Chapters
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Harlequin didn’t need to sleep like a pony, and so she spent most of the night awake in bed. Eventually she would probably find a way to sneak out and do something else at night. Maybe work on the escape plan for the other changelings. If I can get out without being seen, the ponies will think I’m asleep in bed here. They won’t suspect anything was me.There was no organized meal for breakfast, just ponies coming and going between bowls of cereal and offered fruit. The selection was interesting to…-
102.0 K •
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The ponies in the medical tent seemed confused with the one they were bringing. Harlequin remained in back, letting Azure Sigil do the talking. When the medical ponies suggested just putting the injured changeling back in the cages and ‘letting things happen,’ Sigil just shoved past them all and deposited the injured changeling at one of the cots anyway.“We’re wasting time!” The doctors all wore the same white coats. This one was taller than most, with a stern face and a pair of glasses perched…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin was guarding the prison.There was only one entrance meant to be used, where the dungeons descended into the rock of Canterlot’s mountain. In the time since she’d arrived to help, the ponies had filled the upper cells with prisoners.She knew they were different from the way they dressed—many of them had little scraps—a hat here, some socks there, or something clipped into the tail. They’d been allowed to keep their clothes, but not the holsters and weapons that almost all the changelings…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin faced down Azure Sigil, magic sword only a foot away from her neck. This would be the moment where a better changeling than her would come up with some clever lie. Hydrus would probably already have had one in reserve, just in case someone asked about where the sword came from. If the Swarm had still been within reach, she could’ve asked their collective reasoning for help. But they were gone, and she was alone.Harlequin winced, then met the pony’s eyes. “I found it on a dead pony. I had to…
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102.0 K •
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Ponies worked fast. It was amazing just how quickly the cave transformed around her—whole sections of crystal cut down while carts with massive lengths of steel were rolled in past her. Harlequin got a chance to see firsthoof just how the ponies built such amazing things.She did her best not to do her assigned job of setting out cots and blankets—things that changelings didn’t use to begin with—and instead tried to memorize the map. It was hard, and even harder to be sure that she was remembering…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin spent that night in the lair of her enemies.At first it didn’t seem like much had changed between having ponies in charge and when her own kind had ruled ruthlessly over the city. Ponies still separated into small groups, with tiny sleeping areas they made for themselves. Only this time, Harlequin came with them. The room they were led to was little bigger than a storage closet, with cots packed in with barely enough room to walk between them. Without any conversation between them, Harlequin…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin’s trip back to the upper city was far less eventful than her flight down. There was no wave of magic following them, no other signs of spells radiating away from the palace.Under other circumstances, she probably would’ve been fascinated by the ingenuity of the gondola car. It was an incredible little invention, a safe and warm way for the ponies without wings to ride from one part of the city to another. The three earth ponies in the group kept well away from the windows, looking different…
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102.0 K •
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It looked like Harlequin was going to escape the blast, though she could only glance panicked over her shoulder once as she shot straight down. With every flap of her wings the wave of magic got more tenuous, and street level below rose to meet her.But even then, she wasn’t fast enough. She felt the wave of magic catch her in the air, or what little was left of it. She couldn’t have said what happened to those changelings that were caught in the blast, like the one she’d left behind.The magic washed…
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102.0 K •
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The fight didn’t seem to be going well. Harlequin kept her distance from the opening to the alley, watching as a veritable storm of ponies went by. They fought so quickly that she barely got a good look at them, but she could see well enough to be afraid.How are they winning so easily? She crouched low, watching as a dozen different drones surrounded their little group, attacking all at once. The ponies responded with equal synchronicity, with the horned one and an unhorned one blasting away half of them…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin could hear the shouting as she emerged, though it was faint and filtered through many confused voices. She partially wanted to go after the one she’d just stolen her name from, try to learn more—but the screams were more important.“You don’t understand, I’m not one of them! It’s me, Codex!” She didn’t know the name, but she recognized the voice. A voice that now reverberated in the changeling way, and was markedly higher-pitched than a pony male.Some part of her wanted to be as…
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102.0 K •
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