Mission day was finally here.

After whipping myself into a frenzy to get ready and double-checking my equipment, I rushed out of the barracks with my two duffel bags slung over the carrier grooves on the sides of my armor. The train station was only a few minutes away by flight, the crystalline courtyard connecting between the compound and the station. Crossing the glistening crystal archway, I saw a pony wearing a large backpack waiting for me in front of the steam-powered locomotive. I landed several meters away and trotted the rest of the distance to meet the pony waiting for me. Right away, I knew this had to be Trojan.

I knew she was not going to come along disguised as Twilight, but her current form was almost worse. The tangerine coat and long, curly blue mane were a little too awkward for my taste. Outside the hairstyle and stature, she looked like a carbon copy of me. “Ready to go, my lovely twin brother?”

I tripped, nearly falling flat on my face. This was not okay. “Where in Tartarus did you get that idea?”

Trojan grinned. “What, did you think I was gonna walk around naked?” I opened my mouth, but the changeling cut me off. “By ‘naked’ I meant without a disguise.” I closed my mouth promptly and groaned. Leave it to Trojan to find ways to make my life even more difficult. Ringing bells from the train alerted us to the imminent departure, so we both climbed aboard to get ourselves settled before it took off.

We took a seat in the middle car, sitting across from each other on the suede seats. “So, you’re posing as my twin sister? Don’t I get a say in this?”

Trojan shifted towards me, stroking my chin with her hoof. “So you want me to be your marefriend instead? Alright, but I call top.”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” I slapped her hoof away. I take back my previous thought; Trojan being my twin sister was definitely the lesser evil. “I'm an only child. If the Princess does a background check and finds out we're not related—"

"Don't worry, Shiny took care of all that." Digging into her backpack, Trojan produced a thick folder and passed it to me. I leafed through it to get an idea of what I was looking at. Profiles of important ponies who had affiliations with the princess and her closest friends, a separate, more detailed profile list code-named “Mane Six,” funding, housing and tons of other important details. Just about every angle I could consider or question was probably covered in this folder. "Make sure to take a good look at it. Once you're done, I'm going to destroy it before we get to Ponyville. We can't exactly leave that kind of info lying around for someone to find it.”

"This… is a lot to read in one sitting,” I commented. I was not sure how much of this information I would be able to keep in my head before we arrived at our stop. I could only pray it was enough as I immediately set to reading through it. The first section I stopped at was Trojan's background profile, and I raised an eyebrow at the alias. "Sassy Love?"

"Because I’m all about the love and I’m not afraid to show it.”

I rolled my eyes at her. I was willing to bet her middle name was Modest. "And it says here you're a..." I did a double take on the 'occupation'. "Love guru?"

"My business deals with all things love-related. Everything from providing expert advice to dealing with, ah, 'specialty goods and services'. I had some great success in Manehatten in the past, so it made sense to bring some of the business with me to Ponyville."

A changeling love doctor. I couldn't tell if it was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard or pure brilliance. At the mention of love, there was a vital issue I needed to address with her.

"How will you keep yourself fed? I won't stand for you draining the citizens, or me, of our love."

"As long as I don’t have to use my magic liberally, I only need a small portion to get through the day. It doesn’t have to be romantic love, either. Any kind would do. Like your love for your boss and your job—it's a very strong flavor and should keep me going for at least eight hours. If a changeling is infiltrating, we can feed just by being next to somepony and they won't notice a thing. I'll be careful, but if I don't feed, I will starve and you would have no way of exposing other changelings. Neither of us have a choice here."

This conversation was heading into uncomfortable places, but this seemed like crucial information. "So you’re able to sense love and drain different kinds of love without the host realizing it?” That’s when I fully realized what she said, and glared. “Did you feed on me earlier?!"

Trojan winked. "I couldn't resist. You taste like a warm stack of pancakes, Buttermilk."

Never before had I felt so violated.

"Please don't taste my love without my permission."

"Oh, relax. Your love was strong enough for it to barely faze you, and I'm going to need that kind of strong, hot stallion love to get me going through the cold and lonely nights."

I facehoofed. "Must you say it like that?!"

"Why so hot and bothered, Buttermilk?" She teased.

There was no point in answering her and falling the bait. I needed to change the subject before this changeling made me have a stroke. "Anyway, if we're going to take down Chrysalis—"

"Stop Chrysalis," Trojan corrected. For the first time, her expression was serious and stern. The instantaneous shift from her upbeat personality was jarring, but then I had to remember: she was a changeling. There was no telling which was their true face and which was false. Something told me this was tapping into the former.

"She's trying to kill Princess Twilight. If I see her, I'm taking her down for good," I replied, glaring back at her.

"This isn't her fault. She's not being herself. We're stopping her." Briefly the color of her irises faded before returning to normal. Perhaps I was seeing things.

"Isn't her fault?" I asked. I shouldn't care about Chrysalis's state of being, but I learned a long time ago that all details are crucial. What in the world happened to Chrysalis? "Now that I think about it, shouldn’t she be more upset at Shining Armor and Princess Cadance? They’re the ones who blasted you guys to who-knows-where.”

"That-” Whatever she was about to say caused her to pause. “It’s... nevermind. We're stopping her, and that's the end of it, Flash."

As much as I wanted to probe further, Trojan showed no signs of budging. I was not looking forward to working with her, but she was going to be my only hope of finding Chrysalis or any of her agents who might be hiding among the ponies in Ponyville. For now I kept quiet and returned to the mission notes while Trojan glanced out the window.

During the few hours of silence that passed between us I focused my thoughts on trying to retain as much information from the mission profile as I could. Most of the information was fairly straightforward and easy to grasp. What truly caught my attention were the operation protocols and the shielding choker Shining had given us. They allowed us to do far more than stop mental augmenting spells.

With it, our movements could be tracked in the event either of us were captured or separated. There was also a unique teleportation feature to bring incapacitated targets directly to the empire’s containment zone. For safety reasons, that particular feature is inaccessible to Trojan when she is alone. That, as well as one critical difference, separated my shield from Trojan’s. She couldn’t remove hers, and if she attempted to force it off...

Suddenly, I found her sour mood to be more pitiful than irritating.

“Hey, Trojan.” No answer. I looked up to find her staring out the window with a frown on her face. I sighed. “Look, about earlier—”

“Forget it. What do you want?” she asked, not looking away from the window.

“About our shields. Shining mentioned they had some special properties. But yours, I didn’t—”

“You mean my slave collar?” Her tone was ice. “What, did you think after what happened all those years ago they would just let me go do what I want without some sort of damage control?”

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that. Really, protocol would have you captured and interrogated as an enemy combatant—or more likely a spy—and placed at the mercy of the Crown. The fact you’re able to go along this mission at all is honestly surprising.”

“Guess when your own flesh and blood is targeted for assassination, protocol goes out the window. Granted, I’ll take slave collar over imprisonment any day of the week.”

An unspoken question hung in the air—what would happen to her after the mission? Would she be a prisoner of war? Would Shining lock her up in prison or maybe use her as a mole to track down the main hive of the changelings? Those were all possibilities, and I couldn't say she didn’t have it coming.

The moment the thought entered my mind, I slammed the brakes on that mental process. That was incredibly unfair of me to think of her like that. How much had this changeling sacrificed to bring us this information? Betraying her own race while helping the very ponies who had driven her queen mad with vengeance and being forced to face Chrysalis couldn’t have been easy. No matter what I thought of changelings, her actions so far showed an honest effort at making things right and told me she deserved a fair shot.

“If we stop Chrysalis and save Twilight, I’ll vouch for your freedom after all of this is over. Assuming you stay on good behavior, of course.”

Trojan gave me a look. Despite her having a pony's face, I couldn't tell whether the glimmer of surprise—or was it shock?—I saw there was genuine, or sarcastic, as though she'd heard it all before. Whatever the case, her eyes hardened quickly, settling on me with firm intensity. "I don't need your pity."

“I’m not giving you pity. I’m giving you a chance.”

Silence, followed by an indignant grunt. Her gaze drifted back to the passing trees and windswept plains outside. I sighed. I tried to spend some of the remaining time on the train going through my notes, but my thoughts drifted back to Trojan and her shield. She was one strong bug to have come this far to stop her queen and help us save Twilight despite the odds greatly stacked against her. Still didn’t know if I could trust her, though. Even if it was only a small bit, she was starting to gain my respect. She would’ve been perfect as a royal guard pony.

“So, Buttermilk, tell me about yourself.”

“Huh?” I blinked as I tore my eyes from the documents and to the now amused changeling.

“If you’re gonna be my favorite twin brother in all of Equestria, I gotta know why.”

That was a fair point. We would need to ‘know’ each other on a sibling level to truly make the illusion work. "Well, my family has served Equestria’s military force for several generations. I didn't have many friends when I was younger, so I spent my time helping my folks out when I could or doing volunteer work for—"

"Bor~ing!" Trojan yawned obnoxiously loud.

I frowned. Everypony’s a critic.

"You have to have juicier stories than that! You couldn't possibly have that boring of a life!" Ouch.

"Well, I'm sorry we can't all be love gurus or whatever!" I threw my hooves up in frustration. The sting was extra sharp thanks to the constant “coltscout” jokes I'd gotten from other ponies my entire life. Not everypony got to lead great and exciting lives, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly envious of those who did.

"Come on, you've gotta have something more interesting. What about hobbies?"

There were several hobbies I had. Most of them would probably be considered uncool or boring to her. I imagined Trojan was looking for something a little spicier. Something she could brag about. “Well, I like training, whether for combat or sports. I’m top of my class in pegasus melee combat.” Trojan’s impatient stare was adding an unnecessary amount of pressure. “Um, I guess I also like to sing when I’m—”

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Again I was interrupted, but this time it wasn't nearly as downputting. "You can sing?"

I smiled modestly. "I've always had a thing for music. I’m also a guitarist."

"Well, hot damn, I landed me a musician!” Trojan scooted to the edge of her seat, staring at me with heightened anticipation. “Let’s throw down some tunes! Sing me a song!"

"Sorry, I don't really like to sing in front of other ponies. And before you ask, I don’t want to talk about it."

"Boo!" Trojan pouted childishly as she folded her forelegs on her chest, "You should be able to sing for your darling and beautiful sister." A knowing grin appeared on her face as she gave me a suspicious look. "What if your special somepony asked you? Would you sing for them?"

"...I need to finish reading this report before we arrive." My mood sufficiently killed, I returned my attention to the stack of documents on my lap, keeping my expression passive. Thankfully, Trojan was able to take a hint and shift her attention to the window. This was no time to to let myself get distracted. If I was going to save the princess, I needed to focus on the present and figure out how to deal with Chrysalis. I could deal with my own issues later.

By the time we neared the Ponyville station, I was intimately familiar with Twilight and the history of the ‘mane six’. I made one last run-through of the documents before closing the folder. “Alright, I’m done reading through this. Do you need to look at it before we destroy it?”

Trojan quirked her eyebrow at me. “Do you take me for a slacker? I’ve had plenty of time to look through that.” Her sapphire irises emitted a green hue. Suddenly, the folder I was holding lifted off my hooves and hovered between us; after a few seconds, it was engulfed in green flames. Only ashes were left of it.

Hopefully when we faced Chrysalis, I wouldn’t end up like that document.

“We’re making the final approach to the Ponyville station. Please gather your belongings and prepare for arrival.” A mare’s voice chimed through the speaker system.

This was it; there was no going back.

“Alright, Tro-er, Sassy,” I corrected myself. This was going to be strange to get used to. “As soon as we land, I want you to make your way to our home base and start investigating as soon as you’re able. I’ll meet up with the princess and see what intel I can get.”

“Uh huh.” Trojan gave me a deadpan gaze. “You just want some alone time so you can interrogate that flank.”

“Sassy!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll handle groundside and see what I can dig up. Just keep in mind that ponies, more often than not, are wary of new residents. I probably won’t learn anything too valuable until they get used to me, though I might flip disguises if the situation suits me right. Before I forget; keep in mind that I can’t act against other changelings openly or else Chrysalis will catch on to me, so be ready if I need you.”

“I’m always ready.” The train car lurched as we slowed to a stop. Just as I got up to leave, Trojan stopped me.

“It just occured to me; you really shouldn’t be going out there with your armor on. You’ll definitely draw attention, and ponies will likely be expecting trouble.”

“Maybe, but I’ll be walking around in my armor when I’m escorting Twilight anyway, so that’s kind of a moot point.” I shrugged. “It’ll be fine, Sassy. If anything, I’ll be drawing attention away from you and giving you better cover. That said, you might want to change your disguise into somepony else until you can become Sassy again. That way they won’t immediately pair us together in case somepony is watching.”

“Way ahead of ya, Buttermilk.” Trojan’s visage transformed into a brown earth stallion with shaggy black hair. “Shall we?” It took me a second to acknowledge the deep voice came from the same bug who had sounded upbeat and perky half a second ago. The speed she could adapt to new demeanors was frightening.

Stepping out of the car, I stopped to acknowledge the sheer number of ponies around me. The report mentioned Ponyville had expanded over the years since Twilight’s coronation, but the dense population of residents almost reminded me of Manehattan. Several eyes stared in my direction with a mix between curiosity, awe, and worry. It was a good call to have Trojan change looks so they would not associate us together immediately.

“Hey, buddy. Before you head out lemme give ya something useful.” Trojan dug into her backpack passed me several pieces of square plastic. Curious, I read the logo emblazoned on the surface.

“Cherry flavored, extra-large Trojan Mare con—wait, WHAT!?”

“If you need more, you know where to find me. See ya!” With a wink, Trojan trotted off, dodging the offending items I threw at her. My embarrassment multiplied as I caught onlookers whispering and giggling with each other and pointing at me. Aggravated, I took into the air, muttering a string of quiet curses at Trojan who was probably laughing herself silly right now.

Now that I was able to get a bird’s-eye view of Ponyville, I could appreciate the quiet beauty of the landscape. Dozens of homes and small buildings littered the plains. While the buildings were neither tall nor elaborately built, the simple wood and clay structures painted a warm atmosphere. It was a strange change of pace from the pristine and busy kingdom that was the Crystal Empire. This was going to take some getting used to.

My relaxed flight eventually brought me to my destination and new home: The Castle of Friendship.

The castle was far grander than I expected. I couldn’t tell if this was an elaborate treehouse or a natural fortress. The lavender building was held up by a large crystal tree, yellow peaks and roofs offsetting the darker colors. A giant crystal star stood at the top, glistening in the late morning sun. While not as visually impressive as the Crystal Empire’s palace, there was something beautifully organic about this castle that was amazing in its own right.

Reaching the castle, I dropped down to the entrance at the base of the tree and knocked on the golden double doors. "First lieu-er, Captain Flash Sentry of the royal guard, requesting entry."

No response. I knocked several more times, each harder than the next, but to no avail.

Curious, I tested the door handle. It opened easily. I raised an eyebrow. The transfer documents I received when preparing for my trip said Twilight already granted me entry upon arrival. But it never stated if I was supposed to be greeted at the door or if I could simply enter. Considering the entrance was unlocked, I imagined it was the latter. I climbed the spiraling staircase to the main level and took a quick look around. Just like the outside, the interior was brimming with life and color. Perhaps it was just me, but the atmosphere was rather isolated and empty. Probably due to the lack of guards, I reasoned.

"Princess Twilight? Anypony home?" My voice echoed through the empty halls. While I was used to working alone, the lack of ambiance I’d grown accustomed to from working among other ponies made this castle feel desolate. Since everypony was either busy or elsewhere, I took it upon myself to scout the premises. After all, I would be stationed in Ponyville from now until the mission was complete, so it was only natural I would have to know my way around the castle. At worst, I imagined I would bump into Twilight earlier than scheduled, so it seemed safe to satisfy my curiosity.

I decided to only do a cursory look for anything out of place or anything that might be a security risk. In this situation, it was better to think like a murderous opportunist rather than a frontline soldier, a thought that chilled me and probably better suited Trojan. A cunning assassin would have to strike from a position of advantage. The pillars that acted as corners were problematic, making it difficult to see who was around the corner. There were gaps at the corners of the roof where a flexible assassin could drop down on an unsuspecting pony below.

Magic was also a factor; ponies didn’t normally hear about ‘snipers’ because the spells needed for long-range precision engagement were well outside the concerns of anypony just interested in self-defense, but they certainly did exist. The long, clear lines of sight offered by the castle’s enormous hallways were of serious concern. Thankfully, sound echoed easily through these halls, from the clopping of my steps to the soft rhythms of singing.

I froze mid-step. At first I thought I was just hearing things. When I closed my eyes to focus on the sound, I was able to pick up the faint sound of somepony singing. Without a second thought I followed the voice deeper into the castle.

Whoever owned those passionate vocal chords knew how to carry a tune. My head bobbed as my steps absentmindedly moved to the rhythm of the melody trail. The music grew louder and clearer and I thought less about my vulnerability check and more about how beautiful and familiar this voice was. I tried to remember, but found myself too distracted to think about it. I was bound to find the mare that voice belonged to.

Close to one of the main chambers was a beam of light pouring out of a cracked door. My instincts told me to just listen to the voice from a distance, but my curiosity got the better of me. I just had to find out who had such a talented voice. I leaned my face into the small space to take a quick peek.

I got far more than I bargained for.

Amethyst tiles were lined throughout the floor, reflecting the sunlight that filtered through the closed silk blinds of the tall windows. The first thing to grab my senses was the smell of something light and flowery. I was no good with flower names, but it was an alluring scent that made me want to find those flowers and learn more about them. The symphonic voice was in full volume as the mare was singing her heart out, twirling and swaying to the music she was singing. Soap-filled water sloshed wildly from the shower as she moved, her eyes closed and smile bright and cheerful. I couldn't recall how long I was watching or even what I was doing before I saw her, but the moment was burned inside my memory like a hot brand.

Shock ripped through me as I caught myself staring—more like gawking—at Princess Twilight. I managed to tear my eyes away before Twilight noticed me.

The hushed gasp I heard from around the corner in the hall nearly caused my heart to leap out my chest.

My eyes snapped to the purple reptile staring at me with wide eyes. No, dragon was more accurate. I knew this dragon had to be Spike, but he looked a far cry different from the statue created in his honor all those years ago. He no longer had the potbelly baby dragon look, having grown leaner and more muscular. His legs were filled out like tree trunks as he stood roughly at my eye level. His eyes, while having a hint of maturity and sharpness to them, still held true to the youthful innocence he was known for.

The world around me slowed to a crawl as I watched the dragon's lung swell, preparing to alert the princess of my stupid mistake. My blood froze, shock shooting through my body like lightning. I had no time to think and only one option to salvage the mission. I sprang at the dragon, flying towards him at full speed.

Spike must be silenced.

Author's Notes:

Don't worry about Spike. It will be over quick.

This was one of those chapters where the smaller parts were tougher to write than the chapter itself. Between Flash and Trojan's interactions, the transition from the train scene to the castle scene, and the end with Twilight and Spike, getting the details just right was a hassle and a half. Still hell of a fun chapter to work on through.

And yes, I couldn't resist making that Trojan Man reference.

I would love to hear your thoughts (and speculations) on this chapter. Drop a comment, leave a like if you enjoyed it, all of that fun stuff. I'll see you guys next chapter!