1-6: Escapee
It was going on midnight. The castle's corridors were dimly lit by candles on the walls. This allowed for peaceful sleep while ensuring that anypony still up, perhaps for a midnight cake snack, could make their way without trouble.
One such pony was Applejack.
“Ah can’t believe Ah’m doin’ this,” Applejack mumbled to herself, keeping her voice low to not disturb anypony else. Her attention was drawn to a piece of paper she was carrying, “Ah don’t even know who sent this letter.”
Applejack was getting ready for bed. As she lifted the sheets of her bed, she found a simple folded piece of paper with her name on waiting for her.
“What in Taaa…arnation is that?” Applejack questioned, her words being cut off by a yawn. She unfolded the paper and read the letter.
We have become aware that you wish to help the Youngling, known as Sweetie Belle. And as you may know, if you attempt to break her out without the proper authorization, you, like anypony else, would get into great trouble if found out.
For this reason, we intend to assist you. It has come to my attention that Rarity and Sweetie Belle will not be released from their prisons, even if they are found innocent. Though the case with Rarity is still pending, Sweetie Belle is too young to be guilty of the alleged crimes.
As the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, you should be aware of how dishonest it is to keep anypo anycreature in prison if they are not found guilty of the crime they are accused of.
If you choose to help Sweetie Belle, meet at Sweetie Belle’s cell at midnight. You will receive further instructions when you arrive.
Whoever wrote this letter knew how to trigger the part of Applejack’s mind that valued honesty. Applejack knew that the Elements of Harmony didn’t give the bearers any superpowers related to their Element. But she did have to wonder if they did enhance those traits to some extent, considering how an outsider may consider them on the level of superpowers. Honesty was perhaps the second most useful trait connected to the Elements of Harmony, considering that she could detect certain tells when someone was lying.
This was one of those cases where you’d be forgiven for assuming that they were superpowers. The way this triggered Applejack caused a part of her mind to shout out in fury.
Applejack stifled a yawn as she headed towards the dungeons. And despite the relatively comfortable accommodations that the dungeon cells had, Applejack learned that the cells, in fact, did not share the same luxury as the rest of the castle when it came to lighting. And it now truly felt like what Applejack would’ve expected.
As her hoofsteps echoed down the corridor, Applejack heard an ‘eep’ nearby. She turned a corner to see a trembling mass of yellow and pink doing its best to hide in a shadow.
“Fluttershy, is that you?” Applejack asked before another question came to mind, “Are ya the one who sent me this here letter?”
Hearing Applejack’s voice, Fluttershy peeked out from behind her hooves. Seeing a friendly face, she got up and hugged Applejack, thankful to no longer be alone in the dark. Applejack, feeling her friend trembling, hugged back.
“You got a letter too?” Fluttershy asked. She then revealed her own letter. Applejack saw that it was nearly identical to Applejack’s, with the exception of being addressed to Fluttershy, mentioning ‘Kindness’ rather than ‘Honesty’, and mentioning cruelty instead of dishonesty, “Why would the Princesses hold Sweetie Belle here if they know she’s innocent?”
“Ah don’t know, but I doubt that the Princesses are to blame,” Applejack said, “But after Rares and Sweetie being revealed to be Changelings themselves, Ah don’t know what ta think anymore.”
They noticed a cloaked figure as they approached Sweetie Belle’s cell. Their identity was hidden with magic, and as they spoke, their voice was also magically distorted to disguise their identity, “You’ve chosen to come and help Sweetie Bell.”
The figure said this as a statement rather than asking for confirmation.
“And who might you be?” Applejack asked skeptically.
“A friend,” the figure said, “And that is all you need to know. The less you know, the better.”
“Better fer you, maybe,” Applejack accused.
“No,” the figure countered, “If you were to see under the disguise, there is a chance that others would find out. If that were to happen, questions would be asked. That would lead to questions being answered. Answering questions would put innocent lives at risk. One of those lives being the one who informed us about the Changeling attack to allow us to prepare the barrier shield. Other innocent lives include the informant’s child.”
Despite the magical distortion, Applejack could hear the concern in their voice, “Ah suppose ya got a point there,” Applejack said, “Ah’ll trust ya fer now.”
“Thank you,” the figure said. She then levitated Sweetie Belle, who was already freed from her cell, onto Applejack’s back, “She’s under a sleep spell so that she won’t wake up until tomorrow.”
“Hold up a sec!” Applejack said, “You already broke the filly out? And now ya wanna drag us into this little break-out plan o’ yers?”
“It is not breaking out if she legally has the right to go free,” the figure said.
“Ah may not be an expert in law,” Applejack said, “But Ah’m pretty sure it don’t work like that.”
“Sweetie Belle has already gotten a royal pardon,” the figure said, “Besides, were you not the one to say that she’s getting out of here one way or another?”
Applejack groaned at having her words used against her like that. She can’t argue against that without being a hypocrite.
“What about our friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Fluttershy asked, speaking up.
“They have all been accounted for,” the figure said, “It is still up to you. But if you choose to help, you should go now under the cover of night. There is a train to Ponyville leaving in one hour.”
“The train still runs this late at night?” Applejack asked.
“Because of the royal wedding, overnight trains have been coming to and from Canterlot,” Fluttershy answered.
“Why are ya helpin’ us?” Applejack asked, “Ain’t ya putin’ yerself at risk fer helpin’ to break Sweetie Belle out?”
“Do you not wish to receive the aide of somepony willing to take that responsibility to help you?” the figure asked, “The guards know that you cannot do this without a magic user to disable the locks. And with this disguise spell, they will be less likely to find out who the magic user is. And if they cannot identify the existence of the magic user, they cannot prove that you had any involvement to begin with.”
Applejack thought it over for a moment. With no more arguments against the idea and too tired to think of how to continue to be stubborn, Applejack agreed. The figure cast an illusion spell on Sweetie Belle to make her look like Apple Bloom. Fluttershy and Applejack then headed to the train station with the newly disguised Sweetie Belle in tow.
By the time the train arrived in Ponyville, it was still dark. But to the east, the sky was more navy blue than black. Applejack and Fluttershy had to be woken up by the Bat Pony working on the train at the time.
After leaving the station, the two began planning how to handle the situation, “Since that Unicorn that helped us disguised Sweetie Belle as Apple Bloom and gave her to you to carry, will you also take her to your farm to look after her?” Fluttershy asked, “There is more room for her on the farm, and it is more homey than my cottage.”
“The farm may be bigger. But the farmhouse ain’t much bigger than yer cottage,” Applejack replied, “And Ah got my family to consider, too. They might not take kindly to me breakin’ a Changeling outta the custody of the Royal Guard. And if Ah’m found out, the rest o’ my family might get in trouble for harborin' a fugitive. Besides, Ah’m sure that Pony asked both of us to help fer a reason.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Fluttershy admitted, “But I don’t know how to take care of a Changeling.”
“Ah ain’t got no more know-how than you do,” Applejack replied before giving an apologetic look, “Ah know it’s askin’ a lot. But outta the two of us, yer less likely ta be suspected. And if yer found out, you don’t got a family that you’d be puttin’ in danger.”
That did make sense to Fluttershy. And her kind-hearted nature wouldn’t allow her to let Applejack put her entire family at risk.
Rather than transferring Sweetie Belle to Fluttershy and parting ways, Applejack agreed to carry Sweetie Belle all the way to Fluttershy’s cottage.
The next morning, Twilight was walking down the hall to meet with her friends when she was tackled by her cyan Pegasus friend, followed shortly behind by a panicking orange Pegasus filly. The two older Ponies got up from the floor, Rainbow Dash looking sheepish, “Sorry about that, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash apologized, “We were just on our way to see if Apple Bloom was with Applejack.”
“When I woke up this morning, Apple Bloom was missing!” the filly exclaimed as Shining Armor came running down the hall to follow them, clearly being left behind by the speed of the two Pegasi.
“Scootaloo came to get me when she couldn’t find Apple Bloom,” Shining Armor said, “We found Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who had just come from Fluttershy’s room.”
“I would’ve taken Scootaloo myself, but Shiny Hiney here insisted on coming along to make sure everything was okay,” Rainbow Dash said, earning a blush from the Guard Captain at the nickname.
“Actually, I was just on my way to see you girls,” Twilight replied, revealing a note, “Applejack left a note on her bed saying that Apple Bloom wasn’t feeling well and took her home last night with Princess Luna’s permission.”
The panic on Scootaloo’s face seemed to have been relieved at this news.
“Actually, Fluttershy left a note about being worried for her animals,” Rainbow Dash said, “She said she left this morning, not wanting to wake the rest of us up so early to bother us with her worries.”
“That certainly sounds like Fluttershy,” Twilight said matter-of-factly.
“If everything is in order, I have duties that I need to get back to,” Shining Armor said before heading back down the hall.
“We should probably head back and let Pinkie know,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Let Pinkie know what?”
Pinkie Pie’s sudden appearance did NOT cause Rainbow Dash to scream like a little filly. She did NOT jump into Twilight’s hooves out of shock. The scream must’ve come from Scootaloo. Yeah, that’s right, because Rainbow Dash was too awesome to scream like a little filly. And the surprise just caused Rainbow Dash to stumble. Yeah, that’s right, stumble and trip in a way that could be mistaken as a leap into Twilight’s hooves. But it was just stumbling in the general direction of Twilight’s hooves by coincidence. And Rainbow Dash would totally deny anypony who claimed otherwise. Because she totally didn’t do anything embarrassing enough to need to be denied in the first place.
Twilight put Rainbow Dash down after her mild surprise.
“Apple Bloom wasn’t feeling well,” Twilight explained, “So Applejack took her home last night.”
“Oh. I hope Apple Bloom gets well soon,” Pinkie Pie said, “Fluttershy also left this morning to take care of her animals.”
“So I’ve heard,” Twilight replied.
Suddenly, a rumbling was heard, “Um… can we get some breakfast?” Scootaloo asked with a blush.
“Heh! It sounds like you didn’t have breakfast yet, did you, Squirt?” Rainbow Dash said, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane. Then her own stomach growled, causing the blue Pegasus to blush.
“I think we could all do with some breakfast,” Twilight said.
“Are you sure that you trust Our judgment, sister?” Princess Luna asked, “We know what We intend to do. We also know that laws are not the same as they were a thousand years ago, so Our actions may not be lawful.”
“Every law has nuances,” Princess Celestia said, “Those very nuances are why I trust your judgment. I promise that I’ll let you know if you overstep your authority. And at the moment, you are within-”
Celestia was interrupted as Twilight and her friends entered to get breakfast.
“You’ve seriously not heard of oatmeal pancakes?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I’ll admit that they sound good,” Twilight replied, “But no, I haven’t heard of oatmeal pancakes.”
“Perhaps the reason for that is that oatmeal pancakes are not common here in Canterlot,” Princess Celestia added, “If you’d like, I can have the chef make you them.”
“Oh, Princesses!” Twilight exclaimed as she went into a bow.
“Rise, Twilight. There is no need to bow,” Celestia said. She instructed a chef to make oatmeal pancakes before returning her attention to the group, “There is no need for such formalities at this point.”
“Of course, Princess,” Twilight said, getting up from her bow. “It seems that three of your friends are missing.”
“Last night, Applejack took Apple Bloom home because she was feeling sick,” Twilight said, “And this morning, Fluttershy went home to check on her animals.”
“Is that so?” Princess Luna asked, glancing at Twilight, “We suppose that they do have their own lives to return to.”
“Since the wedding will have to be rescheduled, I suppose keeping you here is unnecessary,” Princess Celestia said, “Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, after breakfast, you may return to Ponyville if you wish.”
“I can’t wait to get back home to see the twins again!” Pinkie exclaimed as the chef brought out the pancakes.
“Hold on, Princess,” Rainbow Dash said skeptically, “Why did you offer that me and Pinkie can go home, but not Twilight?”
“The investigation is still ongoing,” Twilight explained, “I’ve been put in charge of the investigation, so I still have business here. You do not. That’s why I insisted on learning as much from Rarity as possible. It was my job.” Twilight opted not to include that her own desire to learn played a part.
“What if I wanted to stay and help with the investigation?” Rainbow Dash asked, taking a bite of the pancakes.
“If you want to stay and assist, then I suppose you can,” Twilight said, “However, remember that you are not an official member of the investigation team. Your role will basically be my assistant.”
“I’ll take that deal,” Rainbow Dash said. The Ponies then finished their breakfast.
Later, Twilight was on her way to talk with Damselfly. Rainbow Dash was by her side, insisting on helping as much as possible. Pinkie Pie has already left to return home to Ponyville.
The holding cell looked as it always had, with the Changeling inside simply waiting. She would’ve been bored, having little to do, but she was too worried for Sweetie Belle to let her mind dwell on her lack of anything to pass the time.
“How was your night?” Twilight asked, getting the Changeling’s attention.
“Considering the condition of cells, better than I would have expected before I had learned about what these cells were like,” Damselfly replied, “Admittedly, I did have trouble getting to sleep. I can’t help but worry about Sweetie Belle.”
“You Changelings don’t care about the feelings of Ponies. Unless that feeling is Love, that is,” Rainbow Dash said, “So why should we believe you’d be worried about other Changelings?”
“Not now, Rainbow,” Twilight said, giving the Pegasus a cold glare, “It’s that behavior that’s why you’re not allowed to be an official member of the investigation team. Your bias gets in the way too easily.”
“Aren’t you being biased by assuming that Changeling is innocent?” Rainbow countered, pointing an accusatory hoof towards Damselfly.
“You’re assuming that I assume she’s innocent,” Twilight replied, “My lack of bias is why I’m able to avoid jumping to conclusions without evidence. That’s why I was put in charge of the investigation team.”
“Even if you were right, and I didn’t care about Ponies,” Damselfly began, “Why do you assume that Changelings do not care for our own children?! Sweetie Belle is my daughter, after all!”
“And you’re Chrysalis’s daughter,” Rainbow Dash said, “And if you are to be believed, then your own mother has a bounty on your head.”
Damselfly’s expression drooped, “Then maybe my Que- Chrysalis is an exception to the rule,” Damselfly said, more trying to convince herself than Rainbow Dash, “Or maybe… I’m the exception.”
Rainbow Dash turned away from the Changeling. She was too prideful to admit that she was wrong but too honest with herself to deny that if she was mistaken, she had just reminded her alleged friend that her mother intended to kill her and accused her of having similar intent to her own daughter.
Damselfly, however, could detect that, as small as it was, Rainbow Dash's emotions contained a hint of regret. She opted not to call the Pegasus out, though.
Before the discussion could continue, a guard came running down the corridor to find the leader of the investigation, “Twilight, the young Changeling had gone missing!”
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This seems short sighted. Sure, Sweetie Belle is free, but that just means they will be that much harsher with Rarity. And anyone involved with breaking her out is also in trouble. Unless they get blanket immunity and have this all absolved, ponies are in big trouble. While Celestia and Luna might do so, until they do, Shining is going to take out all his anger and frustration on Rarity. I really, really hope it doesn't get physical. Not sure I could stomach reading that.
Oatmeal pancakes are great. I used to have a cat that went bonkers for them. Don't know why...
11957825
Shining Armor won't treat Rarity any differently than he would've if Sweetie Belle were still there. At most, there is a situation that will happen that wouldn't have otherwise. But even that isn't being harsher. It's technically the opposite. However, it means that Shining Armor won't be the only one you'll hate.
But there's no reason why they would become any more physical to one Changeling just because the other escaped. And I'm playing the long game, with several puzzle pieces that I intend not to be put together until the end of the 2nd Act.
11957843
Although I probably should try them sometime, I've never had oatmeal pancakes. I just wanted to include a real food that, maybe not a lot of people may know about. So I Googled it to make sure it was a real thing.