Pharynx finally stopped his pacing and sighed deeply, looking again at the door to Chrysalis’s chambers. This time he approached. He knew he was breaking orders, but those orders had come down days ago, and he had heard nothing since then. He tentatively raised a hoof and cracked open the door. “Your Highness? It’s been five days. What are your orders?” There was no response. Pharynx opened the door a little wider, and poked first his head and then his shoulders around the door. “I’ve seen to the troops’ lodging and resupplying and done a head count. Our losses were significant.”
Chrysalis sat unmoving, her back towards the door. “My queen,” he said, now entering the room fully and slowly approaching her, “the troops are discouraged. They need to see their leader.”
She turned her head to face him, and that was when he felt it—the love pangs, the sorrow, the emptiness. He could see where she had been crying, trails of moisture along her face beneath her bloodshot eyes. He caught all this in a single glance, after which Chrysalis bowed her head.
Pharynx strode up alongside her and stood beside her. He looked in front of her, and saw Princess Pupa’s empty cradle. “We’ll get her back, my queen.”
Chrysalis’s demeanor was unchanged. “My queen, it—it has been five days. I will only do this with your permission, but,” he hesitated a moment, “if you need more time, then I could see to the rest of the hive’s needs until you are able.” Chrysalis turned her head just enough to make eye contact with him. “With your permission, of course.”
Chrysalis lowered her gaze. “I grant it.”
Pharynx turned to leave, but stopped by the door as he was about to leave. “They’re in good hooves, Your Highness.” He waited for a reply, but when none came, he left in silence, shutting the door behind him.
When the Wonderbolt with the white-and-red uniform appeared in the doorway, Bon Bon stood up. “How are they?” she asked.
The Wonderbolt turned to face Bon Bon, hiding the white shoulder patch with the red heart from view as the door to the Soarin’s medical ward swung closed behind her. “Antlion’s prospects for regaining sight in his eye are good. Mayfly’s suffering from a broken foreleg, but I’ve applied a stint and the two changelings used their… goo… to seal the broken chitin in place,” she said, a disconcerted look on her face. “Even with my special talent for healing, my best estimate is that she’ll need a few months before she’s back on her hooves, but you changelings might know faster ways to treat her.”
“And Time Skipper, the unicorn?”
The nurse looked over her shoulder. “Magical overexertion. She just needs rest.” She turned back to face Bon Bon. “The wounded changelings should stay in my care until we get back to Canterlot, but Time Skipper will likely be discharged once she comes around and we confirm she’s in good health.”
“What about Princess Pupa?”
The nurse shook her head. “I thought she would never stop crying, but she finally fell asleep.”
“May I see the changelings?”
“Right this way,” she said, opening the door. Once inside, she led Bon Bon past a series of cabinets and medical supplies, and towards a curtain dividing the rest of the room in half. On the near side of the curtain, there were a few beds occupied by Wonderbolts, but she also recognized Time Skipper among them. “They’re over here,” the nurse said in a hushed tone.
She pointed Bon Bon towards the other side of the curtain, and she stepped around to see two of the remaining beds filled with undisguised changelings. Giver and three other healthy changelings now wore white foreleg bands with red hearts on them to indicate they were taking care of the other changelings. “Thank you.”
The nurse nodded and walked away.
“How are they?” Bon Bon asked as she approached.
“They will heal,” said Lightning Bug, standing by Antlion’s bed.
“And Pupa?”
“She’s over here,” Junebug whispered from across the room. “She’s asleep.”
Giver shook his head. “I didn’t mean for you to risk so many agents for me.”
Bon Bon walked over to the bed Giver was lying on. “I know. But… we need all the help we can get. When you sent us the letter saying you were tracking Chrysalis’s advance towards Las Pegasus… And we were going after Princess Pupa anyways... It was the obvious choice.”
Bon Bon looked around at what remained of her agents. “I was hoping we could get the whole team back together. We would have had you, me, and Bumble over there,” she said, glancing over at a bed covered with a white sheet. “I guess some things just weren’t meant to be.”
“I wish I could have done more for your group.”
Bon Bon smiled and raised a hoof to the back of Giver’s head, then brought her head close enough to cross horns with him. “You’ll have your chance to do that now that you’re back with us.” Giver put his own hoof behind her head and accepted her gesture by leaning his head in towards hers. With their horns crossed and their magic linked, she felt in a flashing moment their entire history together, all the way back during Celestia’s secret agency. She felt the amorphous changeling words with no direct Ponish counterparts on the tip of her tongue, like a word barely out of remembrance—words for feelings similar to trust, camaraderie, and sense of family—all things that changelings would broadly call love.
Bon Bon smiled wider as she held the back of Giver’s head. “It’s been a long time, Giver.”
Giver returned her smile weakly. “If we must fight again, then at least we’ll be fighting for our own future this time.”
Bon Bon leaned her head back away from Giver. “For something we chose to fight for.” She held his head a moment longer, then lowered her hoof to the back of his neck and hugged him. “Welcome back, Giver.”
Two crystal soldiers opened the double doors leading to a large conference room in the mayor’s mansion in Las Pegasus. The tall hanging banners with the Crystal Empire’s crest gave evidence that Sombra had done some redecorating since his occupation of the city had begun. Time Skipper walked in behind Shining Armor and Bon Bon, along with the rest of the ponies on the Manehattan council. There in the room she saw King Sombra standing with Trixie and a number of crystal ponies in officer uniforms. There were crystal soldiers guarding the door on the other side, and unlike the ones who had just opened the doors for their group, these guards were armed with spears.
Shining Armor’s own royal guard took point at the door as King Sombra turned to greet them. “Captain Shining Armor, I presume?”
“Yes, I am,” Shining said. “And you must be King Sombra?”
“Yes,” came the reply, his voice deep and even, almost a growl. Time shuddered at the aura she felt emanating from him, dark and oppressive. “Please, be seated,” he said, gesturing to a seat at the head of the table. “We have much to discuss.”
“Of course.” Shining took the seat at one end, and King Sombra took the other. Bon Bon and Time sat in the first two chairs next to Shining Armor, and Spitfire and Rainbow Dash took the seats on the other side of her. Sombra’s own ponies filled the other side of the table, while the rest of the ponies of each faction stood behind.
“My condolences for your fiancé, the late princess, Captain,” Sombra said as they were getting seated.
“Thank you, King. I fight so that her death may not be in vain.”
“A cause both strong and noble.”
“Love is a powerful motivator,” Bon Bon added.
“As is fear. Together, we can put an end to the reign of the tyrant Queen Chrysalis.”
“May her reign be short indeed,” said Shining Armor.
Sombra nodded approvingly. “So tell me, what interest do you ponies have with this city, and with peace with the Crystal Empire?”
“We are currently short on allies,” Shining began, “and we seek to organize internal Equestrian resistance against Queen Chrysalis.”
“Consolidate your power with large population centers and strike at her from within?” Sombra raised a hoof to his chin. “I see.”
“If I may, King Sombra,” Bon Bon said with a pause. Sombra gestured towards her with upturned hoof before returning his hoof to the table. “I represent another faction, the Order of the Blue Changelings. Our hive was usurped by Queen Chrysalis, and we saw Las Pegasus as an opportunity to separate her from her foal, our late king’s granddaughter.”
So, what are you doing here, actually? asked Trixie. Her voice was very close to Time, and unnervingly invasive. Time glanced towards Trixie and saw her staring back at her, eyes glowing green.
Then it hit her what Trixie had just done. Mind magic! she thought. Trixie, mind magic is forbidden!
Not when you’re the king’s Dark Acolyte.
Time wanted to run down a list of things she planned not to think about so long as Trixie was invading her mind, but quickly realized that doing so would be the fastest way to give away massive amounts of information. No. She would have to give total focus to what was being discussed moment by moment.
You’re the reason I’m here, Trixie. I want to be your friend.
Trixie’s face grew grave. You really were being serious about that.
I come from another world. One where there is no war. Where ponies—don’t hurt each other like this, don’t sell themselves to foreign kings just to learn more powerful magic. Trixie’s expression grew indignant, defiant. Time closed her eyes and pictured herself back home with Trixie, putting on a magic show.
My wagon! Or, no—a new wagon! I haven’t seen my wagon since—since Ponyville—when that Ursa destroyed it! And then Sunburst…
Time opened her eyes and looked back down the table. Trixie, I want this fighting to end. I come from a world where King Sombra never rose to power outside the Crystal Empire.
What? How? Trixie asked accusingly. Time guarded her thoughts carefully. Are you their secret weapon? Are you telling them how to win the war? A smirk came to Trixie’s face. Why shouldn’t I tell King Sombra how important you are?
Time exhaled. If I really can turn this war, then you’re on the losing side, and you just haven’t realized it yet. Trixie stared back a moment dumbfounded, then dropped her gaze. I can be your way back.
Trixie glanced over at Sombra, then back to Time. I can’t go back.
Time smiled. Of course you can. Trixie, believe me. The things I’ve done, if they can forgive me—
I’m not worried about them! she snapped. I’m worried about Sombra. And what he’ll do to me if he catches me trying to leave.
Well, who says you have to leave? Why not act as an agent for us—help us win?
I’m too close to him—I’d get caught! And then… I’d die some horrible death in a torture chamber in his prison. That is, if he even let me die.
Trixie, Time pleaded.
Trixie shook her head. I—I can’t, she said softly. I’ve made my choice.
Trixie?
Trixie’s eyes, now neither glowing green nor looking in her direction, were her only answer.
Applejack poked her head around the corner and saw her target, the yellow stallion with the white and red tail. His back was towards her. He would never see her coming. But somepony else might. She ducked her head back into the alley beside the shop.
A glance over her shoulder revealed nopony in the alley behind her. She could pull off a flanking maneuver, but she would have to be quick or risk being spotted as a changeling in the city her friends had just fought to liberate from Chrysalis. Equestrian forces might not believe her if they caught her. Sombra’s forces would do even worse things to her.
She turned and galloped around the back of the building, down past a row of conjoined shops, until she was back to an open alley leading to the street the stallion was walking down. She peeked down the side alley and found it unoccupied. As she advanced towards the street, she heard hoofsteps. She stopped and readied her lasso. Once the stallion came into view, she threw it, capturing him in one throw. She pulled hard and he tripped as he fell into the side alley.
In her haste, she hadn’t let the lasso fall all the way around his withers, but instead caught him by the neck. He gasped and pulled at the rope with his magic. “Chang—Change—” he called faintly as Applejack closed the distance.
“Relax, Flam. It’s me, Applejack. It’s not just anypony who can pick up a lasso and throw it perfect first time, ya know.” She was standing right in front of him now. “I’ve just got a question for ya. What in tarnation are ya doing outside the meeting? We’re supposed to be discussin’ what to do with the city.”
Flam grunted as he finally pulled the lasso loose from around his neck. “And I might ask you what you’re doing apart from your handler, the zebra. It’s awfully dangerous for somepony who looks like a changeling in this city,” he said as he rose to his hooves. An aura formed around his horn and a far of green paint floated out of his saddlebags. “That is, if you truly are who you claim to be.”
Applejack flinched reflexively. “I wish you wouldn’t. That stuff hurts worse’n soap on a rope burn.”
Flam raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you should have thought about that before you threw a rope around me and dragged me into an alley,” he said as he levitated a blob of paint towards her.
Applejack shut her eyes and grit her teeth, then raised one front leg to her chest. She felt the cool gel-like substance on the leg she had raised and braced for the pain to come. She soon felt a tingling in her broken horn, then a throbbing headache. She opened her eyes and tried to shake it off, but to no good.
Then she felt her hat float off her head. “Hey! Give that back!” She reared up and buzzed her wings while swatting at it, but Flam held it just out of reach. She did a little hop, then fell back to all fours. “I wouldn’t raise a hoof against your hat! Give me back mine!”
“Well, you just so happen to have a very distinctive feature under that Stetson of yours,” he said, punctuating his retort by magically pressing her hat into her face. “Combined with the paint, this broken horn of yours—”
When Applejack lowered the hat and saw his hoof getting close to her head, she raised a hoof defensively. “Don’t! Touch it. Please. Whenever anypony touches it, it hurts like a railroad spike bein’ driven into my head.”
Flam frowned and took a step back. “Now. I’ll have you know I have express permission to provide protection and oversight for gaming establishments here in Las Pegasus… for a fee, of course. We’ve concluded negotiations—It just needs to be set to paper now. Equestria gets the cloudtop resorts and a small sector here on the ground, while King Sombra keeps most of the rest. I was just heading over to the balloon taxi to go make my rounds with the resort owners.”
Applejack stepped between him and the street. “I knew it. I was right all along. You’re just in it for the money. You’re gonna swindle and con your way right back into your old life just the way you always have. That’s what’s wrong with you. What's always has been wrong with you. And you don’t even care how many families you tear apart to get at it!”
Flam stared at her, unconvinced. “Finished?” Applejack turned her head and spat on the ground beside her. Flam started with a sigh. “To be honest with you, I might have done exactly that, if things were as they used to be. But, as it is right now, my brother is held prisoner by Queen Chrysalis and, well, it’s just not as fun without him.”
“Fun? You think it’s just havin fun, do ya? Cheatin’ everypony you see?”
Flam’s eyes lit up. “Ah yes! The thrill of the con! If we wanted to just set up a shop and make money that way, that simply wouldn’t do. So monotonous and ordinary and well… boring. But to test our limits—see how much we could get away with—That was the life!” His smile slowly faded and he turned away from her towards the street. “I… miss my brother, you know. Getting into trouble together and bailing ourselves out. Planning, traveling, performing.” He turned back towards her. “Surely you understand what it means to have family you care about, don’t you?”
Applejack’s mouth fell open, but no words came. Not even as Flam approached and put a hoof on the side of her face. She thought over his last remark for a second, then scowled and looked him square in the eye. But what she felt wasn’t what she was expecting. With her new changeling body and magic faced up against a master liar, she was unable to sense if there was any deceit in his words. Instead, she felt what seemed to be genuine love pangs emanating from the stallion in front of her.
She would have pulled away from Flam’s hoof if he hadn’t drawn it back himself just then. “You have my word that I will never swindle another pony so long as I live if I could just have my brother back,” he said, hanging his head. His ears fell back and he lowered his gaze. “I mean it, you know. All the money I could want, and yet no brother.”
Flam magically straightened his bow tie and adjusted his hat. “So that’s what I have decided to do. I’ll use my talent for, well, for ‘raising money,’ let’s call it, to help fund the effort of the ponies who oppose the queen holding my brother.”
Applejack shifted among her hooves. “I get that much, but I can’t approve of your method of raisin’ all this money.”
“I never asked you to,” came the reply. And was that a subtle twinge of guilt in his tone? A slight lowering of his ears and tilting of his head? Or was it just for show?
Applejack’s heart skipped when she heard Zecora behind her. “What are you doing out running around
In places where distrusting creatures abound?” she asked, more concerned than accusatory.
She spun around to face Zecora. “I’m sorry I gave you the slip back there, but I was followin’—” she turned her head and raised a hoof to point at Flam, but he was nowhere to be seen. “I—I don’t know what I was doin', really.”
Zecora approached and put a hoof on her shoulder. “I know you meant well, but what’s done is done.
Now come back with me; this war’s not yet won.”
“Yes, Zecora,” she said. Her head began to throb again, even as Zecora smiled and began walking away. She looked at her shoulder to see a fresh hoofprint set in green paint.
Bon Bon watched the doors to the Manehattan Council room glow teal for a moment, then open to reveal Time Skipper. “Wait! Don’t start yet!” she said weakly. “I’m here.”
“Time Skipper!” called Bon Bon.
She started to advance, but two guards just inside the room blocked her path. She froze in place, a look of confusion on her face. When a guard levitated a jar of green paint towards her, she submitted, leaning her face forward towards them for painting.
“What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Magical overexertion. That spell I used in Las Pegasus was highly experimental and I’d only used it once before.” The guards let her pass when her coat began to glow. “The doctor only just released me from my checkup, and I’m not supposed to do any intermediate magic or above for the next week. I still feel drained.” She approached the table and stood at the corner by Shining Armor’s chair. “What did I miss?”
“Not much,” Rainbow said, “we’re just going over the post-battle debriefing.”
“Please, have a seat,” Shining Armor said, magically pulling out the chair in front of the Element of Generosity for her.
“At—the Council table? Are you sure?”
“You’re helping us fix what’s wrong with our world, aren’t you?” he said, though his smile looked weak, and his eyes heavy with sleeplessness.
“Your help is always welcome here,” said Bon Bon.
Time sat down in the chair. “Thanks.”
“So as I was saying,” Shining said, “I think we should capitalize on our victory, keep our momentum going. What’s our next move?”
“Chrysalis is reeling from our victory,” said Bon Bon. “My agents are reporting that she hasn’t even been seen since we foalnapped her daughter.”
Shining Armor snorted, and Rainbow crossed her forelegs and leaned back. “Sounds like she’s not taking it too well. Glad we’re finally getting under her skin. Or—whatever it is changelings have.”
“That’s what worries me,” said Bon Bon. “She’s too inactive.”
“What are her numbers like in Canterlot?” asked Shining Armor.
She shook her head. “More than we’re prepared for.”
“Can we starve them out?” asked Rainbow.
“With the Wonderbolts’ superior air fleet,” Spitfire said, “they’ll be trapped on the mountain.”
“That would put the population of Canterlot at extreme risk,” said Bon Bon. “It’s true Chrysalis has centralized much of her power in Canterlot. But even though love isn’t a finite resource, her changelings can still steal love faster than the ponies can replenish it. And if ponies are over-harvested for love on that scale… the civilian losses to the city could be terrible.”
Rainbow crossed her forelegs. “I hate having to sit back and wait for her to make the first move.”
“I’ll press my agents for more intel, but there is an alternative I want to try,” Bon Bon continued. “We could wage a mass propaganda campaign to try to sway more changelings to our side. We’re already doing it on a small scale here in Manehattan.”
“But our conversion rates are low.
Changing Greens to Blue is slow,” said Zecora.
“I’d be willing to give you any aid I can,” said Pinkamena. “As Minister of Morale and Element of Laughter, I have a fairly strong sense for ponies’ emotions.”
“I’ve met with a changeling in my world named Thorax,” said Time Skipper. “He seems to be willing to give friendship a try and leave Chrysalis’s hive for a life alongside ponies.”
Bon Bon smiled. “Ah, Thorax.” She leaned back in her chair. “Now there’s a changeling Chrysalis hates. Even before there were any Green Changelings, the two of them didn’t get along. That was before me, though.”
Time turned her head to one side. “What happened to him?”
“Don’t know. No changeling I know does either. Good kid from what I’ve heard.”
“Then it looks like Bon Bon’s idea is our best option,” said Shining Armor.
“Agreed,” said Spitfire.
“So, that wraps that up,” said Rainbow.
“So, about our upcoming Patriot Pop concert,” Pinkamena began.
“A concert?” asked Time Skipper.
“Yeah, a patriot concert. Just like we’re encouraging ponies to plant patriot gardens and use patriot—But I guess those were before you first got here,” she said, glancing down at her notes briefly. “I’ve already got the funds myself since we’re stretched thin on money, and the ticket sales plus merch will outweigh the cost anyways. I just need help with security and lodging for our guest stars. We’re going to have some big names—Sapphire Shores and Countess Coloratura are already confirmed, and I’ve invited a third singer—but I want to make sure this event goes off without a hitch. This could do a lot for civilian morale, while also bolstering our finances.”
“I could arrange some of the Wonderbolts to do security detail,” said Spitfire.
“I’ll have agents in place running preventative counter-espionage before they arrive,” said Bon Bon.
“That would be great. I want to give out guests the best VIP treatment we can give them, while also keeping them safe. If anything happens to them before the concert, the outcome for morale would be a detriment instead.”
“We won’t let that happen,” said Spitfire.
“Thank you,” said Pinkamena. “I have a good feeling about this concert.”
“What’s next?” asked Shining Armor.
“There is the matter of our finances being split up between Manehattan and Las Pegasus,” said Bon Bon. “That’s quite a distance apart, and Canterlot lies almost on the line between them. We need to find some way to secure the caravans of bits coming in, but we also can't tie down significant portions of our forces.”
“I agree,” said Rainbow Dash. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’ve got an old friend lined up from my days working under Celestia as an agent. I’d like you to come with me as our third member on a little trip to recruit some allies.”
Rainbow leaned forward in her chair. “My schedule’s clear. Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you after the meeting,” she said with a smile. “Anycreature have anything else?” Nopony spoke up as she scanned the room.
“Alright then. Looks like we’re done here. Meeting adjourned,” said Shining Armor.
As the other began to leave, Rainbow Dash leaned in towards Bon Bon. “So, where are we going?”
“We’re going to Griffonstone, home of the Griffons.”
Rainbow felt the eyes of the locals on her as she walked into the dismal-looking town. “Some place this is,” she said to Bon Bon beside her.
“Of all the places I’ve been, even working as an agent, this is pretty much the worst.” Rainbow watched Bon Bon’s eyes trace from one house to the next. They all looked like somepony had picked up a regular house and set it inside a giant bird’s nest. The sight of two ponies and an undisguised changeling walking into town must have been quite the sight. But though they stared, none of the griffons approached.
Rainbow turned to the other pony, a pegasus. “You got it, Daring?”
“Right here,” she replied. She discreetly lifted one of her saddlebag covers with her brown feathers, just enough for Rainbow to glimpse a golden idol within. “Wasn’t easy. Thought I was going to have to choose between the idol and a long fall for a second there.”
“Was it hard to get?”
“Maybe for somepony who doesn’t have a cutie mark for archaeology. I’ve faced traps at least as tough in jungle temples before.”
“It’s been a long time since we worked together, Daring Do,” said Bon Bon. “You miss old times?”
“You kidding? A chance to operate alone on a dangerous mission to secure ancient treasure and return it to its rightful owner? How could I say no to that?”
The three were almost in the center of the town now. Suddenly, Rainbow saw a familiar brown-and-white griffon appear from around the corner. Oh no, she thought, rolling her eyes.
“Rainbow Dash? Is that you?” Her old friend Gilda tilted her head several different directions in rapid succession.
“Friend of yours?” Bon Bon whispered.
“It’s complicated,” she replied. “Hello, Gilda.”
Gilda approached the three of them. “What’s a dweeb like you doing all the way out here? These your dweeb friends?”
Rainbow fought the urge to light her alchemic horn. She snorted and adjusted to a three-quarters angle rather than straight face to face, her prosthetic hind leg in full view. “It’s General Rainbow Dash now.”
Gilda’s eyes widened as she leaned backward. “Woah. Okay. So you’ve got a messed up leg. But what are you really the general of, little pony?”
“Ponyville is abandoned now. We are at war.” Gilda’s beak fell open and her eyes widened further. Conscious that she had the attention of most of the town, Rainbow raised her voice and looked around. “I am General Rainbow Dash of Equestria. We are at war with the Green Changelings led by the usurper Queen Chrysalis. We’re looking for allies in our war against Chrysalis’s hive.”
Gilda grimaced and raised one front leg. Many griffons laughed heartily. “Rainbow, look around you. We have nothing.. We’re not in any place t—”
“You think we’re able to fight in your war?” asked an old griffon from the other side of the street. “What makes you think we’ll help you ponies with your war? Especially when we’ve been far worse off than you for far longer, and you’ve never helped us?”
Rainbow turned to Daring Do. Without a word or even a nod, Daring unlatched her saddlebags and stepped forward. “Maybe it’s time that changed,” she said, bringing the golden idol out of her saddlebags.
The griffons gasped. The old griffon came closer. “The Idol of Boreas! Wha—Where—How did you get it?”
Rainbow stepped forward to intercept him. “First, we have something we want from you.” She put a front hoof on his chest, blocking him from the idol.
“No,” said Daring. Rainbow turned her head. “The idol isn’t ours.” Daring walked forward on three hooves, the idol outstretched in her remaining foreleg.
Rainbow put a hoof on Daring’s leg. “Daring, that’s our leverage—”
Daring pulled away from Rainbow. “It belongs to the griffons.”
The old griffon snatched the idol from Daring’s hoof and examined it with his one good eye. “I—I can’t believe it. It’s the real Idol of Boreas!” He looked down at them, moved almost to tears.
“We need allies in our struggle against the usurper queen,” said Bon Bon. “Can we count on you?”
“You would—help us?”
“Give us your strongest fighters,” Rainbow said. “We need mercenaries to escort caravans from Las Pegasus to Manehattan. Griffonstone would get a cut of every caravan that arrives intact.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Gilda. Rainbow turned to see her approaching.
“Gilda? Are you sure?”
Gilda lowered her gaze and grabbed one front leg with her other claw. “There was… always something different about you ponies. But I could never put my talon on what exactly it was.” She shifted her weight among her legs. “You—you all work together when things get tough. And, being with you ponies at Junior Speedsters camp when I was just a cub, it—it was always something I was jealous of.”
Rainbow smiled and took a step closer. “We’ll help you if you promise to work together.” She turned to the crowd. “Now who else is coming?”
“I’ll go!” said a young grey griffon.
“I’ll go!” said a white and green griffon.
As more griffons pledged to join, Gilda walked closer and stood beside Rainbow. “So… is this the part where you ponies sing a song or… throw a party or something?”
Rainbow held eye contact with Gilda for a moment, then looked over the other griffons. “We’ve got more important things to do. I need to do a headcount, rally the griffons, and prepare to head back. When we get back, we’ll need lodging, provisions, and equipment…” she trailed off.
“You know, Dash,” Gilda said, “Maybe I misjudged you when I saw you dweebish side in Ponyville.” She flicked her tail and turned to face Rainbow. “I like this side of you.”
Rainbow smiled. “Gather whatever things you need for the journey to Manehattan, then we’ll rally the rest of the griffons.”
Gilda briefly raised a claw to her head for an informal salute. “Yes ma’am, General Dash.”
The room beneath Bon Bon—or from her perspective, above her as she clung to the ceiling—was dark and quiet. The light from the moon cast shadows on the floor from the skylight above. The only sound was that of Princess Pupa’s soft snoring in the crib below. Hanging from the ceiling undisguised, she waited for the visitor she had been told to expect.
Her first indication of his arrival came when the handle of the room’s only door glowed with a purple aura. The door swung open, and a white stallion entered and scanned the room at floor level, oblivious to her presence. He turned the knob to prevent it from clicking, closed the door slowly and quietly, then released the handle to its resting position.
From there, he turned his head and approached the sleeping princess. His ears laid back as he lowered his head as a scowl took form on his face, and with his eyes locked on the Princess, he gave off the impression of a cat stalking its prey.
When he had almost reached the crib, Bon Bon released her grip and dropped behind him, twisting her barrel to right herself and catching herself with her wings.
“Here to pay the Princess a visit, Captain?”
Shining Armor jumped, and drew his sword. His face displayed a mix of shame and fear. “What are you doing here?” he said, more a single word than several small ones.
“She’s my Princess. I went to great lengths to ensure her safe passage into my hooves. She is under my protection,” she said, lighting her horn as she approached.
“Stay back until I’ve painted you!” Shining sputtered, hastily unlatching his saddlebags. Bon Bon levitated her own jar of changeling paint over to her waiting hoof.
The two painted each other, causing Bon Bon’s horn to fizzle out, and having no effect on Shining Armor. “You can lower your sword now. Why do you carry it around all the time, even to the nursery?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper for the sake of the sleeping princess.
“You can never be too careful,” he replied as he turned to look at the larva in the crib. “And never trust anycreature until you paint them.”
Bon Bon felt it as he said it, as he looked down at Pupa. Something was wrong—the way he looked at her, the tone of his voice.
“Do you want me to paint her too? A fresh streak of paint on her forehead?”
“I don’t understand what you see in her.”
“I see a future for our hive, for the Blue Changelings. She carries royal blood, and—”
Shining spun to face her. “I don’t care! She’s Chrysalis’s daughter! You should have tried to stop this!”
“And how do you suggest we would have done that?” Bon Bon said, her voice rising to a shout-whisper.
“She was vulnerable before she hatched!” he answered, matching her intensity. “You infiltrated the castle to rescue me. You could have sent an agent in to smash her egg if you wanted! Why didn’t you?”
Bon Bon recoiled, disgusted. “You don’t realize what you just said. If she were a mammal, do you know what you would have just implied? Killing her before she was born instead of hatched?”
Shining scowled and turned his gaze towards Pupa, his ears still laid against his head. “She’s a monster. Half pony, half changeling.”
“All changeling kings and queens are half changeling, half something else. The one you know of is half pony, like her father. Besides, I was born a pony, you know.”
“You only want her alive because you can use her. Set her up as your puppet.”
“Why do you want to see her—You don’t really want her dead, do you?”
Shining set his jaw and faced Bon Bon. “It would have been better if she had never been born.”
Bon Bon began slowly closing the distance to Shining Armor. “First of all, it’s hatched, not born. Second, Princess Pupa is under our protection. We are changelings. We will kill you if we have to, and we’ll tell everypony it was Chrysalis’s agents. We’ll pull one or two Green Changelings from the conversion program and execute them, and your revenge will die with those changelings.” She was now pressuring her way into Shining Armor’s personal space. “Do I make myself as clear as I possibly can?”
Bon Bon locked horns with him for a moment, and sensed his emotions more clearly—deep, concentrated anger and a bit of shame. For a moment, Shining Armor stood his ground. Then with a flick of his neck, he pushed her away and brushed past her as he stormed off towards the door.
Shining opened the door, and jumped again. Standing in the doorway with a terrified expression on her face was Time Skipper.
“What are you doing here?” Shining shout-whispered.
“Wait! No! I know it looks bad, but—” She didn’t get to finish before Shining lit his horn and Time was engulfed in a purple aura. Her body stiffened and she froze in place.
Shining painted her, and after a few moments she shone with a white light. “How much of that did you hear?” he demanded.
Time laughed nervously. “Most of it?”
Shining growled and lifted her into the hallway. Bon Bon followed, shutting the door behind her. “Why did you follow me?”
“I saw you fast-trotting towards the nursery with a sword and a scowl on your face. What was I supposed to think?”
“That he was a Green Changeling,” said Bon Bon.
“Or…”
“Or what?” Shining snapped.
“Or that… you wanted to… spend time with your daughter?”
“What are you suggesting I would have done?”
Bon Bon angled her body towards Shining Armor. “Was she wrong in making that suggestion?”
Time sighed. “I tried to ask this before at one of the Council meetings, but… how did Princess Pupa… happen?”
Shining’s gaze fell and Bon Bon felt it again—the shame and embarrassment. “I—I thought it was Cadance. Or maybe it was mind magic, I don’t know. But I don’t really want to think about—waking up with that m—monster again. Ever since she’s been here,” he said, pointing to the nursery, “I haven’t had a full night’s sleep. Or woken up without a cold sweat.” He looked back at the nursery door. “She reminds me of…”
“Of Chrysalis,” Bon Bon finished.
“And Cadance,” he said, raising his tear-filled eyes towards her. “And things I can’t have, and things that she took, and—” he grimaced and turned away. “And every time she cries—which is most of the time—it reminds me of…”
“She’s a changeling. She cries because she needs love.”
Shining set his jaw and shook his head, his lower lip trembling. “Not from me.” He shook his head again. “I’ll never love that monster.”
As he turned and walked away, Time moved to follow, but Bon Bon caught her eye as she started. She shook her head, and Time stepped back. “So, if not Shining Armor, then who’s going to raise her?” Time asked.
“The Blue Changelings will raise her. And when she is old enough, we will teach her how to rule. And Chitin’s granddaughter will rule his hive.”
Time turned and stared longingly in the direction Shining Armor had left. Bon Bon sighed and stepped closer.
“I know she is Chrysalis’s daughter, but I believe there is still a place for her in this world. Our world.”
“Your world,” Time corrected. “There’s no baby changeling back in my world. Shining and Cadance married and had an alicorn foal named Flurry Heart.”
Bon Bon raised her head in surprise. “An alicorn foal?” Time nodded. “Probably best not to bring that up around him,” she said with a quick glance down the hall. “Reality is, in this world Pupa is here, whether for good, for bad, or for some of both.”
“But in my world, she doesn’t exis—”
“I won’t let you kill her,” Bon Bon turned to face Time.
“I didn’t say—”
“Or take her, or anything else.” Bon Bon stepped closer and lowered her tone. “You think I like being a changeling? Knowing there’s some version of me out there somewhere that hasn’t had to live a lie? Or that hasn’t lo—” her voice caught in her throat, “...lost Lyra.” She turned away. “I have to know; the version of me from your world—you might know her as either Bon Bon or Sweetie Drops—Are she and Lyra…”
Time paused, then stepped forward. “Are you sure you want to know?”
Her gaze dropped as a weight settled in her chest. She exhaled involuntarily and her ears fell back against her head. “I—appreciate your concern for my feelings, but,” she paused and began to walk away, “that’s all the answer I need.”
Sky Stinger adjusted the flat wooden box on his back as he and Vapor Trail walked towards a small, dilapidated house in Baltimare. “This can’t be the right place,” he muttered to Vapor.
“Well, it’s the right address,” she replied as she stepped up onto the porch—though calling it a porch at all was generous. The two of them barely fit together on it as they stood in front of the door. Even without opening the door, the house smelled of hard cider and smoke. “Who’s knocking?”
Sky Stinger visually checked his Wonderbolts dress uniform over one final time, then said with a sigh, “I will.” He took a deep breath, raised a front hoof, and knocked on the door.
Neither of them said a word as they waited. They just stood there, intently staring forward. Before he saw anything, Sky heard somepony calling from inside.
The door creaked open, and a gaunt pegasus mare with a teal coat and stringy blonde hair opened the door. Sky wondered how this mare could look almost twice the age of the mare he was expecting. She squinted at the pair with a look of confusion, temporarily deepening the wrinkles on her face.
Nevertheless, he asked the question. “Are you Star Dust, ma’am?”
“Yes,” she responded hesitantly. “What are—Why are you here?”
“Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts personally selected us to inform you that your daughter Lightning Dust was killed in action over Cloudsdale three weeks ago during a changeling infiltration mission.”
Sky Stinger took the wooden box off his back and hoofed it over to Star Dust, who accepted it with unusual slowness. Visible through the glass front was a folded Wonderbolt flag, the Wonderbolt crest in the middle of the flag visible through the glass.
Star’s gaze remained fixed on the box and her mouth fell open as she read the inscription. “Lightning,” she whispered, “Lightning Dust—No...”
“For her bravery and loyalty in the face of extreme danger, and for her heroic sacrifice, she is to posthumously receive the Distinguished Flying Feather award as well as the Broken Feather award for her injuries sustained in the line of duty. She is to be buried with full Wonderbolt honors.”
“Lightning,” Star whispered again as a tear fell down her cheek. She sat back on her haunches as she took the box in both hooves.
Sky’s own eyes began to water. He blinked the tears away as best he could and carried on. “She saved us, ma’am. All of us. All the way up to Captain Spitfire herself.”
Vapor Trail moved to Star’s side. “She took down a whole blimp full of changelings, but… best we can tell, she got caught in the blast when the lifting gas caught fire.”
“Oh, my little Lightning,” Star Dust said cradling the flag in her hooves. “At least you did—what your mother never could. My little Wonderbolt.”
Vapor wrapped a wing across Star Dust’s back as Sky Stinger moved closer to console her.
Bon Bon slid the key into the lock, turned the handle, and opened the door. “So,” said Rainbow Dash, “this is your place?”
Bon Bon waved rainbow in. “Part home, part Blue Changeling safehouse. Basement can be sealed off from the rest of the house discreetly, and both halves have street access.”
Rainbow flopped backwards onto the living room couch with a groan. “Meetings with the Crystal Empire, meetings with griffons, meetings with our ponies… this is almost more exhausting than fighting.”
“Tell me about it,” Bon Bon said as stepped up into the chair opposite the couch and lay down. “I’m mentally exhausted. Feels like I’ve thought about and planned so much that I just can’t think straight. Might just go to bed early tonight.”
Bon Bon watched Rainbow’s gaze drift around the room as she lay on the couch. “This place sure beats staying on base with the troops in the barracks.”
“It’s not a mansion, but it’s enough to get by with. Kitchen and dining room that way, living room here, one bathroom,” she said, pointing. Then she smiled and lowered her tone. “One bed.”
It took a second, but Rainbow turned her head to face her. There was a twinkle in her eye, and her half-open mouth formed a smile on one side. “Oh… You mean...”
“You’re staying, right?” Rainbow nodded. “I mean, unless you’d rather sleep in the safehouse...”
Rainbow rolled over and sat up. “N—no, I mean—if you’re offering.”
“I am.”
Rainbow smiled and ruffled her feathers. “I was... kinda hoping you'd ask.”
Bon Bon shrugged. “Hey, you said you want to get serious right?” She stepped down onto the floor. “So, what do you want? Guy? Girl? Wings? No wings? Horn maybe?” she asked, cycling rapidly through several variations of her normal cream earth pony disguise.
“What about just you?”
“You mean just my changeling form?” Bon Bon morphed out of the disguise and dropped her gaze. “Rainbow, I—I can’t. When King Chitin bit me, I—I lost—This changeling version of me can’t—isn’t able to…”
“You’re not able to what?”
Bon Bon’s cheeks flushed and her ears laid against her head. “Only changeling monarchs—the kings and queens, that is—only they—have functional sex organs.”
She’d said it. And though it felt better to have said it, she still felt more vulnerable now. There was an emptiness, a sense of being physically incomplete. A sense that she was defective somehow.
“But you used to be an earth pony, right? Just turn into an earth pony and problem solved.”
She raised a hind leg and turned her head off to the side, looking backwards longingly. “That’s—not how that works. When I become, for instance, a mountain goat, I literally have the agility of a mountain goat. But reproduction is… special.” Her speech was slow and measured. “No amount of my magic can ever give that back to me.”
“Bon Bon...” Rainbow stepped off the couch and approached her. She felt love emanating from Rainbow. Love and pity. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Bon Bon sighed as she felt herself pulled into Rainbow’s wing hug, absorbing as much of the emotion as Rainbow could let out. “It’s ok.”
“Is there a way we can change you back?”
“I’m not sure I’d want that,” she said, looking back up at Rainbow. She wasn’t sure why she said it, even after she had said it.
“Why not?”
“Well, the Blue Changelings need a leader. But not just that. Changelings… are different from ponies in a lot of ways. I live to serve the hive.”
Rainbow drew back out of the hug, a look of realization on her face. “Chitin bit you. Like Chrysalis bit Applejack.”
Bon Bon raised a front hoof. “Chitin cared about his changelings. Chrysalis is a love-sucking monster, who in turn trains love-sucking monsters.”
“You’re still under his spell.”
“I did what I had to do all those years ago. For the mission. For my Princess.”
“I know.” Rainbow raised her prosthetic leg and extended it behind her. “This thing can buck with the strength of ten earth ponies, but… I’d give anything just to be able to feel it again,” she said, pulling it forward underneath her barrel and raising it close.
Bon Bon stood next to Rainbow, pressing her side against Rainbow’s.
“I swear I’m going to help you, Bon Bon.”
“All I ask from you is your love. I can’t ask for anything more.”
Rainbow pulled her close into a side wing-hug, and began nuzzling her neck. She felt Rainbow picking her hoof up to hold it. The sensation of her warm body and soft fur against her side and face was electric, sending a shiver down her back. The love flowing in bathed her in a warm and comforting aura, soothing her, lulling her…
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to get to bed early. I feel like I can barely stand.”
Rainbow returned her wing to her side. “You wanna go now?”
“Sure.” Bon Bon pulled out of the hug and began walking towards the bedroom.
“You still gonna use your regular earth pony form tonight?”
“If that’s what you want.” Bon Bon opened the door, ushering Rainbow inside.
“I think I’d be most comfortable with another pony, yeah.”
“That’s about what I expected,” she said with a smile. She flicked her tail up onto Rainbow’s back as she passed.
“Heh. Yeah. I’ll bet being a changeling and all, you probably have a pretty good sense of what ponies want.”
“Rainbow Dash! I would never!”
Rainbow stopped shy of the bed and turned to face her. “Wait... you mean you’ve never—”
“Only with... with Lyra.”
Rainbow’s gaze dropped. “R—right.” She flew up and onto the bed. “This is cozy. Not quite as soft as a cloud bed, but I guess you’d fall right through one of those as an earth pony.”
“One last thing,” Bon Bon asked as she morphed into an earth pony. “Would you... would you please… take top? And... hold me when it’s time to sleep?”
Rainbow smiled and tapped the bed with a hoof. “C’mere, you.”
Bon Bon felt herself blush as she stepped onto the bed, and a smile crept onto her face.
It had been two weeks since Pharynx had taken over for Chrysalis in the hive. Two weeks since she had holed herself up in her private quarters. Pharynx was surprised when, in the middle of a meeting with the Queen’s advisors, the room’s doors swung open and Chrysalis appeared.
Pharynx moved to meet her immediately, bowing before he approached. “My queen, it has been two weeks.” He stopped a few steps from her. “Are you ready?”
Chrysalis set her jaw and flipped a stray strand of unkempt mane out of her face. “I am ready to rule again,” she said as she strode forward and stood behind the seat Pharynx had left vacant. “And I will recover my daughter from those traitorous Blue Changelings! Even if I have to burn down all Equestria to get her back.”
Pharynx bowed. “We stand ready to serve, your Highness.”
Chrysalis stepped into the chair and sat down. “Princess Pupa will be mine again. And I swear by my throne, those pony rebels, and the Order of the Blue Changelings, and any other creature who stands in my way will burn!”
End of Act I