Universe Mishap of the Magical Kind

by Zeprto678

Chapter 12: Confrontation (Warning: Suicide Attempt)

It had been a few days since my and Heartbreak’s adventure with Doctor Whooves and Derpy, and returning with a dragon surprised everyone. Heartbreak tried to keep the secret by saying we went on an adventure outside town and found Tiergan. Luckily, they believed it. Pinkie used it as an opportunity to throw another welcoming party and a secret birthday party at the same time. Why she did that, or how she even knew, I’m unsure. Things resumed normally afterwards, with the only noticeable event being Twilight’s ‘Want it, need it’ spell that brought Celestia’s anger and frustration. Thankfully, Tiergan, Cozy Glow, and I had stayed away from the incident.

I looked at the pegasus filly. “How was school?” I asked in a tired and emotionless tone.

Cozy Glow shrugged. “It was fine. Ms. Cheerilee gave us math homework today,” she informed.

“Need any help?” I offered.

The pegasus filly shook her head. “No thanks. I can do it on my own,” answered Cozy Glow.

“Okay,” I responded.

She didn’t question what was wrong with me because I lied that practicing magic with Princess Luna at night was tiring work, which she believed. It was technically true for anyone who was in my hooves if they had to sleep. The two of us were walking through Canterlot, heading for the castle, while three Eclipse Guards followed us: A pegasus from the Solar Guards, Lime Strike, and two thestrals who were transferred from the Lunar Guard, Moonflower, and his twin sister, Moonlit Breeze.

“Your majesty, you have an appointment in an hour to go visit the trainees for the Eclipse Guards at the barracks,” the blue mare informed.

I looked at her. “Thanks for reminding me, Lime Strike,” I said.

She bowed. “I live to serve, your majesty,” said Lime Strike.

I turned back to look straight but glanced at the blue mare a little from the corner of my eye. Ever since I had gotten back, the feeling I got from her had gotten stronger, and now I currently see a green aura surrounding Lime Strike’s entire body. If the blue mare finds out that I know that she’s a Changeling, who knows what could happen.

“And I’m grateful for that,” I responded.

I stopped, and then I reached inside one of my saddlebags and pulled out a cupcake. It was a pink cupcake with pink frosting and red and pink-colored hearts on top. I looked back at Lime Strike, who was looking at the cupcake, almost about to drool. I’ve been making these cupcakes for a few days and have been giving them to her. When I first gave it to the blue mare, she was hesitant at first, but then after taking a bite, Lime Strike loved it instantly and devoured the whole thing.

I used my magic to levitate the cupcake over to her. “I’ll give you the rest after my meeting with the trainees is done, okay?” I said.

The blue mare nodded. “Of course,” said Lime Strike. She proceeded to devour the cupcake with each bite.

Once Lime Strike was finished and she threw away the cupcake wrapper, they continued on towards the castle.

---

Few Minutes Later

After we had arrived at Canterlot Castle, the pegasus filly, although reluctant, went off to her room with the thestral sister following after to guard Cozy Glow, while me, Tiergan, and the other two headed for the guard barracks. Once we arrived, I opened the door and walked inside. Sitting at a table, talking was Patchwork, Starry Dream, Cobalt Rush, and Gilda. They didn’t notice we had arrived.

I cleared my throat. “Excuse me,” I said.

They stopped talking once they heard me and looked in our direction.

“Hey, Lemon. We were waiting for you,” greeted the fanged pegasus.

She scoffed. “Any later and I was going to leave without you,” said the female griffin, impatient.

The patchwork pony looked at her. “Gilda. Be nice,” he warned.

Gilda only huffed.

They looked at me, excited. “We decided that we wanted to show you the results of the training we went through. If you don’t mind?” asked the sparkly pony.

I nodded. “Sure,” I said, a tone of fake happiness.

Starry Dream then looked at me, concerned.

“Are you feeling okay? You don't sound happy,” they asked.

Everyone looked at me.

Luckily, I had a lie ready. “Oh, sorry. It's just that I haven’t been sleeping well these past few days,” I said. “I'm going to see Princess Luna about it.”

It was also technically the truth. I haven't slept in days due to my sleeping position, and the fact that I felt chaotically restless for some unknown reason. Everyone, except the female griffin, looked at me concerned.

“I hope you‘ll be able to sleep soon,” said the hybrid pony.

“Me too,” I said.

“Don’t worry, your highness. Princess Luna is good with dreams,” reassured the thestral brother. “If anypony can help you, it’s her.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I guess so,” I said. “Now, let’s head for the training grounds and see how your training has been going.”

---

Few Minutes Later

The group was battling amongst each other as it was the female griffin versus Cobalt Rush and Starry Dream vs. the patchwork pony. Over where Gilda was flying around dive bombing Cobalt while he dodged and remained on the ground.

The female griffin was getting annoyed from being unable to hit her opponent. “Quit dodging and just fight already! You’re getting on my nerves!” shouted Gilda, frustrated.

What she didn’t know was that this was all part of his plan. The hybrid pony is dodging around in order to get Gilda to waste a lot of her energy attacking Cobalt Rush. Once the female griffin is too tired to counterattack, he’ll go in and land the dealing blow. Right now, the hybrid pony just needed to stall for a little bit longer.

Cobalt Rush smirked. “No, thanks. I think I’m fine with dodging you for now,” taunted the hybrid pony.

And over where the sparkly pony and Patchwork are, a tough fight was raging. The patchwork pony was attacking Starry Dream with a wooden sword, but they’d block it every time with a shielding spell.

They were starting to get really tired from using consecutive shielding spells plus some magic blasts. Meanwhile, Patchwork felt the same way.

“They’re getting tired. As soon as they can’t defend anymore, I’ll go in for the strike,” thought the patchwork pony.

“As soon as I drop my shield, he’ll attack me, but what he won’t know is that it’s a trap. I’ll catch him with my magic, and then I’ll win,” thought the sparkly pony, determined.

---

Meanwhile-The Sidelines

Me, the blue mare, and Moonflower were on the sidelines watching the matches.

“Who do you two think will win?” I asked, curious.

Lime Strike thought about it. “I have to say…Gilda and Starry Dream. They both look like the type to not give up,” she said.

He smirked. “Interesting choice, but I have to go with Patchwork and Cobalt Rush. They’re trotting circles around those two,” said the brother thestral. “What about you, your majesty?”

I smiled. “Well, I have faith in all of them. After all, they’re not pretending to be who they’re actually not,” I said, looking at the blue mare. “I mean, can you imagine if someone did something like that? Being someone they’re not, ‘Lime Strike’?” I quoted with my hooves.

Moonflower was confused, but Lime Strike froze.

“There’s no way that my cover was actually blown. Maybe they’re talking about somepony else?” thought the blue mare.

I had a feeling about what she was currently thinking. “I’m not. I’m talking about you, Changeling,” I answered.

Lime Strike’s eyes widened in fear.

“Okay, everyone. You can stop the fights now,” I called out.

Hearing that, the four stopped fighting and headed over to us.

“Any longer and I would’ve won,” complained Gilda.

Cobalt Rush smirked. “Keep telling yourself that,” he said.

Seeing as how the sparkly pony was looking tired and could collapse anytime soon, the hybrid pony put a wing around them, causing Starry Dream.

They looked at Cobalt Rush, blushing.

He blushed as well. “You looked like you might collapse soon. So, I’m just helping you,” said the hybrid pony.

Starry Dream smiled. “Thanks for that, Rush,” said the sparkly pony.

Cobalt Rush smiled back. “No problem,” he said.

Once they were all there, I continued. “I had a feeling that you were a changeling, but I needed enough evidence. Luckily, your flashing green eyes, sudden change in personality, you avoid HB thanks to one of her curses that only affects Changelings, and your love of my muffins were enough evidence to prove that you were a Changeling,” I explained. I gave them a hollow smile. “After all, my secret ingredient is what makes you such a fan of them. Since you’re a Changeling, you can tell what it is, can’t you?”

The blue mare felt fearful as she realized what the secret ingredient was. Lime Strike tried backing away, but then realized that she was cornered. “I-I…” said the blue mare.

“Where’s the real Lime Strike? Where do you have her imprisoned?” questioned Patchwork. “And don’t even try to fly away. We’ll have you captured before you could even think of moving your wings.”

Everyone, except the princesses, the Solar Guards and Lunar Guards, Moonflower, and the brother thestral knew that the blue mare was a Changeling. After I had figured it out, I had told them that this fight was an excuse to get her alone without anyone else around to listen in.

Being cornered with nowhere to escape had made Lime Strike drop her disguise, causing the blue mare to turn into a Changeling. Everyone, except me, was shocked.

“My mission is a failure, and as such, I must terminate myself,” said the unknown changeling.

She pulled out a dagger, causing everyone to be on guard, but then the unknown changeling turned the dagger around and thrusted it towards herself. Unfortunately, the dagger never made it since my magic stopped her hoof.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing?!” I shouted.

What the unknown changeling tried to do shocked all of us. She struggled to move her hoof. “Let me go. I must terminate myself for my queen,” ordered the unknown changeling, determined.

“But what kind of queen would want one of her own to kill themselves?!” I shouted again.

“I’m a high-level operative. We were ordered that if we were to be captured, then we must either try to escape and head back to the hive to await punishment, or we must kill ourselves if we can’t escape and to prevent any information about our hive from falling into enemy hooves,” she explained.

“Do you even want to?” asked the sparkly pony, concerned.

The unknown changeling looked slightly conflicted. “Well, no, but–” she said, but was then interrupted.

Cobalt Rush also looked concerned. “Then there’s no reason that you should do this. Yes, you’re loyal to your queen, but you have your own choice,” he said. “Like you said, you’ll be punished if you return. Do you have any comrades that you were close to that you lost because of this...Ms…?”

The unknown changeling was silent. “...Takt. My name is Takt,” she said. “And…Yes, I did. Both my brother and sister. They had both gone undercover together in Canterlot to gather information for the queen, but one day, my brother accidentally messed up, causing him to get exposed as a Changeling. My sister could’ve left him behind to be captured so she could get away, but she didn’t and got captured too.” Takt winced a little before continuing. “There was no way for them to escape, so to protect our hive, they took each other’s lives.”

Everyone gasped as we all felt both shocked and sad for her.

Moonflower decided to talk after a while of being quiet. “...And how did your queen feel about it?” he asked.

Takt scoffed. “Like she always does whenever we lose one, uncaring as she can always just ‘replace them with another one’. I wanted to tell her that ‘they were irreplaceable to me’, but I couldn’t as she was our queen and that would warrant punishment,” answered the changeling.

With her distracted, I wrenched the dagger out of Takt’s hoof and out of her reach. “Then why not just leave and never return?” I asked. “I mean, if it happened to you too just like what happened to your siblings, then she’d replace you with another one.”

The changeling rolled her eyes. “If I did do that, then I’d be marked as a traitor and an outcast to my hive. I’d never be able to return, or else I’ll risk facing punishment if I try to,” explained Takt.

“Then, whether you do or don’t return, you’d be punished either way, right? So, what’s to stop you from going rogue and never returning?” I asked.

The changeling was going to answer, when suddenly, she realized something. No matter what Takt does, it’d just end with her being punished by the queen.

“I…never thought about that. I guess, I was just afraid that the queen might send others after me,” answered the changeling.

I smiled. “Well, we’ll protect you no matter what. After all, you are technically one of my guards after all,” I said. “And the thing about the royal guards is that they all stick together.” I looked at everyone. “Isn’t that right, everyone?”

Everyone gave their own confirmation.

“So, what do you say?” I asked.

Takt was silent as she looked at us, deciding.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait to those who follow this story. 😅

There are some stuff that have happened in between Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 had happened on my and Heartbreak's collaboration blog. Meeting Tiergan was one of them.

Takt, Moonflower, and Moonlit Breeze all belong to me. As for Cobalt Rush, he belongs to askcobaltrush.

artistmans is the one who suggested Takt's name to me.

The drawings of Moonflower and Moonlit Breeze were drawn by flaming-trash-can, the drawing of the scene of Patchwork and Starry Dream's training battle was drawn by askinquiry, and the drawing of Starry Dream and Cobalt Rush was drawn by scorpio-gustavo.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter.

Comments are welcome.