//------------------------------// // The First Monster // Story: Greene Fields under Red Lights // by Europa //------------------------------// DAY 14 OF INFECTION: 39% OF EQUESTRIA INFECTED Covert Confidence Covert Confidence got very little sleep that night. Princess Luna's last words to her rang loudly in her mind, causing her to toss and turn restlessly in her sleep. Allied with... the changelings? Why in the world would the Princesses ever ally with those bugs? Were her brother's theories about them correct? What if these weren't ponies around her at all? That wasn't Twilight Sparkle. That wasn't Rarity or Applejack and that hadn't been Princess Luna. She laid there, eyes wide in panic, attempting to reach a sleep that refused to come. She wasn't even really sure if she wanted to. After all, these were all changelings and if she fell asleep she might never wake up... Covert forced herself to control her breathing. She needed to think reasonably. Panic would do nothing except alert the rest of the changelings. First, she had to look at what would make the Princesses actually ally with the bugs, and what the bugs would get out of making her think that. If they allied with the changelings, they'd certainly get a lot of help with the infected, as well as the neutralization of the changeling threat in its entirety. Sort of. Not really, they would still feed off of them and that was very bad but Covert knew that the infection was worse. Why would the bugs make her think they had allied with Equestria? Surely the Princesses knew that would come back to bite them in the flank. It made no sense to do it just to deceive her but to trick the rest of Equestria? Undermine their efforts to stop the infection? Then again, maybe there was a common enemy... All her logic and reasoning amounted to nothing, and so Covert Confidence tossed and turned restlessly until she eventually fell into an even more restless sleep. In what seemed like an instant she was awake, but didn't want to move from the cushion she rested on. She kept her ears flat to block out noise, and her entire body was pins and needles. She groaned, ears moving. Then the pins and needles stopped, and were replaced with dread. She wasn't alone. There was somepony in the room with her! Who was in the room with - "Good morning, my little pony," said a gentle voice. Covert slowly opened her eyes to look at the face bent down before her, covered in a white coat with a flowing pastel mane, and then grumbled out a terse 'five more minutes' and closed her eyes. ... ... ... ...wait a second. With a strangled yelp Covert blasted out of her makeshift bed and bowed so low she hit her muzzle. "P-P-Princess!" she stammered. "My deepest, humblest apologies for - " "Please, there's no need for that," Princess Celestia said with what was almost a smirk, standing at her full height. Covert breathed a sigh of relief and stood. Her brother might not have had respect for the Princesses, but she wasn't her brother. "The others are already awake and getting ready. Luna told me you have a plan to incapacitate Elizabeth?" Mutely, she nodded. Then, Covert wrested back control over her vocal cords. "Your Majesty, your sister told me you'd allied with the changeling queen," she said warily. Princess Celestia's eyes seemed to widen for a moment, and then she grimly nodded. "An unfortunate necessity. Our allies have turned their backs on us, so we need aid from whatever source we can get. It just so happens that Queen Chrysalis is just as interested in retaining her mind as we are." "How do I know you're not a changeling?" she asked, certain she was going to be cocooned for daring to ask. Princess Celestia - maybe? - winced. "Oh, well my little pony, I'm afraid there is not much I myself can do to prove such to you. I hope you will take your continued well being and lack of fatigue as evidence, but beyond that you'll simply have to take my word for it. I realize it is not comforting to hear." Princess Celestia was right; it wasn't comforting at all. Still, Covert's anger at Greene was greater than her fear of changelings, by however marginal an amount. She nodded. "I understand, Princess." Celestia smiled. "Excellent. Please follow me, we can discuss it with everypony else. Shining Armor, Hard Gaze, and... Swarm Commander Polin along with Chrysalis are already in the war room. It wouldn't do to keep them waiting." Covert did just that, following Princess Celestia out as she left the room and turned through the corridors she really should have tried to memorize last night. As they walked, Celestia talked. "Twilight and her friends are already out doing what they can," she said somewhat morosely. "And Luna decided to roast a few more Colonies before going to sleep." She caught Covert's uneasy look. "Relax, my little pony. I assure you, I am who I say I am." You haven't claimed to be anyone, she thought, then paused and rolled her eyes at herself. Great. I swallowed Tinny; why else would I be this paranoid? Before long, Princess Celestia guided her into a room with a long rectangular table in the middle. Off to the side, she saw a sheet of parchment that, at first glance, seemed to be a diplomatic document with four signatures. Around the table, looking at a map of Equestria, were two ponies and two bugs, all shimmering under the effects of the local crystal field. Shining Armor was there, without his armor. Next to him was a pony who must've been General Hard Gaze of Equestria's military. He was a very old pony, with a faded blue coat and grayed mane that was shortly cut. He was dressed up in uniform, a deep blue suit with golden seams that covered his cutie mark, replacing it with the emblem of Equestria, the alicorn sisters in a circle with their respective cosmic bodies. He stared intensely at the map spread out before him, like if he could narrow his eyes enough victory would reveal itself. The other two were clearly changelings. She recognized Chrysalis easily; it was hard not to. The other bug in the room was a very thin, wiry changeling - apparently a mare - wearing the dark blue armor Covert had seen on some changelings during the invasion of Canterlot. Probably the 'Polin' character. She looked at the map with the same intensity Hard Gaze had, compound eyes narrowed, while Chrysalis and Shining Armor both glared at each other. Princess Celestia cleared her throat and walked over to Hard Gaze. Everypony - and everyling, Covert supposed - there snapped their attention to her, the General saluting. "Everyone, I would like you to meet Covert Confidence. According to my sister she has legitimate information on how we may weaken Greene enough to contain her." Suddenly everypony's eyes were on her. The smaller changeling opened her mouth and startled Covert with a very male voice, despite the buzzing undertone. "Well then, what are you waiting for, pony? Spit it out!" "You're a stallion," she said dumbly. Chrysalis snickered while Polin rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am," he said coldly. "Now what's this about Greene?" She took a deep breath. "A while ago, when she was in the castle attending breakfast with the Princesses, Elizabeth accidentally poisoned herself with what she called Princess Celestia's 'essence'," Covert said, rearing onto her hind legs so her forelegs could make the quotation marks. "We get some of her blood and inject it into Greene, she goes down," she said, her coat itching where the changelings looked at her. "Hmm," Hard Gaze said, now looking at her with all the intensity he had looked at the map with. "How poisonous are we talking?" "Coughing up blood, on her knees for minutes, from so little blood that Princess Celestia didn't even notice," she answered. "It wouldn't take much to get a strong reaction." Shining Armor nodded. "Problem is, we have a fair bit of difficulty pinning down Greene's location long enough to do so." He looked at Chrysalis. "Where is she now?" he asked. "One moment," the changeling queen said before gazing off into the distance. "East Baltimare, making a Colony. My scouts say she's just about done." Shining Armor rolled his eyes. "Great. Well then, how are we going to get her? We can't exactly sneak up on her while she's making a Colony; those are swamped with infected that will see us. And she sure as hay isn't going to come inside a crystal field just because we ask her to." "What about an untouched zone? Like... say, downtown Manehattan? Hasn't gotten there yet." Hard Gaze asked. "No infection, no crystal aura, it could serve as a neutral ground of sorts. From what I've heard, she does respond to summons, even more so if it's a challenge she thinks she'll be able to win. But that still leaves the problem of keeping her in one place long enough for somepony to inject her." "My sister," Princess Celestia said with the calm authority of the leader she was. "Knows a spell that could hold her down for a few seconds, and it doesn't attack the mind, so her hive won't protect her. Who will inject her? I doubt that piercing her skin will be easy, so we need the strongest pony - or changeling - we can find with the sharpest needle." Polin - seriously, he was a stallion? - smirked. "I know just the changeling." His frown vanished. "And what about who calls her? No, forget that. Downtown Manehattan is going to be packed with civilians, unprotected from the virus, and we're bringing the source of it to them. How are we going to evacuate that many ponies so quickly?" Looking back, Covert Confidence saw Princess Celestia give the bug a knowing smile. "I know just the pony." ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** "Bravely galloped away!" sang the pink pony, already vanishing off into the horizon. "AWAY!" shouted the chorus. "Away! Bravely galloped away! Away..." they kept repeating, slowly disappearing from sight, taking the sound of instruments with them. Covert Confidence stood on a roof in Manehattan, her jaw on the floor and left eye twitching. Not from the musical, those were nothing special. But... that pink pony... instruments... how had she... her mane? She didn't understand! It wasn't possible! Everything had gone according to plan, more or less. They'd found a high-end bone marrow transplant syringe in an abandoned hospital and Princess Celestia had, after purging it of the virus, taken a sample of her golden blood and then sharpened the needle as much as she could, enchanting it for resilience. The changelings, and herself, received crystal amulets. The weight of Covert's was heavy around her neck. They were in the town square, which was now utterly deserted of everything but carriages. Covert was perched on a building overlooking an alleyway, and there, behind a trash can, hid a changeling with the syringe of immortal ichor in its hooves. In the middle of the street was Princess Luna, holding an infected earth pony down with her forehooves. Her coat shimmered in tune with her bellowing voice, the amulet around her throat bouncing back and forth. "Elizabeth Greene! Art thou afraid of us? Dost thou fear us? Even as we hold one of thy children down, poised to end their lives with the slightest of movements?" Covert had to admit, if she were a crazy alien who thought the infected were her 'children' she would certainly be angry. But where was Greene? She knew how fast she could run, so where was she? What if she didn't take the bait? She really hoped the plan would work. The plan was that Elizabeth would be brought here, Princess Luna would hold her down with a spell while that bug ran up to her and injected her, then both alicorns and the changeling queen would subdue the weakened Elizabeth. But what if she didn't show up? Or sent infected in her stead? Or what if the bug simply wasn't strong enough to inject her? She glanced over at the town square. Technically she wasn't supposed to be there, but she wasn't in the way and she wanted to see this happen. It was slightly tinted with purple, carriages and carts pushed to the sides, businesses closed. In the center stood Princess Luna with the tumor-covered pony still beneath her hoof. She was impatient. She wanted to see Greene hurt. She had to be hurt, she had to! A crackling sound filled the air, and Covert's eyes widened in fear when two emerald orbs of changeling magic descended and smashed craters on either side of the Princess. The impacts were far enough away to not cause harm, but close enough to startle her into letting the infected go. Covert Confidence's voice caught in her throat. They'd been betrayed! Deceived! They never should have trusted those disgusting - Then fear gave way to horror when she realized that that wasn't changeling magic. The infected pony galloped away, but Elizabeth Greene descended from the sky with a catastrophic impact. It blew a wide ring of dust away and made the pavement roll like water, forcing Princess Luna to spread her wings and let it carry her away from Greene. Once the shockwave was over she trotted back up to Elizabeth Greene. Even from such a distance, Covert could feel the waves of anger washing out of Elizabeth, making her heart and stomach clench. She could feel her fury and indignity at the alicorn that she'd thought was her friend but had held her child down by the throat and threatened to - "Luna," she said. That one word forced Covert to duck down as the echoes washed over her, pounding inside her head. "What?" "Ah, so thou hast seen fit to show thy face!" Luna bragged. Covert was suddenly terrified, and she couldn't tell if it was her or Elizabeth's emotion. She backed away to look at the changeling peeking out from behind the trash can, syringe floating in his green aura. But Covert's attention wasn't on the changeling, but rather the infected unicorn stumbling towards him, the mare's horn lit up with orange light. What was an infected doing there?! Time slowed down. In the distance she still heard the Moon Goddess and the Plague Goddess exchanging threats, but it didn't register above the sound of the infected mare's horn charging up. She vaguely considered how shouting a warning would be faster, but also compromise their one shot at this plan. She dove from her perch into the disgusting alleyway, ready to buck the infected as hard as she could. Covert wasn't the best flyer. She could certainly hold her own, she wasn't slow, but she was certainly no Rainbow Dash. So she managed to land a kick on the unicorn and send her to the ground only a split second after the beam hit the inattentive changeling in the back of the head and knocked him out. The syringe clattered to the ground and rolled out from behind the trash can. She didn't waste any time. She knew how good Elizabeth's senses were, and more importantly, how she could see through the eyes of any infected. She lunged for the blood and grabbed it in her hooves and looked out of the alley. Her steel green eyes locked with Greene's, which were wide. Princess Luna's gaze was also surprised. "Trap," Elizabeth said fearfully, pulling one hand up to waist level. Covert flew at her with all the speed she could muster, but as the Evolved's legs began to writhe and flicker she knew she wasn't going to make it in time. Princess Luna scowled and, with a burst of green fire, was replaced by Queen Chrysalis. "Get her!" The purple tint on the town square rushed together and formed a cloud, which became the real Princess Luna right next to Chrysalis. At that point, Covert shot out of the alley and made her mad flight across the town square. Just as Greene was about to jump, Princess Luna's horn lit up and she tilted her head back. The flickers around Greene's legs vanished instantly, and there was a shadowy explosion under her. A dark pit of some fluid opened beneath the alien, smoke rising into the air with a purple beam of light that was centered on Elizabeth. Before Elizabeth could do anything, arms began to rise out of the pit. Skeletal griffon talons, minotaur arms, pony and zebra hooves, as well as several things Covert couldn't identify, raised themselves up, clawed at a thrashing Greene, and sunk back down to be replaced by another. The nightmares made real kept Elizabeth flailing in place, as a green beam formed on her chest and was sucked into Chrysalis's horn. Covert was suddenly right before Greene, still held by the nightmarish arms that parted around the pegasus. She held the syringe with the adhesive magic in her forehooves and pressed it against Greene's suit, right where the green light of changeling magic flowed out, and pushed with all her might, wings and all. The syringe shook, but didn't budge. Then the beam of magic grew brighter, and the plunger ever so slowly slid down, pushing some of the golden alicorn blood into Elizabeth Greene's bloodstream just as Princess Luna's spell ended, the dark pit closing. Covert Confidence wasn't entirely sure of what happened after that. Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock as her feet touched the ground, and then Covert was flying through the air, tumbling this way and that until her stomach slammed into a building and she'd fallen over, gasping in a vain attempt to recover the air that had been knocked out of her. Her vision was sideways from how she laid but she could still make out what was going on in between her wheezing attempts at breath. Chrysalis, an exhausted Princess Luna, and a newly-teleported Princess Celestia faced Elizabeth, the elder alicorn preparing magic. The alien choked, brought her hands to her stomach as a glob of something too thick to be blood dripped out of her mouth. She screamed, a horribly keening noise, and threw her head back, hands at her throat as she sprayed red flesh everywhere. Covert got to her hooves as Elizabeth fell to her knees, choking and vomiting up vast amounts of blood in a scene of horrific gore that was like something out of a night terror. Slowly, in time with Covert getting her breath back, Elizabeth stood up and startled to stumble back, still vomiting. She lurched backwards as Chrysalis shot a blast of magic at her, the blast forming a splatter of slime where Greene had been a second prior. Chrysalis snarled and prepared another blast, Princess Luna panted heavily, and Princess Celestia lowered her horn at Greene, aiming her prepared spell carefully. There was a flash of white, a clap of thunder, and a rush of scorched air over Covert as the Daybringer unleashed an enormous bolt of white lightning at and through Elizabeth Greene. The Evolved was sent flying and landed on her hands and knees, looking at the alicorns in pain as the hole in her chest slowly closed up, blood dribbling down her lips. The three members of royalty stepped forward... The ground exploded around Elizabeth, throwing up a wall of shattered stone and dust that completely obscured the alien at its core... "KkkrrrraaaaIIIIIIEEEEE!" The scream tore through the air like a knife, a wailing cry of anger and rage. The dust cleared and Covert's jaw dropped. Surrounding the spot Elizabeth had been before was a ring of six... things. Just one of them was six times taller than Princess Celestia, bottom to top, and its base was a little bit larger in diameter than the Solar Princess was from horn to tail. Each creature was skinless, angry red flesh, covered in veins. Near their top the flesh gave way to a bony, blood-covered scythe. As one, the creatures bent over so that they were 'only' four times as tall as the Princess. The way their bodies bent indicated that they were all muscle, no bone. The scythes opened wide, revealing stiff tooth-covered rectangular tongues and, where the two bony scythes connected, a tiny hole. Covert's eyes widened and she flapped her wings, hastily taking to the air. She winced when her new bruises - maybe a broken rib or two - made their existence known. Something snapped through the air next to her, and chancing a look back she saw that it was a thin red cord that speared the air where she had been a moment before, extended from one of those giant things. Covert was not a fighter; she'd hid in a wine cellar during the changeling invasion. As such, instead of trying to help the three figures taking to the air, she flew back to the unconscious changeling and recovering infected, grabbed the bug, and with a heave of effort flew with the surprisingly light changeling back to the roof she had perched on before. Three of the things had vanished, and returned from wherever they had submerged to by bursting from three new positions all around the town square. The original three, under fire from the figures in the air, that had surrounded Elizabeth each used their scythes to pick up a boulder, and as one, reared back to throw one at each of Celestia, Luna, and Chrysalis. The three figures deftly dodged out of the way and retaliated with their own blasts of magic, which simply bounced off of the things. Chrysalis shouted, "Everyling, attack!" From the various buildings around where the creatures were busy picking up rocks to throw, a swarm of maybe a hundred changelings erupted, shattering windows as they streamed into the open air, hovering above the six giant infected and pelting them with emerald darts of magic. Every now and then one or more of the changelings engulfed themselves in green fire and body slammed one of the giant monsters, flying away before they could be smacked out of the air. Covert watched in awe as the battle unfolded, the six shrieking beasts tossing assorted rocks at the swarm above them. Sometimes they lashed out with their tendrils and reeled in a carriage to throw, or aimed the barbs directly at an enemy. Princess Luna's horn lit up with power, and then she tossed a volley of silver points at each of the infected monsters, exploding on contact with silent bursts of light. One of the creatures shrieked and sunk beneath the ground... ... only to reappear in another part of the square. It spat out the tendrils through the hole between its scythes. They found their mark... in Princess Celestia. Covert's breath caught in her throat as Celestia was pulled in midst a shower of golden blood, landing right in front of the monster before it released her. It reared back, ready to smash her with its enormous bulk, but before it could there was another clap of thunder and a heat wave as the Princess sent out a blast of lightning, The creature, now bleeding copiously and horrifically through a hole that went through its body and shattered its scythe, shrieked once before falling limply to the ground. Celestia healed her wound and took back to the air, four tendril barbs smashing the ground she'd stood on a moment before. Covert Confidence watched in awe besides the unconscious changeling as they battled, dancing around thrown projectiles and tentacle spears. The alicorn sisters dominated the field with amazing feats of magic; Celestia engulfed the floor in solar plasma that glassed the ground and Luna whipped a hailstorm of white rocks around them, riddling the creatures with holes. Chrysalis kept her green beam flowing, drawing something - love? - out of one creature at a time while her subjects blasted them and body-slammed them. One by one, the enormous things fell, but that even as their numbers dwindled, sometimes somepony's reactions failed them and were downed in one hit, falling to the ground. Eventually, the last of the six monsters was felled. Chrysalis gave some kind of an order, and the changelings flew away in a nearly solid mass of black, headed north. Then it was just the Princesses and the Queen, flying towards her and touching down. Queen Chrysalis growled at her. "What did you do to him?" She tried to keep control of her bladder under the changeling queen's fury. "An infected snuck up on him, a sleep spell I think. If it didn't run away, it's down in that alley," she said, pointing in said direction and stepping back to get some distance between herself and the incredibly powerful beings before her. Chrysalis softened immediately. "I see. I'll ask him after. If it is true, thank you for performing Kriak's task in his stead." She frowned and looked at the alicorns, giving her wings a quick buzz. "It's a shame she got away," Chrysalis said. "If we're lucky, the poison will finish her off." Princess Celestia frowned. "Yes, perhaps. When she took my essence she was able to recover within a minute, but that was when she took it into her on her own terms. With any luck, she won't know how to expel my blood and will remain incapacitated for a while yet." She stomped a hoof, which looked odd without her horseshoes, then looked at Covert. "You followed us. Did you plan this?" she asked evenly. Covert shook her head so hard she was afraid it would fall off. "N-No, Princess!" She bowed, which made the pain in her barrel spike. "I just wanted to watch, but then I saw the infected, a-and if I warned him then Elizabeth would've heard and, and, and..." "Hush," Princess Luna said, motioning for her to rise from her bow. "Accidentally or otherwise, Covert, thou salvaged an operation that would otherwise have been a complete failure. For that there shall be commendations, but for now let us bring thee to a hospital." The night alicorn looked worried. "Elizabeth Greene struck thee. Though she was disoriented and injured from our spell, 'tis still nothing to laugh at. Let us bring thee to a hospital to recover." Covert let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Thank you, Princess." She looked back at the square. Manehattan's roads had been glassed by Celestia, holes punched in it from the enormous beasts. One, in particular, looked almost like a snowflake; six giant holes around a seventh, where Elizabeth had retreated. Suddenly, not even the ground beneath their hooves was safe. ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** Fluttershy Ponyville was never the busiest of towns, but even so, this was terrifying. It was a ghost town. After convincing Elizabeth she needed to take care of her animals - which really wasn't too difficult, Elizabeth understood - she'd flown back to Ponyville and done just that. Now, walking through the streets, Fluttershy was taken aback by just how empty it was. The entire town had fled since she'd last been there, two weeks ago. It was late afternoon, but she still felt like it was the middle of the night, a chill wind blowing through the streets. She shivered in fear. Ponyville wasn't supposed to be so... quiet. Where were the flower sisters acting as their early warning system? Pinkie Pie bouncing around with some inconceivable task in her head? Where was Lyra's music and Time Turner's snores? Fluttershy opened the door into Sugarcube Corner, taken aback by how cold and dark it was despite the brilliance of the sun outside. She shuffled in, looking left and right. "Hello?" she asked. "Anypony home?" Of course there wouldn't be anypony. Elizabeth had unleashed her virus upon Ponyville long ago, hoping to catch anypony that had stayed behind. No such luck, but either way the town was now completely contaminated. She just hoped it wouldn't cross species to her animal friends... The displays of Sugarcube Corner were still out, testament to how quickly they'd fled. Fluttershy looked at one red cupcake with green sprinkles and took it. She placed it on a nearby table and flipped open her left saddlebag, fishing around inside with her mouth until she pulled out a little bag. The sign had said they were two bits, so she put two bits on the counter. She really hoped the Cakes were alright. As she nibbled the stale cupcake, she wondered when her life had turned so crazy. Had it been when she moved to Ponyville, or when she'd befriended Elizabeth, or became the Bearer of Kindness? Fluttershy wasn't sure about the answer to that. Eventually, she finished up her food and left the emptiness that was Sugarcube Corner. She wondered where to go next. The library maybe? It was a public building, after all... oh but thinking about the library made her think about Twilight and the rest of the girls, and that made her worry for them. Were they alright? As she walked through the streets, she spotted somepony walking towards her. Her eyes widened. What was somepony doing here? Didn't they know they'd get sick? Sure, she wasn't but that was because Elizabeth was directly keeping her from getting sick. When the pony got closer, she realized that they were already infected. It was a unicorn stallion, his eyes dull but focused intently on her. He stopped in front of her and spoke. "Fluttershy, hurt. Strong child coming to pick you up, ride her back," he said, reciting Elizabeth's words with a hideous, grating voice that made Fluttershy's coat stand on end. Once he was done, he stood as still as a statue. Strong child? Those were the big ones, but why? Fluttershy wasn't hurt, was she? There was a slam behind her and she whipped around with a startled yell, but calmed down when she took in the form of the enormous infected. From its sides grew two black limbs, no more than bone with black skin stretched on them, the pegasus feathers long gone. She gulped. Clearly Elizabeth wanted her to get on it... alright, she could do that. Fluttershy flew up and landed on the former pony's back, and wrapped her forehooves around its neck. She'd seen how strong they were, so she had almost no worries about accidentally choking it. Then it was off, bounding through Ponyville at speeds she hadn't experienced since her ride with Elizabeth back when they'd been late for the train. She squeaked and bent her head down, mane and tail billowing uncomfortably in the breeze. Meanwhile, she wondered what had happened that made Elizabeth want her back so urgently. Suddenly it dawned on her, and she felt like such a bad friend for not realizing it sooner. Elizabeth was hurt. She didn't know how much, but if she was hurt at all then that meant something terrible must've happened to her. As the infected bounded across Equestria, closing in on Canterlot, Fluttershy had a few minutes to think. What exactly did she think about Elizabeth? She was oh so very nice to her, and it'd be so rude of her to think otherwise. Still... she really didn't know what to think about her plans. Enslaving everypony - and everytaur, everyzebra... - in the world? Fluttershy couldn't support that, which made her sad because it clearly meant the world to Elizabeth. And what really drove the knife in was that she'd promised Elizabeth to help, Pinkie Promised. She was fairly certain that Pinkie would forgive her for breaking this promise, but could she ever forgive herself? Despite all the monstrous things Elizabeth had done recently, Elizabeth thought they were all good things, and Fluttershy still really wanted her as a friend. The infected charged up the mountain to Canterlot. What was worse was that Fluttershy was less and less sure that Elizabeth was really in the wrong. She assured her that her children/infected were happy as could be, and given how she could read their minds Fluttershy really had no reason not to believe her. She was still uneasy about the fact that Elizabeth planned to do that to her one day, but... If only she could spend some time as an infected, change back, then choose which one was better. The giant infected stopped next to a building and motioned with its head for her to get off. She did, her mane and tail frazzled from the journey over. She gasped. "Oh dear," she whispered, looking at the hole in the ground that she was really quite certain hadn't been there before. It was a tall and wide thing, maybe three times the size of the infected next to her, and vanished into almost-darkness, illuminated on the inside by those glowing sacks Elizabeth was so fond of. "Down there?" The giant infected leaped away, and a green earth pony mare, with large tumors on her left foreleg and right hind leg, stumbled next to her. "Follow," she growled, plodding forward. Fluttershy nervously did, going into the deeps. The infected mare moved methodically and stiffly, seeming to not even need the orange, biological lights. Though Fluttershy had to admit, the lights were nice. Very alive. Eventually they entered a chamber shaped like a squished sphere, multiple tunnels leading out of it and filled with the sound of labored breathing. The infected mare turned around and walked back, and Fluttershy was momentarily afraid she'd get lost. But then she noticed the occupants of the room and she gasped. "Elizabeth!" she said, bounding over to the Evolved. She laid on the ground, and surrounding her were five of the 'warm children', giant furless ponies with skin covered with rashes to the point of saturation, and on their backs water-filled pustules grew the tendrily mesh that Elizabeth could produce. Elizabeth was on her side, head resting on the ensnared floor. Her arms were crossed just above her breasts and her knees slightly drawn up, though not quite into her stomach. She was the source of the labored breaths and, even as she watched, she coughed up a glob of blood that drained away into a tiny hole in the middle of the room. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth what happened?" she asked nervously, standing in front of Elizabeth. Her skin had always been deathly pale, but even in the orange light of the sacks Fluttershy could see the deep, dark circles around her eyes and gaunt features on her cheeks. Fluttershy sat behind Elizabeth and rested the alien's scorching hot head in her lap. She was horrified by how light she was, how easy to move. "H-H-Hurt," Elizabeth rattled. Slowly, red and white flickers broke out along her body and vanished, followed by vomiting more blood. "Oh Elizabeth," she said quietly. One of the bloated infected moved forward and let their mesh lightly touch the soles of Greene's feet. In seconds it was siphoned into Elizabeth, who became slightly heavier. "Who did this to you?" "Pony, changeling queen distracted. T-Trusted Luna. T-Trusted." She punctuated the sentence with a fierce spell of coughing and more blood. "Huuuurts," she moaned, the word echoing around the chamber like the wails of the dead. To say it scared Fluttershy would be an understatement. But scared or not, her friend was really really hurt. "Shh, shh, it's okay Elizabeth. You'll be fine. Shh," she said, stroking her ragged mane with a hoof as the alien lightly shook in her lap, somewhat ironically the very image of illness. "It's okay, I'm here," she whispered. Fluttershy looked around as Elizabeth kept shivering and coughing in her lap, her body flickering and throwing up extremely thick blood. It was almost the same as when she'd taken Princess Celestia's... oh. That was what happened. That made her sad; she thought they were friends. Friends don't poison friends. All the same, what was done was done. Fluttershy kept trying to soothe Elizabeth as best she could, the next infected feeding her their web. She frowned worriedly, took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and began. Elizabeth needed her help. Whatever she could say about her plans, Fluttershy didn't want to see anypony hurting so much. "Hush now, quiet now..."