Cocooned
In a castle in a small town, a white unicorn mare hid behind a glowing tube of transparent fluid.
Furtively, she looked around, as if she was afraid of being followed. When she was satisfied, she cast a magical recording spell so that somepony might be able to hear her final testament.
"...I don't know where she is, but she's bound to find me eventually."
She tenatively inhaled, then began her story. "My name is Rarity Amanda Belle. My father's name is Hondo Flanks and my mother's is Cookie Crumbles. I live in the town of Ponyville and am the proprietor of Carousel Boutique.
"I won't be alive by tomorrow evening."
A small chuckle escaped the mare's lips."It's ironic, really. It all started this morning, April 4th of 2044. AC of course. We had just gotten word of there being a chance that changelings were in Ponyville. Well I don't have to tell you how scared we all were, so we decided to spend the rest of the day at Twilight's castle. Applejack and I took our sisters with us, and Scootaloo insisted that she come with us. Or rather, with her idol.
"Twilight came and greeted us." A pause. "I should have noticed it then. I should have noticed the look in her eyes. When she heard our reasons for coming, she locked the doors. 'It's for our protection', she said. Hah! What she was really doing was sealing our fate!
"...She led us to a back room. We didn't notice where she was taking us because of how twisty the corridors were. We still weren't used to her castle yet.
"When we were all in the room, she turned on us. I'll never forget that smile. That... horrid, evil smile. I was so frightened that I instinctively let loose a bolt of magic. The moment it hit her, she became enveloped in purple flame. She was a changeling. At the time I thought Twilight had been replaced. With the sight that I currently face, I must unfortunately conclude that it was her. And... oh Celestia." Her eyes opened wide as realization dawned on her. "That other changeling that popped out right then, that must have been Starlight!"
She froze in horror. "But then... what happened to Spike..." She shook her head. "No, I mustn't think of that!"
She paused to calm herself. "...I still don't know what happened in there. Most of us managed to get out, but Scootaloo was nowhere to be found. A few seconds later, we heard the poor dear scream her last words; 'RAINBOW DASH, HELP!!!!!'
"Before we could stop her, Rainbow flew back into the room. Her last words were 'Hang on, Scoots! I'm coming!' They never came out, the changelings that were once Twilight and Starlight had captured them.
"For a good while afterward, we didn't see those two beasts. That's not to say we were any better off, mind you. At some point, nopony knows when, Pinkie Pie up and vanished. We all thought she had managed to escape. Heh... I wish I could still be so confident. I still remember the last words we heard her say; 'C-come on, girls! Twilight will come and help us! And Dashie and Scoots too!' Looking back on it now, she had to have known what had happened, yet she was still trying to lift our spirits." A slight pause followed before she whispered, "I'll miss her.
"Then they attacked again. Fluttershy stayed behind, shouting 'Stop, please!' A valiant effort on her part, though whether she was trying to pacify them or just buying the rest of us time, I have no clue." A moment of silence for her fallen comrade was given before she continued. "Regardless, she did succeed in the latter. The four of us remaining got away, and we stuck together for the longest time.
"We didn't see anypony. Or anything, besides a castle that suddenly was a lot more threatening. Every sound set us on edge, every shifting shadow half gave us a heart attack.
"Then, the sounds started." She shivered. "Cracking, squelching, screaming... it sounded as if somepony was being mangled beyond belief."
A tear ran down her face. "Poor Sweetie Belle... she was already about to faint. Just before the sounds started, she had whispered 'Hold me Rarity.' Maybe if I had, she wouldn't have run."
Another tear joined the first. "Maybe she'd still be here."
A choked sob escaped her throat. "Maybe she wouldn't have... have been..."
She cried. "I'm so sorry, Sweetie Belle... I failed you so..."
She shook her head and held back tears. "No, I must not give up just yet. I will not have let so many brave ponies' sacrifices been in vain.
"Anyway, Apple Bloom still managed to stay calm, so it was just her, me, and Applejack. Now, Applejack and I have had our disagreements in the past, but we're still friends. When she told me that she was going to take them head-on... I was horrified, but she brought up that we were out of options. She was right, honestly. we couldn't run or hide forever, and Twilight had locked the doors so that we couldn't escape."
"Before she ran off, Applejack whispered 'Don't let Apple Bloom know. Best ta keep her out of harm's way.'"
A sour chuckle. "Some protector of Equestria you are, Rarity, can't even protect your own sister, much less anypony else's.
"At some point after that, when Apple Bloom and I were walking through the castle, she asked me a simple question. All she asked was 'Miss Rarity, where did my sister go?' The horrifying sounds from before had started up again, and I don't doubt that she was terrified out of her wits. She wanted reassurance."
She shook her head. "Instead I made up some petty lie. When I next took my eyes off her, she had disappeared. I found this out when I turned to tell her that we could be sisters if we made it out of this. Funny, isn't it? I just seem to have a tendency to lose track of my younger sisters.
"I somehow managed to avoid the others finding me. I did see them though, and I noticed that there were much more of them, each one looking different. Not to mention the sounds were happening much more often.
"I never figured it out until I came here."
A deep breath. "There are cocoons in here. Nine broken cocoons.
"Two are dry, and one of them is green as opposed to all the others being purple. I can only guess that Chrysalis managed to make it into Ponyville and trapped Twilight in that one, and then Twilight trapped Starlight in the other dry one.
"The other seven still have purple changeling goo in them, as if they had only opened recently. I soon realized that these were the cocoons that had held the others.
"It all makes sense, really. The room I'm in, the cocoon room, it's right next to the back room Twilight had tried to trap us all in. She must have been hoping to trap us quickly then put us in the cocoons before we broke free. The horrible sounds were the cocoons opening, and the screams were the others reacting to their new forms. That means there still may be some shreds of my friends left. I'm slightly hopeful, but..."
A sigh. "I'm hiding behind the only intact cocoon, the cocoon I know is meant for me. Forgive me if I can't be optimi-"
A pause, not out of some feeling of guilt or lingering horror, but of absolute terror. "Oh no."
The mare looked in horror at the sight in front of her. She had been so distracted, so blinded by her task of recording the group's final moments, she hadn't noticed them enter.
The beasts that used to be her friends only stared at her. It was only then, in the darkness, that she noticed the slight differences between them, marked them as still having traces of her friends left in them.
This hope withered and died when she caught sight of their in-pony eyes.
"No." She quietly whispered. "No no no NO NO!" It was a scream at this point, and her magic flared in tandem. "I WILL NOT GO DOWN THAT EASILY! I WILL NOT BECOME ONE OF YOU! I-"
Her words caught in her throat as one of them, a smaller one, spoke.
The mare's eyes widened. "Sweetie Belle?! I..."
The tiny beast continued begging. Pleading. The mare shook her head. "But Sweetie Belle, don't you...
An anguished cry silenced the mare before she spoke again.
"Alright. For you."
She turned to one of the larger beasts, determination and fury in her eyes. "Twilight?
"Do it. And when I'm out, you and I are going to have a little talk.
A long time passed before she woke up.
"...Ugh. That stuff is icky, I don't think I'll ever..."
Power. Pure, indescribable power coursed through her. "Ever... Oh sweet Celestia, Twilight, this power... it's amazing! I feel like I could move mountains!"
One of her friends asked a question, causing her to turn. "Hm? What's that, Twilight?"
The friend reiterated the question and she put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Well I still have questions about your motivations..."
The friend spoke, with the other friends interjecting at certain points, while she nodded in understanding. "Mm hmm? I see..."
When the friend finished, she sighed. "Well, I do still think we need to work on your method, but I do daresay you're right."
A fire entered our queen's eyes as she spoke. "Let's go pay your sister-in-law a visit, shall we?"