“Hahahahahaha…” I couldn’t control it. Actually, I couldn’t control anything in my body at the moment. Everything had happened so fast that I had to go through it in my head once again. Nightmare had invaded me, causing everything around me to turn black, but I hadn’t fallen unconscious as expected. Instead, I was pulled in a room with it, where both my souls were. I was trapped in a cage of light, and an alicorn that looked an awful lot like me stood in front of the light globes. It was seemingly confused and seemed to be at the end of its tether.

”What is that supposed to be? it said, now in my voice, but still with a cold note. It had manifested into my form, adding in wings, but the colour was off. My blue coat had been replaced by a black one, and my mane was like that of Celestia and Luna, a kind of mist that was floating in the non-existing wind. It was also about as tall as Big Mac now. “Why do you have two souls?” Now that I didn’t have to concentrate on my shivering body, I had an easier time thinking. It must have merged with the soul of its host to gain control, but it had a problem here. Only one soul could control the body, and if it chose the wrong one, it would be trapped. I could only grin.

“What’s the matter, Nightmare? The agony of choice?” It turned around to me and angrily glared.

”Explain!” it barked and loomed in front of my prison. We were in my body, with my soul and Changer’s floating in front of us. What was it supposed to do? Give my ghost a slap in the face?

“And if I don’t want to?” It reached out with a hoof, only to reach the same conclusion, because just it was about to strike, it lowered it again.

“You will suffer for that!” it announced as it turned back towards its problem. I didn’t know how much time was passing, but it ran up and down in front of the two globes again and again. I watched the show for a while before deciding to distract it a bit more.

“It’s not the green one,” I said and couldn’t hold back my laughter. I could basically see how the head of the creature turned red under its black coat. It rushed towards me, with the help of its wings, and came to a halt a few centimetres in front of my cage.

”Speak, worm! Which one is yours?!” Her voice did credit to the Royal Canterlot Voice. I almost was thrown against the bars. As I stood up again, I saw how heavily it was breathing and that it was about to go mad. Not matter how powerful a creature was, it wasn’t all-knowing.

“It’s the blue one,” I said cheerfully and put on a grin. It was a risky move, but if I played my cards right, it could work. Nightmare looked over the two globes and grinned.

”Oh, you ponies are such terrible liars.” Maliciously laughing, it flew through the air and approached the orange globe. The grin dropped from my face, which wasn’t easy for me. When it saw that, it touched the soul. The merging began, and slowly but steadily, it disappeared in the orange light that, in turn, was turning black now.

“Well, sucks for you that I’m not a pony, at least not by birth.” Now it was her laughter that died. It looked at me first, then back to the soul. Panic was evident in its eyes, and it released a furious shout.

The next thing I knew was that I stood back in the cage, unable to stand because I was laughing so much. This powerful creature had completely underestimated me and was fooled by one of the oldest tricks in history. But that was only one reason as for why I was laughing; the other one was that I had actually been afraid of such a complacent thing. So I was laughing a bit at myself as well.

You tricked me! Me! Nightmare! Her voice boomed through my head.

“Oh, come on, don’t be a sour loser. Not the first time that you lost, is it?” I was waiting for a reaction, but none came. I closed my eyes and saw the two souls in front of me. The one was blue as always, only slightly damaged. It had a crack, probably the damage my stay in the void had caused, or my travel between the universes. Something like that at least. Next to it was now a black one. “You know what, Nightmare? You’ll be of good use to me.”

I won’t help a human! My kind has already devoured your planet!

Now it was my turn to be surprised. How did it know that?

I can read your mind! And this soul contains a lot of knowledge, including why you are here.

Which would answer my question. It took the information from the soul it possessed, but what really proved to be a problem was that it could access my mind. Probably because the two souls were connected so that I could use it as a source for my magic.

“Then say goodnight, Nightmare.” I cut the connection from my side, and the two souls drifted apart. Immediately I felt the pressure in my head gone, and there was no longer any sign of Nightmare. “Then there only remains the problem with the exit…” I began to look around the room. I would have to swim across the lake since the only safe exit was on the other side. Since I didn’t plan to get wet, I figured that the lake could use a nice ice cover. I focused on the aggregate state, but I could only create a small ice flow. Thanks to the separation, I no longer had access to my second magic source. Angrily, I shot a rock into the water with my hoof and began to look for something which I could use as a paddle. Behind me was a thin stalagmite, which was now being separated from its socket, and together with the stone, I jumped onto the small flow. “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the steam. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” With the stalagmite as a paddle that was held by my magic, I slowly crossed the lake. My hope was that I wasn’t too deep in the mountain and would find an exit soon.

Trixie hadn’t found sleep during the second night, or at least not much. She was scared. Scared for Light, but also how Princess Luna would punish her. Putting her in a dungeon? Banishing her? Or putting her in a dungeon in the place she would banish her to? She had no idea. Uneasily, she paced up and down the Captain’s cabin. It was her turn to watch the prisoners, who still remained silent. The ship was rather small and didn’t really have a place for prisoners, so this room was used for that. The feathered enemies were still trapped in her spell, which was remarkable. This old magic didn’t need to be renewed or maintained; it worked as long as the caster desired it. The drawbacks were a long casting time and a high required amount of magical power.

“Water…,” rasped one of the griffons. They didn’t have much water on board, and despite Glimmer’s and her protest, Armor had still given the prisoners a small barrel. Trixie filled small silver mug and let it float at the beak of the prisoner. As he was halfway finished, she stopped her magic, causing a clank of the mug on the floor. “I wasn’t finished yet,” the griffon said indifferently.

“My bad,” she said snippily and put the now empty mug back to the barrel. Just because she had to keep watch didn’t mean she had to be nice. “Maybe I could concentrate better if I knew how my friend was doing.” She threw an angry look at the two awakened feathered kittens, as she liked to call the griffons, but they just snorted. Armor had told her that it would probably be better to not let them know who they made crash or taken as prisoner.

Behind her, the door opened, and Night Hawk, followed by Shooting Star, entered the cabin. Star went past Trixie and gave her a quick nod.

“Your shift is over, Trixie, let Star take over now.” She agreed with Hawk and followed her back outside. It was late afternoon and soon they would reach the city, as the ship had lost a lot of altitude already. The clouds were far above their heads already, and the large rocks of the desert almost next to them. “According to Glimmer’s calculations, we will reach Fillyburg within the next hour. Do you think you can take over Light’s part?” The town had about a hundred citizens, and they all had to be checked. Even with Light’s help, this would be a huge task, which would cost a tremendous amount of magic.

“I am Trixie! Of course Trixie can do that!” She was confident. It didn’t come from nothing that she had endured and seen so much during her life. Somehow she had always reached her goal.

The following hour she spent thinking about going to look for Light. At some point above the desert he had been thrown overboard, and without any clue, it was impossible to locate him. And that was if the griffons hadn’t taken him with them. Why hadn’t Princess Luna taught her a spell for this case? Hold on, didn’t she actually do that? Unfortunately, the spell was useless as long as the sun stood in the sky. Sullenly, she rolled in her hammock towards the wall and enjoyed the last quiet minutes of the flight.

I had to admit that I was lost. Not like that was something new, but this time it was really my own fault. Over the euphoria of capturing Nightmare, I had completely forgotten to mark the paths I had already taken, and now I had the feeling that I was running down the same path for the tenth time. Also I was more than just tired since I hadn’t slept in a while. I didn’t dare to close my eyes down here, especially since I didn’t know if my prisoner would take an advantage of that. The last time I drank something had been at the lake, and I couldn’t even remember my last meal. I had been about to eat breakfast, but then those griffons had showed up. Telling the time down here was also close to impossible, but it already had to be dark outside, meaning that I had been here for an entire day.

I groaned loudly and looked down the path that had been going on for a while now. Most of the time I heard water, meaning I was still close to the little lake. Without any clue on how deep down I was, or in which direction just about anything was, I could be stuck down here for weeks, and for that I simply didn’t have the time. My only consolation was the knowledge that this actually was a mine close to Fillyburg, as I had found the remains of a small camp recently. Next to a few empty boxes and some rusty pickaxes were some documents, bills of delivery to be exact, which listed what the town needed to run the Deep Lake Mine. I could well imagine why it was called that, as the rock down here was in dark blue shade and the never ending rushing of water could be heard through the many paths. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been a map. At least I found a lamp, which was now comfortably hanging in my mouth so that I didn’t have to levitate it. I would never really get used to transporting things this way, but there were worse things than this lamp. Somehow it tasted like having a spoon in my mouth for the entire time. I came to a crossroad again. The path in front of me split to the left and the right, and once again, I had to make a decision. My grumbling stomach, however, told me that I didn’t have much time, so I just turned to the right, though not without making a mark with my horn.

After about a minute or so, it actually went uphill, literally speaking. I was thrilled, but then came the struggle, which was rather counterproductive in my current state. Couldn’t they have built escalators in here? Slowly but steadily, I went further up and finally had the feeling of being on the right track. A torch was the first confirmation for that. It hung in a rack that was carved into the rock and was the first sign that this was the way towards the exit. With the help of the lamp, I ignited the torch, lighting up the path ahead. More could be seen in small intervals ahead of me, just waiting to show me the way. With new hope, I followed the torches and finally arrived at a tube-like room.

Aside from the entrance I had come through, the room was circular and seemed to go up for a few hundred metres. In the middle was something that was supposed to resemble an elevator, along with a rope. I put down the lantern in front of the construction, spat the taste out of my mouth, and inspected it to see if it was stable enough to transport me. The board, which resembled the elevator, looked sturdy, and the nails held the construct together nicely. The ropes, which ran together to a thick one in the middle, had seen better days, but they held the strain as I tugged at them briefly. Trying to hold up my body weight with only my neck was an invitation for unwanted pain. I levitated the lamp over to me and put it down next to me on the elevator. Slowly, I began to pull at the rope with my magic, and after a few tugs, the elevator got going. I looked down between the boards and noticed that the ground was getting smaller and smaller. If I would let go now, this would surely be my end. Good thing that I had been holding back on my magic so far.

With a small lurch, the airship landed on the sandy ground a bit outside of the town. The sun was about to go down, and soon Luna’s moon would softly illuminate the night. Then the time to search for Light would come, Trixie thought as she and the others left the ship.

“Captain Finder, you and your crew stay on the ship and keep it ready to start again. We don’t know what we may find in the town,” Shining Armor ordered the elderly pegasus. He nodded while ramming a few wooden posts into the ground to tie the Lunar to them.

“Aye, sir!” He spat the hammer out of his mouth and turned towards his waiting group. “But we need water, unless you want to fly without any for two days.” The griffons had used up a bit of the supplies, so there was only enough left for tonight.

“I told you not to give the prisoners any, Armor,” Glimmer, who had wrapped a cloth around her throat, spoke up behind him.

“Acknowledged.” With that, he turned to the two pegasi in front of him. “Star, you fly above the city and look to see what’s going on there. Hawk, you check the surroundings, I don’t want any surprises.” The two immediately flew off and went about their duties.

“I think here comes the welcoming committee.” Trixie pointed at multiple silhouettes that were quickly approaching the ship. Glimmer immediately readied her crossbow and covered her mouth with the cloth too, probably to keep the sand at bay. Shining Armor let his spear float over to him, which had been leaning against the ship, and readied himself for the confrontation. She could see that they were three ponies with a dust cloud in tow. Two of them were stallions, one a mare, but all were unarmed. As they came into hearing range, they slowed down and approached the ship in a normal trot.

“Halt! Identify yourselves!” shouted Shining as he stood next to Trixie.

“Hey! Easy there… I’m mayor Silver Digger,” spoke the dark brown stallion with a silver mane. His cutie mark comprised of two crossed pickaxes. “This is Black Rider, chief of our militia.” He pointed at the well-built grey stallion next to him. He had a white mane, and his cutie mark was some silvery machine that Trixie couldn’t identify. He had a couple of scars, and his green eyes inspected Glimmer, Armor, and Trixie, just like Armor was inspecting them. “This lady here is Marmorette, wife of the mine’s forepony.” Her mane was a mixture of grey and white, just like her coat. Her cutie mark was a single white star with four points.

“Militia? What happened to the sheriff? We received a distress signal from him,” Armor asked, his weapon still ready.

“Unfortunately, he was one of the victims, just like our forepony, Iron Hoof. Luckily, they were the only victims of the changelings so far.” Shining Armor lowered his weapon.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I have to ask you to get yourself checked please.” The three looked at each other for a moment but then nodded. “Trixie, please?” She didn’t need to be told twice and stepped in front of Marmorette and began to cast her spell. A blue ray scanned the mare, but her image didn’t change. Trixie went over to the mayor, with the same result. She went over to the last one, Black Rider, and prepared herself for the spell.

“Get a move on!” he snapped and looked down at her.

“Watch your mouth! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! If you don’t stay quiet, I might accidently falsify the result.” She laughed once. Nopony was allowed to speak with her like that. She glanced at the stallion’s eyes. He didn’t even flinch.

“There, there, easy. Rider, please be a bit more friendly to our guests. They are here to help us,” Marmorette next to him spoke up and put a hoof on his shoulder. The stallion looked down and remained silent. Trixie checked him as well, but like the others, he was clean.

“No changelings here,” she said to Armor and Glimmer, who now lowered her crossbow as well.

“Good, now would you please tell us what happened here? We received the distress signal but haven’t heard anything from the vanguard.” Armor turned to the mayor.

“Of course. I’ll tell you everything on the way into the town.” With that, he pointed at the city, roughly two kilometres away. The Captain motioned them with his head to follow, and together they were on the way into the town.

“Don’t forget the water!” shouted Captain Finder behind them.

A few minutes passed, but then Digger began to give Armor a report. “It happened over the week ago when our workers found the first signs of changelings in the area. Some were completely exhausted and angry, like they were sucked out of their love.” The sand whipped into Trixie’s face, and she tried to use her cloak to protect herself. “Of course we took immediate action and paired all the citizens like the princess ordered. But these things seemed to have other plans, because two days later a swarm attacked our town.” The town slowly came into sight. The buildings were simple huts, made out of wood, that had been repaired a couple of times. The sand had left its mark. “Luckily, most of us could flee into the mines, aside from Iron Hoof and Sheriff Luke. They stayed back to call for help. They’ve been missing since.” With that, he ended his story.

“What happened to the vanguard?” Shining Armor asked.

“They arrived one day later, flew for the whole night. After we assured them that the changelings had moved on, we sent the poor fellas to bed,” Marmorette answered. “They slept for the first few days, but they awoke two days ago. Unfortunately, they’re still weak.”

Trixie noticed the baffled look that Glimmer shot at Armor, but he just shook his head. “Then I have to thank you for caring about my soldiers.”

“Don’t mention it, dear.”

“Were there any more sightings of changelings since?” Glimmer asked.

“No, my stallions were on lookout since. Why do you think we were out here so quickly?” Rider spoke with pride. “We are not trained soldiers, but we know how to help ourselves in times of danger.” Glimmer was about to comment on that but was hindered by Armor.

“I still have to ask that every citizen will be checked. There is the risk that some of them are changelings.” Even though his tone made it come out as a question, Trixie knew that it was an order.

“Of course, I will immediately summon everypony,” Digger assured them as they reached the town. Just like Trixie had seen from afar, the houses were in a bad condition. Many were only patched-up and looked rather sloppy. For a town full of craftponies and workers, it was rather unusual. “Until then, let me talk to Big Joe; he runs the saloon. He will surely have a room for you.”

“We have two more soldiers who are patrolling the area,” Glimmer added. Digger nodded at her comment and together they went further through the rundown town. It was evening and ponies were probably eating dinner with their families, but the town was still too empty for Trixie’s liking. If they weren’t all eating at the same time, there at least had to be the noise of playing foals or the murmurs of conversations. Something wasn’t right here, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it.

Soon they arrived at the saloon, and Digger immediately went inside without waiting for the others. Armor turned towards Glimmer. “Signal to the others where we are. We’ll meet inside.” With that, he followed Digger, and together with Black Rider, he disappeared through the swinging door of the saloon. The building seemed to consist out of multiple huts that had been pushed together and gotten a second floor. Because of that, it was the highest building in town. Glimmer put an arrow with a little capsule in her crossbow, ignited the fuse that stood out of it, before firing it straight into the sky. The arrow flew a couple of metres into the sky, only to explode in a green fireball, which now burned over their heads. Almost instantly, she saw two pegasi from different directions flying towards the signal and preparing for descent as they saw Trixie and Glimmer.

“How are things?” Glimmer asked as they both stood in front of them.

“Sand, cacti and rocks, but no signs of changelings,” the black pegasus mare said, slightly out of breath. Glimmer shot a look at Shooting Star, who just nodded.

“Good, the Captain is inside and is arranging accommodations for us. Afterwards, the mayor will gather the citizens so that they can be checked.” Both nodded and looked at the guest in their group. “This is Marmorette, wife of the forepony,” Glimmer said shortly and pointed at her. The two introduced themselves to her and were just finished before Armor, followed by Digger, Rider and a very large, muscular, brown stallion, came out of the bar. What really stood out was that his mane was cut off, for whatever reason.

“That’s Big Joe. He’s happy to let you sleep in his saloon for the duration of your stay. Also, he is part of Rider’s militia, so you can sleep peacefully.”

“As soon as we check the citizens, I’ll gladly take this offer,” Armor said, determined.

“But of course. I will take the necessary steps immediately. Please follow me to the town hall.” And with that, they got moving again. Trixie inspected Big Joe a bit more. Something about him wasn’t quite right, just like with the whole town.

I still was on this stupid elevator, slowly going upwards. The thing could go a lot faster, but that probably wasn’t a good idea. I had tried to pull fast once, which had only led to it shaking around uncontrollably. Slowly but steadily was the motto here, not necessarily one of my strengths. I was relatively lazy, but once I wanted to get something done, that would change completely. Then my patience was over. I tried to sing to kill some time, but the echo reminded me that I wasn’t that great of a singer. I had no idea how AJ had endured my ballad. What kept me busy right now was counting gemstones in the stone wall, which was quite easy given that the light of the lamp reflected on them. A diamond here, a ruby there, and from time to time, a sapphire. If I had been on Earth, I would have been a made man, as I would have only had to get them out of the stone, which would have been a simple matter with some magic. Here on Equestria, it was like finding fool’s gold. I just left them where they were; I had to consider other things. My gaze wandered up, and I thought I saw something sparkling there. Slowly but steady, it came closer, and the light of the lantern allowed me to see what it was: a rope winch. I was going to arrive soon, thank Celestia! I stepped it up a notch, ignoring the shaking, and rushed upwards.

Unfortunately, this action cost me my second lamp, which quickly disappeared in the dark shaft below me. I gulped and made my horn glow. I could see a small wooden gangplank, and soon enough I was on the same level as it. Happily, I jumped out of the elevator and let it out of my telekinesis. Immediately, I changed the source of my magic, as my soul was just too damaged for that now. Twilight had told me that it wasn’t wise to use your soul for that, even though I hadn’t felt anything particularly wrong yet. I looked around and noticed that the elevator had followed the lamp down again. With a shrug – yes, that was possible as a pony – I turned towards the exit. The first thing I noticed was the wind that blew in my direction, so I was on the same level as the exit now. With a light trot, I worked my way through the shaft and soon found the first rails, then carts, and finally daylight, or what was left of it. The shaft widened in front of me and ended in a large bulge inside a mountain. I looked at the sky and saw the sun disappearing behind the horizon, but something else got my attention. Something seemed to hanging from the ceiling. At first I thought it was bats, but they would have probably been in the mine. Only now did I realize that I hadn’t found any there, no bugs, worms, or other animals for that matter. That was probably Nightmare’s work. One of the objects moved briefly, and green slime dropped down next to me.

“Eww, what’s that?” I said as I poked with my hoof at it. It felt like this glibber I used to have as a child, only a bit more translucent. I stepped on a flat piece of rock and let it, and me with it, shoot towards the ceiling. It was about fifteen metres up to the ceiling, but my pillar was wide enough that I could ignore that.

In front of me hung green rolled-up leaves, or at least something resembling that. Out of many of them dropped the same green slime. There were hundreds. Carefully, I touched one of it, and it fell to the ground where it shattered. “Whoa!” I shrunk back and looked down. “That could have been me…” I looked around again and found one of the leaves that was still closed. I lowered my pillar, moved below my discovery, and created a new one. Curiously, I inspected it, and somehow it seemed to pulsate, almost like it was alive. I couldn’t resist and touched the thing carefully. It didn’t go to the ground like its predecessor but instead burst open. I saw one of the most disgusting creatures I had ever seen. It was like a pony but not. Parts of it were covered by black, leathery skin. It had thin, insect-like wings wrapped around it and a horn, which seemed to be broken, protruding out of its head. The eyes were replaced by those of insects and consisted out of green facets. The remains of a green mane could be seen on its back as it hung there lifelessly.

“What’s that?” Just as the question escaped my lips, the thing sprung to life and hissed and screamed like crazy. Sharp, long fangs came out of its mouth and began to snap at me. I quickly took a step back, but it tried to follow me. The green slime that kept it on the ceiling gave way, and it immediately fell towards the ground. It tried to unfold its wings, but it was too late. With a thud, the creature landed on the hard ground and remained there, motionless. Again I lowered the pillar and went over to the remains of the strange creature. A mixture of yellow goo and blood covered the floor around it. I took a closer look and then it hit me. Without the fur, this thing fitted the description of a changeling from Twilight’s report.

Suddenly, a familiar pressure returned to my head and made my ears ring. I closed my eyes, concentrated, and saw that Nightmare as it tried to connect its soul with mine. At first I hesitated, but then let it happen, as I wanted to know what it wanted.

Run, you worm, or do you want to end up like this?

“What do you mean, Nightmare?” I asked in return. I tried to keep my head as blank as possible so it couldn’t get any information.

This is a changeling hive! If these creatures find you here, they will devour your body, and your soul will be lost. It was strange to hear my own voice in such a threatening tone in my head.

“May I ask why you are warning me? That would surely only be to your advantage, wouldn’t it?” I didn’t trust that thing one metre, not even a millimetre.

If your body gets into their hooves, it is useless to me, so run, you worm. That seemed plausible enough, so I turned towards the exit but was stopped by a screech. The changeling was apparently not dead yet and now writhed in pain on the ground. I turned around and thought about what I could do.

Leave that soulless creature to its destiny.

“The same thing counts for you, doesn’t it?” With that, Nightmare was silent as I leaned over the changeling who writhed in pain. I readied a spell for a magical projectile and took a few steps back. I had never before in my life killed, except from the obligatory fly, but this was a feeling and possibly thinking creature. I closed my eyes and fired the magical ball, and immediately the screams died. Quickly, I turned around and headed towards the exit, out into the desert in front of me.

Trixie was exhausted to say the least. A bit over a hundred citizens, stallions, mares, and foals she had checked, but they all were clean. No changelings were hiding amongst the villagers. After the town square had cleared itself again, she and the others had gone back into the saloon to discuss the situation. Glimmer had gone ahead to get the vanguard out of the hospital, and Shining Armor had just readied a map on the table.

“This is Fillyburg.” He pointed at a small dot directly in front of a mountain chain. “If the changelings overrun the city in such numbers, they must have a hive nearby.” He went with a pen over the map and marked an area, around thirty kilometres away from the city. “Where are your mines?” he turned towards Bone Digger, brother of the mayor and owner of the local book store. He was a hobby archaeologist, and according to the mayor, knew the area like the back of his hoof. He was a white unicorn with a red mane and a scruffy beard.

“The mines are here, here, and here.” He pointed at three different points near the city, and Shining marked them with his pen.

“Any other caves or abandoned mines?” Trixie took a closer look at the map and tried to find anything that looked like that.

“There are two old caves, here and here. We don’t have any abandoned mines yet.” Trixie followed his hoof and found a cove in the mountain, which could be a cave.

“What’s that?” She pointed at her discovery and looked over at Bone. He looked at it a bit closer and laughed.

“That’s only a little bump in the mountain, not enough to even throw a shadow.” Shining Armor didn’t bother at the comment and marked the place anyways.

“Is that all?” he asked the two Digger brothers, and both nodded. “Good, Trixie and I will take the mines around the town tomorrow. Star, you and Hawk split up and inspect the caves and this cove.” Both nodded. “Glimmer will stay in the town. She will fill up the water on the Lunar and lock the griffons up somewhere here.” With that, he stood up and rolled up the map. “Thank you for your time, sirs. You may go now,” he said to the two guests, who stood up now as well.

“It was a pleasure,” the mayor said and left the bar together with his brother. Big Joe looked at the group as they all followed Shining Armor upstairs and into his room. He locked the door and put a shield over it.

“Listen up. Something’s wrong here, and I want to know what. Be on guard and report everything you see tomorrow, no matter how minor.” Everypony nodded. Trixie was relieved that she wasn’t the only one who noticed that something was off. “I don’t trust any of them farther than I can throw them. I’ll tell Glimmer as well once she gets back. Until then, you can rest, but not too much. Don’t get ambushed in your sleeps.” Star and Hawk saluted, and Armor dropped the shield. The two left the room, leaving Trixie alone with him.

“Armor, I’m going to search for Light now,” she said and moved towards the door.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? I can’t stop you at this point – you are a civilian,” he said with a tone that almost sounded like worry.

“I have the right spell to find him.” With that, she left the door and let the door fall into the lock behind her.

Author's Notes:

New chapter, yay ^^

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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