Twilight stared intently at the picture in front of her. It was the one of her and Rainbow. The one that was obviously enchanted! She took a deep breath and lit her horn. Her magic washed over the photo and searched thoroughly for enchantments. She dropped the picture and recoiled. The only remaining magic on the photo was her own. But how was that possible? She couldn’t have set those enchantments – those memories weren’t hers!

The alicorn growled in frustration and gripped the picture in her magic, tossing it angrily across the room. She sighed and lay down again, folding her ears back. She gazed mournfully at the folder. The purple mare gently knocked it off the bed, letting it drop quietly to the floor.

Twilight jolted to attention as the door opened. She used a little magic to quickly straighten her mane, which had a few hairs sprung out of place from stress. Comet Trail poked his head through the door. The batpony gave a short bow before opening the door fully.

“Night Watch would like to speak with you, ma’am.” The guard told her before retreating.

Next through the door was a black unicorn mare with a white mane hidden by her armour. Night Watch was one of the few unicorns in the guard, as Nightmare’s blessing didn’t have as much effect. It usually gave a pony dagger-like pupils, bat wings and enhanced strength during the night. Of course, without pegasus wings to change the shape of, the unicorns just got the eyes and extra strength in the moonlight.

“P-princess.” Night Watch stammered, bowing low.

Twilight couldn’t suppress a smile. “As you and Comet Trail both know, there is no need for formalities. You’re my personal guards and I’ve known you since I was an itty bitty filly!”

“R-right prin- Twilight.” Night Watch corrected herself, but she sounded rather hesitant. “It’s about the ch- I mean, um, it’s about Shadow Sound.”

The alicorn tensed, her wings flaring a little. “What about her?”

“She’s become… despondent.” The unicorn shuffled her hooves nervously.

Twilight snorted. “I knew I should’ve made a checklist for taking care of changelings! Without a steady supply of love she’ll die! Sure, changeling princesses and queens can survive on magic for a long time, but they need love to stay strong. I still can’t believe I let my father capture her.”

“It was f-for the good of the country.” Night Watch gulped. She’d seen the princess angry before, and it wasn’t pretty. She’d barely escaped with all four limbs.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. She pressed a hoof to her chest before pushing it out again, an action she found comforting and oddly familiar. Straightening her expression, she leapt from the bed and turned to her guard. “Take me to her.”

“Just through here, ma’am.” Comet Trail instructed, gesturing to the staircase.

Twilight nodded gratefully and descended. The castle’s dungeon was surprisingly empty, with only three ponies held within its walls. Well, two ponies and a changeling. The alicorn had visited the dungeon once before, when the first pony was captured, but she had stayed away since. The look of betrayal and grief in the pony’s eyes had been too much.

The purple mare stopped in front of one of the cells. Each cell contained a thin mattress and two bowls. There was a small bathroom at the end of the corridor, which the prisoners were allowed to visit twice a day.

This cell had an almost black pony with hole-ridden hooves lying limply on the bed. She had a long, crooked horn and a pair of insect-like wings. Her mane was teal and scruffy, her eyes green with dagger-shaped pupils. Her eyes were cloudy and unfocused, and the changeling would occasionally give a small whimper.

“Shadow Sound?” Twilight called calmly.

The changeling shifted a little so that she faced Twilight, but did little else.

The alicorn sighed before opening the cell door. She kicked it shut behind her and walked up to the limp form. Twilight had practised this spell many times since the changeling had been captured. Her horn lit with magic and reached out through the entire castle.

Throughout the majority of the structure there was only boredom, with sprinkles of happiness of sadness here and there. Every now and then she would come across small pockets of love – sometimes from guard to guard, sometimes directed towards her. The strongest patch of emotion was in the dining hall. Anger fought furiously to keep out the princess, but she fought on and broke into the room. Beneath the anger was a layer of depression, which oddly belonged to her mother. Beneath that was a large pocket of love. Twilight collected as much of it as she could in her magic, dragging it through floors and walls to solidify in a large pink aura.

It took all of her magic to keep the aura in the room, and even more to begin to move it. As the pink aura drew close to the changeling, she perked up. Her eyes cleared, and her ears stood straight. She tilted her head so that her horn faced the aura. The aura was pressed against the changeling’s horn, and she drank it up greedily. Her green magic enveloped the aura and allowed Twilight some rest.

When the changeling was done, she sat up. Her formerly dull chitin now shone. Her mane was now neatly trimmed, the holes in it looking more like streaks. Her wings buzzed happily and her eyes shone with gratitude. “Thank you, princesss.”

“I am simply trying to keep you alive. The guards do not truly understand your requirements, Shadow Sound.” Twilight replied, regaining her composure.

The changeling hissed with annoyance. “I wish you poniesss would ussse my real name!”

“You never gave it to us.” Twilight frowned.

“Yesss I did! You poniesss sssimply didn’t care to lisssten, and inssstead gave me a sssilly pony name!” the changeling turned her nose up in disdain.

“Well then what is your real name?” the alicorn attempted to keep her voice level, despite knowing the changeling could sense her emotion.

“My name is Princesss Nightlock.” The changeling informed her.

Twilight hesitated. “Princess Nightlock, I mean no offense, but I wish to ask why you talk like that. I’ve memories of your mother, and she didn’t speak as such.”

Nightlock hissed in annoyance. “All changelingsss ssspeak like thisss. My mother sssimply learnt to ssspeak like poniesss to ensssure her disssguisesss work asss well as posssible.”

“I meant no offense.” Twilight gave a curt bow before stepping towards the changeling. “Now, my father has been mentioning that he wishes to ‘interrogate’ you. I personally do not believe in harsh methods, and believe I should warn you ahead of time.”

“Harsh methodsss? Harsh methodsss?” Nightlock seethed. “Do you have any idea what your sssstupid guardsss did to me when they firssst found me? They asssaulted me! They physssically attacked me!” The changeling’s voice was rising steadily. “When I woke up I wasss ssstrapped to a chair! They ssstarted cutting me and hurting me, borderline torture!” She was screaming by this point. “They threatened to ssstrip me of my wingsss! To crack my horn! Whenever I tried to ussse my magic to essscape, they would buck me in the face! I want nothing but to leave thisss place to go back to the hive!”

“P-princess Nightlock, I-I had no-”

Nightlock had stopped shouting, and was instead whispering angrily, tears streaming from her eyes. “Every night I hear the hivemind crying out to me, desssperate to find me! The firssst few daysss my mother’sss voice wasss the ssstrongessst, dissstraught and enraged. When she didn’t find me, I lossst hope. She sssensssed it, asss did the ressst of the hivemind. They all think I’m dead!”

“Nightlock…”

“If it weren’t for you ssstupid poniesss, I would be sssitting happily at home, relaxing with my mother and dissscusssing waysss to gain love without ssstealing it from you. You can thank Celessstia for that. Since you and your ssstupid father sssprung up, she sssigned peace treatiesss with changelingsss and griffonsss to ensssure she couldn’t lossse!” Nightlock laughed, tears still dripping from her face.

“Nightlock!”

“Celessstia will win thisss war, and then you and your ssstupid father will be thrown into pony prissson! I’ll be ressscued and I will have the pleasssure of watching you publicly humiliated!” the changeling grinned maniacally. “All because ssstupid you and your ssstupid father and your ssstupid mother-”

“Princess Nightlock!” Twilight bellowed, spreading her wings out fully and narrowing her eyes. Her dagger-shaped pupils were contracted, her pretty purple eyes burning with rage. “I will not tolerate you insulting my family!”

Nightlock simply snickered. “Oh, did I ssstrike a nerve? Sssorry, pretty princesss, I didn’t mean any offenssse to you or your ssstupid family!”

“I. Will not. Take this!” Twilight screeched. The alicorn’s wings were flared, her purple eyes burning with a harsh flame. Her horn was glowing and her mane was flowing from the pure amount of magic flowing from the purple mare.

Nightlock squeaked as purple magic tightened around her throat and dragged her harshly towards the raging alicorn. Twilight glared down at the smaller quadruped in anger, before throwing the changeling across the room. The near black creature smacked into the wall and fell limply to the ground and lay still.

Twilight snorted in anger before storming out of the cell, slamming the door shut behind her. The alicorn stomped up the staircase and back into the hall. Comet Trail and Night Watch, who had been standing guard outside, recoiled in fright as their princess raged past them. Twilight was halfway down the hall by time they recovered and ran after their charge.

Only when Twilight had reached her room did she realise what she had done. It had taken all of her willpower to not rage-shift in front of the changeling, as she knew how destructive she could be. Her magic was already incredibly powerful; if she rage-shifted, she would’ve taken down the entire cell, instead of just cracking the wall. Cracking the wall. With a pony. Um, changeling.

She had abused an innocent, intelligent creature. Ponies could argue that she did that during training and battles, but in training the victims had volunteered, and the ponies she’d killed in battle had been given painless deaths – a quick snap of the neck, or a swift slash of her sword.

But she had physically assaulted an innocent, purely because she had grown angry. It had happened before too. The alicorn leapt onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow. She had accidentally hurt ponies before when her rage had gotten the best of her. Once she had rage-shifted and taken down one whole wing of the castle. She gave a muffled scream into her bed and smacked her head against the pillow.

Twilight sat up slowly, wiping away the tears that had been building in her eyes. She sniffled and turned to the folder, which was still lying on the floor. She shifted through the pictures she’d already seen and found herself staring at an odd one. It was of her unicorn self standing in a forest with... a zebra?

An odd feeling spread through her when she saw the zebra. A feeling of knowledge and reliability. She could trust this zebra. They… they could help her… Her mind made up, Twilight lit her horn and teleported from the castle.