Penned IN

by Qwix

Chapter 30: Ascent III

"I've been waiting... for years... for this opportunity." The voice that came was deep and worn as if scratched by sandpaper.

There was nopony in the room, except for a single chair that held an absolute giant of a shadow hunched over, lined by cold, electronic light. The room itself was a plastering of screens and desks; some showed static, while others displayed diagrams of many various things. Ponyville was displayed on a fair few.

"I do not think we have met... but you have seen me once. My name is Krayka," said the giant changeling. With a sudden loud clang, immensely thick doors made of iron fell over the entrance, closing them in the room.

Pennaprose drew his blade, pointing it at the back of the chair. "We were told that you control the power network for the hive. One of our missions... is to cut that power off. Will you yield?"

Krayka swiveled back in his chair; his face was a valley of lines and scars, missing chunks of scales and framed by a curly dull yellow mane. "Calm... Peace... Serenity... Let the True Queen of this land deliver me from hell into salvation, and let those who awaken to my path follow suit..."

He audibly sighed. "I seek not to stop you or your friends from challenging the current Queen. But this place lets the innocent of my race live, the changelings who seek to live outside the army... with their families. I cannot let you destroy this place... nor can I let you destroy me. Only I may destroy myself. If there is one thing I learned these fifty years of my life is that it is exactly that which is the sole truth of me."

Pennaprose hesitated. He did not lower his weapon, nor did he give a sign of advancing from his chair. He stayed hunched over; even then, his largeness imposed on the scene.

"...To what end do you mean?" Pennaprose asked. "A war hero like yourself, a trusted member of the changeling army?"

"You are sharp, boy. You remind me of myself when I was your age. Naive, willing to jump into the fray at the drop of a hat if it meant defending what was valued... but age brings wisdom on the winds and weariness to the bones. Yet it comes only to those willing to breathe them," he said, a great weariness etched in his face. "The changelings desire placidness and peace... they have always desired it. With the ponies of Equestria proper, and the countries that lie beyond it.

"I once traveled a lot, a pony much like you... to places as far as the Fillypenes and Mareocco, or to neighbors such as Prance and Saddle Arabia. I loved it in my youth... but such wide travels let you see the true reach of the shadows of resentment that countries and their ponies harbor for one another. The Queen desires to bring war among the world, all for the peace of changelings alone... in such a world, I would not be at peace no matter how much of a haven for changelings she makes Equestria."

"Then why stand in our way? If she is removed from the picture, then all of Equestria benefits," he asked, dreading the answer.

He looked up, eyes a startling golden color, yet filled with unmistakable steel. It was at startling odds with his weathered face. "All of <i>Equestria</i>, boy... our race is not of Equestria in this day and age. If you sent one million changelings to death, all for the betterment and safety of ten million ponies? One nation of the banished, for ten nations of freedom?

"Sacrifice is necessary, you may say... but stop and think. Can you spend another's coin with peace of mind? It may be one thing to give up something for another... but to strip away the rights of another for personal gain is nothing but evil. If you wish to sacrifice something to gain something else, then let it come from your own good and mind. Let the gain be the benefit of another. Upon this base of generosity is wickedness stifled, for wickedness only knows to take. All morals beget themselves, as flowers beget more flowers and a child is begotten of their parents.

"If you are to end this, end it not in bloodshed... but in peace. That is the only way I will yield."

Pennaprose grimaced. "...I can't sense your mind."

"It is only natural, boy," said Krayka. "The windigo magic that Chrysalis infused into herself brought with it their wrath for all living beings. They are inherently war-like... and to those who offer their souls to them, only death awaits. I demurred in taking that poison; I cannot bring about a snowflake any more than Celestia's right flank can. Heheheh..."

He relaxed, lowering his blade. "I can understand, sir... but what do you suggest we do? If killing Chrysalis is out of the picture... then how do you suggest we prevent her plans from going forward? They will only bring about the war you hoped to avoid."

He fell silent, turning back in his chair. "...That is indeed a good question—an excellent one, in fact. You would need nothing less than lethal force to stop the Ice Queen cold... and that would bring the wrath of her subjects against Equestria proper. Her death would only fuel more death... as I have said now and have said before to Chrysalis as well. Even death brings itself."

Pennaprose regarded this changeling, noting something odd. All changelings, save for Gosthette, Chrysalis, Aloysius, and himself all had differing eye colors beyond the normal blue wash... and those golden eyes were as full of life and energy, eerily familiar...

"Perhaps... there is, in fact, a way. But I would be risking much. You absolutely must succeed for my own good to pay off."

Several screens flickered to life; some showed a panoramic view of the city while others seemed to be focused on various hallways. He tapped one screen, causing it to show an elaborate throne, strangely reflective...

"The Queen's throne is a recently remodeled piece... because she had recently acquired the ticket to the human world. The throne's back is the mirror that once resided in Canterlot's underground chambers. It has been the centerpiece of Chrysalis's human-transporting experiments... at least it was until recently, when you and Gosthette arrived in Equestria from the other side."

"...Wait! Are you saying that Chrysalis is the reason I am here in the first place?" asked Pennaprose.

He chuckled to himself. "Isn't that why you're here now, anyway? Hahaha... but yes," he said, manipulating the keys to bring up images of a comet. "She and that wizened circus tent Aloysius worked together on finding a way to bring a human into Equestria without this realm's inherent magic transforming them into ponies... a fruitless project, but it is—was—ongoing. It was also her doing that you became two beings; she thought that by separating a human by magic into two entities upon entry, they would be more malleable for her own schemes, or perhaps less susceptible to transforming on entry."

"Lucky us," scowled Pennaprose, thinking of Gosthette.

"...Do you regret it, boy?"

He paused, thinking about Lyra, who was beside him with her blade at the ready. "...No, sir, not at all. So what's this plan of yours?"

He turned back to the screens. "That portal receives a minimal amount of power to keep it's magic from closing past its original restriction of once every thirty moons. I can control that flow from here... but what would happen, say, if there was a power surge?"

Twilight walked up, pushing past Pennaprose. "Sorry to bother... but what kind of power are talking about? Biofuel? Or magic?"

"Excuse me, princess..." Krayka answered. "But it is something that Equestria has no use for, yet interacts ever so wonderfully with magic. It is something called electricity; a form of harnessed energy that lightning strikes put out. Am I wrong in saying that the pegasai have long since experimented with trying to harness it, Miss Dash?"

"That is top-secret information for weather crafting pegasai only–"

"For being a race of beings that live in the dirt, we have eyes everywhere," said Krayka. "There is nothing hidden from the shadows of Equestria."

Twilight's eyes widened. "I've never heard of it before... it seems like magic to me, the mere idea..."

"Miss, everything we know is called knowledge, everything we can't know is called holy... while everything we don't yet know, is called magic. Yes, magic can be studied... controlled... made to do what you wish by the whim is its caster... but there remains entire realms of its study that remain a mystery... am I incorrect?"

"No, you're correct..." she answered, looking a little mollycoddled.

"As I was saying then..." said Krayka, returning to his screens. "From here I can cut off all power to that portal, causing it to close completely... or send an immense amount into it, causing it to open wide.

"I will be watching from this room. If, during your fight, you can force her to be at her throne... then I will take over from there. We will not kill her... but she will be trapped in the human world."

"...That sounds like it could work... but how can I be sure that you will follow through?" asked Pennaprose.

He pushed his screens away, hunched over. "Because, boy... of everything I lost in my five decades of life, my family is the one I miss the most. Chrysalis inadvertently destroys families by the dozen in building her army, either by conscripting the changelings who merely wish to live in this city... or by taking away ponies from Equestria and beyond in secret, transforming them into changelings. I see these soldiers, unknowing or wanting of their past family... all put under my charge as Commander of the Apparatus VII's Infantry Collation Excess. It has long since broken my spirit to prevent this from happening on my own... so I treat every one of my soldiers as a child of my own. They would never know warmth otherwise... and it gives me a reason to keep fighting under this damnable Queen's rule. She says she cares for us... but sacrifices the certain good of several now to an uncertain future good of us all."

Pennaprose said nothing.

"There is no changeling that desires a quiet peace more than I, boy..." Krayka asked. "One that isn't built on domination or war. I am old... but as I watched you infiltrate this place from my cameras, listened to your words since the reports started coming in of a pony whose actions defied us, I found myself beginning to believe that you... might be able to break our curse. I must ask you, though it may be too much..."

He looked up again, eyes pooled in tears and an ancient tiredness. "You are young, and you have seen the shadows that blanket our race in stead of the ponies of Equestria. I am sorry that I must plead this of you... but will you save us all? From us, from the shadows, and from the light that we have not tasted in a near millennia...?"

He placed a hoof on Djiingoh, which was pointed squarely at Krayka and lowered it. Lyra gave him an inquisitive look. "Its fine, Ly... he is no enemy. I feel as if he means what he says..."

"Your answer, then...?" Krayka asked in a weak voice.

He smiled. "...Sir, I have already shouldered plenty of burden in the week I have had the utmost pleasure of experiencing," he began. "I have already made such a vow for my strongest reason to be here, to take on the darkness that was cast to her in order to let her live in the sun.

"What is one million changelings, as compared to her? All your words have done is show me another way to do what I came here for."

He seemed to whither in his chair, seeming small for the first time. "Thank you... for indulging this useless old pony... yet succeed for the peace of us all, if not for the relief of a man that is a relic of his erroneous prime... your task shall not be an easy one..."

He silently nodded, gesturing for the rest to follow. In that seat he did see not a changeling; instead, he saw somepony who merely wanted his life to change for the better.

A man that is a relic past his erroneous prime...?

Though the last battle loomed, he felt no sense of closure incoming. Indeed, he felt nothing but the whirlwind of secrets that he could not grasp fully...

He drew Changeré as he climbed, examining his reflection in the blade's flat side. Though his horn was not crooked yet, he could see the beginning of indents that would form holes.

The name of the first changeling queen... brought to bear against what hopes to be the legacy of the last. I will break this curse, no matter the cost!

Author's Note:

The next set of chapters may not be in line with my mostly-daily updates. There may be a few days in between them, as I deemed the end was in need of a re-write/extension to address a pacing issue. Next chapter might still be up tomorrow (as I am almost done with it). Choreographing fight sequences are not that intuitive to me, so I've been hammering out C31 (which is entirely a fight sequence) from scratch over the last 3 days, which be followed by a separate fight sequence I also need to write from scratch (C32). After that, chapter updates will update smoothly barring life events until the end.

I'm predicting the final word count to be around 97±1K words total.

If you hate this anyway, then I'm more impressed that you decided to read this far and say nothing about it. The silence both helps and hurts me; helps to keep my fragile happiness afloat and hurts me by not knowing the impact of it all. I cannot grow as a writer without feedback, but I'm very wary of the contents of my inbox nowadays. I expect hate, just to be relieved when nothing has changed or someone added it to a bookshelf. And when I'm right? Then I'm right. Practicing pessimism is very degrading.