I have jitterbugs for the next week.

I can't stop thinking about him... it's weird. The way he laughs, the way he smiles, the way he glares at me when I fart in his presence...

Maybe Loki's just holding his powers back, then using them to secretly mind control me into adoring him, so I can do his bidding? I'd better go out of my way to avoid him completely for as long as possible, just to be sure. Besides, it's not like it'll be particularly hard. Loki's not going anywhere.

So I try to spend the next day in my room. I placed the paper flower on my bedside table, and now whenever I roll over and look at it, I get a stomach full of butterflies and an instant reminder of him. I've tried staring at the ceiling, but the token still remains in my peripheral vision, so I have to face my boring closet doors.

After serval hours of doing nothing except watch Flufflepuff bounce on me and draw portrait upon portrait of me laying on the bed motionless with her crayons, I groan and sit up, leaving a deep face print on the pillow. My head goes dizzy for a second for not being so used to getting held up by my neck, but it fades away after a few seconds.

What to do?

Flufflepuff gives me a concerned look, then scribbles something on some paper with a black crayon. She holds it up to me;
Are you alright?

I sigh and nod weakly. "Yeah, I'm fine, Fluffle... I'm just... thinking."

She scribbles something else and holds it up;
About what?

I pause, then reply with, "I dunno... stuff..."

She looks at me with her head cocked to the side. I roll my eyes, sigh and flap my wings, levitating over to the doors. Maybe I'll do something productive today. I mean, other than... yeah. Him...

Urgh, stop it, Rosie!

When will I get it through my thick skull? He doesn't like me. He can't.

I'm just a retarded pegasus... he's a freakin' God.

I push my bedroom doors open, Flufflepuff prancing out with me and running down the hallway gasping. I start my way after her, but abruptly swing myself in the opposite direction. What if Loki sees me? What if I'm tempted to walk inside? It's too risky.

I trot sadly down the other way, back to my room. It's better like this, for the both of us.

It feels so weird, though. I normally accidentally walk into his room when I was intending on going into my own numerous times, sometimes by instinct and sometimes because of a brain fart. Then I'd realise where I am and see him sitting there. I would normally strike up a small conversation with him just to make it less awkward. Well, at least now I don't have to.

I do another long sigh. Must life be so hard?

I stop in front of the paper rose bedside table. Shaking my head, I open the drawer below it and flick the rose in there, so it's out of my sight. I don't need the constant reminder.

Suddenly, a loud, urgent knock at the door sends a jolt of surprise up my spine. I turn around, but just as I'm about to say, "Come in!", a white pegasus guard bursts into the room, panting.

"Ms Assfa-" he glances at my fuming expression and clears his throat, "Ahem. Princess Celestia requests your presence in the Canterlot Archives immediately."

"What? Why?" I ask, flapping my wings over to him.

"She didn't say," he replies, "But it's urgent."

"Okay, I'm on it," I nod, pushing him out of my room and closing the door behind me. He leaves, so I decide to very quickly zip past Loki's room.

My eyes are fixed on the end of the hallway.

Just past his room. That's all I need to do. C'mon, Rosie.

I take a deep breath, revving up my wings and setting off. I squeeze my eyes shut so I can't see the door, flying straight ahead. I open one eye to see the door to his room whizz past. Yes! I punch the air in achievement, glancing back.

When I look forward, though, I SMACK right into the wall at the end of the hallway. Mumbling; "Hmnooriiii..." I peel myself off the regal painting of Celestia, which now has a giant drool mark on her crotch.

I recover from my incident, shaking my head and turning the corner more slowly. I don't even know where the Archives are, but it's too late to question anything now.

I wander around for a bit, until I think I've found myself conveniently outside the Canterlot Archives, where Celestia had requested I go to. Too bad she couldn't have burst into my room and asked me herself, no, she had to send guards to do that.

Twilight stands outside the doors. I have no idea why, but when her eyes land on me and she smiles brightly, I have to resist the urge to keep my head down and turn the other way. "Rose!" She smiles warmly.

I growl. "No need for nicknames, Twily," I say through clenched teeth as she gives me an unwanted hug. Nopony is allowed to call me Rose. Only Loki.

"It's been so long!" She exclaims excitedly. Not long enough. "How are you, sis?"

I mentally roll my eyes. Whenever somepony asks that, they obviously don't care, they're just being polite. "Good," I answer by instinct. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Twilight echoes.

"Uh... Celestia told me to come here... so, here I am," I explain.

"Hey, I got the same personal letter from the princess," She states.

Wait, wait, wait. Celestia goes and writes a whole freakin letter to Twilight all the way to Ponyville, but can't take two steps to ask me personally to see her? Okay, I'm not jealous or anything, but sometimes... actually, all the time... Celestia favours Twilight over me. And it's not fair!

I mean, Twilight even gets to become an alicorn before me! I was the one who was born in Canterlot Castle, not Twilight. Isn't it, like, my birthright or something?
And I'm the one who needs proper wings, not her!

Maybe it's just something I've been doing wrong... I don't know...

I wish I could be my sister's equal. Just once.

"Cool," I nod, having to, once again, hide the fact that I am so pissed off behind a smile.

"I'm so glad you could make it, my little ponies," Celestia says, urgency laced in her voice as she trots a little more hurriedly than usual towards us.

"Any time, princess," I do a small bow.

"What do you need us for?" Twilight asks.

"I have received news from outside of Canterlot that Queen Chrysalis and her army are preparing for another attack," Celestia explains.

"Back again?" I raise an eyebrow, "Why do they keep doing this? I thought they'd've learned their lesson from the last two times they totally failed."

Celestia walks into the Archives, beckoning for us to follow. "I'm afraid that the love in Canterolt is not what they want, but an ancient artefact-" she leads us past tall shelves of old books and scrolls, and a huge hourglass that I think tells us when the world will end. Celestia takes us behind one shelf at the back of the room, feeling up the wall until she presses down on a brick, which opens up the wall to a dark corridor- "It belonged to them centuries ago, when ponies and changelings were at war."

"But you must have taken it ages ago," I state, "How come they're only attacking now?"

"It wasn't until last year when they attacked Canterlot because Chrysalis could sense the amulet while she stayed disguised as Princess Cadance in the castle. All changelings can sense the amulet at close range. She must have told the others.
When they were sent off, it took them a while to find their way back to Canterlot and regain what little power and numbers they had," Celestia explains, "There was also a mare at the fight, a blonde mare dressed up in a strange, red costume. She told us she was 'The Amazing Burrito Mare'. She was never been seen or heard from since, but I have feeling she might have some information on what happened."

I tense up, my pupils shrinking. Crap.

"Oh, heheh," I giggle nervously, "I've never heard of her... but I'll keep my eyes peeled."

Celestia nods, "Now, Rosie, if you feel anything strange, anything at all, you must tell me."

I furrow my brow, "Alright," I reply cautiously as she waves a hoof at us, telling us to follow her into the dark corridor.

We do as she says. It's cold and dark. Twilight lights up her horn to use as a flashlight.
At one point, I feel weird, like a pulling sensation in my chest as we trot deeper into the poorly lit hallway. I keep quiet, though. I don't know why, but it feels like I have to.

I glance around the darkness, making sure to keep Twilight's pink magic glow in my vision.

Suddenly, we reach the other side, to a secret room. It looks like a trophy room, with its' narrow, smooth pathway leading down to a glass cabinet on a pedestal, other ancient and precious looking artefacts lined in small shelves on either side of the white, concrete walls. The dark room is lit by bright, flickering torch flames on both sides of the pathway. The air is stuffy and warm, the atmosphere echoey.

Celestia leads us to the glass cabinet at the end of the rectangular room, standing before it while Twilight goes next to her on her right, I'm on her left, peering into the box.

Carefully, Celestia lifts the glass lid off to show us a black stringed necklace, a rounded, grey, flat stone with holes imitating a changeling's as the decoration. I can't take my eyes off it. Hope, happiness and longing ignite in my chest. To lay sight on it is to know power itself. I can't look away. It's so beautiful... it's... amazing... I need it!

"This," Celestia explains, "Is the Changeling Amulet. It is the source of the Changeling's power, an ancient and cherished artefact to them."

"But I've never heard of it before," Twilight states, "Why have I not read anything about this?"

"The only recorded information is kept on a scroll in a secret location," Celestia replies, "But you won't need that. You have a first-hoof witness of the history behind it."

"Who?" I ask, my brain running over all the most important ponies I've ever heard of.

"As you know, centuries ago, there was an ancient war between ponies and Changelings," she turns to Twilight and me, "The Changelings terrorised and pillaged through Equestria, feeding off the love of innocent unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi alike. Equestria was falling apart... But it would not face this threat alone.
Back then, Canterlot was populated exclusively with alicorns. The king and queen alicorns gathered as many troops as they could, they didn't care who, creating a powerful army of their own, deciding to attack the changeling's palace and their queen, Chrysalis. They believed that if they killed the source of the chaos, the other changelings would flee."

"I'm assuming it didn't work?" I make an obvious guess.

"It didn't," Celestia nods, "With Canterlot's only defences down, the Alicorn kingdom fell. Luna and I... were the only ones to survive the battle," she says with a tear in her eye. Then I realised. Oh my gosh... Celestia and Luna were soldiers in that battle!
Abruptly, she wipes any tears away and continues, "We held the changelings back after quickly discovering... the elements of harmony!
After the battle was finally over, Luna and I took the source of their power, and returned to Canterlot. Slowly but surely, we managed to rehabilitate Equestria, thus becoming the new rulers. Ponies and changelings have been at an unsettling peace ever since."

"That's... amazing..." I say quietly, my eyes fixed on the amulet. I reach out to touch the beautiful relic, but Celestia abruptly seizes me with her magic. Aww come on! My hoof is only inches away. I could have touched it!
"Hnnnn!" I grunt.

"You must never touch it, Rosie, do you hear me?" She says firmly, glaring directly into my eyes, boring into my soul.

"Alright, alright!" I complain as she lets me go, "No touchy. Noooo touchy. Got it."

"So why are you telling us this now?" Twilight asks, ignoring me.

"I need you two to guard the amulet," Celestia replies, "We need to keep the amount of ponies who know about this to a minimum. I am counting on you, Twilight Sparkle, and you, Rosie Burrito Chukito- Uh... never mind... as my two students, I have rested this burden on you."

I salute her, "You can count on me, princess! I am burdened with glorious... uh... necklace guarding?"

She rolls her eyes, turning around and walking back into the dark hallway. We follow in pursuit, "Just don't let anypony in here. And remember, you mustn't tell anyone. This is a heavily guarded secret, kept for generations-"

"Oh-kayyy," I interrupt, "That sounds like enough exposition for one day. Now go have some cake or something, we'll protect the pretty charm necklace."

"Rosie, you have a choice. Either you stay here with Twilight, or you don't stay here at all," Celestia looks at me, concerned on her face as we step out of the dark hallway, "Are you sure you didn't feel anything strange when you saw the amulet?"

I tap my chin. Well... that weird pulling sensation...
"No..." I lie, "Besides, why are you asking me?"

"It does not matter," she replies as we step out of the doorway and into the archives, "But whatever you do, do not touch it. Do you understand me?" She closes the wall.

"Does that count with Twilight, too?" I ask, pointing at the purple alicorn as we pass the doomsday egg timer.

After a hesitant pause, she nods, "Do not fail me, and remember, if anypony tries to break in, alert me at once!"

With that, she leaves the archives, closing the doors behind her.

"Well, then," I turn to Twilight, "I call not guarding the necklace first!"

"Why?" Twilight asks, her gaze following me as I fly out the doors.

"Uh, 'cause I'm lazy," I reply, flying away. Her angry groan satisfies me, leaving a smirk of satisfaction on my face as I head down to the cafeteria. I'm hungry for some chocolate pudding.

On the way, I accidentally bump into Moona. "Hey, watch it!" She cries, dropping her book that she was reading with her magic and pushing her glasses up her nose. Her mane has gotten seriously messier since the last time I saw her. "Oh- Rosita!"

"It's Rosie," I correct.

"Whatever, I've been looking for you! Quick, I need your help!" She says quickly, grabbing on to my shoulders and pulling me towards the library. "I think I've just about perfected this, but I need somepony to help test it."

"Huh, what?" I say, confused as she shoves me into the library doors.

"I've created magic," she replies excitedly, pushing me to a small corner of the large room. The corner has a pillow with a moulded shape of Moona's butt, surrounded by a messy clutter of books and sciency test tube thingies on one side.

"A little late, genius," I say blankly, "Magic's been around for like a bazillion years."

"No, this is a different kind of magic," she says eagerly, lifting up a book with her writing in ink on it, "To help repel the changelings and make sure they're gone for good!"

I gulp. "H-how did you know about the changelings?"
She wasn't spying on us, was she?

"They attacked a couple months ago. I sensed a pattern, since they'd already done it before, who's to stop them again?" Moona replies.
I now realise that the book she's flicking through with her magic was probably written by herself. "Anyway, it's a magic that ponies can learn to use that will actually throw off a changeling's senses of food and surroundings. But I need somepony to help me test it just so I know I got it right."

"Wow, that sounds great!" I cry happily. That was probably why she was up late the other night, I think, "Count me in! So, what do you need me for?"

"Well, I have all the things I need," she says, holding with her magic and circling around herself; a page with some changeling facts, a small, wooden changeling doll carved out of wood, and some sort of weird pink goo in a bottle, "All but one; for the spell to be fully created, I need to have something that was once in possession of a changeling, or a changeling itself. Maybe a tooth or a hair or something."

"How am I supposed to get that?" I whine. I'm not going to tell her about the amulet. Unless, of course, she already knows. And I don't think she does.

"The last time the changeling army attacked, at least one of them might have dropped something here. And you know this castle better than anypony," she explains.

'Yeah,' I think, 'Which is why I couldn't find the archives this morning.'
"What about Twilight, or Celestia?" I ask, "Why don't you ask them instead?"

"Because what I'm doing is actually... sort of..." She mumbles quickly, "Illegal."

"Illegal is my middle name," I raise my eyebrow. "A-actually it's Burrito Chuckito. Which is actually technically two middle names, but...- anyway, I don't think that I'd find anything. They attacked ages ago. The odds to one are pretty small."

Moona throws herself at my feet, begging, "Please! Please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeease!" She makes it so her little voodoo things in her magic are swirling in circles above me, slowly levitating them down so they surround me while she speaks, "I really really need you on this one- Wah!" She exclaims.

I shriek as a small spark of pink electricity comes from me, connecting off into the objects and turning the mare's blue magic pink when the three objects surround me. Abruptly, she lifts the objects away from me, staring at them.

"What the hell!?" I exclaim. Moona's magic fades back to blue.

"That's... never happened before," she says, confused, but waves it off, "So that's why I need you to help me, so we can see if this was actually normal or something!"

I scoff, "You're not going to leave me alone unless I find something, are you?"

"Uh-huh, pretty much," she nods nonchalantly.

"Urgh, alright," I sigh, helping Moona stand up again.

"YESSSS! Thank you, thank you, thank youuuu!" She squeals, hugging me tightly.

I roll my eyes, "Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine, I guess." I push her away and turn around, trotting out from behind the shelves, "I have no idea how I'll find anything, but-"

"You must, Rosaline! You must! You MUST!" She says dramatically after me.

"It's Rosie-"

"MUST!"

"Alrighty, then," I say cautiously, flying out the doors, "BRB!"

"What the hell does that even mean?" I hear her say faintly as I leave the room.

I exhale a breath slowly. Moona can be hell annoying sometimes, other times a little scary, but she's also hella smart. And really, the sooner she finds something of a changeling's possession to potentially save and continue to protect Canterlot, the better off we'll all be. So, I guess it's settled, then.

I'm going to steal the Changeling Amulet.

~

"Twilight, Twilight!" I burst in to the Archives in a flurry, making Twilight shoot up from her book as she lays on the ground reading it.

"What is it, sis?" She asks, concerned, standing up.

"Celestia wants to see you urgently!" I reply quickly. My acting skills are really good, in my opinion. "It has something to do with the changelings! You're needed at once!" I add.

"Oh, no! Are they attacking sooner than we thought!?" She shrieks worriedly.

"I don't know, you'll have to find out," I reply, pointing to the archive's doors.

"Guard the amulet," Twilight says to me, leaving her book on the floor and galloping out of the room.

"Oh," I smirk mischievously once she's left, "I'll do more than guard it. Eheheheh!" Is my evil laugh, "Man, I suck at evil laughs," I comment as I feel up the wall, suddenly pressing on the brick. The wall slides itself aside, allowing me into the dark corridor.

Abruptly, I zoom into the darkness as fast as I can so its not so scary, coming out the other side in a matter of seconds.

I suck in a breath after I dust myself off and stare down the small trophy hallway. There it is. The beautiful amulet...

'Wait,' I think as I trot cautiously past the other trophies on the sides of the narrow walls, the pulling sensation coming back, 'Celestia said not to touch it... What would happen if I did?'
I slowly step up the two little steps to the glass case. 'Would I get infected with something? Would it trigger a changeling to sense than it has been touched, giving away our location?'

With shaky hooves, I levitate myself lightly and carefully lift the rectangular, glass case to reveal the grey jewellery resting coldly on dark maroon velvet.
I lick my dry lips and swallow hard. The pulling sensation... it is so strong, it's overwhelming... it's making me scared...

After a few quick, loud breaths, I decide to just scoop it up in my hooves. I scrunch my eyes up and wait a few seconds as the cool stone sits in the crevice of my hoof. I open one eye when nothing happens, letting out small chuckle. I'm just being silly, I don't feel any different, or weird.

Just a small, tingling sensation in my hoof, but...

I glance up suddenly to see my reflection in the mirror on the wall in front of me. The blackness... it's crawling up my hooves, up my chest and neck, and it doesn't stop.

I grit my teeth, holding the amulet in both hooves, now, staring back and forth at my reflection and it in disbelief. My vision goes blurry with tears, when suddenly, I hear a loud, familiar voice.

"Stop!" She demands. It's Celestia.

I pant heavily, keeping my tears in and landing on the ground lightly as my wings turn from feathered, pegasus wings, to sleek, clear, insect wings.

I manage to keep my voice from breaking as I squeeze out the words.

"Am I... am I cursed?" I ask shakily.

"... No," Celestia says, certain.

"What am I?" I growl lightly, staring back at my new reflection.

"You're my student," she replies simply, like its the most obvious answer in the world.

I lower my pointy ears, turning around slowly, to reveal my dark face with slits as pupils, the whites of my eyes now blue, my mane like a dull, withered old curtain. My black lips run over two pointy fangs that poke out of my mouth as I speak, stomping the amulet on the ground angrily.

"What more than that?"

~To be continued~

----------------------------------------------

And that, dear fillies, is how you do a cliffhanger. 😏

*ducks as 300 screaming fangirls throw bricks at me*

Ehehehe... you know you love me.

~Amazing_Burrito_Mare