Chapter 17

The Heart of the Matter

Preston’s eyes widened as he watched the crowd from the parade begin to disseminate throughout the town. For hours upon hours, Preston had been studying their culture, but that wild display of pageantry had provided him with every answer he needed, as well as some that he didn’t. Not only did it explain everything, but it also alerted him that the Elements of Harmony had found this place as well. In any other situation, Preston would have made a heroic dive to save Twilight Sparkle, but after seeing what must have been the queen of these insect-like creatures, he couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t a cleverly designed trap. Had that been the real one, or was that display simply part of the parade?

It was only after the fact that he realized what was going on. Changelings. Every single pony in this town was a changeling! The epiphany still left him breathless, all the while trying to remain calm and blend in with the odd ponies around him, but his reporter instincts kept him from losing face. If he hadn’t been spotted yet, it meant that changelings did not have the innate ability to spot other changelings at sight, which could be useful information later.

Swallowing air, Preston weighed his options. The changelings had all panicked when they realized that the Twilight on the float was the real one, but none of them appeared to be afraid. It was strange, but considering the way that the parade had played out, they seemed to revere the Elements of Harmony instead of fear them.

Feeling a sudden rush of excitement, Preston smiled to himself. He’d never had any inclinations to be a storybook hero, not like Page or Nightowl, but he couldn’t deny the appeal of being famous. If the changelings were holding the Elements of Harmony captive, he could swoop in, free them, and expose this wretched place to the outside world, effectively saving Equestria and getting the world’s biggest scoop since the appearance of Nightmare Moon!

The parade had explained everything that Preston needed to know, putting a spring in his trot as he calmly slid through the crowd of imposters. He didn’t have to worry about standing out, since changelings could appear as anypony, so it made sense that he’d been able to move about the town undetected for such a long time. It also explained his most recent finding.

As Preston approached one of the houses lining the crowded street, he paused, momentarily losing his cool. The door to one of the houses was propped slightly open. On his way out to see the parade, Preston had been sure to close it after tying up his prisoner, but what if it had gotten loose?

Trying to contain his panic, the stallion slipped in through the door with his camera at the ready in case he needed to blind the creature. Surprisingly, his captive was still sitting quietly, tied up to one of the table legs with a length of rope.

“Let me go already!” Twilight Sparkle barked as she wiggled around in her ropes, glaring darkly in Preston’s direction. “The princess is going to kill me if I miss her welcoming ceremony!”

“Sorry,” Preston chuckled dryly, shutting the door behind him, “but the princess is a no-show. After all, you’re not really Twilight, are ya?”

“Of course not! Ugh, what is your problem? Playing pranks is one thing, but you’re taking an illegal form, you know! You’d better switch back before I have you arrested.”

Blinking, Preston debated playing along with the charade. The pony tied to the table wasn’t really Twilight Sparkle, which was a relief, but apparently it thought that he was a changeling as well. At this point, there was nothing to be gained from pretending to be one of those awful creatures, so Preston decided to make his move.

“Illegal form, eh?” he asked with a grin, closing the distance between them. Part of him still wished that he didn’t have to resort to using such barbaric tactics of getting information, but this was for Red’s sake, not his own. He could wallow in self-loathing later. “Sorry, bug-eyes, but I’m the real deal. And if you wouldn’t mind hanging tight for a bit, I’ve got a few questions to ask ya.”

The once fidgety changeling froze, eyes wide. It was disconcerting to see Twilight Sparkle look afraid, but Preston tried not to let it bother him.

“Now,” he continued, “I’d like you to start telling me about how—”

“H-help me!” Twilight’s imposter cried out, frantically kicking to try and free itself.

Amidst the din that the creature was making, Preston heard something else in the house. Preston heard a single hoofstep resound from one of the other rooms, so he instinctively readied his camera in the direction he heard the sound from. He had nearly forgotten about the open door. Somepony else must have come in during the parade and tried to free the changeling!

“Preston?! What the hay are you doing here?”

Lowering his guard, Preston peeked around his camera as the hoofsteps became louder. The voice that had called out matched the figure that stood in the doorway at the far end of the room.

“Page!” he exclaimed, both out of surprise and fear. If Page was here, assuming she was the real one, it meant that all of the other ponies had probably arrived as well.

“Preston, what in the name of Equestria do you think you’re doing?” she scolded, stomping towards the terrified imitation of Twilight. “We’re here to help the Elements, not—”

“Didn’t you hear that thing just now?” Preston shouted, interrupting Page before she could get any closer. “This this isn’t Twilight Sparkle! This is a changeling, just like all of the other ponies out there.”

“Okay, now I know you’ve lost it,” the sky-blue pegasus sighed, looking cross. “Look, I know we haven’t always gotten along, but I refuse to believe you’re working with them. You can’t expect me to believe that I’ve been guarding a city of changelings all these years!”

“That’s exactly what I expect,” Preston replied calmly. “I’ve got the pictures to prove it, but I don’t have the time to set up a room to develop them. I assume you’ve been listening in this whole time, right?”

Page stood speechless, her eyes darting between the only other ponies in the room. Preston had never understood what her problem had been, since the mare regarded him with caution and scorn most of the time. She was used to Preston the pushover, the stallion he had become since he left Baltimare, but now she had to deal with who he used to be: Preston, the ruthless reporter.

Thankfully, Preston’s captive creature decided to give up the act. In a sudden flash of blinding green flames, Twilight Sparkle had become a nauseatingly green unicorn mare, complete with a cutie mark that looked like a mask.

The sudden change must have caught Page by surprise, seeing as she immediately began hovering above the ground as soon as the emerald flames dissipated, but Preston had to admit that he was stunned as well. Why had this creature changed into another pony instead of reverting to how changelings were supposed to look?

“Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me!” Page cried, eyes wide. “This is what I’ve been guarding? This is what I’ve been I’ve been staying up all night to protect?!”

“Calm down,” Preston ordered, hoping that they wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention. “If you actually want to have those questions answered, then shut your trap. Time’s ticking, and we’ve got everything we need right here.”

Page stiffened, more out of surprise than irritation. She probably wasn’t used to hearing Preston talk like that, but he didn’t have time to deal with her at the moment. Twilight had been taken by the queen, so they didn’t have much time to figure things out before they made their move. Preston felt horrible for talking to her like that, but his determination to save Red kept him from losing his focus. He’d go to whatever lengths were necessary to save his friend, which was why he’d left everypony behind to search for Eccondale in the first place.

There was no more room for hesitation. This nasty creature was going to tell him everything it knew, whether it liked it or not.

“Alright, little miss Changeling, start talkin’.”

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Twilight, still reeling from the realization that Cadance and her big brother had been captured, nearly overlooked the fact that she was talking to the one creature that could have all of the answers she’d been looking for. Snapping herself out of her daze, she knocked against the stone wall to try and get the changeling’s attention again.

“Hey,” Twilight whispered gently. The creature in the other cell still sounded like it was sobbing. “What’s done is done, okay? You seem like a nice, er, thing, so I’m pretty sure you didn’t do it on purpose. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here.”

Thankfully, her soothing seemed to work, as the creature quieted down almost immediately. “We can’t,” it mumbled. Despite the odd sound to its voice, Twilight could still distinctly pick out emotions. “There’s nothing I can do anyway.”

“You’re a changeling!” Twilight insisted, failing to hide the urgency in her voice. “Can’t you just morph into something that can fit through the bars?”

“That’s not how it works!” the creature shouted, making Twilight wonder if she had offended it somehow. “Why can’t you be as smart as I thought you were? If we could do that, Canterlot would be in ashes by now.”

For some reason, it felt like the subject of the Canterlot invasion was a sore subject, so Twilight avoided mentioning it again. “S-sorry, I’ll admit I don’t know the first thing about changelings,” she stammered. If she could get it to start talking, there was a chance she would figure out a way to escape. “But you could start by telling me about yourself. Is that okay?”

There was a pause from the other cell before Twilight got her answer. “I guess you’re right,” it mumbled. “There’s nothing I can do to make things worse, after all.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Twilight urged, wondering what Pinkie would do in this situation. “Now, let’s turn that frown upside down and have ourselves a little storytime, just like you used to do with Page. How does that sound?”

After a few sniffles, the changeling quieted down. “S-sure. Just ask away and I’ll answer.”

Sighing with relief, Twilight began with the first thing that came to her mind. “Okay, first question. Why is everybody out there—”

“Everypony,” the creature interrupted politely.

“Wait, everypony? If we go by the Websaddle’s dictionary, everypony is a pronoun to be used if all parties involved are ponies, but if there is another race involved, like a gryphon, everybody becomes the correct pronoun. So why—”

“We’re ponies!” the creature blurted out, causing Twilight to jump back. “We’re just... different. That’s all.”

Already fascinated, Twilight continued, careful not to step on any more touchy subjects. “Okay, I apologize. So, why does everypony in town appear as a normal.... I mean, as a pony?”

“That form you saw in Canterlot? It’s shameful to be seen like that. We’re born like that, so being seen like that would be like being seen in Everdale wearing a foal’s bonnet and a pacifier. Then we grow up and choose who we want to be.”

Twilight almost asked why they had appeared like that when attacked Canterlot, but she stopped herself. If she brought up a difficult topic like that, she might lose her opportunity to learn more about these creatures. “I guess that makes sense,” she mused, trying to pick her questions carefully. “Okay, so adopting another form would be the equivalent of getting a cutie mark in our society, right?”

“Wow,” the changeling whispered quietly. “You catch on quick. Foals remain hidden away until they discover a talent or occupation they enjoy, and that’s when they choose a form. I guess it would be like choosing a costume for Nightmare Night, something to make you stand out, but this is for life. Once you adopt this new life, you choose a name to go along with it, and you are introduced to society. This takes the place of what you call birthdays, actually.”

Trying to control her sudden fascination with the subject, Twilight tried to establish a better connection with the creature to get it to open up even more. “Okay then, what about you? What name did you choose? Or actually, why aren’t you in that form right now?”

“That’s part of my punishment,” the changeling grumbled, sounding like it was fighting back tears again. Could changelings even cry? “I’m not allowed to take any other form for the rest of my life. It’s the worst punishment we can receive. It’s like invalidating our entire life, leaving us with nothing! I have no personality, no talent, nothing at all!”

“Don’t tell me you actually believe that!” Twilight countered, interrupting the creature before it could get any further. “Do you honestly think that you’re nothing but a made up character? Who came up with that character anyway? It was you, somepony who has a special talent and wants to show everypony how unique you are. You may not be able to show it, but you’re still yourself, right?”

Originally, Twilight had only intended to form a false bond with the changeling in order to get answers out of it, but she found herself caring more than she thought she would. After all, this was Nightowl, the pony that had fit in perfectly with the rest of Everdale. If this wasn’t a pony, Twilight didn’t know what was.

When the changeling didn’t respond, Twilight pushed further. “Fine then, tell me about yourself. You decided to be Nightowl, right? What made you choose that name?”

“That’s not me,” the creature whispered hoarsely. “I was assigned to replace him and make sure that Everdale didn’t break our agreement.”

“W-wait,” Twilight stammered, suddenly growing hesitant. “What about the real Nightowl? What happened to him?”

“He’s okay... but not for long.” The changeling sounded genuinely worried. “It’s all my fault! At least I managed to protect the other two....”

Nibbling at her lower lip, Twilight quickly put the pieces together. She knew exactly when Nightowl had been replaced, which answered quite a lot of questions, as well as who the “other two” were.

“I think I understand,” Twilight sighed. “So you helped her escape, right? But how did you convince them to only replace Nightowl?”

“You really do catch on quick,” the creature sighed softly. “You’re right. I convinced them not to replace Page, even though the agreement with Everdale involved assigning two changelings to the nightwatch as a safety precaution.”

“Wait, that means—”

“Yeah. Dotted Line, the old mayor, was the first to break the agreement with us. It all started when he appointed Nightowl to be the nightwatch, breaking the agreement and justifying himself by saying that he was only making sure that everypony was safe.”

Hesitant, Twilight tried to get some clarification. “Before you go any further, what was this agreement about? How did it come about?”

“It’s a long story,” the creature remarked quietly. “I’ll be brief about it. This city was originally founded just over one thousand years ago, according to Princess Chrysalis. We managed to remain hidden, since nopony dared venture into the Everfree Forest, but then little towns started popping up. Everdale was the closest, originally founded by pegasi in an attempt to make it possible to fly over the Everfree to deliver mail. The mailpony would fly from Everdale to Ponyville, providing stops on both ends of the forest in case of an emergency. But, you see, Everdale was much too close to our city.”

Trying to assimilate all of the information, Twilight nodded. “And when was this?”

“My grandfather was around for its founding, but I don’t know the exact year. Either way, Princess Chrysalis went with an embassy of changelings in order to keep our city a secret, and there was a big feast. The first mayor made a deal with us, made by the popular vote of the ponies in Everdale. They would establish a nightwatch of changelings to keep the secret safe, and in return, Everdale would allow a few willing ponies to provide food for us. With this agreement, we would no longer have to venture out and replace other ponies for feeding, which makes me nauseous just thinking about it.”

This was... amazing! Not only did this creature think that changeling feeding was sickening, but it explained why Twilight had never heard of a changeling attack until Canterlot. It was almost like a certain Equestrian holiday where the ponies and zebras shared a feast together in a show of goodwill, but that hadn’t ended well.

“So what happened to the agreement?” Twilight asked, even though she was almost positive of the answer.

“Dotted Line broke it with the nightwatch, so we planned to replace both by force. When we took Nightowl, all he cared about was whether or not Page would be safe. He was so strong that we had trouble keeping a hold on him, but he agreed to go along quietly if Page remained unharmed. I’d never thought that ponies could be so selfless before, since Dotted Line was the exact opposite, but it was kind of touching.... Either way, Dotted Line ordered that nopony in Everdale could tell their children about the changelings and stopped sending ponies over to feed us, cutting off our only source of food! I was there when Princess Chrysalis told us about it.... We were furious.”

Twilight almost asked where Nightowl was at the moment, but she tried to focus her questions on leading the conversation forward. “So Dotted Line was the most recent mayor, right?”

“Right,” the creature explained. “In the end, only he and Red knew that the changelings existed, since she was his secretary. Then....”

As the changeling trailed off, Twilight tried to finish his story for him. “Then you started replacing the townsponies one by one, starting with Dotted Line, right?”

“Actually... no. Because none of us had fed upon an unwilling pony for years, we were left with no way to get food. Princess Chrysalis tried to strike a deal with Dotted Line, leaving the nightwatch out of it, but after nearly 10 years of nearly starving, we were pushed to the breaking point. We were trying to remain peaceful, but in the end... even Princess Chrysalis gave in to the Heart.”

Twilight was already stunned from the realizations thus far, but there was no time for her to sit around and think. “The Heart? What’s that? Some kind of sickness?”

“Almost. Do you know why the Everfree Forest is the only place in Equestria that cannot be controlled? It all stems out from deep underground, beneath the spire in the middle of the city. I don’t know much about it, but Princess Chrysalis tells us that it flares the emotions of those around it, allowing us to feed our entire city without causing permanent damage to anypony. I’ve never seen it myself, but Princess Chrysalis calls it the Heart of Equestria, and that it’s responsible for the Everfree Forest being the way it is.”

This was all too much to take in. Changelings being peaceful? The Heart of Equestria? This was the discovery of a lifetime, but regrettably, there was no time to focus on a detailed interview. That would have to wait. It was strange, but Twilight suddenly became aware that her own emotions seemed unnaturally pronounced, everything from her empathy for the creature to her worry over her friends.

Shuddering at the thought of controlling a pony’s emotions, Twilight shook her head. “So, if the Heart of Equestria increases everypony’s emotions, does it affect you too?” she asked curiously, starting to become worried.

“Yeah,” the changeling responded softly. “After 10 years of starving, Princess Chrysalis finally gave in and told us that we had to find somewhere else to feed in order to survive. She hatched the plan to attack Canterlot and we all followed, thinking that all ponies out there were like Dotted Line. But in the end, we even failed at that. Many of us... lost our families once we got separated, since only a few of us found our way back home....”

Twilight could imagine how the rest of the story went, but she didn’t want to push this poor creature any further. It sounded like it was on the verge of having a mental breakdown, which was understandable considering what this city had gone through. After their defeat at Canterlot, they must have finally acted against Dotted Line, replacing him and demanding that their agreements be met.

Trying to change the subject, Twilight knocked on the wall again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered gently. “I’m sorry for what we did at Canterlot, but we had no choice. But why did you attack us in that bug-ish form like that? I saw your queen imitate an alicorn, so why didn’t the rest of you do that? If you were all alicorns, you could have easily taken over the entire city!”

“That’s not how it works!” the creature shouted again, growing upset. “Only Princess Chrysalis can become an alicorn. It’s blasphemy for any of us to imitate alicorns! Even then, we remained in our foal-like states to appear more threatening, but even if we change forms, we can’t exceed our natural limits. If I were to change into a unicorn, I wouldn’t be any more powerful than I am right now. Even if I were to imitate you, I would not gain your magical talents, only the potential for it. If you take the place of an existing pony, you can’t be stronger than they are. The only one who can do that is the princess, but she almost never changes her form.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked, trying to keep the conversation going. “Chrysalis must be extremely powerful, if she can imitate an alicorn’s power, so why wouldn’t she do that more often?”

“It’s a symbol of her eternal youth,” the changeling explained. “She has the appearance of our original, foal-like states, but she has more wisdom than all of us combined. For her to change form is a serious occasion.”

“Wait, but she took the form of Princess Cadance in the parade! Actually, tell me about that whole pageant thing. It happened when I first arrived here, showing something with the Elements of Harmony. I imagine you know something about it?”

“Of course! We revere you guys, you know. Friendship stirs up so many emotions, making them stronger, but instead of leeching off of them, you six turn them into magic! Every single one of us wants to be one of you, so it’s a huge honor to play you in Princess Chrysalis’ return ceremony.”

“Return ceremony?” Twilight echoed.

“Exactly,” the creature responded, sounding more and more energetic by the second. Talking about the Elements of Harmony had really cheered it up. “It’s celebrated in order to mark Princess Chrysalis’ return from the outside world! It’s a big deal to everypony here, but—”

“That settles it,” Twilight stated firmly, kicking the ground in frustration. If that parade was celebrating Chrysalis’ return to the city, it meant that Chrysalis had been one of the seven ponies in Twilight’s group. The thought was both encouraging and depressing, seeing as it narrowed down the possibilities, but it still proved that Twilight had been completely fooled by an imposter.

“Look, there’s one last thing I need to clear up,” she sighed heavily, hoping for some clarification. “How do Chrysalis’ powers differ from yours?”

The creature caught on to Twilight’s frustration and tried to offset it with its own enthusiasm. “The princess is extremely powerful with magic, even if she hasn’t drained it from anypony,” the creature began, sounding like he was bragging on her behalf. “But her ability to change forms is no different than mine. She can only transform into other ponies, but she can ignore the limits on magic or strength that they may have.”

With a sigh, Twilight lowered her head. That proved that Chrysalis could not have changed into a cockatrice, yet again forcing Twilight to accept that she hadn’t recognized that one of her friends had been replaced. “Thanks, Nightowl,” she mumbled apathetically, heart sinking into her stomach.

“My name... isn’t Nightowl. The name that I chose was Skylight Dreamer.”

Skylight Dreamer? Twilight hadn’t thought of changelings as having names, but the idea seemed like an obvious one after learning so much about them. “Why?” Twilight asked curiously. “What’s your talent?”

There was a hesitation from the other side of the rock wall. “It’s because I always dreamed about seeing the outside world. I wanted to live a normal life like a normal stallion, so I chose to be an earth pony, the most noble of all of them, but it doesn’t make a difference anymore. Skylight Dreamer doesn’t exist. That’s my punishment, after all. The worst punishment is to strip us of our names and forms, invalidating our entire lives. I deserve it anyway. I shouldn’t even exist.”

“Really? You don't exist anymore? Skylight Dreamer doesn’t exist anymore? Then who am I talking to right now?”

Skylight didn’t respond.

“I’m talking to Skylight Dreamer, a noble changeling, that’s who. You had the choice to become anything you wanted, but you still chose to become an earth pony. Instead of asking for magic or a pair of wings, you asked for neither. Skylight Dreamer doesn’t need any of these things. If I were in the same situation, I don’t think I would have been able to make that choice.”

“You...?” Skylight whispered. “Th-the Element of Magic herself? I don’t know what to—”

“I’m nothing special,” Twilight interjected. “I’m just a unicorn who’s lucky enough to have the best friends in the world. If there was an element for humility, you’d be the first in line for it.”

Twilight smiled warmly to herself as she heard the creature — no, Skylight — sob quietly in his cell. “Skylight, I can’t imagine you as an evil pony, so I have to know the truth. What happened back in Everdale? Why did you decide to take Page along with the others? I thought it was part of the deal that Page wouldn’t be replaced.”

The sobbing in the other cell only seemed to get louder. Twilight had spent this entire time asking about the changeling society, but now it was time to figure out the truth. If she could get Skylight to tell her who Chrysalis had taken the form of, there was a chance she could use it as a bargaining chip to escape.

“Sorry fillies, but it looks like storytime’s over.”

A familiar voice cut through Twilight’s thoughts, snapping her back to reality. There, on the other side of the room, stood one of the last ponies that she had expected to see.

“Caesura?!” Twilight gasped, turning to face the disheveled mare.

“Who else?” the unicorn lilted, smiling from ear to ear as she approached Twilight’s cell. “I hate to interrupt such a teary-eyed reunion, but I can’t have you learning too much from our loose-lipped friend.”

“So that’s how it is,” Twilight growled, scowling. “You’re a changeling too, aren’t you? And so is Red!”

Caesura’s smile faltered for a moment, but she burst into peals of laughter at Twilight’s accusation. “Changeling? If only!” she cackled, shaking her head. “Wouldn’t you love to be able to change forms at will? And besides, Red didn’t even help me with any of this!”

“Hold on!” Twilight hissed, narrowing her eyes. “Red admitted to being the ringleader! Why would she lie about that? And why should I trust you? You’re working with them!”

“So many assumptions, my defective detective! It’s no wonder you botched your—”

“Dear, would you kindly stop teasing our guests?” another voice interrupted.

Chrysalis quietly slipped into the room behind Caesura, giving the off-white unicorn a scolding glare. Did that mean that Red wasn’t involved at all? Was Red a changeling? And why did Chrysalis just call Twilight a guest?! Things were making less and less sense by the second.

“Fine,” Caesura scoffed, turning her nose up and making her way back to the door. “Just watch what you say around her. The foal in the other cell already told her more than he should have.”

Just as Caesura was leaving, Chyrsalis stepped aside and frowned, looking quite cross with the petulant unicorn. In fact, she looked exhausted, but still managed to call out to Caesura as she left. “I did not raise you to question your mother’s judgment!”

“What?!” Twilight shrieked, jaw left hanging open.

“Silence,” Chrysalis grumbled as she closed the door behind Caesura, her quiet voice holding significant authority despite her weary eyes. “I have not come here to bother you pointless details. I have come to tell you that Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are sharing a romantic honeymoon suite in my dungeon.”

“No!” Twilight bleated, beating the cell bars with her front hooves. “What are you going to do to them?!”

“Nothing, actually,” teased Chrysalis, a smug grin spreading across her dark features, bearing a stark contrast to the tired expression she wore a few moments ago. “I’ll have you know that we have struck a deal. Imagine that, hm? The evil queen and the pretty pink princess have made negotiations! It almost makes me want to gag.”

Blinking, Twilight began to notice a few things. If Skylight was right, Chrysalis was supposed to be called a princess, not a queen. Was Skylight lying, or was Chrysalis putting on some sort of evil villain act in an attempt to appear threatening, just like the Canterlot invasion? Whichever was true, Twilight was relieved that some kind of deal had been made.

“The deal,” Chrysalis announced grandly, “is a challenge. A game of wits with a certain violet unicorn I happen to have rotting in my holding cells. If you win, you and your friends will be set free and returned to Canterlot, no strings attached. But if I win, you and your friends will remain my captives until you are all sufficiently drained of any life you have left. It’s funny how Cadance thought it would be acceptable to gamble with your life, isn’t it?”

It sounded too good to be true, even with the horrifying possibility of losing. In fact, it was too good to be true. Twilight had nothing to negotiate with, but somehow Cadance and Shining Armor had convinced her to set up this absolutely ludicrous competition. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

“Twilight Sparkle, I would completely understand if you wanted to decline, but believe me when I say that you have no choice in the matter. You should be grateful that I am proud enough to indulge in such whimsies as this!”

Cautiously, Twilight pulled herself away from the bars of her cell, knowing that Chrysalis was right. Whether it was a trap or not, she was going to have to play along.

“Fine,” Twilight huffed. “What’s this battle of wits all about, then?”

With a triumphant laugh, the changeling queen stalked closer to Twilight’s cell, giving a predatory smirk. “Why, it’s simple!” she sung, looking all too pleased with herself as she leaned down to look Twilight in the eyes. “All you have to do is finish what you started. Your challenge is to figure out what really happened that night in the hotel. That is all.”

“That’s... it?” Twilight gasped quietly. This had to be some sort of trap! “But that’s unfair! How are we supposed to know what the truth is? You could just lie and tell me....”

As Twilight trailed off, she began to realize how this game of theirs would play out. After all, the Princess of Truth was involved with this deal.

“I see you’ve finally caught on,” Chrysalis cackled, rearing back up to her full, impressive height. “And there’s more! Consider it a handicap for me, to show my generosity. You see, while draining that worthless excuse for a princess, I discovered that I gained something more than the power of her husband’s love.”

Twilight, as much as she hated to admit it, had absolutely no idea what Chrysalis was trying to say. Why would she handicap herself? What had she gotten from Cadance? Why didn’t anything make sense anymore?!

“Twilight Sparkle, you know of her truth spell, do you not? Well, I have discovered something nearly identical to it. Now I have a spell of my own, one that may prove useful to you. Out of the goodness of my heart, I shall allow you to make good use of it in our little competition.”

Wincing, Twilight watched as Chrysalis’ jagged horn began to glow a vibrant green, radiating magical energy that would rival any of the alicorn princesses’. She hadn’t felt force like this since Chrysalis had shown her true self at the wedding, and even then she had managed to defeat Princess Celestia in an outright battle of magic.

“You see,” Chrysalis teased, lowering her head to meet Twilight at eye level again. “While Cadance’s spell may compel somepony to tell the truth....”

As she trailed off, Chrysalis, turned her head to Twilight’s left, her eyes locking on the only other changeling in the room. All of the sickly green energy rose to the tip of her crooked horn, coming to a point in a dark, inky shape. Slowly, a black heart materialized, suspended in the air between her and the changeling in the other cell.

“My spell compels them to lie.”