~ 6~

Stirring Questions

The ponies all rode the train to the city of Canterlot, determined to face Chrysalis for answers. As they looked up at the giant castle of Celestia and Luna, they could see the rising sun just touch the edges of the brilliant castle.

Twilight blinked her eyes. She had told Spike to stay back at the library, just in case Chrysalis had any funny ideas.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked behind her. "Are you alright?" Twilight turned to face the former pegasus. She nodded.

"Yes, I'm alright, Fluttershy. Why you ask?"

"Well, you just seemed to be mad, and also, you weren't really acting like yourself."

Twilight had a shocked look for a split second. She recovered instantly, and replied,

"Oh, Fluttershy, don't be silly. I'm perfectly normal. See?" Twilight smiled brightly, desperately trying to hide her secret. Fluttershy frowned, and then smiled slightly back. The unicorn then went to the other room, where all the rest of her friends were.

"I don't think Twilight is herself," Fluttershy announced to the pony gang.

"Most ponies don't act like themselves when they're under stress," Rarity said, trying to brush her mane with her hooves.

"Yeah, like Daring Doo," Rainbowdash said. "She didn't act like herself when Ahuizotl threatened to kill her friend."

Fluttershy blinked.

"No, not like that, I mean she's just different –"

"Ah'm sure she's fine, Fluttershai." Applejack calmed Fluttershy down. "She probably needs time to think about how she's gonna persuade Chrysalis into changing us back." Applejack reasoned.

"Come on, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie said, "Let's play a game together!" Fluttershy was about to protest and question about Twilight's behavior some more, but sighed and sat down to play with Pinkie.

By the time the ponies got to the castle, the guards instantly stopped them from coming inside.

"You have to let us through," Twilight demanded.

"We can't let you into the castle unless we have direct orders from-"

"Twilie!" The guard stopped, and turned his head.

Shining Armor ran down the stairs and greeted his younger sister. "How are you doing?"

"This guard won't let us through!" Twilight snapped, making Shining Armor raise his eyebrow.

"Let them through." He commanded.

"But sir –"

"Do we have a problem?" Shining Armor tested him. The guard gulped.

"N-no sir."

"That's what I thought." The white unicorn stallion gestured all of the ponies to walk with him. "Are you doing okay, Twilie? How is everypony?"

Twilight sighed, exhausted.

"Honestly, not really. We came here to see if anypony could break the spell on us."

"Hmm..." Shining Armor thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I think maybe Celestia could break the spell, or Luna, but the only pony I could think of who knows how to break the spell is Queen Chrysalis." The purple earth pony sighed.

"That's what I figured. Come on, girls." Twilight turned to her friends. "Time to talk to a queen."

"It's not that simple." Shining Armor said, still leading them to the castle. "We've tried to get her to talk about how to undo the spell. We've tried asking her, bribing her, and even torturing her –"

"Torturing her?" Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise.

Shining Armor laughed nervously.
"Not, really... we just..." He shook his head. "Nah, we haven't tortured her. But the idea did come up once in a while." They all walked in silence for a moment.

When they arrived in the castle, in the throne room, Princess Celestia sat on her throne, looking uneasily at some papers.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight came dashing to her. Celestia looked up from the papers. She smiled warmly.

"My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Her smile faded a bit when she saw Twilight's missing horn. "Don't worry," She said to all of the ponies. "We'll get you back to all of your original forms." She looked at Twilight. "I promise."

Just then, a pony with a coat as dark as the night, her mane and tail dazzling like the starry night sky, strolled into the room, her face unreadable. She looked at the ponies, who stared up at her, then glanced at her older sister.

"Shall we try to break the spell, dear sister?" Princess Luna asked. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, we can try."

Shining Armor stepped out of the way, as the Princess sisters started up their magic to transform the ponies back to themselves. The pony gang stood straight and tall, their eyes squeezed shut. Celestia and Luna both reared up on their hind legs, and began their strongest spell.

Twilight peeked open her eye slightly to see that the sisters were actually going to do it. They were going to break the spell! Horrified, Twilight scrambled in her brain for any ideas. Noticing that the extreme light blinded everyone in the room, she licked her lips, and quickly cast a silent green spell, causing both princesses' magic to fail. Then the purple earth pony resumed in her position, as if nothing had happened.

Celestia inhaled, folding her giant wings back onto her body. Luna blinked twice, also catching her breath.

"I-I don't understand... that should have worked!" Luna said to her sister.

Celestia nodded in agreement.

"Both Luna and I practiced day and night to get that spell right. I don't have any idea how that not could've worked."

The ponies lowered their heads in disappointment.

"You tried your best, princesses," Twilight said, "and we're all very grateful for that."

"I guess the only option to do now is consult Chrysalis," Shining Armor stated. Celestia nodded.

"Unfortunately, it is. We'll see to Chrysalis, and demand for these ponies to be restored back into their original forms."

"Yes, Princess." Twilight bowed to her mentor.

Then they all went down into the dungeon, where Chrysalis was held captive.

As the ponies went over, Twilight smiled darkly, knowing exactly what will happen.

And the only pony who saw it was Luna.

Meanwhile, far away from Equestria, the Crusaders had been dropped violently on the ground, in a harsh, sticky swamp. They all got up, tired from being in the air for so long,

"Ya'll alraight, girls?" Applebloom asked her friends. They both groggily replied,

"Yeah..."

"Queen Chrysalis, we've brought to you the witnesses, as you asked." One of the Changelings reported.

"Good..." The dark insect-like queen stepped out of the murky swamp shadows, into the dim light of the sun, which barely flickered through the thick leaves of the trees. "Now leave us."

The Changelings bowed, and then flew off. Chrysalis turned to the three little fillies, a terrifying darkness flickering through her green eyes. "So..." The words from the queen's mouth slithered out from her tongue. "I see that you've seen something you've probably shouldn't of seen is my understanding." She chuckled.

The Crusaders just huddled together, fear gripping every inch of their bodies. Chrysalis stopped chuckling, her anger rising.

"And that's EXACTLY what went wrong in your miserable lives!"

The Changeling queen growled viciously. The fillies screamed as Chrysalis's crooked horn shined green, reflecting a dangerous spell coming. Then, she suddenly stopped.

"Wait a moment..." She stared at the fillies, then thought to herself,

"What if I use them instead of wipe their minds? I'd just have to keep them here for a few days is all..." She smiled horrifically. She turned back to the girls. "Wonderful news, my dear fillies. I'm not going to cast any spell that might harm you in any way."

The fillies gulped, their eye pupils incredibly small. "Instead, I'm going to keep you here. Safe and sound. Boys –!" Some Changelings showed up at Chrysalis's hooves, bowing down at just the presence of her.

"Let us take our newly found guests back to the cave." The Changelings immediately obeying Chrysalis's order, they dragged the screaming fillies back to their hideout cave.

"When those ponies try to do something funny, I'll now have three more prisoners to threaten their lives with." Chrysalis smiled.

As she watched the Crusaders get dragged into the dungeon, Chrysalis walked over to a special cage, glowing with green aura, and held together tightly.

"Don't worry, my dear Sparkle," Chrysalis said dirtily, "you have some new friends to talk to." The real Twilight Sparkle, cuts and minor burns on her fur, looked up from the chains she was wearing. She snarled at the look of Chrysalis.

"You'll never get away with this!" The unicorn pony started up her horn again, but faltered when the green aura sucked out all her energy. Twilight fell to the floor, panting.

"Oh, but I already have. As you can obviously tell, everything is going according to plan. Your pony friends are seeing the fake me, they'll soon follow captured fake you straight into my lair, and they'll then attempt to get you free."

"And WHAT, exactly, do you PLAN on doing after that?! That plan doesn't even make any sense!"

Chrysalis just laughed darkly, and left the room.

"That is because, my dear Twilight," Chrysalis spoke when she knew she was out of earshot from Twilight, "I'm not telling you my entire plan."