“Soren! What’s happened to you?” That’s Lyra this time, without a doubt. Whether it’s simply the dream, or if my overwritten brain is beginning to project her as a pony, my mental image is of a gray and silver pegasus mare. I can feel her approaching more than hear her. “Why did you run away? Why are you doing this?”

It’s rather strange that she’s not asking what I did to her body, but I don’t dwell on the thought. I’m still too focused in the general direction I heard not-Twilight’s voice, trying to work out whether or not I should go through with this. Something has felt wrong ever since the Cakes left. There’s been an almost overwhelming sense of power in the air, and I can’t shake the impression that I’m being watched by royalty.

“You wouldn’t understand just how I feel right now, Lyra.” I shy away from the mare’s attempts at fussing about my appearance, carefully tucking the crystal wrapped in my tail safely beneath my belly. “The rage brewing in me, knowing that I could have saved that foal, isn’t something I can just let go of.”

“How is dueling me going to change anything?” the lilac mare asks with a cold laugh. “You’ll be beaten miserably, and Pound will still be dead!”

That comment is too much for me. I let out an angry snort before baring my teeth in her direction. “That may be true!” My angry snarl draw frightened noises from the crowd. It almost makes me wonder if any of them has experienced rage on such a level that it demands bloodshed. “If I can make you feel even an ounce of my pain, that’s enough for my heart. If baring myself to you does nothing, then you’ve revealed to me the true nature of the mare I thought I idolized.”

More of that cruel laughter breaks out from not-Twilight. “Is that all?” she says, her voice pure vitriol. “Do you have any idea how much your stupidity pains me?”

“How can you say that like you don’t even care!” The shout draws anxious murmuring from the crowd. “Enough talk! Do we have a duel, or not?”

“If it stops your endless nattering, then yes, we do have a duel,” she says in a snide tone I thought not possible to hear in Twilight’s voice. “Lyra?”

“Yes?”

“Please provide a countdown to the start of the duel.” The tone in Twilight’s voice changes for just a moment, shifting from malice to unease. “It’s only fair that he has some sort of warning when this contest begins.”

I find myself being lead away from the bushes, and being stood presumably facing Twilight. Presumably, nopony wants the blind mare to accidentally trip over the bush, wounding herself further. It’s a noble gesture, clearly marking that it is not the impostor Twilight leading me. A hoof brushes against my cheek before Lyra whispers in my ear, “You don’t need to do this!”

Yes, yes I do.

“Are both duel participants ready?” Lyra asks in a shaky voice. I hear a committal noise from the impostor across from me, and I myself feel compelled to nod. “Alright. On three, the duel will begin! One...”

Memories of childhood bullies and the beatings the brought cross my mind. My heart begins beating terribly fast, and time seems to crawl to a slow. I’m acutely aware of almost every pony in the audience drawing silent.

“Two...”

My eyes ache for sunlight behind the blindfold. Soon! Yes, soon enough my eyes won’t be the only ones aching. Hopefully, this will be over quickly though. The sooner I can expose this fake to the royalty I know is watching, the better.

“Three, go!”

Whipping my tail from beneath me, I send the light amplification crystal arcing high into the air. At the very same moment, I begin pouring magic into a light spell. Instead of focusing the magic into the tip of my horn, however, I direct it towards the crystal. I can’t help but grin slightly as I can feel my magic resonate with the crystal.

Much to my relief, shouts of pain erupt not just from the crowd, but not-Twilight as well. I might have overdone it with the light spell though; not long after everypony cries out in pain, I hear a loud hum from the crystal before it shatters, jagged shards raining down on me. One such shard lodges in my shoulder.

Knowing that I only have one chance, I press my advantage. Running forward, my magic tears the blindfold from my eyes, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I can see—truly see. Just as my eyes adjust to the light, I catch a glimpse of black carapace and green flame transition to lilac. I knew it! Motherfucking changelings! I’ve gotta get her to reveal herself again! This time when nopony is blinded!

Just when the impostor blinks away the last dazzle from the improvised flash-bang, my back hooves connect with her chin in an unpracticed buck. Instantly, the changeling’s head snaps back before she goes tumbling to the ground in a heap. I know it’ll take more than that to down the beast, let alone make her reveal herself.

Again, the only thing that makes sense is to press my advantage. All at once, I’m upon her, straddling her back with my hind legs while putting her into a headlock with the front. It’s much harder to do with these equine legs, but I can manage. It’s actually kinda strange, knowing that I’m essentially choking her with my forearm and the first part of my hand rather than my bicep area and forearm. Equine anatomy is a bit weird like that.

Too bad I allowed myself to be distracted by such a thought. Clearly I wasn’t exerting enough pressure to stop her breathing, otherwise she’d have passed out and reverted to her true form. Pressing her newfound advantage, the not-Twilight slams me off of her back with a concussive blast of magic, sending me tumbling end over end. I can’t help but scream in pain as the crystal shard lodged in my shoulder is driven further in.

In a heartbeat, the changeling is standing over me. “Stupid cheating human!” She reaches out a hoof and prods my injured shoulder, eliciting another scream. “Can’t even engage in a proper wizard’s duel.”

I stare up into her cold eyes, defiantly. “I never said this was a wizards duel, you foolish impostor!” I croak. She looks down at me, seeming distraught that I’d seen through her disguise. It only takes a moment for me to press my own advantage over her hesitation. Doing the only thing that comes to mind, I bite down on her nearest leg.

The changeling dressed as Twilight cries out an indecipherable curse as she stumbles backwards. Huh... I thought changelings bled green... not red. No! Now’s not the time to think about that now! I take advantage of her pained distraction and scramble back to my hooves and increase the distance between us.

For the first time, I get a good look at the crowd around me. Almost everypony is gathered, watching the duel. The only parts of the mane six I don’t see are Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The others are all here watching with mixed fear and horror, even Rarity. Not far from them, I see a diminutive, silver-gray near-pegasus huddled up against Bon-Bon, terrified. Don’t they see what is happening? I’m saving them from this sickening changeling! Why are you all looking at me like that?

Who I don’t see worries me more than who I do. There’s not a single royal guard, and I can’t see either princess in the crowd. Still, I can feel that air of royalty watching. If Luna and Celestia aren’t here, then who? Certainly not the honeymooners... Chrysalis!? Is Queen Chrysalis also here? Shit!

I scold myself for getting distracted as a magenta aura—that’s not right, changeling auras are green—encompases my body, forcing me to the ground. It’s as though the local gravity has increased a hundredfold. The changeling in Twilight’s skin makes a chiding noise of some sort. “It’s impossible for you to win, you know.” she says, cool and confident. “Your spirit is admirable, but you really must yield.”

“Never!” I scream, attempting to force myself upright. It takes a lot of effort, but I manage to somehow stand. Sweating from the exertion, I stare into that fake’s icy eyes. She, like everypony in the crowd, looks mortified that I can stand. I’m a bit scared myself. “Why don’t you make this easier on us both, changeling, and just show everypony your true face!”

The localized gravity field strengthens, and something finally gives. There’s an audible pop from my sprained leg, and all at once it buckles, spilling me onto the ground, my wounded shoulder open to attack once more. I can’t actually hear anything beyond my own agonized screams, but I can imagine more than a few ponies have gone pale or even lost their stomachs upon hearing the sound. I certainly should by all rights be sick.

A numb feeling fills my stomach as I glare at the changeling. All of my senses—especially my common sense, which is practically tingling—tell me that I should concede defeat so that I might still live. Something primal inside me, however, screams to me that this slight cannot go unpunished, and I rather agree. I’m down, but not out.

In spite of the agony I’m in, I shift my position and bring my mouth to my shoulder wound. Wincing slightly, my teeth close on the great crystal shard jutting from my shoulder. A guttural scream escapes my throat as I twist my head, wrenching the shard from my shoulder and sending it hurtling towards the lilac impostor in front of me.

I slump my head on the ground as the crystal blade flies harmlessly past her head. In spite of it all, I’m grinning like a madmare. Maybe I really am crazy? What sort of pony would do these sorts of things? Spitting blood from my mouth, I let out a small laugh before lighting my horn.

“You can’t win Soren,” Twilight says, sounding more than a little worried. “Stop this before you hurt yourself!”

“You’re wrong about that, changeling!” I laugh ruefully. “You might not feel it, but there’s a sizeable shard of that light amplification crystal hovering just a few millimeters from the base of your skull. With just a twitch, I can pierce your brain-stem.”

In spite of my victory, I feel sick. Why does the changeling look so terrified? They’re just a hive mind, aren’t they? Death should mean nothing to a drone! “Show them your true face, changeling. Show them what you really are and return the real Twilight to us. Do this and I might just let you return to your hive alive!”

A mare in the crowd is screaming. I’d turn to see who it is, but I’m too blinded by tears and blood that has washed back into my eyes. Hay, I’m lucky that I can still make out Twilight through all of this. Right now I just want to rest, never mind finish this fight.

“This has gone on long enough!” a regal voice announces. The sky suddenly seems a lot brighter... Oh fuck. “This duel is over, Soren Friedrich. You have rendered your opponent unable to continue. Let her go.”

I cast my eyes clouded upward toward the source of the bright light. Sure enough, the regal Princess Celestia is flying directly above Twilight. “B-but your majesty!” I sputter, half choking on blood and saliva. I tighten my magical grip on the crystal. “She’s a changeling! If I let her go, she’ll escape and we’ll never find the real Twilight!”

“Is she really?” The Princess’s question sounds so innocently confident. A golden haze spreads across my vision, and an instant later the blood and tears wash away from my eyes. “Look around you, young one. What do you see?”

I struggle against my agony to do as Princess Celestia asks of me. The crowd has pushed back a fair distance from the last time I looked. Everypony looks terrified or piteous, but more than that, they seem confused. Applejack, as frightened as she is, has imposed herself between Rarity and the makeshift ring—between us. Rainbow Dash likewise is standing between me and Bon-Bon and who I can only assume is Lyra. The common expression on all of their faces is terror.

“I don’t get it...” I whisper, crying. I turn my gaze back to the impostor Twilight as Princess Celestia lands beside her. “Anypony could hear how sadistic she sounded! Twilight isn’t like that!”

“Soren...” It’s unmistakably Lyra. “You’re the only pony hearing these things. Twilight’s only been trying to help you the best she can!” She sounds really choked up. “Yeah, we made a mistake! Twilight and I need to live with that guilt for the rest of our lives! Isn’t that enough?”

My blood freezes. “N-no! Stop!” I croak, levitating the crystal shard closer to me. Taking advantage of the slip-up, Twilight ducks fearfully behind the Princess like a scared foal hiding behind her mother. “You’re trying to confuse me!”

A troubled look dawns on the Goddess’s face. With a shake of her head, Celestia looks beyond me, and speaks. “Luna, it is time.”

An intense desire to sleep fills my head. My eyelids grow heavy as I try to fight to stay awake. Something isn’t right! Staying awake has always been easy for me. “Do not fight it, child,” a silky voice croons in my ears. “Rest now, and know that you are in good hooves.”

No! I’ve gotta... I’ve gotta... gotta...

Author's Notes:

Surprisingly, this scene came out much longer than I expected it to. This isn't a bad thing, though. The scene came out almost exactly as I have been imagining it in its latest iteration. I've had the song The Arena (Naked Mix) stuck in my mind for this scene since I got Persona 4 Arena on Christmas day and I popped in the accompanying music CD.

This scene has certainly gone through a few iterations in my mind. Originally, Soren didn't even confront Twilight. Instead, he was found injured while he rested, and brought to the hospital. In his disturbed state, he'd hallucinate Princess Celestia as Queen Chrysalis and Luna as Nightmare Moon. Fearing for his life, he would break a glass and brandish a large shard towards the Princesses before once more defenestrating himself again. I ultimately decided to rewrite this scene as not a path to a 'good' ending. After all, anypony brandishing a weapon on the royalty would likely receive lethal force from Royal Guards.

This was a very fun chapter to write as I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Re-edited 12 July 2017