Memoir of the Changeling Incursion by Quill Scrivener

by Adorned ungulate

Chapter 7

Twilight left! She was at my princesses side and she and her friends left her! Left her there to die! Duty won out over fear ran to her, and closer to that demonic Thing that struck her down. I pulled frantically at her fetlock. It was inconceivable seeing her great white form prostrate on the floor.

"Your majesty! Celestia, I've got to get you out of here!"

My princesses' eye opened a fraction. "Quill, you fool. Leave me, I am quite unharmed. Go!" She whispered, trying to move her lips as little as possible.

How could that be? That horrid creature was right there, gloating. She swat the Queen of Heaven down, the shield had shattered and now there were green missiles falling across the pavement outside!

Panic, fear, confusion, loyalty all whirled in my brain at once. It was complete cognitive dissonance. I looked down at her once-powerful prone form, her horn charred and smoking. "Mistress, please!"

She closed her eye. "Leave me. Get guests to safety, be with your family."

I nodded and forced the riotous emotions in my head to the background. I recalled when i left her side during Nightmare Moon's retirn. Be your duty.

"Over here! Quickly!" Brodie motioned to me, his eyes wide with concern. Just then a second Brodie smashed into him headlong sending him reeling into the piano that so recently played the wedding march.

"Got the accent all wrong, wanker... Quill, did the princess talk to you?"

"Y-yes, she said to evacuate the civilians," Something clicked in my thoughts. My family! "To the banquet hall!"

"Right." The big stallion grunted and got to his task. I ignored my inner conflict, also ushering guests down the wide hallways.

Quitting the throne room at last we galloped towards the reception hall. There was a terrible buzzing sound and three of those black monsters pounced on Brodie's back and started vomiting up some sort of green sticky ichor, trying to root him to the ground. I turned back to assist him but a forth cut me off. It struck a low battle stance and glared at me with those horrible blank blue eyes. I was suddenly glad for all those afternoon self-defense lessons. I fired a spell which it dodged, then we tussled. I tried to duck under or roll with its blows. It struck me hard upon the shoulder and I shoved it away with a spell and sprinted down the hallway. I looked over my shoulder, it seemed determined to gore me with its horn. I slid under a long, low table and bucked a chair at it then a second and third. The second one connected with a crash but it only snarled and advanced. A flash of light ran down its body and I then looked upon my exact double right down to the red rose in my hair. All out of chairs now I slunk back against the wall. I prepared a spell but it seemed hopeless. I was cornered!

My doppelgänger was sneering with ruthless self-satisfaction. It advanced upon me when it was surrounded by an aqua magical field and was suddenly yanked away, tumbling through the air to crash into the opposite wall. Then it impacted into the ceiling, I could hear a tinkling chandelier, then a thud to the ground. Maybe the big one who battled Celestia had come to devour me personally. I shrank as far against the wall as I could. Panic bubbled up in my throat. I saw four dark hooves, sheaved in bright iron bracers. A telekinetic spell lifted the table away and I was greeted with what I assume was a similar sight Twilight faced on that midsummer morning. It was the night princess, but this time her chest plate bore emblems of both the sun and moon! Her dark starry hair billowed gracefully over her helm. Large turquoise eyes looked down upon me free of rancor. "Oh, scribe. Are ye as yet uninjured?"

"Y-yes, Princess Luna. Thank you."

"Come, then. The guard rallies at the grand hall." Her head snapped to the left. She picked up two fleeing ponies, I recognized them as Hoity Toity and the mare Jet Set, and smashed them together. They fell to the ground as the dark-skinned monsters.

"Princess, how did you know?"

She turned back to me with a look of consternation. "Child, think me idle all this time? I am the walker of dreams. I have been trying to infiltrate these changelings' dreams by night to ascertain their plans." She took on a warrior's terrible aspect. "No use, though. They have a hive mind, dream only of their queen. It's been infuriating and now I can hear the buzzing of their subconscious even in waking hours. I have a powerful need to release some tension!" She pulled a ceremonial shield and sword off the wall, a second sword clattered to the marble floor. She looked back to me. Luna had a formidable smile and terrifying look in her eyes. Suddenly her expression changed and she looked chastised. When she spoke it was in an shy tone. "You won't tell my sister I've developed some kind of bloodlust, will you? I've tried so hard to gain her trust again..."

"I wouldn't think of it, your majesty!" Brodie rejoined us, though he still had a chunk of marble tile stuck under one hoof. He picked up the second sword in his mouth.

"Excellent, then!" The night princess regained her terrible might just as quickly. "I shall clear a path for the guests, you see to the defense. Now fallow behind me." She flared her wings and galloped down the hall, calling out in the royal Equestrian voice. "Flee now, enemies of Equestria! Flee or else face NIGHTMARES EVERLASTING!"

Finally at the reception hall we arrived to find the royal guard had piled up tables and chairs into a makeshift stockade, forming a defensive perimeter to protect the guests. I hurried over to my family and we shared a tearful greeting. In the back of my mind behind the panic of the moment I realized with the city in turmoil Celestia had once more placed my family in what may be the most secure location in all of Canterlot.

Ponies were panicked but unharmed. Poor Serif couldn't sit still. "What's going on, mother? Someone said that the princess was dead!"

"No! She isn't. But... we're under siege. Luna called them changelings. They can change their shape to look like anypony. We should be-"

There was a crash followed by tinkling of falling glass, then another, and a third. They were coming in through the windows! Guards raised their glaives and shouted threats but the insect-like changelings dived upon our group, scattering ponies into the crowd. With a flash of light they were indistinguishable. They could be anypony! A scuffle broke out. Guards dare not strike for fear of wounding an ally. I readied a spell and felt somepony against my back. Thinking quickly Palatino and Serif had pushed back to either side of me, the Scrivener family forming an outward-facing triangle. My husband gave me his best dashing look which looked adorably silly on the old stallion but the love in his eyes reassured me. Serif still looked frightened but she held a chair in front of her like a lion tamer. I was so proud.

There was little time to reflect on this moment as more aerial attackers hummed in through the jagged broken portals. One hooked Serif's shoulder and they went down. Palatino smashed the counterfeit daughter with a hoof and bucked it away, then helped Serif up and they took up position again. I used spell after spell to keep them back but soon I couldn't tell anypony apart. I saw Brodie with his sword backed into the corner, lashing out at whomever dared come near but he was powerless to truly help the civilians. This was madness! There was no way we could carry on like this!

Just then there was a curious sound. A wave of pink energy appeared at a corner of the room and swept over us. As it past I became aware of my loved ones' backs against mine, our tails practically entwined. A powerful memory, or more like the emotional resonance of it, came to the forefront of my mind. All panic, fear, worry evaporated instantly. I remembered the moment the midwife placed Serif in my hooves for the first time, seconds after she was born. Holding a newborn is unlike anything else, your heart brakes open and grows to allow a new life into your family, so vulnerable and amazing. I remember how my husband stood by my side and hugged me then. I remember how Helvetica, still a foal, tried to climb up to get an eager fist look at her little sister.

I turned around to embrace my husband and daughter, overwhelmed by my love for them. I hadn't noticed all the changelings had been whisked into the air and back out the window by Shining Armor's mystical shield spell.