Guilt After the Apologies

by SamSwordsman123

Chapter 7: Abductions in the Darkness

The group of changelings gazed at the little town from the cover of the apple orchards. They'd been working for a few days now, trying to find out as much as possible about their quarry, Twilight Sparkle. It hadn't been hard since they'd gone back to Canterlot first and come across a newspaper with the headline A Royal Mistake?

They picked up the newspaper which showed a picture of the five mares that were Twilight’s friends and Princess Celestia looking sad. Turning the next page Trikar found a picture of their quarry as well text that gave him exactly what he needed, where unicorn lived. A library here in Ponyville.

"Alright everyling!" Trikar said to his subordinates, addressing them as changelings did to each other. While ponies said everypony, changelings said everyling. "We need to find the Golden Oaks Library where the unicorn who ruined our invasion lives! Transform and fan out!"

The changelings all did as they were told, turning into mosquitoes, forms that would allow them to be small and hard to notice. Fortunately, there weren't any ponies out at this time of night, they were all likely in bed. Still Trikar flew down low.

The library had to have a sign out in front of it, right? Could there be more libraries in town? It was unlikely. Trikar looked for a time, flying between the houses in his small current form. He found nothing for around half an hour of looking through the town but eventually he saw something... big.

A dragon appeared in the town suddenly and blew a stream of red fire into the sky.A dragon, here in Ponyville? That was not a coincidence. Trikar smirked in his mosquito form and flew in that direction. Confirming his suspicions, the dragon vanished as quickly as it appeared. Though a light shined in a nearby house and a green unicorn with a harp cutie mark stepped outside to look. Trikar and the other changelings still disguised as mosquitoes flew toward where the dragon had been a moment ago. But the unicorn didn't see them, or anything for that matter. She closed the door after a moment and vanished back into her home.

Once they were certain the coast was clear, Trikar turned back into his regular form, quickly followed by the other changelings. He looked at the building in front of them. It was a tree and had a sign with a book and words reading Golden Oaks Library out in front.

"Good work," he praised the changeling that had found it and alerted them.The changeling grinned while another stepped forward eagerly.

"Let’s break in and take that unicorn!"

He transformed into a yak that would be able to break the door down easily. The yak blew smoke from its nostrils and kicked the dirt preparing to charge.

"Wait!" Trikar put a hoof up.

The changeling turned back to its true form and looked at him.

"We need to be subtle about this," Trikar told him. "If we create a lot of noise, we'll draw attention and ponies could see us making off with her.Then a search party will be sent out. We can't lead them back to our queen!"

The reckless changeling hissed angrily. Trikar meanwhile looked at the door and spotted a keyhole. He then turned to another of his minions.

"Transform into a key!" he ordered.

While they usually preferred living forms, changelings could also turn into inanimate objects like rocks and keys if necessary. The changeling he commandedstepped forward in front of him and Trikar enveloped his red magic around him. The changeling then transformed into a black key that levitated as Trikar held it in his magic. He tried inserting it into the keyhole, but it didn't fit. The changeling that turned into the key, however, could see the keyhole's shape thanks to the aura keeping it levitated which also gave a small amount of light. It shifted the keys shape ever so slightly and Trikar tried again.

That got it in, but it still wasn't the right shape to unlock the door… yet.

Another quick flash from the transforming key and... done!

Trikar turned the key once again and it opened with a soft click. He withdrew the key which turned back into a changeling.

"Small forms again!" he ordered.

They turned back into their mosquito disguises and slipped through the small opening in the door. They flew up the stairs of the library and saw her sleeping in her bed. There were two other beds in the room, one small basket with a baby dragon inside, and the other large enough for two ponies but was currently unoccupied.

Twilight shifted a bit and muttered in her sleep. "No, I don't want to hate them!"

She was obviously having a dream of some sort. Trikar smirked as he returned to his true form and reached for her.

...

Twilight found herself in a dark place that reminded her of the caves beneath Canterlot. She soon saw mirror image of herself, one that glared at her with anger.

"You should hate them!" the other Twilight told her.

"But I don't!" Twilight insisted.

"But you do feel resentment toward them for not taking your worries seriously... again! Don't you?" the other Twilight asked.

"Y-yes," the real Twilight said, unable to deny this was how she felt.

She'd forgiven her friends, as well as her brother and mentor when they apologized to her after the changelings were blown away and Cadance took back the love energy she'd spread among them. But as time went, Twilight had been unable to stop a sore feeling from filling her heart afterwards. They were her friends, the ponies that were supposed to have her back! And her brother and mentor! How could they do that? Sure, her accusations had been wild and without evidence but had it really been necessary to ban her from the wedding and walk out on her? Not to mention she’d thought that her brother had disowned her altogether.

"They are supposed to care for you," her hateful reflection told her. "Yet they completely brushed aside your concerns and thought you were being possessive!"

"Well, maybe I was at first!" Twilight countered. "When I was mad at my brother for not telling me he was getting married! I was jealous, and my friends weren't there to see me talk with him!"

"You have every right to be angry with Shining Armor!" Hateful Twilight said. "You have every right to yell at them all for abandoning you when you could have been killed! This is grounds for ending friendship for good, and you know it! Do you really think you can trust them after they left you for their own desires to be in the wedding?"

Twilight clenched her teeth, the area around her seeming to grow darker.

"Who are you?" she asked after a moment. “This is just a dream, isn’t it? It's not real!”

"Of course it’s a dream. But that doesn’t mean its not real," the other Twilight said. "I am a part of you! The darkness in your heart. Everypony has it, but few… only the most powerful magic wielders who experience pain can have it emerge. You once believed that you could be powerful on your own, withoutfriends. I can give you that power. Just give into your anger, unleash it! You don't need the elements of harmony anymore if you do! Turn your back on your so-calledfriends like they turned their back on you!"

"I... I..." Twilight stammered.

She had always believed that studying magic was the key to success, not friendship. Until she faced Nightmare Moon with her friends. Could this really be true? Had Celestia misled her? Even the princess wasn't infallible, the recent events had proven it.

"They made a promise to take your worries seriously," her inner darkness reminded her again. "Yet they did not do so this time. You could have been killed when they left you had the queen decided to do that. You were lucky is all. She just wanted to toy with you and have you kill Cadance.

Twilight felt regret and looked down as she recalled ramming into her former foalsitter and attacking her before Cadance explained herself.

“Why not use this opportunity to take all the power for yourself?” Dark Twilight said. “You have the most love out of all your friends, and could even turn the populace against Celestia now. Admit it, part of you was glad when the ponies threw fruit and other things at your so called ‘friends’.

Twilight looked at her darkness which was taking on a different form. Her coat was now a darker shade of purple from Twilight’s and the dark blue part of her mane had turned black, though the reddish pink highlight in the middle remained the same.

“Embrace your anger toward your false friends, Twilight. Together you and I are all we need. With Spike perhaps,” Dark Twilight said. “He is a baby dragon after all and can be forgiven more easily. Besides we would need an assistant still. We could even take on a new form together. I think we could call it… Midnight Sparkle!”

Twilight shivered. This darkness was trying to tempt her to become a pony of darkness like Nightmare Moon did for Princess Luna. The darkness around her seemed thicker than ever but-

“No! I won’t do that!” Twilight spoke defiantly as she glowed with light that countered the darkness. “I LOVE my friends. Yes, what they did was grounds for ending my friendship with them! But they are the only friends I ever had, aside from Shining Armor, Cadance, and Spike! Yes, abandoning me for somepony they just met was going too far! But I would have that if they’d been the ones who suspected something and I didn’t! Besides, if I turn my back on them, Equestria will be left defenseless without the Elements of Harmony! Even if I am a bit angry still, I understand why they didn’t believe me when I made my accusations. And I know they are sorry!”

Her darkness glared at her and she continued to glare at it with defiance.

“I’ll NEVER HATE THEM!” Twilight declared as the light shining from her glowed brighter and the area filled with it.

“We’ll see,” The darkness within her said as it began to be overcome by the light. “If your love ever escapes you, we’ll see!”

And with that, Twilight opened her eyes, feeling a sense of triumph. But it was short lived as she saw not the inside of the Golden Oaks library with Spike sleeping in his basket beside her bed. She seemed to be… trapped in something. Something that was flying! She couldn’t even move! Then she glimpsed the black creatures carrying the thing holding her! Black bug-like creatures that she’d seen not too long ago! Changelings!

She’d been abducted in her sleep! She tried to say something but couldn’t, and as soon as she awoke, she went back to sleep.

…

Trikar smiled. They’d opened the door to the balcony of Twilight’s room, grabbed her, wrapped her in a cocoon and then taken off while leaving one of their members disguised as her to buy time. No way they’d be able to tell the difference in time before Queen Chrysalis’s new plan was put into motion.

Author's Note:

Well, it wasn’t my initial intention to have Twilight battling her resentment which would tempt her toward a darker path. But I kind of liked the idea, and I might make another story that has that be the primary focus sometime. Kind of inspired by Light and Dark by MXCDarkhorse2020 and Twilight Sparke Becomes the New Nightmare Moon. But she won’t be transforming in this story at least, but something will happen when the battle comes, just wait and see. I’ll save a Dark Twilight full transformation for another time maybe. But I could maybe do a partial one here.

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

"Alright everyling!" Trikar said to his subordinates, addressing them as changelings did to each other. While ponies said everypony, changelingssaid everyling. "We need to find the Golden Oaks Library where the unicorn who ruined our invasion lives! Transform and fan out!"

A small mistake here, forget to put a space between "changelings" and "said".

The library had to have a sign out in front of it, right? Could there be more librariesin town? It was unlikely. Trikar looked for a time, flying between the houses in his small current form. He found nothing for around half an hour of looking through the town but eventually he saw something... big.

I don't even know what was supposed to be said here.

While they usually preferred living forms, changelings could also turn into inanimate objects like rocks and keys if necessary. The changeling he commandedstepped forward in front of him and Trikar enveloped his red magic around him. The changeling then transformed into a black key that levitated as Trikar held it in his magic. He tried inserting it into the keyhole, but it didn't fit. The changeling that turned into the key, however, could see the keyhole's shape thanks to the aura keeping it levitated which also gave a small amount of light. It shifted the keys shape ever so slightly and Trikar tried again.

Another mistake I found.

"Of course it’s a dream. But that doesn’t mean its not real," the other Twilight said. "I am a part of you! The darkness in your heart. Everypony has it, but few… only the most powerful magic wielders who experience pain can have it emerge. You once believed that you could be powerful on your own, withoutfriends. I can give you that power. Just give into your anger, unleash it! You don't need the elements of harmony anymore if you do! Turn your back on your so-calledfriends like they turned their back on you!"

---

Trikar smiled. They’d opened the door to the balcony of Twilight’s room, grabbed her, wrapped her in a cocoon and then taken off while leaving one of their members disguised as her to buy time. No way they’d be able to tell the difference in time before Queen Chrysalis’s new plan was put into motion.

I can already see this backfiring, Twilight's friends will probably quickly find out it's not Twilight and then they will start asking questions to the changeling while also giving blackmails, do they even know where the Changeling hive is? Well they probably will now.

Also I'm surprised the Changelings even respect the Queen after the attack, you would think they would go on a riot after her mistakes and leading them to false hope.

[SamSwordsman123]

11809731
Thanks, it was libraries in town.

[DarkSnowGaming]

11809738
No problem.

[Yoshifan30]

"We need to be subtle about this," Trikar told him. "If we create a lot of noise, we'll draw attention and ponies could see us making off with her.Then a search party will be sent out. We can't lead them back to our queen!"

That is a pretty good point because you really don't want to be noticed

[Yoshifan30]

While they usually preferred living forms, changelings could also turn into inanimate objects like rocks and keys if necessary. The changeling he commandedstepped forward in front of him and Trikar enveloped his red magic around him. The changeling then transformed into a black key that levitated as Trikar held it in his magic. He tried inserting it into the keyhole, but it didn't fit. The changeling that turned into the key, however, could see the keyhole's shape thanks to the aura keeping it levitated which also gave a small amount of light. It shifted the keys shape ever so slightly and Trikar tried again.

I mean I knew they can transform to animate objects but wow that is something and scary that you don't know you being watched

[Yoshifan30]

"You should hate them!" the other Twilight told her.

Oh my God that is the worst case of anger she needs help when it comes to psychological problems

[Yoshifan30]

"Of course it’s a dream. But that doesn’t mean its not real," the other Twilight said. "I am a part of you! The darkness in your heart. Everypony has it, but few… only the most powerful magic wielders who experience pain can have it emerge. You once believed that you could be powerful on your own, withoutfriends. I can give you that power. Just give into your anger, unleash it! You don't need the elements of harmony anymore if you do! Turn your back on your so-calledfriends like they turned their back on you!"

That Temptation like how Sunset had

[Yoshifan30]

Trikar smiled. They’d opened the door to the balcony of Twilight’s room, grabbed her, wrapped her in a cocoon and then taken off while leaving one of their members disguised as her to buy time. No way they’d be able to tell the difference in time before Queen Chrysalis’s new plan was put into motion.

Oh dear I will not like what this is going to coming up next I'm afraid

[Yoshifan30]

This is so not good so it looks like changelings are here and they are going to kidnapped Twilight so they had to search everywhere until they found their location but once they found her they finally kidnapped her but while this is happening Twilight was having a really nasty dream of her emotion is taking best of her letting her anger towards her friends and family and even her darker side tried to but Twilight resist not to do this and she needs to fight this because we don't want to repeat the history what happened to Luna but when she starts to wake up she realized she was kidding out but she couldn't do nothing I just hope her friends and the others figure out something is wrong well I guess we'll find out next time