The lobby of the Ponyville Town Hall was a mess of colors and sounds, beams of magic shot towards each other, punches were thrown, kicks were sent flying, and Changelings were shapeshifting.
And during it all, Twilight Sparkle could note a few facts about the fight.
First, Twilight noted that she did not actually know how to act in a real fight; those self-defense courses her brother forced her to go to never accounted for more than one individual trying to attack her, let alone close to forty.
Second, Twilight noted that while the Changelings easily outnumbered her group, they were not actually overpowering them, with only the Changeling with the helmet posing any sort of challenge. Twilight could conclude that the Changelings they were fighting, at least a vast majority of them, were not actual combat roles, or at least not trained combatants in the same way the armored Changeling was.
Thirdly, she noted that the Changelings were being cautious around the pods holding the ponies, trying to minimize the damage dealt to them. Whether that was because damaging the pods would free the ponies inside, or if they simply did not want the ponies themselves damaged, was yet unclear to her.
But as Twilight Sparkle ducked under the hoof of a Changeling that stole the appearance of Pinkie Pie, she noted a fourth observation.
The Changelings were losing.
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"What's next on our to-do list?"
Blueblood hummed to himself as the specters words entered his ears, his hooves stepping over grass and dirt as he continued making his way out of the Everfree Forest.
"I'd like to check up on our work in the Crystal Empire, make sure everything's going to plan." Blueblood told Macaw, "I still need to search Starswirl's personal library, so I'll be doing that once my check up on the BBF is done. After that I'll go back to Platinum Manor and see how the reconstruction is going, followed by some public appearances with other influential ponies so the Dolphins and Vultures have something to talk about in the news." Blueblood scowled at that last part, displeased at needing to keep up some semblance of appearances to remain in the famously fickle good graces of the Equestrian Elite.
"In Starswirl's library..." Macaw began to ask, the harpy that was haunting the prince's psyche leaning closer to the Human-turned-Unicorn, "What will you do if you find what you're looking for?"
"I don't know." Blueblood answered truthfully, "I have absolutely no clue." With a simple thrum of magic from his horn, the foliage blocking his vision was swept aside, revealing the open fields outside of the Everfree Forest, and a familiar town in the distance.
"I see..." Macaw whispered as his figure faded away, closing his eyes as the rays of sunlight passed through him before he disappeared.
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"How? How could this be happening?!"
Those were the words that echoed around the mind of the Changeling named Antales.
"We were told only the Librarian, the Farmer, and the Weather Pony were any threat!" His mind screamed at him as he watched his fellow changelings getting beaten back by the group of six ponies.
"Nobody told us the seamstress knew mixed martial arts, or that the pink one could pull out a cannon out of her mane! The only ones that we were correct to be harmless were the Animal handler and the oversized Iguana!"
Antales watched as a pile of incredibly sticky pink SOMETHING shot out of the Ponies' Party Cannon, and stuck six of his fellow infiltrators to the floor.
Deciding to try his luck and escape, hoping that if he begged the Queen for forgivness she may spare him, Antales turned tail and ran away, his wings buzzing loudly in his ears as he flew as fast as he could away from the ponies, away from town hall, away from-
"Who's that?" Antales's mind began to race as he spotted a Unicorn carrying a duffel bag walking down the streets, confused as to how they managed to miss someone. He wasn't noted on the Mayor's resident list, and they made sure that no trains would be coming to town for the entire day- How did he get here?
"Who cares?!" Another part of Antales's mind yelled at him, "We can knock him out quickly and hide his body away, with him as a disguise we can easily walk away from here without alerting anyone! By the time they'll find him we'll be long gone!" And deciding that he liked the sound of that plan, Antales readied his horn to fire a spell to knock out the Unicorn stranger, his wings buzzing loudly as he dashed closer to make sure he hit his mark.
And as he got close enough to the Unicorn to see his face, he felt his heart freeze as the Unicorn's eyes met his own- And he recognized those eyes, those freezing glaciers that stabbed through your very soul.
"Who hired you?!" The words from that day still echoed in Antales's head whenever he thought of that Unicorn, of the corpse that stood behind him with a blade in its eye, of the towering Yak that threatened to crush him like an actual bug, and of his queen's change of mind regarding the whole incident after she returned from it.
Antales vowed to never step on a train again after that day, and it seems he no longer needed to worry about breaking that vow.
"Saturn."
The words disappeared as swiftly as they came, and Antales, for a mere moment, no longer than a second, wondered what they meant.
And then he was no more.
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Prince Blueblood stared at the corpse that lied before him, the spinning disc of magic floating above after having vertically cut the changeling in two.
"Can I not have just one week?" Blueblood whispered tiredly, his relatively good mood at getting the entire Everfree fiasco over with instantly disappearing with the Changeling's reveal.
But then a thought came to his mind- "If a regular changeling was here, maybe she could also be here."
It took effort on the Prince's part not to smile as the Illusion he hid beneath washed away, replacing itself with the appearance of a well-dressed and groomed Prince Blueblood Platinum, now with the rediscovered middle name Cocytus.
And he walked deeper into the town of Ponyville, not because he wished to be there, of course not. If he had his way, he would steer clear of anything to do with the Elements of Harmony.
No- He walked into the town for a very simple purpose.
He wanted to fight Chrysalis again.
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Having beaten the changelings, capturing them in Pinkie Pie's Super-Sticky Double-Bubble Bubble-Gum for Gummy cake batter, the group began freeing the residents of Ponyville from their cocoons.
"There's no sign of Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, or Scootaloo anywhere, and we've opened all the pods!" Rarity said tiredly, trying to find any pods they might have missed.
"Where... Where could they possibly be?" Applejack joined Rarity in searching for the young fillies, "Why aren't they here?!"
"They must be here somewhere..." Rarity added, "We need to keep searching!"
As the group continued combing through the opened pods, hoping to find the three fillies perhaps buried under the other cocoons, Spike began to cough.
"Here, let me help you, Spike." Rainbow Dash told the young Dragon before she smacked him in the back, her eyes widening as with a burst of dragonfire, a green crystalline orb flew out of his mouth.
"I don't remember eating that..." Spike said as he rubbed his throat, the group of Ponies walking over to take a closer look at the orb.
"Is it from the Princess?" Twilight asked with a smile as she leaned closer to the orb, watching green wisps of magic swirling inside its crystalline body.
"Princess? No." A voice spoke from the orb, the magic inside swirling faster and faster before an image appeared, "But a Queen? Yessss~"
"Chrysalis?!" Twilight Sparkle yelled in shock as the group took a step back from the orb, watching as the image cleared to reveal the Changeling Queen. Her mane a shade of almost toxic green and gelatinous, her eyes like spears of jade piercing into Twilight's own.
Twilight unconsciously moved a leg to shield a portion of her ribs, as if the Changeling was going to suddenly appear before her and throw her to the ground, kicking at her chest like she did last time they met.
"You remember my name? How quaint~" The Changeling Queen said, her smile sharp and mocking, "I would commend you for getting through my minions, but that would require giving you a compliment for doing the bare minimum~"
Twilight glared at the orb, watching the Changeling Queen's smirk twist and shift as she talked.
"I am sure you're all clever enough to notice who's missing from your little village~" Chrysalis told the group, her voice lowering in mockery of concern.
"Where's my sister, you..." Applejack shouted at the Changeling, her body lowering as if preparing to charge at the orb.
"Ill-groomed..." Rarity said as she glared at the orb.
"Tar-shelled..." Applejack growled at the Changeling.
"Bitch!"
"RARITY?!" Fluttershy yelled with wide eyes as she turned to look at her friend.
"Temper, temper, Ladies!" Chryaslis said, followed by a few clicks of her tongue, "There are children listening~" Chrysalis moved out of the way to reveal a large green cocoon behind her, holding three very familiar fillies.
"You let go of them this instant!" Applejack yelled at the orb, glaring at the Changeling in vain attempts to make her combust through sheer force of will.
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash spoke up, "How do we know those are actually them? What if this is another trick, trying to lure us into a trap!"
"Don't worry Applejack!" Apple Bloom shouted from the other side of the orb, "I'm pretty sure this will help us get our Cutie marks!"
"In what? Being foulnapped?" Scootaloo asked, "I don't think I want to have that as my special talent!"
"That's them." Applejack said simply.
"I have them here... In my brand new Kingdom, you may want to come collect them soon~" Chrysalis began to click her tongue in an imitation of a clock, tapping her chin with her hoof in a mocking mime of thinking, "Let's say three days? That sounds like a good time limit, right?" Chrysalis chuckled to herself, her eyes staring at the small crowd of Ponies that glared at her orb, "After all, I was told not that long ago that I'm not the best host... If they stare here fore more than three days I might-"
"Hey! I think she's about to start monologuing! Do you think she'll reveal her entire evil plan?" Scootaloo asked loudly, cutting off Chrysalis.
"Ugh," Chrysalis rolled her eyes, "I'll be expecting you." And with a flash of green magic from her horn, the call was ended as the image on the orb changed to show a map.
"Well, this is obviously a trap." Rainbow Dash said as Spike picked the orb up from the ground, looking at the map that was depicted.
"But why three days?" Twilight Sparkle wondered.
"Because in three days the Secretariat Comet will be passing through the Horse Head Nebula." Someone helpfully told Twilight.
"Of course! The Secretariat Comet's upcoming passing will be the biggest conjunction of celestial events in other three-thousand years! Astronomers will be writing about it for years to come!" Twilight's eyes shot open in realization.
"And that's important why?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"A Celestial conjuction of that magnitude, passing all over Equestria, will be felt by every magical creature." Twilight explained, "That must be why Celestia was unavailable! She's protecting Canterlot!"
"Classic Celestia, always unavailable at the worst possible times~"
"But... if Celestia is busy, who will help us against Queen Chrysalis?" Fluttershy asked, "We can't go to the Changeling Kingdom alone!"
"Of course not, Chrysalis will crush you~"
"Perhaps some of the royal guard can accompany us?" Rarity raised the idea, "Maybe someone with broad shoulders... A nice coiffure... An accent..."
"Maybe Blueblood can help us!" Pinkie Pie said, only for the group to somehow miss her, all thanks to a hastily made one-way sound-proofing bubble that surrounded her.
"Still no one with me that this is a trap?" Rainbow Dash brought up again.
"We know it's a trap, Rainbow..." Applejack said as she began running towards the entrance of the Town Hall building, "But I can't just wait around for help from the royals. I've got to save my sister!"
"And Sweetie Belle needs my help." Rarity told her friends, "I'm going with Applejack!"
"Wait!" Twilight Sparkle said as she caught her two friends with her magic, stopping them from running head first into danger, "We need to do some investigation into what The Queen is up to! How is she going to use the Secretariat's magical surge? Why does she want us to be there?!" Twilight pulled Applejack and Rarity back into the Town Hall, "We should try to write to the princess again."
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"Are you going to do anything, Prince Blueblood?" Spike the Dragon asked as he turned away from his sister and friends.
"I already did," A certain Unicorn Prince told him, "While Celestia isn't answering her mail, my assistant is~ I told Starlight to come here and help clean up the trash once she's done doing whatever it is she's doing, and to get Celestia to send some guards and medical professionals to this spot marked on the map," He tapped the Crystal orb.
"Oh! Oh! Are you going to join us?!" Pinkie Pie jumped in place, her face mere centimeters from the Unicorn's.
"The answer to that is yes-and-no." Blueblood Cocytus Platinum told her, "I won't be traveling with you for the second half of the journey," He tapped a hoof on the orb, showing a spot on the map, "I have no qualms with walking with you until we get there, but I will be taking a... Detour of sorts, once we do."
"Why's that?" Spike asked.
"Let's just say..." Prince Blueblood paused for a second, as if searching for the words to use, "I need to prepare some things~"
"You're going to prepare a trap for Chrysalis, aren't you!" Pinkie Pie said loudly, "And you need to split from us because then you'll be harder to track down, and if we know anything about your plan Chrysalis might discover it sooner, and then it won't work!" She leaned so close to the Prince their noses were practically touching, "Am I right?!"
"..." The Unicorn Prince raised his hoof, placed it in front of Pinkie Pie, and slowly pushed her away from him, he then took three steps back to create even more distance, "Did anybody ever tell you that you are eerily close to the mark on your guesses?"
"A couple of times," Pinkie Pie nodded, "Why?"
"No reason..." Blueblood said before he placed the crystal orb back in Spike's scaled hands, "You, Stay here until a Unicorn by the name of Starlight Glimmer arrives. Tell her everything you can about what happened here."
"Err- Yes Sir!" Spike moved to hold the orb at his side, using his now free hand to salute the Unicorn the same way he once saw his older brother salute Princess Celestia.
"Spike! I need you to-" Twilight Sparkle began to speak once her friends convinced her that they couldn't wait for Celestia's answer before leaving, only to pause when she spotted the very out-of-place Unicorn.
"You all really need to work on your spatial awareness skills~" Blueblood said with a soft smile as he turned to look at his duffel bag, making sure he had enough food and water for this new impromptu adventure.
"PRINCE BLUEBLOOD?!" Rarity screamed, "WHA- I mean-" Rarity coughed and quickly tried to compose herself, "Ahem~ Your Highness, how long have you been here?" She paused for a moment, "If- If you allow me to ask, of course!"
"I think I walked in when you and Miss Applejack referred to Chrysalis as, and I do believe I am quoting here, an hideous, Ill-groomed, slimy, tar-shelled, horrid bitch." Blueblood said calmly, ignoring Pinkie Pie pointing out that half of those words were added by the Prince himself.
"I- I promise, your Highness, I never used such language before, I-" Rarity tried to defend herself.
"Miss Rarity, It is perfectly understandable to lose your composure in the face of someone such as Chrysalis." Blueblood told her gently, "Why, If I was allowed to speak my thoughts about her freely, I am sure the newspapers won't stop talking about me for a week just from my vocabulary alone~"
"Twilight! Did you hear?" Pinkie Pie jumped between the Prince and her friends, "Prince Pirate Wizard said he'd help us rescue the girls!" She told her with a smile, ignoring the Prince slumping at hearing himself be called Pirate Wizard.
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The next few minutes passed by Twilight Sparkle like a blur, but suffice to say, she and her friends were now on their way to rescue the fillies, and they had a new companion for this adventure, even if only temporarily.
"Well, this is showing us the way." Twilight Sparkle said as she levitated the crystal orb in front of her, watching the map that it showed, "It's going to take us almost the whole three days to get there, so we need to get moving."
"I feel like Daring Do!" Rainbow Dash said, "A Pony of adventure! We're off on a Quest!"
"Ohh! Maybe if we're lucky we'll run into ninjas! Or some monkeys! Or monkey ninjas!" Pinkie Pie said with excitement as the six mares and the stallion began walking, "What do you think, Blueblood?"
Instead of answering, the Prince merely pulled out a flask and began to drink, whispering to himself something about not being drunk enough.
"You're right, If that monkey ninja was worth his bananas, we wouldn't see him at all! Tee hee!"