Not as They Seem

"Alright, Twilight, we've all been very patient with you," Applejack said, just the next day, "but now this is starting to get ridiculous."

All of the ponies were in Twilight's house, as Applejack and Fluttershy were supposed to be practicing their magic. "We want our normal back!" Applejack stomped her hoof.

"Yeah!" Rainbowdash lifted up her depressed self into sudden conflict mode. "I'm sick of being an earth pony!"

"Not having my horn is interfering with my work, and I'm loosing myself into insanity!" Rarity cried.

"I don't mean to be a downer, but, um, I wish I had my wings back, too..." Fluttershy said shyly, her yellow hoof slightly digging the ground.

"I love my wings!" Pinkie Pie snorted with laughter, "But they're really hard to sleep with, and they aren't easy to cook with, either!"

All the ponies surrounded Twilight in complaint, their faces getting nearer, and nearer, until Twilight screamed,

"SHUT UP!" The ponies took a step back, stunned. Twilight panted, then cleared her throat, "You think that I know the answer? You think I haven't been missing my horn? Well, guess what? I have! And I've tried contacting the princess, but she won't answer me!" Twilight sat down, defeated. "I know you all miss your original selves. But I don't know what to do about it."

The ponies were silent for a moment.

"Why can't we go to the Canterlot castle? Surely Princess Celestia cares for her star student, right?" Rarity asked.

"She's right." Rainbowdash walked up to Twilight. "If Princess Celestia wanted you to be safe, then why didn't she do anything before?"

"I don't know!" Twilight said, her brain becoming confused.

"And also, why did you want me and Fluttershai to break the spell, when we clearly can't break the spell?" Applejack questioned.

"SO I COULD DISTRACT YOU!" Twilight overloaded on pressure yelled out loud.

All of the gang gave her equally confused looks.

"Whut?" Applejack said, confused. Twilight blinked. Then she realized what she had said. Sheepishly, she corrected herself,

"I mean, so you'll stand a chance if Queen Chrysalis breaks out of the Canterlot dungeon." Still puzzled on what she just said, the ponies continued to stare at her. Twilight sighed.

"Look, I'm just in a lot of pressure right now."

"We'll help you lift the pressure off," Rarity said, still eyeballing Twilight curiously, "until I have my horn back."

Rolling her eyes, Rainbowdash walked over to the window. Then she said,

"Remember when you said if the princess's couldn't help us?" She asked. Twilight nodded. "And you knew of only one pony who could help us?" Twilight nodded again.

"Where does she live?"

Twilight sighed.

"She doesn't live anywhere."

"Do you know where she is?" Pinkie asked. Twilight nodded.

"Yes, I do."

"Well?" Rarity said, impatient. Twilight sighed.

"She's in the Canterlot dungeon."

They all gasped.

"You don't mean –" Rarity breathed,

"Yes, I do." Twilight said. "The only pony who could help us..." She turned and looked at her friends. "Is Queen Chrysalis herself."

"So how are we going to help them anyway?" Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo when they came out of the treehouse. "We've thought about all kinds of ways to help them. And not a single one of those plans are going to help them."

Scootaloo smiled sheepishly.

"I though you guys had ideas." The crusaders groaned.

"Really, Scoot? All this time was for nothing." Applebloom kicked a rock.

"Well, I don't see you coming up with any brilliant plans." Scootaloo puffed.

"Why don't we just cheer them up?" Applebloom asked. "Obviously, we can't do anything for their situation, so we could just cheer them up."

"But how are we going to do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Applebloom thought for a moment. Then she shook her head.

"I have no idea."

The cutie mark crusaders drooped on through Ponyville, spirits low. They cruised around, coming up with ideas that instantly died in logical terms.

"How about we make them all dresses!" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Yeah, right. Like dresses will solve their problem –" Scootaloo suggested but them was instantly interrupted by Applebloom's gasp of shock. The rest of them widened their eyes.

They had turned a corner around a house and saw something they shouldn't have seen.

"Master, I report for duty." Said the Changeling to a floating green bubble.

The crusaders watched with horror and fear as the changeling spoke to his queen.

"How is the plan going?"

"It's going perfectly. They don't suspect a thing."

"Excellent. Now you know what you have to do next." The Changeling nodded.

"Yes."

"Good. Now –" Chrysalis paused. "Who's that behind you?"

"What?" The Changeling turned, and saw the crusaders gaping at him. Then, they ran.

"Get them! Get them you fool!" Chrysalis screamed.

"Yes, my queen!"

He quickly surrounded the fillies in a green glow, as he levitated them back to him.

"What should I do with them?" He asked. Chrysalis growled.
"They've seen too much. Send one of the Changelings over to me, with the fillies in hoof. I'll have to erase their memories."

The crusaders tried to scream, and scramble away, but the magic on them was too strong. Their lips were sealed shut, and gripped on too tight to break free.

"Very well, my Queen." The message ended, and the changeling called for more changelings to deal with the crusaders.

Five changelings came to his call.

"You two," He pointed at two of the changelings. "Take these two to Queen Chrysalis back at the palace for an immediate mind-wipe."

"Why can't we just mind-wipe them ourselves?" One of the changelings asked. The leader Changeling growled.

"Because, you idiot, our shape-shifting powers don't allow us to give regular ponies a mind-wipe. Even if we did, we would erase their entire mind, which would compromise the plan! Only Queen Chrysalis has control over that!" The leader changeling smacked him with his hoof.

"Yes, sir." The changeling grunted, and levitated two of the fillies over to him, as did the other one.

"You three." The three Changelings became straightened their backs. "Shape-shift into those three fillies."

"Yes, sir!"

"We can't have anypony noticing their absence."

As the three fillies were flown away, they looked down with horror as the three changelings turned into themselves.

Then they disappeared within the clouds.