The Mane 6 have now reunited, and with the help of others, they begin their journey back to Canterlot in order to battle with Queen Chrysalis and take back Equestria.
You need to read "The Reception's Been Canceled" in order to follow along properly!
The last two and a half months have been crazy. Yes, it's been exactly two and a half months since the attack happened.
As soon as you didn't show up for the wedding, we all knew something was off. And then it all just happened, so fast. I got knocked out early in, so I can't remember all the details of what happened, but when I awoke, the whole wedding party was in cocoons, and Princess Celestia was missing.
I want you to know I'm ok. Not emotionally—I'm scared like crazy—but I haven't been imprisoned like the ponies. The changelings can't harvest dragon energy. They claim to take the shape or form of somepony you love in order to steal energy from you, but clearly that is not the case. They do that in order to get close enough to get you into a pod, or for them to steal your energy directly. They usually use their disguise tactics when they're on their own, facing off of a foe one-on-one. Or, in Chrysalis's case, they take the form of somepony in order to slowly infiltrate the whole system.
Since they've now accomplished this, they don't need to hide behind a pony mask and can walk around freely. They harvest the energy in a great mass, and every changeling has access to it. There's a focal point in the main hall of the palace, some pony-dummy. I'm sure you saw it before you left. Because they have access to so much energy, they are getting stronger and trying to expand their hostile takeover.
I want you to know that I tried to free you. Whenever I could, I went into the great hall and tried everything I could think of to break you free; but only magic can undo the changeling's magic on the cocoons. I think they're onto this, because I overheard Chrysalis mentioning something about attacking unicorns and taking out their powers. This was even before you broke out, so clearly some ponies have been putting on a strong fight. Either way, be on the lookout. I would hate to see your (or Rarity's) magic scrambled.
Things have become even more chaotic since you escaped. I've been trying to find the time to write you a letter, even though it's only been a few hours since you escaped, but I know you will be worried about me, and I thankfully have the short opportunity now. I'll try to tell you everything I can.
I don't know where Princess Celestia is; nopony seems to. I know you freed Princess Luna, but she is now imprisoned again. I'm not sure where, but I know it'll be more difficult for you to break her out again. I overheard the changelings I'm with talking about it.
I've also seen Discord. He's heavily guarded, sedated and locked up in one of rooms on the third floor. I can't remember which one. I don't know what Chrysalis plans to do with him, or why she freed him. The only thing I can remember is that I quickly overheard her arguing with him about Princess Luna. I don't know what the content was.
I'm surprised Chrysalis didn't kill me right away. I know that's what they did with the Diamond Dogs. I've figured out a way to decipher the changelings' language; I know they can speak our language as well, but they don't in front of me, probably because they kept catching me trying to free you. Their magic didn't work on harvesting from the Diamond Dogs either; but they had no use for the Diamond Dogs, so they eliminated them.
I've sort of become Chrysalis's lapdog. She sorta tortures me, and keeps asking me if I know anything about the Elements of Harmony—especially where their whereabouts are. I hope you've found them, or that you do find them. I have no idea where they are.
Aside from being Chrysalis's personal slave, she's set up a special mission for me. As I mentioned earlier, she's trying to expand her takeover. Changelings don't hail from a specific land, like ponies do from Equestria. So they're trying to establish their own territory. Chrysalis wants to expand into the Dragon's Keep, and keeps sending me as the front man to negotiate with them. Of course, she doesn't realize that I know next to nothing about being a dragon, so the meetings aren't going well. I've been burnt and beaten up badly a few times, but so far have managed to stay alive.
That's where I am right now, in the Dragon's Keep. I left Canterlot just as you were escaping and grabbed some paper and a pen so I could write to you. I know it's only been a few hours, but I hope you've managed to stay free.
I don't think Chrysalis is stupid enough to actually try and take over the Dragon's Keep; what she's trying to get is permission to cross through it, in order to invade the Griffin's territory. The only problem is that the dragons hate the changelings, because they keep trying to steal their gems, and because dragons don't like magic in the first place.
I know it will be tempting, but you can't write back to me. The only reason I have time to write right now is because the changelings that dragged me up here are arguing with some dragons. It won't be long until they notice I'm gone, and once I'm back with them, any letters that you send me will be taken away and used against you. I'm surprised they haven't tried to use me to find you yet.
Don't come looking for me if you're still in Canterlot. Find the Elements of Harmony and Princess Celestia and Luna. Fight Chrysalis. Then we can reunite.
Also, I have no idea where Cadance is, but I do know that Shining Armor is not in a cocoon. I don't know where he is, or if he's conscious, but I know that he's alive.
I hope you and the others are well. Tell Rarity that I'm keeping an eye on Sweetie Belle.
Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and held the letter close to her chest. Tears of relief and tears of sadness streamed down her face. Thank goodness Spike is safe. She couldn't say it enough times over and over. She'd been so worried when she couldn't see him among the pods in the great hall, so worried that some far worse fate had happened to him. But he was safe. He was alive. He was conscious. A little roughed up sure, but he was ok.
"Thank goodness Spike's ok," Applejack said.
"That's... that's so sweet of him to be looking over Sweetie Belle..." Rarity said quietly, wiping tears away.
"At least we have some idea now of what Chrysalis is up to," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight nodded, wiping her tears away.
"Yes, you're right," she said. She walked to the centre of the room and stood on the table, so she was able to see everypony and address them properly.
"Ok, listen up everypony; we have a mission to do. I know we've had a few losses to cope with in the past few hours—Granny Smith, Scootaloo, Blinkie—but now we need to focus on the task at hand. The time to mourn is once the suffering has ended. Right now is the time to act.
"We have a better understanding of what Queen Chrysalis is up to. She has taken over all of Equestria and is now trying to expand into other territories. Spike says she is making a move into Griffordia, the Griffin's territory. We need to warn them.
"We also need to prepare supplies for our journey to Canterlot. We need food, water, and more weapons. Once we get to Canterlot, we need to find the Princesses. Spike says that Princess Luna will be harder to access. Chrysalis's magic won't work on Luna, because dark magic still resides within her, and it counteracts that of the changelings. That is the reason why we now control the Elements of Harmony, because Luna can't control them and Princess Celestia can't use them without her. Nightmare Moon, though defeated, still lives within Luna. Luna now has her under control and uses her dark magic for good purposes. I know this may be difficult for some of you to take in; but I trust Princess Luna, and I think you should too.
"We don't know where Shining Armor is or Cadance. We do know that Shining Armor is alive and not in a cocoon. Chrysalis originally used him to weaken the barrier protecting Canterlot; I have a feeling she's kept him out of a pod in order to use his power again.
"We also need to figure out why she's after Discord. Discord is somehow linked to something she wants to do with Princess Luna; either way, once we defeat Chrysalis, we have to make sure that Discord doesn't reign free again."
"You say that their magic won't work on Princess Luna... does that mean that their magic can affect Princess Celestia in some way?" Inkie asked
"Hmmm..." Twilight said, "I'm not sure, but it's a possibility. That's a good point to bring up. Princess Luna is most likely not in any immediate danger; she probably just locked up somewhere and heavily guarded. It might almost be advantageous to free Princess Luna first, in case there is something wrong with Princess Celestia.
"We also need to figure out how to fix Trixie and Flim. We'll need as many conscious unicorns as we can in order to free the ponies. "
"That's a lot to do," Applejack said. Twilight nodded and sighed.
"I realize it seems daunting; but it's our mission. We're the Element bearers, and the rest of you are survivors. It's all of our duty to save Equestria. We can't just rely on the princesses to solve all of our problems, especially when one of the princesses is MIA. We just need to take it one step at a time. This is what I propose we do:
"Big McIntosh; are there any apples left on the farm?" Twilight asked. Big McIntosh nodded.
"The changelings trashed some of the fields, but they don't eat the apples themselves; Granny Smith and I were living off of what was left. There's still quite a few trees unpicked, plenty enough to replenish us on our way to Canterlot," Big Mac answered. Twilight nodded.
"Excellent. I want you, Applejack, Fluttershy and Flam to go to the farm and bring back as many apples as you can. Flam, you can use your car to transport them," Twilight said.
"Oh, hold on, no way," Applejack said, "There's no way I'm lettin' this trickster onto our farm again."
"Applejack please; it's in the past, let it go. They won fair and square anyways," Twilight said. Sometimes, you needed tough love. "We need to work together. I want at least one unicorn, pegasus and earth pony on each time for the current tasks I'm about to divide. Flam's car will come in handy, since your farm is further away from Zecora's hut than Ponyville, and we need as much food as we can at this point. I don't know about all of you, but I'm starving."
Applejack glared over at Flam, who bowed his head.
"Please, just cooperate. He saved Rarity. As survivors, we're all in this together."
"Alright..." Applejack muttered.
"Good," Twilight said. She turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, I need you to get your party cannon; we need to convert it into a weapons cannon. It'd be too dangerous to head all the way back to your farm to get more bombs, but we can use other materials, like boulders and rocks as weapons as well. I want you, Inkie, Titan Wings and Rarity to go to Sugarcube Corner and get your cannon.
"Rarity, how are you legs, are you able to walk now?" Twilight asked.
"Yes; Zecora has healed them magnificently in such a short time," Rarity said. She turned around to reveal that her horrific gashes were now small cuts. "I can walk, no problem."
"Yeah, Zecora's potions work really well. My wing's already back to 100%; I forgot it had been sprained when I ran out to Cloudsdale," Rainbow Dash said, flexing her wing. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Zecora was secretly a unicorn! It's like magic!"
"Oh please, you do flatter me; my remedies are merely the key," Zecora said.
"Excellent. Oh Rarity, don't forget to give Pinkie Pie her Element," Twilight said. She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, I need you, CloudsArmor and the Shadowbolt to come with me. We need to send a message to Gilda and warn her about the attack on Griffordia. We'll go to the library and do it from there. I want to quickly look at some books about changelings, see if I can find anything about their magic scrambling."
"You got it," Rainbow Dash said.
"What about us Twilight?" Apple Bloom said.
"You're stayin' here Apple Bloom. No way are you leavin' this hut," Applejack said.
"But I wanna help!" Apple Bloom said, "I've been stuck in this hut ever since this whole mess happened! Lemme help in some way."
Twilight bit her lower lip, pondering.
"What if you and Derpy gathered some herbs from within the forest?" Twilight asked. She turned to Applejack before she could protest. "They'll be safe in the forest. The changelings can't enter here."
Applejack and Big Mac exchanged a glance. Twilight knew they were worried about losing more family.
"Alright..." Applejack said slowly, "but don't stray far from Zecora's hut. Stick together."
"You can count on me Apple-jack," Derpy said.
"Zecora," Twilight said, "I need you to stay here and... essentially watch over Trixie and Flim while we're gone. See if you can find anything amongst your books about magic scrambling. You can tell Apple Bloom and Derpy which herbs they should gather."
Zecora nodded.
"Alright everypony, let's fan out. Let's meet back here in an hour maximum. Then we'll regroup, distribute supplies, and head for Canterlot."
"Ok Apple Bloom, stick with Derpy. Don't stray too far away; make sure you always have Zecora's hut in sight," Applejack said, as she pulled her into a tight hug. Apple Bloom nodded.
Applejack pulled away and gave Apple Bloom one last look. Don't give up. Celestia's words ran through her head again. She needed the extra push. It was so hard to leave Apple Bloom behind right now. They'd already lost their parents, so long ago; and now Granny Smith. Applejack wasn't strong enough to lose someone else.
"Don't worry Apple-jack, I'll keep Apple Bloom safe," Derpy said, putting her foreleg around Apple Bloom. Applejack nodded. She gave Apple Bloom one last lingering look, willing herself not to tear up as she did so, and then left the hut.
She took a deep breath as she closed the door behind her. She then walked around the hut and headed for Flam's car.
Flam was on the car with Fluttershy. Together they were clearing off all of the leaves. Big Mac was supervising. He put his foreleg around Applejack as she stood beside him.
"Let me just double check that Flim didn't stuff leaves anywhere that will compromise the mechanics of the car," Flam said. He disappeared to the other side of the car.
"She'll be ok," Big Mac said.
"I hope so..." Applejack said quietly. She looked over at Flam. "Do you trust this guy?"
"Twilight does, and so I think we should too. What happened was in the past, and in the end, we didn't lose anything from it. You need to remember that Applejack. I've let it go, and I know Granny Smith did too. Don't let what happened in the past get in the way of saving the future," Big Mac said. Applejack sighed and nodded. Sometimes she was surprised by how wise her brother was.
"I hope Twilight or Zecora finds a cure for the unicorns," Fluttershy said.
"Me too," Flam said. He wiped his hooves clean. "Looks like everything is in running condition. We're all set."
Applejack jumped onto the car, followed by Big Mac. Flam flashed some magic and the car began to move through the trees.
It was a little slow moving through the forest. The car was wide and some of the gaps between the trees weren't big enough to fit the car through. It took some careful maneuvering to get around them, but eventually Flam turned out of the trees and onto the road towards the Apples' farm.
"So, Flam; were you on your way to Ponyville when you found Rarity?" Applejack asked stiffly.
"I wasn't really paying attention to where we were heading; I just wanted to keep moving. After seeing what they did to Flim, I just couldn't chance it. I'd be useless to him if my magic became scrambled as well. I didn't want to chance staying in one place, and since Flim and I are always on the move, we don't have a permanent home anyways," Flam explained, "Since the changelings are treating the unicorns differently now, it seemed the best option to keep on the move, don't sit somewhere where they can scramble me too. Rarity thought that Twilight Sparkle might be able to help Flim, and she was in no condition to walk to Ponyville herself, so that's why we tagged along as well."
"I know that part, Rarity already explained it all when we went around telling each other what had happened," Applejack snapped. Big Mac put his hoof on her shoulder.
"You're still upset with us over that whole cider thing, huh?" Flam said quietly.
"You had no right to try and sell cider in a town that was already spoken for," Applejack said, "You're con artists, that's all you are; team up with other ponies, then take all the profits and drive them out of business—"
"Applejack, that's enough," Big Mac said, "Put it behind you."
"I can't! I don't tolerate cheaters! I'm the embodiment of the Element of Honesty!" Applejack shouted.
"Um... maybe if we just all take a deep breath and—"
"Stay outta this Fluttershy," Applejack snapped.
"Applejack!" Big Mac said sternly.
"No! I can't take it anymore! I don't care if you saved Rarity, I don't trust you, a'ight? How do we know that you're not just going to run off once we fix Flim? We need all the unicorns we can right now to help free the other ponies; We don't have any room on this team for selfishness. So if you're just going to run off afterwards, then go collect your brother and leave us right now, instead of during a battle," Applejack said. The car stopped.
"Why have we stopped?" Applejack snapped.
"We're here," Flam said quietly.
Applejack looked around. Indeed, they were back at Sweet Apple Acres. It made her heart ache. From where they parked, she could see the mound where they buried Granny Smith.
"Alright; we'll take apples from the south field, as those are the ones that are in the best condition. Fluttershy, Flam—" Big Mac started.
"Oh no, Flam can wait on the car," Applejack snapped. She jumped off the car. "I'm not lettin' you step foot on our farm again. Come on Big Mac, Fluttershy, we can do this ourselves."
"Applejack—" Fluttershy started again.
"No! Just no! I can't do it. H-he just reminds me of that st-tupid contest we ha-ad, and it just remi-inds m-m-me of Granny Smi-i-ith, of the teamwork we did together as a fa-amily, and how we're not going to ha-ave that again, now that she's go-one," Applejack cried.
Applejack jumped off the car and ran. She ran through the apple trees and didn't stop when the others called her name. She ran and ran, until she tripped over a root. She lay there, on the ground, the sunless sky above her with its eerie green. And she cried. Cried for her parents, for Granny Smith, for Big Mac and for Apple Bloom. And for herself.
She knew Fluttershy had followed her. Fluttershy kept her distance until Applejack's sobs became quieter. Then she quietly walked over and sat down beside her, putting her foreleg across her shoulders.
"She's in a better place now," Fluttershy said, "It's good to think about her. You all worked really hard and together during that contest. And in the end, your quality won over their quantity. And we had a big celebration afterwards, remember? It's not a bad memory Applejack; it just hurts right now.
"I understand how this must all be very hard for you. Big Mac has had some more time to cope with the loss; you learned about it just a few hours ago. I know all you want to do right now is lie down and forget, and let the hurt go away; but that'd be giving into the changelings. Even though I do not condone violence, what you need to do is get rid of the hurt in Equestria and essentially avenge Granny Smith—Granny Smith and all of the ponies who have and will have lost their lives during this battle.
"I know you don't like Flam—or Flim—but he didn't hurt Granny Smith. He wasn't the one who ended her life. Yes, he may have tried to bamboozle you at one point, but that was so long ago. He's a victim in this too. I know it won't compare to a death, but he has to see his brother suffer. For all we know, this magic scramble is an incurable madness. Granny Smith is at peace now. And she won't have to suffer any more, ever again."
Applejack closed her eyes, letting Fluttershy's words sink in. She was right. She rested her head on Fluttershy's shoulder, some last minute tears streaming silently down.
"You don't need to be friends with Flim and Flam. But we all need to work together. Big Mac put it behind him, and he said Granny Smith did too. In the end, you didn't lose anything to them. I think right now, you're taking your anger and hurt out on Flam because there isn't a changeling in sight. You don't know how to deal with your anger and grief, because it's so strong and over powering. I know this is very unlike me, but I need you to realize this Applejack. You're just lashing out because you're hurt. But Flam isn't the right target."
Fluttershy stood up.
"We should go help harvest apples. The two guys can't do it all on their own. You take your time Applejack; come when you're ready," she said. She then flew away, back towards the south field.
Applejack sat there for a few more minutes. She cried the rest of her tears and then wiped her face. She straightened her hat and took a deep breath. Don't give up.
The car was half full when Applejack approached it. Flam was fiddling with some of the knobs, and Big Mac and Fluttershy were off a few feet away. Big Mac was apple-bucking and Fluttershy was hoof-picking the apples.
"Flam? Can I have a word?" Applejack said. Flam looked up from what he was doing.
"Oh," he said, his face falling slightly when he saw it was her, "of course. I was just working on some of the machine settings. Now the machine picks the apples and just stores them inside, rather than turning them into cider. The inside's all full; your brother and Fluttershy are just grabbing a few more to load on top of the car and then we'll be off. It took us a lot less time than we'd figured."
"That's nice," Applejack said. She sighed and closed her eyes. "I just wanted to apologize for my behaviour. I'm just goin' through an emotional time and took out my anger on you—"
Flam put up his hoof to stop her.
"It's ok; Big McIntosh told me about Granny Smith. I'm truly sorry to hear about her passing. She actually reminded me a bit of my grandmother. No need to apologize. You're grieving and I understand that. Flim and my behaviour was rude, all those months ago when we came here. We just come from different walks of life... Anyways, I've been trying to turn our ways around," Flam said.
"No harm done really..." Applejack said.
They paused awkwardly.
"I'm... I'm sorry about what happened to your brother. I'm sure Twilight and/or Zecora will figure out a way to fix him. I'm glad you saved Rarity before it happened to her," Applejack said.
"It's just so hard to see him not like himself; I couldn't let it happen to another unicorn, though I see it already has, with your other friend Trixie," Flam said. "I actually recognized Rarity as one of the ponies who we saw while in Ponyville trying to sell cider. She stuck around in my mind a little..."
"Yeah, Rarity's usually on most stallion's minds," Applejack said, rolling her eyes. Flam laughed slightly and went back to fiddling with the knobs on the car. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I think we're almost done here," Flam said, as Big Mac and Fluttershy came back with the last few apples they needed.
"I grabbed your bag from the house," Big Mac said, pointing to it on the car.
"And we got some extras for others in the group," Fluttershy added in. "Flam mentioned that Rarity said something about a seam-spell she had put on her bag so that the Elements wouldn't fly out. We think it's a good idea if she does it again for each of us. It's probably safer to keep the Elements hidden, so that the changelings can't just take them right off of us."
"Do you want to say goodbye to her again before we leave?" Big Mac asked. He gestured towards where the grave was.
Applejack looked over to it. Her eyes welled again with tears, seeing the mound surrounded by the flowers of the little garden. Applejack shook her head.
"No, that's ok," she said.
She stepped onto the car, looked over at the grave again, and said, "Now's not the time to say good-bye."
"What's a party cannon, Pinkie?" Inkie asked, as she, Pinkie, Rarity and Titan Wings walked through the streets towards Sugarcube Corner.
"It's a cannon that's ready to decorate any room for a party in 2 seconds flat!" Pinkie said, "I always make sure I have it with me when moving to a further away location where I can't easily access my party supplies. Maybe one day I can bring it to the farm and decorate the silo again! We can have a post-being-in-cocoon-party with Ma and Pa!"
"They might not want to party... not after hearing what happened to Blinkie," Inkie said. Her eyes swelled with tears again. Pinkie sighed and lowered her head again. So much for trying to cheer Inkie up. But it was understandable.
Blinkie was still on Pinkie's mind too—how could she not be!? She was her younger sister, one who had just given her life in sacrifice to save them. But Pinkie just kept thinking about all of the things she had missed out on in Blinkie's life and all of the things she was going to miss out on now. So much for trying to learn her body-language.
"Blinkie; she was a sister of yours?" Titan Wings asked. Inkie nodded.
"Yes. She's the one who made all of the explosives we're carrying. She-she just sacrificed her life for us not even an hour ago," Inkie said, breaking down. Rarity put her foreleg across Inkie's shoulders.
"I-I'm sorry," Inkie said, wiping her nose, "I know that now is not the time to mourn; it hasn't even really fully set in yet. We have a task to do."
"Said like a true warrior," Titan Wings said, nodding his head.
"We're not soldiers," Rarity snapped. She continued to pat Inkie on the shoulder as they walked.
Pinkie stopped outside of Sugarcube Corner. It looked so eerie, so empty. Some of the windows were broken and there was a steady stream of green coming from the roof.
"I-I'm not sure if I can handle seeing the Cakes in pods," Pinkie whispered, suddenly terrified.
"...It won't be any different than seeing Ma and Pa," Inkie said quietly. Pinkie took a deep breath. Inkie was right. They were essentially her other parents.
Pinkie pushed on the door. It didn't open. She tried again, but it wouldn't budge.
"Let's try the back," she said, leading them around the back.
The door in the back was open. It barely hung on its hinges, creaking in the slight breeze. Pinkie shivered. Titan Wings stepped inside first. After he "secured the area", Pinkie and the girls stepped inside.
Everything was a mess. There was months old rotten cakes on the floor, an upturned table and some chairs. She saw why the door wouldn't budge; the Cakes had pushed up furniture against it, trying to stop the changelings from entering, just as Inkie and Blinkie had done back at the house—only they had forgotten about the back door.
"I keep the cannon in a storage room on the main floor; it's too much to drag up and down from my room," Pinkie explained. She bit her lower lip. "I-I want to check out the rest of the shop and house before we get it and leave."
"That's not part of the mission; Twilight Sparkle said to—" Titan Wings began.
"I know, but I want to at least make sure they're ok. That they're in pods, and not... not in a more worse condition," Pinkie said. Rarity put her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder.
"Are you sure Pinkie? Do you want me to look for you?" Rarity asked. Pinkie shook her head.
"No... but I want you to come with me. Inkie, Titan Wings; the cannon will be in a storage room beside the pantry in the kitchen. It shouldn't be locked. Why don't you two get it out, and Rarity and I will meet you back down here in a few minutes," Pinkie said.
Titan Wings reluctantly agreed and headed into the kitchen with Inkie. Pinkie then grabbed Rarity's hoof and dragged her up the stairs.
"Why such the rush Pinkie?" Rarity asked.
"I need you to help," Pinkie whispered. Rarity wrenched her hoof away.
"What are you talking about?" Rarity asked. Pinkie turned to Rarity, a look of desperation in her eyes.
"I have an ulterior motive ok? I honestly do want to make sure that Mr. and Mrs. Cake are ok and safely in pods; but as soon as Twilight mentioned going to Sugarcube Corner, it just made me think of the foals, the twins. We need to make sure they're still alive—and we need to free them out of the pods," Pinkie said.
"But—"
"Yes, I know, it isn't part of the plan, and we're just supposed to get the cannon and leave, and we'll free all the ponies later. But they're just foals Rarity, just babies. They can't have a lot of energy to harvest, it just can't be healthy for them. Sure, I mean it's not healthy for anypony, and it's terribly selfish to ask since Twilight didn't let you save Sweetie Belle, but they're just babies Rarity, babies. We can't just leave them. I need you to free them. We'll take them to Zecora's and they can stay there until after this whole mess is sorted out," Pinkie said, pleading.
Rarity opened and closed her mouth several times, clearly trying to think of how to respond. Finally she took a deep breath.
"Ok. I'll do it," Rarity said.
Pinkie led Rarity into the foals' bedroom. Just as she had suspected, all four of the Cakes were inside. They all hung in a row on the ceiling, Mr. and Mrs. Cake sandwiching the twins.
"You free them; I'll pack a few of their things," Pinkie said.
Rarity set to work on freeing Pumpkin Cake first. Pinkie gathered a few of her toys, some blankets, diapers and bottles from around the room, hastily shoving them into the empty bag she had brought with her for just this purpose.
While Rarity still carefully freed Pumpkin, Pinkie moved the now full bag onto Rarity's back and brought out a foal carrier from the closet. She fastened it to herself and waited.
Rarity carefully placed Pumpkin Cake into one side of the carrier.
"Is she ok?" Pinkie asked. Rarity nodded. Pinkie still made sure that Pumpkin was breathing.
"She's just sleeping," Rarity whispered, "Twilight taught me a simple sleep spell, that should work for the time that we walk back to Zecora's; I figure it'll be better if they don't see their parents like this."
"Good idea," Pinkie whispered back.
Once Pound Cake was safely in the other side of the carrier, Pinkie and Rarity headed back down the stairs.
Inkie was standing in front of the back door.
"Oh good, you're done. I was starting to get worried," she said. She looked outside and then back to Rarity and Pinkie, "Titan Wings has already strapped the cannon to a small wagon he found outside; it's not the best wagon, but it'll do—who are they?"
"They're the Cakes's twins," Pinkie said quietly. "I couldn't leave them behind in those pods."
Inkie nodded. The three girls headed outside.
"What are those babies doing there? That's not part of the objective," Titan Wings said.
"Quiet! You'll wake them," Rarity hissed.
"We're not leaving these babies behind," Inkie said. Titan Wings stared at Inkie. Inkie stared back. A weird look flashed across Titan Wings' face and then he slowly nodded.
"Alright," he said, "We should move quickly. The reason all of the changelings disappeared is because they were all called back to capture Princess Luna; it won't be long before they return now."
With the babies safely secured to her back, and the party-cannon strapped to Titan Wings, Pinkie led the way back to the Everfree Forest.
"So, the Shadowbolt can't talk unless Luna is around to power its voice?" Rainbow Dash asked. She couldn't stop staring at the Shadowbolt as they walked to the library. Twilight had asked them to walk with her to the library, as oppose to fly; it wasn't until they had started their journey that Twilight had voiced aloud her realization that the rest of her team were all pegasi.
"Yes," Twilight said, "They have their own thoughts and personalities, but since they are an entity of her magic, unless she gives them the extra boost to speak, they can't. She didn't have time to before we were separated."
"Weren't there originally three Shadowbolts?" Rainbow Dash asked, still staring at the Shadowbolt as they walked. He gave her an annoyed look, but she didn't care.
She knew they weren't essentially real; but they were so awesome! They were like the Wonderbolts, just as awesome. She wasn't sure who would win in a "who's cooler" competition. Probably the Wonderbolts, but it would be a close call.
"Yes, but two of them were killed when we were attacked in the train—Rainbow Dash, stop staring at him," Twilight said, annoyance in her voice. The Shadowbolt looked at Twilight with appreciation.
"I'm sorry, I'm just curious," Rainbow Dash said. "So what kind of message are we sending to Gilda? Why do you need me to help?"
"We'll just send her a paper message, a letter. I need somepony who relatively knows where she lives or what her land or house looks like in order to use my magic to do it," Twilight explained. "I need to be able to concentrate on her address or an image of her place in order for it to work."
"Is that how Spike's sending abilities work too?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight shook her head.
"No, Spike's 'magic', so to speak, is different. He merely has to think of the person he's sending to and then whoosh, off it goes," Twilight said.
They slowed as they approached the library.
"CloudsArmor, can you go inside first and make sure the coast is clear?" Twilight asked. CloudsArmor nodded and cautiously stepped inside. "Shadowbolt, can you look and see if there are any changelings on the roof or hiding amongst the branches?"
When both came back with the OK, they all went inside.
The library wasn't any different than when Rainbow Dash had been there last, when she had met up with Applejack.
"Ugh, this is so terrible to see!" Twilight said. Rainbow Dash could tell by her expression that Twilight was torn by the sight of all of the damaged books.
"CloudsArmor and Shadowbolt, you two guard the door; we won't be long here," Twilight said. "Rainbow Dash, see if you can find a blank piece of paper and a pen, and I'll dictate what the letter should say. I'm going to search among this mess for any clues on how to fix Trixie and Flim."
Rainbow Dash nodded and began the tedious task. Ripped pages and books lay everywhere. She flew to the ceiling and skimmed the floor with an aerial view. Deciding that the first floor was too messy, she went upstairs.
It was still disastrous, but less so up here. She found a pen underneath an overturned table, and a half ripped notebook with blank paper tossed in a corner.
As she began to make her way back downstairs, she saw a shadow fly by the window. She froze on the spot and waited. It didn't reappear. She quickly went back downstairs.
"Uh, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, "I saw a shadow fly by one of the windows. I think we should head back to Zecora's soon."
"Uh-huh," Twilight said, a half a dozen books floating in front of her, "sure."
"Twilight, did you hear me? It might be a changeling," Rainbow Dash said.
"What?" Twilight said.
"Pay attention! I know you want to find a cure for Trixie and Flim because you're worried the same thing could happen to you or Rarity, but the only way we might be able to fix them is by defeating the changelings. Isn't it possible that whatever magic they've done will dissolve once they're defeated?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight sighed.
"I'm not sure, and that's why I'm so worried. What if we do defeat Chrysalis and they're still scrambled? What if they're permanently like this?" Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash could see the fear in her eyes. Magic was everything to Twilight. It'd be like if Rainbow Dash suddenly became an earth pony.
"We'll figure it out ok? Bring however many books you want to Zecora's; you can look into it there. We can't do it here because the changelings can get to us here, and I saw something move outside. It's been oddly quiet for the past hour or so; I don't trust it, so I think we should send this letter to Gilda and then get the hell out of here," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight nodded.
"You're right, I'm sorry," she said. She shook her head and began to magically pick up more books while dictate to Rainbow Dash. "The letter needs to be brief and to the point. I'm sure they've already heard what's happened to Equestria, especially if it's been like this for two and a half months. Say something like I'm sure you've heard that Equestria has been invaded and taken over. The same hostile forces are trying to make their way into Griffordia. Please prepare any necessary courses of action, for the changelings are growing stronger as they take the life forces out of ponies."
Rainbow Dash wrote as neatly and quickly as she could.
"Anything else?" she asked.
"You can sign your name and tell her you're safe for now, and that you're hoping we can fix this with the Elements of Harmony," Twilight said.
"Ok done," Rainbow Dash said.
"Excellent," Twilight said, "Do you know Gilda's address?"
"I can't remember the exact address," Rainbow Dash said, "but I remember it's on Feather Lane. It's a yellow house."
"Ok, that should be enough to get it to her," Twilight said. She made a neat pile of books and walked over to Rainbow Dash. "There should be some spare bags hopefully lying around somewhere; see if you can find them and start packing those books. Tell CloudsArmor and the Shadowbolt to do the same. It might take me a few minutes to get this spell just right."
Rainbow Dash remembered seeing some bags upstairs. She left the letter with Twilight and flew up the stairs. The door was closed.
That's weird... it was open the last time I was up here. I didn't close it.
Rainbow Dash slowly opened the door. She landed on the floor and stepped inside. The room was empty, save for the mess.
"Hello?" Rainbow Dash called. Nothing.
Ignoring the chill running up her spine, she quickly walked to where she had seen the bags, grabbed them, and headed back for the door. Something rustled across the room. A shadow moved. Rainbow Dash swiftly round-kicked and knocked somepony over.
"Oof!"
"Titan Wings?" Rainbow Dash said. Titan Wings slowly stood, rubbing the side of his head where Rainbow Dash had kicked him. He nodded his head.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be with Pinkie Pie and Rarity getting the cannon?" Rainbow Dash said. He coughed and shook his head.
"We finished early, so I came looking for you and Twilight; I was sent here to work specifically with her," he explained.
"Why were you skulking around? Why not just use the front door? CloudsArmor and the Shadowbolt are down there guarding it," Rainbow Dash said.
"I know, but I saw something shifty moving around the back, so I decided to follow it. I didn't see what it was though," he said.
"Do you think it was a changeling?" Rainbow Dash asked. Titan Wings shook his head.
"No, the changelings were all called away to deal with a problem at Canterlot," he said.
"Oh. What kind of problem?" Rainbow Dash asked. She headed towards the door again.
"A princessss problem," he said.
Rainbow Dash stopped. She turned her head.
"What did you just say?" she asked.
"I said a princess problem. Twilight helped a princess escape and the Queen called the changelings back to take care of her," he said, clearing his throat.
Rainbow Dash looked at him. He looked back. She slowly turned back around and headed downstairs. Twilight and CloudsArmor were waiting for her in the main part of the library, the books divided evenly and ready to be put into bags.
"What took you so long?" Twilight asked.
"Where's the Shadowbolt?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight took a bag from her and passed it to CloudsArmor.
"He saw something strange outside and decided to investigate it, and CloudsArmor decided to come inside in case there was an attack; he should be back any minute," Twilight said, taking a bag for herself. She began to stuff books inside. "I sent the letter. Hopefully Gilda will get it and act accordingly."
"Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight stopped packing and looked up at her at the sound of her worried tone.
"Titan Wings is upstairs," she said.
"What? Isn't he supposed to be with Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash nodded.
"He said they finished early and he came looking for you," Rainbow Dash said. Just as she finished, Titan Wings poked his head out from the doorway on top of the stairs.
"Titan Wings, why aren't you with Pinkie and Rarity?" Twilight asked.
"As I was explaining to your friend, we finished our part early and I decided to come looking for you," he said. His eyes went from Twilight, to Rainbow Dash, to CloudsArmor and back. He slowly stepped out from the room and came downstairs.
"What's the matter?" Twilight asked.
"Well, I didn't want to make a fussss—problem, erm, a problem earlier, but the Shadowbolt and I don't get along very well. We consider them fake guards and their presence is unwelcome," he said.
Rainbow Dash's ear twitch. Something was off. She glanced at Twilight, but Twilight didn't notice.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't realize," she said. "Well he thought he saw something strange around the back and went to investigate. He'll be back soon."
"I think we should leave now, go back to base," Titan Wings said. "He can meet us there, can't he?"
"No, I want us to stick together as a group. That's the whole reason I made sure there was one of each kind of pony in each group, so they'd all have the same advantages in case of an attack," Twilight said.
"The changelings are gone for now, there's no need to worr—"
Titan Wings stopped and looked at the door. Rainbow Dash and Twilight did the same. The Shadowbolt had reappeared. It glared at Titan Wings and began to hiss at it.
"I told you, we don't get along," Titan Wings said.
"He didn't react like this towards you before," Rainbow Dash said suspiciously.
"I know, but now the tension has built up between us," Titan Wings said. Twilight finished packing her bag and began to pack the last few books in Rainbow Dash's.
"If you knew there was tension between you two, you should have stayed behind with Pinkie and the others at Zecora's," Twilight said, "You knew the Shadowbolt was our team."
Without warning, the Shadowbolt lunged at Titan Wings and tackled him to the ground.
"Hey! I will not stand by as one of my fellow soldiers is attacked!" CloudsArmor said. He made a move to charge at the Shadowbolt when Twilight stopped him.
"Wait! That's not Titan Wings; it's a changeling!"
"The Shadowbolt can see through the changeling's disguise magic; that's why it didn't want to be seen by the Shadowbolt!" Twilight explained.
Titan Wings hissed and changed back into its original changeling form.
"Careful! It's probably here to scramble Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said. The changeling wrestled with the Shadowbolt.
"Quick! You two go back to the forest; the Shadowbolt and I shall take care of it and meet you back there," CloudsArmor said.
"Alright, but act fast! We need to move away from Ponyville as soon as possible, now that they know we're here," Twilight said.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash ran out of the library and towards the forest. Two changelings popped out from either side of the library's exterior and flew after them.
"Sorry Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said. She picked up a book out of her back and chucked it one of the changelings. It hit it in the head and caused it to stumble in the air for a second. She took another book and threw it at the other one. It did the same.
"Nice aim Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said, though she was sad to see the books go. Knowing her luck, it'd be one of those two that had the cure to the magic scramble problem.
The changelings continued to chase them. As soon as Twilight and Rainbow Dash crossed over the threshold into the forest, the changelings stopped. They hissed at them and threw their bodies towards the borderline, but an invisible force kept pushing them back.
"They really can't enter," Twilight said. Her heart was racing. They had to start assembling quickly and preparing their plan before the changelings decided to surround the whole forest and block their ways out.
They arrived back at Zecora's hut just as Flam's car was pulling up beside it.
"What is it, what's wrong?" Applejack asked.
"Changelings," Twilight said, "One of them tried to trick us in the library and then two of us chased us here. They're outside of the borderline of the forest. They really can't enter."
"Where are the Shadowbolt and CloudsArmor?" Fluttershy asked.
"They were taking care of the changeling in the library; I'm not sure what they're going to do now. We need to mobilize now, before the changelings gain in number and surround the whole forest," Twilight said. She pushed past them and into the hut.
The hut was a mess. Pinecones and leaves coated the floor. Flim and Trixie were wrestling over a clear patch of floor. Twilight wasn't surprised to see Pinkie Pie soothing the Cakes' twins.
Twilight jumped on the table again to address the room.
"Alright everypony, we need to move and we need to move now. I want everypony to have a bag on their back full of supplies. Big Mac, Applejack, I want you two to distribute apples amongst the bags; Rarity, I want you to put a seam binding spell on the bags containing the Elements; Zecora, I want you to pack medical and first aid supplies; Pinkie, I want you to make sure that the party cannon is now party-free and ready for explosives; Inkie, I want you to make sure that at least each pony who is coming with us has a bomb in their bag, with the exception of Flim and Trixie."
"They're coming with us? Won't they just slow us down?" Rainbow Dash said.
"It doesn't matter, we're not leaving them behind. If we can figure out how to fix them along the way, that's great, if not, doesn't matter. Trixie's sporadic magic saved me once, I wouldn't be surprised if it did it again. We need all of the unicorns we can, scrambled or not. I showed Trixie how to use magic once and she remembered for a little while, and that's a start; besides, we can't leave them here with Apple Bloom, it'd be too much for her to deal with," Twilight said.
"What! I'm stayin' behind?" Apple Bloom said.
"You bet you are," Applejack said. "We'll make sure we leave you plenty of apples."
"But that's not fair! I've been stuck in here for the past two and a half months! I want to go fight the changelings too!"
"Apple Bloom, you can't, you need to stay here; not just for your safety, but you need to watch over the twins. You'll all be safe here. The changelings can't get past the borderlines of the forest," Twilight said.
Apple Bloom continued to argue and followed Applejack and Big Mac back out to the car to begin distributing apples.
"Flam, I want you to make sure the car is in tip-top working condition," Twilight said.
Suddenly Rainbow Dash yelled something incomprehensible and tackled somepony to the ground.
"Rainbow Dash! Get off! That's the real Titan Wings! The changelings can't enter, remember?" Twilight said.
"Oops, that's right; sorry man, the changeling we just saw was impersonating you," Rainbow Dash said, as she helped Titan Wings up.
"Everypony pay attention! We can't afford any delays! Titan Wings, I want you to help Flam load the cannon onto the car once Pinkie's done de-partying it. Everyone else, just make sure you have everything you need packed and that you're ready to go," Twilight said.
Once all the preparations were ready, everypony went outside. CloudsArmor and the Shadowbolt met up with them just as they were assembling beside the car.
"There are more of them coming, but there aren't a lot right now that we can't handle; plus we don't need to leave through the way we came in. We can travel through more of the forest this way and emerge elsewhere, outside of Ponyville," CloudsArmor said.
"Won't it be easiest to follow the train tracks back to Canterlot?" Twilight said, "I can use my magic to alter the wheels on the car so it will go on the tracks."
"That might work," CloudsArmor said, "but there's a small assembly of changelings waiting for us just outside. We don't want to deplete all of our weapon resources right away."
"We won't have to," Inkie said. She dug something out of her bag. A fat stick of dynamite. "This will get rid of them."
"Alright everypony!" Twilight said, jumping onto the car, "I want all unicorns and earth ponies to ride on the car; pegasi you follow in the air, flanking us."
Applejack and Big Mac gave Apple Bloom one more big hug, as did Zecora. Pinkie kissed the twins good-bye and told them to be good for Apple Bloom.
"Inkie, will that explosive work if it's fired out of the cannon?" Twilight asked. Inkie nodded. "Alright then; let's fan out!"
Flam drove the car towards the borderline of the forest.
"CloudsArmor, fly above and see how many there are waiting for us," Twilight said. She turned to Inkie, who was manning the cannon. "Inkie, get ready."
Inkie pushed the stick of fancy dynamite into the cannon, while CloudsArmor flew ahead and above the tree line. He came back quickly.
"There's only about twenty of them," he said.
"Twenty? That's an awful lot," Applejack said.
"Not compared to what we've seen," Pinkie said. Rarity nodded.
"It's true, it could be a lot worse; they usually travel in bigger swarms than this," CloudsArmor said.
"Flam, drive up right to the borderline; everypony, brace yourself and plug your ears. Inkie, get ready to fire on my mark," Twilight said.
Flam inched the car closer to the border. They could now see the changelings waiting outside. They snickered and hissed at them.
"Flam, get ready to speed off as soon as they're hit; pegasi, get ready to fight any stragglers," Twilight said. She turned to Inkie. "One... two... NOW!"
Inkie lit the end of the dynamite and pulled the cord of the cannon. Twilight plugged her ears and flattened herself along the bottom of the car. Trixie screamed as a few of the pinecones she had brought along went flying off the car.
There was a tremendous bang and the sound of squeals.
"Flam, go now!" Twilight said, as she lifted her head.
Without a second thought, Flam put the car into full throttle and sped through the changeling debris. Their journey to Canterlot began.
Flam sped through Ponyville at top speed. Within minutes they were outside of the town and driving beside the train tracks. None of the changelings had survived Inkie's blast. Trixie and Flim were freaking out because of the explosion. Zecora and Fluttershy were doing their best to calm them down.
Flam stopped the car.
"There's a tunnel here," Flam said, pointing ahead, "and we can't ride beside the tracks any more. Time to change into train mode?"
Twilight nodded.
"Ok, this is what I need; Flam, turn the car off. Everypony off of the car—Zecora you watch Trixie and Flam you can watch Flim for now. Make sure they don't go running off into the trees. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Inkie, I need you stationed as four corners on the train tracks. After I transform the wheels, I'll levitate it over onto the tracks. Each you make sure the wheel in your corner is aligned properly. We can't afford to have any accidents," Twilight said. "Pegasi? Fly up and keep an eye out for any changeling activity. Big Mac, help watch over the scrambled ponies."
Everyone moved into their positions. Applejack watched as Twilight began to transform the car wheels into train wheels. Her thoughts kept drifting around, thinking of Apple Bloom back in the forest. Sure, they'd only been separated for less than an hour, but she worried so much. What if the twins were too much for her? She knew Pinkie Pie had a talk with them, and that they usually always listened to Pinkie Pie, especially when Pinkie was serious.
It was weird to see Pinkie so serious at the moment. Given the circumstances, it was very understandable, and Pinkie had shared that that was her message from Celestia. Every now and then she'd be cheery and smile, but Applejack could tell she was trying to keep it to a minimum. Especially now that one of her sisters was gone. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Pinkie Pie and Inkie were feeling. They kept their emotions under wraps, because that's what they needed to do at the moment.
Applejack wished she could do better and do the same. But she kept thinking of Granny Smith. She'd already lost one pony, and now she was separated from her little sister. And what if something happened to Big Mac? She glanced over at him. He was patiently watching over Trixie as she picked out some new pinecones she found along the ground. Zecora seemed to be meditating upside down.
Almost all of these ponies here had had something bad happen to them. She and Big Mac had Granny Smith; Twilight was concerned about Spike, and terrified of what happened to Trixie; Flam had Flim; Rarity was worried about Sweetie Belle back in Canterlot—not to mention she had been the most brutally beaten on her journey to Ponyville; Pinkie and Inkie had Blinkie; Derpy was anxious to find her little sister; and Rainbow Dash had been more affected by Scootaloo's death than Applejack had thought she would be.
She was sure that Zecora had been very worried about what to do with Apple Bloom and how to make sure she was comforted and not fretting over her family. CloudsArmor said he had gone back to Cloudsdale to find family. Titan Wings was here on a mission, but he must have felt apprehensive not hearing from his princess for so long while she was imprisoned.
She looked up at Fluttershy, who was hovering close to Rainbow Dash, while keeping a lookout for any trouble. Derpy was fluttering near them as well. She knew that Fluttershy was terrified to the core at what was going on.
She didn't even get a chance to go to her cottage and see if everything was ok... I'm sure she's worried about all of the critters.
That was something that Applejack had noticed right away. There didn't seem to be any little furry creatures around. She hadn't seen a single bunny or even a bird in the sky. Come to think of it, she wasn't even sure where Winona was.
Applejack looked back over to Big Mac. He was looking at her too. He gave her a small smile and nodded. Don't give up it seemed to say. She hadn't told anyone about her message from Celestia. Nobody had forced her to; everypony knew that they were personal messages. Except for Twilight's. She felt ashamed that she needed that extra push to keep going. Here were all these other ponies who had had something bad happen to them, and they continued on and put their feelings behind them no problem.
It's not that black and white; they're just having an easier time doing it somehow...
Which almost didn't seem fair as Applejack thought about it. Sure, she had lost Granny Smith, her only parent figure left in the world. But both of her siblings had survived. And none of them were in pods. They were ok and healthy. Sweetie Belle was trapped in a cocoon, in the most highly changeling populated area in Equestria, yet Rarity had let her go without question when Twilight told her to do so. Applejack wasn't sure if she could have done the same if it were Apple Bloom.
She had two ponies from her family survive and awake, and yet she was having the hardest time. Pinkie Pie had found family too, only to find her parents in pods and see one of her younger sisters dragged into a hole with the changelings. How was she coping? Applejack knew she was being strong for Inkie's sake, but Inkie was still doing better than Applejack was.
"Ok; track team, are you ready? Here comes the car," Twilight said.
Applejack snapped away from her thoughts. She needed to focus.
Twilight cautiously levitated the car to the tracks and slowly lowered it down.
"Is it aligned?" she asked.
"Ok on my end," Rarity said.
"Same here," Inkie said.
"A little to the left," Pinkie said. "There, that's good."
"Applejack?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, it's good," Applejack said. She shook her head. Her thoughts had strayed again.
"Alright everypony! Back onto the car!" Twilight shouted.
"And with good timing—there's a small dark mass flying this way!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted.
Big Mac and Zecora rounded up Trixie and bribed her onto the car with pinecones. Flam did the same with Flim.
Flam stood at the controls and began to fire it up.
"Pegasi—maybe you should follow above the tunnel. Try to divert them from all coming into the tunnel after us," Twilight shouted up to them.
"Ok! See you on the other side!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
Flam thrust the car into gear and they sped into the tunnel.
"Unicorns, I want lights on," Twilight said, sparking her horn. Rarity and Flam did the same. Surprisingly, so did Trixie, but that was because she had figured out how to make the pinecones levitate again, and she was making them fly behind the car.
The car sped along the tracks. The tunnel wasn't very long, but it wasn't short either.
Applejack looked back to the entrance. Black silhouettes began to overtake it.
"They're coming!" Applejack shouted.
The changelings charged after them. As they came closer and closer to the car, they began to knock Trixie's floating pinecone trail out of the way.
"GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" she screamed. Without warning, a powerful burst of magic streamed from her horn, knocking a few of the changelings to the ground. They didn't get back up.
"Inkie and Pinkie! Start loading the cannon with apples; I want to save the real ammunition for when we get to Canterlot. Once we're out of the tunnel, fire. It won't kill them, but it'll deter them for a bit," Twilight said.
Applejack helped them find the apples and shove them into the cannon.
"Everypony stay clear of the cannon," Inkie said.
"Almost there," Flam said.
The second the whole car was out of the tunnel, Inkie pulled the trigger. A dozen apples flew out and rained on the changelings. While it didn't kill them, it did slow them down, like Twilight said.
The pegasi were busy fighting and flying, trying to shake the changelings off of their tails. Once some of them saw the car again, they abandoned the pegasi fight and dove towards the car.
"Load more apples!" Twilight shouted, "Rarity, use your magic to throw some at them, I'll do the same."
The two of them began throwing apples using their magic at the crowd. Applejack and Pinkie loaded apples into the cannon, while Inkie fired afterwards. Flam kept driving. Big Mac kicked any changeling that came too close to the car. Surprisingly, Trixie began throwing her precious pinecones at the changelings as well. Flim ate leaves.
"Um, Twilight?" Flam suddenly said.
"Yeah?" she said, as she threw another apple and hit a changeling in the eye.
"Look down."
Applejack did the same. They were on a bridge, towering over a huge gorge with a river at the bottom. She could barely see the water flowing.
"Everypony be careful not to fall out of the train!" Twilight said.
The changelings, hearing her message, began to dive in and swoop close to the car, trying to knock them off of it. The pegasi did their best to keep them away from the car.
The tracks suddenly hugged a cliff on one side, openly exposed to the death drop on the other.
"I see the end," Flam said, "only a few more minutes of this bridge."
Half of the changelings suddenly abandoned the whole fight together and flew up above them and out of sight. The pegasi flew low and surrounded the car beside it and above it.
"Keep an eye out," Twilight said, as she threw another apple at one of the remaining changelings. "I doubt they just up and left."
"Maybe Chrysalis called them back again," Fluttershy said.
Rocks were tumbling down the side of the cliff, the changelings at the top shouting victoriously.
"We're not going to make it!" Rarity screamed. Flam pushed the car faster.
They sped along, the rocks falling closer and closer. Some began to crash onto the tracks behind them, seconds after they were just there.
Thankfully, they were on the ground again. The changelings were still above them. Flam stopped the car just on the other side of the bridge.
"We made it," Twilight said, "Everypony ok?"
Everyone nodded and murmured, looking over one another.
Suddenly there was a scream. Applejack and a few others jumped off of the car. Fluttershy was still on the tracks of the bridge. A huge rock had fallen, and one of her wings was trapped underneath.
"Fluttershy!" Pinkie shouted.
Applejack looked up at the changelings. They were started to fly down.
"We have a problem!" she said.
"Remaining pegasi, go up there and try to deter them; Inkie, fire apples out of the cannon, Pinkie you help her. Zecora, get medical supplies ready; somepony help drag her out once I lift up the rock," Twilight said. The pegasi flew up and began attacking the hoofful of changelings left.
But it was too late. As the last few words left Twilight's mouth, there was a terrifying cracking noise. Applejack whipped her head over to Fluttershy. Big Mac was over there trying to push the rock off and get her out—but he wasn't fast or strong enough. The rock, too big and heavy for the tracks, began to weigh it down.
Before anypony else could rush over and help, the train tracks cracked and collapsed, sending Fluttershy and Big Mac into a death defying plunge over the edge.
"Flam, stay with the car!" Twilight shouted, as she, Applejack and Rarity ran to the edge.
"Do you see them?" Rarity asked. She strained her eyes, peering desperately over the edge. Applejack cried, still shouting Big Mac's name. Rarity put her foreleg around her shoulders.
"Fluttershy and Big Mac just went over the edge; the rock cracked the tracks," Twilight explained. She looked up. "Where are the changelings?"
"We took care of most of them, but the rest flew off; we think they're getting reinforcements," Titan Wings said.
"We need to get down there," Applejack said, tears still streaming down her face. She began to pace around the edge, looking for a way down.
"We could go down," Rainbow Dash said, flying up again.
"I don't think that's a good idea; just hold on a minute everypony, let me think," Twilight said.
"They could be hurt," Applejack cried.
"Fluttershy's already hurt," Pinkie said, as she walked over.
"It's ok; I'm sure they landed in the river," Rarity said.
"I'm not sure if Fluttershy can swim very well," Rainbow Dash said.
"Um, Rain-bow Dash," Derpy said.
"Not now Derpy," Rainbow Dash said.
"But the changings are coming back!"
Rarity looked up. Sure enough, a bigger swarm of changelings was approaching.
"We need to move," Twilight said.
"But what about my b-brother? And Flutter-ershy," Applejack cried.
The Shadowbolt began to whinny. Twilight looked at him. He began to gesture wildly.
"Gah! If only you could talk!" Twilight shouted in frustration, "We don't have time for this!"
The Shadowbolt stomped his hooves methodically and in frustration.
"Wait!" Inkie shouted suddenly, "say that again!"
"I said—"
"Not you Twilight Sparkle; the Shadowbolt," Inkie said.
The Shadowbolt looked at Inkie with surprise. He then stomped his hooves again. Inkie watched him carefully and then nodded.
"He says he can go down and try and find them; they'll meet you in Canterlot," Inkie said.
"How... how did you?" Twilight asked.
"There's no time to explain; the changelings are coming," Inkie said.
Twilight nodded. "Right. Ok, go Shadowbolt. We'll meet you in Canterlot. Everpony else! Back on the car!"
The Shadowbolt dove over the edge and was gone. Rarity ran back onto the car and Twilight sat beside her. Once everyone was on, Flam put the car into full speed and they sped off again.
"We need Fluttershy in order for the Elements to work," Rarity murmured quietly. Pinkie consoled Applejack, while Inkie readied the cannon.
"I know," Twilight said quietly. "I really hope she's ok."
The changelings were hot on their trail. They began to throw rocks at the car. The ponies threw apples back and fired them out of the cannon.
Suddenly, one of the rocks from the changelings got wedged underneath one of the wheels of the car. Without warning, the car flipped off of the tracks and into the trees beside the tracks.
Rarity coughed, climbing out from underneath the car. Immediately, she was assaulted by changelings. They pinned her down and lowered their horn to hers, getting ready to scramble or put her into a cocoon.
"Help!" Rarity screamed. Somepony threw a swift kick at them and bowled them all over. Zecora helped Rarity up.
"Thank you Zecora," Rarity said. Zecora nodded.
The car was broken, overturned in a small clearing surrounded by a few sparse trees. The pegasi continued fighting the changelings, while those who had been thrown off the car tried to regain their balance. Pinkie and Inkie were trying to turn the cannon right side up.
Rarity ran over and helped them with her magic.
"We need to use some of the explosives!" Twilight shouted, kicking a changelings off of her. Inkie nodded and began to set a bomb.
Trixie trying to gather the pinecones that had flown off of the car. Applejack and Zecora were helping Twilight keep the changelings from getting to the cannon, while Inkie and Pinkie got it ready. The pegasi continued to ward off any new changelings coming by air. Flam was trying to fight off a changeling, but was having difficulty since Flim kept getting in the way. There was another changeling sneaking up behind Flam.
"Flam! Look out!" Rarity shouted.
Flam turned around too late. The changeling tackled him to the ground and pinned him there. It lowered its horn to Flam's and began its spell.
"Flim! Help!" Flam shouted instinctively. Flim continued dancing around.
Rarity ran as fast as she could towards him. He had saved her from the same fate that they were trying to do to him. The other changeling grew bored of Flim, seeing as he wasn't a threat, and instead turned its attention to Rarity.
"Hold on Flam, I'm coming!" Rarity shouted, trying to get around the changeling.
The changeling knocked Rarity to the ground. Flam's eyes began to roll into the back of his head.
Suddenly Flim focused on Flam. He stared at him in horror. He straightened his hat and charged at the changeling, knocking it off of his brother.
"The unbelievable, unimpeachable," Flim said. Flam struggled to sit up. Flim stayed over him, as though he were guarding him.
"Indispensable, I-can't-believable," Flim said. He glanced behind him at Flam. Flam slowly stood up. Flim smiled at him.
The changeling suddenly charged back, knocking Flim over. The two wrestled. Flam tried to take a step forwards, but fell over, obviously still dizzy from whatever the changeling had done to him.
The changeling suddenly pinned Flim to the tree. It lowered its horn to him and he began to turn green.
"Flim! Nooo!" Flam shouted, trying to get up and walk, but unable to keep balance.
Rarity kicked the changeling off of her, punched it in the face and ran towards the twins. But it was too late. By the time she reached them, the damage was done. She punched out the other changeling, and looked over at Flam.
"Flam, are you alright? Did it... did it scramble you?" Rarity asked.
Flam shook his head, sobbing. He sat on the ground in front of the tree that Flim had been pinned too.
"He... he saved me," he sobbed, "He saved me, like he could remember."
Flam pointed up into the tree. There, hanging from a branch in a cocoon, reaching out to his twin, was Flim.
Luna was imprisoned again. There were several changeling guards outside and she was heavily chained to floor. She couldn't even stand. This time, Chrysalis had locked her up into one of the tallest towers. Little did Chrysalis know, that this was going to be to Luna's advantage.
Luna had managed to put up quite the fight against the mass of changelings in the labyrinth. But eventually with Chrysalis's added strength, they managed to overpower Luna and they brought her up here. In some ways, Luna had let them capture her—because she had already sent out a signal to her rescue party.
As soon as Twilight Sparkle had freed her, Luna had sent out a message to her guards awaiting her on the moon. She sent their captain, Titan Wings, to go and meet up with Twilight. Luna knew she was going to be late arriving at Ponyville, so she sent Titan Wings in her place.
Once Twilight was gone, Luna had sent out another message to the rest of the guards waiting on the moon. She knew she was going to be captured, just as she had figured that Discord was missing. She told her other guards to come find her, captured in the palace, an hour after they received her message.
Now, she waited. She knew they would be here soon. She had tried freeing herself with her magic, but like last time, her magic was counteracted by Chrysalis's.
As she waited, she tried to think of reasons why Chrysalis would want Discord. She now doubted they were working together. She had seen a heavily guarded door along the way up to her tower prison. She knew her sister wasn't in there—Celestia would be much more harder to find than that—so Luna figured that that's where Discord was being kept.
Something rustled at the window. Luna looked over and saw one of her guards peering in.
"Princess Luna, are you hurt?" he whispered.
"No, I am not. Thank you for asking Black Leaf," she said. "How many are with you?"
"Ten pegasi, eight unicorns and five earth ponies. The ground ponies are waiting in the labyrinth, just as you instructed," Black Leaf said.
"Excellent; come free me and then I shall divvy out further instructions," Luna said.
Black Leaf and a few other pegasi flew into the room, while the rest kept watch over the tower.
"Chrysalis does not have the window guarded?" Luna asked. Black Leaf shook his head as he began to file away at the chains. "She must be preoccupied with something else then, in order to have overlooked such an obvious escape route."
It took a few steady minutes, but thankfully, they were not disturbed. The pegasi were trained warriors, and stealth and silence were part of their training. They barely made a sound as they sawed through the chains. Once the chains were broken, Luna carefully stepped out of them, so as not to make them clang together.
"What's the plan Princess?" Black Leaf asked.
"I want you and five of your men to go down to the ground team. Try to infiltrate the palace; Discord is locked on the second floor. See what they are doing with him. I do not know where my sister is," Luna said.
"What about you Princess?" he asked.
"The other four pegasi and I will travel to Ponyville; I need to ensure that the Elements of Harmony are found, and that their bearers make it to Canterlot safely. I do not wish to leave Canterlot, but it is better if I am not captured again and that I can actually be of some use," Princess Luna said.
Black Leaf nodded.
"And if we find your sister or news of Discord?" Black Leaf asked.
"Get one of the unicorns to send me a message," she said.
Luna and the pegasi flew swiftly to Ponyville. They encountered a few changelings along the way, but easily disposed of them. She saw no sign of Twilight Sparkle or her team along the way. She tried not to worry about them.
Ponyville was like a ghost town. It was silent and eerie. Streams of green wafted from all of the houses.
"Take a look around, see if you can find anypony conscious," Luna said.
"If we do?" one of the pegasi asked.
"Tell them not to panic; it is safe in the Everfree Forest. We will lead any survivors there. I know of a zebra who lives in the forest, and there is a filly in there that I want to check up on," Luna said. The pegasi nodded and dispersed.
Luna wandered around the town. It was sad to see it so lifeless. When she had been here during Nightmare Night, the town had been full of festivities and fun. It was the first time she was shown friendship since coming back from exile.
She stood in the town square, surveying the houses. Suddenly the ground a few feet in front of her rumbled. The dirt began to move and a small hole began to form. Luna readied herself in case it was a changeling.
Slowly, a dark grey coated mare, with a light grey mane, stuck her head out from underground. She stepped out carefully and shook the dirt off of her. She jumped at the sight of Luna and stared at her frightfully.
"It's alright pony; I am Princess Luna. I will not harm you," Luna said softly. She liked to think that the pony jumped because she was surprised someone was right there watching her, not because she thought Luna was Nightmare Moon.
The pony didn't say anything. She just sort of nodded at Luna. Luna glanced at her cutie mark. It was dynamite.
"What's your name?" Luna asked kindly.
The mare stared at her for a second, and then hesitantly stomped her hooves. Luna tilted her head to the side, not quite understanding. When the mare repeated the same hoof stomps, Luna then nodded.
"I see; you cannot speak," she said. The mare nodded.
Luna pondered for a second.
"I am going to do a spell, so that we can communicate via our minds; that way, you can talk. Ok?" Luna asked. The mare hesitated and then nodded. Luna's horn glowed. "Alright. It's ready. Now, what is your name?"
Fluttershy was falling fast. She screamed, her eyes shut tight, tears streaming down her face. Her left wing was immobile, the right one was flapping frantically. It was useless. She couldn't fly.
The rock that had trapped her was gone, falling at a faster pace. What if she landed on it and broke her back? How was she supposed to get to Canterlot? The others needed her—without her, the Elements couldn't be complete. They wouldn't be able to beat Chrysalis. Equestria would stay in its captured state, forever being harvested for the changelings.
"Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy opened her eyes. Big Mac was falling towards her at a fast rate—he did weight more. She hadn't realized that he had gone over as well when the end of the bridge collapsed, but it made sense since he had been right there beside him.
Big Mac seemed to be diving towards her. He stretched out his body straight, his hooves reaching out towards hers. Fluttershy reached out towards him.
Big Mac grabbed Fluttershy and wrapped his legs around her. Next thing she knew, there was a splash and water all around. Fluttershy felt them hit the bottom of the river—thankfully they didn't land on the boulder that had crushed her wing.
Big Mac pulled Fluttershy up to the surface. They both gasped for air.
"Are you ok Flut—"
The current was fast. They were quickly pulled apart and Fluttershy was under the water again. She struggled to get to the surface. She wasn't a strong swimmer, especially when she didn't have the extra help from her wings.
She flailed in the water. The current pushed her along, slamming her into rocks and stones. Any glimpses she had above the surface, she couldn't see Big Mac. What if he was trapped somewhere and was drowning? He had come over to help her, to save her, and now he could die because of her.
Applejack would never forgive me... Oh Big McIntosh... Please be ok.
The current seemed to move faster and faster. Fluttershy managed to poke her head above the surface for longer than a few seconds. Her eyes grew wide. The current was picking up because there was a waterfall head—a huge waterfall.
Frantic, she tried her hardest to swim towards the edge to her left, where she saw a patch of grass. But the force of the water was too strong.
Fluttershy screamed and cried as the fall came closer and closer. She flailed her hooves around hysterically, and managed to grab onto a rock. The water tried to push her over the edge.
"Fluttershy! Grab on!"
Fluttershy looked over to see Big Mac on the patch of grass, a branch in his mouth, holding it out towards her.
Fluttershy was terrified. What if she let go of the rock and the current washed her away before she could take hold of the branch? What if the branch broke? What if the current was so strong, that it pulled Big Mac back in and they both went over?
Be brave.
Summoning all her courage, Fluttershy let one shaky hoof off of the rock and reached out towards the branch. Holding her breath, she let go of the rock and jumped towards the branch, wrapping her forelegs around it.
Fluttershy held on tightly, but felt herself slipping. The current was strong and fast—but Big Mac was stronger and quicker. He pulled the branch and Fluttershy towards the stable ground and out of the water.
Fluttershy cried, panting, and hugging the ground.
"Are you alright?" Big Mac asked softly, wrapping his foreleg around her shoulders. Fluttershy looked up at him. She could feel her cheeks going red. She wiped her tears away and nodded. She didn't know how to thank him.
He's so brave.
Big Mac helped Fluttershy up. He then examined her wing.
"Can you move it at all?" he asked. Fluttershy shook her head.
"It's broken," she said quietly.
Big Mac put his bag on the ground and rummaged around inside it. He pulled out a blanket and ripped a strip from it. He then tied it around Fluttershy's wing, binding it tightly.
"Not the best, but it should help with the pain," he said. Fluttershy nodded shyly.
Big Mac put his bag back on and looked up the gorge they had just fallen down.
"Can you see any of them up there?" he asked.
Fluttershy looked up. She shook her head. She couldn't even see the train tracks or the rest of the bridge.
"The current must have moved us along quite a bit," Big Mac said. Fluttershy nodded.
"Is your Element safe?" he asked. Fluttershy nodded again. Big Mac smiled and chuckled slightly.
"I know times are rough and scary right now; but you don't need to be so shy, Fluttershy," Big Mac said softly. "I'm a shy pony too. I know how you feel."
Not as shy as me.
"Ok," she said quietly.
"I guess our only option right now is to continue on hoof and try to find our way towards Canterlot," Big Mac said. He looked to the left. A few trees lined the back of the small patch of grass, separating it from the edge of the mountain. "I bet there's a cave over there. There might be a tunnel inside; it's worth a shot."
Fluttershy looked over to the trees. She thought she could make out the top of a cave peeking through the trees. Caves were scary. And dark. What if there were changelings inside?
He's right though; it's our only option right now.
"Ok... let's go," Fluttershy said quietly.
Just as they took a few steps towards the trees, the Shadowbolt came out of nowhere and landed in front of them.
"Did the others send you?" Big Mac asked. The Shadowbolt nodded.
"Can you go and tell them we're ok?" Fluttershy asked. The Shadowbolt shook his head.
"Oh?" Fluttershy said.
"They're probably on their way to Canterlot; the changelings were coming back, so they probably couldn't risk sticking around," Big Mac said. The Shadowbolt nodded.
"Are they all ok?" Fluttershy asked. The Shadowbolt sort of shrugged and nodded. He wasn't sure.
"Well, the extra set of hooves will be useful. Thank you for coming to check on us," Big Mac said. "We're going to try to find our own way to Canterlot. We think there's a cave on the other side of this small patch of trees. We figure there might be a way through the mountain, as opposed to trying to climb over it."
An explosion went off. Twilight looked over to see Inkie and Pinkie duck as changeling fragments rained down on them. For now, the changelings were stalled again.
"How much ammunition did that take?" Twilight asked.
"Only one bomb," Inkie said, brushing some ash off of her leg. "How much are you relying on for the big battle?"
"Well, essentially it should hopefully just be the Elements we need to defeat Chrysalis herself... we'll need the rest of you to hold off the changeling swam while we try to battle her," Twilight said. "With the car broken, we'll need to travel by hoof now. Pinkie, you brought the attachments for the cannon right? Everypony will take turns pulling it."
"Yup, I got it. We'll set it up so we're ready to go when you want us to, Twilight," Pinkie said.
Twilight nodded at them and looked around the clearing, taking in the battle damage. Zecora was examining one of CloudsArmor's wings, while Rainbow Dash and Titan Wings were finishing off some last straggling changelings. Derpy was helping Trixie find pinecones and collecting them in a big pile.
"Twilight!"
Twilight turned at the sound of Rarity's panicked voice. Oh no...
Twilight ran over to her. Flam was looking painfully up at Flim, who was cocooned to a tree.
"We can free him no problem," Twilight said. "Rarity, don't you remember the spell?"
"She does," Flam said quietly, "But how much longer before another swarm of changelings come? As much as I hate to say it... it might be safer to keep him here..."
Flam's eyes teared up again as he looked up at his twin. Rarity placed her hoof on his shoulder.
"He's your brother Flam; whatever you think would be best. But we do need to get moving soon, you're right, more changelings will be here any minute, and we need to get to Canterlot," Twilight said.
"As much as it pains me to leave him here... he's safe here. I won't have to worry about him running off and hurting himself. It just hurts because... because he saved me. Like he remembered..."
"That's good; it must mean there's a cure," Twilight Sparkle said. "If you want to leave him here, I can perform a quick spell that will rearrange the branches so he's hidden more."
Flam nodded. "That'd be nice."
Twilight performed the spell. Flim was barely visible in the tree. Twilight felt bad for leaving Flim behind, especially since she wanted to have as many unicorns on the team as possible; but Flam was worried about his brother getting lost or hurting himself, and she was going to respect his wishes. When she thought about it more, if the same thing had happened to Trixie, she probably would have left her behind too for her safety.
"Alright everypony; is everyone ok?" Twilight asked, as they gathered themselves in the middle of the clearing.
Everyone nodded and murmured to themselves. Applejack was still on-and-off crying about Big Mac. Derpy had her hoof around her shoulder, and Rarity had hers around Flam.
Things were getting tougher than Twilight had hoped they would. They'd already potentially lost one of the Elements; she could feel it in her heart that Fluttershy was still ok, but how long would it take her and Big Mac to get to Canterlot? What if the rest of them were impodded or worse by the time they got there?
"Since the car is broken, we now need to travel on hoof. I think we should stray off of the main road, and try to hide in the woods. Pegasi, you can take shifts flying closer to the tree line, keeping an eye out for changelings; but I want everypony otherwise to stick together and stay under cover. We're already separated from Big Mac, the Shadowbolt and Fluttershy, who holds one of the Elements we need. I don't want any more separations.
"I know these past few hours have been hard; we've lost some friends and are now leaving one behind; but I promise you we will defeat these changelings and save the rest of Equestria," Twilight said. The ponies all nodded, some enthusiastically, others exhaustedly.
"We'll need to take shifts pulling the cannon; Inkie has decided to go first. We'll figure out the trade of rotation as we go along. CloudsArmor, you can take first flying shift. We need to move now, before more changelings come after us," Twilight said.
Slowly, they began a formation and trudged into the trees. They decided to keep the cannon in the middle of their ranks; that way, from whichever direction the changelings came at them, the cannon was most centralized.
They chatted quietly as they walked, some ponies ate snacks from their bags. The pegasi rotated, keeping below the tree line, but flying enough that they could see above it.
"It's oddly quiet," Rainbow Dash said, hovering beside Twilight. Twilight nodded, pulling the cannon behind her. She figured they had been walking for about an hour since being in the clearing. Canterlot was coming ever closer.
"I don't doubt they're searching for us though," Twilight said.
"They may have given up for a bit, because they figure they killed off Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight nodded.
"That might be true; but I don't think they got rid of Fluttershy the way they had hoped. I'm sure she's alive and well, and that she and Big Mac, and the Shadowbolt, are on their way to Canterlot; the changelings might be after them, trying to see if they succeeded in getting rid of her," Twilight said.
"I hope they're not after her; poor pony can't handle any more scares," Rainbow Dash said.
"You have to give Fluttershy more credit, Rainbow Dash; situations like these will always bring out a side in a pony that you didn't think was there before," Twilight said.
"True; either way, I just hope she's ok," Rainbow Dash said quietly.
"I'm sure she is," Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something else, when something flashed quickly in front of her and a piece of parchment dropped.
"Hold up everypony," Twilight said, "Titan Wings, keep a lookout. Rainbow Dash, see what it is. It might be from Gilda."
"It is," Rainbow Dash said. "It says:
Dear Dash,
Thanks for the heads up. Our leaders weren't slow to figure out that Equestria was in trouble and that we could be next. I'm not sure what the changelings will do with Griffordia when they get here; they can't harvest griffin energy well. Most of the griffins that were in Equestria when the attack happened were killed; those who survived said that they were put into pods, but that they could easily break out after a few minutes. So while the changelings tried to harvest our energy, they quickly figured out that it's unattainable and therefore they just killed us off. If they attack us here in Griffordia, it's just to get our land and pass on through to the deer lands, because they will be easy to harvest energy from like the ponies are.
You are probably wondering why no one has come to Equestria's rescue; the griffins gave a few tries, but every rescue party we sent out, it came back with only half of its troops. The changelings are growing in power from all of the energy they are harvesting from the ponies. The Queen—Chrysalis was her name? —has grown incredibly strong, stronger than you can imagine. I mean, she has to be if she's defeated Princess Celestia. She rarely comes out and fights amongst the crowds; one griffin came back saying that she was busy partaking in a "very important" project of hers. Whatever it is, it can't be good.
I wish you safe passage and I hope that you succeed in defeating Chrysalis; if not, I advise you to get out of Equestria and come to Griffordia. You could strategize from here. If you have the Elements of Harmony, I'm sure the griffin leaders would be more optimistic in helping you, if you already have the potential power to defeat the Queen.
... your friend, Gilda."
"So they know about the attack, and they already had an idea that they were next," Twilight said.
"I wonder what this 'special project' Chrysalis is working on is," Rarity said. "The thought of it sends chills up my spine."
"I wonder if it has to do with Discord," Applejack said.
"If it does have to do with Discord, then it also has something to do with Princess Luna," Twilight said, "Spike said he overheard Chrysalis arguing with Discord about something to do with Luna."
"Maybe it has something to do with Princess Celestia as well," CloudsArmor piped up.
"Whatever it is, we have to get to Canterlot before she can finish it," Twilight said. "C'mon team; let's pick up the pace."
Rainbow Dash flew close to the tree line, keeping an eye for any signs of changeling scum. She glanced down at the group walking below her. Derpy looked up, smiled and waved. She then tripped and fell into Rarity. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but waved back so Derpy would pay attention to where she was walking.
Rainbow Dash sighed and went back to scanning the sky for signs of trouble. She missed Fluttershy and hoped she was ok. She knew she was hard on Fluttershy a lot, but truth was, Fluttershy was one of her oldest friends, and even though she wasn't as fast or daring or as super awesome as Rainbow Dash was, Fluttershy was her best pegasus friend. Being a pegasus meant that there were things that Fluttershy would understand that her other friends wouldn't.
In some ways, Derpy reminded Rainbow Dash of Fluttershy. She was a slow flyer and just overall got on Rainbow Dash's nerves easily, but Derpy had proven to be a good pony and a have good heart in the few hours that Rainbow Dash had really gotten to know her.
Rainbow Dash yawned. This was her third time in rotation. They had been walking for hours, mindlessly marching, taking turns in pulling the cannon or watching the sky. They had taken a few short breaks here and there. The light in the sky was starting to fade. The changelings had been awfully silent.
Surely we have to be near Canterlot by now. We've been walking forever. It's got to be mid-afternoon by now. Maybe Twilight will know how much longer...
Just as Rainbow Dash turned her head to shout down to Twilight, she did a double take and stopped. She poked her head higher through the trees. A dark mass was heading swiftly towards them. She couldn't quite tell what it was. She looked in the other direction. The forest was about to end soon.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, quickly flying to the ground, "There's a dark mass heading this way, and we're nearing the forest's end!"
"We can see that," Twilight said, pointing. The trees around them were growing thinner. Some ponies shifted their weight uncomfortably. "Everyone get ready. Rainbow Dash, what's coming this way?"
"I can't tell what it is; it doesn't look like changelings though, but whatever it is, it can't be good," Rainbow Dash said.
"Whatever it is, it's probably planning to attack us once we try and cross that clearing," Titan Wings said.
"We're not far from the mountain that houses Canterlot; it should be just on the other side of the clearing," Twilight said.
"What should we do?" Applejack asked.
As Twilight paced back and forth, Rainbow Dash flew up again to take a look. The black mass approaching looked like mist or clouds, but warped in a certain way that it looked more like a solid. It couldn't be physical changelings themselves, but she was sure whatever it was, it was caused by the changelings. It's got to be some sort of magic attack from Chrysalis.
Rainbow Dash flew back down as Twilight stopped pacing.
"It's got be some sort of magic from Chrysalis," Rainbow Dash said.
"You're probably right; but if it is Chrysalis, why is she sending... whatever it is she's sending, from the south? Canterlot is north from us, and that's where Chrysalis is. This has to be some weird attack or strategy from her, but I just don't understand what she's trying to do," Twilight said.
"Well it's coming closer; what do you think we should do?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"We should fight it," Titan Wings said, "head on."
"Nah, we should make a run for it across the clearing, get into the mountain and get to Canterlot," Applejack said.
"Maybe we should just wait here in the forest?" Derpy said.
"I don't think standing here is going to help, Derpy. They're going to attack us either way; I agree with Applejack, we should try to reach the mountain, and we'll fight them off using the cannon along the way," Rainbow Dash said.
"You're right; if we're going to be attacked, we might as well be trying to get somewhere instead of just sitting here waiting for them," Twilight said. "Flam, give the cannon back to Inkie. Pegasi, since it's an airborne attack, I'm counting on you to fend whatever it is off; I want to try and conserve as much firepower for Canterlot as we can."
"There's only four of us Twilight, I'm not sure if we can—" CloudsArmor started.
"Well you're going to have to try!" Twilight shouted. Rainbow Dash could see the stressed look on her face. While Twilight was a natural born leader, the past few hours had been extremely rough for her.
Past few hours... Was that all it'd been? It was so hard to believe that they hadn't been battling the changelings for months. Less than twelve hours ago, they'd still been in cocoons, being harvested, until Twilight randomly awoke and saved them all.
"Come on pegasi; time to get airborne," Rainbow Dash said. "Don't worry Twilight, we've got you guys covered."
They waited a few minutes for the ground team to plan a formation. Inkie took the cannon back from Flam, who had been pulling it at the time. Rarity and Pinkie flanked her, with Zecora, Trixie, and Flam taking up the rear, and Twilight and Applejack taking up the lead.
"Ok team; let's go!" Twilight shouted.
The ground team began to run, as the pegasi flew over top of them. Just as they left the protection of the trees, the black mass appeared.
It looked like a massive storm cloud. For a second, it reminded Rainbow Dash of when Princess Luna arrived in Ponyville on Nightmare Night. But this wasn't Luna.
Five changelings flew out of the mass and smirked down at them. They then charged towards the ground group.
"Twilight! Watch out!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She flew as fast, trying to tackle one of the changelings out of the way, but suddenly, she felt herself being pulled backwards. She flew as fast as she could, but a force she couldn't explain was pulling her behind.
She looked down; the ground group was tackling and fighting off the changelings. They seemed to be ok. Inkie shouted something and the ponies around her ducked, as an explosive went off.
Twilight smiled and gave Applejack a high-hoof, the changelings quickly defeated. Twilight turned and looked up at Rainbow Dash, her expression changing to concern. She shouted something, pointing at something behind Rainbow Dash, but she couldn't hear her.
The last thing Rainbow Dash saw was Twilight and the group of ponies below her, spinning and spinning as they got smaller and smaller, as Rainbow Dash was blown away and into the dark cyclone.
Blinkie stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest. She had heard many different terrifying stories about this place. The princess said she knew someone who actually lived in the forest. Maybe all of the rumors weren't true; maybe this place wasn't so bad. The changelings couldn't enter it after all.
Blinkie hesitated nevertheless. Princess Luna had already began walking inside. She stopped and turned her head back to Blinkie.
"I assure you, it's alright," she said kindly. Blinkie took a deep breath and then stepped into the forest.
It wasn't as bad as she thought. Even though it was daytime, the forest was still a bit dark.
It's probably lighter when the sun is shining, Blinkie thought.
"Most likely, yes," Luna said.
Blinkie still wasn't used to the fact that Luna could hear her thoughts. She had told Luna a bit about herself, and what had happened to her, and how she had survived the changelings attacks so far. Although Luna had initially invited Blinkie to travel along to her, after she found out that Blinkie was sisters with one of the Element bearers, Luna insisted that Blinkie travel with her.
"The sun doesn't shine without my sister to guide it," Luna said.
And you have no idea where she is?
Luna shook her head. "She's somewhere in the Canterlot palace, I'm sure, but I do not know where; and while I was imprisoned there, I could not strongly detect her presence. I am concerned for her."
That's odd. So, you and Princess Celestia can sense one another in buildings and towns and such?
"Yes, it's part of our magical connection as alicorns. We can detect Princess Cadance as well," Luna said.
She was the princess who was having the wedding right?
"Yes; Chrysalis impersonated her," Luna said angrily. "Because Chrysalis is essentially in an alicorn-like body, we did not detect anything amiss with our powers. And since she directly avoided seeing me in person throughout her impersonation period, I could not see her for who she really was."
You can see through the changelings disguises?
"Yes," Luna said sharply. Blinkie sensed that she didn't want to go into detail. She figured from that statement, that Luna could see through the disguises, but Princess Celestia couldn't.
Where is Princess Cadance now?
"Somewhere in the palace as well. I could detect her more easily than I could my sister. My sister's.. 'pulse', if you will, was very faint. I'm extremely concerned," Luna said, her tone softening.
I'm concerned about my sisters too.
"I'm sure they are fine. For all we know, they are at Zecora's right now," Luna said.
Just as she spoke the words, the hut came into their sight. A small stream of smoke was coming out of the chimney, and the flicker of a firelight could be seen through the windows.
Blinke and Luna approached the door. Luna knocked on it with her hoof. When nobody answered, Luna knocked again, louder.
"W-W-W-Who's there?" a timid voice asked on the other side.
"Apple Bloom? It's Princess Luna," Luna said softly.
The door slowly opened and a yellow coated filly appeared from behind it. A huge wave of relief came on her face upon seeing Princess Luna. Behind the filly, a few feet away, were two foals looking curiously towards the door.
"Where is Zecora?" Princess Luna asked, stepping inside of the hut. Apple Bloom eyed Blinkie curiously, but then looked back towards the princess.
"She n' the others all left for Canterlot; you didn't meet up with them?" Apple Bloom asked.
Luna shook her head. She looked over at the colts and then back to Apple Bloom.
"I told them I would meet them in Ponyville, but I guess I was too late. They left you here, by yourself with these young colts?" Luna asked. Apple Bloom nodded.
"Pinkie Pie and Rarity saved the foals; they're the twins of the family that Pinkie lives with, and she was concerned for their health inside the cocoons," Apple Bloom said.
Is Pinkie ok? What about Inkie?
Blinkie automatically began to stomp out her question, when Luna interrupted.
"Excuse my manners; Apple Bloom, this is Blinkie. She is Pinkie Pie's sister," Luna said.
Apple Bloom's eyes widened as she checked out Blinkie again.
"You're Blinkie Pie? But, Pinkie Pie and her other sister said you'd been killed by the changelings," Apple Bloom said.
Blinkie was taken aback.
What? Why on earth would Inkie and Pinkie think that... I told Pinkie I would be meeting her in Ponyville...
"There must have been a miscommunication," Luna said.
"What?" Apple Bloom said.
"Blinkie cannot speak, but she can hear. I have used a spell so we can communicate and I can hear her thoughts," Luna explained.
"Pinkie explained how you saved her n' Inkie and how you were dragged into a hole with changelings and how you pilled a pin on a grenade and kept it in your mouth—how do you survive something like that!?" Apple Bloom said.
Luna looked over at Blinkie.
"Is that true? Explains why you popped out of the ground..."
Blinkie shifted uncomfortably. There were some things about the day of the accident that had caused her to lose her voice, that she hadn't fully told or explained to anyone. Things that had to do with her cutie mark and her pyrotechnics ability.
It's... just a miracle I suppose...
Luna looked at her long and hard. Blinkie knew the princess could tell she was lying. But she let it go. Luna had clearly withheld something from her earlier, and now she was doing the same. Neither would press for more information.
"How long ago did the group leave?" Luna asked, breaking her intense stare from Blinkie.
"Hours ago. They left early this mornin'," Apple Bloom said.
Had it taken Blinkie really that long to tunnel her way to Ponyville? Taking into consideration what had happened, the more she thought about it, the more she wasn't surprised it had taken her a long time to get here.
"Was one of my guards with them? I sent someone to find Twilight Sparkle to help her during her journey, in case I was unable to make it in time.... which I clearly was," Luna said.
"Yes, he's with the group," Apple Bloom said.
"And the parents for these foals; you say they are Pinkie Pie's home owners here?" Luna said. Apple Bloom nodded.
"They're the Cakes. They own Sugarcube Corner," Apple Bloom said.
"I am going to free the ponies of Ponyville," Luna announced. "I am going to free them and then whoever wishes to come and fight in Canterlot can do so. Either way, the ponies of Equestria have suffered enough."
Luna gave Apple Bloom a hug, and then turned for the door.
"Come Blinkie; I'll quickly free the citizens of Ponyville, and then we will make our way to Canterlot. We have to catch up to the Elements of Harmony and defeat Chrysalis."
"What do you think the chances are that this is the same mountain where Canterlot is?" Fluttershy asked.
She, Big Mac, and the Shadowbolt had been walking in a silence for the past ten minutes. It was starting to make her feel uncomfortable, especially since she couldn't see where she was going.
Big Mac lead the group. He had brought a lantern along, one that had originally belonged to Granny Smith. Since it didn't create a lot of light though, he had suggested that they tie a rope to each other and walk in a chain, just in case anyone got lost. Fluttershy was in the middle, and the Shadowbolt was behind her. She, and she was sure Big Mac as well, assumed that the Shadowbolt could see fine in the dark.
"Mmm... slim. It'd be awful convenient, but life just don't work out that way. Plus Twilight would have said something while we were on the train tracks, and I don't think this is an actual mountain; I think we're just in the side of a cliff," Big Mac said.
"Oh."
Fluttershy felt silly for asking. She knew it would be a long shot, but she wanted to make conversation and fill the silence. The dark cave was scary enough as it was—she didn't need the added fear of being alone.
So far, they had had no problems since entering the cave. They'd been walking for a long time, in the dark, without any disturbances. She hoped there were no changelings in the cave. Her wing still ached, even though Big Mac had expertly bound it.
"I hope we're not further away from Canterlot than we were with the group," Fluttershy said, trying to fill the silence again.
"I think the current was heading towards Canterlot; hopefully we're heading in the right direction," Big Mac said. "The thing to remember is that we're safe and relatively unharmed."
"That's true; you have such a positive outlook Big McIntosh," Fluttershy said.
Big Mac was silent for a minute. In the dim light in front of him, she could see his expression harden for a minute.
"You have to try and be positive in certain situations," he said quietly.
Fluttershy fell silent. He was probably thinking of Granny Smith and all that had happened. Big Mac had gone through a lot. Not only had he been fighting off changelings for the past few months that this whole terrible thing had been going on, but he had no idea where either of his younger sisters were. And to think that one of them had been so close to him the whole time... And then there was Granny Smith's death... And here he was, separated from his sisters again, because he went to help Fluttershy.
Fluttershy hung her head. She suddenly felt terrible.
"I'm sorry that we got separated from Applejack at the others," she said quietly.
Big Mac stopped and looked back at her. He looked surprised.
"It's not your fault Fluttershy. It's not like you flew under the boulder on purpose, or caused the tracks to break. I went to help you because... well, because I wanted to," he said, faltering in his speech for a moment, "but it's not your fault we're separated from the others. It's just bad luck. For all we know, they're all separated again anyways."
"I hope they're not separated," Fluttershy said. Big Mac started walking again.
"It seems like something the changelings would try to do—separate the Elements—so I wouldn't be surprised if they were," he said. "I just hope everyone's alright."
"Me too," Fluttershy said.
The Shadowbolt suddenly stomped its hooves. Fluttershy jumped slightly—she kept forgetting he was back there, he was so quiet. Both she and Big Mac stopped walking again.
"What is it Shadowbolt?" Fluttershy said. He stepped up beside her and began motioning towards something in front of him. "Is there—"
"Shh," Big Mac said quickly, cutting her off. They stood in silence. Fluttershy tried to listen. She thought she heard whispers up ahead. Was that the flicker of light up ahead as well?
"Do you think it's changelings?" Fluttershy whispered after a few minutes. Her heart was starting to pound fast and she couldn't help but break the silence again. What if there was a swarm of changelings up ahead and they were trapped in this cave with them?
The Shadowbolt shook his head to Fluttershy's question. Big Mac nodded in agreement with him.
"Changelings don't need light, do they?" he asked. The Shadowbolt confirmed his statement with a nod. "There must be somepony else in here."
Big Mac started walking again, causing Fluttershy to follow because of their rope chain. Her legs shook as they approached the light. The voices became louder, but then they started to quiet down as they got closer.
"Who's there?" a loud voice boomed.
Fluttershy squeaked and closed her eyes. Big Mac cleared his throat.
"My name is Big McIntosh; I'm from Ponyville. This here is Fluttershy and Shadowbolt," Big Mac said.
"...You're not one of those witchings are you?" the voice asked.
"Nope."
Fluttershy opened her eyes when she felt Big Mac move forward again. They walked around a boulder and Fluttershy saw a small fire and two figures. She couldn't believe her eyes.
It was two buffalo. They sat down once they saw the ponies were in fact real ponies and not changelings.
"My name is Windstrong, and this is my brother BrightStar. We come from the area you ponies call, Appleloosa," Windstrong said.
"Yes, Appleloosa; my cousin Braeburn lives there," Big Mac said. "Are we close to there?"
Windstrong shook his head. "We left the area looking for help; those black witchings have entrapped many of our kind and are stealing their energy."
"Yes, the same thing has happened all over Equestria," Fluttershy said quietly. Windstrong nodded.
"We know this now. At first we thought it was just our land where the attack was happening. We tried to save many of our tribe, but failed. When we went to the ponies of Appleloosa for help, we saw that they too were under attack. We too tried to help them, but the witchings magic was too strong. With our chief imprisoned, my brother and I decided that we would try to go to your leaders for help; but once we made it to Canterlot, we saw that the witchings had taken over everywhere," Windstrong said.
"They're called changelings; they take the form of a loved one and use your love for them to take your energy. But by once they had fully infiltrated Canterlot, they dropped their disguises and are just plain attacking. Since they have so much energy now, they do not need to hide," Big Mac said.
"Yes. We did not know of their disguise tactics until one of the other buffalo attacked us. We call them witchings in our culture," BrightStar said.
"So they're harvesting from buffalo too. There seems to only be certain kinds of creatures that they can take from. Rarity said that the Diamond Dogs were just being killed off, and Spike said in his letter that they can't take dragon energy," Fluttershy said.
"Are we near Canterlot then?" Big Mac said.
"Yes," Windstrong said.
"We're trying to get there to defeat their queen and save Equestria," Big Mac said. "Fluttershy is one of the holders of the Elements of Harmony. We're hoping their power can defeat the queen."
Windstrong and BrightStar looked at Fluttershy.
"Yes, we have heard of the Elements and their power," BrightStar said, "We are honored to be in your presence, Element Holder."
The two bowed their heads at Fluttershy.
"This one... looks a bit like a changeling," Windstrong said suspiciously. He nodded towards the Shadowbolt.
"Oh no, he's on our team," Fluttershy said. "He's a servant of Princess Luna."
"The princess of the night," BrightStar said.
"Yes. She sent him and two others with Twilight Sparkle to accompany her to Ponyville, but the other two got killed along the way. He can actually see through the changelings' disguises, and will always see them for what they truly are," Fluttershy explained.
The two still eyed the Shadowbolt carefully.
"Alright; we trust you Element holder," Windstrong said.
"How close are we to Canterlot?" Big Mac asked.
Neither of them answered. Windstrong turned to BrightStar and the two murmured quietly together. Big Mac and Fluttershy exchanged a glance. Fluttershy hoped that they were close to Canterlot; she just wanted this whole ordeal to be over.
After a few moments, the two buffalo stopped talking and turned back to the ponies.
"We will take you to Canterlot," Windstrong said, standing.
"Oh, thank you," Fluttershy said, "We're supposed to be meeting our friends in Canterlot. We got separated along the way."
"And once we get to Canterlot, we would like to join your group and help in the fight," Windstrong continued, "These monsters need to be stopped."
"Any and all help is appreciated," Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash spun round and round in the cyclone. As hard as she tried to steady herself or fly out of the cyclone, she'd always be sucked back in. Flapping her wings seemed almost useless. She even tried to just stop and see if she would fall to the ground, but the cyclone kept a strong grip on her.
The sound of wind rushed all around her, drowning out any other sounds. But ever so faintly, she thought she heard someone say her name.
Looking around her—which was difficult to do while being hurled around in a cyclone—she saw a streak of grey whisk past her. The flash of grey appeared again, saying her name. It was Derpy.
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it. She had been so caught up in trying to find a way to get out of the cyclone herself, that she hadn't realized that the other pegasi had been dragged in as well. Every now and then she could now see a streak of white above her, and a streak of black above that. CloudsArmor and Titan Wings.
Rainbow Dash could see Derpy coming towards her again. This time, Derpy grabbed onto Rainbow Dash's tail and hung on. The two them spun around together.
"Derpy! Let go! I can't fly straight with you hanging on like that!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Derpy clung on tighter.
"No Rain-bow Dash! We need to get to CloudsArmor and Titan Wings, and we need to fly out together!" Derpy shouted back.
"What?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Trust me, it will work!" Derpy shouted again.
Be patient. Celestia's voice rang through Rainbow Dash's head again. Even though she couldn't follow Derpy's logic in to how that would get them out of the cyclone, she took a deep breath and started to fly-climb towards CloudsArmor. She felt Derpy shift behind her, and then suddenly Derpy was beside her.
"It'll be easier if we fly up there together—I tied our tails together," Derpy shouted over the sound of the cyclone.
Ugh. Rainbow Dash figured the faster she flew up, maybe the more likely she'd be able to reach CloudsArmor. There'd be no way that Derpy would be able to keep up. She'd just be slowing Rainbow Dash down. But Rainbow Dash decided to try and listen to Celestia's words, and as Derpy began to fly up through the cyclone towards CloudsArmor, Rainbow Dash noticed that they made progress faster. Whereas Rainbow Dash on her own had been struggling endlessly, she and Derpy slowly moved up together.
After a few minutes of struggling against the fierce wind, they were in line with CloudsArmor. As he spun around and approached them, Derpy stuck her leg out and grabbed onto him.
"Tie your tail to mine; we need to go to Titan Wings and then fly out of the cyclone together," she shouted to CloudsArmor. Without arguing, CloudsArmor tied his tail to Derpy's, and the three of them made their way up to Titan Wings.
Rainbow Dash was surprised that CloudsArmor didn't argue or question Derpy's idea. The white pegasus had been hot-headed when he and Rainbow Dash had first met; and yet he easily succumbed to Derpy's apparent leadership in the situation.
With three of them, the struggle against the wind was lighter. They reached Titan Wings in half the time it took them to reach CloudsArmor.
I can't believe Derpy was right, Rainbow Dash thought, as Derpy directed Titan Wings to tie his tail to CloudsArmor's.
"Ok! Everyone, together, try to fly out of the cyclone!" Derpy yelled.
The four of them worked together and pushed against the wind keeping them entrapped. All the while they were pushing through the cyclone's edges, Rainbow Dash still couldn't believe that Derpy's plan was working.
Finally, the four of them burst free of the cyclone. Rainbow Dash felt dizzy, the world around her still spinning. Carefully, the group landed on the ground. Once Rainbow Dash's view stopped turning, she saw the cyclone still moving in the distance, unaware that its prisoners had escaped.
They untied their tails and Derpy did a triumphant jump.
"Derpy... how did you know what to do?" Rainbow Dash asked, still in disbelief. She had this pegasus pegged all wrong.
"It's always better to work together," Derpy answered with a smile.
"What do you suppose that was?" CloudsArmor asked.
"Some sort of dark magic..." Titan Wings answered, looking off at the cyclone.
"I think it was a trap, specifically meant for us pegasi," Rainbow Dash said. "Only a few changelings came out of it to attack the ground group, and the rest of us were pulled away instantly. It had to be a trap."
"Yes, that must be what it was," Titan Wings said.
"But for what purpose? Where was it taking us? It was taking us further away from Canterlot," CloudsArmor said.
"It may have been Chrysalis's magic, but I guess she wasn't bringing us to her. It was probably taking us to a waiting swarm of changelings," Rainbow Dash said.
"Trying to separate the Elements, maybe," Derpy said quietly.
Rainbow Dash turned and looked at Derpy. She was staring far off, watching the cyclone as it grew smaller and smaller in the distance. She surprised Rainbow Dash once again with her apparent wisdom, and she was definitely surprised by Derpy's serious tone.
There's so much more to this pony that I don't even know.
"Yes, most likely. They have already separated us from Fluttershy; and now only four of the six Elements remain together," Titan Wings said.
"We're separated, but we're not dead. And Fluttershy isn't either. They haven't killed us yet. It's just a delay," Rainbow Dash said.
"But they'll try to separate someone else next," Titan Wings said, "that is evidently their plan at the moment."
"Well, the best, and really only thing we can do, is head to Canterlot then. Meet up with them there," Rainbow Dash said, stretching her wings. They ached from the constant flying in the cyclone.
"Without having to wait for those on foot, we should meet up with them quite easily," CloudsArmor said.
Titan Wings nodded, and he and CloudsArmor spread their wings, getting ready for take off again. They jumped into the air. Rainbow Dash made to follow, but turned behind to look at Derpy.
"Come on Derpy; time to go," she said.
Derpy still stared off at the cyclone. Rainbow Dash walked over to her and put her hoof on her shoulder.
"It's ok Derpy, we're out now. You did really good. You... you saved us from the cyclone," Rainbow Dash said.
"And yet there are still so many other ponies to save," she said quietly. Rainbow Dash was still surprised by her serious tone.
"And we'll save them, once we defeat Chrysalis," Rainbow Dash said. "Everything's going to turn out ok Derpy. I promise."
"Hmmm... ok Rain-bow Dash. But I don't like ponies who can't keep their promises."
Twilight watched helplessly as Rainbow Dash, CloudsArmor, Titan Wings and Derpy were swept away in the black cyclone.
"What are we going to do?" Applejack said, standing beside Twilight.
"Should we go after them?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"They're moving away too fast, and even if we did catch up with the cyclone, I don't know how we would get them out of there," Twilight said.
"Uh, that's ok, because we have our own problems," Rarity said suddenly. She pointed towards the trees that they had just left.
Because they had been so distracted with the pegasi and the black mass-turned cyclone, nopony had noticed the mass of changelings coming out of the trees. They hissed and growled and slowly began to walk towards the group, semi-circling around them.
"What should we do?" Applejack asked, slowly backing up.
"I-I don't know," Twilight said, backing up as well. There were so many changelings. She hadn't seen this many since they were being chased into the labyrinth in Canterlot.
"Everypony, run!" Inkie said, as she stuffed something into the cannon.
"But Inkie—" Pinkie began.
"Just run! I'll catch up," Inkie said, igniting the fuse.
Twilight hesitated, while the others began to run. The changelings began to charge towards them.
"Go, Twilight, go! This won't take out all of them, but it will slow them down," Inkie said.
Twilight began to run. Changelings were on her tail. When she looked back at Inkie, changelings were swarming her and the cannon. Inkie struggled to unbuckle herself from the cannon's straps. Twilight helped with her magic, and watched as Inkie ran just in time as the whole cannon exploded.
The force pushed Twilight a little further forward, and threw Inkie into her. The two landed face first in the dirt, and changelings were on them instantly.
Somepony else came over and helped them up. Flam used his magic to throw some of the changelings off, while Applejack kicked at them to get through.
"Come on," Twilight said as she stood up and began to run again, "we're almost at the mountain; we're almost at Canterlot."
The four of them began to run, changelings tackling them to the ground now and then. They fought them off and tried to catch up to the others. The others had reached the base of the mountain and were fighting off more changelings.
"Twilight; what should we do? How do we get up or around the mountain?" Rarity asked, kicking a changeling in the face.
Twilight looked up the mountain. She could see an outline of Canterlot far up to the left. They were so close.
"There has to be an entrance, a path or trail, or a cave or something..." Inkie said in a panicky voice, obviously still shaken from the explosion.
A cave. Cave! The underground caves where Chrysalis had imprisoned Cadance in my fake reality! They have to be real!
"There has to be an entrance somewhere along the base to a bunch of old caves hidden under the palace; the entrance will be hidden because the caves have long been forgotten. Come on everypony, we need to stick together. This way!" Twilight shouted.
She turned and began to run towards the left. It made sense that the entrance to the caves would be somewhere under the proximity close to Canterlot.
The changelings chased them. Some dove a them from above. When Trixie lagged behind at one point, Twilight pushed her forwards. She felt like Trixie was her personal ward and had become quite attached to protecting her.
Shrubbery began to line the base of the mountain. Twilight began frantically searching and feeling around for any sort of entrance hidden behind them.
The changelings kept attacking. The ponies were beginning to falter and tire. There were just too many changelings compared to them. The cyclone had been an obvious diversion to allow the changelings to sneak up on them, and to separate them from the pegasi.
"Twilight... we can't keep this up much longer, we have to move," Applejack said, trying to hold the changelings off so that Twilight could find an entrance into the mountain.
Finally, Twilight's hoof fell through a bush and the ground behind it began to descend. She pushed the bush aside and a small entrance was behind it.
"Quickly! Everyone get inside!" Twilight said.
Rarity, Pinkie and Inkie ran into the cave first. Twilight pushed Trixie in and motioned for the rest to follow.
"It's no use Twilight, they'll just follow us in there," Applejack said.
The changelings had stopped directly attacking them. Now, they slowly walked towards them, closing in on them on all sides.
If we go into the caves, they'll just follow us in there and have the upper hand by being able to see perfectly in the dark; there are too many of them to fight. Either way, we'll either end up exhausting ourselves and will be too exhausted if a second wave of changelings come, or we'll be imprisoned—or worse—by these ones. This is it. We're defeated.
Twilight's heart was racing. She didn't know what to do. No bright ideas or plans were coming to mind. Her mind was blank. For once in her life, she just couldn't think.
"Twilight Sparkle, it is time to go; I shall rid of this tricky foe," Zecora said, stepping in front of Twilight to shield her from the changelings.
"Zecora no; you can't take on these changelings all by yourself," Twilight said. Flam and Applejack slowly backed into the cave as the changelings kept coming closer.
"Trust in me you must, so that our quest is not a bust," Zecora said, urging Twilight to go into the cave. Zecora put her bag on the ground and fiddled with something inside.
"Come on Twilight, you need to come inside!" Pinkie said from within the cave.
"Zecora... I can't let you face them alone," Twilight said.
"Trust me my dear friend; of me, this is not the end," Zecora said softly, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
Twilight looked Zecora hard in the eyes. Then, before she could say anything else, Zecora gave Twilight a hard push and Twilight fell backwards into the cave.
"Zecora!"
Twilight stood and reached out towards the cave. Before she could even taken one step towards her, Zecora whipped something out of her bag, said something in a language Twilight couldn't understand, and performed magic of the likes she had never seen.
Everything went bright for a second. And when Twilight could see again, she slowly stepped out of the cave. There was not a single changeling in sight; and there were no signs of Zecora or that any of them had been there at all.
"Where... where did they all go? What happened?" Rarity asked.
She and the others had followed Twilight out of the cave once the bright light had vanished. There was no trace of the changelings or Zecora, and no sign that any sort of struggle had happened there at all. All was peaceful. It was spooky.
"I... I have no idea..." Twilight said, her mouth hanging open, her eyes in shock.
"Zecora... just saved us all," Pinkie said quietly.
"What did she do? I've never seen magic like that," Applejack said.
"That's the thing... Zecora's essentially like an earth pony... she can't do magic," Twilight said.
"Maybe it was an illusion; maybe she's in front of us right now fighting them all off," Inkie said quietly.
"I hope not," Rarity said.
"She just... sacrificed herself for us," Twilight said, still in shock. Trixie walked up and put her hoof around Twilight's shoulders for a moment, almost sympathetically. Then she noticed a pinecone near Twilight's foot and picked it up gleefully, and began to twirl about.
"Maybe there's more to zebras than you think," Rarity said. She put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
"Well... she... she did say that it wasn't the end for her," Twilight said slowly, still staring off into nothing.
"You see? She must be alright then," Rarity said comfortingly.
"Come on Twilight; we're so close to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will meet us there and everything will work out in the end, you'll see," Pinkie said, smiling.
"We need to find the princess," Applejack said, "Both of them."
"And figure out what Chrysalis is doing with Discord," Rarity said.
Twilight slowly shook her head.
"You're right everypony; I just can't believe that Zecora could do that... would do that," Twilight said. Twilight sighed and turned back towards the cave. "Come on; let's get to Canterlot."
With the loss of the cannon, Twilight talked some strategy as they walked through the caves. They walked in formation so that Twilight was in the front, Rarity in the middle, and Flam at the end, so that all the (functioning) unicorns could light the path.
The caves were dark and vast. The path and quickly narrowed and turned steep was they walked up the mountain, a plunging edge soon appearing on one side of the path.
Rarity walked quietly as Twilight talked. She knew that the talking was really just a way for Twilight to calm herself down. She's reiterate a real plan once they met up with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and had all of the Elements together again.
Rarity thought about Sweetie Belle. Once they defeated Chrysalis, she was the first pony she was going to save. Her frozen horror face was instilled in Rarity's mind. She knew that even after she freed Sweetie Belle, the vision would haunt her forever. She felt so cowardly and terrible that she wasn't able to free her sister. But she knew it was for good reasons. Sweetie Belle would have just been extra liability.
Twilight suddenly stopped walking. Rarity bumped into Applejack in front of her.
"Look," Twilight whispered, horrified. She pointed her hoof ahead of them.
Ahead was an opening into another portion of the cave. Inside, everywhere, it was green. Thousands of cocoons hung from the ceiling, the energy thickly streaming out of them and flowing through an opening in the middle. The cocoons seemed to glimmer, reflecting off of the crystals that were inside of the cave.
"This is the cave part that I remember, from my dream within the cocoon," Twilight whispered. "I bet you anything that hole in the ceiling where the energy is going through is the main chamber, where we were imprisoned."
"What do you propose we do?" Applejack asked.
Rarity looked through the hole. Faint outlines of more cocoons could be seen. They looked so far away. Sweetie Belle was up there somewhere.
"We can't just go climbing through that hole," Pinkie said, "that'd be crazy. Just crawl back into the ballroom where we were held in the first place? Where that creepy ponyquin is lying, probably watching us? It's too dangerous."
The ponyquin. Rarity had forgotten about it. It was so lifelike, so creepy looking... smiling, absorbing all of the energy.
"Pinkie's right; if that's their main power source, walking straight into there would just be asking for trouble," Applejack said.
"Right, but that's most likely where Chrysalis is going to be. Surely she'd want to guard that ponyquin-thing heavily. She'd probably want to guard it herself. We're going to have to go in there to fight her eventually," Twilight said. "I had forgotten about that thing."
"But it doesn't make sense to barrel in there now when we only have four of the Elements," Rarity said, "Plus, Chrysalis could be dealing with Princess Luna or Celestia or Discord or something."
"Where did you intend on meeting the others in Canterlot? We never set a meeting place," Inkie said.
Twilight began to pace.
"Maybe we should go to the labyrinth and meet them there? It's close enough to the palace that we won't have far to go once we have a plan of attack, plus it's a good place to try and hide from the changelings," Pinkie said.
"That's an excellent idea Pinkie Pie; I'm sure that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will have enough sense to meet us there," Twilight said. "Come on, this way."
They began to walk again. Rarity kept glancing up at the pods. She didn't realize that so many ponies lived in Canterlot. Though I'm sure some of these ponies were just tourists... In Canterlot at the wrong time... though I guess they would have been attacked in their homes anyways...
Rarity shuddered. She was glad she couldn't remember being put into the pod, because the very idea made her sick. She only hoped that Sweetie Belle wouldn't remember the experience either and be scarred for life.
"Just don't look at them," Flam said quietly, stepping into line with Rarity. With the cocoons around them and the reflection off of the crystals, the unicorns didn't need to illuminate any more.
"It's hard; my little sister is up in that ballroom in one of them" Rarity said quietly, tears coming to her eyes. She brushed them away.
"And soon she'll be free," Flam said. He gave Rarity a small smile. She tried to smile back, but failed.
Twilight led them through the caves. Flam walked quietly beside Rarity. Pinkie and Inkie talked to each other quietly. Applejack helped Twilight keep Trixie in line.
Twilight put a hoof up and the group stopped. In front of them were a set of tracks and a mine car stuck in between some rocks.
"I don't think we'll all fit in that," Applejack said.
"I think I remember something about the tracks suddenly giving out at the point anyways..." Twilight said.
"Then what do we do?" Inkie asked.
"Unfortunately, we need to go this way to get to the exit. I say, we walk the tracks and then I can teleport you all one by one across the gap at the end. I want to try and conserve my energy for when we fight Chrysalis," Twilight said.
The tracks grew very steep at a rapid pace. More than once, somepony or another was almost falling off and another one was pulling them back up. Rarity tripped and stumbled more times than she'd like to admit. There was just something about the caves that was getting to her. Visions of Rover coming at her in the caves were flooding back, and she couldn't get Sweetie Belle's face out of her mind. Flam was always there to help her when she stumbled.
"You ok Rarity?" Applejack asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry. Just... just having a hard time being in here," Rarity said, slipping once again. She was sure that Applejack was having a hard time too; the tracks were teetering high, and it probably reminded her of the tracks breaking and Big Mac falling down the cliff.
"It's ok; we're at the end," Twilight said.
The ponies stopped. Rarity could barely see the edge across the gap.
"Didn't realize it was going to be this wide of a gap Twilight; you sure you'll be able to bring us all across?" Applejack asked.
"Yes..." Twilight said, though Rarity wasn't so sure if she was convinced. Twilight didn't sound so sure.
"Wait; I see something over there," Flam said.
Rarity squinted across. Sure enough, there was something over there, a figure or two... or three?
"Twilight!"
A voice floated across the wide gap. The dark figure began to fly closer and closer. Rarity couldn't believe it; it was the Shadowbolt.
"That means it must be Fluttershy over there!" Pinkie said excitedly, carefully jumping up and down with joy.
"Is Fluttershy over there with you? What about Big Mac?" Twilight asked. The Shadowbolt nodded.
"Oh thank God," Applejack said, tears streaming down her face. Pinkie Pie put her foreleg around her shoulder, as her friend cried with relief.
"Shadowbolt, do you think you could fly everyone across one by one?" Twilight asked. The Shadowbolt nodded.
Slowly, the Shadowbolt flew all the ponies across the gap, one by one. Pinkie was slightly nervous that he would run out of energy, but then again, the Shadowbolt wasn't your average pegasus.
Pinkie was the third flown across, after Twilight and Rarity. She joyfully gave Fluttershy a big hug, and didn't notice right away that she and Big Mac had new company.
"This is Windstrong and BrightStar," Fluttershy said, once everypony was across. "The buffalo are also being harvested. These two came to Canterlot to seek help, but once they saw that things here weren't any better, they had to find shelter from the changelings. They believe in the Elements of Harmony, and want to join our team."
"That's excellent. Welcome, Windstrong and BrightStar," Twilight said.
"Where's Rainbow Dash and Derpy and the other pegasi? And Zecora and Flim?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight briefed Fluttershy and Big Mac on what had happened since their disappearance.
"We were going to head over to the labyrinth and see if they meet us there," Twilight said.
"Ok, that sounds good," Fluttershy said.
Twilight began to lead the group towards the exit.
"Where does the cave let out, Twilight?" Inkie asked.
"It lets out in an older part of the palace once used for servants. It's mostly wasted space now, but the corridor it lets out of also has a door that takes us right out to the labyrinth, so it should all work out smoothly—figuring there are no changelings on the other side of the door," Twilight said.
As they approached the door, Twilight slowed.
"Do you hear voices too?" Pinkie Pie whispered. Twilight nodded.
"There's someone on the other side," Twilight said. "Prepare yourself everypony; here goes."
Twilight swiftly kicked the door open. Pinkie braced herself for a fight—but then burst into laughter. Miraculously, on the other side of the door, was Rainbow Dash, Derpy, CloudsArmor and Titan Wings, all in similar battle positions.
"Twilight! Pinkie! Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She flew in and hugged Fluttershy tightly.
"I don't believe it! What are you guys doing here?" Twilight asked, "What happened with the cyclone?"
"Derpy got us out of the cyclone, and since flying is faster than walking, we made up some good time," Rainbow Dash said.
"I remembered about the forgotten caves, and that they were a possible entrance into the palace. I know you are a smart mare, Twilight Sparkle, and figured you might know of them as well, and use them as a way to sneak into the palace," Titan Wings said.
"I didn't think anypony remembered about these caves," Twilight said.
"Princess Luna requires all of her guards to know every inch of the palace," he said in response.
"I can't believe it. We're all here, together. We made it everypony!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down.
"Hold off on the celebrations Pinkie; we may have made it here in relatively one piece, but we still need to fight Chrysalis, and find Princess Celestia, my brother, Cadance, Princess Luna, Discord..." Twilight said.
"Oh; right. So what's the plan Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"We're going to split into two groups. Big Mac, Shadowbolt, CloudsArmor, Derpy, Flam, Trixie, Inkie, Windstrong, BrightStar and Titan Wings, I want you in one group, and I want us Elements together in the other. Group one, I want you to find Princess Luna. We're going to find Chrysalis," Twilight said.
"My mission was to be with you Twilight Sparkle; while I respect your leadership, my assignment from Princess Luna comes first. And that is to protect you," Titan Wings said.
"Alright, fine; Flam, I'm going to teach you a quick signal spell, in case of trouble or if you find Princess Luna or Celestia or my brother or anything, and you want to communicate," Twilight said.
She took Flam to the side and showed him the spell. Applejack and Big Mac stood together talking quietly. Pinkie turned to Inkie.
"Are you going to be ok if we're separated?" Pinkie asked. Inkie sighed and pulled Pinkie into a hug.
"Yes. You have your job to do; I have mine. We'll see each other again and free Ma n' Pa and... and everything will be peaceful again," Inkie said softly, tears running down her cheeks. Pinkie hugged her hard. She had already lost one sister. She wasn't sure she was ready to lose another, not after the short time they'd just had together to reconnect.
"Everything will work out," Pinkie Pie said. "Just be positive and stick with the group."
Inkie pulled away and nodded.
"Blow up the palace if you have to," Pinkie said. Inkie laughed, wiping away her tears.
"You too; I hear those Elements are powerful stuff," she said, smiling. Pinkie smiled back. She wasn't quite sure she had seen Inkie smile in a long time. It was nice.
"Alright everypony, time to split up. Good luck to us all," Twilight said.
Together, both groups stepped through the door. And then they separated—this time by choice.
Pinkie couldn't believe that they had done it. They were here, finally, in the palace, in Canterlot. After everything that had happened to them in the past twelve hours—which had felt more like a lifetime—they had finally made it back to Canterlot and were preparing for the biggest battle of their lives.
The girls stayed closer together, Titan Wings leading them through the palace, though Twilight was picking the directions. So far, they hadn't run into any changelings. Pinkie worried about Inkie, but knew she'd be ok. She proved to be a smart mare, and just as skilled with bombs as Blinkie was.
They made their way up to the third or fourth floor—Pinkie lost count. They went up and down so many different corridors, she wouldn't be surprised if the changelings got lost in here and just couldn't find them to attack.
"I don't know where to start looking," Twilight whispered.
"Maybe we should just go straight to the main ballroom? Take out their source of energy, that weird ponyquin," Rarity suggested.
"Yeah, just fight off Chrysalis and find Celestia afterwards, or force Chrysalis to tell us," Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight sighed and stopped, looking up and down the corridors right and left.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe we should—" She stopped, suddenly whipping her head to the right. She cocked her head slightly and began cautiously walking down the hall.
"What is it Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, as they followed her.
"I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling that we should go down here..." she said.
Twilight stopped in front of one of the doors. Green stream was flowing out from underneath the door. There was a trapped pony inside.
Pinkie watched as Twilight took a deep breath. Slowly, she opened the door. Everyone gasped.
Twilight Sparkle couldn't believe her eyes. There, standing in the room, looking completely unharmed and conscious, was her brother. Something bright green shimmered to the left, just out of her peripheral vision. She stepped into the room.
Shining Armor turned around as Twilight and the others stepped into the room.
"Oh no," he said, "you found me."
He took an odd step towards Twilight, almost like he stumbled, but like he had done it on purpose.
"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't you want me to find you?! Are you ok? What happened, where's Cadance? Where's Celestia, Chrysalis?" Twilight asked, a million different questions coming to her head.
"Cadance is right here," Shining Armor said. He motioned to the left.
Twilight turned to see what the green shimmer had been. Cadance was imprisoned in a green crystal. It was different from the other cocoons, but a green stream still oozed from it.
"Have you tried to free her?" Twilight asked.
"Of course," Shining Armor said, "but it's not like the other cocoons. It's special."
Twilight walked up to it. Cadance looked like she was sleeping. No terrifying look on her face. She wondered how long she'd been in there, how long Chrysalis had been impersonating her.
"Twilight, you need to leave—now," Shining Armor said. There was an odd pain in his voice. Twilight turned back and looked at him. He was awkwardly shifting his weight from side to side. He looked like he was sweating, like he was nervous.
"Shining Armor, what's going on?" she asked.
"You need to leave me—now. Run, get out of here," Shining Armor said.
"Why? Tell me what's going on! Where's Chrysalis, do you know? We have the Elements of Harmony and—"
Shining Armor suddenly made a lunge towards Twilight, as though he was going to take her down. Titan Wings jumped in between them, but Shining Armor had managed to control himself.
"Stand down Captain," Titan Wings said, "Though you are not the captain of my Princess's troops, I respect you. Do not cause a fight."
"I can't help it," Shining Armor said, shifting his weight again. He kept looking at Twilight, as though he were trying to find a way around Titan Wings to get to her. "Chrysalis put a weird spell on me; she's kept me normal and conscious, but cursed me so that as soon as I saw Twilight Sparkle, I would be programmed to go after her—and kill her."
Twilight and the girls gasped.
"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, taking a step back.
"Chrysalis—she's just having fun, torturing me. She keeps me in here, so I can stand by helplessly and not be able to free Cadance; she's using Cadance as leverage on me. At first she had us locked in part of the dungeon, and was just torturing me, letting me know that I failed in protecting Equestria. But when you escaped, it made her angry—very angry. She knew you would come and try to find me—us—and so she moved us into an easily accessible room. She put a spell on me, so that my mind is still conscious and under my control, but my body isn't. It's programmed to go after Twilight once I saw her and to not stop until I take her down. It's like an itch that I can't control. I was hoping you would go and fight Chrysalis first so that the spell would be broken—but she knew you would be able to sense me and would come after me.
"Once she would have me dispose of you, she is going to imprison your friends again and harvest their energy, and then she plans to brainwash me into using my barrier spell over all of Equestria again, so that the other creatures do not attack Equestria and retaliate as she tries to take over their lands as well," Shining Armor explained.
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. Chrysalis was more evil than she had thought. Torturing Shining Armor for fun, making him consciously kill his sister beyond his control.
"Shining Armor, you can fight it, I know you can," Twilight said. She wanted to take a step towards him, but he got on his hind legs and whinnied. He huffed at Titan Wings and made a move to get around him, but Titan Wings held his ground.
"I'm sorry Twilight—I'm trying, but I can't—"
Without warning, Shining Armor faked a move to one side and then charged past Titan Wings and ran towards Twilight. Rainbow Dash dove down in front of Twilight, but Titan Wings quickly recovered his position and tackled Shining Armor to the ground.
"Go Twilight Sparkle, run! Get out of here!" Titan Wings shouted, struggling to keep Shining Armor down.
"Come on Twilight, we need to get out of here! We need to defeat Chrysalis in order to save your brother," Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack began to nudge Twilight towards the door, as the others ran out and Shining Armor fought to get up and run after them.
"Just don't hurt him!" Twilight cried, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.
"Use your magic to lock the door behind you," Titan Wings shouted.
"But what if he—" she started.
"Do it!"
Applejack pushed Twilight out of the room and shut the door behind her.
"Do what he says Twilight and do it fast; it won't be long before the changelings are onto us. We need to get into that ballroom and destroy that ponyquin—that'll get Chrysalis's attention and then we can fight her," Applejack said.
Twilight nodded, tears streaming down her face. She could hear Titan Wings and Shining Armor fighting in there. She performed the spell, her cries becoming more and more vibrant.
"Come on Twilight; once we defeat Chrysalis, everything will be fixed. We need to get to that main chamber and get her attention," Rarity said.
"Yeah, let's go take out that fake pony-thing and take this changeling down!" Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight nodded, and tried to wipe her tears away. Her friends were right.
Twilight Sparkle led the way to the main ballroom. She kept a sign out for any flares from Flam, but none came. She hoped that they succeeded in finding Princess Luna.
"At least now we know where Cadance is," Applejack said.
"And your brother. He's ok Twilight, and he'll be back to normal once all of this is sorted out. Everything's going to work out," Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight slowed as they rounded the corner.
"Anypony else thing it's odd that we haven't seen any changelings yet?" she whispered. The door to the ballroom remained unguarded.
"A little," Applejack said.
"Maybe that big swarm we saw earlier was most of them, and Zecora got rid of them all," Rarity said.
"No, there has to be more changelings than that; something about this isn't right," Twilight said. "It almost seems too easy; like we're falling into a trap."
"Maybe Chrysalis had all of her hopes set on Shining Armor getting rid of you," Rainbow Dash said, "And so then she's sent the changelings off elsewhere."
"Maybe..." Twilight said. She waited a few seconds, but still no changelings appeared. "Ok, come on girls."
She quietly approached the door and pushed it open. Bracing herself for an immediate attack, Twilight took a timid step into the main ballroom.
It looked the same as it had before; cocoons everywhere, covering every inch of the ceiling, all of the energy pooling into the black silhouette of the ponyquin on the other side of the room.
"Let's get this over with," Applejack said.
"This place gives me the creeps," Rarity said, looking up at the cocoons. Twilight knew she was looking for Sweetie Belle.
"Let's not rush into anything girls; for all we know, this is still a trap," Twilight said, slowing down and walking carefully across the room. She kept an eye out for any sign of movement.
"Maybe Chrysalis and all of the changelings are dealing with Princess Luna," Rainbow Dash said.
"Or Discord," Pinkie Pie said.
"Or Princess Celestia," Fluttershy said quietly.
Twilight suddenly stopped in her tracks. She could feel the blood draining from her face and her legs go numb.
"Oh my God," she whispered. The others stopped and looked at her, some of them looking around her, trying to figure out what triggered her sudden horror.
"What is it Twi?" Applejack whispered.
Twilight's heart began to beat fast. She couldn't explain what had suddenly made it click in her head and why it hadn't earlier. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe how blind she had been when she first awoke, when she first studied the room and the cocoons. Nopony knew where Princess Celestia was, not even Princess Luna. Nopony had seen her since her fight with Chrysalis. Nopony knew what had happened to her.
But Twilight had seen her. She had looked her straight in the eyes and hadn't seen. She had been blind. So blind! How could she have been so blind! She knew there was something off about it, something so eerie and sinister that she couldn't put her hoof on it, but she had ignored it initially because she had had to free her friends from the pods. But she had seen Princess Celestia, in this very room.
She suddenly ran across the room, her friends following her. She came to a halting stop in front of the black silhouette, the unrecognizable face, with its big, twisted smile and wide open eyes.
"That's no ponyquin, no dummy that's absorbing all of the energy; it's Princess Celestia."
