Preparations
Preparations
Doppel and Fluttershy were eating a snack. Or rather, Fluttershy was eating, while Doppel watched. After all, changelings didn't need to eat. Every now and then, he stop staring at the pegasus to sip at the tea she had served him. She's going to notice if I keep staring at her like this. It may embarrass her even more than usual and make the situation way more awkward than it needs to be.
“Is something wrong?” she asked. “Well, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“No, I was just thinking about what happened when Camouflage's came by, and how we couldn't buy the extra bed we needed,” he explained. “Because, you see, I figured out something with Camouflage and I think that it's not actually a bad idea.” Go straight to the point! Why am I making so much digressions?
Fluttershy was now looking at the changeling with expectation. Well, here we go! A loud knocking against the door were heard.
“Doppel, open up! It's urgent!” Mimic shouted, behind the door.
Doppel stood up and went to open the door. As soon as he put his hooves on the doorknob, his friend rushed into the room, undisguised, like he was being pursued by an invisible threat. Mimic caught Doppel and pinned him to the ground. “Dude, we need to leave immediately! Chrysalis is on her way to Ponyville and she's going to invade it tomorrow afternoon.”
An oppressive silence fell during a few seconds. Suddenly, Mimic noticed the pegasus and transformed immediately into Derpy.
“You must be Mimic, right?” Fluttershy finally asked.
“Yes... er... sorry,” he replied. “I don't know what Doppel’s told you about me, but we don't want to put you in harms way,” he added, insisting on every syllable as if he explained something to a very young filly. “We just can’t meet the Queen.”
Doppel ended up pushing away his friend to stand up. “So, it's urgent,” he summed up. “Sorry Fluttershy, but the purchase of the bed must wait.” He rushed to the door and went out, changing into Lyra before going to Ponyville.
“Wait, you're going the wrong way!” his friend shouted.
Mimic sighed and turned around to see that the pegasus had came up behind him.
“So it’s true that changelings are embarrassed to show their true appearance in front ponies?” she asked.
“Yeah...” the changeling answered. “But that’s not important! If I were you, I'd leave Ponyville immediately.”
“I'll never leave my friends behind!”
“Do as you want. If you find Doppel, tell him that we're leaving the Everfree tomorrow at noon.” On these words, Mimic left the house.
Fluttershy remained watching the door, thinking about what she should do. Finally, she decided to see what Doppel was doing.
--|-|--
“Twilight!” Doppel yelled, barging in the library,carefully closing the door behind him.
“Oh, Lyra, what brings you h...” the librarian began after being interrupted by the return of the changeling to his normal form. “Oh yes, Doppel. It isn’t really the best time. I've something more important to do than worry about your love life.”
He was taken aback a few seconds and then shouted, “It's got nothing to do with Fluttershy. There's an invasion coming tomorrow afternoon. The Queen Chrysalis plans to take over Ponyville as she tried to do with Canterlot.”
“I knew it!” Twilight snapped. “I knew someday you'll betray us.”
“Technically, he's helping us,” Spike reasoned, having heard the statement. “You don't think that if he were part of the invasion, he'd tell you about it?”
“He's right!” Fluttershy intervened, coming in the library. “His friend just told us, and he wanted Doppel to flee with him.”
“Sorry, I think I got carried away. So you say that your Queen is going to invade us? Tomorrow morning?”
“Yes! Mimic would never lie about subject like this,” the changeling added. “Our lives are in stake when it comes to the Queen.”
“Just when I thought tomorrow get any more stressing,” Twilight complained. “Princess Celestia sent me a message yesterday saying that she was coming to visit tomorrow afternoon too.”
“Oh my...” was the only words Fluttershy could muster. Doppel sat on his rump, his mouth opened. Great! The only two living beings I never want to meet in my life will be here at the same time. I should have followed Mimic's advice and ran. Twilight and Spike stared at him, bewildered.
“If the princess came, that's good right? She'll stop the Queen without any problem,” Spike stated.
“She was beaten the last time! And I can't let one of her trips end in a disaster again. I'd also like it if ponies didn't run away like they do each time something happens. We have to stop this by ourselves before Princess Celestia gets here.”
“And how are we going to do that?” asked a very perplexed dragon.
“Fluttershy, tell all our friends to prepare something for the Princess and come here for tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I'll think about something for counter the invasion,” Twilight ordered.
Fluttershy saluted and flew off the library. Doppel remained at the same position without moving, still trying to grasp what was going to happen the next day. While Twilight began to noisily search after her books to find a solution, he came back to reality.
“Twilight, before you're being too absorbed in your research, I'd like to teach you a spell.” The unicorn dropped the book she was holding before staring at him with a puzzling look. Yeah, it may sound a little pretentious to say that I want to teach a spell to one of the best unicorn of her time. I could've chosen better words.
“You know how I love learning things, particularly about magic, but does this have anything to do with the invasion of tomorrow? Because this can wait if it doesn't help at all.”
“It's useful. Don't worry.” His face changed from sheepish to a frown. “But I don't know if unicorn ponies can learn it though. It's a changeling spell which detects if the living being in front of us is a changeling or not.”
“You can't recognize your fellow changelings directly?” she was amazed. “You have more weaknesses that I thought.”
“Yeah. We have the spell active all the time. But that isn't point.” Doppel stamped his hoof to compose himself. “I'd be surprised if Chrysalis came with her army undisguised. This spell will be useful to you to detect spies already here.”
“But, don't we have to call Rarity to lend a hoof?”
“I'd prefer not,” he declined. “If she suddenly wanted to test it on me, I'd have to explain my case to her. Seeing as I took three days to convince you, I don’t think I can manage to do it with her in thirty seconds.”
“So, how you're going to do tomorrow?”
“I will assume the disguise of Lyra, praying that I won't...” His sentence was cut with a loud sneeze, causing him take the appearance of Lyra in a torrent of green flames. “...sneeze.”
“I'm going to see if we have anything against the sneezes,” Spike added, leaving the room.
“Doppel, I think we should learn the spell as soon as possible,” Twilight stated.
--|-|--
The training lasted hours. Doppel was taking the appearance of Lyra while Twilight was using the spell on him. As the faithful student of Princess Celestia, she managed to perfect the spell rather quickly. The hard part was for her was to understand the hazy explanations from Doppel. After all, it was very natural for a changeling, thus difficult to explain. The night had fallen during the training.
Doppel sighed as he lay on the ground. “I think that should do it. I never thought that I'd have to teach this spell to somepony one day.”
“You never teach this spell to another changeling?”
“I already said that. It's pretty much natural to us.” His voice took a mournful tone. “Talking about changeling, I'm not even sure I’ll get to see Mimic and Camouflage ever again. They must have left to avoid the Queen.”
“I'd like to know. If they left, why did you stay?” Twilight asked. “You could’ve ran like them if you didn't want to face the Queen.”
“I made a promise to Fluttershy that I'd stay here.”
“And is there a rule among changelings that obligates you to keep your promises? Or did you made a Pinkie promise?” she joked.
“I think it's not really the good time for this, you don't think?” The end of his sentence was accompanied with a disapproving look from the librarian. “Okay, I'm in love with Fluttershy. Camouflage confirmed it last time I saw her.”
“That's wonderful!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah...” He did a forced laugh. “If I wasn't in love, I'd probably leave with the others.”
“If everything ends well tomorrow, remember that you'll stay with Fluttershy.”
“I know that! But, it's not easy when you know what will happen soon. I hope that you have something in mind for tomorrow already,” Doppel worried.
“Not yet, but since I know that the Princess had asked us for the Elements during the last invasion, I'm sure that the Elements should've done something. Now, we need to be sure that our trump card is in security and be used at the last moment.”
“Sure! And where are the Elements?” he asked, curious. Twilight looked at him with a suspicious look. “Come on! I won't betray you, you already know that.” A heavy silence fell on the library. “Fine, don't tell me. After all I have nothing to do with the Elements and will be incapable to use them. Just tell me if they are within reach.”
“Yes, they’re in a place that let’s us use them quickly.”
Doppel let out a sigh. It's better than I don't know where is the Elements. Less ponies know, the better it will be. “So, what's next? I'm just going home to Fluttershy's until tomorrow morning?”
“No, I think you can be very useful after all”
Twilight and Doppel discussed a plan for the invasion of tomorrow until midnight.
--|-|--
Doppel slept a very short night. Just after having discussed the plan, they agreed that it was too late for him to return to Fluttershy’s and Doppel had to use the spare bed that Twilight had. He tried to explain he didn't need one and that he will be fine on the ground, he found out rather quickly that the unicorn was really stubborn.
He noticed also that Twilight was very expeditious upon waking up. It wasn't like Fluttershy who even didn't dare to wake him up. Here, the librarian caught him with her magic and send him to the ground. The changeling opened his eyes with difficulty.
“Good morning Doppel,” she said with a large smile.
“Good morning Twilight.” His tone showed that he wasn't awake at all.
“I send Spike get my friends. They should be here soon. Do you want anything to eat for your breakfast?”
Doppel stood up and stared at Twilight to make her understand that she had said something stupid.
“Oh. Right, you don't have to eat anything...”
The changeling went downstairs to get ready before her friends came. As soon as he put his hooves on the ground of the main room of the library, the door broke open, revealing Rainbow Dash coming in, head first. Doppel only had seconds to take his disguise of Lyra before the daring pegasus noticed.
“I've told you Twilight! There are changelings here!” she blurted out, on a victorious tone.
Behind the door, Spike and the other Elements stood there out of breath. Apparently, Rainbow made all the others run to follow her. Doppel noticed just after that, that he was the center of attention.
“Is there any reason for Lyra being here?” Rarity asked.
“I'm going to explain everything,” Twilight began. “You all know that changelings are going to invade Ponyville today. You also know that the Princess will come today too. So, we are going to do everything we can to avoid that the Princess have to do something to resolve the situation.”
“Lyra and I know a spell that detects the changelings, even disguised,” she continued. “We're going to get rid of the changelings already here and that will help to overcome the sheer number of changelings later. Our ultimate goal is to use the Elements against the Queen to stop her.”
“What are we waiting for?” Rainbow exclaimed, clapping her two front hooves together.
“We also need to be discreet about this. I don't want a panic on the streets. Also, we need to prepare the arrival of the Princess. So, this is how we're going to team up. I'll go with Rainbow Dash, and Lyra will go with Fluttershy. A pegasus should be necessary if the changeling is disguised into a pegasus himself too.”
“Alright! We're going to kick some changeling's flanks!” The cyan pegasus made a spin in the air. On his side, Doppel gulped. Luckily, she doesn't know who I am yet...
“Spike will stay here to lock the changelings inside this room that I put a strong spell on. It'll allow you only to come in, but not come out. Now, Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity, you will prepare the reception for the Princess. Use all the help you want but not a word about what is going to happen. I don't want to see all Ponyville in panic.”
Everypony nodded. Rainbow dashed through the door not waiting for the librarian. She was followed by Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity, chatting about what to do for the Princess. Fluttershy stayed in the exact same place she was since the beginning of the speech. She was now looking distractedly at the books, waiting for Doppel to move.
“You made the team on purpose for me and Fluttershy?” the changeling whispered to Twilight.
“Of course!” the unicorn exclaimed. Doppel blushed at the answer. “If you're going to lose your disguise again, at least she knows about it.”
Of course it was because of that. this isn't the moment for that kind of thing anyway. The door opened again. Rainbow stood at the entrance with a very impatient look.
“Twilight, you're coming, or are you waiting for Chrysalis to invade Ponyville?”
“No, no I'm coming!”
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This is gonna be good
Here's a lesson for you pal.
The quality of your content don't matter much if it compromises canon.
In this fandom, if you ever wish to be true and faithful to the show, you must be 100% true to it.
Any deviation is destined to bite you back in the ass.
Hard.
So I recommend you simply purge whatever content that is obsolete, and/or out of canon.
It does not belong in this story, period.
3535644
I'd agree completely with you normally. But I'd like to point out a few things.
What I just put is a just reminder. My first chapter published online was before the airing of Mystery Magical Cure. So, at the time, Twilight didn't have wings yet. Beside, I specified inside the author notes, that the action goes between that episode and Keep Calm and Flutter on. So, with this, it's canon.
Moreover, I don't like writing about a character I know nothing about. I mean, if she just sprouted wings, I'd add a pair of wings and call it a day. But at the time (until now... And even then!), what would she do? Where would she live? How things gonna be changed? You had no response. If I had to come up with something, I'm nearly 100% sure that it wouldn't be cannon at all.
Now that the season 4 began to air (spoilers ahead for those who haven't see the episodes), the Mane6 lost the Elements. What I do ? I tell "Oh sorry, now, there's no Elements anymore. Let's change the entire story." What I published before for me is considered as read. I can't change the story in the middle like this.
Finally, my first plan was to publish this story in November 2012. But, things didn't go according to plan and I only publish the first chapter early February. And I wanted to publish one chapter by week. So for early June, it would be over. As you can see, it was not the case. I tried as much as I can to add every elements I could until then but like I said I have to stop somewhere, and this somewhere is just before Magical Mystery Cure.
Now, (and I think it's why you send me this comment in the first place), I have nothing against Alicorn Twilight. And frankly, if the next fic I'll write has Twilight inside, she'll be the Princess one.
3536232 Then why not delete your story?
By definition, stories that stray from canon always deteriorate in quality.
Yours is no exception, and it might be better just to get rid of the entire story as it stands.
And isn't it poor ethics to pollute the readers mind with such drivel fanon?
It encourages deviation from what is the proper norm, and as we all know, that is something that cannot be allowed in this fandom, period.
So perhaps you can be let off the hook on this story, sure.
But you better damn well make sure there is no reference to this story in your next one.
Failing that, I expect you to purge whatever characters, plot bunnies and what have you that contradict canon and replace them with the rightful elements from the show.
You wouldn't want to disappoint your readers, do you?
Something tells me Doppel's going to sneeze in front of Chrysalis and reveal himself.
3537111
Since the Queen will have her spell to detect her changeling, I think that Doppel won't need to sneeze to be detected. But... The story is not called the Sneezing Changeling for nothing.
3503868
Sorry for the late response. But happy to see that my fic surprised you.
I just don't buy Twilight's friends agreeing to her counter-invasion plan. Specifically, Applejack would insist that the Princess know about the invasion and that the city be evacuated so nopony would get caught. RD's impulsive enough to go for it, Rarity would be happy not facing the changelings, Fluttershy would go for the plan to try to save Dopple and, well, who the hell knows what Pinkie would do.
But AJ is too clear-thinking to go for Twilight's frankly stupid plan.
I've enjoyed the story
so far but....
This plan is stupid.
1. No plan on protecting civilians.
2. No warning to Celestia.
3. No message to Celestia to get reinforcements (even if it were to be a boatload of plain-clothes cops for turning Ponyville into a trap)
4. Capturing a few spies will not significantly affect the strength of an army. It would've helped if they wanted to prevent Chrysalis from learning about several platoons of soldiers reinforcing Ponyville, but they aren't doing that.
5. No warning to Celestia so that she could show up with her sister as well. Thereby having more than enough conventional magic power to defeat Chrysalis.
6. No backup plan. (No warning to Celestia, No Luna, No hidden platoons)
Yeah...
Gonna continue reading this story as I've enjoyed it allot so far, but in the future you should probably bounce idea's around more.
by sending her a.....LETTER!!!......maybe....she probably isn't doing it. Well not sure where the letter would pop up, but in most stories I think it pops up in front of Celestia.
no hes right.
3535644
I'm not sure if I understand what you are saying here, but I don't think he has to use everything the way the show maybe displays it, I actually think some stories do much to actually make it better what they show in the show or just using different ideas to make it more interessting.
Heh. Well, it's... A plan....