Author notes: yes I know it has been a long time. I just haven't had the motivation or the spirit to write which I guess is a good thing cause I did a superb job in school this semester. Any who, enjoy.

Chapter six

returning

"Should we go after her?" Fluttershy asked softly looking out the window of the tree library where the rest of the mane six waited for Twilight to return.

"Twi can handle herself; she just needs some time to blow off some steam." Rainbow dash said as she floated around in a relaxing manner of flight.

"Maybe we were a little...harsh on her and Luke." Applejack said.

"Probably, but we can't take any of it back now. We just have to wait now." Rainbow said.

"Aren't you in the least worried about her?" Rarity asked, "She went into the Everfree forest after a changeling."

"Of course I'm worried about her." Rainbow replied, "But just like you said, she went into the Everfree Forest! She could be anywhere and it would take forever to find her."

The rest of the mares nodded slowly as they agreed figuring that going after Twilight would be an almost futile journey.

-

"Has she eaten anything?" Luke asked the lone guard who stood at the front of the hut that concealed Twilight.

"Not a thing." The Changeling replied," If she doesn't eat soon we might have a problem."

Luke looked at the ground feeling extremely guilty for having brought Twilight into this situation and having Chrysalis as an ally, but she did have the food that got rid of the damn emptiness in him.

"Give me a couple of minutes with her?" Luke asked the guard.

The guard hesitated and shifted on his hooves," I guess..." He said and stepped aside letting Luke in.

Twilight was still tied up and was looking quite pitiful. Her mane was dirty, her coat was messy, and her face had a shallow color to it. Twilight looked up as Luke walked in and glared at him.

"What do you want?" She growled at Luke.

"I want you to eat something." Luke said softly levitating the plate of bread and some fruits over to her that was sitting near the door.

"I see Chrysalis taught you magic." Twilight said anger hidden in her voice.

"Yes." Luke said softly setting the plate in front of Twilight, "Are you going to eat?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"You're not doing yourself any favors by starving yourself."

"I've been meaning to go on a diet."

"Nice lie."

"Who said it was a lie?"

"You're not going to eat are you?" Luke sighed.

"You already have my answer." Twilight said.

"Well...if you get hungry the food will be here." Luke said pushing the plate closer to her.

Twilight glared at Luke as he backed away and looked away from her. He then left the hut feeling sick to his stomach.

-

Twilight was asleep still tied up and the plate of food still sitting in front of her, her ear twitched as somepony entered the hut. She slowly woke herself up as she could feel the ropes around her hooves loosen.

"W-what are you doing? Who are you?" She asked quietly not wanting to spoil the chance to escape.

"You need to get out of here." The pony who was helping Twilight said softly as the last of the ropes came off.

Twilight looked back hoping to see who was helping her but was disappointed when she saw that the pony was wearing a cloak. She gritted her teeth trying to fight the urge to find out who helped her. The mysterious pony took a knife from under his cloak and cut a hole in the canvas wall of the hut.

"Through here." The pony said.

Twilight scrambled through the hole and then was pushed forward by the pony; she took the hint and started to gallop through the forest. Twilight tried to look back as she galloped forward to see if the pony would reveal their identity but found that they had disappeared back into the hut.

" How did she escape!?" Chrysalis yelled at her subjects who were gathered around the hut where Twilight used to be held. Luke stood next to Chrysalis holding the cut ropes for everypony to see.

"My Queen, the guard was asleep when she escaped. But could it be possible that someone snuck a knife to her when the guard was sleeping." A changeling said stepping forward and glancing at Luke.

Luke glared at the changeling who was basically accusing him," Why would I help her after the way she and her friends treated me?" Luke said calmly.

"I'm positive that Luke did not have anything to do with this." Chrysalis said," He was with me learning magic the entire night."

The changeling glanced at Luke before melting back into the crowd.

"Could she use her magic to cut the ropes!?" Another changeling asked from further in the crowd.

"perhaps but it is highly unlikely, to successfully cut anything with magic, one has to have a line of sight on it!" A third changeling spoke up. The crowd then started talking amongst themselves trying to come up with a solution to the mystery.

"Come with me Luke." Chrysalis said and walked to her own hut.

Luke followed silently tossing the ropes on the ground. When they entered chrysalis sat on her crudely built throne and stared at Luke.

"I want you to go back to Ponyville." She said bluntly.

"B-but...why?" Luke asked.

"Twilight will be sure to return there and alert Celestia that I'm cooking up some plan. Now that I taught you the basic magic of a changeling I want you to retrieve her and bring her back. I would send my other subject but you know Ponyville better than them."

Luke looked away hesitantly and breathed softly.

"Is there a problem?" Chrysalis asked.

"No, I'll go..." Luke said," I'll go."

Twilight ran through forest flinching as the branches slapped her face as she ran past them, some of them making small cuts. She wished she could just teleport back home, back to spike and her friends but when in the forest she hadn't the slightest clue to where teleport to so she had to use the stars to guide her.

A couple of hours later she burst ex through the trees and into a plowed field. She sighed shakily in relief as she saw ponyville in front of her. She quickly used the remaining energy in her to reach her library. She opened the door and walked inside and just lay down on the floor. Lucky spike came in and spotted her.

"Twilight!?" He said and hopped down the stairs and over to her.

"Water...please." Twilight said and spike nodded running off to get a glass of water and came back giving it to Twilight. She took it and slowly drank it.

"Thank you." She said still laying in the ground.

"What happened?" Spike asked.

"It doesn't matter right now. I need to write a letter." She said and made herself stand up and started to head upstairs when there was a knock at the door.

Spike went over to answer it, when he opened the door there was a light grey stallion Pegasus with a mane that was charcoal black and was spiked short backwards.

Twilight looks at the stallion and glared, "Luke..." She growled and quickly slammed him against the wall with her magic knocking books off the shelves.

"Wha..." Spike said dumbfounded.

"This is the thanks I get?" Luke said coughing slightly as he tried to get the wind back into his body.

"A thanks for betraying my trust!?" Twilight yelled.

"Thanks for setting you free..." Luke said softly.

Twilight glared at him, "so that was you..." She tightened her magic around him," why are you here?"

Author notes: I cannot guarantee that the next chapter will be out soon. I'm still on the edge of either getting back to writing or not.