Twilight was completely frozen from what she saw. A changeling just took out three ponies without even doing anything. She knew she sensed some strange magic going on with that changeling. The kidnappers were already gone, presumably to the hospital.

The rest of them were somewhat fine, though, at least they could speak, albeit incomprehensible.

-

With Paradox on my back, I continued through the forest with little other than one thought on my mind:

‘I need a defense against Celestia.’ While I knew I had heightened abilities, Celestia can move the freaking sun like it’s nothing. And I know that that massive explosion is going to draw Celestia’s attention, as nothing that could produce that level of destruction could ever pass under her radar, and that’s why I need to find something that can counter her level of magic should she think I'm a threat and attack me.

I pondered the question in my mind for a while, until I saw a small pond. It definitely wasn’t any pond I’ve ever seen from the show. I decided to practice some more magic here for a while.

“Ok, what are some spells I can remember from the show? Let’s see… there’s teleportation, cloud walking, shield spells… wow, my memory’s crap, I know there’s more than three.” I said to myself. Well, time to get started.

“You just sit there and watch.” I told Paradox. He sat down. Wow, does he know English? Like, I don’t think even a dog that’s had an owner for years is this good at understanding English. Anyway, I’m getting off track. Back to practicing magic… and flying, yeah that too.

I decided to start with shield spells, how different could they be from a molecular reinforcement spell?

Little did I know I would regret that statement later.

-

“Come on girls, we have to find him.” Twilight said to the rest.

Twilight fired up her tracking spell, and they were all on there way again.

-

I was on the ground, with a bit of fire coming from my horn. “What… the hell… happened?” Paradox just came over to me and nudged my side. Apparently decompressing air is a lot easier than compressing it. I tried to compress the air around me into a relatively thick sheet of air… didn’t work. “I need to get some books on spells if I’m going to be able to do anything more complicated.” I formed a plan in my head, and then headed off to my destination, telling Paradox to stay here at the pond.

-

The Mane 6 arrive at the pond, with the Timberwolf still sitting there. They all froze. It was tiny and was facing away from them, but that didn’t stop them from being scared of it. They went around it and continued walking. They kept following the trail until they reached Ponyville.

“What could he be doing in Ponyville?” Questioned Twilight worriedly.

Now they all were worried.

-

I was about to walk in the giant doors to Twilight’s castle as Twilight, but then stopped as I realized there was something wrong with my little research plan:

‘I don’t know where the library is in her castle.’

No one was looking, and I had two options: ABORT! Or look for the library and hope I don’t run into spike, or any guards. After pondering the question for a while, I decided on the latter.

I opened the door.

…

…

“Twilight? You're back already?” SHIT! I was caught.

“Yes. Yes I am.” I said with a unnoticably forced smile.

“What two colors were my birth egg?” Wasn’t expecting a changeling-exclusion question.

“Light purple with darker purple spots.”

“Correct. Come on in.” Spike moved to the side to let me in. I walked in.

“So did you find the changeling?” Spike asked.

“I did.” I answered.

“And is it a threat?”

“I found no evidence of it, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go to the Library to study.” I said as I started walking down the right hallway.

“Uh, Twilight? The library’s that way.” Spike stated as he pointed the opposite direction. I blushed, or I would have if I PHYSICALLY KNEW HOW! In truth, I’ve never blushed before, not once, I’ve even tried on several occasions, but I digress, I’m getting off track again.

“Oh, right. It’s been a bit stressful trying to find the changeling and all, I guess I just forgot.” I explained.

“Whatever.” Spike just shrugged. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

I didn’t respond, I just nodded, and walked off to the direction Spike pointed out.

Little did I know, or hoped against at least, was that spike is a lot smarter than he let’s on.

-

“I tracked him all the way to the castle, I wonder what he’s doing in there.” Twilight said worriedly.

When they knocked on the door, Spike answered. Spike wasn’t surprised to see another Twilight, as he already knew the other Twilight is a fake.

“The changeling is here.” Was all he said.

“Where!?” All six of them asked at once.

“Library, I’ve been watching it from out of sight since it came here about an hour ago. It’s looking at magic books. So far the spells I’ve seen it researching are: teleportation, shield casting, and cloud walking. It hasn’t left the Library yet, except once to go to the bathroom.” Spike said with pride in his voice.

Twilight was shocked at how efficient spike was with this. “Ok, but how did you know he was a changeling in the first place?”

“When it first saw me, it had eyes with fear in them. When I asked if it found the changeling, it said ‘I did’ instead of ‘We did’. It went the wrong way to the library, and when I pointed the right direction out, it didn’t blush at its mistake as you usually do. It tried to explain that ‘it was under too much stress trying to find the changeling that it forgot’, first, you would never forgot where the library is, and second, even if you did forget where it is, you would still subconsciously know.” Spike said with even more pride in his voice. Twilight’s only comprehensible response was a mouth drop.

“I didn’t know you were…” Twilight couldn’t finish such an insulting sentence.

“That smart? Make sure you keep it a secret, in truth I study almost as much as you do when you’re not around.” Twilight just pulled spike into a hug.

“Alright, let’s find that changeling!” Twilight said.

-

“Teleportation: Check. Shield casting: Check. Cloud walking: Check.” I said somewhat bored. Of course the first book I looked at was the mind spell book, specifically to for a photographic memory spell, so I never forget the spells I learn here today.

I felt a shiver of fear run up my spine, I know that aura, as I’ve been using it for the last hour or so.

Twilight Sparkle has returned.

I knew how she of course found me, as I read all her notes for her tracking spell. She must have tracked me using it. I of course memorized the spell and burned the notes, without them Twilight will eventually forget the spell, and without her notes she won’t be able to recreate them.

I also looked up some luck enhancing spells, pony anatomy, a more efficient levitation spell, warmth and cold spells, and a few combat spells.

All in all I think it was a pretty educational day! Ugh, I feel like I’m betraying myself for thinking that.

But Twilight’s still getting closer, I needed to think of something. I also read her notes on the passive spells put upon the castle. No teleportation directly across the perimeter, the crystals are almost as hard as diamonds, so no just flying through the wall, and anything bigger than two square inches will be fried if it tries to go through the window. I also memorized the guard patrol routes and timetables. There’s only one way out, straight through the front door.

-

“He’s still in the library, come on.” Twilight said to her five closest friends and number one assistant.

They kept walking quietly to the library. Twilight could sense her own magical aura, which didn’t came as too much of a surprise, as Twilight knew if he was in her castle, then he would take her form.

They finally reached the door to the library, where she could hear books softly hitting the floor. Twilight whispered quietly to the rest of the group: “Is everyone ready?”

They all nodded and Twilight put her hoof on the door.

-

“She’s getting closer, and I still don’t have a plan.” I said quietly, as not to alert of her of my presence.

“Come on, think, think, thi-” I was cut off by an idea. I quickly arranged all the books into 3D maze shape. There was more than enough books for it, there must be at least 500,000 books in here.

Just then I heard the doorknob turning, this is it. This is either the end, or the beginning.

Author's Notes:

Let me know of any and all spelling/grammatical/punctuation errors, as I consider all of them cancer.