let you in!”

“‘After what you pulled’?” Shark asked, turning to Trixie. Trixie simply shrugged, and Shark turned his attention back to the rainbow-maned pony.

“Don’t play dumb! Does ‘ursa minor’ ring a bell?”

Trixie sighed and facehooved. ‘Right, that. Of course.’ Trixie cleared her throat and dropped her guard slightly. “That incident was the fault of those two colts, not the Great and Powerful Trixie. It is them who were at fault,” Trixie argued, “And quite frankly, they should be grateful that Trixie didn’t sue their parents for every last bit that they own.”

Trixie had no doubt that she could win a court case against those two colts’ families, even if the town sided with them. But she could tell the two colts didn’t exactly come from rich upbringings, and any money that she would have won would have been an insignificant gesture. Heck, the cost of hiring a lawyer would probably have overshadowed her earnings.

“Yeah, and who was it that bragged about being able to defeat an ursa major?”

Trixie didn’t have time for this pony. She also didn’t want Rainbow Dash around in case Aura showed up. “Shark, let’s go,” Trixie said, completely ignoring Rainbow Dash. She walked past the floating pegasus and began to walk back into the town with Shark following behind her.

“Hey! Don’t just ignore me like that!” Rainbow Dash shouted, chasing after the two and stopping right in front of them. It was then that she noticed Shark equipping his steel claws onto his forehooves and she backed up a little bit. “Y-You wanna start something? Go ahead! I’ll just make sure you never step a hoof into this town again.”

“Trixie didn’t realise that you were the mayor of this town,” Trixie said, brining a confused look to Rainbow Dash’s face. “Oh, you’re not? Well then, in that case, you have no right to decide if we can be here or not.”

Shark stepped forward, his patience having reached its limits. “Stand down, and we won’t have to resort to violence,” he said, in a tone that sent shivers down both mares’ spines.

“H-Hey,” Trixie whispered to him, “We don’t want to cause a conflict, y’know?”

“Razor could get here any second now,” Shark whispered back. “We can’t waste any time here. If necessary, I’ll distract her, while you go finish your traps.”

“Now look here!” Trixie shouted, getting in-between Shark and Rainbow Dash, “Yes, she’s annoying-” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “-But there’s no reason to go that far!” She pointed to Shark’s steel claws whilst glaring at him.

“How about I just kill you, too?!” Shark shouted, taking a threatening step towards Trixie, who flinched and backed away. “I’m going to survive, Trixie! I don’t care what it takes! If anypony gets in my way, I’ll cut them down!”

“You think you stand a chance against the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”

“Great and powerful my flank! You’re just a loudmouth with no talent! Just a little luck on yer side that helped you survive this long, that’s all!”

Trixie’s eye twitched and her horn flared as she shot out a beam of magic at the changeling in front of her, knocking her unsuspecting target to the ground. “NO TALENT?! I’LL SHOW YOU NO TALENT!”

“You bitch!” Shark shouted as he jumped to his hooves before charging towards Trixie. Before his attack could connect, however, a shadowy figure jumped between the two of them, keeping Trixie at bay with one forehoof, and Shark at bay with its other.

“Hey, now,” the grey earth pony with a blonde, zigzagged mane said. “No fightin’, you guys! You’re disturbing the peace.”

Trixie and Shark both glared at the interloper in unison, wondering who he was and, more importantly, how he had stopped their attacks so easily. “Who are you?!”

The earth pony turned to Trixie and bowed politely. “Forgive me. My name is Shock. I’m new around here.” Trixie noticed the lightning bolt cutie mark on Shock’s flank and wondered if it represented his speed. “I saw you and your friend here-”

“He’s not my friend!” Trixie shouted, turning her back on Shock and Shark.

Shock sighed and turned to Shark. “I’m sorry. I just saw the two of you fighting and thought that it’d be best to stop you both before things got out of hoof…” He then turned his attention to Rainbow Dash, who was standing off to the side and watching the scene unfold, along with a few other ponies who had started to gather. “And you,” he said, pointing an accusing hoof at Rainbow Dash. “I saw the way you were bothering this young mare.”

“But that was-”

“Now, now,” Shock began, cutting off Rainbow Dash, “I’m not playing the blame game here. I just think that, maybe you three should stay away from each other for a little bit. To cool down.” The two ponies and one changeling glared at Shock, making him swallow and take an uncomfortable step backwards. “You know… for the town’s sake?”

Trixie and Rainbow Dash sighed, and in unison, they both said, “Fine”. They exchanged a quick glance, before turning their heads away and walking off in opposite directions.

Shock turned to Shark and gave a warm smile as he watch Shark begin to walk off in a different direction than the two mares. “You know,” Shock started, “I could have sworn you were an earth pony before.” Shark stopped and looked over his shoulder at Shock. “Nah, must’ve been my imagination. Pay it no mind.”

Shark stared at Shock for a few seconds, before continuing to walk off back towards Trixie’s trailer. He stopped suddenly and looked down at his hoof. ‘…Damnit,’ he thought to himself, ‘She still needs another blood sample, doesn’t she?’ Shark considered for a moment whether he should put his anger aside for the time being and meet back up with Trixie, or simply ditch the town and continue on his own.

Ultimately, his survival instincts told him that his best shot was with Trixie and Aura and, begrudgingly, he turned back around and began to follow the direction that Trixie had walked off in.

---

Aura ducked behind a nearby lamppost, poking her head around for only a moment, before drawing it back in when she caught sight of the baby dragon across the street.

“Uh… are you ok?” Apple Bloom, looking at Aura as if she was doing something crazy.

“There’s a dragon over there,” Aura said, pointing her hoof around the lamppost. The three fillies nodded, still not seeing what the big deal is. “I’m… not good with dragons…” That was the understatement of the year. Changelings and dragons had never got along. For longer than the changeling race’s history books go back, dragons have always held the upmost prejudice towards changelings.

Because of this, the Changeling Kingdom had devoted an entire special squad to look out for and fend off dragons. Thanks to the technology that the changelings had invented, they had been safe from invading dragons for the past five hundred years, without having to move locations or rebuild and repopulate frequently. But there was talk in the kingdom of how long the safety would last and, although Aura had never seen a real dragon before, the stories had been enough to develop a strong fear of them.

“Oh, but he’s a baby dragon,” Sweetie Belle pointed out, smiling reassuringly at Aura. “He’s not dangerous at all, and he’s really friendly, too!”

“Yeah, maybe you should just go an’ say hi to him,” Apple Bloom suggested. Aura responded by quickly shaking her head. “Why not? C’mon, we’ll help ya out!”

“We will?” Scootaloo asked, receiving a glare from Apple Bloom. “Uh, I mean, we will!”

Aura dared a peek at the baby dragon across the street and then looked at the ground nervously. ‘Well… I suppose if I’m going to be a pony… then having a dragon on my side might actually help in the long run.’

Aura nodded her head and stepped out from behind the lamppost. As per her request, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo led the way whilst Aura followed them, staying close to Sweetie Belle. Once they were close enough to talk to the baby dragon, Apple Bloom called out to him, drawing his attention. Aura felt her body freeze as he looked their way and suddenly found herself having second thoughts.

“Hey girls. What’re you up to today?” he asked. “Tennis? Diving? … Blowing up libraries?”

Aura raised her eyebrow and looked at the three crusaders. Sweetie Belle still had her innocent smile on her face, Scootaloo looked annoyed, and Apple Bloom looked a little guilty.

“No, not today, Spike!” Sweetie Belle answered before turning to Aura. “We’re showing our new friend here around Ponyville! Her name’s Aura, and she’s here on vacation with her family!”

Spike looked at Aura, who tried to hide behind one of the other fillies, but the three crusaders moved to the side to prevent her from doing so. Aura slowly smiled at Spike, and lifted up a hoof to wave at him. “Um… hi…”

“Hi!” Spike said back, extending a paw to her. She flinched at first, before realising that he just wanted to shake her hoof. She slowly extended her hoof and connected it with Spike’s paw. As she shook it, he added, “Nice to meet ya!”

“Y-Yeah…”

“See?” Apple Bloom asked, hopping up to Aura alongside Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “Ah told ya he wasn’t dangerous, didn’t Ah?”

“She thought I was dangerous?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow at the four fillies, who nodded in unison. A smug grin formed on Spike’s face and he flexed his arms as if to show off some muscles. “Well, dragons are pretty bad, and I’m no exception!”

The four fillies stared blankly at him for a second, before each breaking into a fit of giggles, causing Spike to blush and glare at them. “S-Sorry, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said, wiping a tear from her eyes as she recovered from her laughing fit. “Hey, you don’t seem so scared now,” she pointed out to Aura, who was also just recovering from her own fit of laughter.

“Y-Yeah, you’re right,” Aura said, turning to Spike and finding herself able to smile at him quite easily. “I guess you were right… He doesn’t seem like a bad dragon.”

“Nicest dragon Ah know!” Apple Bloom shouted, before putting a hoof to her chin in thought. “Actually, he’s the only dragon Ah know… but Ah’m sure that if Ah knew other dragons, he’d be the nicest one Ah know!”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s-” Aura froze up suddenly as she felt a cold chill run down her spin. Her smile faded, and she slowly turned her head around, feeling that something bad was behind her. ‘W-What? What was that?’

Aura looked around at the various ponies in the town surrounding her. None of them stood out in particular, and she recognised most of them from when she had entered earlier, so she was sure that none of them were Razor. Otherwise, she definitely would have been attacked by now. Regardless, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was nearby.

“Aura?” Scootaloo asked, snapping Aura out of her trance and causing her to face the group of fillies and the baby dragon once more. “You okay?”

Aura swallowed the lump in her throat and slowly nodded her head. She was about to speak up when, suddenly, a voice called out to them from behind her. “Excuse me.” The four fillies turned around to see a grey earth pony with a blonde zigzagged mane and tail. “I was wondering if you could direct me to this town’s library?”

Spike raised a paw to gain his attention. “I was actually on my way there just now. You can follow me if you like.”

The pony nodded at the baby dragon. “I see. Thank you, Mr.…”

“Spike, and you don’t need the ‘Mr.’,” he said, though he actually kind of liked being addressed formally.

“And my name is Shock.”

Aura looked over at the newspaper at Shock’s side and gasped at the article on the front page. “Excuse me,” she said, drawing Shock’s attention… which caused her to flinch for a moment. ‘What the?’ She shook off the feeling quickly, more interested in what she had just seen on the newspaper. “Could I have a look at that newspaper you’re carrying, please?”

Shock turned to the newspaper at his side and leaned his head down to pick it up in his mouth. He handed it over to Aura, who grabbed it in her magic and stared at the article on the front page. Her eyes and mouth were wide open and she remained silent for a few moments, until Sweetie Belle tried to speak to her.

“Aura?”

“I have to go,” she said, suddenly taking off down the street, still holding the paper in her magic.

“H-Hey! Aura?” The three crusaders tried to follow Aura down the street, but were stopped when a green flame appeared before them, blazing for just a few short seconds, but by the time it was gone, Aura was nowhere in sight.

Spike watched the scene with a confused look on his face, as did many of the ponies around him. He shrugged and looked back up at Shock. “Well, let’s-” He stopped when he realised that Shock was no longer there and looked around to try to find him, to no avail. “… Man, this town just keeps getting weirder and weirder…”

---

Aura rushed towards the trailer as fast as she could, carrying the newspaper behind herself in her magic. She ran the article that she had read through her mind over and over again. She ignored the strange looks aimed her way by the ponies on the street as she passed by them in her hurry.

‘What’s going on? Why is he here? I have to get to Canterlot immediately!’

Aura jumped up and tried to open Trixie’s trailer, but was pushed back by some kind of invisible force. She stared at the trailer in shock, before remembering that Trixie had locked it with her magic as they had left. She dropped the newspaper to the ground and tried to find another way in, but stopped when she felt something approaching her from behind.

Aura summoned her magic to create a small barrier, blocking a bolt that was soaring towards the back of her head. She turned around to see a green unicorn in a brown cloak approaching her, carrying a crossbow in her magic. “Found ya, little princess.”

Aura glared at the approaching unicorn… No, at the approaching changeling, disguised as a unicorn. She gathered some magic into her horn and stood her ground. “Razor Tooth, how did you-” Aura stopped herself before she gave away too much information. ‘He must have used one of Ponyville’s entrances before Miss Trixie could set up her traps there… Either that, or the traps simply don’t work. I really hope it isn’t the latter.’

“How did I what?” Razor asked, preparing another bolt into his crossbow. “Go ahead, ask your question. I’ll answer. I’d be happy to grant you this final courtesy, before you die.”

“… Actually, Razor, I had other plans in mind.” A light shot out from Aura’s horn, shooting straight towards Razor, who dodged it with little effort… only for it to turn around and follow after him. Whilst Razor was distracted trying to avoid the green sphere of light chasing him around the town square, Aura turned tail and fled, heading in the direction of the apple orchard, hiding herself amongst the other ponies that were fleeing the scene.

Razor fired his own magical energy at the green light to shatter it, allowing himself to safely chase after the young changeling princess. ‘Well that was embarrassing… Thankfully no one was around to see-’ Razor noticed one of the ponies on the streets as he chased Aura through Ponyville and stopped for a brief second, before continuing his pursuit of Aura. ‘Why’s he here? Did something happen on Odysseus’ end?’

Razor shook off the thought, deciding to simply focus on catching Aura for the time being. “Whatever. Right now, my main priority is to ensure the deaths of Aura, Shark, and that pony.”

---

Trixie posed triumphantly as she finished setting up the last of her traps around Ponyville. “Ah-hah! The Great and Powerful Trixie is finally finished!” she declared, receiving a slow, sarcastic clap from Shark. “Now, we can finally relax a little bit. The moment Razor enters Ponyville, we will know about it immediately, and then-”

“Provided he isn’t already in Ponyville,” Shark pointed out.

Trixie cleared her throat and turned to Shark. “Yes, well, sadly, even Trixie’s plans can’t account for everything. Furthermore…” Trixie looked around for a few seconds. “Where’s Aura?” she asked. “She should have caught up to us by now. Trixie can’t imagine it takes that long to buy a drink or two.”

“Maybe she got caught,” Shark suggested with a shrug.

Trixie considered that possibility for a moment, before her horn started to light up. “Ah! A changeling has entered one of the trapping areas!” she shouted. She and Shark both jumped to attention immediately. “It’s at… Sweet Apple Acres! Let’s waste no time!”

Shark nodded. The two took off through the town towards the apple orchard. Trixie’s horn lit up again, distracting her as she ran into somepony on the street.

Shark stopped for a moment to help Trixie to her hooves. Trixie looked back at the pony she ran into – an orange earth pony mare with blonde hair – and offered a quick apology, before continuing to run down the streets of Ponyville alongside Shark. “Trixie just felt another changeling presence at Sweet Apple Acres. That must mean that Aura and Razor are there together!”

“That’s good!” Shark shouted, earning a sharp glare from Trixie. “What? It means that Razor will be busy and will stay in one place, which gives us the perfect chance to catch him off-guard!”

“… Trixie doesn’t like to admit it… but you are right…” Trixie turned her head forwards again, just in time to see a white unicorn mare in her path. She jumped to avoid crashing into her and continued on. ‘Just hang on, Aura. I’ll be there soon.’

---

Aura hid herself behind one of the trees in the town’s apple orchard, trying to keep her breathing quiet as she cautiously looked around for Razor. ‘Alright, I can do this… I just have to hold on long enough for Shark and Miss Trixie to arrive.’

“Excuse me?” a voice called out from in front of her. Aura turned her head to the source. Before her stood a large red earth pony stallion looking her way. “Can Ah help ya with somethin’? Are ya lost?”

Aura’s eyes widened and she immediately raised her hoof to her mouth, signalling for him to stay quiet. ‘Not good! I can’t let any more innocents get involved in this!’

The red pony raised an eyebrow and approached the filly, concern clear on his face. “If ye’re in trouble, Ah’d be happy ta lend a hoof.”

‘No! Don’t come near me!’ Aura turned her head around the tree once more and saw something shining in the distance. She quickly snapped her head back to the earth pony and galloped towards him. “RUN!” she shouted, summoning five green tendrils that wrapped around his legs and pulled at them, causing the stallion to fall to the floor just in time for the incoming bolt to fly over him.

She used her tendrils to pull him across the ground as she ran across the orchard, taking cover behind a large tree where she threw the stallion into a nearby bush, making sure to wrap up his legs with her magic tendrils. “I’m sorry, but you’ll be safe here!” she shouted, before running back out into the open and towards another large tree.

On the way to her next hiding spot, she had to dodge two more bolts fired at her, but only managed to avoid one. The second scraped past her right back hoof, but it wasn’t enough to stop her. ‘Well, at least these bolts don’t seem to be poisoned!’ she thought to herself, noting that the poison he used last time was quick to take effect.

She managed to take cover behind the nearby tree and opened up her saddlebag with her magic. Inside was a gunpowder pistol that she had taken from Trixie’s trailer, that she could only assume was used for her shows. Shark suggested she take it as a precaution, and right now, she was glad that she did.

The gun was already loaded, but could only fire one shot, so she had to make it count. ‘Let’s hope those lessons pay off,’ Aura thought to herself, closing her eyes and concentrating all of her attention on the sounds of the hoofsteps moving her way. Closer… Closer… Aura’s eyes shot open, and she quickly rolled out of her hiding spot, gun held up by her magic and pointed towards her target. “NOW!” she shouted to herself, calling on every last bit of her marksmanship training and pulling the trigger to fire at the startled Razor Tooth.

A loud BANG! rang throughout the area, scaring away many birds that were perched in the nearby trees and startling Aura more than she thought it would have. She had never fired a gun without some form of ear protection before, and the ringing that it caused made her feel nauseas. Not only that, but the fact that she had just fired on a living target. Her stomach began to churn. That is, until she saw that she had missed.

“Nice try, Princess,” Razor shouted, charging towards Aura, “But not nice enough!”

Aura tried to retreat, but she was still feeling the effects of shellshock and was completely at Razor’s mercy as he grasped her throat with his magic, lifted her into the air and loaded another bolt into his crossbow. “Razor… why… why are you… going along with… with Mother’s… injustices?” Aura had to struggle for breath as she said each word. She could already feel her body growing cold. She knew that she didn’t have much time left… ‘Miss Trixie… please, hurry…’

“I don’t care about things like ‘justice’ or ‘right and wrong’,” Razor explained, pointing his crossbow up at Aura. “I’m like Shark; I follow only one path. Whilst he follows the path of freedom, ‘self-loyalty’, you may say, my path is of loyalty to another.” Aura struggled to try to free herself from his magical grasp, but it was no use. “All hail Lord Odysseus!”

The bolt fired from his crossbow and, for a brief moment, Aura could see her life flashing before her eyes… but when she realised that she hadn’t yet died, she looked down at Razor with a questioning look, only to find Razor returning the exact same look back towards her.

“What happened? Where did my bolt go?” he asked, looking around for the bolt that he had just fired, finding not even a single trace of it anywhere.

“You mean this bolt?” Razor turned around to see the familiar blue unicorn standing behind him in some kind of magical circle, which was glowing all around her. The glowing soon faded, and when it did, he could see the bolt that he had previously fired being held in her magical grasp. “You want it back? Here,” she said as she fired the bolt back with her magic.

Razor grabbed it with his own. It wasn’t fired particularly fast, so it was no problem for him at all. However, as he took the time to load it back into his crossbow, he felt his magical hold on Aura disappear and turned around just in time to see Shark charging towards him, ready to tear him to pieces with his steel claws.

Razor backed away as quickly as he could, raising his crossbow as a makeshift shield. The weapon was shattered into many pieces by Shark’s attack, and it was all Razor could do to set up a quick barrier to buy him just enough time to fall back to a safe distance.

He looked behind himself and saw Trixie smirking at him, her horn glowing. He then turned back to Shark and saw him sharing that smirk, a clawed hoof raised as he approached Razor slowly. Even with Razor’s weapon gone, Shark clearly wasn’t about to take any chances.

Behind Shark, Aura was coughing and struggling to stand up on her four hooves. Trixie looked past Razor and Shark and straight at Aura, feeling relieved as she saw that the youngling was still alive. “Aura! Head back to the trailer!” Trixie shouted. Aura looked at her and was about to say something, before her coughing continued. “Trixie’s unlocked it! Go back there and hide! We’ll take care of this!”

Aura looked at the scene – looked at the two changelings and Trixie – and then looked down at herself. She didn’t want to admit it, but in her current state, there was nothing that she could do. She was useless… Even though Trixie was trying her best to protect her, all that Aura could do was run away and hide…

‘… No, wait! There is something that I can do… No, something that I have to do!’

Aura turned her attention towards Trixie and nodded before running off through the orchard, leaving the three to their fight.

“Now then, Razor,” Shark said, pointing a hoof at him, “How shall this end?”

---

Shock lowered a few bits down to the young colt selling newspapers in the town square. Shock realised that the colt must have remembered him buying the same paper earlier, but decided not to bother explaining that a young filly had stolen the paper from him.

He smiled and gave a polite bow, before heading off down the street. He looked down at the article on the front page, smiling as he read the headline.

CHANGELINGS CAPTURED! – AN ACT OF INVASION?

Shock stopped at a fork in the road and looked down one of the paths. It led towards the apple orchard just outside of town. ‘Now then, Princess Aura… what will you do?’

Comments

[11monkeys]

You give two chapters on the same day...
good, you shall go unpunished.

jokes aside, I really like this story so far. Keep on going om!

[CommanderX5]

The plot tickens.

Also did the red stalion was Big Mac, should not he join the party now that Aura took him away from the crossfire ?