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Starlight in a Broken Vessel

by the-pieman

Chapter 29

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Chapter 29

I had a very important thing to attend to myself, for real. In all the confusion, I forgot about Cotton Cloudy. I don’t know why, but it just feels like... I couldn’t think of it until now. I’ve made up my mind that I’m not going to hurt her mom, but I need to know why she was so...

Wait. Rewind the tape. I was waiting for Lightning, she came home, I grab her, I black out, I wake up... in the... Changeling hive... captured...

No. No way. I Spark up, surprising the nearby ponies and rush to the house I was at before, rushing through other houses, phasing through every obstacle in my way. Eventually, I get up to the house. Not bothering to Power down, I knock on the door.

Lightning Bolt opens the door. Or is it Lightning Bolt? She’s startled and tries slamming the door, but I stop it with my foot. I’m not sure if it even hurts, but I don’t notice it if it does. I force open the door and step inside.

“That’s not a very nice thing to do to people, especially ones like me.” I glare at her, focusing my sparkling glare on her. “I’m here to see Cotton Cloudy. I’m not going to take no for an answer, am I clear?” The mare nods, pointing me to a stairway. Red flag: She’s not even going to try to save her filly?

I walk up the stairs and Power down. I walk into the first room I see. No Cotton. I try the next door over, and I see Cotton, asleep in a little, filly-sized bed. She looks so peaceful, like an angel. Wait... Isn’t it a school day? I swear I saw some kids head to the schoolhouse earlier. She looks old enough to go to school. I know I didn’t like school, but a parent should still make their kid go to school for a proper education. That’s two Red Flags.

I approach the filly, kneeling down by her bedside. I run my hand through her mane gently and her eyes flutter open. “Hey there, Cotton.” I whisper. “How are ya?”

She looks up at me and smiles. “Hi Anthony... I’m *yawn* kinda tired.”

“Heh, it’s a bit late in the day to be asleep, don’t you think?”

“Mommy said it’s okay, because I get so *yawn* so tired all the time and my head hurts sometimes.”

I remember what Twilight’s notes said about Changelings. The process is painful and draining for the victim. Red Flag three. That’s it.

“Okay, well then you rest. And don’t worry about a thing.” I decide to throw in a bit more Shakespeare for the hell of it, taking a specific liberty of course. “Good night sweet princess, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." She giggles quietly, and closes her eyes, drifting off to sleep once again.

I walk downstairs and I approach the mare. “Come with me, ma’am. We’re going for a little walk.”


I draw a bit of a crowd as I walk. It’s probably because I have a grown mare slung over my back, holding her by her hind legs and a coal band clamping her mouth shut. I don’t care, because as far as I’m concerned, a filly could be missing her mother and being abused. If this mare really is Lightning Bolt, I will apologize. If it’s a Changeling...

I come to the library, and walk in. I drop the mare on the table in the middle of the room. Twilight isn’t around, so I sit and wait, watching the mare to make sure she doesn’t try anything stupid. I don’t have to wait long, as the door opens and Twilight walks in. “Hello Twilight.” I begin calmly. “There is a very serious matter I need help with.”

She stares at the muzzled mare on the table, then to me. “Anthony...” I can tell she’s about to yell, so I clamp my hand over her mouth. “Mmmmmph!”

“Listen Twilight, I need you to calm down and listen to me. This is very important, and Ponyville may be in trouble.”

I see her eyes soften, so I let go of her mouth. Her first words are sharp, but a good choice. “What is going on here?”

“Well, I made friends with this filly I saved, and a while ago, she showed signs of parental negligence.”

“So you tied up her mom?”

“I’m getting to that. I read in your notes quite a lot of information about Changelings and while I know I’m not the world’s greatest detective, I have evidence to support my theory that this mare right here is a Changeling imposter who has been feeding off of a filly’s love for her mother.”

Twilight has a serious look on her face. “This is very serious, I suppose this should be settled as soon as possible.” She walks up to the table and her horn glows with magic. She fires a beam at the mare, and confirms my suspicions, as a wave of green flames wash over the mare, white fur being replaced by dark chitin. Twilight gasps. “Ch- Changelings! No!”

I pick the Changeling up off the table by the head and smash it against the library floor over and over, screaming with rage. All I can think of is bashing this parasite’s brains in. I keep on slamming it until all I’m holding is a cracked carapace covered in green blood. I realize that the entire time I wasn’t even breathing. I take a deep breath as I drop the limp insectoid creature. “Geez Anthony, I know you want to protect ponies in trouble but... that was...”

“Don’t... talk about it, alright? I’ll explain everything later. Right now, I need to know what Changelings do with ponies they’ve replaced.”

“Well, to be honest, I’ve only experienced it once, and it was the queen. I don’t know what a normal Changeling would do...”

“We have to find this mare, Twilight.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 30 Estimated time remaining: 31 Hours, 7 Minutes

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