When Applejack turned back to look and see if Pinkie and Spike were gone, they were. Which didn't make a darned bit of sense, because she hadn't heard Pinkie's hoofsteps going anywhere, and there were no doors in the corridor anywhere near there, but she knew better than to question the ways of Pinkie Pie.
"They're off," she said to Rarity.
"Good. I'm sure Pinkie will keep Spike safe. Now to find our own way out." Rarity trotted forward confidently.
"You know where you're goin', sugarcube?"
"Well, unlike Twilight, I didn't grow up in this palace, but I did once spend an entire summer memorizing all the publicly available information on the castle architecture." She smiled wistfully. "I had an ambition to sneak into the palace and find Princess Celestia's rooms, so I could take measurements of her existing dresses. Then I was going to create the most beautiful dress any princess has ever worn and request an audience with her so I could show it to her, and she would be so amazed and thrilled with the dress that she would appoint me as Royal Dressmaker."
Applejack snorted. "And to think I thought I was overreachin' myself when I had fantasies of gettin' all the noble folk to buy my apple concoctions at the Gala."
"Oh, no, that was a perfectly reasonable idea." Rarity laughed slightly. "Even I didn't realize how strong the prejudices of the nobility would be against 'commoner' food, and I read all the fashion and lifestyle magazines from Canterlot. My idea, of course, was ridiculous, which is part of why I never actually did it; by the time I felt confident that I was skilled enough to make the princess a dress, I realized that all I'd likely accomplish by breaking and entering into her private rooms was a stay in the dungeons." She turned down another corridor. "We should avoid going out the front door. I'm a doctor and you're my escort, so what we really want is to head for the servants' entrance. Since I planned to sneak in via the servants' entrance, I'm fairly sure I know the route. Assuming things haven't been drastically rearranged in this version of the palace, which, sadly, is a possibility, considering how long Discord was running amok here."
"Let's not go borrowin' trouble. When we zapped Discord everything he did went back to normal, so you'd figure the same would've happened here. Aside of the folks that died or got hurt bad, of course, but you know what I mean."
A lone guardspony approached them, near the far end of the corridor. "Uh-oh."
"Just follow my lead," Rarity whispered.
The guardspony's eyes narrowed as he came closer. "Private, report. Who is your companion?"
"I'm Doctor Sure Stitch," Rarity said, her affected pseudo-Canterlot accent gone. Applejack raised an eyebrow. Of course she could imitate a Manehattanite accent herself, but she'd practically forgotten that Rarity was raised in Ponyville and her accent was just a put-on. "I came to the palace today for a job interview with the palace medical staff, and Private Stronghoof here was kind enough to offer to show me out after my interview. Why, this palace is practically a maze."
"Private Stronghoof? Can't say I've seen you before, soldier."
Applejack stood straight, adopting a military bearing. It wasn't hard. When they were little she and Mac used to play Royal Guardsponies, and Mac, who had fantasies of being a soldier at the time, actually knew a lot about how they were supposed to stand and salute and all that. Of course, all those dreams went up in smoke when Ma and Pa died and Mac had to be the stallion of the house, but she still remembered. "Sir, I've just enlisted last week, sir," she said in the gruff version of the Manehattan accent that Rarity had suggested to her earlier.
"Makes sense. Let me ask you, though, Private, were you actually there at the doc's interview?"
Applejack knew better than to even try to lie about that. She could lie if she carefully prepared what she was going to say ahead of time and rehearsed it, and she could say things that were misleading and partway true if she had to, like in a situation where lives were at stake � like before, when she'd told Shining Armor he could trust Rarity, not because Rarity was telling the truth but because Rarity wanted what was best for this world and everypony in it just like Shining did. But she couldn't tell a bald-faced lie if she was caught flat-hooved, not and not get caught out in it. "Sir, no, I can't say I was, sir."
"Well then. Dr. Stitch, you wouldn't mind showing me your cutie mark, would you?"
Applejack's heart sank. The lab coat was covering Rarity's cutie mark, and they'd hoped that with the color change to her mane and the glasses, that she wouldn't attract enough attention that ponies looking for Rarity would notice her. But this guardspony was clearly suspicious, and of course Rarity couldn't pass a cutie mark check.
"Of course not, Sergeant, but can I ask why? That seems like an unusual request."
"Security reasons. I can't go into details." Probably they'd discovered the empty cell, Applejack figured.
"Oh dear! Well, of course I'll cooperate! Let me just � get � this coat � oh, it's so tight." It wasn't, having been made for a stallion, but Rarity was demonstrating a great deal of difficulty shrugging out of it. "I'm sorry, Sergeant, my magic is really best optimized for cutting and stitching � that's my special talent. I'm not so good at getting this terrible thing on and off, it's such a chore. Private, would you assist me? I'm going to have to rear up to get it back off my withers." There was a slight tapping on Applejack's back legs, on her fetlocks right above her hooves.
Applejack sure hoped she was reading Rarity's signals right. All of them had heard plenty of the plots of adventure dramas from Spike's eager willingness to recount the plot of his comic books to anypony who dared ask what he was reading, and from Rainbow Dash's desire to read her favorite Daring Do parts out loud regardless of whether anypony encouraged her or not. And Applejack had been to a few adventure movies, and she figured Rarity had too, even if her preference was for romance and drama. So she hoped she knew what Rarity was setting up.
She interposed her body between Rarity and the sergeant. "Here you go, Doc, you can lean on me."
"Oh, thank you." Rarity reared up and bent her forelegs awkwardly to try to push the coat off her withers. Her mouth moved in a silent word. Now.
Applejack shifted her own balance in a second, leaning forward on her forelegs so she could put full force into Bucks McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee. They slammed into the jaw and withers of the guardspony, who'd come up behind her in his eagerness to see the "doctor's" cutie mark and confirm her identity. He went flying backward, wings flapping as he tried to right himself, but Applejack had hit too fast and with too much force, and he couldn't get enough wingpower into play in time to keep from falling backward to the floor. Rarity leaped, landed next to the fallen guard, and before he could get his wings out from under him, she kicked him in the side of the neck in what looked like a very precise strike, hitting with just the edge of her hoof. He slumped back down to the ground.
"That should stun him for a few minutes, at least," Rarity said, breathing heavily. "Oh, I'm so glad you figured out what I was suggesting, Applejack. That could have gone much worse."
"Still could. Your disguise ain't workin' and I just blew my cover. Let's run for it."
"That may be the best strategy now," Rarity agreed, and the two of them started galloping.
They passed a couple of groups of guards in pairs as they ran for the servants' entrance. Rarity avoided being challenged by yelling "Excuse me, mare in labor, I'm a doctor, let me through!" It worked because they were heading for the servants' wing.
Once they were in the servants' wing � which was slightly shabbier than the rest of the palace, but still shiny and rich-enough looking to make her Orange aunt drool, Applejack thought � Rarity picked the lock to a supply closet and ran in, gesturing at Applejack to follow. It was a large supply closet for supplies, but uncomfortably small for two grown mares. Applejack pressed up againat Rarity in the darkness of the closet as they heard the clopping of hoofsteps out in the hallway, heavy hoofsteps like the sound of stallions in armor. "They were headed this way!"
"Must be heading for the servants' entrance! Let's go!"
"They'll block it off," Applejack whispered to Rarity. "Now what?"
"Now we hope the color change spell I practiced actually works," Rarity whispered back. A light flicked on in the closet.
"You sure it's wise to have the light on like that?"
"I'm sure I can't cast a color spell in the dark," Rarity retorted. "I can't see to your other side, are there any maids' uniforms?"
"Yeah, but tiny ones. Ain't no way they're gonna fit me. You're dainty, they might do, but what's a maid doing with a guard?"
"Is there more than one?"
"Yup, looks like three or four."
"Oh, excellent. Give me just five minutes."
"Just five minutes" turned into at least fifteen, as Rarity used her emergency sewing kit to cut and slice and stitch two of the uniforms into one larger uniform and a lot of scraps, which she shoved into a mop bucket. She was doing the work above their heads, because there wasn't room to do it anywhere else. When she was done, she shuffled off her lab coat and helped Applejack remove her armor, and then, carefully because they were still tightly squashed together, used her magic to help get the maid's outfits on the both of them.
It turned out there was another problem. "That ain't coverin' my cutie mark," Applejack whispered urgently. Not that she could see � in the cramped quarters she couldn't really turn enough to see her own flank � but she could feel the air on her haunches. "Not yours neither, I'll warrant."
"A lady never leaves home without her makeup kit."
"You got a sewing kit and a makeup kit in your mane? You been taking lessons from Pinkie there?"
Rarity giggled. "It does involve something of the art of knowing how to pack very tightly."
Her horn shone, brighter than Applejack had ever seen Rarity's horn glow, her face pinched with concentration and sweat coming to the surface of her coat, everywhere. As Applejack watched, Rarity's coat turned solid light grey � including her cutie mark � and her mane, previously dyed light blue, went to a slate color. When Applejack glanced at herself, she saw that her own coat had turned a solid vermilion, almost the same color as Mac's, and her cutie mark was barely visible, having turned the same color. Her mane was now a dark orange.
"I'm glad I have you to work with, Applejack, and not Twilight or Rainbow. Getting the different color strands of the mane would be so difficult."
"You did okay with the cutie marks. Except now we're blank flanks. That's gonna stand out."
"Don't worry. I needed our cutie marks to fade so I could draw new ones on." Using mascara, she drew a yin-yang symbol on her own coat, and a wheel with spokes on Applejack's. "I haven't the faintest what these mean so hopefully nopony will ask about our cutie mark story."
"You can't just draw on cutie marks. The natural cutie mark magic fights that," Applejack said. "That's why Apple Bloom and her pals ain't never been able to fake it."
"I know. The cutie marks will break through the color spell first, and they'll do it in about fifteen to twenty minutes at best. So we don't have very much time."
"Servants' entrance is gonna be guarded."
"And that's why we will be carrying vases!" Triumphantly Rarity put a saddlebag harness on each of them, from a set of about nine or ten hanging on the wall, and crystal flower vases from an entire rack of crystal flower vases. "One of the important duties of the maids in Canterlot Palace is to keep all the vases full of fresh flowers, all the time. So if we head out the door with vases, it's unlikely anypony will even question us. We're now the entirely wrong colors to be Applejack and Rarity and we even have different cutie marks."
"For now."
"Yes. I'll hold it as long as I can but I'm no Twilight. We just have to do our best. And move quickly."
Applejack couldn't hear anypony outside. "All right, then, let's get to movin'." She pushed the door open and trotted out, checking quickly to make sure her fake cutie mark hadn't smeared as she slid past Rarity. "Still looks good."
"No-smear mascara. It's so expensive but so worth it."
Applejack had to admit she was real nervous about this plan. Depending on Rarity's magic to sew two maid's uniforms together to make a larger one that looked exactly like the real thing? That was fine, that was Rarity's thing. But Rarity doing actual spells, even color change ones? Covering a mark took serious magic, or a ton of really thick actor's makeup; she'd never much thought about it before, but ever since Apple Bloom had gotten obsessed with her cutie mark, Applejack knew more than she wanted to about the damn things, including how hard they were to fake. And Rarity's magic was all about precision, not power. Not spells, either, aside from her special gem-finding spell.
But she didn't have a better idea. "If it comes to it," she said as they trotted, as quickly as they could trot without shifting to a gallop, "can you break those vases and use the glass as weapons?"
"I can, but..." Rarity hesitated. "What lengths are we willing to go to? These stallions are loyally serving Princess Celestia, just like the ones at home. I'm quite comfortable with knocking them out if we have to, but... glass cuts. And these guardsponies don't deserve that."
"I get that, I wouldn't want you to actually cut them up. Can you bluff?"
"Not if there's another unicorn there. Nearly any guardsunicorn will be stronger than me and be able to shield."
"You just leave that to me," Applejack said. "The unicorns always underestimate the earth ponies. Not so much guard to guard, but the unicorn guards think they've got everything all tied up, dealin' with civilian earth ponies. Don't think as they'll see it coming, if they're all looking at you."
"You know that if there are very many of them, or if there are Changelings among them..."
"Then we're well and truly hosed, Rarity. You know it, I know it. But let's not borrow trouble. All we can do's the best we can do."
Rainbow opened her eyes blearily, feeling the movement of clacking wheels below her. I'm... on a train.
She tried to jerk to her feet, but failed. Her wings were tied to her sides, and her forelegs were four-hobbled, ropes tying each leg to its two closest legs so the ropes made a rectangle. Or they would, if they weren't folded under her, and she couldn't get up onto them because she couldn't stretch them away from each other far enough.
Fluttershy � her Fluttershy, the one with the dyed mane � was lying on the floor across from her, tied even more tightly. She had a rope around her muzzle � Rainbow experimented with trying to open her own mouth, and discovered that so did she � and her legs were tied to her body the same way her wings were, making it impossible for her to move without being carried. And the others � her own alternate, Fluttershy's alternate, and the alternates of Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie � were sitting on the benches of the train. They were in the two L-shaped areas directly near the doors, Rainbow and Fluttershy lying on the train floor in the space directly in front of the 1-pony wide sideways seat and the 2-pony wide long seat.
Really, that was just them being jerks. The way the benches were laid out, a single pony could lie all the way across one, or two ponies could sit on them (three if they were foals, or very friendly). There was no good reason they had to put her and Fluttershy on the floor except to be jerks.
She considered her situation. If she tried to do anything with the wind or weather in here � which would be real hard anyway with her wings tied up � the other her would notice. They hadn't, however, noticed her waking up; they were bickering with each other. If she could only use her legs... but she couldn't.
And with her mouth tied shut, she couldn't use her teeth... unless she could scrape the muzzling rope off. Which she totally could. Because unlike Fluttershy, she hadn't been tied in such a way that she couldn't use her legs at all. Probably because they knew that if they tied her in a way where they'd have to carry her, they wouldn't be able to hold her because she'd wiggle and whack them in the faces with her tail and stuff. Being an awesome stunt flyer meant being really flexible and acrobatic; she was sure she could have hurt their counterparts if they'd tried to carry her, and she was pretty sure they knew it, and that was why they tied her up so that if they helped her to her hooves, she'd be able to walk.
Which meant, if she could just roll a little sideways so she could get one hoof out from under her, she could pull off the rope on her mouth while her head was tucked down as if she was still sleeping.
So far so good. The rope was tied pretty tight, but Rainbow had a perfectly marish muzzle, short and slender like most mares had, and it was hard to get a rope to stay on a mare's muzzle unless you also tied it like a bit in her mouth, which they had not done to her. Mainly, Rainbow supposed, because they figured that even in her sleep she'd bite them. By scraping her head against the floor and her hoof against the rope, she was able to work the rope off her face.
She cracked an eye open, checking to see if her counterpart, or any of the others, had noticed. Didn't look that way. Good.
Rainbow commenced with the chewing through the rope binding her two forelegs together. First she'd get her forelegs free of each other. Then the rope on her left and right sides that bound the foreleg on that side to the hindleg. That way she'd have her forelegs free. She couldn't see how to get her mouth or her hooves down to her hindlegs without anypony noticing, but that wasn't what was important; with her forelegs free she ought to be able to pull the rope around her wings close enough to her head that she could reach it with her mouth, and if she chewed through that she was golden. Yeah, it was going to be something of a challenge to fight off replicas of four of her friends, when the fifth replica was of her and had all of her abilities, but Rainbow figured if she had the element of surprise she could take them out fast. Her other self, for starters, and then Pinkie. Rarity and Fluttershy wouldn't be as big of threats, but Applejack could be a serious concern, particularly in a train car where Rainbow couldn't maneuver as easily. So she'd just have to take all three of them out super fast.
And then a hoof yanked her head back by the mane.
"I thought I heard a munching noise!" Pinkie announced. "Look, Dashie, the other you is eating the ropes off! Hey, Other Dashie, are they yummy? Rope is made of hemp and if you put some kind of hemp in the brownies it makes you all giggly and weird and hungry but I don't know if rope hemp is the same kind! Are you going to get all giggly and weird and hungry?"
"Sounds like you eat that kind all day long, Pinkie!" the other Rainbow laughed.
"Nah, it just makes me jumpy! Which is not the same as bouncy! I like being bouncy but I don't like being jumpy!"
Her head was turned, talking to the other Rainbow. Rainbow slammed her head backwards, trying to head-butt Pinkie. Except that Pinkie noticed, even though her head was turned, and dodged it. "Woo! Gotta be careful there, Other Dashie, you almost bashed your noggin on my head!"
The other Applejack knelt down in front of Rainbow. "Look here, I know my Rainbow well enough to know you've got all kinds of crazy unrealistic fantasies about fighting your way out of here single-hoofed," she said. "So let me explain something to you plain and simple. Rarity's got a knife on your Fluttershy. You give us any grief, we slice her throat. You got that?"
Rainbow glared at her angrily, but said nothing. She was trying to think of a witty retort, but all that was coming to mind was really lame things like "You'll never get away with this" and "Oh, you think you're such a big mare," and stuff like that. Daring Do would know what to say, but Rainbow wasn't Daring Do.
"I think we should kill both of them," the other Fluttershy said. "They burned my house down! And probably they were the ones who got yours too, Rarity! Don't you agree we ought to kill them?"
"I'd love to," other Rarity said, "but it will hardly bring back my house, and if Twilight thinks they should be sent to Princess Celestia to deal with, then that is what we should properly do."
"But if you agree, and I agree, and I know Pinkie would like to try them so I'm sure she agrees�"
"This ain't a democracy, Fluttershy, shut it. We got our orders from Twilight and that's that." She tilted Rainbow's chin up painfully. "So. You understand that if you give us trouble, your Fluttershy dies? Better say yes or no, I don't take kindly to folks clammin' up when I ask them a simple question."
"Sounds to me like you're not supposed to kill either of us," Rainbow said, having finally thought of something to say. "Aren't you worried you'll get in trouble if we don't make it alive to Canterlot?"
"Hmm. That's a good point, there. Rarity, that knife of yours strong enough to saw through a wing bone?"
"Mine isn't, but I'm sure Pinkie would lend me hers."
Rainbow's eyes went wide. "So there we go, change of plans," Applejack said. "You give us any grief and we saw off your pal's wings. Ain't like she can fly worth anything so she won't be missing them too much, right?"
"Applejack, I spayed one bitch on your farm. Shut your mouth about my flying or I could go for two," the other Fluttershy said.
"Oh, like we don't all know the song. Fluttershy/can barely fly! Ain't like it's a secret, sugarcube. Besides, I'm talking about her, not you."
"If you cut off her wings can I eat them? Pegasus wings are yummy! Fluttershy's won't have a lot of meat to them like Dashie's but I'll bet they have a really delicate flavor!"
"Sure, Pinkie, if this Rainbow gives us grief we'll cut off her Fluttershy's wings and then you can have 'em to eat."
Fluttershy was hyperventilating, eyes white with terror. Rainbow said, slowly and angrily, "Fine. I'll cooperate." If they were being handed over to Celestia, then maybe they were being put with the others. And if they were going to be put with the others, then maybe it made more sense for Rainbow to lie low anyway. Let that happen, and then once she and Fluttershy were with the other four, plus Spike, well, then the fireworks would start. She could bide her time.
"Thought you'd be reasonable," Applejack said. "Now it's just another quarter hour or so before we're to Canterlot, so you lay quiet and behave yourself, and Princess Celestia will decide what's to be done about you. Who knows, maybe she'll send you home. We all know your Princess Celestia sent you here to get Discord 'cause he's useful to her for something or other; we can't fault you for doing what your princess says. We'd do the same, right girls?"
"More or less," the other Rainbow said.
"You ain't helping, Rainbow."
"I agree," the other Fluttershy said primly. "We would do the same. But that's why we have to kill them! If they're on a mission to rescue Discord, they're not going to just give up because we ask!"
"It don't sit right with me to kill mares who are just like us, just because it's convenient," Applejack said. "Maybe we toss 'em back through whatever gate they came over in and then we tell Discord to seal it up. He ain't much for listenin' to me or doin' a job right but my understanding is you've got better control over him than that, or were you lyin' about that?"
"No, I can get Discord to do anything I tell him to."
"Then there ain't no reason to kill them. But it's up to Princess Celestia."
Rainbow laid her head back down, glowering. It made more sense to stay down and let these guys hand them over to Princess Celestia, which almost certainly meant being reunited with the others, because when the six of them worked together there was no stopping them, and she'd rather fight a bunch of Changelings or Royal Guards than the opposites of her friends and herself. But the idea of lying still and letting herself remain captive burned her... and the truth was, she'd still be fighting back if it weren't for the threat to Fluttershy, and that enraged her. These mares were enough like her friends to know what a rotten move it was to threaten Fluttershy, especially when she was completely tied up and couldn't even try to defend herself. She really, really wanted to kick them in the flanks, just for that.
Well. If they could just get everypony together and escape and rescue Discord and have him do whatever smashing of chaos he was supposed to do for the whole using a tree branch to reharmonize everypony meant, that would be like kicking their flanks, except better. Like it had been better to zap Nightmare Moon out of Princess Luna and get Princess Luna back than it would have been to send her to the moon again or something. The best revenge was when you could turn the bad guys into good guys. She was still kind of iffy on how well that had worked with Discord, but for her other self and her friends' other selves, she was sure it would work.
Except wait... Twilight had had the tree branch, and Twilight had been defeated and taken captive. There had been saddlebags all over the place. Did Twilight even still have the tree branch?
Eh. No way to know. They'd have to worry about it later.
Twilight had been in Celestia's chambers for what she was fairly sure had to have been a few hours � in fact, considering that Celestia's chambers had a view of the sun in every possible position, and the tiny shadows from the near-noon sunlight had shifted to the opposite direction, she was certain of it. Celestia had ordered a great deal of food brought for lunch, and then had barely eaten any of it, whereas Twilight had hardly been able to stop herself. She was painfully stuffed now, and suspected the food had been bespelled to make her crave it, since her reaction to life-threatening stress was usually the opposite of hunger. She also thought probably the food might have been drugged to make her sleepy, but someone had underestimated the dosage needed for an alicorn � she'd had a profound urge to take a nap, at what she thought had probably been over an hour ago, but she'd kept eating, munching on the sugary sweets and the chocolate pastries to force herself to stay awake, and now the urge had passed completely. If it had been carb coma, she should be even sleepier now, but she wasn't. Celestia's poker face was too good for Twilight to be able to tell if she was disappointed or upset that Twilight hadn't fallen asleep, but she had offered Twilight a few huge plush, royal pillows with satin coverings and said that if she was feeling drowsy from her big meal, she could take a nap there. And Twilight had been tempted, but she'd also known that going to sleep in the chambers of someone who was planning to kill her was a terrible idea, so she'd laughed and said that the desserts were too good for her to nap right now.
She felt strongly that she had to pretend that she wasn't as scared as she was, that she wasn't on the alert for a chance to escape the way she was. She wanted to play the role of someone not just resigned to their fate but accepting, fully comfortable with the notion that she was supposed to die to bring Luna back. Twilight had no idea if it was working � Princess Celestia knew her better than any pony alive, better than her own mother. Only Spike, who wasn't a pony, could read her as well. Surely this Celestia could see that she was faking? But she had to do it anyway, because any tiny little bit helped, and if Celestia knew how hard Twilight was thinking about how to escape, she'd probably take some kind of steps.
But Celestia seemed to be distracted. She kept leaving the room to go talk to ponies outside, behind the thick door where Twilight couldn't hear. This had left Twilight time for experimentation. She had tried to pull her horn ring off by hoof, but it wouldn't go; the way they were designed, you needed to be able to press a thin band in the center of the ring inward to make the hooks release, otherwise you'd tear bloody furrows in the skin on your horn and quite possibly scrape the bone inside, and nearly anypony would be unable to perform magic through the pain that would cause. Hooves didn't have the dexterity to do it, and especially not with heavy metal cuffs tight around the fetlocks, disrupting her tactile telekinesis so that it was an effort to hold a teacup. Usually it would require magic to get a horn ring off; in Twilight's case, Spike could do it for her in thirty seconds or less with his delicate claw tips, but Spike wasn't here. Rarity could get it off of her also, or any other unicorn, but Rarity wasn't here either and she doubted she'd find a unicorn in this world willing to disobey Celestia.
By concentrating on the feel of the magic in her body, she'd figured out why it was there were binders on her hooves, aside from them limiting her tactile telekinesis, and why the binder on her wings was iron and not mere rope. All she'd managed to do with her wings since getting them was fly, and she hadn't done anything with earth pony magic aside from notice the magic in the Everfree a different way than before, but by trying different things in her desperation every time Celestia left the room, Twilight had figured out that without the binders on, she might be able to cast actual magic spells from her wings or hooves. It would be hellaciously difficult, almost as hard as using her hooves to remove the horn ring would be... but she could see how the principle would work, how she could slowly and carefully weave a spell with organs that weren't designed for it by holding the magical construct in place with a projection from one wing or hoof and adding more threads to the construct with the other. Just one horn could do that, of course, and could do it very quickly, but just one magical projector that wasn't a horn wouldn't be enough... but all of her limbs came in pairs, and she had six of them. If only her horn had been bound, she could have woven a spell to remove the horn ring, or maybe even to teleport.
Celestia, however, being an alicorn herself, obviously knew alicorns could do that, and had taken steps to prevent it. So Twilight had tried removing one of her cuffs, any of them. That didn't work. Her hoof wasn't compressible. If she had a really sharp sword, and the nerve to do it to herself, maybe she could cut off her hoof, slip her leg out of the binder, and rely on alicorn regeneration to restore it... except that firstly, she didn't have a sword, secondly, she wouldn't be dexterous enough with the hoof binders to cut off one of her hooves with a sword, thirdly, she'd need to do it to two hooves to be able to project magic, and fourthly, how would she ever have the concentration to weave a spell through an organ that was completely not designed for it and that she had no training in using if she was in agony from her hoof being cut off? Plus, just because her wing had healed after the other Twilight had burned a hole in it didn't mean she would heal back an entire hoof; she'd never been injured badly enough to test the extent of alicorn regeneration, and she'd never seen Celestia or Luna get hurt that badly either. And even if she had it wouldn't have mattered because they were much more powerful than she was, and for all she knew she wasn't even the kind of alicorn they were. Celestia hadn't explained much about it to her, and she'd been frankly too scared of the answer to ask if she'd suddenly become immortal.
Her wings were compressible, but that wasn't going to help; they were folded at her sides and held down with an iron strap. It wasn't unbroken iron, obviously, since that wouldn't be flexible; it was made of tightly woven, small, chain links, like chain mail armor. To pull them out from under the strap would break them, and Twilight didn't have the leverage to do that even if she could endure the pain. She tried pushing the horn ring off, reasoning that if her wing regenerated, damage to her horn would too, and that she might be able to cast even through a damaged horn since her life was at stake... but she couldn't do it. The tiny steel hooks inside the ring were just slightly itchy when she didn't move it, resting against her flesh; they were designed to bend upward, so when the ring was pushed downward or wasn't being moved at all, they only touched the skin on her horn. As soon as she started to push it up, though, the friction caused them to dig in, and the pain was blinding. Horns were very sensitive. Twilight was fairly sure she would literally pass out from the pain before she could get the ring off; just pushing it up a couple of millimeters had caused a stabbing agony, and then another millimeter or two and it had felt like she was being skinned alive. She'd stopped, suddenly nauseous and shaking, waves of hot and cold washing over her from shock for a few minutes before she'd recovered. If she had a friend with her who wasn't Spike or Rarity, and their lives were at stake, she could ask the friend to rip the ring off her horn and depend on her ability to regenerate to heal the damage, but she'd probably faint while her friend was doing it. By herself, the fact that she couldn't do it without fainting meant she couldn't do it at all. It would be different if she were alone in her cell, where she might have time to do it bit by bit, but then, that was probably why Celestia was keeping her in here.
So none of that was going to work. She considered jumping off the balcony. The height was dizzying, sickening, but she was more likely to survive the fall than she was to survive a ritual that pushed her soul out of her body in order to draw a dead mare's soul in. On the other hoof... if it killed her, then her death would go to waste. Twilight was fairly certain that Luna would be horrified at what this world had become, and would take steps to right the wrongs of this world... including separating the other Twilight from the Diadem of Order, because it would be obvious to her that the other Twilight was as possessed by the thing as Trixie had been by the Alicorn Amulet. If Twilight had to die... dying to restore Luna, who would help her friends get home and free Discord and do all the other things this Celestia should have done but couldn't because she'd been driven over the bend by having to kill her sister, was not the worst way she could go. And besides, even if being an alicorn meant she could survive a fall from such a height, there was no reason to believe she'd be done healing quickly enough to help her friends.
Now, as Celestia ducked out of the room yet again, Twilight got to her hooves and began searching Celestia's desk. She was fairly sure Celestia wasn't careless enough to leave the key to the shackles where Twilight could reach them, but fairly sure wasn't 100% certainty, and if Celestia was distracted enough to make a mistake like that Twilight intended to exploit it.
A letter from Spike caught her attention. She'd recognize his pawwriting anywhere. "Dear Princess Celestia, I think Twilight made a big mistake when she asked you to kill her other self and the counterparts to her friends. They didn't come here because they love chaos or something; they came because they think torture is wrong, and frankly... it is, and before our first Discord corrupted the elements, she would have thought the same. They all would have thought the same. It's not fair to kill them for being true to who they really were, before they got corrupted. And if we can ever find a way to undo the corruption, I don't want Twilight to have to live with the memory of ordering the death of ponies who are basically the same as her friends. Please don't kill them, Your Highness. Sincerely, Spike the dragon."
There was a lump in her throat. That was the alternate Spike. Who was still himself, or enough of himself that he wasn't a monster. Twilight had worried, knowing what Discord had said in the letter, that the alternate Spike had killed the alternate Discord... and everything else about this world seemed to be evil inversions of her own, with her friends actively corrupted and Celestia turned monstrous just from the horrors she'd been through. But this Spike knew that torture was wrong, and that killing innocent ponies was wrong, and was willing to stand up to the alternate Twilight to plead with Celestia to do what was right.
This must have been the letter that had arrived while they were talking, the one that Celestia had said that Spike just needed some reassurance. Twilight wondered what she'd sent back to him. "Don't worry, the only one I'm going to kill is the alternate Twilight, because that will bring Luna back to life?" No. She'd probably lied, or said something misleading.
Twilight swallowed again. She had to get free, save her friends, and rescue Discord, so they could re-harmonize the Opposition Bearers. If for no other reason than for the sake of this Spike, who despite having killed somepony, was still, clearly, Spike. Discord had mentioned that Spike obviously felt guilty and that he thought he could use that guilt to send the letter, and the letter had been sent, so presumably it had worked, but Twilight hadn't dared to hope that this Spike was still so much Spike. Discord would have to do whatever the smashing chaos thing was, if he was well enough, and then they...
...they didn't have the tree branch.
Frantically Twilight checked behind her and around her neck, but of course she didn't have her saddlebags anymore. Had she even had them when she'd fled the Everfree so she could fight her opposite out in the open, or had they slipped off her during the fight in the Everfree? Had Celestia confiscated them? Was the branch back in the Everfree or did this Celestia have it? Or had this Twilight taken it from her? Did they even know what the Tree of Harmony was? They hadn't stopped the plunder vines from destroying the Everfree � they'd had to stop them with modified parasprites-- and Twilight hadn't had a chance to see Ponyville proper, though the alternate Fluttershy's home had seemed unaffected. They certainly hadn't returned their own elements to the Tree. Was the Tree even alive, here? Was it possible to reharmonize those Elements if the Tree was dead?
It would definitely not be possible to reharmonize the Elements if they didn't have the branch. As little as she wanted to, she was going to have to ask Celestia about it. Surely, if this Celestia saw torturing Discord as a necessary evil and not a delightful revenge the way the Opposition Bearers seemed to, she could understand that the Opposition elements were wrong, and that they should be returned to harmony. She'd called them corrupted, she'd described the changes that had happened to them in negative terms � she had to be willing to let them be reharmonized. Of course, Twilight was going to have to lie to her and claim it could be done after she, Twilight, wasn't around anymore... and Celestia might know better. She'd borne the Elements too.
Abruptly a voice outside the door caught her attention. Shiny?
Twilight's ears perked up. She had definitely heard her brother's voice. She trotted to the door and pressed one ear against it. It wasn't actually bespelled to be soundproof, it was just large and heavy.
"...not allies of... cord... see why... many resources... mitted... recap... better things..."
"...ning... trust... my reasons... come clear... time..."
"...course I... princess... sis... friends. Why... committing... fort... capture... doesn't make sense."
Celestia's voice raised just slightly... which was just enough for Twilight to make it out fully. "If you trust me, Captain, then trust that I know what I'm doing. I have very good reasons to want them recaptured, by any non-lethal means necessary. Whether or not they are allies of Discord, they have admitted to coming here to rescue him. If they free him... do you truly believe he could be friends with their Fluttershy? Or that that friendship could be enough to stop him from taking revenge?"
"Why would they even come here if they didn't have some means of forcing him to come home with them? My sister isn't stupid, Your Highness, not in any universe. And I can't believe that you would be stupid in any universe, either. Why would their Princess Celestia have sent them here if they don't have some means of stopping him from taking revenge?" Shining's voice raised as well. "If they take him to their universe, then we get rid of him! And that's good! Have you seen how obsessive my poor Twiley has gotten over this? She won't come home for a visit, she says she has to guard Discord and make sure that she and her friends don't lose control over him. If he wasn't even here that would be a good thing! She might be able to start to get back to normal!"
"Shining, I very much doubt Twilight will ever be normal again," Celestia said. Her voice had gone quieter again, but now Twilight had picked up the thread of the conversation and could follow it properly. "She's suffered too much. You had Chrysalis to support you. She had no one but Spike. She is damaged in ways you can't imagine."
"Well, it can't be helping that she's obsessed with controlling Discord. It's like she's given up everything else that mattered to her. She doesn't even do research or experiments anymore."
He doesn't know, Twilight realized. Shiny doesn't know that his version of me is experimenting on Discord, that she's committing torture. But if he thought Discord had murdered Cadance, would he even care about that? And had Discord, the one from this world, murdered Cadance?
Chrysalis had gloated in private about how evil she was, how little she cared about Shining and how much she just intended to use him. How could someone who thought so highly of herself for being so terrible change enough to actually become a loving partner? It seemed to Twilight more than likely that Chrysalis was just using him again... this time without overt magical control, because she didn't need it. She just had to manipulate him the mundane, magicless way.
And then, as if summoned by Twilight's thoughts, she heard that voice again. It didn't have the chilling, insectoid reverberation that she remembered � it sounded like a normal pony voice, except that nothing about Chrysalis would ever be normal.
"You know why Twilight is obsessed with Discord, dearest," she said in a cloyingly sweet tone. Twilight's hackles stood. She was right. Chrysalis was totally fake, and Shining didn't know it. "It's all about having backup for the sun. Poor Celestia here can't manage the burden all on her own... and as wonderful as your love for me is, it doesn't make me strong enough to help her. Only one thing would do that."
"You aren't Luna," Celestia said. "You'll never be Luna, and I know that. I can't give you the love I felt for my sister, even if it would make you strong enough to help me, because you're not her and you never will be."
"And you see, Shining? That's exactly why your sister has to sacrifice herself to try to contain and control Discord. If she and her friends can make him obedient, they can make him move the sun and moon, and give Celestia a chance to heal. If he is allowed to simply return to his home... well, if Celestia can't give me the love she gave Luna, I could never have the power to move the sun myself. Or even the moon. So since Celestia is certain she can't do that, we have no choice but to use Discord."
Shining, she's lying. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. She just wants power, Twilight thought. And then an idea occurred to her, a hope she could barely believe in. She banged on the door with all of her strength. "Shining! Shining, it's me, Twilight, your sister! I'm a prisoner, Shining, Celestia's going to kill me! She wants to kill me, that's why she wants you to capture my friends!"
"...suppose you're right," Shining was saying, showing no evidence of having heard anything. "I'll find them, then. Though I really don't like this."
She heard his hoofsteps clopping on the floor, leaving. Then Chrysalis' voice. "What are you planning with her?"
"Thank you, Chrysalis. I should have realized she'd try to call out to her brother."
"I hate to do that to him. I love him." Twilight sincerely doubted that. "You owe me now for blocking his hearing. What are you planning with her?"
Celestia sounded very, very tired. "There's a third alternative."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I need you to keep this from Shining, no matter what. He... wouldn't react well to the news, I fear. Even though this isn't his sister. This is an extra Twilight, from a different universe."
"An expendable Twilight, is what I think you're saying. What are you planning, Celestia?"
"I'm going to bring Luna back. Tonight. That's why I need her friends, to be hostages. It has nothing to do with Discord; he'd never be trustworthy, and I'd rather give him a clean, swift death than what Twilight and her friends are doing to him... not so much for his sake, but for theirs. They're monsters, Chrys, and I've had to let them be monsters, because I'm not strong enough to stop them. But if I bring Luna back... she'll support me. She'll help me."
"And what becomes of me, then? And my Changelings?" Chrysalis' voice was angry, edging into shrill.
"Chrysalis. Calm yourself. With all that you've done for me and for this kingdom, I know Luna will honor and respect you as a dear friend and ally, just as I do. You are Queen of the Changelings; you will always rule over your own kind, and even with Luna, we'll still need Changeling help to rebuild, and we will for the foreseeable future. No one is shutting you out of anything."
"Would Luna have the power to walk in the dreams of Changelings, I wonder?"
"Yes, she certainly does. Why? Do you have nightmares?"
"Oh, yes. I dream of what Discord did to my hive, all the time. Even Shining's love isn't enough to save me from those memories. I would love it if Luna could help me with them."
She was lying. Why couldn't Celestia hear that? Her voice when she'd asked about Luna's abilities hadn't been hopeful, it had been the sound of somepony musing. Scheming. Her response to Celestia had been too fast, and while there was emotion in it � maybe she really did have nightmares about what Discord did to her hive � the Chrysalis who had held Cadance prisoner for months, gloating the whole time about what she would do to Cadance's love, who had taunted Cadance and Twilight both after defeating and imprisoning Twilight... that Chrysalis would be far too proud to tell Celestia she wanted help with her nightmares.
But maybe she's changed. If she's genuinely befriended ponies... if she really is in love with Shining... I don't know what happened to her, what Discord put her through. Maybe she changed. Maybe she really is sincere.
And maybe she was using the same power she'd used to keep Celestia from realizing how out of character she'd been when she'd played Cadance to keep Celestia and Shining from realizing how false she sounded. Or maybe it was just that they'd never known the dark side of her. Sure, maybe she'd changed, but why had she sounded so cloyingly sweet, far more than Cadance ever had even when she'd been at her most lovey-dovey? Why had she sounded as if she was plotting something when she talked about Luna?
She'd kept Shining from hearing Twilight's cries. All by itself, Twilight decided grimly, that qualified her as still evil. If she loved Shining, why was she collaborating with Celestia to hide things from him? Why wouldn't her first thought be for his desires and his welfare, not Celestia's?
'I'm sure she'd love to. But that's why it's so important that he recapture them. I need her cooperation; her magic has to be unbound when I perform the ritual. I have to have her friends as hostages before moonrise tonight, or I won't be able to bring Luna back."
"Why wouldn't you simply be able to do it tomorrow, if it takes that long?"
'How long before Shining realizes I'm going to sacrifice a variant of his sister? How long can Twilight keep Discord under control when her connections to her friends fray more every day, and the spells that bind him depend on those? How long am I going to have to wait, Chrysalis? I've waited so long � so very long � I knew Discord could do it, if they can break him far enough that he can be trusted with the Sun, then I could have offered him his freedom in exchange for his bringing Luna back. He wouldn't have needed to use an alicorn � any pony would do."
"You'd have given him his freedom?" Chrysalis sounded coldly angry again.
"Of course not. The ritual he'd have used would have involved using himself as the ritual sacrifice, and then bringing himself back with the pony he's restoring. He'd have been at his weakest, nearly drained of magic, when he returned. I'd have executed him cleanly, then... and by that point, considering what they're doing to him to make him obedient, he'd probably consider that a relief. Chrysalis, don't be afraid. I will never, ever let Discord wreak havoc in this world again. I promise you."
"He made five hundred lings think the Stone of Shielding was going to explode and destroy us all. They smashed themselves on it in waves, destroying our protection and killing themselves to save the hive from a threat that didn't exist. He told Nightmare Moon where we were, after I first helped you, and she brought a storm that flooded the hive and drowned dozens. When we moved, he convinced another hundred of my children that an active volcano was the new location of the hive, and they flew into the lava and died. He made a full fifth of my Changelings starve to death slowly, because even I couldn't look on them without disgust and repulsion any more, and I couldn't bring myself to let them share in the love, and neither could any other Changeling."
That was real emotion in her voice. Twilight realized she couldn't make the mistake of believing Chrysalis was completely evil. She really did care about her changelings. Just not anypony else.
"I know all this, Chrysalis."
"So you will understand this, Celestia. If you allow Discord to get free, I will not help you. I will not save you. I will not fight for you. This Discord doesn't have any history of conflict with us. He doesn't know we are enemies. I will withdraw all of my Changelings and watch as your nation falls to chaos, and I will do nothing."
"That... is understandable. Even advisable. If you needn't make an enemy of Discord, then don't. But he won't get free again. I promise." A rustling sound. "I need to return to my guest. She's Twilight; I can't underestimate her cleverness. I need to keep watch over her, personally."
"All right. I won't let Shining know."
Quickly Twilight sat back down and stuffed another pastry into her face. The door opened. "I'm sorry I was called away for so long," Celestia said.
"This is so good, Princess," Twilight moaned. "Could you get somepony to bring me some potions for digestion or something? I'm sooo full but I can't stop eating, it's so good!"
"Of course I will," Celestia said, her smile turning genuine, even tender. It was working, Twilight thought. She had no idea that Twilight had been listening at the door.
"As I'm sure you just heard, two of your friends did manage to trick our guards and escape. Shining Armor is putting all patrols on alert to recapture them, and Chrysalis is lending us changeling troops to assist, so I fully expect them to be recaptured within an hour," Celestia said, and Twilight's heart sank. Stupid! Of course she knew Twilight had been listening at the door, because Twilight had banged on it and yelled, and Shining Armor was the only one who hadn't heard. "However, we still have two in custody, and I've just been informed that the two pegasi have been captured near Ponyville and are being brought here. So if a few of you do manage to get away, please do remember that the others are still here. I would certainly rather not harm them, and I hope you don't force me to."
Twilight sighed deeply, dropping the pastry. "I already said I'd cooperate. I understand why you need to bring Luna back. As long as you honor our bargain and let my friends take Discord home. I know you had to tell Chrysalis you'd kill him because the other him really did some terrible things to her and her Changelings, but I know you were lying to her, because you promised me and you won't go back on your promises. I know that."
Celestia nodded, smiling. "That's exactly right, Twilight. I'm always impressed by how clever you are. Yes, once I let your friends go, I'll also have Discord released into their custody."
She was lying. Twilight knew that. Her own Celestia never lied, not to her, but she'd seen Celestia's expression stiffen into a mask before, as she dealt with nobles with idiotic requests and diplomats who postured as if ponies were weak, in front of the immortal mare who raised the sun. It was a very, very lifelike mask. If Twilight hadn't grown up with Celestia it might even fool her.
But then, Twilight was lying too. She'd said what she'd said about knowing Celestia would keep her promise precisely so she could see Celestia's face when Celestia answered her. And also because she knew Celestia would know that if she overheard everything else she overheard Celestia saying she would kill Discord. She had to lull this Celestia into complacency by making believe she was more or less willingly cooperating with the plan, and so she had to make Celestia believe that she believed that her cooperation would win Discord's freedom as well.
"That's all I needed to hear," Twilight said. "I don't want to die, but... it's not fair for Luna to be dead, and she's more important than I am. And my friends are everything to me. So I'll cooperate."
She said it while looking down, picking at her pastry, so that if she herself had any tells, Celestia wouldn't see them and know she was lying, too.
The trip through the servants' quarters and out the door was almost anticlimactic, Rarity thought. She'd been terrified of a sudden challenge at any point, but no guard did anything other than smile and nod at them, perhaps say, "Have a nice day, ladies," or "Pick some red ones!" This was great, especially since she didn't know how long she could hold the spell.
Rarity didn't do spells. Her gem-finding spell had appeared to her, unbidden, and while she might have somewhat exaggerated the facts when she described her cutie mark experience to Sweetie Belle and her little friends � she hadn't been literally dragged by her horn, for several gallops and an entire day -- it had certainly felt that way. The compulsion to follow her horn and where it was guiding her to � and she'd known it was guiding her to something, something that would be beautiful, just not exactly what � had overwhelmed her, and she'd practically had to run the entire way. By the time she'd gotten to the huge geode obelisk, she'd been exhausted beyond measure... although the Rainboom (and maybe her own frustrated repeated punches and kicks to the thing) causing the obelisk to shatter, revealing the inside full of beautiful crystalline gems, had perked her up considerably. But she hadn't built that spell. It had come to her in a sudden blinding moment of inspiration and had seemed to have a life of its own. She could do it now without even thinking about it, summoning it the way she could pull up her favorite blanket when she snuggled into bed with an eyemask on, just from the feel of the fabric in her TK.
Other spells were hard. She had no idea how Twilight did it so effortlessly. The color spell was simple, one that according to Twilight, gifted unicorns learned in magic kindergarten. But for Rarity, holding all the component together was nerve-wracking and was giving her a migraine, because she couldn't feel the pieces. With telekinesis, you could feel everything you touched, and you could know exactly where everything you were holding in a telekinetic field was in relation to everything else you were holding, because you didn't have to look at any of it. It was all feel. But to maintain a spell, you had to be able to see it. You had to be able to hold the warp and weft of it in your head, and there was nothing to be felt; it was all as intangible as color itself was. If you wove something out of thread, you could feel the threads, but if you wove something out of nothing but magic, you had to do everything by sight.
Of course, unicorn magic vision wasn't like ordinary vision. Rarity could see magic if it was behind her head. She didn't have to look with her eyes, only with her horn. But even still, it was incredibly tiring to have to keep "looking" at the same magic pattern, never letting her attention be drawn away too much by anything she saw with her eyes, so she could see where to poke and snip and re-weave it where it frayed and unraveled. And tiring to hold it, too. The utterly intangible threads of magic were somehow infinitely heavier than actual physical objects she picked up with her telekinesis ever were.
By the time they got to the door, she knew she couldn't hold it much longer. If they were challenged, if they were delayed, that would be it � the game would be up, and they'd have to run. So it was with immense gratitude that she trotted out the door with Applejack, after the guards had simply waved them out the door with a "Have a nice day".� She didn't have to hold it much longer. Just until they got off the palace grounds. That was all.
They passed another group of guards as they headed in the direction of the gardens � which also happened to be the direction of the exit from the palace grounds, from here. "Morning, ladies," one of them said.
"Morning, gents," Applejack said. Rarity just curtsied, her head pounding too much to try to talk.
"We're looking for some ponies. Three mares � a white one with a sky blue mane and three diamonds for a cutie mark, a pink one with a curly blonde mane, a light blue tail, and yellow and pink balloons for a cutie mark, and an orange mare with a blonde straight mane and three apples for a cutie mark. If you see them, please notify us."
"We surely will," Applejack said. Rarity just smiled and nodded.
And then one of the guards said, "Wait, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Rarity focused on the color spell. With horror, she realized her cutie mark was breaking through.
"Three diamonds! Halt, you, in the name of the law!"
A very unladylike unicorn curse came to Rarity's lips. "Blast!" she snarled, furious at herself for losing the spell and at the guards for noticing. "Applejack, run!"
And then, taking her own advice, she ran.
There were more guards at the exit to the grounds, but they had to chance it; if they tried to lose their pursuit somewhere like Canterlot Gardens, the fact that some of the guards were pegasi would make short work of that. The hedge maze was only a maze on the ground, not from the air � it was the main reason, she assumed, that Discord had taken the pegasi's wings when he'd lured them into the hedge maze that time. She galloped as hard as she could for the palace grounds exit.
Applejack ran alongside her. That made no sense, Rarity thought. She was pushing herself to the point where her coat was lathering, but Applejack could keep pace with Rainbow Dash on the ground, and had won the Running of the Leaves competition several times. Rarity knew herself to be very fit for a unicorn with a sedentary job � part of her morning beauty routine was an aerobics workout and set of martial arts katas in the small gym she kept in the basement of the Boutique � but she couldn't possibly be a match for Applejack. "Applejack... run..." she gasped. "I know... you're... faster... than this..."
"Ain't leavin' you behind," Applejack said. She wasn't gasping. "'Sides, you know Canterlot better'n I do."
There were pegasi coming up behind them in air, overtaking them. "Halt!"
Rarity grabbed one of her vases in her TK, smashed it on the ground � her power was more for dexterity than strength, and they were thick crystal vases, nothing she could crush just with telekinesis. She scooped up the glass, glanced behind her once to fix the position of the various pegasi's legs and wings, and then sent the glass shards flying backward, striking at upper legs and wing bases. The pegasi reared back, flapped upward, or crashed to the ground, to be almost-but-not-quite trampled by the oncoming earth pony guards.
More guards in front of them, moving to block them from the gate. "Halt right�"
Rarity leapt and spun, kicking two earth ponies in the face, knocking them backward. Applejack skidded under a telekinetic force bolt, came up right in front of the unicorn, and uppercut him in the jaw, then bucked another unicorn preparing to blast her from behind. A pegasus who'd gotten around Rarity's glass cloud dive-bombed Applejack and got a hard buck to the face for his troubles; another one successfully landed on Rarity, pinning her, but she shrieked so loudly he recoiled from the sudden pain in his ears, and when he did she brought her sewing kit out of her mane and poked him in the belly with multiple sewing needles. That made him rear back all the way, allowing her to roll over, get her back legs under his chest, and kick, hard. Then she was scrambling to her hooves, scooping up her sewing needles and her glass shards.
Two unicorns had Applejack immobilized, floating her off the ground where she had no leverage. Rarity used the trick of sewing needles to the horns again. One of er them dropped Applejack; the other shielded his horn, while still holding Applejack, but he sang another tune entirely when she poked him in the rear end. He yelped, dropped Applejack, and got a buck to the head. The other one blasted at Rarity, misidentifying her as the bigger threat, because Rarity dodged his force blasts and then Applejack kicked him in the head too.
An earth pony caught up with Rarity and leapt onto her, obviously planning on pinning her. He was big, almost as big as Big Mac. So Rarity flattened down against the ground and scooted herself backward, under his wide-spread back legs, with a short disabling telekinetic slam against the very sensitive bits of him hanging over her head as she did. He howled and collapsed to all four knees, moaning. That's what you get for trying to pin a lady with your body, Rarity thought with vengeful satisfaction, but didn't have the breath to say.
Applejack had taken out two more guards that had tried to pile on top of her. The gate was clear, for a moment. "C'mon, Rarity, you can do it!"
She put on an enormous burst of speed, feeling as if her legs were turning to gelatin and her ribs were going to break and her head was going to explode but she had to do it, she had to get clear. Once they were in the city they could disappear into the city and its large population.
Maybe.
But the road leading up to the palace was almost clear, nothing but trotways leading to the tall mansions of the nobles. There was nowhere to veer off to; they wouldn't be down to the level of the actual streets for some time. Rarity felt a keen sense of despair. How would she and Applejack possibly outrun all of those trained palace guards, on a meandering but otherwise straightforward road that intersected with nothing but private trots, in broad daylight? The stitch in her side was screaming at her, and she was sure she couldn't keep up this pace much longer, and part of her wanted to just stop and surrender. The main reason she didn't was that she knew Applejack would stop with her.
Then Applejack knelt down on the ground. "Rarity, get on!"
"Wh-what?"
"Just do it! I trusted you and you got us through that door. Time you trust me."
Awkwardly Rarity climbed on Applejack's back like she was a foal. "Good heavens... this... never going... work. Too... heavy."
"After all that dietin' and workin' out you do? Naah. Hold tight."
Applejack stood up, charged forward, and galloped, putting on an incredible burst of speed despite the fact that she was burdened with a pony on her back. Rarity's eyes went wide. She knew Applejack was strong, but this was ridiculous. How could this possibly be working?
And yet it was. Rarity had to cling to Applejack's neck with her forelegs awkwardly wrapped around it, clasping each other at an angle that would be painful if she had to hold it very long. Her mane was being ruined by the wind of Applejack's speed whipping through it, but at the moment she couldn't spare the attention to complain. Behind them the guards retreated into the distance, though there were still airborne pegasi who could obviously see them, since Rarity could see them if she tilted her head back. One of them wheeled around and came into a dive, obviously planning to meet Applejack head on. Applejack just charged forward, and when the pegasus slammed into her, she kept going, throwing him aside, the momentum of her charge greater than the momentum of his dive. Another one was coming in straight down toward Rarity. Rarity frantically dredged up a strobe spell, used for making a light to shine on something she wanted to show off, and poured all the power she had left into it, creating a blinding strobe flash in the pegasus' face. He veered off, shouting about his eyes, and crashed into a water fountain.
Then they were down to the main street, and Applejack threw herself down the nearest dim alley she could. "Ge'off," she panted, collapsing. Rarity did so with alacrity.
"What was that? Applejack, how did you ever pull that off? You were faster than trained guardsponies, with me on your back! I'm proud to say I'm far from the heaviest of ponies, but I admit I'm far from the lightest, either. How did you do that?"
Applejack was still gasping, foam on her muzzle and her coat lathered enough that she was going to be miserably wet when she cooled down a bit. Rarity stripped the maid uniform from her, taking it apart. Applejack smiled weakly as the fresh air met her coat instead of sweat-soaked cloth. "Thanks," she panted. "Jus'... gotta... get... breath."
"But quite seriously how did you do that?"
"How'd you hold... a spell... for several minutes? How'd... you fight off... a bunch of guardsponies with... glass and sewin' needles?"
"Well, my magic may not be ideal for spellwork, but I'm not wholly incapable of it. And I suppose I was putting a great deal of determination and concentration into my magic."
"That's how." Applejack was still breathing hard, but she could talk normally now, more or less. "Earth pony magic. We aren't just ponies without wings and hooves. We got our own magic and it ain't all about growin' things, though that's a big part."
"You can use magic to make yourself stronger and faster?"
"Yup. But you pay the price after, same as you do with your horn when you overwork it, I guess. Land sakes, but I'm gonna be sore in the mornin', assuming we live that long."
"They're still chasing us, you know. We can't rest here any longer."
"I know. Just needed to catch my breath. Let's go."
They trotted down the alley. And then, to her total shock, Rarity saw guardsponies chasing herself and Applejack down the street. And the "Rarity" running down the street had the same sky blue mane Rarity had dyed her own to, not the lovely indigo that was its natural color and that the alternate Rarity still sported.
"What in tarnation...?" Applejack murmured.
A voice from the other side of the alley, where they'd first come in, called to them. "Wait for all of the guards to pass before you leave."
Rarity turned, and gasped. There was a Changeling standing there. An unusual-looking Changeling, taller than most though nowhere near Chrysalis' size, with a longer horn, and pupils, but no whites. "A Changeling!" she cried, and only after it was out of her mouth realized how redundant that was. Applejack could see that it was a Changeling, and the Changeling already knew what it was.
She spun around again, preparing to run, but now there were two ordinary Changelings at the exit to the alley, blocking her and Applejack in. In Applejack's exhausted state, they might not do nearly so well against Changelings as they had in earlier fights. "What do you want?" she asked, trying to make her tone as fierce as possible.
The unusual-looking Changeling strode forward. "My mother wants the two of you to escape. Twilight Sparkle is being held hostage to your good behavior; my mother cannot be seen to be moving against Celestia, but Celestia has a plan that my mother does not want to see succeed, and she needs Twilight Sparkle to accomplish it."
"Your mother? Didn't know Changelings had mothers. Less'n you're referring to the Queen," Applejack said. "And why would the Queen care one little smidgen what happens to Twilight?"
"She doesn't. She wishes to stop Celestia's plan, so Twilight Sparkle needs to go free."
"How do we know you're not lying to lure us into a trap of some kind?" Rarity demanded.
"When we've lured the guards away and they're too far away to find you, you go to the train station. You and your friends can escape, and then Twilight Sparkle can be freed, and Celestia's plan will not happen."
"What's Celestia plannin', then?" Applejack asked.
"My mother hasn't informed me. I'm only a Princess Changeling; it's not my duty to know the details of my mother's plans, only to carry them out."
"You got a name, Princess?"
The tall Changeling nodded. "All royals have their own names. I am Antennae."
"Well, Princess Antennae, we're right grateful to you, and I suppose to your mother as well, for helpin' us out here. But if we knew what Celestia's plan was, we'd be better able to stop it. So maybe next time you talk with your ma, let her know that fact, and that maybe we'd be willing to help her out with stoppin' it, depending on what it was. I gotta figure if it needs us for hostages against Twilight and for her to be a prisoner then it ain't nothin' good, anyhow."
"I'll convey that," Antennae said.
One of the Changelings spoke. "Your Highness, they're out by the art district now. We've swapped in Team Three already."
"All right." She looked at Rarity and Applejack. "Go now. The guards are out by the city edge. You can reach the train station safely."
Rarity looked at Applejack, silently asking her Are they telling the truth? Is it safe?
Applejack had no mind-reading powers, but Rarity supposed her question was obvious, given their situation. "Let's do it, then," she said. "If they wanted to sell us out they'd've done it."
"You have a point," Rarity said. "And it isn't as if we have much choice. All right, then."
They trotted off toward the train station, hoping to meet Spike and Pinkie there.