Celestia sits on her throne. Her mane is a mess and she blinks in slow intervals. She rubs her eyes with her hooves. We all sit silently, waiting for her to continue the trial. Dandy looks up at her, eager to have his next witnesses approved. Celestia lowers her forelegs and takes in a deep breath.

“Let us take a short recess. Everypony meet back here in precisely one hour please. Also do not discuss this trial outside these doors. We do not need fights breaking out.” Celestia’s voice is flat and annoyed. She lets out a small sigh and keeps her gaze on the floor. Her eyes are squinted and exhausted. Undoubtedly, she’s had to put out small fires on the sides. I get up and motion for Lucretia and Emeris to follow me. We walk through the double doors and into a hallway to the left. We take one more corner just to be careful.

“I’m going to speak with some of our guests in the dungeon. I need you to gather a few of our people who will speak on our behalf, especially Cy and Stormchaser. Their image will really help us fix this.” Lucretia cocks an eyebrow.

“I thought you didn’t care about this trial Raiden…” I look at her, keeping my face expressionless.

“I don’t, but this needs to end as quickly as possible. Celestia is suffering and I’m sure the other two alicorns are as well.” Emeris blinks at me a few times.

“You...you mean Princess Luna right?” I walk off, leaving them to converse with each other.

As I try to prevent myself from simply stomping past people, numerous guards watch me curiously. Were they angry about the cowards from lancercore getting a well-deserved beating? Are there rumors circulating, no doubt spread by Dandy? They get no reaction from me. My eyes stay exactly where they need to while navigating the halls. The endless chatter grows quiet as I near the more deserted part of the palace. The echo of my footsteps bounce eerily off the walls.

A pony guard in black armor stands perfectly still, guarding the entrance to an intentionally dark hallway. I don’t acknowledge him and he does the same, which was the first test. Further down the hallway, the last old, wooden door on the right stands before me. My hands remained clasped in front of me. A few seconds later, the pony guard runs up to me, horn flaring red. He tilts his head down and runs at me full speed. I continue to stare straight ahead at the door. The guard passes through me and disappears into the wall the hallway connects into.

The door opens, revealing a purple unicorn with blue eyes. Her ocean blue mane hangs straight down to one side, just stopping at her right knee. Her eyes always have an expression that she arrogantly knows more than you and it never changes, not once. She has a circlet on her head with a green gem. Her horn stops flaring black. She steps to the side to let me pass. The interior is surrounded with magical gadgets I know nothing about, but Celestia assures me that they make the opening to the dungeon as confusing as possible for a trespasser. I stand on a large, grey plate with symbols etched into it in a circle pattern.

The unicorn closes the door. The gem in her circlet glows and the grey mechanisms covering the inside of the door, snap and click into place. Once they’ve all interlocked into some perfect pattern that travels in an endless loop, she turns to me. Her voice is flat, but mysterious.

“Who are you here to see?”

I pick up a red backpack to the left of the plate I’m standing on and sling it over my shoulder. The contents shift a bit, letting out a few quiet clanks of glass.

“Umbra, prisoner 1476.” The unicorn nods. Once again, her green gem glows.

My vision is surrounded by light for a moment, then I see a long dungeon stretching before me. Teal crystals float through the air, casting the only light. The ceiling is twice my height and decently wide, enough for four of my soldiers to stand shoulder to shoulder. There’s a cell every five feet, but they’re all empty. I walk for about five minutes, feeling strangely familiar being here. The last cell on the left, holds a very defeated looking pony.

Her messy brown mane and dull, purple fur are covered in dust. She has one bang on her forehead in a long braid which ends just under her chin. Her green eyes stare up at me, having no idea if I’m here to end it or talk. We stand there, locking eyes. Her being a changeling presented a lot of issues, but there was plenty she could have done if her intentions were malicious.

She weakly gets to all fours and faces me. I touch a red gem and the clear crystal separating us glows faintly the same color.

“Umbra. How are you feeling?” She swallows painfully.

“I’m doing alright general. It’s...far too quiet down here. How are things back at the palace?”

“Usual nonsense. Do you need anything?” I set the backpack down and open it. After a few seconds of digging, I pull out a carefully wrapped cucumber sandwich. Her eyes bulge as she stares at it. I walk over to a small, blue box right under the red gem. I place the sandwich inside, then trace the image the unicorn taught me. The food glows blue, vanishes, then reappears on top of a pedestal behind Umbra. She runs over and devours it in seconds. She actually starts licking the area the sandwich was on.

“They are feeding you correct?” She nods and turns around.

“Yes, but it’s this extremely bland paste. It has this horrible powder in it that inhibits magical use.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Then how are you able to stay in your pony form?”

“When we changelings transform, it’s permanent unless we shapeshift again. I figured they’d have some form of magical suppression, maybe even more than one, so I wanted anypony to see me for what I feel on the inside.” I nod and start pacing back and forth.

“Well let’s get to it then. I’m going to go over what I know and you’ll fill in the blanks. Some questions that I ask I already know the answer to. Other questions I won’t. Lie to me at your own risk.” I stop and stare her dead in the eyes. They quiver at me.

“First question. There is no doubt you have some form of loyalty to us. The question is, just who are you loyal to? Remember, you get points for honesty, not ass-kissing.” Umbra blinks a few times.

“I...I am loyal to both Canterlot and Tara-” I turn the red gem upside down. Her cell erupts with red electricity. She cries out in pain and falls to the floor convulsing.

“I can easily believe you’re loyal to Canterlot, but to Taraska? You just met us. If you’re loyal to both, then why hide what you were? I understand the fear that we might turn on you, but if you really were loyal to Canterlot, you would have made your presence known to at least Celestia.” She pants and slowly gets to all fours.

“Fine! Yes, I’m loyal to Canterlot, but I was trying to learn about you Taraskans.” I stare at her. Her front knees shake briefly. She was hiding something. I slowly reach my hand towards the gem. Her eyes grow wide.

“That’s the truth! Not all changelings work for Chrysalis! Some of us want to escape, but we have nowhere to go!” My hand returns to my side.

“You’re telling me you were scouting the way for changelings that want to defect?”

She looks down and nods.

“It’s been rough serving the queen, but it’s the only life we’ve ever known. Once Zaran showed up however, things have been so much worse! Zaran’s tactics are...brutal. We’re often told to memorize complex plans and extremely advanced manipulation tactics! He’s put together a small team of changelings for the sole purpose of infiltrating the palace guard.” I scoff lightly.

“Good luck with that.” She looks up at me, a brief defiance devours her eyes.

“I’m afraid it’s too late. There are already three changelings in your guard as it is.” My jaw hangs open.

“H...how did-”

“Because I showed them how. You are correct, there’s no way to infiltrate your guard. Your paths are random, complicated and there’s no room for error. Your guards already executed one of my kind. So we joined your army. Your palace guards don’t ask questions of any Taraskan soldier that patrols these halls, as long as we saw them come straight from a battalion.” All I can do is blink silently.

“Are you telling me that you joined our ranks to spy for Zaran?” She angrily squints her eyes at me.

“Technically yes, but it was an excuse for those of us that wanted to defect. We could easily get all the scouting resources we needed by simply offering to spy for Zaran. That was the plan at least.” I do my best to seem lethargic. If she’s lying, she’ll put in more effort if she doesn’t think she’s getting through to me. The gradual change in character would be decently obvious.

“I assume something went wrong?” She lowers her flank and sits on the ground. She purses her lips in pain.

“Farax. He was only interested in...power. He damn near worships Zaran. When he overheard one of our squad talking about defecting, he ratted him and a few others out. I never publicly voiced my opinions for that very reason. Zaran did...experiments on them. I don’t know what though, but he mentioned something about...what he calls “Super Og Nag”. Something about regular Og Nag being too dumb. I may have heard him also considering combining that with some kind of regeneration. He would frequently go on long, hysterical tangents about his experiments. We never saw our brothers again, but Zaran seemed awfully...satisfied a short while after. I can’t be certain if the other three are loyal to Zaran or not, but I can at least tell you there is only us four that remain. Our squad was nicknamed Zaran’s Seven, or Z7 for short.”

I nod and continue my tiny bit of pacing.

“I’m assuming this Farax is...one of the infiltrators?” I stop pacing when she doesn’t respond. As I look over my shoulder, she glares at me.

“Farax is...smarter than your average changeling. He was also groomed heavily by Zaran for months. Constant praise, given a huge list of mind games and was included in very private meetings. I have no idea what Zaran had Farax do, but I know he did it successfully. He wouldn’t stop bragging about how proud Zaran was going to be of him, but refused to give us any details.” I cross my arms, tilt my head back and groan.

“And here I thought we’d have a break for once. Tell me, if you had a chance to speak with one of the Z7, would you be able to tell if they’d be willing to defect?”

A flicker of pain flashes in her eyes. She winces and looks down as tears fill her eyes.

“No. The mind games Zaran plays...they’re...there’s no word to describe them. Zaran straps us down to a table, then does some kind of...dream magic and puts you to sleep. While you're unconscious, he puts you into elaborate scenarios. Constantly baiting us into revealing our true feelings, making us think we’ve been captured and that we’re finally free. Over and over and over…fake missions, agents defecting and getting you to come with them. There were fifty of us to start...fifty! He killed the ones who failed, even once. He gets you to doubt reality. You think everything is some ploy. You’re too scared to ever try. He makes you watch the scenarios so you know just how elaborate each trick is. He’s had entire weeks be nothing but an illusion. I...I was dragged off by you to be executed once. I had no idea what to do. I kept my mouth shut...I...”

I tilt my head to the side in confusion.

“Take a wild guess what my next question is going to be.”

She lifts her head up and gazes to my left, as if she was watching out a sunny window.

“Love I guess. I never knew what that was...until I met him. I decided there was no way this could be fake. After just a few weeks by his side...I was willing to die, just to pretend it was all real….and then it wasn’t fake.” She moves only her eyes to look at me.

“Funny, isn’t it? Risked one kind of prison just for another?” I nod a few times, still keeping my hands behind my back. She suddenly starts shaking. Her mouth turns inwards as silent tears make their way down her cheeks.
"Do you know how many changelings actually died for Celestia?! The scenarios continued until you hit an end point! Sometimes you'd rat Zaran out and spend a few weeks in peace at Canterlot, just to wake up inside the hive again and the last thing you see are those damn glowing red eyes! Then just like that...you're ash. Then comes the next changeling! No funeral, no discussion, just a quick shrug from Zaran, then bring in the next one! Imagine living in a world where at any moment, I can open my eyes for the last time and be vaporized! He made us all watch every scenario! They're insanely elaborate! Almost everyone is in character! How would we know any different?! We barely know the damn ponies! I can't trust anything! He always has this psychic link to you! His words always clawing in your ear! We have no idea if he can read our thoughts or not, but he always knows where you are and what you're doing! There's zero privacy! Absolutely no peace! Just another mind game you're expected to do, more information to analyze! No breaks, no rest, no silence!" Her painful shriek ends with her collapsing to the floor.
"Honestly though..." She says through rapid sniffles.
"If everything I have with Big Mac is a lie, I'd rather die anyways."
I let her sob it out for a few minutes.
“I can’t go into detail, but you’ll be speaking with Emeris for a while once we settle a few other matters. It will be his call if you go free. One thing though: do not lie to him. Understood?”

Her eyes bulge and she goes still as stone for a moment. She nods her head furiously. I believed her. I knew I technically shouldn’t, but I just didn’t care anymore. Emeris would most likely put in place some extremely complex ploy to allow her to keep her cover with both our forces and her changeling squad. This other changeling was going to be a challenge however. Not to mention the other two I still have to sniff out.

How could I possibly convince a changeling who thinks that everything is a test?

I walk past Umbra’s cell, take a quick left and walk for another minute. I stop just barely with his cell in sight. He sits there, completely motionless, with a stern look on his face. He doesn’t even flinch when I come closer. Straight ahead, his gaze never moving. I grab a nearby chair from a wooden table and place it directly in front of him. I take a seat and plant my elbows on my knees. I clasp my fingers together and use them to hold up my head. We lock eyes. He can’t resist the first contact he’s had in months.

“Well? Aren’t you going to interrogate me?” He says with confusion, as if not even remotely fearing the future. His voice is deep and angry like mine.

“I highly doubt there’s anything new I could do to you. You’ve been the one impersonating Luna when we first got her back. That means you must have been somewhere nearby, a cave perhaps? Maybe a secret room in the palace?” He answers me with silence. We stare quietly for a few more seconds before I shrug.

“So, here’s my issue: how do I convince you that this is real?” He scoffs and shakes his head condescendingly.

“You can’t. Why would I possibly believe any of this is real?” I slowly nod while reclining back, letting my hands rest between my legs.

“I can imagine that Zaran put you through some serious whoppers. Can we just settle for your name?” He blinks at me a few times.

“Go to hell, Raiden.”

An uncontrollable smirk crosses just the right corner of my mouth.

“Can you...perhaps elaborate on some of his scenarios then?” He continues to stare at me silently.

“I mean...they can’t be that bad, right? What did he do? Use harsh language? I mean I know changelings are a bit sensitive but-” He leaps to all fours and gets his nose just barely far enough away from the magical field so he doesn’t get shocked.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” I chuckle as arrogantly as I can without overdoing it.

“Oh, I think I do. I’ve heard plenty of stories about how easily your kind breaks under the slightest pressure. Too bad you’ve never been really tested though. Who knows, give me some time and I might make a warrior out of you yet.” He grits his teeth and starts trembling.

“You have no idea the mind games he’s played! I live in a perpetual existence of uncertainty! I have no idea if this is another ploy, or a ploy meant to make me think it’s just another ploy so when I come out of it, I drop my guard down! For all I know, I’m actually in the hive and all of this is another dream! Before this war, before Zaran, I was a high-ranking member in my hive! I was trusted with security! They called me Captain Pharynx! The entire hive relied on me for security!” His eyes suddenly grow sad and he sits on his hind legs, staring at the ground.

“And now look at me...Zaran’s errand boy, skulking around the shadows. I don’t even have an official rank anymore.” We sit there, drinking in the stillness of the dungeon. His purple eyes twitch in unison with the red fin that travels down his back. He flutters his purple wings slightly, before he turns around and lays on the ground, facing the rear of his cell.

“Go ahead and kill me. I have nothing left.” He grumbles. I do the only thing I can do: I get up and walk away. I look over my shoulder at the last second and see him looking up at me. For a few seconds, I swear I see hope in his solid purple eyes.

Stay strong my friend. We’re in this together.