The Filly Within

by Detsella Morningdew

Chapter 3: Intelligence

"Okay everypony! Crusader huddle."

Apple Bloom joined in with the others, but she exchanged a confused glance with Scootaloo.

"I know I'm not usually the one to call an emergency Crusader meeting like this, but Rarity just told me, like, five minutes ago. She just got invited to this wedding in Canterlot with all her friends, and..."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Something happens with them, like, every week."

"Yeah, but this is a royal wedding. In Canterlot."

Apple Bloom preemptively shut down her friend's no doubt scathing response with an observation of her own. "Wait, if all of them are gone on this trip, that means Applejack is gone, too? Like, unrestricted Crusading kind of gone?"

Sweetie Belle's smile became slightly strained. "Not... exactly. Rarity already kinda... knew we might try something. She's taking me with."

"So... you called an emergency Crusader meeting just to tell us you wouldn't be able to meet tomorrow?"

"No, Scootaloo. I called the meeting because this is the perfect opportunity! If you can convince everypony to come with me as a group, we could totally do all sorts of Crusading stuff while we're there. I mean, I was kinda excited to go to a royal wedding, but..." She scuffed a hoof against the clubhouse floor. "It just never feels the same without you girls."

"Yeah, but... what are we gonna do there, exactly? I went to a wedding before. Like, the only fun part is the party afterwards."

Sweetie grinned slyly. "Well... I also maybe heard that Rainbow Dash was gonna perform a Sonic Rainboom-"

"Okay, okay! Scratch that! We have to go."

"And I don't think they'll be that many fillies our age at the wedding. They'll make us the flower fillies for sure!"

"...Less fun, but I suppose you said we shouldn't just go for our cutie marks every time we do something."

Apple Bloom perked up slightly. "And I always did want to meet royalty, even if Applejack says it's not that important."

Sweetie Belle grinned at both of them. "We all agree on this, then?"

She received unanimous nods.'

"All right! Together!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FLOWER FILLIES YAY!"

---

Sweetie Belle groaned. How could everything have gone so wrong? First, Twilight started acting all neurotic, but that was just par for the course. Then that Mi Amore princess lady was... less than receptive to their request to be flower fillies. She kinda saw that she might have been a bit too excited when asking, but even after Apple Bloom tried to negotiate with her, she just brushed them off.

I mean, it made sense now, since she ended up being a fake evil queen lady, but that just made things more weird. When were Twilight's neurotic episodes ever actually right?

But they did save the world before. Like, multiple times. Even when Princess Celestia couldn't. She just had to wait until that happened.

Still... it was hard to wait. Bug ponies (she thought she heard the term changelings, but it was kinda noisy at the time) were everywhere, and she couldn't even find the rest of her friends in the chaos.

It was made even harder, because every changeling that happened across her seemed to forget what it was doing and beeline for her instead.

She secretly was incredibly glad for all Scootaloo's cutie mark ideas at the moment. While Apple Bloom was easily the most "fit" out of all of them, keeping up with their adventures was probably the only reason she hadn't been caught by now.

Inwardly, she cringed, remembering the green, sticky pods she had passed on the cobblestone streets of Canterlot.

While she was once aiming for the train station, that goal had completely left her mind at this point. She had to hide, and fast. But no matter where she went, it seemed that changelings were always where she wanted to go.

Finally, something caused her muscles to bind out of shock.

The changeling queen. The pony that beat Celestia in a magic duel. Right in front of her.

She couldn't take it anymore. "What the heck is going on?"

The Queen of the changelings just stared at her, perplexed. "You? But... why? How?"

She quickly looked to the side, down at the changelings flanking her. "Cease the attack," she said sharply. "We are leaving. Now."

It was as if a ripple of silence spread out from her.

And as the Changelings all flew away, Sweetie could only stand there, still frozen in place.

As cheering swept the city of Canterlot, she came to her senses, but everything seemed dull, muted.

She was broken from her reverie when a guard came up to her with a worried look on his face. "Miss, are you all right?"

Sweetie looked at the sky. "Why did she call it off?"

The guard started, suddenly a lot more alert. "You have information about the attack? This needs to get to the Princess, immediately."

"What?"

He looked uncomfortable. "Sorry, but it's not a request. I can't be sure you aren't a changeling."

"No, I mean, I'm just as confused as everypony else."

"Miss, everypony just thought they had been defeated in the Castle or something of that nature. If you know anything, the Princess needs to know."

Sweetie glanced once again at the sky, then back up at the guard. "All right. Sorry, sir."

He smiled warmly down at her. "Don't worry, the Princess isn't nearly as scary as many ponies make her out to be."

She smiled back. "...Thanks."

---

The Princess herself may not have been all that scary, but Twilight and the rest of her friends all staring at her was a bit unsettling. Even Rarity was looking at her a bit funny.

"My little pony, please, if there is anything you can tell us, it might help us understand this situation. As it is now, that queen could return to attack at any moment, and it would be disastrous for Canterlot."

Sweetie cringed down into an even smaller form than she had been when bowing. "She, uh, recognized me or something? But I've never seen her before! I swear!" She looked around at the ponies that were all still staring, trying to gauge their reactions. But their intense stares didn't fade in the slightest. Even Rarity seemed more curious than comforting.

"And then she, um, left. Oh, and she told all the other bug things to stop attacking and leave too." She scrunched down further as she looked back at Princess Celestia. "Sorry, I don't know any more than that."

An idea popped in her head. "Oh, and all the other changeling thingies really liked chasing me. But I dunno, maybe they were chasing everypony else? I never got a chance to really look anywhere except where I was running."

Celestia nodded thoughtfully. "That is less than we hoped for, but that is not your fault, Sweetie Belle. Don't blame yourself for this."

Rainbow Dash, who had looked the most suspiciously at her the entire meeting, objected to this. "How do we know you're not just a replacement, trying to throw us off your trail?"

Before Sweetie or even Celestia could respond, Twilight already was rebuking her friend. "She was scanned before she even started talking, Rainbow. And I was the one that did the scanning. So unless you're saying I'm a changeling, too-"

"Right, right. Sorry, Twilight." She looked awkwardly back at the filly. "And sorry, Sweetie, was it?"

"I feel that our only recourse is to increase security around Canterlot once more. Perhaps not with your shield, Captain Armor, until you have recovered fully, but we must not be caught by surprise once more. And Twilight? If you could write down that dispelling magic you have discovered to be effective against changelings, that would be a great boon to the integrity of our Guard."

After a few moments, she turned back to the rest of them with a smile. "And I suggest that all of you get some rest. It's been a long day for all of us. Especially you, young Belle."

Twilight looked like she was about to protest, but gave up before she started to speak.

"I know it feels wrong to leave Canterlot, especially with the potential danger still present. But simply, we do not know when, or even if, that threat will be realized. If I had known anything beyond a vague threat, you would have been called here much sooner, and we would have postponed the wedding."

After their farewells, the six of them left for the train station, Rarity bringing Sweetie along with a comforting hoof over her back.

But Sweetie's thoughts were somewhere else. She had no delusions that that Queen had been scared of her. She could probably squash Sweetie under her hoof, and that wasn't even counting the magic. Magic that Sweetie didn't have yet, much to her eternal frustration.

The queen had called off the attack as soon as she saw her, though. That didn't make sense. Even Celestia was confused. What was special about her that made that Queen change plans like that? She didn't even have her cutie mark yet.

Everything just felt off. Just like yesterday, when the sap exploded. Something was wrong with her, and she didn't know what.

It wasn't even just her, either. Rarity was acting odd, too. She was always so protective of Sweetie, a fact that always annoyed her greatly, especially when it came to the bruises she got from Crusading. But this time, she seemed more... intrigued than usual, not even stepping in to vouch for her when Rainbow got a bit carried away.

She shook her head, watching the castle fall away as the train went back down the mountain. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be solved today. Celestia was right. Sleep felt like a pretty good idea right now.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Wow, that was fast!

[Detsella Morningdew]

9763955
I wrote a fair bit ahead until I was sure that this story wouldn't just peter out and die. (A result of more good ideas than time to write them.)

[Lucar]

I'm interested to see where this will go. It's the first Sweetie Bot story where Sweetie Bot seems to have something to do with changelings.

[Dashie04]

I’m interested in this story, very much what I tend to read in my free time.

[The Original Gaston]

Alright, very good.

Keep going.

[darklight731]

Wait. Does... does this mean that Cadence is still down in the caves?

[Status L]

11379587
No the queen revealed herself after Cadence was freed.